Taxonomic distinctness is a highly useful index combining species richness and taxonomic (phylogenetic) diversity to detect changes in the taxonomic structure of communities and assemblages. While analysis of an odonate assemblage before and after construction of a hydroelectric impoundment in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico, revealed no significant increase in average monthly species richness (although annual counts were slightly higher for the latter survey), taxonomic distinctness and its variation were reduced. The impoundment converted natural lotic conditions into lentic habitat with more littoral vegetation. Such conditions favored plant-dependent species (mostly in the Zygoptera) with more species per genus and genera per family relative to those not dependent (mostly in the Anisoptera). High ratios reduce the average risk of losing higher taxonomic structure with loss of a species. Reduced taxonomic distinctness and its variation occurred at the expense of the Gomphidae and Corduliidae, and several genera in the Libellulidae having non-plant dependent species that favor inorganic substrate in flowing waters. The results contrast with the common assumption that higher odonate diversity occurs in lentic habitats. Seasonal patterns of taxonomic distinctness appeared similar between surveys and may reflect reproductive and emergence cycles. The results support the use of taxonomic distinctness and its variation over species richness in ecological assessments and its application in further freshwater research. We encourage its use with aquatic insects, but recommend frequent sampling intervals to account for effects from emergence and reproductive behaviors. These results suggest new and added breadth to the value of taxonomic distinctness in ecological research regarding habitat change.


In January 1995, US President Bill Clinton organized a bailout for Mexico that imposed penalty interest rates and induced the Mexican government to reduce its debt, ending the debt crisis. Can the Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund) organize similar bailouts for the troubled countries in the eurozone? Our analysis suggests that debt levels are so high that bailouts with penalty interest rates could induce the eurozone governments to default rather than reduce their debt. A resumption of economic growth is one of the few ways that the eurozone crises can end.


The concept of sustainable development has become a widely used construct that is incorporated into virtually all disciplines and discourses. The implementation and achievement of sustainable development goals in the management of our environmental resources cannot be realised without education especially at a formal levels. Teacher training institutions - (college of education and faculty of education in universities) are expected through their courses to engage and create awareness of sustainability issues using their training programmes. This paper therefore presents a content analysis of sustainability themes and concepts in the College of Education Social Studies curriculum in Nigeria.  This is with the ultimate goal of exploring how any noticed gaps that could inhibit the promotion of education for sustainable development through teacher training can be filled, so that the post 2015 sustainable development goals could be better achieved.


Reduced memory specificity is associated with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and some other forms of psychopathology. Reduced memory specificity is also associated with reduced specificity of envisioned future events. Research in this area has mostly relied on cue-word methods that include explicit instructions to develop specific memories of future events. These methods are limited in their ability to assess how participants habitually remember the past and imagine the future when the specificity constraints inherent in the cue-word task are removed. Sentence completions tasks have been developed that can be used to assess habitual patterns of memory and prospection. Little is known about the association of habitual memory and prospection with concurrently and prospectively assessed psychopathology. In the current study 142 participants completed sentence completion tasks tapping habitual memory and prospection at baseline and completed measures tapping psychological symptoms at baseline and 1 year later. Among other things, it was found that reduced memory specificity (but not reduced future specificity) was associated with concurrent and later depression, as well as with symptom levels of PTSD tapped 1 year beyond baseline.


We introduce a novel learning algorithm for noise elimination. Our algorithm is based on the re-measurement idea for the correction of erroneous observations and is able to discriminate between noisy and noiseless observations by using kernel methods. We apply our noiseaware algorithms to the prediction of stellar population parameters, a challenging astronomical problem. Experimental results adding noise and useful anomalies to the data show that our algorithm provides a significant reduction in error, without having to eliminate any observation from the original dataset.


Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is an enzyme cofactor or cosubstrate in many essential biological pathways. To date, the primary source of neuronal NAD+ has been unclear. NAD+ can be synthesized from several different precursors, among which nicotinamide is the substrate predominantly used in mammals. The rate-limiting step in the NAD+ biosynthetic pathway from nicotinamide is performed by nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt). Here, we tested the hypothesis that neurons use intracellular Nampt-mediated NAD+ biosynthesis by generating and evaluating mice lacking Nampt in forebrain excitatory neurons (CaMKIIαNampt−/− mice). CaMKIIαNampt−/− mice showed hippocampal and cortical atrophy, astrogliosis, microgliosis, and abnormal CA1 dendritic morphology by 2–3 months of age. Importantly, these histological changes occurred with altered intrahippocampal connectivity and abnormal behavior; including hyperactivity, some defects in motor skills, memory impairment, and reduced anxiety, but in the absence of impaired sensory processes or long-term potentiation of the Schaffer collateral pathway. These results clearly demonstrate that forebrain excitatory neurons mainly use intracellular Nampt-mediated NAD+ biosynthesis to mediate their survival and function. Studying this particular NAD+ biosynthetic pathway in these neurons provides critical insight into their vulnerability to pathophysiological stimuli and the development of therapeutic and preventive interventions for their preservation.


We present a run-time system for a multi-grained reconfigurable processor in order to provide a dynamic trade-off between performance and available area budgets for both fine- as well as coarse-grained reconfigurable fabrics as part of one reconfigurable processor. Our run-time system is the first implementation of its kind that dynamically selects and steers a performance-maximizing multi-grained instruction set under run-time varying constraints. It achieves a performance improvement of more than 2× compared to state-of-the-art run-time systems for multi-grained architectures. To elaborate the benefits of our approach further, we also compare it with offline- and online-optimal instruction-set selection schemes.


In order to increase the prevalence of wave energy converters (WECs), they must provide energy at competitive prices, especially when compared with other renewable energy sources. Thus, it is imperative to develop control system technologies that are able to maximize energy extraction from waves, such that the delivered energy cost is reduced. An important part of a model-based controller is the model that it uses. System identification techniques (SITs) provide methodologies to get accurate dynamic models from input-output data. However, even though these techniques are well developed in other application areas, they are seldom used in the context of WECs. This paper proposes several strategies based on SIT to get a linear time-invariant model for a three-body hinge-barge wave energy device using experimental data. The main advantage of the model obtained with this methodology, against other methods such as linear potential theory, is that this model remains valid even for relatively large waves and WEC displacements. Other advantages of this model are its simplicity and the low computational resources that it needs. Numerical simulations are carried out to show the validation of the obtained model against recorded experimental data.


Abstract The present descriptive study aimed to get an insight into secondary school students' beliefs regarding English language learning. The survey method was employed for obtaining data from the secondary school students (N = 664). A modified version of "beliefs about language learning inventory" was used to collect data. Five out of nine towns of Lahore and then four public schools from each town were selected by using area sampling. Results showed that secondary school students had a broad range of beliefs. Students had strong instrumental motivation for learning English language. However, they varied drastically in their beliefs about the difficulty of learning English. It was revealed that science students held stronger beliefs in terms of motivation, importance, and easiness. Further, girls were more motivated than boys to learn English language; were more concerned about its importance and considered English language easy to learn. The study indicated a difference in beliefs about language learning by gender and academic major. Curriculum designers, decision-makers, and language instructors must be aware of learners' beliefs which can provide guidance for effective curriculum, decision, and instruction.


An UWB CPW-fed Integrated "IFA-like" design is proposed. The new design has a much longer short-ended arm and a much narrower gap between the radiating arms and the coplanar ground plane. The bandwidth increase is achieved thanks to the superposition of multi-resonances induced by the joint effects of a strong coupling between the radiating arms and the ground plane and the excitation of both even and odd CPW modes in the feedline. The design has been tested for two types of substrate, FR4 and denim, for which –10 dB bandwidths of more than 60 % and 87 % are achieved respectively. Body proximity effects are analysed for the denim IIFA by simulation. It shows that the antenna remains working well in the presence of human body thanks to its UWB feature. This extremely simple, lowprofile and easily integrable UWB IIFA-like design can be used for wearable communications (on-body/off-body), supporting multi-standards.


Abstract : Income inequality and ethnic differences in income are important political issues in Malaysia. This paper uses 1976-77 data on over 1000 households in Peninsular Malaysia to show that estimates of the extent of income inequality and of the relative incidence of poverty are sensitive to several dimensions of income measurement. For example, when the definition of income is broadened to include nonmarket sources of well-being, inequality falls and the relative position of rural Malays improves. However, standardizing to remove variations in hours of work increases estimates of the proportion of rural Malays who are poor. (Author)


Alcohol can cause or contribute to the development of many non-communicable diseases, including cancer. We calculated the proportion of cancer incidence and mortality in 2015 attributable to alcohol consumption in 2005. Data on alcohol consumption, provided in go, a traditional Japanese alcohol measurement unit, was derived from the 2005 Japanese National Health and Nutrition Survey for each sex and age group, then converted into grams of ethanol per day. The optimal consumption of alcohol for the purpose of this study was determined to be none, based on a global assessment derived from previous observational studies that have looked at the association between alcohol consumption and cancer. Using standard formulas, population attributable fractions (PAFs) for all cancers positively associated with alcohol drinking oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, colorectum, liver, larynx, and female breast were calculated for each sex and age group and aggregated to obtain the PAF among total cancer incidence and mortality. For Japan in 2015, 59,838 cases of cancer incidence and 23,929 cancer deaths were attributable to alcohol consumption. The estimated PAF for cancer incidence and mortality attributable to alcohol consumption was 6.2% and 6.5%, respectively. For both cancer incidence and mortality, the highest percentage of alcohol-attributable cancer sites was esophageal (54.0% for incidence, 52.3% for mortality). Avoidance of alcohol consumption would reduce the burden of alcohol on cancer in Japan.


The dissociation probability of NO when adsorbed on polycrystalline Pd as a function of temperature (323–523 K) has been studied with a Pd‐metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (Pd‐MOS) structure. For comparison the same experiments were also carried out with O2, which adsorbs dissociatively in the whole temperature region, and with CO, which adsorbs molecularly. It was found that the Pd‐MOS structure can be used as a very sensitive sensor for NO dissociation and that dissociation of NO starts to be significant at temperatures around 400 K. The results are also compared with electron‐energy‐loss spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy, work‐function, and desorption studies.


Reduced fertility of dairy cows during periods of elevated temperature, humidity, or both might be associated with low plasma progesterone concentration. Alleviation of thermal stress by efficient cooling is a prerequisite for improving fertility by hormonal treatment. We examined whether insertion of a controlled intravaginal drug-releasing (CIDR) insert containing progesterone following artificial insemination (AI) would improve summer conception rate. Control (n = 195) and treated (CIDR; n=165) cows, yielding on average 42.3 kg milk/d, were inseminated following estrus detection during the summer (July to October) in 2 commercial dairy herds in Israel. Mean maximal air temperature and relative humidity during the study were 30.2°C and 86%, respectively. All experimental cows were efficiently cooled throughout the study, as confirmed by measuring the body temperature of random cows. Treated cows received a CIDR insert on d 5 ± 1 post-AI for 13 d and pregnancy was confirmed by palpation 45 d post-AI. Plasma progesterone concentration in treated cows was elevated by approximately 1.5 ng/mL. Multiple logistic regressions were used to analyze conception rate. Treatment did not alter the overall conception rate; however, probability of conception increased in CIDR-treated cows with low body condition score (BCS) compared with their control counterparts (53 vs. 27%, respectively). A pronounced increase in probability of conception was recorded in CIDR-treated cows exhibiting both low BCS and postpartum reproductive disorders, compared with their control counterparts (58 vs. 14%, respectively). Exogenous progesterone supplementation on d 5 post-AI for 13 d improves summer fertility of subpopulations of cows exhibiting low BCS and postpartum reproductive disorders. Reproductive management based on specific hormonal treatment of designated subgroups of cows known to derive beneficial effects from it might improve treatment efficiency and reduce expenses.


Neurological outcomes of preterm infants with posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus are among the worst in newborn medicine. There remains no consensus regarding the diagnosis or treatment of posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus, and the pathological pathways leading to the adverse neurological sequelae are poorly understood. In the current study, we developed an innovative approach to simultaneously identify potential diagnostic markers of posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus and investigate novel pathways of posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus-related neurological disability. Tandem multi-affinity fractionation for specific removal of plasma proteins from the hemorrhagic cerebrospinal fluid samples was combined with high resolution label-free quantitative proteomics. Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid obtained from infants with posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus demonstrated marked differences in the levels of 438 proteins when compared with cerebrospinal fluid from age-matched control infants. Amyloid precursor protein, neural cell adhesion molecule-L1, neural cell adhesion molecule-1, brevican and other proteins with important roles in neurodevelopment showed profound elevations in posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus cerebrospinal fluid compared with control. Initiation of neurosurgical treatment of posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus resulted in resolution of these elevations. The results from this foundational study demonstrate the significant promise of tandem multi-affinity fractionation-proteomics in the identification and quantitation of protein mediators of neurodevelopment and neurological injury. More specifically, our results suggest that cerebrospinal fluid levels of proteins such as amyloid precursor protein or neural cell adhesion molecule-L1 should be investigated as potential diagnostic markers of posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus. Notably, dysregulation of the levels these and other proteins may directly affect ongoing neurodevelopmental processes in these preterm infants, providing an entirely new hypothesis for the developmental disability associated with posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus.


Summary In order to model the effect of oil/gas production or CO2 injection at the seismic scale, we have to understand the effects of pore structure, pressure and fluid changes on velocity at the laboratory scale. To reach this goal, we measured carbonate rocks with a suite of miscible fluids, simulating the entire range of reservoir fluid moduli from light to heavy oils. In our experiments, compressional velocity (Vp) and shear wave velocity (Vs) are simultaneously measured at a frequency of 1MHz and under increasing effective stress from 3 MPa to 30 MPa. We observe large variations in velocities between 3200 m/s and 6500 m/s and a large scatter in the P-wave velocity – porosity relationship. The P-wave velocity shows up to 2000m/s difference at a given porosity. The velocity increases between 250 and 750m/s as pressure incresases from 3 to 30MPa. The bulk of the samples show increasing Vp/Vs ratios with pressurization, up to values between 1.7 and 1.84. The ratio of normalized bulk versus shear modulus ranges from 0.7 to 0.9. Twenty-one oomoldic carbonate samples with nearly spherical pores show a weak correlation between velocity and porosity under dry conditions. We attribute the weak correlation between velocity and porosity in rocks with similar pore geometry to variations in inter-crystalline porosity in the rock frame. This finding questions the assumption that spherical pores have a dominant effect on velocity. Four oomoldic samples were chosen for fluid substitution and saturated "in-situ" with seven different pore fluids. Significant effects of fluid changes on velocity are observed. A linear correlation exists between bulk modulus and fluid modulus (r 2 > 0.97). In contrast, shear modulus changes correlated with the viscosity of the fluids: the lower the fluid viscosity, the lower the shear modulus. Our results question common hypotheses for modeling pore-structure effects on acoustic properties in carbonates; (a) P-wave velocity is controlled by the percentage of spherical porosity, and (b) the P-wave velocity in oomoldic rocks is insensitive to fluid and pressure changes because of high stiffness of the rock frame. These findings imply that one has to be cautious in relating rock-physics model parameters to volumetric dominant pore types.


A novel tunable gain equalizer based on the long-period fiber grating (LPFG) induced by high-frequency CO/sub 2/ laser pulses is demonstrated, for the first time, to our knowledge. Both the resonant wavelength and the resonant peak amplitude of the novel LPFG have a good linearity with temperature and transverse load, respectively. The wavelength and the peak amplitude of the gain equalizer can be tuned by the means of adjusting temperature and transverse load independently, showing that this tunable equalizer is a practical approach to realizing dynamic gain equalization in erbium-doped fiber amplifier systems.


MegaBlocks is the state-of-the-art system for efficient training of MoE models based on block-sparse matrix multiplication kernels. The library is currently restricted to a specific block size in the sparse matrices, data type, and GPU architecture. This is due to the CUDA kernels used for the block-sparse matrix products in the MoE layers. These kernels have been hand-tuned and manually optimized to obtain the highest performance for a specific choice of parameters. In this work, we evaluate re-writing these kernels in Triton, a Python-embedded domain specific language (DSL) for high-performance kernels for GPUs. We show that it is possible to achieve same levels of performance as the hand-tuned CUDA kernels, while maintaining portability across GPU architectures and easily supporting different block sizes and data types without any code changes. We identify the challenges and advantages of us-ing Triton in implementing these block-sparse matrix multiplication kernels.


This study on assessed on the impacts of rainfall variability on crops yield in Morogoro municipality. The study was done in five wards, which were randomly selected. These include; Kihonda, Mafiga, Kichangani, Kilakala and Mazimbu. Both primary and secondary data were collected through questionnaire, documentary reviews and field observations. Questionnaire interviews were administered to 150 respondents selected at random from the five wards where 30 respondents were sampled in each ward. Then checklists were administered to 15 Agricultural Extension Officers obtained through purposeful sampling. Analysis of the secondary data of rainfall for the last 30 growing seasons from TMA and crop production statistics for the last 5 growing seasons from the agricultural department were performed using Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Non-numeric data from the field survey were coded, summarized and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. From that analysis, results indicate that the general trend of rainfall variability is slightly declining. Farmers and extension officers perceived these changes by the help of a series of indicators. Nevertheless, perception on the rainfall variability indicators varied depending on the type of livelihood activities which are mostly affected. As a result of that; crop production has been decreasing as well. This can be due to shrinking of the growing season, increased insects and pests all caused by climate change. Eventually this situation leads to low income and food insecurity among the members of the community. Finally, this study concludes that there are some evidences demonstrating the impacts of rainfall variability on crops yield in the study area and pose recommendation strategies to adapt with the impacts.


Most patients with advanced cancer develop skeletal muscle atrophy called sarcopenia, which reduces treatment tolerance and social activity and worsens the prognosis.


It has been well established from previous experimental and numerical work that heat and mass transfer in a helical pipe is higher than that in a corresponding straight pipe.The detailed description of fluid flow and heat transfer inside helical coil is not available from the present literature. This paper clearly shows the variation of average Nusselt number and friction factor with the geometric variables of a vertically and horizontally oriented helical coil for constant wall temperature boundary condition .A comparison of heat transfer and head loss in helical pipe is also discussed for vertical and horizontal orientation. The effect of inlet velocity on heat transfer coefficient and average nusselt number is also described. CFD simulations are carried out for vertically and horizontally oriented helical coils by varying different geometric parameters such as (i) pitch circle diameter, (ii) helical tube pitch and (iii) pipe diameter and their influence on heat transfer and fluid flow has been analysied. After investigate the influence of these parameters, the correlations for average nusselt number and friction factor are developed.


Background. To analyse the demand for medical information requested by a primary care team from its hospital of reference over an 18 month period. Material and methods. Patients assigned to 5 surgeries of a primary care team, which had computerised clinical records available in its hospital of reference. In 1995 computerised communication via modem was set up between this team and the "Local Area Network" of its hospital of reference. This connection allows members of the team to carry out real time consultations of the hospital clinical records of their patients (reports, complementary explorations...) and the laboratory and radiology reports requested by the primary care team. Consultations made over an 18 month period (March 96 - August 97) were analysed. Results. Five hundred and twenty three consultations were made (29.06 per month). Ninety three point sevent per cent of the patients concerning whom consultations were made had a computerised clinical record available. The most consulted services were: Radiology (28.7%), Laboratory (25.2%) and Internal Medicine (16.3%). The most consulted parts of the clinical record were those corresponding to the results of complementary tests: simple radiology (27.3%), haematology and biochemistry (24.7%), other explorations (23.7%). Some 67.5% of the searches were considered "resolutive" by the consulting doctor. An average of 4 minutes 13 seconds were employed per consultation. Conclusions. The information principally required by the family doctor was the results of complementary tests and, in particular, from the laboratory and radiology. Computerised communication between primary care and specialised care is going to be an effective, and probably efficient, system for improving communication between the two levels.


Building enclosures are critical to a building and are truly a multidisciplinary system. From a structural perspective, they must resist many types of loadings, particularly as they are the first line of protection to the occupants against external and environmental loading. With the recent interest in designing systems to be multi-hazard resistant, new innovative systems need to be created, existing systems need to be studied for applicability, and underperforming systems need to be upgraded using some strengthening methods. In multi-hazard resistant design, it is critical that wall systems resist blast loading. Currently, a few established methods exist to test enclosure systems to resist blast loads. Here, a discussion on the testing protocols and different facility capabilities and differences are detailed. This paper discusses a case study of the creation and illustration of the capabilities of a versatile air bladder load test facility (ABLTF) for out-of-plane structural experimental enclosure studies to meet the needs of multi-hazard static and dynamic loading of wall specimens. The paper offers a review of different types of facilities that have been constructed in other laboratories for similar purposes and provides the necessary information and guidance for generating the type of facility presented here, with safety in mind, particularly when facility space is limited.


The Ku-band SeaWinds scatterometer, developed for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is part of the Earth Observing System which will measure global environmental changes. Scheduled for launch on the Japanese Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) in the year 2000, the instrument measures wind data over the Earth's ice-free oceans every day. The development of the 110 watt peak power radar involved many design trade-offs including the temperature performance. A passive thermal control system, providing a narrow band temperature response in all orbit environments, was necessary to maintain stable radar calibration over a three-year operating life. This paper describes the evolution of the thermal control system design and test validation for the scatterometer electronics subassembly (SES).


Sylvestre Francois Lacroix (1765-1843) composed textbooks in mathematics that turned out to be highly popular and influential over a period of fifty years. In fact with his work Lacroix contributed to the establishment of mathematics instruction in the new public system of education in France. Ranging over practically all branches of school mathematics, his textbooks were addressed to students of all degrees of mathematics instruction, and specifically, to engineers-to-be. In 1816 he wrote the volume Essais sur l'enseignement en general, et sur celui des mathematiques en particulier, ou Maniere d'etudier et d'enseigner les Mathematiques. This work gathered Lacroix's reflections on the education of sciences, in general, and of mathematics, in particular. The aim of this paper is to analyze some values and attitudes in education highlighted by Lacroix in his Essais. The discussion of some excerpts from this work reveals that Lacroix regarded as a fundamental component in the education of sciences and mathematics the transmission of values such as the search for the truth beyond prejudices, communication skills, collaborative work and lifelong learning, among others. Hence, Lacroix's text, written nearly two centuries ago, displays values in engineering education that still hold today.


The problem of automatic detection and classification for mine hunting applications is addressed. We propose a set of algorithms which are tested using a large database of real synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) images. The highlights and shadows of the objects in an SAS image are segmented using both a Markovian algorithm and the active contours algorithm. The comparison of both segmentation results is used as a feature for classification. In addition, other features are considered. These include geometrical shape descriptors, not only of the shadow region, but also of the object highlight, which demonstrates a significant improvement of the performance. Furthermore, a novel set of features based on the image statistics is described. Finally, we propose an optimal feature set that leads to the best classification results for the available database.


A number of temperature-sensitive mutants were isolated from two strains of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Various properties of the mutants were examined including comparative growth curves at permissive and restrictive temperatures, cut-off temperatures, thermal lability and pH sensitivity. Recombination was observed between various pairs of mutants of FMDV strain Pacheco. It occurred early in the growth cycle and the proportion of recombinants remained constant thereafter. Maximum recombination was achieved if the input multiplicity of each virus was 6 p.f.u./cell or greater, provided the ratio of the input multiplicities did not vary by more than a factor of two. Day-to-day variations could be substantially reduced by normalizing recombination frequencies in terms of a standard cross. The results suggested that genetic mapping was possible with two-or three-factor crosses.


Recent findings indicate that (a) mitochondria in proliferating cancer cells are functional, (b) cancer cells use more oxygen than normal cells for oxidative phosphorylation, and (c) cancer cells critically rely on cytosolic NADH transported into mitochondria via the malate-aspartate shuttle (MAS) for ATP production. In a spontaneous lung cancer model, tumor growth was reduced by 50% in heterozygous oxoglutarate carrier (OGC) knock-out mice compared with wild-type counterparts. To determine the mechanism through which OGC promotes tumor growth, the effects of the OGC inhibitor N-phenylmaleimide (NPM) on mitochondrial activity, oxygen consumption, and ATP production were evaluated in melanoma cell lines. NPM suppressed oxygen consumption and decreased ATP production in melanoma cells in a dose-dependent manner. NPM also reduced the proliferation of melanoma cells. To test the effects of NPM on tumor growth and metastasis in vivo, NPM was administered in a human melanoma xenograft model. NPM reduced tumor growth by approximately 50% and reduced melanoma invasion by 70% at a dose of 20 mg/kg. Therefore, blocking OGC activity may be a useful approach for cancer therapy.


Over the last few years, interest in renting Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) has increased and this has led to the development of many new solutions of this class. The competition on this market resulted in serious changes in the business strategies of the providers of IaaS cloud services. We are witnessing an incredibly dynamic development of the IaaS market. This requires the thorough analysis of the current possibilities of the providers of such products and the direction in which they will be developing in the near future. The objectives of the present article are to analyse the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the IaaS solutions of the world's leading providers of cloud services and to offer recommendations with reference to choosing an effective cloud configuration. To achieve the set goals, the study has used the Gartner's Magic Quadrant research methodology; has collected and summarised data from the studied providers of IaaS cloud services and, based on these results has outlined parameters that can be used to analyse, compare and assess the leading world IaaS solutions.


In attempting to evaluate a brief course on care of the mentally ill given to health personnel in Burma, experience suggested: (a) that post-course questionnaires asking participants to rate usefulness of the educational experience are useless in evaluation; (b) Assessments of clinical knowledge before and after the course were useful in guiding the teachers and assessing improvement in knowledge; (c) Data on treatment prescriptions given to patients by health personnel before and after the course might be a simple and inexpensive way of assessing impact on health care. Direct measurement of changes in attitudes and improvement of skills in health personnel and of the clinical outcome of patients they treat cannot be done economically and efficiently.


There are a lot of ongoing changes in today ́s Geo-data market. Traditional areas but especially new industries like telecommunication, car navigation as well as new technologies like location based services (LBS) are leading to a high demand of digital data. Data production shops have to be prepared for a huge amount of data throughput. Managing this data is a critical problem facing today ́s private and governmental imagery producers and users. Being the worlds leader for industry solutions in earth imaging Z/I Imaging expanded it ́s product line by introducing TerraShare – a comprehensive data management and distribution solution for geo-image data and projects. The paper describes the benefits of Terrashare and explains details about architecture, modules and functionality of this product family adressing customers needs towards high productivity and seamless workflow.


This research examined the relationship between fashion and art in the Arabian Gulf and sought to determine if fashion can function as art in the latter geopolitical location. In-depth interviews with study participants revealed attitudes towards the two creative industries that helped create a capsule collection consisting of 5 garments that illustrate the findings of this project and highlight the importance of value differences, regional demographics, and cultural understandings of art. The resulting collection, Binomia, reflects Durkheim's ideas on individuals' ability to read symbols and the difference in opinions that result from these culturally informed understandings.


A triangular lattice model for pattern formation by core-shell particles at fluid interfaces is introduced and studied for the particle to core diameter ratio equal to 3. Repulsion for overlapping shells and attraction at larger distances due to capillary forces are assumed. Ground states and thermodynamic properties are determined analytically and by Monte Carlo simulations for soft outer- and stiffer inner shells, with different decay rates of the interparticle repulsion. We find that thermodynamic properties are qualitatively the same for slow and for fast decay of the repulsive potential, but the ordered phases are stable for temperature ranges, depending strongly on the shape of the repulsive potential. More importantly, there are two types of patterns formed for fixed chemical potential—one for a slow and another one for a fast decay of the repulsion at small distances. In the first case, two different patterns—for example clusters or stripes—occur with the same probability for some range of the chemical potential. For a fixed concentration, an interface is formed between two ordered phases with the closest concentration, and the surface tension takes the same value for all stable interfaces. In the case of degeneracy, a stable interface cannot be formed for one out of four combinations of the coexisting phases, because of a larger surface tension. Our results show that by tuning the architecture of a thick polymeric shell, many different patterns can be obtained for a sufficiently low temperature.


A Mach-Zehnder interferometer based fiber-optic distributed disturbance sensor (FDDS) incorporating a modified phase generation carrier (PGC) is proposed and investigated. It is found that the slow time-varying fluctuation such as temperature variation causes the location errors. By employing a modified PGC technique that satisfies the requirements including high sampling frequency and compensation of the time delay from the long length fiber, the location errors caused by the slow time-varying fluctuation can be eliminated.


Lateral spread of S6 strain Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) was studied in small populations of chickens. One experimentally exposed bird served as the source of infection, and the presence of MG-agglutinating antibody was evidence of infection in individuals. The results were subjected to survival data analysis. In the seven experiments, four similar but not identical phases of lateral spread were observed: phase 1, a generally long latent phase (median 15, range 12-21 days) before antibody was first detected in the MG-inoculated bird; phase 2, a generally short period (median 1, range 1-21 days) in which infection gradually appeared in 5-10% of the population; phase 3, a fairly constant characteristic phase (median 24, range 7-32 days) in which 90-95% of the remaining population developed MG antibody; phase 4, a generally short terminal phase (median 4, range 3-19 days) in which the remainder of the population became positive. Increasing the population density increased the rate at which lateral spread occurred.


The prominence of cloud computing that provides resources on demand to various types of users including enterprises as well as engineering and scientific institutions is growing rapidly. An effective resource management middleware is necessary to harness the power of the underlying distributed hardware in a cloud. The resource manager needs to be able to effectively perform mapping (matchmaking and scheduling) of user requests (jobs) on to resources to satisfy desired system objectives as well as user's requirements for a quality of service that is often captured in a service level agreement (SLA). This paper concerns the problem of meeting an end-to-end SLA (characterized by an earliest start time, an execution time, and a deadline) for applications that require service from multiple resources (referred to as multi-stage applications) on a system subjected to an open stream of request arrivals. A new budget-based algorithm and a resource manager called MapReduce Budget-based Resource Manager (MRBB-RM) are devised for effectively performing matchmaking and scheduling of an open stream of MapReduce jobs (a popular multi-stage application) with SLAs on a distributed environment such as a cloud or a cluster. A detailed description of the algorithm and its performance analysis are presented.


Years of heavy regulation and bureaucratic inefficiency have slowed innovation for electronic medical records (EMRs). We now face a critical need for such innovation, as personalization and data science prompt patients to engage in the details of their healthcare and restore agency over their medical data. In this paper, we propose MedRec: a novel, decentralized record management system to handle EMRs, using blockchain technology. Our system gives patients a comprehensive, immutable log and easy access to their medical information across providers and treatment sites. Leveraging unique blockchain properties, MedRec manages authentication, confidentiality, accountability and data sharing- crucial considerations when handling sensitive information. A modular design integrates with providers' existing, local data storage solutions, facilitating interoperability and making our system convenient and adaptable. We incentivize medical stakeholders (researchers, public health authorities, etc.) to participate in the network as blockchain "miners". This provides them with access to aggregate, anonymized data as mining rewards, in return for sustaining and securing the network via Proof of Work. MedRec thus enables the emergence of data economics, supplying big data to empower researchers while engaging patients and providers in the choice to release metadata. The purpose of this short paper is to expose, prior to field tests, a working prototype through which we analyze and discuss our approach.


ABSTRACT With demographic changes and the growing numbers of older people living alone, concerns have been raised about the care of the ageing population. Increasingly, developments in technology are being seen as the solution to these concerns. For those who do not see themselves as old or frail enough to require personal care provision, and who prefer to maintain their identity as autonomous and independent individuals, the development of assistive technologies such as ambient home monitoring systems is one answer. However, this involves careful negotiations with older people's understandings of safety and privacy, and their experiences and relationships with technology, their carers and relevant service-providers. In two trials of a home monitoring system funded by the United Kingdom Technology Strategy Board, older people were interviewed pre-trial and post-trial about their perspectives on these issues. This paper presents a conceptual analysis of the qualitative data using a sociological framework of trust that considers habitual action, and relationships with kin and with wider institutions. The research found that older people's habits and norms do not need to be disrupted by the ambient system. What was of more importance was relationships between the older person and her or his 'monitor' based on trust, as well as institutional providers who need to instil or earn trust.


This thesis studies the changes in profitability and employment during a three-year period for 71 Swedish firms that were targets of acquisitions in the years 1998-2001. The aim is to test whether foreign-owned firms are better in generating profitability and employment than domestically-owned firms. The results show that there is a relationship between the nationality of the acquirer and profitability. Foreign ownership has a positive relationship to profitability in general and also account for the highest profitability increases in the period studied. Domestically-owned firms have a positive relationship to decreased profitability which means that the domestically-owned firms have a greater tendency to generate lower profitability than foreign-owned firms in the period studied. No statistically significant results were attained when testing the relationship between nationality of acquirer and change in employment. Nevertheless the figures show a pattern of positive relationships between foreign ownership and increased employment. Tests were made to see if there is any relationship between nationality of acquirer and the economic performance of target firms at the time of acquisition. The results show that foreign acquirers tend to acquire targets with a negative profitability while domestic investors tend to acquire firms with a positive profitability.


There is the new course, Anthropology of Conflicts, which started at the Saint Petersburg University of the Humanities and Social Sciences in 2017. Like any other disci-plines it needs for a concise presentation, especially if it is a new subject based on the crossing of different methodological approaches. The goal of this paper is to consider the theoretical and methodological principles and main problems of this subject. The appearance of the subject is caused by two needs. Firstly, there is a need to diversify conflict studies with integration anthropological view into them. Secondly, there is a need to show new problems of conflict studies to students. In history anthropology has often been used as a philosophical subject or as biological science. The article shows that anthropology is between science and philosophy. The subject field of anthropology of conflict is analyzed there and a special attention is given to describing the main questions: the role of conflicts in the evolution, conspecific conflict behavior of primates, conflicts and anthropogenesis, the problem of conflicts between Homo sapiens and other human species, human specificity of conflict behavior, and so on. Besides, the paper shows the newness and the connection of this subject with other conflict studies.


Texts appearing in daily scenes that can be recognized by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tools contain significant information, such as street name, product brand and prices. Two tasks -- text-based visual question answering and text-based image captioning, with a text extension from existing vision-language applications, are catching on rapidly.
To address these problems, many sophisticated multi-modality encoding frameworks (such as heterogeneous graph structure) are being used. In this paper, we argue that a simple attention mechanism can do the same or even better job without any bells and whistles. Under this mechanism, we simply split OCR token features into separate visual- and linguistic-attention branches, and send them to a popular Transformer decoder to generate answers or captions. Surprisingly, we find this simple baseline model is rather strong -- it consistently outperforms state-of-the-art (SOTA) models on two popular benchmarks, TextVQA and all three tasks of ST-VQA, although these SOTA models use far more complex encoding mechanisms. Transferring it to text-based image captioning, we also surpass the TextCaps Challenge 2020 winner. We wish this work to set the new baseline for these two OCR text related applications and to inspire new thinking of multi-modality encoder design. Code is available at https://github.com/ZephyrZhuQi/ssbaseline


In the present study, a new dipeptide analogue namely 2-amino-amino ethyl)-3-phenylpropionamide was synthesized by liquid phase synthesis from L-phenylalanine and ethylenediamine. The intermediates and the final compound were analyzed by analytical thin layer chromatography and characterized by 1H NMR, D2O exchange NMR and mass spectral analyses to ascertain the purity and elucidate the chemical structure. This is the first experimental report of the synthesis and characterization of this compound.


Multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge (MARFE) instabilities may reduce confinement leading to harmful disruptions. They cause a significant increase in impurity radiation, and therefore, they leave a clear signature in the video data. This information can be exploited for automatic identification and tracking. A MARFE classifier, based on the phase congruency theory, has been developed and adjusted to extract the structural information in the images of Joint European Torus (JET) cameras. This approach has the advantage of using a dimensionless quantity and providing information that is invariant to image illumination, contrast, and magnification. The method was tested on JET experimental data and has proved to provide a good prediction rate.


Over ten years research into photography and education has been undertaken at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design in collaboration with the Arts Council of England, West Midlands Arts, and local community photography agencies. A range of case studies were undertaken to explore how young people used photography, particularly in self-empowerment. These ranged from students in Further Education challenging concepts of visual stereotypes of disability, young lesbian, gay and bisexual people constructing their own website, and individuals and groups creating and modifying their own images in a shopping centre. A democratic action research methodology was developed to enable the young people to establish their own agenda and generate standards for evaluating their work. A particular feature of the later research was a self-reflective journal that was shared between the researcher and everyone engaged in the project. This resource has considerable potential in photography and elsewhere in art and design education.


Three-dimensional (3D) printing has been a very active area of research and development due to its capability to produce 3D objects by design. Miniaturization and improvement of spatial resolution are major challenges in current 3D printing technology development. This work reports advances in miniaturizing 3D printing to the nanometer scale using scanning probe microscopy in conjunction with local material delivery. Using polyelectrolyte polymers and complexes, we have demonstrated the concept of layer-by-layer nanoprinting by design. Nanometer precision is achieved in all three dimensions, as well as in interlayer registry. The approach enables production of designed functional 3D materials with nanometer resolution and, as such, creates a platform for conducting scientific research in designed 3D nanoenvironments as well. In doing so, it enables production of nanomaterials and scaffolds for photonics devices, biomedicine, and tissue engineering.


Pseudomonas aeruginosa M60, a mucoid strain, was grown in continuous culture (D 0.05 h-1) under ammonia limitation with glucose as the carbon source. Steady-state alginate production occurred for only 1-2 d under these conditions [qalginate 0.097 g alginate h-1 (g dry wt cells)-1], after which time the percentage of mucoid cells and the alginate concentration in the culture decreased in parallel and approached zero after approximately 10 d. These changes were accompanied by similar decreases in the activities of the alginate biosynthetic enzymes (represented by phosphomannomutase and GDP-mannose dehydrogenase) and by a large increase in the activity of the first enzyme of the 'external' non-phosphorylative pathway of glucose metabolism, glucose dehydrogenase. In contrast, the activities of other enzymes associated with this pathway (gluconate dehydrogenase, 2-ketogluconate kinase plus 2-ketogluconate-6-phosphate reductase) or with the 'internal' phosphorylative pathway of glucose metabolism (glucokinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) remained essentially unchanged. The loss of mucoidy and alginate production was accompanied by the appearance of low concentrations of intracellular polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and of extracellular gluconate and 2-ketogluconate (partly at the expense of alginate production and partly as a result of increased glucose consumption). It is suggested that ammonia-limited, glucose-excess cultures of P. aeruginosa growing at low dilution rate are unable fully to regulate the rate at which glucose and/or its 'external' pathway metabolites are taken up by the cell, and therefore form copious amounts of alginate in order both to overcome the potentially deleterious osmotic effects of accumulating surplus intracellular metabolites and to consume the surplus ATP generated by the further oxidation of these metabolites. The loss of mucoidy invokes the use of an alternative, but analogous, strategy via which non-mucoid cells produce an osmotically inactive intracellular product (PHA) plus increased amounts of the extracellular metabolites gluconate and 2-ketogluconate via the low-energy-yielding and, under these conditions, largely dead-end 'external' metabolic pathway.


This study discusses the pension system as an institutional structure for intergenerational exchange. The concept of intergenerational equilibrium is introduced as a condition for pension system stability, reducing labour market distortions as well as reaching social policy goals such as giving equal value to the welfare of each generation. The changing population structure has led to diminishing control of the division of GDP between the working and retired populations. The cost imposed on the working generations poses a growing risk of poverty among them and their families. The key feature of the pension system should be its neutrality. This report presents the main dimensions of the desired neutrality, exploring macro, individual, social and psychological neutrality.


Due to the high energy and power density, Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely employed in portable electronics and electric vehicles, and have become a promising solution for the storage of renewable energy. Besides electrochemistry, it has been widely recognized that mechanics plays a critical role in the performance and the lifetime of LIBs. In particular, electrode materials with a high theoretical capacity suffer from irreversible mechanical degradation already after few cycles due to high internal stress, which is the well-known dilemma between capacity and cyclability of LIBs. It has motivated a number of chemo-mechanical studies on both the active particle level and the cell level in the last two decades.

This thesis presents first a thermodynamically consistent framework to derive a fully coupled electro-chemo-mechanical model for LIB electrode materials. In particular, it regards not only the chemo-mechanical bulk behavior in large deformation regions with phase separation but also the chemo-mechanical interface model, which addresses both the damage-dependent across grain boundary (GB) transport and a chemo-mechanically coupled cohesive zone law for mechanical failure. Although the unique mechanical and transport features of grain boundaries or interfaces in polycrystalline ion conductors have been recognized, the understanding of the chemo-mechanical interplay at the interface and its impact is insufficient. The derived model serves exactly this purpose. Based on the derived model, 3D finite element simulations for LiNixMnyCozO2 meatball particles have been carried out. Results demonstrate that the enhanced intergranular chemical inhomogeneity can weaken the interface mechanical strength and can lead to GB cracking. In contrast, the interface damage can, in turn, influence or even block the across-GB transport, thus enhance further the chemical inhomogeneity. This positive feedback explains the simulated results of chemical hot spots and surface layer delamination, which have been observed experimentally but go beyond the start-of-the-art simulation work.

In order to investigate the impact of chemo-mechanical particle behavior and damage on cell performance, a particle-cell two-level finite element model is further developed in this thesis. The widely used Pseudo-Two-Dimensional (P2D) cell model for LIBs is generally based on a simplified lithium diffusion model of active particles with simple geometry. This thesis presents a two-level framework, which extends the P2D cell model and incorporates a chemo-mechanically coupled 3D particle model as mentioned above. The two-level model allows a more detailed diffusion study of particles with general geometry and can include the full coupling among mechanics, phase separation, interface transport, and damage. To improve the computational efficiency, we manage to reduce one degree of freedom at the cell level by treating the ion flux between the electrolyte and active particle as a dependent quantity. The two-level framework is validated against the original one and applied to study the impact of particle geometry, elastic properties, and phase separation on cell performance. For instance, results show that the oblate particle has better cell performance than other spheroidal particles. It is attributed to the mechanical drifting at the higher curvature.

The combination of the proposed chemo-mechanical particle model and the extended particle-cell two-level model lay a good foundation for chemo-mechanical simulations of LIBs and other related ion batteries. A series of parameter studies can be carried out, which are helpful to reveal both the mechanism and degradation of the particle and the related cell performance change, and can thus serve as powerful tools for multiphysics battery designs and optimization.


Objective: The present study sought to characterize social reactions to disclosures of sexual violence that occurred online through the Twitter hashtag #NotOkay. Method: A sample of 306 original content, English-language tweets containing the hashtag #NotOkay were collected via the NVivo software addition NCapture over a period of 5 nonconsecutive weekdays. Qualitative content analysis was conducted by a 3-person team. Results: Ullman's (2000) Social Reactions Questionnaire served as a preliminary coding guide. Resulting themes included egocentric and distracting social reactions (which are commonly classified as negative responses), as well as a range of positive social reactions (providing emotional support, providing tangible or informational aid, and expressing validation and belief). Advocacy and taking responsibility for social change also emerged as positive responses within the online forum. It unclear whether tweets that distracted from survivors' experience by commenting broadly on the prevalence of violence, or by placing responsibility on perpetrators, would be considered as helpful or hurtful by survivors. Conclusion: The resulting classification of online social reactions to disclosure of sexual victimization differs from existing classification systems of in-person social reactions to disclosure, suggesting that online forums may offer a unique context for disclosing violence and receiving support. Online forums may also provide an opportunity for support providers to engage in advocacy and voice a desire for social change, forms of social support that may not be provided in the context of an in-person disclosure. Future research may examine whether survivors who disclose on social media receive the support they desire.


Accepted indications for surgical intervention in the seminoma patient include, elevated beta HCG of greater than 30 international units, elevated alpha fetoprotein, the presence of mixed germinal tumor and in selected cases of recurrent seminoma and secondary primary seminoma. Questionable indications for surgical intervention include the diagnosis of anaplastic seminoma, any elevation of beta HCG and the presence of bulk disease. Clinical evidence does suggest that the combination of chemotherapy and debulking surgery for high stage seminoma allows for a superior survival of patients in this disease catagory. Its application to patients with low stage disease is largely theoretical, with only rare clinical reports supporting this hypothesis. A study of patients with low stage seminoma, randomizing such patients between retroperitoneal lymph node dissection and definitive radiation therapy appears to be indicated.


A transparent conductor which can generate high temperatures finds important applications in optoelectronics. In this article, a wire network made of Au on quartz is shown to serve as an effective high temperature transparent heater. The heater has been fabricated by depositing Au onto a cracked sacrificial template. The highly interconnected Au wire network thus formed exhibited a transmittance of ∼87% in a wide spectral range with a sheet resistance of 5.4 Ω □(-1). By passing current through the network, it could be joule heated to ∼600 °C within a few seconds. The extraordinary thermal performance and stability owe much to the seamless junctions present in the wire network. Furthermore, the wire network gets self-annealed through joule heating as seen from its increased crystallinity. Interestingly, both transmittance and sheet resistance improved following annealing to 92% and 3.2 Ω □(-1), respectively.


VCcalization and eye movements during emotional-defensive response evoked by unilateral intrahypothalamic carbachol injections (10 yg) were quantitatively determined. The growling episodes duration paralleled the development and the subsiding of the defensive behavior, while the changes of eye movements indicated rather a general arousal than the course of agonistic attitude. The growling component can be treated as (i) a specific form of vocalization for emotional-defensive response, (ii) quantitative intensity index of the response, and (iii) a value reflecting the dynamics and the time-course of the emotional state, unlike the hissing component which is inappropriate for quanti- tative determination. The results enable to treat the carbachol-induced response as a model for quantitative investigations on emotional-defen- sive states in cats. The vocalization changes compared with cardio- vascular changes are discussed in terms of their usefulness in measure- ments of aversive emotional responses.


Remote oceanic islands harbour unique biodiversity, especially of species that rely on the marine trophic resources around their breeding islands. Identifying marine areas used by such species is essential to manage and limit processes that threaten these species. The Tristan da Cunha territory in the South Atlantic Ocean hosts several endemic and globally threatened seabirds, and pinnipeds; how they use the waters surrounding the islands must be considered when planning commercial activities. To inform marine management in the Tristan da Cunha Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), we identified statistically significant areas of concentrated activity by collating animal tracking data from nine seabirds and one marine mammal. We first calculated the time that breeding adults of the tracked species spent in 10 × 10 km cells within the EEZ, for each of four seasons to account for temporal variability in space use. By applying a spatial aggregation statistic over these grids for each season, we detected areas that are used more than expected by chance. Most of the activity hotspots were either within 100 km of breeding colonies or were associated with seamounts, being spatially constant across several seasons. Our simple and effective approach highlights important areas for pelagic biodiversity that will benefit conservation planning and marine management strategies.


This article explores the interpreter's agency in wartime. It presents a case study of Gottlieb Fuchs, a Swisscitizen who worked as the interpreter forKlaus Barbie, the Gestapocommanderof German-occupied Lyon, during the Second World War. The study focuses on the analysis of his memoirs as a personal narrative and some letters written by former Gestapo prisoners and camp inmates. Gottlieb Fuchs's story is an unusual one: working as a triple agent from 1942 to 1944 in the context of the Second World War, Fuchs collaborated simultaneously with the Germans, the French Resistance and the government of his native Switzerland. Despite their official neutrality in the war, the Swiss used Fuchs as a source of information with which to help prepare for amobilisation if facedwitha German invasion. Driven by solid ideological values, Fuchs used his position to protect political prisoners,and played, therefore, a humanitarian roleduring the German occupation of France. I focus on this particular case study in order to analyse the role of emotions and ideology in the interpreter's agency in contemporary wars. I argue that emotions have an important impact on the interpreter's agency in extreme conditions. I also posit that the interpreter may not always be aware of the direct or indirect implications of using or misusing his complex positionality to attain certain goals, and that there are unforeseen repercussions that stem from the interpreter's decisions and are beyond his control.


The initial step in the anoxic metabolism of nitrilotriacetate (NTA) was investigated in a denitrifying member of the gamma subgroup of the Proteobacteria. In membrane-free cell extracts, the first step of NTA oxidation was catalyzed by a protein complex consisting of two enzymes, NTA dehydrogenase (NTADH) and nitrate reductase (NtR). The products formed were iminodiacetate and glyoxylate. Electrons derived from the oxidation of NTA were transferred to nitrate only via the artificial dye phenazine methosulfate, and nitrate was stoichiometrically reduced to nitrite. NTADH activity could be measured only in the presence of NtrR and vice versa. The NTADH-NtrR enzyme complex was purified and characterized. NTADH and NtrR were both alpha 2 dimers and had molecular weights of 170,000 and 105,000, respectively. NTADH contained covalently bound flavin cofactor, and NtrR contained a type b cytochrome. Optimum NTA-oxidizing activity was achieved at a molar ratio of NTADH to NtrR of approximately 1:1. So far, NTA is the only known substrate for NTADH. This is the first report of a redox enzyme complex catalyzing the oxidation of a substrate and concomitantly reducing nitrate.


Contextual analyses have received increasing interest as a way to understand electoral behaviors during the last decade. However, the growing interest in contextual analysis among political scientists is now limited by conceptual and methodological difficulties related to scale. Indeed, we show here that the scale we use might significantly change the results we get. Our central claim is therefore to plead in favor of a more careful reflection on scale in contextual analysis. This reflection on the impact of scale is made by applying two different methods to explain extreme right voting and ethnocentric attitudes. In the first, we define the context in which individuals are embedded through circles around their home while in the second, we try to capture the real environment of individuals by defining their proximity area, living pool, and employment pool. When applying contextual variables (share of migrants and economic context) to explain extreme right voting and ethnocentric attitudes, the intermediate scale – defined here as the municipality or radius of 4 to 8 km around one's residence – appears to be the most influential in both approaches compared either to closer neighborhood or larger levels. Our analysis also shows an interesting differential for the effect of contextual variables on ethnocentric attitudes and on extreme right voting, especially concerning the impact of urban versus rural context.


Protein-based nanomaterials are gaining importance in biomedical and biosensor applications where tunability of the protein particle size is highly desirable. Rationally designed proteins and peptides offer control over molecular interactions between monomeric protein units to modulate their self-assembly and thus particle formation. Here, using an example enzyme-peptide system produced as a single construct by bacterial expression, we explore how solution conditions affect the formation and size of protein nanoparticles. We found two independent routes to particle formation, one facilitated by charge interactions between protein-peptide and peptide-peptide exemplified by pH change or the presence of NO3- or NH4+ and the second route via metal-ion coordination ( e.g., Mg2+) within peptides. We further demonstrate that the two independent factors of pH and Mg2+ ions can be combined to regulate nanoparticle size. Charge interactions between protein-peptide monomers play a key role in either promoting or suppressing protein assembly; the intermolecular contact points within protein-peptide monomers involved in nanoparticle formation were identified by chemical cross-linking mass spectrometry. Importantly, the protein nanoparticles retain their catalytic activities, suggesting that their native structures are unaffected. Once formed, protein nanoparticles remain stable over long periods of storage or with changed solution conditions. Nevertheless, formation of nanoparticles is also reversible-they can be disassembled by desalting the buffer to remove complexing agents ( e.g., Mg2+). This study defines the factors controlling formation of protein nanoparticles driven by self-assembly peptides and an understanding of complex ion-peptide interactions involved within, offering a convenient approach to tailor protein nanoparticles without changing amino acid sequence.


Previous investigations find that morphine administered i.c.v. induces antinociception directly at supraspinal sites and indirectly via activation of descending spinal systems. Independent experimentation suggests substance P and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) administered intrathecally (i.t.) can act as putative pain neurotransmitters to stimulate afferent pathways mediating nociception. The present studies were designed to determine whether a functional link exists between these observations. Mice were administered morphine i.c.v. 15 min before i.t. injections of substance P or NMDA. Additional investigations utilized coadministration of substance P or NMDA i.t. with one of several antagonists. Morphine administered i.c.v. inhibited both substance P- and NMDA-induced behavior in a dose-dependent manner. Coadministration of noradrenergic or adenosine receptor antagonists with substance P or NMDA i.t. dose-dependently reversed morphine (i.c.v.)-mediated inhibition. Methysergide injected i.t. caused significant, but only partially effective, antagonism of the effects of morphine (i.c.v.). Naloxone coadministered i.t. was effective in reversing morphine (i.c.v.)-mediated inhibition of NMDA-induced behavior, but ineffective in the substance P assay. These data demonstrate a functional link between activation of descending systems mediating antinociception by morphine (i.c.v.) and inhibition of putative pain neurotransmitters by spinally active antinociceptive agents. The potential involvement of serotonergic and opioid spinal systems is not clear, but noradrenergic and adenosine spinal pathways appear to play an important role in the indirect actions of morphine (i.c.v.). Differences in the inhibition of NMDA- and substance P-induced behavior also provide evidence for the presence of substance P and NMDA receptors in separate afferent pathways transmitting nociceptive stimuli.


SIR,-The recent increased medical interest in and public awareness of the concept of informed consent (2 April, p 1117) have arisen directly from a failure on the part of medical educators. How many medical school curriculums contain lectures on the ethics of medicine or on the more particular aspect of entering patients in studies, be they randomised or not ? Like many parts of medical education-training an understanding and appreciation of the correct approach is expected to be gleaned by carefully observing one's peers. Basic common sense, maturity, a feeling of humanity towards one's fellow man in general, and a belief in the principle of truth plus some instruction as a student or postgraduate should be sufficient to produce doctors who will fully inform their patients. No one should deny that every patient has the right to be informed about his medical condition and treatment to that level of information which satisfies him. I believe that the signing of a written consent form is an indictment on the doctor-does his senior trust him, do the patient's relatives trust him, and most importantly does his patient trust him without such written consent? The relationship should be such that written consent should not be necessary. Is the written consent merely a safeguard for the doctor to be used later if legal proceedings are taken against him ? The idea of informed consent and honesty towards patients entering trials is paramount in the doctor-patient relationship, and replacing that nebulous intangible sense of trust with a form representing evidence that informed consent has been obtained devalues the age old doctor-patient relationship. But sadly this is the way of the world today. Finally, unless this problem is tackled and rectified at source-that is, at medical schoolthere is still no guarantee that written informed consent will mean that the patient has had the facts fully explained. Time to communicate, to inform, and to gain the patient's trust is more meaningful than a patient's signature on a consent form and I believe that the introduction of written consent will lead inexorably towards less, not more, information being imparted to the patient. JOHN WELSH


A convenient, self-assembly, ionic liquid-assisted method for the preparation of a Ni3S4–MoS2 heterojunction is reported. The Ni3S4 support not only provided high conductivity in the heterojunction for MoS2, but also showed more compatibility with MoS2, allowing a long cycle life. The capacity of the Ni3S4–MoS2 heterojunction is 985.21 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1, and it can retain 573 F g−1 after 20 000 cycles at a current density of 10 A g−1. The Ni3S4–MoS2//AC (ASC) device demonstrated a high energy density of 58.43 W h kg−1 when the power density reached 385.95 W kg−1, and it can retain an energy density of 18.75 W h kg−1 even at a high power density of 7500 W kg−1, revealing its potential and viability for practical applications. Furthermore, this work provides a novel method to synthesize MxSy–MoS2 (M = Co, Mn, etc.) heterojunction materials in one step. These heterojunction materials could be used in a wide range of fields such as in HER catalysts, Li ion batteries and supercapacitor electrodes.


BACKGROUND
This study was motivated by the need to better understand the tribology of the rotator cuff, as it could provide insights into degenerative processes and suggest therapeutic approaches to cuff disorders. The objective was to evaluate the distribution of a known lubricating protein in the infraspinatus tendon of the rotator cuff in adult goats. The hypothesis was that lubricin, also known as superficial zone protein or proteoglycan 4, serves as an interfascicular lubricant.

METHODS
Eight infraspinatus tendons were resected from eight Spanish goats, and five patellar tendons and articular cartilage samples were also resected from five of the goats. Samples were processed for immunolocalization of lubricin with use of a purified monoclonal antibody and for histological analysis with Masson trichrome staining for collagen. The locations of lubricin within the tendon were documented, and measurements were made of the distance to which lubricin was detected in the tendon, relative to the humeral insertion site, and the depth of lubricin staining into the fibrocartilage of the fascicle bordering the humeral joint space. Images from polarized light microscopy were used to measure the fascicle diameter and the crimp length.

RESULTS
Lubricin was prominent in layers separating the fascicles in the infraspinatus tendon, with occasional intrafascicular staining. The fibrocartilaginous portion of the fascicle bordering the humeral joint space displayed diffuse lubricin staining. The Masson trichrome staining of the collagen in this lubricin-containing fibrocartilage indicated that it was not being tensioned at the time of fixation, whereas the collagen contained in the body of the tendon was under tension. The crimp of the fascicles near the humeral joint side of the tendon displayed a shorter peak-to-peak length than the crimp of the fascicles in the superior region of the tendon. Only the surface of two of the five patellar tendon samples stained for lubricin; there was no staining within these ligaments.

CONCLUSIONS
The sheaths of the fascicles of the infraspinatus tendon near the bone insertion site contain lubricin, indicating that this lubricating protein may be facilitating interfascicular movement. The fact that the crimp pattern of fascicles changes with location in the tendon provides support for the supposition that fascicles move relative to one another as the tendon is loaded, underscoring the importance of a lubricating protein in the layer separating the fascicles.


The biological sciences encompass topics considered controversial by the American public, such as evolution and climate change. We believe that the development of climate change education in the biology classroom is better informed by an understanding of the history of the teaching of evolution. A common goal for science educators should be to engender a greater respect for and appreciation of science among students while teaching specific content knowledge. Citizen science has emerged as a viable yet underdeveloped method for engaging students of all ages in key scientific issues that impact society through authentic data-driven scientific research. Where successful, citizen science may open avenues of communication and engagement with the scientific process that would otherwise be more difficult to achieve. Citizen science projects demonstrate versatility in education and the ability to test hypotheses by collecting large amounts of often publishable data. We find a great possibility for science education research in the incorporation of citizen science projects in curriculum, especially with respect to "hot topics" of socioscientific debate based on our review of the findings of other authors. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education


Spiking neural networks (SNNs) have been shown capable of replicating the spike patterns observed in biological neuronal networks, and of learning via biologically-plausible mechanisms, such as synaptic time-dependent plasticity (STDP). As result, they are commonly used to model cultured neural network, and memristor-based neuromorphic computer chips that aim at replicating the scalability and functionalities of biological circuitries. These examples of SNNs, however, do not allow for the direct manipulation of the synaptic strengths (or weights) as required by existing training algorithms. Therefore, this paper presents an indirect training algorithm that, instead, is designed to manipulate input spike trains (stimuli) that can be implemented by patterns of blue light, or controlled input voltages, to induce the desired synaptic weights changes via STDP. The approach is demonstrated by training an SNN to control a virtual insect that seeks to reach a target location in an obstacle populated environment, without any prior control or navigation knowledge. The simulation results illustrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed indirect training algorithm for a biologically-plausible sensorimotor system.


Factor Xa (FXa) is an enzyme belonging to the serine protease family which plays a vital role in hemostasis, being an essential part in the blood-clotting cascade by catalyzing the thrombin and clot production, and wound closure. Moreover, the improvement of new anticoagulants drugs is essential to prevent cardiovascular thrombotic and pathologies. FXa has been a main target for the design of new drugs with important antithrombotic action; nevertheless direct FXa inhibitors that are available still have side effects and drawbacks. This chapter describes the FXa function in the blood-clotting cascade, the molecular and structural characteristics of this essential enzyme, and the novel FXa synthetic drug characteristics. This chapter highlights the importance of continuing the efforts towards searching and designing novel and safer anticoagulant drugs.


The effects of dynamic self-heating in SOI MOSFETs are well known. For circuit simulation, it is attractive to model these effects using a simple first order electro-thermal model, but the validity of such models has not been verified previously. In this paper, direct measurements are presented of the small signal drain conductance of SOI MOSFETs for frequencies from DC up to 300 MHz. The conductance measurements clearly show a single thermal time constant. Furthermore, the thermal resistance extracted directly from small signal drain conductance data has been compared with the value obtained from gate resistance thermometry. The good agreement between both methods confirms that self-heating is dominated by a single time constant of the order of 1 ¿s. It can be concluded that dynamic self-heating in SOI MOSFETs may be adequately modelled using a simple first order thermal model with a single thermal resistance and capacitance.


Aeroplanes have to meet a series of requirements regarding bird strike. Those requirements are defined basically in terms of structural resistance and the allowable degradation in flying qualities, One of the areas of the aircraft exposed to bird strike is the leading edge of the wing. The Eurofighter 2000 (EF-2000) is equipped with movable leading edge surfaces or "slats". The requirements for the slats in relation with potential bird strikes is that birds should not penetrate the leading edge of the skin or, in case of penetration, no critical damage should be induced to the structural elements behind the skin, For the EF-2000, the assessment of bird strike resistance of the slats has been based on numerical simulation of several impact scenarios covering a range of bird mass and velocity, points and sequences of impact and slat configurations, The method of analysis is based on finite element simulation using the commercial explicit integration code PAM-CRASH, The model of the structure includes a representation with shell elements of the slats, the fittings and actuators and the relevant areas of the fixed leading edge of the wing. The most relevant features are the use of adaptive meshing for the shell elements and a strain rate dependent plasticity model (Johnson-Cooic) for the materials. The paper describes the basic assumptions of the analyses and the way in which the simulations have been carried out in an industrial environment. The paper also gives the main lines on how the results have been evaluated in order to assess the capacity of the slats to withstand the different impact scenarios.


Low frequency flute-type electrostatic fluctuations are investigated experimentally in a magnetized plasma column. The fluctuations are generated by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability due to an azimuthal E0*B0/B02 velocity shear at the edge of the column. Correlation measurements demonstrate a coupling between this instability and gradient drift instabilities located at a radial position with the strongest density gradient. Cross-correlation measurements of density and potential fluctuations demonstrate that the instability saturates by shifting the phase between these two quantities to a value differing from the one predicted by a linearized analysis. Also the dynamic properties of the turbulence were investigated by perturbing the time stationary turbulent fluctuations by an external signal. The turbulent fluctuations give rise to an anomalous plasma flux across the magnetic field lines. This flux is determined by measurements of density and velocity correlations, where the randomly varying velocity is identified with the fluctuating E*B0/B02 velocity. An explicit value for the effective bulk plasma diffusion coefficient is obtained from the measurements. The variations in turbulent plasma flux due to an externally injected signal were investigated. The turbulent diffusion may actually decrease in a transient time period.


Imaging techniques using full matrix capture (FMC) ultrasonic NDE are well suited for in-service examination of electric resistance welded (ERW) pipe seams. We have been involved in developing an imagine technique since 2013 and presented results from Phase I at IPC in 2016 showing the system capable of detecting seam weld and SCC flaws and determining their orientation. The advantages over other methods such as phased array (PA) is the ability to image the flaw surface in addition to the flaw tip and corners where the flaw intersects the pipeline surface. This improves the ability to determine flaw orientation for discrimination of different types or crack-like features. The system produces UT images by overlaying multiple modes using reflections off the ID and OD pipe surface for ultrasonic illumination of the weld area from different directions. Using multiple modes produces a reflection off features regardless of flaw orientation from at least one of the modes. A complementary mode can then be used to size each feature by detecting the tips or ends of the feature from lower amplitude diffraction signals. Phase I used a model which assumed a cylindrical pipe shape. Real world use of this technique found limitations when pipe deviated from the assumed cylindrical shape such as severe offset plate edges, flat spots which can be the result of poor crimping adjacent the seam weld, or thickening of the seam caused by post weld heat treatment.
 In Phase II a need for reduced sizing error led to improved calibration and more advanced processing. To compensate for the non-perfect nature of real pipe, a new adaptive IWEX technique was developed to improve focusing and alignment of the various modes using the actual geometry to construct better focusing laws. First the OD and ID surfaces are imaged and the resulting surfaces are used to construct focusing laws which adapt to changes in the OD and ID surfaces. Results are better aligned UT images with the ability to image complex flaws with changes in orientation, and the ability to discriminate complex flaws from multiple small flaws in the pipe. Results show improvements in pipe with the greatest improvements in pipe with the largest deviations from a cylindrical shape.


Though chest trauma in children is not so common as it is in adults, it may be life-threatening and suggest a high mortality. Herein we retrospected 59 cases of severe chest trauma of children out of 1506 chest trauma cases during 1986–2006 in our department. Features including demographic characteristics, causes, injury types, associated wound had been collected. There were 42 males (71.18%) ,1 7 females (28.82%), 30 cases (50.84%) in the former 10 years and 29 cases (49.16%) in the latter 10 years. The incidence of children's severe chest trauma was 4.9% and 3.2%, respectively, averagely 3.9%. In these 59 cases, 46 cases were treated conservatively, 13 cases were treated by surgery. Four patients died, two in operations, the others attributed to ARDS and cardiac arrest, respectively. The cure rate was 93.22%. Statistic method was used to compare between two groups and with published results in the literature. Children's severe chest trauma is characteristic and different from adults. In our experience, accurate diagnoses and intensive care are very important to save their lives. 2008 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.


A reliable Early Cambrian (c. 535 Ma) and a preliminary Late Cambrian (c. 500 Ma) palaeomagnetic pole from Baltica (Sweden) overlap within uncertainty, and they are also broadly compatible with Vendian (c. 583 Ma) palaeomagnetic data. Apparent polar wander for Baltica amounts to less than 25° between 583 and 500 Ma and, therefore, negates recent speculations that the Earth tipped 90° during the Early Cambrian (true polar wander). Throughout Vendian and Cambrian times, Baltica lay at southerly latitudes (c. 30–60°S). Baltica was geographically inverted, and present-day northern Baltica faced the NW margin of Gondwana which covered the south pole. Laurentia-Eastern Baltica and Laurentia–West Gondwana were separated by the Iapetus Ocean, while the Ægir Sea separated Western Baltica from the Taimyr region of Siberia. During the Cambrian Baltica probably moved eastward along the Gondwana margin, and by c. 515–520 Ma subduction in the Ægir Sea was initiated. A major event is recognized in Late Cambrian or Early Ordovician times (c. 500–478 Ma) when Baltica must have undergone a 55° counter-clockwise rotation in c. 22 million years (3°/Ma). We relate this to the early Caledonian Finnmarkian Orogeny which involved arc–continent collision following subduction.


Algorithms, or rather algorithmic actions, are seen as problematic because they are inscrutable, automatic, and subsumed in the flow of daily practices. Yet, they are also seen to be playing an important role in organizing opportunities, enacting certain categories, and doing what David Lyon calls "social sorting." Thus, there is a general concern that this increasingly prevalent mode of ordering and organizing should be governed more explicitly. Some have argued for more transparency and openness, others have argued for more democratic or value-centered design of such actors. In this article, we argue that governing practices—of, and through algorithmic actors—are best understood in terms of what Foucault calls governmentality. Governmentality allows us to consider the performative nature of these governing practices. They allow us to show how practice becomes problematized, how calculative practices are enacted as technologies of governance, how such calculative practices produce domains of knowledge and expertise, and finally, how such domains of knowledge become internalized in order to enact self-governing subjects. In other words, it allows us to show the mutually constitutive nature of problems, domains of knowledge, and subjectivities enacted through governing practices. In order to demonstrate this, we present attempts to govern academic writing with a specific focus on the algorithmic action of Turnitin.


Canada Post's lettermail volumes are plummeting, largely due to the explosion of electronic communication, with no evident sign of stabilizing. E-commerce parcel deliveries are on the rise, but not nearly at the rate necessary to offset the decline in lettermail, and there are many private courier companies competing for that business. Meanwhile, even as the number of Canadian home addresses continues to increase, Canada Post's plan to end the remnants of door-to-door home delivery, had to be halted in light of the new Liberal government's promise to maintain the service. The extraordinary disruption that electronic media has caused to the model of state-owned postal services, with their mandate to provide universal delivery, may seem dire. And the threat is indeed urgent. But there are solutions to help Canada Post remain healthy in reforms that have occurred to postal systems elsewhere. This does not necessarily mean immediate privatization (although that has been achieved with some success in Europe): The burden of universal service obligations in a country as expansive and minimally populated as Canada is, could make it difficult for the government to realize appropriate value in selling Canada Post. But if the Liberal government intends to help Canada Post endure in this environment, it should allow the corporation to introduce some basic elements of competition and market- based reform. The reality is that most Canadian mail today is sent by large firms to customers and other businesses. And most mail is delivered in urban areas, where delivery costs are lowest. But because Canada Post is required to charge identical prices to all customers, urban households essentially help subsidize the postage costs of big business and rural recipients. This need not be the case: Canada Post would be more successful if it could charge varying rates (capped at a maximum) based on the type of sender, volume, and the mail's destination. One could also imagine scenarios where recipients pay an annual fee for different levels of service, paying extra for door-to-door delivery for example. Canada Post currently allows its clients to compete with it for the sortation of mail (offering discounts for firms willing to pre-sort mail), and there is much more room for competition in the collection, transport and sorting of mail. Already, it is likely that Canada Post has too many sorting facilities, given the advent of new sorting technologies; outsourcing certain upstream operations could help it further reduce its infrastructure and labour costs. There is also a case to be made for Canada Post reducing its delivery frequency and delivery times, especially in higher-cost rural areas. Surveys indicate that Canadians would be fine with that. Allowing competition in delivery, on the other hand, comes with risks of rivals willing to snap up delivery routes in dense urban networks, leaving Canada Post with an even less profitable model in being left to deliver its (and competitors') products in only high-cost areas. This can be offset, however, by requiring competitors to assume some of the incumbent's universal service obligations, or at least paying a tax to compensate Canada Post for its obligations. Ensuring these reforms remain compatible with the financial viability of the incumbent would be helped by setting up an independent regulator to ensure the maintenance of a level playing field and to separate the influence of politics from decision-making. In the current era, however, the idea that universal service obligations should be exclusive to mail carriers seems antiquated. It is only rational that the independent regulator be charged with overseeing that universal service obligations are shared between telecom services and mail services.


Two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis, a routine application in proteomics, separates proteins according to their molecular mass (Mr) and isoelectric point (pI). As the genomic sequences for more and more organisms are determined, the Mr and pI of all their proteins can be estimated computationally. The examination of several of these theoretical proteome plots has revealed a multimodal pI distribution, however, no conclusive explanation for this unusual distribution has so far been presented. We examined the pI distribution of 115 fully sequenced genomes and observed that the modal distribution does not reflect phylogeny or sequence evolution, but rather the chemical properties of amino acids. We provide a statistical explanation of why the observed distributions of pI values are multimodal.


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Epitaxial strain has been widely used to tune crystal and domain structures in ferroelectric thin films. New avenues of strain engineering based on varying the composition at the nanometer scale have been shown to generate symmetry breaking and large strain gradients culminating in large built-in potentials. In this work, we develop routes to deterministically control these built-in potentials by exploiting the interplay between strain gradients, strain accommodation, and domain formation in compositionally graded PbZr1-xTixO3 heterostructures. We demonstrate that variations in the nature of the compositional gradient and heterostructure thickness can be used to control both the crystal and domain structures and give rise to nonintuitive evolution of the built-in potential, which does not scale directly with the magnitude of the strain gradient as would be expected. Instead, large built-in potentials are observed in compositionally-graded heterostructures that contain (1) compositional gradients that traverse chemistries associated with structural phase boundaries (such as the morphotropic phase boundary) and (2) ferroelastic domain structures. In turn, the built-in potential is observed to be dependent on a combination of flexoelectric effects (i.e., polarization-strain gradient coupling), chemical-gradient effects (i.e., polarization-chemical potential gradient coupling), and local inhomogeneities (in structure or chemistry) that enhance strain (and/or chemical potential) gradients such as areas with nonlinear lattice parameter variation with chemistry or near ferroelastic domain boundaries. Regardless of origin, large built-in potentials act to suppress the dielectric permittivity, while having minimal impact on the magnitude of the polarization, which is important for the optimization of these materials for a range of nanoapplications from vibrational energy harvesting to thermal energy conversion and beyond.


Image mosaicing is useful for a variety of tasks in vision and computer graphics. This paper presents a complete system for mosaicing a sequence of multiple still images with some amount of overlapping between every two successive images. There are 3 contributions in this paper. First is a featureless registration method which handles rotation and translation between the images using phase correlation even under blur and noise. The second is an efficient method of stitching of registered images. It removes the redundancy of pasting pixels in the overlapped regions between the images with the help of a binary canvas. The third contribution is a minimal blending approach to remove the seams in the mosaic and preserve the quality close to reality.


A rapid, sensitive and cost-effective CE-UV method has been developed for the simultaneous separation and sensitive determination of clenbuterol, salbutamol, ractopamine and fenoterol in pig blood and human urine samples. Field-enhanced sample injection (FESI) as an effective online concentration technique was applied to improve the detection sensitivity of β2-agonists. Several factors, such as the concentration and pH of the background solution, sample matrix, injection time and voltage, and the length of the water plug, were systematically optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the detection limits of the β2-agonists range from 2.7 to 7.2 nM, which were improved nearly 2000 times by CE-UV compared with conventional methods, except for fenoterol. Eventually, the proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of spiked blood and urine samples with good recoveries, which provides a novel method to monitor the illegal use of β2-agonists in athletes and livestock.