The study aimed to build an instrument to collect nursing data for patients in a General ICU, based in Horta. Action research developed in three phases: identification of the empirical indicators in hospitalized adults in a General ICU; validation of the indicators and formatting of the preliminary instrument; apparent and content validation with a posterior arrangement of the instrument final version. A number of 545 empirical indicators were identified, remaining 179 with IC > 0.80, being the final version of the instrument structured in four main areas: Identification, Interview, Physical Examination, Nurse Impressions and Intercurrences. It is believed that this instrument will identify situations of health and disease and nursing care needs; will promote a more effective interpersonal relationship among nurses, clients and families; will disclose the imperative of the systematization of nursing care on quality of care, as well as raise new researches working with Nursing own tools.


The liver is involved in a wide range of activities in vertebrates and some other animals, including metabolism, protein synthesis, detoxification, and the immune system. Until now, various methods have been devised to study liver diseases; however, each method has its own limitations. In situ liver perfusion machinery, originally developed in rats, has been successfully adapted to mice, enabling the study of liver diseases. Here we describe the protocol, which is a simple but widely applicable method for investigating the liver diseases. The liver is perfused in situ by cannulation of the portal vein and suprahepatic inferior vena cava (IVC), with antegrade closed circuit circulation completed by clamping the infrahepatic IVC. In situ liver perfusion can be utilized to evaluate immune cell migration and function, hemodynamics and related cellular reactions in each type of hepatic cells, and the metabolism of toxic or other compounds by changing the composition of the circulating media. In situ liver perfusion method maintains liver function and cell viability for up to 2 h. This study also describes an optional protocol using density-gradient centrifugation for the separation of different types of hepatic cells, allowing the determination of changes in each cell type. In summary, this method of in situ liver perfusion will be useful for studying liver diseases as a complement to other established methods.


The article explores the triangular relationship between democracy, information and the law. More specifically it looks at how we might understand the relationship between democracy and information and the way in which the law sustains and informs that relationship. With the help of discourse theory it explores first the congruence of the democracy and information as facilitated through law; then it moves on to re-conceive that relationship as more complex, at times even as antithetical, by contrast the win-win discursive account with situations where the protection of democracy appears to require the curbing of the free flow of information. In order to make sense of the complexity involved it finally takes a step back into the field of methodology and theory construction and to explore barriers in terms of the path-dependency of information.


Haploid and diploid yeast can exist as two different phenotypes depending on nutrient status: haploid cells can be induced to become invasive and diploid cells can be induced to undergo filamentous differentiation. Both of these processes are controlled by the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) Gpr1 and its cognate Gα partner Gpa2. However, there has been no evidence for the involvement of Gβ or Gγ subunits in this signaling process. Harashima and Heitman used two hybrid analysis and biochemical assays to show that Gpa2 interacted with novel proteins called Gpb1, Gpb2, and Gpg1. The interaction between Gpg1 and Gpa2 required either Gpb1 or Gpb2, suggesting an indirect interaction. Furthermore, Gpb1 and Gpb2 preferentially bound the guanosine diphosphate form of Gpa2 in vitro, similar to the interactions between classical Gα and Gβ subunits. Analysis of the phenotypes of yeast with mutations in various players in this pathway, Gpa2, Gpr1, Gpb1, Gpb2, Gpg1, and the downstream signaling element, Tpk2, a protein kinase A catalytic subunit, suggested that Gpb1 and Gpb2 serve as redundant negative inhibitors of signaling through this pathway. Deletion of Gpb1 or Gpb2 produced yeast with hyperfilamentous growth, hyperinvasive growth, and hyperactivation of adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (cAMP) signaling resulting in an abnormal response to nitrogen deprivation. Although the Gpb1 and Gpb2 are not homologous to classical Gβ subunits at the level of primary amino acid sequence, they may have a similar overall structure. Gpb1 and Gpb2 contain seven kelch repeats, which in another seven kelch-domain protein adopt a structure very similar to the WD-40-mediated seven-bladed β propeller of the Gβ subunits. Thus, Harashima and Heitman propose that convergent evolution has resulted in Gβ structural mimics that can couple to Gα to modulate GPCR-mediated signaling in response to nutrients in yeast. T. Harashima, J. Heitman, The Gα protein Gpa2 controls yeast differentiation by interacting with kelch repeat proteins that mimic Gβ subunits. Mol. Cell 10, 163-173 (2002). [Online Journal]


This comprehensive compilation brings together in one place all of the knowledge constituting the discipline of modern inorganic chemistry. It synthesizes for the first time, with an unprecedented logic and completeness, the entire synthetic arsenal currently available to inorganic chemists. Distinguished chemists, among them three nobel laureates ( E. O. Fischer, H. Taube, and Sir G. Wilkinson), have devoted their time, energy, and expertise as editorial advisors and consultants to create this closed-end series, which will include not only the (classical) chemistry of the elements, but also all the frontiers of today's research. Organometallic, polymer and solid-state materials, coordination compounds, donor-acceptor adducts, and compounds relevant to bioinorganic chemistry are as reliably covered as the analytical, physical, and technical aspects underlying these subjects.


Abstract Program SMART (Spectra and Model Atmospheres by Radiative Transfer) has been composed for modelling atmospheres and spectra of hot stars (O, B and A spectral classes) and studying different physical processes in them (Sapar & Poolaäe 2003, Sapar et al. 2007). Line-blanketed models are computed assuming plane-parallel, static and horizontally homogeneous atmosphere in radiative, hydrostatic and local thermodynamic equilibrium. Main advantages of SMART are its shortness, simplicity, user friendliness and flexibility for study of different physical processes. SMART successfully runs on PC both under Windows and Linux.


The Arizona Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum ammolegus) breeds in desert grasslands of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico in the US, and in adjacent parts of northern Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. Roads that were surveyed in 1982 and 1987 in Arizona and New Mexico were relocated and roadside survey protocols were repeated in 2004 and 2005 to identify changes in distribution or abundance of the subspecies during the subsequent 17 yr. The Sonoita and San Rafael valleys in Arizona and the Animas Valley in New Mexico remain as primary population centers, supporting the highest mean numbers of singing males per stop, as well as the largest populations of Arizona Grasshopper Sparrows in the US. Mean number of singing males per stop was highest in the San Rafael Valley. Mean number of singing males per survey stop showed an increasing pattern from 1982–1987 and a subsequent decline to the present (2004–2005). Present bird densities are intermediate in value between 1982 and 1987 values. Small populations remain in the Altar, San Pedro, Sulphur Springs, and San Bernardino valleys in Arizona. The valleys evaluated in this and historical surveys represent the areas in which almost all Arizona Grasshopper Sparrows breed in the US; if any additional areas exist, they support peripheral, small, or remnant populations. Although historic, current, and future land use, and current and future threats differ among valleys, the primary factors posing threats to the future of Arizona Grasshopper Sparrow populations appear to be loss and/or degradation of habitat due to exurban development, overgrazing, and the effects of


The book is an object which can be considered as a window in the novel Die unendliche Geschichte (1979) written by Michael Ende. It allows Bastian to look at the world of Phantasien and to communicate indirectly with the Childlike Empress. Furthermore, this object will show its function as an symbol of evolution, which will enable the passage of the protagonist into the world of Phantasien: first the book appears as a window, then it becomes a two-way-mirror that allows Bastian and Atreju to look at each other, and finally it turns into a gate which enables them to live many adventures together. Die unendliche Geschichte can be considered as a modern Bildungsroman in which the young protagonist gradually reaches his maturation. This progress must be seen in a psychological perspective: it is the growth of a child-mind through literature which makes reference to the German novel tradition but also (as children's literature) to the world of unconsciousness.


Two oppositely charged droplets of (say) water in, e.g., oil or air, will tend to drift together under the influence of their charges. As they make contact, one might expect them to coalesce and form one large droplet, and this indeed happens when the charge difference is sufficiently small. However, Ristenpart et al. discovered a remarkable physical phenomenon whereby for large enough charge differentials, the droplets bounce off each other as they make contact. Explanations based on minimisation of area under a volume constraint have been proposed based on the premise that consideration of surface energy cannot be sufficient. However, in this letter we explain that on the contrary, the bouncing phenomenon can be completely explained in terms of energy, including an accurate prediction of the threshold charge differential between coalescence and bouncing.


Several works have addressed the issue of fault tolerance in multirotors in case of a rotor total failure, particularly their ability to keep full independent control of attitude and altitude. It has been proven that to achieve this, a minimum of six rotors is needed. In this article, the performance of several standard and nonstandard hexarotor structures is analyzed, both for a nominal case (without failure) and in the case where one of the actuators is under failure (incapability to exert thrust). The performance is shown in terms of maximum rotational torque and vertical force that the vehicle can exert. The main contribution of this article is the proposal and analysis of converting these vehicles into reconfigurable ones through the addition of a minimum number of servomotors, to deal with failures and to greatly improve the maneuverability under these conditions, in order to identify the reconfigurable structure with the best performance. An experimental demonstration in an outdoor environment is shown for the proposed reconfigurable structure with best performance in case of a full rotor failure.


The conductive elastomer has both electrical and elastic properties. When the conductive elastomer is considered as an electrical contact material, it is possible to obtain conductive and elastic properties in one simple material. Therefore, the concept of metallic electrical contact can be changed to the elastomeric contact. Moreover due to excellent properties of facile shape formation, corrosion resistance, and air tight contact interface, the conductive elastomer is suitable for high density microsized connectors. However as it is very difficult to obtain as low a resistivity as in metals, the effectiveness of the elastomeric contacts is limited. The present study has been conducted to determine the electrical conduction mechanism and to find low resistivity materials. The specimen silicone rubber, in which electrical conductive particles such as carbon and metals were dispersed, was investigated. The resistivity versus conductive particle content, voltage versus current characteristics, resisitivity change in range of room temperature to liquid nitrogen temperature, and conduction mechanisms were discussed. In conclusion the conduction mechanism changes with the conductive particle content. For large content current paths were established by contact of particles, and for small content conduction electrons pass through the gap between particles by the Schottky conduction. Therefore, the resistance of the elastomer consisted of particle resistance, constriction resistance of the contact interface between particles, and the gap resistance.


The zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha is a fresh water bivalve considered as suitable monitoring organisms because of it abundance, wide distribution and interesting responsiveness to pollutant. However it also presents a sensibility to variation of environmental parameters, particularly to modification of the nutritive capacity of the environment. So the nutritional state of mussels may constitute a confounding factor in ecotoxicological survey. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac is one of the most used drug in France (10 tons per year) and it is part of the three pharmaceuticals proposed for the Water Framework Directive's priority list of pollutant in surface waters. Few data exist on its effect on bivalves. So the goal of this study was to assess the impact of this drug on reproductive apparatus of the zebra mussel. In this aim mesocosm approach was developed with 12 artificial canals and a flux of water containing 0, 0.1, 1 or 10 µg/l of diclofenac in triplicate. The histopathological alterations eventually induced were analyzed in 10 to 20 mussels after 0, 46, 64 and 160 days. However, it appeared that the diclofenac have an impact on macrophyte and periphyton biomass and distribution. To analyze the effect of nutritive stress on gonadic structure of the bivalve, zebra mussels were placed during 150 days in aquarium and fed two time per week by controlled alga volume (Scenedesmus obliquus and chlorella) in duplicate: 100 000 cells (ad libitum diet called 100%), 10 000 cells (10 %) or to 0 alga (0%). Observed ovary histopathological alterations induced by diclofenac (follicle atresie, oocyte necrosis, perifollicular fibrosis, decrease in mature ovocyte production) revealed the gonadic toxicity of this drug. The nutritive stress (10 %) and the total food deprivation (0%) also produced important alterations of the mussel ovary development (follicle atresie, reduction of mature oocyte size). However in the mesocosm experiment the mussel diet was modified but not severally reduced. Moreover the gonadic alterations observed with diclophenac were not similar to these obtained with nutritive deprivation. So it was possible to conclude that the gonadic alterations observed depended mostly of diclofenac direct toxic impact. These results were discussed with amounts of energetic reserves, activity of digestive enzymes and foot protein expression in order to better appreciate the way that Dreissena polymorpha adapt to nutritive deprivation.


Variable-rate bit streams generated under the current DCT-based JPEG standard are vulnerable to propagation of error across the data units, i.e., DCT blocks. A traditional approach to combat this problem has been to introduce resynchronization markers in the transmitted bitstream. We propose an alternative, and more efficient, approach based on constraining the data length for the blocks or groups of blocks in the compressed image. In the proposed scheme the number of coded bits in each block, or group of blocks, is sent to the decoder as side information and thus the decoder can introduce resynchronization markers. The required overhead is significantly less than that of typical explicit synchronization schemes (e.g., those in JPEG). In addition, it is possible to further constrain the allowable rates for the blocks in order to reduce the overhead. We show experimental results where the constrained rate allocation is performed using thresholding techniques on images encoded by the baseline JPEG.


An advanced algorithm was developed for the Medtronic fourth-generation glucose sensor to eliminate the need for blood glucose meter calibrations. The algorithm uses electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and other measurements to self-calibrate the sensor and adjust CGM system sensitivity over time. Self-calibration adjusts for potential sensor-to-sensor variability, as well as subject-dependent sensitivity changes over time. The new algorithm was designed to not require self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG) input during use, but accepts calibrations at any time to improve CGM system performance. It contains multiple independent sensor glucose (SG) calculation units that implement a distinct dynamic model of interstitial glucose that accounts for differences in response caused by sensor-dependent and time-dependent nonlinearities. This approach is particularly useful during the post-sensor insertion period and during periods of hypoglycemia. Each dynamic model was selected for its unique pattern of strengths, which complement each other to augment overall performance. The output of each model is combined to provide a final SG value and a measure of confidence in the calculated value. Performance was evaluated on 31 subjects with type 1 and type 2 diabetes against SMBG values (2441 points over 80 sensors). Sensors were inserted in the arm. The overall (7-day) mean absolute relative difference was 10.8% with no calibrations, 9.5% with 1 calibration/day. There were 86.7% of points that met the 20% agreement rate with no calibrations, 90.0% with 1 calibration/day. A new advanced algorithm for the fourth-generation glucose sensor enables the CGM system to function with good accuracy without SMBG calibrations. Disclosure T. Engel: Employee; Self; Medtronic MiniMed, Inc. P. Ajemba: Employee; Self; Medtronic. J. Nishida: Employee; Self; Medtronic MiniMed, Inc. K. Nogueira: Employee; Self; Medtronic. B. Grosman: Employee; Self; Medtronic. A. Tsai: None. Y. Lu: None. A. Sullivan: None. A. Varsavsky: Employee; Self; Medtronic MiniMed, Inc..


This multidisciplinary book focuses on the relationships and interactions between palaeobiogeography, biogeography, dispersal, vicariance, migrations and evolution of organisms in the SE Asia-Australasian region. The book investigates biogeographic links between SE Asia and Australasia which go back more than 500 million years. It also focuses on the links between geological evolution and biological migrations and evolution in the region. It was in the SE Asian region that Alfred Russell Wallace established his biogeographic line, now known as Wallace's Line, which was the beginning of biogeography. Wallace also independently developed his theory of evolution based on his work in this area. The book brings together, for the first time, geologists, palaeontologists, zoologists, botanists, entomologists, evolutionary biologists and archaeologists, in the one volume, to relate the region's geological past to its present biological peculiarities. The book is organized into six sections. Section 1 Paleobiogeographic Background provides overviews of the geological and tectonic evolution of SE Asia-Australasia, and changing patterns of land and sea for the last 540 million years. Section 2 Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Geology and Biogeography discusses Palaeozoic and Mesozoic biogeography of conodonts, brachiopods, plants, dinosaurs and radiolarians and the recognition of ancient biogeographic boundaries or Wallace Lines in the region. Section 3 Wallace's Line focuses on the biogeographic boundary established by Wallace, including the history of its establishment, its significance to biogeography in general and its applicability in the context of modern biogeography. Section 4 Plant biogeography and evolution includes discussion on primitive angiosperms, the diaspora of the southern rushes, and environmental, climatic and evolutionary implications of plants and palynomorphs in the region. The biogeography and migration of insects, butterflies, birds, rodents and other non-primate mammals is discussed in section 5, Non Primates. The final section 6 Primates focuses on the biogeographic radiation, migration and evolution of primates and includes papers on the occurrence and migration of early hominids and the requirements for human colonization of Australia.


Time-of-flight (ToF) echo techniques have been proposed to estimate the distance between a local and a target station using regular WiFi radio devices. As of today, there is little understanding of the noise sources from ToF measurements. We conduct extensive experimental tests based on a customized WiFi echo technique implementation residing in the core of the 802.11 MAC processor and a high-resolution signal analysis of the WiFi traffic captured with a wideband oscilloscope. We discern the root of the error components in WiFi echo technique measurements and statistically characterize the offset noise added by the target station. Our measurements provide key insights to model the sources of noise and guidance for the design of robust distance estimators.


Abstract Simply classifying a species as "arboreal" may tell us little about the ways that it uses above-ground habitats. For example, some species of arboreal snakes select exposed positions on branches, others lie among foliage, and yet others exploit crevices within the trunk. These different structural niches may involve fundamentally different patterns not only of habitat selection criteria but also of morphological, behavioral, and ecological traits. We implanted miniature radio-transmitters in 16 adult Stephens' banded snakes (Hoplocephalus stephensii) in a forest managed for timber production in northeastern New South Wales, and relocated these snakes regularly over a two-year period to clarify their patterns of habitat use. Unlike the vast majority of Australian elapid species, H. stephensii are primarily arboreal. Radio-tracked snakes were in trees on > 80% of observations, generally hidden within hollows. The snakes remained inactive in trees for three to five months during winter each year. Snakes in wet sclerophyll forest sometimes foraged in tall sedges, whereas snakes in rain forest spent little time on the ground. Attributes of 139 trees used by the snakes were compared with those of 1437 trees in randomly selected plots. Snakes selected old, large trees with many hollows or extensive vine cover. Except for being above ground, the retreat sites used by these arboreal elapids were structurally similar to those used by their terrestrial relatives. The tree attributes important to H. stephensii thus differ profoundly from those important to many other species of arboreal snakes.


Chemiluminescent responses of peripheral blood lymphocytes were measured in patients with carcinomas and healthy donors. The intensity of lymphocyte chemiluminescence (Ly-CL) in 54 preoperative patients was significantly lower than that in 97 healthy donors (P less than 0.05). Compared to that before treatment, the Ly-CL intensity in 14 patients after radiotherapy was decreased (P less than 0.05). However, Ly-CL intensity in 12 patients after 6-8 days of thymosin therapy was significantly increased (P less than 0.05), and exceeded that of healthy donors (P less than 0.01). These data suggest that Ly-CL measurements may become a new method for monitoring lymphocyte activity or function, and evaluating therapeutic effectiveness in cancer patients.


Small input errors to mean-variance optimizers often lead to large portfolio misallocations when assets are close substitutes for one another. In fact, when the assets are close substitutes, the return distribution of the presumed optimal portfolio is actually similar to the distribution of the truly optimal portfolio. Contrary to conventional wisdom, therefore, mean-variance optimizers usually turn out to be robust to small input errors when sensitivity is measured properly.


ABSTRACT
 The land-based culture of greenlip abalone Haliotis laevigata in southeastern Australia is carried out using seawater that is prone to seasonal temperature fluctuations and is done almost exclusively using artificial feeds. Although some nutrition research has been done to identify the optimum dietary protein level, typically farms use only 1 diet for grow-out after the juveniles are weaned. Little consideration has been given to the effects of fluctuating water temperatures and dietary protein levels on the morphology of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of abalone. Because these factors are known to impact growth in other aquatic species, it is important that they are investigated further to improve growth in abalone species. In this study, the histological changes of the GIT of greenlip abalone in response to 2 water temperatures and 4 dietary levels of crude protein (juvenile, 27% and 36%; subadult, 24% and 33%) for juveniles (1.75 g) and subadults (22.93 g) were investigated. The epithelial thickness of the stomach and crop; intestinal villus height, width, and area; lamina propria height; and stomach, crop, and intestinal neutral and acidic goblet cell numbers were measured. The stomach epithelium was significantly thicker at 14°C than 22°C in both juveniles and subadults, whereas the crop epithelium was significantly thicker at 22°C than 14°C in juveniles. The crop epithelial thickness of subadults was reduced by increasing dietary protein; however, juveniles did not show the same response. Juvenile abalone were more sensitive to temperature fluctuations than subadults, whereas significant effects of dietary protein levels were only observed in subadults. The alterations in the morphology of the GIT did not appear to be detrimental to the health and growth of the abalone. Further research is required to investigate the interactive effects of water temperature and dietary ingredients, particularly in regard to antinutritional factors, on the morphology and function of the GIT to improve our understanding of abalone physiology.


Learn to develop next-generation UIs for mobile-ready, data source-agnostic, client-side SAP applications. First review basic HTML5 and CSS3, JavaScript, and jQuery concepts as a foundation for working with SAPUI5, and then explore the development and runtime environments, tools, and controls that you'll use throughout the design process. Use step-by-step instructions, sample code listings, and a full-scale model application to develop and customize your own apps with advanced functionality from the SAP system. The future of app development has arrived, make sure you can speak its language. *Get to know the SAPUI5 IDE, control libraries, model types, and more *Design and extend modern user interfaces *Apply programming models, controls, and UI elements to real-life scenarios Programming Languages Reintroduce yourself to the key elements of the programming languages and libraries on which SAPUI5 is built. SAPUI5 Development and Runtime Environment Take a look at sample application options and design tips to guide development with SAPUI5. Extending SAPUI5 See how to use the SAPUI5 library within the SAP system. *HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and jQuery *SAP Gateway and OData *SAPUI5 IDE *SAPUI5 libraries *Model, view, and layout types *Application architecture *SAPUI5 file optimization *Model-view-controller paradigm *Customization *SAP HANA views *SAPUI5 for mobile devices *Eclipse


This study is to investigate the factors (social or economic) that influences the patronage of orthodox medical care or otherwise as a measure of healthcare utilization among the ageing population in Ghana. We carry out a cross-sectional analysis of 3,357 adults (aged 50 and above) who participated and had indicated that they needed healthcare in the three years prior to the phase 2007 World Health Organization, a study on Global Ageing and Adult health (SAGE) conducted in Ghana. We explored the social and economic factors that are likely to influence the use or otherwise of orthodox medical services following the framework of Andersen behavioural – model of healthcare utilisation. We employed multivariate logistic regression models. The results suggest that, adjustment for health status (comorbidity) among the ageing Ghanaian population nullified the socio-economic gradients in consulting with orthodox medical services. The outcome points to a potential link with the Ghanaian health policy.


We investigate the potential impact of mass inflation inside black holes on the dynamics of the Universe, considering a recent reformulation of general relativity, proposed in [1], which prevents the vacuum energy from acting as a gravitational source. The interior dynamics of accreting black holes is studied, at the classical level, using the homogeneous approximation and taking charge as a surrogate for angular momentum. We show that, depending on the accreting fluid properties, mass inflation inside black holes could influence the value of the cosmological constant and thus the dynamics of the Universe. A full assessment of the cosmological role played by black holes will require a deeper understanding of the extremely energetic regimes expected inside real astrophysical black holes, including their relation with the physics of the very early Universe, and may eventually lead to an entirely new paradigm for the origin and evolution of the Universe.


: Chromosomal aneuploidies contribute considerably to the low pregnancy rate in in-vitro fertilization (IVF). The objective of this experimental work was to explore the possibility of detecting common aneuploidies in oocytes by polar body sampling. The study included 45 infertile patients of advanced maternal age participating in an IVF programme. The first polar body was removed prior to fertilization or both the first and second polar bodies were removed after fertilization and studied by fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) using chromosome-specific probes for chromosomes X, 18 and/or 13/21. Of 155 oocytes with FISH results, 36 demonstrated chromosomal abnormalities. Of 119 oocytes predicted to be free from aneuploidy of chromosomes X, 18 and/or 13/21, 72 were normally fertilized, cleaved and transferred in 23 treatment cycles, which resulted in two healthy deliveries and three ongoing pregnancies confirmed to be unaffected by chorionic villous sampling. The method may appear useful for the detection of oocytes with common chromosomal aneuploidies in IVF patients of advanced maternal age.


Since the initial isolation of pyroglutamyl aminopeptidase (PAP) from a strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens by Doolittle and Armentrout in 1968, similar enzyme activities have been isolated and characterised from a multitude of prokaryotic and eukaryotic sources Studies on eukaryotic PAPs have
been done mainly m mammals, typically with a view to elucidating the potential role of this class of enzymes in the catabolism of various pGlu-terminating peptides, including neuropeptides, in vivo. The central aim of this study was to undertake the complete purification and characterisation of a PAP activity observed within the soluble or cytosolic fraction of bovine whole brain Several workers have previously desenbed the purification and characterisation of soluble PAP activities from different mammalian tissues including guinea-pig and human brain. However, other than some minor details furnished by earlier studies, little was previously known of the bovine brain activity.

A combination of different chromatographic methodologies subsequently generated a soluble PAP activity with a total active yield of 6 6% which had been purified to near homogeneity, as judged by SDS PAGE and silver staining techniques. The unstable nature of the purified enzyme in dilute solution was very apparent, prompting the usage of 0 5%w/v BSA to stabilise PAP activity dunng both assay and storage Characterisation of this enzyme activity subsequently revealed a number of interesting results, many of which compared well with findings previously reported for soluble PAP activities examined m other sources In addition to a predominantly cytosolic subcellular location, this enzyme was found to exhibit a low relative molecular mass Gel-filtration chromatography revealed a native molecular mass of approximately 23,700 dal tons, a value which compares well with that obtained for the enzyme under denatunng conditions via SDS PAGE (22,450 daltons), supporting the likelihood that the soluble bovine brain PAP exists as a monomer. A pH optimum of 8 5-9 0, as determined with pGlu-MCA at 37°C, was also demonstrated for this enzyme, whilst the expression of PAP activity exhibited an absolute requirement for the presence of a disulphide bond-reducmg agent such as DTT, suggesting the participation of active site thiol groups in enzyme activity (i.e. a thiol
protease) Strong inhibition of punfied PAP activity was observed with a number of different agents which included the transition metal ions Hg2+, Cu2+, Zn2+ and Cd2+, the sulphydryl-blocking agents lodoacetate, 2-iodoacetamide, PCMB and N-ethylmaleimide and the reversible inhibitor 2-pyrrolidone Senne protease inhibitors and metal chelating agents (with the exception of 1,10-phenanthroline) as
well as the compounds bacitracin puromycin and bestatin had no effect on enzyme activity.

The cleavage of the N-terminal pGlu residue from a wide range of pyroglutamyl substrates including TRH, acid TRH, pGIu-His-Pro-MCA (a TRH analog), bombesin and neurotensin was clearly demonstrated for the soluble bovine brain PAP activity N-termmal pGlu cleavage of eledoisin and LHRH could not be detected however Whereas this was expected for eledoisin, a substrate which commences with the sequence pGlu-Pro, such a finding for LHRH was quite unexpected Subsequent kinetic analysis also revealed that (he punfied PAP activity displays Km and K, values withm the lower micromolar range for a number of these substrates (TRH, acid TRH, LHRH, pGlu-MCA, pGlu- BNA and pGIu-His-Pro-MCA) indicative of a strong enzyme-substrate interaction. In addition, all of the pGlu-peptides for which Kj values were estimated proved to be competitive inhibitors.

Based on a comparison of these findings with those reported for soluble PAP activities in other mammalian tissues, the soluble PAP enzyme activity observed in bovine whole bram can tentatively be classified as a pyroglutamyl ammopeptidase type-1 or PAP-I (EC 3 4 19 3)


Several analytical approaches were used to characterize time progression of weight changes observed in adults treated with olanzapine from a 12,425-patient database of 86 studies of oral and depot formulations of olanzapine (mean modal dose 13.3 mg/day). Descriptive mean profile plots for completer and modified completer groups showed weight increasing throughout each observed period, with apparent slowing in rate of change after 3 or 4 months. Mixed-effects model repeated measures analyses also showed that weight increased most rapidly early in treatment and slowed within 2 to 4 months. The slowing in rate of change was greatest for patients obese at baseline and least for patients underweight at baseline. This pattern was also observed in a nonparametric regression-based profile. Based on visual inspection of profile plots, 2, 3, 4, and 5 months were postulated as potential 'change points' beyond which rate of increase might slow, and the proportions of patients whose slope after each change point was ≤90% of the slope before change point were calculated. Over 85% of patients who gained weight showed slowing rate of weight change after each postulated change point. Potential consequences of weight gain should be considered prior to starting olanzapine. Olanzapine-treated patients should receive regular weight monitoring.


Although much has been written about how to help couples negotiate regarding different spending styles or risk tolerance levels, less has been said about ways in which therapists can assist couples to understand each other's experience of distress regarding financial issues and find constructive individual and dyadic ways to reduce the distress. Given the importance of this topic in today's unstable global and national economies, this article reviews empirical findings regarding the effects of financial strain on couples' relationships as well as the effectiveness of individual and dyadic coping strategies. The authors discuss options for intervening professionally with couples experiencing financial strain and provide assessment and treatment guidelines using stress theories and evidence-based cognitive-behavioral couple interventions.


PURPOSE
The assessment of clinical outcome in patients after Ir-CLAL procedure.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Retrospective, interventional case series including 11 patients (12 eyes), all with non-ambulatory visual acuity (from light perception to hand movements). Mean age was 39.4 years (ranging from 18 to 76 years). In 7 eyes Limbal Stem Cells Deficiency (LSCD) resulted from chemical burn, in 2 eyes from ocular cicatricial pemphigoid, in one eye from Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS). In one eye congenital LSCD was diagnosed and in another one post-inflammatory LSCD. Mean follow-up was 16.2 months (from 10 to 32). Among donors prospective class I HLA matching was performed. Maximal two mismatches were accepted. General immunosuppressive therapy was switched-on in all subjects. Surgical excision of corneal pannus with clearing of limbal area was performed. Five clock hours stem cells tissue grafts from living related donors were harvested and transplanted to the recipient eye. Three penetrating keratoplasty, one deep lamellar keratoplasty and seven amniotic membrane transplantations were additionally performed. Main outcome measures were graft survival as a restoration of corneal epithelium, visual acuity improvement and complication in donors and recipients. Kaplan-Meyer survival curve and generalized Peto test were used for comparison.

RESULTS
The graft survival was 83.6% in mean 20.3 months follow-up (from 10 to 32 months). Two cases of graft failure concern eye with SJS and eye with PKP regrafting after chemical burn. Visual improvement in 7 cases (58.3%), the same visual acuity in 4 cases (33.3%) and deterioration one case (8.3%) were noted. Ambulatory vision in 50% of patients was achieved. Graft rejection syndrome in four eyes was noticed also when ideal matching and CsA serum level 220 ng/ml. Two cases were treated with success and another two grafts failed. No complications in donors eyes were noticed. Impression cytology in eyes with successful grafts not related to pathological changes.

CONCLUSIONS
Lr-CLAL are effective in ocular surface restoration. Living-related donors are suitable source of stem cells for cultivation in vitro. The prognosis for stem cells grafting is definitely worse when eyelid anomaly and adhesions exist.


Recent progress in single-molecule spectroscopy of dyed composite materials is reviewed. In particular, single-molecule studies of dyed polymer films and dye inclusion crystals are described that seek to understand local guest–host interactions and environmental heterogeneity. Single-molecule orientational studies of chromophores in polymer films and mixed crystals are discussed with particular relevance to materials and device applications. Studies of single-molecular reorientational dynamics in polymers in the presence of an electric field designed to establish alignment are described. Static orientational measurements in mixed crystals, wherein alignment is a consequence of crystal growth, reveal a surprisingly wide distribution of molecular orientations. Moreover, the complex photophysics of single molecule in anisomorphous mixed crystals are explored and described in the context of environmental heterogeneity and distributed kinetics. The emerging literature regarding dispersed kinetics observed for individual emitters (e.g. quantum dots, single molecules in polymers, etc.) is reviewed. Finally, the outlook of single-molecule spectroscopy in dye-doped materials is outlined.


In recent decades, ASEAN has seen significant progress in gender equality and women's empowerment. However, advances have not been even and vulnerable women with a range of intersectional identities have not benefited to the same extent as more privileged women or their male counterparts. Moreover, despite ASEAN's much-lauded success in COVID-19 prevention and containment, the economic gains that had been achieved for women and girls are rapidly losing ground. Disruptions in the tourism sector, labour migration, and international trade have had a devastating economic impact on vulnerable populations, while innovations and new implementation approaches have provided some relief for low-income communities. This paper describes the COVID-19 economic fallout for women homeworkers and labour migrants engaged in informal jobs in Indonesia and low-income ethnic minority women in agriculture and tourism sectors in north-west Vietnam. It discusses early experiences and learning on pivoting projects, funded by the Government of Australia, to be COVID-19 responsive and contribute to longer-term recovery.


Cable is the key component in the prestressed steel structure. In order to study the effect of cable elastic modulus and expansion coefficient on the prestressed steel structure, Suspendome of Tianbao Center was taken as the research object and APDL language is applied to write a corresponding program, thereby carrying out analysis to the model; The results indicate that the change of cable expansion coefficient and cable elastic modulus have a different effect on the performance of the suspendome: at high temperature, the effect of the expansion coefficient of hoop cable and radial cable is larger on the maximum displacement; at low temperature, the effect of the elastic modulus of hoop cable is larger on the support constrained force. Therefore, it is necessary to give precise linear expansion coefficient and elastic modulus for different cables.


This article revisits a central tenet of the welfare state paradox, also known as the inclusion-equality trade-off. Using large-scale survey data for 31 European countries and the United States, collected over a recent 15-year period, the article re-investigates the relationship between female labour force participation and gender segregation. Emphasising the transitional role played by the monetisation of domestic tasks, the study identifies a 'gender equality hurdle' that countries with the highest levels of female labour force participation have already passed. The results show that occupational gender segregation is currently lower in countries with high female labour force participation, regardless of public sector size. However, the findings also indicate that high relative levels of public spending on health, education and care are particularly conducive to desegregation. Hence, rather than being paradoxical, more equality in participation begets more equality in the labour market, as well as in gendered tasks in society overall.


Over the last ten years questions related to the safety of nanoparticles and their possible toxic effects have become well-established. The government's Health and Safety Laboratories (HSL) at Buxton are currently attempting to determine their possible toxicity in the workplace. It is their responsibility to establish what levels are exposure can be considered safe in the workplace. This project is a CASE studentship with HSL and aims to start developing mathematical models relating to nanotoxicology. After reviewing the available literature, three key mechanisms which are involved in the possible toxicity of nanoparticles emerge. One mechanism is the oxidative stress they cause once they enter individual cells. The second mechanism is the damage done to the surface of the lung if they are not successfully phagocytosed on inhalation. Finally, the third mechanism is their propensity to aggregate both when dispersed in the air or when they are found inside the body. These three topics are dealt with in Parts I, II and III respectively.

There has been much concern over how carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may cause oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs when there is an overload negatively charged species in the cell. These are collectively known as Reactive Oxidative Species (ROS). ROS are always present in a cell as they are the natural product of the metabolic pathways. By their reactivity, they readily cause damage to other molecules in the cell, so every cell produces anti-oxidants in order to control the concentration of ROS. However, when the concentration of ROS becomes too high the concentration of anti-oxidants becomes depleted and the cell can become too damaged to function. In this case it dies by necrosis. When a cell dies by necrosis is can cause irritation and further damage to surrounding cells. Oxidative stress can also trigger the immune response so that the cell dies by self-programmed apoptotic cell death which limits this damage to surrounding cells. It is best to avoid unnecessary cell death, however, not undergoing apoptosis risks a more damaging necrotic death.

Part I introduces develops models of Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) activated pathways. This model consists of three signalling cascades. One pathway triggers apoptosis while a second inhibits apoptosis. These two models are based on pre-existing models. This work introduces a third pathway which activates Activator Protein-1 (AP-1). This pathway includes two well-known ROS sensitive elements. These are the ROS-sensitive activation of the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) cascade and the ROS-sensitive deactivation of the MAPK phosphatases.

These three pathways are regulated by three sets of inhibiting reactions and inhibitors to these inhibitors. The effect of these inhibitors is to introduce a time-lag between the initial TNF-alpha extracellular signal and the death of the cell by apoptosis. This time-lag is regulated by the concentration of intracellular ROS and the concentration of anti-oxidants. Different combinations of inhibitors can be switched on or off before running the model. The effectiveness of the oxidative stress sensitive elements in regulating apoptosis can therefore be optimised while different sets of inhibitors are active.
Two qualitatively different types of solutions are found. The cell can be either only transiently active, over a shorter period of time, or persistently active, over a longer period of time. This could provide some guidance to biologists investigation TNF-alpha activation of the immune system.

On inhalation, CNTs have been found to reach the alveoli, where air exchange occurs in the lung. The only mechanism available to remove debris in these delicate regions of the lung are lung macrophages. Macrophages work by enclosing unwanted matter in an organelle called a lysosome and then moving this debris away to where it can be cleared by cilia. Non-organic material does not trigger a macrophage response as strongly as organic material, which also triggers the immune system. The shape of fibrous material makes it more difficult for a macrophage to successfully form a lysosome and to move the material away once it has been engulfed. Frustrated phagocytosis releases harmful acids and enzymes which can damage the alveoli causing oxidative stress. If debris cannot be removed, then dead cells may form around the debris to protect the surrounding tissue, forming a granuloma. Both scarring from frustrated phagocytosis and granuloma formation will impair the function of the lung.

In Part II, insight is gained on how a cell membrane can engulf an object with a high aspect ratio. The mechanisms of phagocytosis are complex in terms of both cell signalling cascades and the polymerisation and de-polymerisation of the actin network. In order to find a model which takes into account the geometry of a cell as a whole, this picture has been simplified. An energy minimisation approach is used where the surface of a cell is taken to be a surface of rotation around an axis, which is taken to be the axis of a fibre.

In Chapter 4, the free energy is taken to be of a liquid drop, resting on a solid surface, in vapour where only the surface and volume energies are considered. The surface tension is taken to account for the tension in the lipid bilayer on the surface of the macrophage. In Chapter 5, the free energy is extended to also include a Helfrich or bending energy which specifically takes into account the energy taken to bend a lipid bilayer.

It is assumed that, in order to conserve the limited resources of a macrophage, the shape of a lipid membrane which has successfully engulfed a particle will be energetically stable with regards to these surface, volume and bending energies as a macrophage reaches the final stages of phagocytosis. This does not take into account the energy required to remodel the cytoskeleton for the cell to reach this shape. However, the bending energy associated with cell membranes of increasing length can be used to suggest the amount of energy required in this dynamical process.

It is found that in Chapter 4, when no Helfrich energy is included in the energy minimisation, the only limiting shape possible in the limit of increasing length to radius ratio of the fibre is a sphere. When the Helfrich energy is included, three different boundary conditions are imposed. The first boundary condition sets the forces associated with the bending energy to zero at the edge of the membrane. At the point of contact between the membrane and the fibre, the forces reduce to that of a classical solid/liquid/vapour interface. The second boundary condition is imposes the length of the droplet. This length can be incrementally increased to find solutions of increasing length. Finally, a third boundary condition is imposed which sets the contact angle of the membrane at the surface of the fibre to zero. By imposing these three boundary conditions, a variety of membrane shapes were obtained. These results are expected to be a useful guide to experimentalists observing different shapes of macrophages under different conditions.

Part III in Section 7.1 pin-points frameworks of models which use concepts from polymer physics to possibly predict the volume of an aggregate of CNTs and also to understand how nanoparticles interact with chain-like protein. However, no new results are presented in Part III.


Recent local price growth explains differences in search behavior across prospective homebuyers. Those experiencing higher growth in their postcode of residence search more broadly across locations and house characteristics, without changing attention devoted to individual sales listings, and have shorter search duration. Effects are stronger for homeowners, in particular those living in less wealthy areas and looking for a new primary residence. We use a quantitative equilibrium model and reduced-form analysis to show that the expansion of search breadth translates into widespread spillovers onto house sales prices and inventories of listings across postcodes within a metropolitan area.


In this study, 3 phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) for refrigerator application was designed and prototyped, experimental results carried out and validated. Design criteria was determined by taking into consideration constrains of the compressor. Proper slot/pole combination was identified and previously untested slot/pole combination was chosen as target. Speed® software was used for pre-design stage, optimization studies and detailed finite element analysis (FEA) was completed Maxwell® 3D software. The prototype of the motor was manufactured and motor performance was verified experimentally.


PRACTICAL STUDY OF FRENCH PRONUNCIATION. By Louis Tes son, Officier d'Acadernie. Boston: The Four Seas Company. Cloth. j~ pp. AI.. Tesson calls his method" of studying and teaching French pronunciation the "natural and rational method" (Methode naturelle et rationellc ) and if the truth be told it has a great deal of rationality about it. The author has employed. a system also nsed by Professor "'ilkins of the University of Chicago in the University of Chicago Italian Series, namely the indication oi vov....el quantity-or rather quality-by the use of different types. For example. italics arc "used to indicate silent letters, etc. Xot only the exercises, hut also the text of this unusual little volume is printed according to ~1. Tesson's system, and although it looks queer, it is eminently readable, The book also contains a number of short selections to IJe used for sight translation and conversation. a "mechanical conjugator' (conjugatcur mecanique ) and a reading: guide. which discusses the general' rules of prommciatio-i and gives suggestions. Ior their oral and written appli-cation,


Purpose of reviewThe objective of this review is to provide an overview and discussion of recent epidemiologic and mechanistic studies of stress in relation to asthma incidence and morbidity. Recent findingsRecent findings suggest that stress, whether at the individual (i.e. epigenetics, perceived stress), family (i.e. prenatal maternal stress, early-life exposure, or intimate partner violence) or community (i.e. neighborhood violence; neighborhood disadvantage) level, influences asthma and asthma morbidity. Key recent findings regarding how psychosocial stress may influence asthma through Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, prenatal and postnatal maternal/caregiver stress, and community violence and deprivation are highlighted. SummaryNew research illustrates the need to further examine, characterize, and address the influence of social and environmental factors (i.e. psychological stress) on asthma. Further, research and innovative methodologies are needed to characterize the relationship and pathways associated with stress at multiple levels to more fully understand and address asthma morbidity, and to design potential interventions, especially to address persistent disparities in asthma in ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged communities.


The species Microdeutopus sporadhi (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Aoridae), endemic of the Mediterranean Sea, was described by Myers in 1969 on material collected from the Aegean Sea in a sheltered environment with high sedimentation rates. A check on the distribution and ecology of M. sporadhi showed that: — although not mentioned in the checklist of amphipods of the Italian seas, it was already found in the central Tyrrhenian Sea in 1983-84 and in the northern Adriatic Sea in 2002-03; — it was rarely found in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the most studied basins as concerns amphipod fauna; but notwithstanding the few records available, the wide ecological spectrum of this species was pointed out. The present study, conducted off the Island of Ischia (Gulf of Naples, Italy), showed the presence of rich and well established populations through time, but only in a peculiar substratum (artificial collectors) and environment (low pH values). The species seems to be able to withstand harsh environmental conditions and probably to conceal itself through a cryptic behaviour, escaping traditional sampling methods. The role of rare or hidden species in bio-assessment should be re-evaluated.


The American Time-Use Survey (ATUS), conducted by the US Bureau of the
Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has been collecting data on how
Americans spend their time since 2003, using the method of the daily time
diary. In these diaries, survey respondents are asked to recall all of their
activities across the previous 24 hours. In 2010, the ATUS began supplementing
these simple activity accounts with ratings on five psychological states (sad,
tired, stress, pain and happy) from a Social Well-Being (SWB) index designed to
capture how these respondents feel as they engage in these daily activities.
Thus, this ATUS study basically provides a continuous national monitor of
Americans' everyday subjective quality of life (QOL)—and in "real time" as
personally experienced by respondents. Analysis of these 2010-12 ATUS SWB
ratings from more than 12,000 Americans aged 15 and older reveal that women
score significantly higher than men on all five factors, even though only one
of the adjectives (happy) was in the positive direction. Thus, US women
described their daily activities as more stressful, tiring, sad and painful,
but at the same time also describing their activities as making them feel
happier (suggesting that women see their lives as more engaging, intense or
energizing). In order to control for this gender difference, a simple scale was
derived from two of the items that conveyed basically the same emotional state,
namely happy and sad. When these ratings on two items were paired, virtually no
gender difference was found; nor were many gender differences found when they
rated these feelings on the same activity.
However, there were dramatic
subjective differences across activities that were largely shared by both men
and women, with child play, religious, volunteer and fitness activities rated
near the top of enjoyment and with medical, housework and work activities
nearer the bottom. These results seem generally consistent with enjoyment
ratings in earlier national time-use surveys.


It has been over twenty years since the advent of frequent flyer programs at major airlines.' Yet, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS" or "Service") has left unsettled the controversy surrounding the taxability of credits earned by employees through these programs. This inaction is surprising given the following factors: (1) well-established taxation principles found in code and case law that seem to warrant IRS intervention in this area2 and (2) the well-known nature of the IRS to tax everything within its powers.3 Indeed, the IRS has not turned a fully blind eye to this controversial topic; in a 1985 notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the implementation of regulations pertaining to employee fringe benefits,4 the


The challenges related to human resource management and human resource development in the tourism sector can be defined as: low-skilled employees, inexperienced employees, shortages of seasonal workforces, a lack of staff motivation, and the frequent rotation of employees, in addition to various other issues. In the face of the above-mentioned challenges, the application of the sustainability approach into human resource development is discussed. Sustainability cannot only be treated as a paradigm for environmental management and social sustainability, but should also be applied in the development of human resources. The purpose of this article is to investigate the theoretical assumptions of sustainability as a new approach for human resource development in the tourism sector. Theoretical analysis, synthesis, and generalisation were the scientific methods used in order to achieve the stated purpose. Sustainable development can be considered at different levels: societal, organizational, and individual. Sustainable development of human resources can lead to the broader development of the organization and society. Different parties such as tourism companies, governments, public institutions, educational institutions, and international organizations take part in the sustainable development of human resources in the tourism sector. Inter organizational collaboration can contribute to the sustainable development of human resources in the tourism sector.


Postoperative surgical site infection (SSI) is a common complication after posterior lumbar spine surgery. This review details an approach to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of SSIs. Factors contributing to the development of a SSI can be split into three categories: (1) microbiological factors; (2) factors related to the patient and their spinal pathology; and (3) factors relating to the surgical procedure. SSI is most commonly caused by Staphylococcus aureus. The virulence of the organism causing the SSI can affect its presentation. SSI can be prevented by careful adherence to aseptic technique, prophylactic antibiotics, avoiding myonecrosis by frequently releasing retractors and preoperatively optimizing modifiable patient factors. Increasing pain is commonly the only symptom of a SSI and can lead to a delay in diagnosis. C-reactive protein and magnetic resonance imaging can help establish the diagnosis. Treatment requires acquiring intra-operative cultures to guide future antibiotic therapy and surgical debridement of all necrotic tissue. A SSI can usually be adequately treated without removing spinal instrumentation. A multidisciplinary approach to SSIs is important. It is useful to involve an infectious disease specialist and use minimum serial bactericidal titers to enhance the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy. A plastic surgeon should also be involved in those cases of severe infection that require repeat debridement and delayed closure.


Objective: To investigate reliability and describe reference data of the KiddyCAT-G, an authorized German adaptation of the 'Communication Attitude Test for preschool and kindergarten children who stutter.
Method: Children (3.0-5.11 yrs) who do not stutter (CWNS; n=150) and children who stutter (CWS; n=30) completed the KiddyCAT-G. In order to determine test-retest reliability, the KiddyCAT-G was re-administered to a sub-sample of children (n=35; CWNS: n=15, CWS: n=20) one week later. Their parents completed a sociodemographic questionnaire.
Results: The KiddyCAT-G had moderate to high values of internal consistency for both groups (CWNS: α=0.61; CWS: α=0.79), as well as high test-retest-reliability (r=0.983, p<0.001). Group comparisons showed significantly higher mean scores for CWS (M=3.73, SD=2.92) than for CWNS (M=1.47, SD=1.65). In both groups, younger children (3.0–4.6 yrs) scored descriptively higher than older ones, a difference that was non-significant for the CWS, but significant for CWNS.
Conclusion: The internal consistency and test-retest-reliability of this assessment tool of communication attitude supports its use by SLPs for clinical and research purposes in German-speaking children. Data of 150 CWNS give first reference values.


Objective: Smart city projects are still in their initial research stages in Oman. This paper aims to prove the effectiveness of smart cities by using Data Mining Techniques (DMT) to predict energy consumption in Oman. Methods: Data collected from thirteen residential and eight industrial meters are used for electricity consumption forecast. Detailed data analysis is carried out using K-means clustering and time-series forecasting in R. Energy consumption data is modeled using average, naive, seasonal naive, Seasonal decomposition of Time Series by Loess (STL) +Random Walk with Drift (RWD), Exponential smoothing state space model with Box-Cox transformation, ARMA errors, Trend and Seasonal component (TBATS) and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models. Findings: Even though the dataset isn't characterized by seasons or trends, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) error measures suggest that electricity consumption for residential sector is more accurately forecasted using TBATS model. Energy consumption for small, medium and large scale industries, on the other hand are more accurately predicted by TBATS, Average and STL + RWD models respectively. Applications: The obtained results confirm the efficiency in forecasting energy consumption in Oman using time series models in order to initiate smart city implementation.


This paper analyzes the role of some key technological options (i.e., fuel-switching and renewable energy technologies) available under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the power sector of three Asian countries—Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. A long-term electricity planning model is used with the aim of minimizing the total net cost of certified emission reduction (CER) benefits from these countries' power sector during 2006 to 2025. The results show that cleaner thermal power generation technologies involving fuel-switching from coal to gas or oil would be the main source of carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction not only at the presently prevailing CER prices but also at significantly higher prices. The CDM potential of most renewable energy technologies is found to be weak during the study period at prevailing CER prices.


Device-to-device (D2D) communications underlaying a cellular infrastructure has recently been proposed as a means of increasing the resource utilization, improving the user throughput and extending the battery lifetime of user equipments. In this paper we propose a new distributed power control algorithm that iteratively determines the signal- to-noise-and- interference-ratio (SINR) targets in a mixed cellular and D2D environment and allocates transmit powers such that the overall power consumption is minimized subject to a sum-rate constraint. The performance of the distributed power control algorithm is benchmarked with respect to the optimal SINR target setting that we obtain using the Augmented Lagrangian Penalty Function (ALPF) method. The proposed scheme shows consistently near optimum performance both in a single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) and a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) setting.


A new piece of evidence supporting the photoevaporation-driven evolution model for low-mass, close-in exoplanets was recently presented by the California–Kepler Survey. The radius distribution of the Kepler planets is shown to be bimodal, with a "valley" separating two peaks at 1.3 and 2.6 R⊕. Such an "evaporation valley" had been predicted by numerical models previously. Here, we develop a minimal model to demonstrate that this valley results from the following fact: the timescale for envelope erosion is the longest for those planets with hydrogen/helium-rich envelopes that, while only a few percent in weight, double its radius. The timescale falls for envelopes lighter than this because the planet's radius remains largely constant for tenuous envelopes. The timescale also drops for heavier envelopes because the planet swells up faster than the addition of envelope mass. Photoevaporation therefore herds planets into either bare cores (∼1.3 R⊕), or those with double the core's radius (∼2.6 R⊕). This process mostly occurs during the first 100 Myr when the stars' high-energy fluxes are high and nearly constant. The observed radius distribution further requires the Kepler planets to be clustered around 3 M⊕ in mass, born with H/He envelopes more than a few percent in mass, and that their cores are similar to the Earth in composition. Such envelopes must have been accreted before the dispersal of the gas disks, while the core composition indicates formation inside the ice line. Lastly, the photoevaporation model fails to account for bare planets beyond ∼30–60 days; if these planets are abundant, they may point to a significant second channel for planet formation, resembling the solar system terrestrial planets.


-------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT--------------------------------------------------------------Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in recent times, have become one of the most promising network solutions with a wide variety of applications in the areas of agriculture, environment, healthcare and the military. Notwithstanding these promising applications, sensor nodes in WSNs are vulnerable to different security attacks due to their deployment in hostile and unattended areas and their resource constraints. One of such attacks is the DoS jamming attack that interferes and disrupts the normal functions of sensor nodes in a WSN by emitting radio frequency signals to jam legitimate signals to cause a denial of service. In this work a step-wise approach using a statistical process controls technique to detect these attacks. We deploy an Improved Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (IEWMA) to detect anomalous changes in the intensity of a jamming attack event by using the packet Break Advent Time (BAT) feature of the received packets from the sensor nodes. Results obtained from a trace-driven simulation show that the proposed solution can efficiently and accurately detect jamming attacks in WSNs with little or no overhead.


Abstract. A new ceramic material for orthopaedic applications was investigated. Therefore a gradient ceramic was prepared with a zirconia gradient within an alumina matrix by an infiltration process. This material was characterized regarding its microstructure, stress distribution inside the ceramic, zirconia phase analysis and strength. It could be shown that the flexural strength of the new ceramic is twice as high as of pure alumina ceramic. By this and the low monoclinic zirconia content this material offers a potential for its use in high load bearing implants like hip heads for joint endoprostheses.


Nodaviruses and other RNA viruses have a profoundly negative impact on the global aquaculture industry. Nodaviruses target nervous tissue causing viral nervous necrosis, a disease characterized by neurological damage, swimming abnormalities, and morbidity. This study used functional genomic techniques to study the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) brain transcript expression responses to asymptomatic high nodavirus carrier state and intraperitoneal injection of polyriboinosinic polyribocytidylic acid (pIC). Reciprocal suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) cDNA libraries enriched for virus-responsive brain transcripts were constructed and characterized. We generated 1,938 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a forward brain SSH library (enriched for transcripts upregulated by nodavirus and/or pIC) and 1,980 ESTs from a reverse brain SSH library (enriched for transcripts downregulated by nodavirus and/or pIC). To examine the effect of nodavirus carrier state on individual brain gene expression in asymptomatic cod, 27 transcripts of interest were selected for quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) studies. Transcripts found to be >10-fold upregulated in individuals with a high nodavirus carrier state relative to those in a no/low nodavirus carrier state were identified as ISG15, IL8, DHX58 (alias LGP2), ZNFX1, RSAD2 (alias viperin), and SACS (sacsin, alias spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay). These and other SSH-identified transcripts were also found by QPCR to be significantly (P < 0.05) upregulated by pIC compared with saline-injected controls within 72 h of injection. Several transcripts identified in the reverse SSH library, including two putative ubiquitination pathway members (HERC4 and SUMO2), were found to be significantly (P < 0.05) downregulated in individuals with a high nodavirus carrier state. Our data shows that Atlantic cod brains have a strong interferon pathway response to asymptomatic high nodavirus carrier state and that many interferon pathway and other immune relevant transcripts are significantly induced in brain by both nodavirus and pIC.


This paper describes a new electromagnetic contact sensing technique called the "Fine Touch" method which enables the cutting tool itself to be used as a probe during on-machine measurement of parts. The simple sensor design of the probe (the cutting tool) has resulted in a low cost system for workpiece set-up and inspection. Tests have shown that the sensor precision is of the order of 0.01 μm and, hence, could be used on coordinate measuring machines (CMM) as well. The sensor is effective irrespective of variations in cutting tool geometry, cutting insert coatings, insert geometry and size, cutting fluids, and workpiece material.


In the age of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Web and the Internet have changed significantly the way applications are developed, deployed and used. One of recent trends is modern design of web-applications based on SOA. This process is based on the compo sition of existing web services into a single scenario from the point of view of a particular user or client . This allows IT companies to shorten the producttime to market process. On the other hand, it raises questions about the quality of the application, trade-offs between quality factors and attributes and measurements of the se. Services are usually hosted and executed in an environment managed by its provider that assures the quality attributes such as availability or throughput. Therefore, in this paper an attempt has been made to perform q uality measurements towards the creation of efficient, dependable and user-oriented Web applications. Firs t, the process of designing service-based applications is described. Next, metrics for subsequent measur ements of efficiency, dependability and usability of distributed applications are presented. These metrics will assess the efforts and trade-offs in a Web-based application development. As examples, we describe a pair of multime dia applications which we have developed in our department and executed in a cluster-based environment. One of them runs in the BeesyCluster middlew are and the second one in the Kaskada platform. For thes e applications we present results of measurements and conclude about relations between quality attr ibutes in the presented application development model. This knowledge can be used to reason about such relatio ns for new similar applications and be used in rapid and quality development of the latter.


Cohesin is implicated in establishing tissue-specific DNA loops that target enhancers to promoters, and also localizes to sites bound by the insulator protein CTCF, which blocks enhancer-promoter communication. However, cohesin-associated interactions have not been characterized on a genome-wide scale. Here we performed chromatin interaction analysis with paired-end tag sequencing (ChIA-PET) of the cohesin subunit SMC1A in developing mouse limb. We identified 2264 SMC1A interactions, of which 1491 (65%) involved sites co-occupied by CTCF. SMC1A participates in tissue-specific enhancer-promoter interactions and interactions that demarcate regions of correlated regulatory output. In contrast to previous studies, we also identified interactions between promoters and distal sites that are maintained in multiple tissues but are poised in embryonic stem cells and resolve to tissue-specific activated or repressed chromatin states in the mouse embryo. Our results reveal the diversity of cohesin-associated interactions in the genome and highlight their role in establishing the regulatory architecture of development.


Aims. We aim to locate the origin of a stealth coronal mass ejection (CME) detected in situ by the MAG instrument on board Solar Orbiter and make connections between the CME observed at the Sun and the interplanetary CME (ICME) measured in situ. Methods. Remote sensing data were analysed using advanced image processing techniques to identify the source region of the stealth CME, and the global magnetic field at the time of the eruption was examined using potential field source surface (PFSS) models. The observations of the stealth CME at the Sun were compared with the magnetic field measured by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, and plasma properties were measured by the Wind spacecraft. Results. The source of the CME is found to be a quiet Sun cavity in the northern hemisphere. We find that the stealth CME has a strong magnetic field in situ, despite originating from a quiet Sun region with an extremely weak magnetic field. Conclusions. The interaction of the ICME with its surrounding environment is the likely cause of a higher magnetic field strength measured in situ. Stealth CMEs require multi-wavelength and multi-viewpoint observations in order to confidently locate the source region; however, their elusive signatures still pose many problems for space weather forecasting. The findings have implications for Solar Orbiter observing sequences with instruments such as EUI that are designed to capture stealth CMEs.


Green wall is one of the green technology that applied to the building to helps improve to better environment. Green wall consist of plants that grown in supported vertical systems that generally attached to an internal or external wall. Green wall become one of the key to improve urban environment in urban planning. In Malaysia, Construction Industry Development Board has initialized the green technology programmed since 1999 but, after 10 years, this technology is still in infancy. Malaysia rank in 26th position in the world's green leaders that indicate Malaysia is far behind in term of environment concern. The government of Malaysia had started to emphasize on sustainable development in the Ninth Malaysian Plan. In Malaysia, a few building have been applied the green wall system. This study aim to assess the potential of green wall application in Malaysia that will contribute to better environment. There are three objectives for this study. The first objective is to investigate the concept and function of green wall that applies to the building. The functions are scientifically proved such as their impact on environment, economic and social. The second objective is to identify building user perception towards green wall application and the last objective is to give recommendation to reduce the problems occur by using green wall in Malaysia. The data is gained through semi-structured interview, observation and questionnaires. Three case studies that implement green wall were selected to complement this research. The interview process was held with the expertise panel such as the project manager, property manager, landscape architect and the maintenance of the building. The overall finding indicates the potential of green wall in Malaysia is high as most respondents are positive with the application of green wall. The green wall gives many benefits to our environment, thus act as aesthetical benefit.


Abstract Context: Hypoxia injury (HI) with its long-term neurological complications is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. Currently, the treatment regimens for hypoxia are aimed only at ameliorating the damage without complete cure. The need, therefore, for novel therapeutic drugs to treat HI continues. Objective: This study investigates the protective effects of the ethanol extract of Cyperus rotundus L. (Cyperaceae) (EECR), a medicinal plant used in Ayurvedic traditional medicine against sodium nitrite-induced hypoxia in rats. Materials and methods: We have evaluated the protective effect of 200 and 400 mg/kg of EECR against sodium nitrite-induced hypoxia injury in rats by assessing the cognitive functions, motor, and behavioral effects of EECR treatment along with the histological changes in the brain. By comparing the protective effects of standard drugs galantamine, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor and pyritinol, an antioxidant nootropic drug against sodium nitrite-induced hypoxia in rats, we have tested the protective ability of EECR. Results: EECR at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg was able to protect against the cognitive impairments, and the locomotor activity and muscular coordination defects, which are affected by sodium nitrite-induced hypoxia injury in rats. Conclusion: Based on our results, we suggest that the medicinal herb C. rotundus possesses a protective effect against sodium nitrite-induced hypoxia in rats. Further studies on these protective effects of EECR may help in designing better therapeutic regimes for hypoxia injury.


Desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) show a dramatic form of socially induced phenotypic plasticity known as phase polyphenism. In the absence of conspecifics, locusts occur in a shy and cryptic solitarious phase. Crowding with conspecifics drives a behavioural transformation towards gregariousness that occurs within hours and is followed by changes in physiology, colouration and morphology, resulting in the full gregarious phase syndrome. We analysed methylation-sensitive amplified fragment length polymorphisms (MS-AFLP) to compare the effect of acute and chronic crowding on DNA methylation in the central nervous system. We find that rearing the offspring of gregariousphase locusts in social isolation causes pronounced differentiation of the neuromethylome within an individual's life-time. Crowding isolationreared locusts for a day, however, has no significant effect on their MS-AFLP fingerprint. The differentiation of the neuromethylome seen in long-term gregarious locusts is therefore unrelated to the acquisition and expression of gregarious behaviour, suggesting that it serves to consolidate long-term phase state.


With an expanding population and changing dynamics in global food markets, it is important to find solutions for more resilient food production methods closer to urban environments. Recently, vertical farming systems have emerged as a potential solution for urban farming. However, although there is an increasing body of literature reviewing the potential of urban and vertical farming systems, only a limited number of studies have reviewed the sustainability of these systems. The aim of this article was to understand the environmental impacts of vertical hydroponic farming in urban environments applied to a case study vertical hydroponic farm in Stockholm, Sweden. This was carried out by evaluating environmental performance using a life cycle perspective to assess the environmental impacts and comparing to potential scenarios for improvement options. The results suggest that important aspects for the vertical hydroponic system include the growing medium, pots, electricity demand, the transportation of raw materials and product deliveries. By replacing plastic pots with paper pots, large reductions in GHG emissions, acidification impacts, and abiotic resource depletion are possible. Replacing conventional gardening soil as the growing medium with coir also leads to large environmental impact reductions. However, in order to further reduce the impacts from the system, more resource-efficient steps will be needed to improve impacts from electricity demand, and there is potential to develop more symbiotic exchanges to employ urban wastes and by-products.


Language policy within the issues of human development and rights in general, and in that of younger generation, in particular, has been in the focus of scientific society for many years. It is especially topical in the view of the 20-21 st century international legislation concerning the linguistic and ethnic diversity of the multinational state and challenges connected with youth support and development. Since the end of the twentieth century, the urgency to develop ideology of an integral nature (multiculturalism) for current and future generations development has been determining the world philosophy. There is a solid international legislation in force that aims to support the peoples' rights to use their native languages. However, national practices in different regions of the world confirm that state of affairs might vary in terms of balance between legislation and practice. The paper background integrates socio-cultural and academic view on the statement that protecting linguistic and cultural diversity and articulating qualitatively new standards in education are among the core objectives in societies with cross-cultural perspective. However, such objectives face challenges of different nature. The research aims at briefly outlining the key stages of designing the language policy through key federal and regional laws. It looks at positive experience as well as social conflicts and legal collisions in the country that communicates in 277 languages and dialects. The research materials include landmark provisions of international legislation and major legal sources of the Russian federation and its entities. The research methodology uses historical approach, comparative-contrastive analysis along with case study techniques. The research findings reveal the prospects and challenges within legislation on language issues regarding education in Russian legal entities. The article can be of certain interest to scholars and practitioners in the fields of education, social science, law and state policies.


The current monkeypox outbreaks during the COVID-19 pandemic have reignited interest in orthopoxvirus antivirals. Monkeypox belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family, which also includes the variola virus, vaccinia virus, and cowpox virus. Two orally bioavailable drugs, tecovirimat and brincidofovir, have been approved for treating smallpox infections. Given their human safety profiles and in vivo antiviral efficacy in animal models, both drugs have also been recommended to treat monkeypox infection. To facilitate the development of additional orthopoxvirus antivirals, we summarize the antiviral activity, mechanism of action, and mechanism of resistance of orthopoxvirus antivirals. This perspective covers both direct-acting and host-targeting antivirals with an emphasis on drug candidates showing in vivo antiviral efficacy in animal models. We hope to speed the orthopoxvirus antiviral drug discovery by providing medicinal chemists with insights into prioritizing proper drug targets and hits for further development.


Lithologic data from marine sedimentary cores and accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) radiocarbon dates indicate that grounded ice did not advance to the western Ross Sea continental shelf edge during the last glacial maximum (LGM). A chronology of the timing of ice retreat was provided by 26 AMS dates, obtained from 12 cores. Dates ranging from 20 to 29 ka suggest that the outer continental shelf (beyond ca. lat 74°S) was not covered by grounded glacial ice prior to and during the early stages of the LGM. 14C dates just above transitions from subglacial diamictons to marine muds indicate that the area around the Drygalski ice tongue was deglaciated by at least 11.5 ka. The Ross Ice Shelf reached its present-day position near Ross Island by about 7 ka. A hiatus of about 15 ka is apparent in radiocarbon dates in cores from the outer continental shelf. The hiatus is interpreted to represent an absence of sedimentation caused by the presence of an ice shelf.


The surface tension of dilute salt water is a fundamental property that is crucial to our understanding the complexity of many aqueous phase processes. Small ions are known to be repelled from the air-water surface leading to an increase in the surface tension in accordance with the Gibbs adsorption isotherm. The Jones-Ray effect refers to the observation that at extremely low salt concentration the surface tension decreases in apparent contradiction with thermodynamics. Determining the mechanism that is responsible for this Jones-Ray effect is an important for theoreti-cally predicting the distribution of ions near surfaces. Here we show that this surface tension decrease can be explained by surfactant impurities in water that create a substantial negative electrostatic potential at the air-water interface. This potential strongly attracts positive cations in water to the interface lowering the surface tension and thus explaining the signature of the Jones-Ray effect. At higher salt concentrations, this electrostatic potential is screened by the added salt reducing the magnitude of this effect. This work suggests that the purity standards for water may be inadequate and that the interactions between ions with background impurities are important to incorporate into our understanding of the driving forces that give rise to the speciation of ions at interfaces.


In the state of Sonora, as a result of investigation, you can identify the bush chiltepin as a crucial element of the culture of the people, giving different uses both culinary and medicinal and spiritual, is also important to mention that there been one of its main sources of income is represented by the marketing of agricultural products. Currently, the only given chiltepin wild in parts of southern, central, and eastern mountain area of ?Sonora. It grows on the banks of streams and along ravines in the desert scrub, thorn scrub, tropical deciduous forest, and oak. Because of this, there is no specific control on the production of this shrub, as collectors, just go to areas where the plant and cut by 50% or even full, and then market their fruit this can result in decreased production to disappear. At present, agricultural products represent a potential source of income for rural communities and therefore a significant sustainable development in the regions. However, this research sought to emphasize the culture of the inhabitants of a region and thus to design marketing strategies for specific products, for economic development in rural areas. It shall be general purpose, identify key issues of managing chiltepin in the mountainous region of Sonora, and design strategies that transform the meaning of this activity making it sustainable and more profitable for those developing. In the framework details the marketing strategies that are implemented for the development of products made from chiltepin, as well as a description of the 4p's of marketing. The realization of this project is a potentially successful investment, because chiltepin enter a niche market, not only launched a new product to market but also contribute to the sustainable development of the mountainous region, and also be able to maintain a control over this coveted bush and survival.


Biological neural networks face a formidable task: performing reliable computations in the face of intrinsic stochasticity in individual neurons, imprecisely specified synaptic connectivity, and nonnegligible delays in synaptic transmission. A common approach to combatting such biological heterogeneity involves averaging over large redundant networks of $N$ neurons resulting in coding errors that decrease classically as $1/\sqrt{N}$. Recent work demonstrated a novel mechanism whereby recurrent spiking networks could efficiently encode dynamic stimuli, achieving a superclassical scaling in which coding errors decrease as $1/N$. This specific mechanism involved two key ideas: predictive coding, and a tight balance, or cancellation between strong feedforward inputs and strong recurrent feedback. However, the theoretical principles governing the efficacy of balanced predictive coding and its robustness to noise, synaptic weight heterogeneity and communication delays remain poorly understood. To discover such principles, we introduce an analytically tractable model of balanced predictive coding, in which the degree of balance and the degree of weight disorder can be dissociated unlike in previous balanced network models, and we develop a mean field theory of coding accuracy. Overall, our work provides and solves a general theoretical framework for dissecting the differential contributions neural noise, synaptic disorder, chaos, synaptic delays, and balance to the fidelity of predictive neural codes, reveals the fundamental role that balance plays in achieving superclassical scaling, and unifies previously disparate models in theoretical neuroscience.


Until recently, the title 'physician leader' was rarely heard particularly in the UK. But that is changing. Doctors are being drawn into leadership and management more systematically. New educational opportunities are being tailored to the specific needs of doctors. The change towards physician leadership is being driven by research showing that leaders who are experts in the core business, such as doctors, are associated with improved organisational performance. This article summarises that evidence and then reviews what we have learnt about how best to train future physician leaders.


TrmA catalyzes S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet)-dependent methylation of U54 in most tRNAs. We solved the structure of the Escherichia coli 5-methyluridine (m5U) 54 tRNA methyltransferase (MTase) TrmA in a covalent complex with a 19-nt T arm analog to 2.4-Å resolution. Mutation of the TrmA catalytic base Glu-358 to Gln arrested catalysis and allowed isolation of the covalent TrmA–RNA complex for crystallization. The protein–RNA interface includes 6 nt of the T loop and two proximal base pairs of the stem. U54 is flipped out of the loop into the active site. A58 occupies the space of the everted U54 and is part of a collinear base stack G53–A58–G57–C56–U55. The RNA fold is different from T loop conformations in unbound tRNA or T arm analogs, but nearly identical to the fold of the RNA loop bound at the active site of the m5U MTase RumA. In both enzymes, this consensus fold presents the target U and the following two bases to a conserved binding groove on the protein. Outside of this fold, the RumA and TrmA substrates have completely different structures and protein interfaces. Loop residues other than the target U54 make more than half of their hydrogen bonds to the protein via sugar-phosphate moieties, accounting, in part, for the broad consensus sequence for TrmA substrates.


: Indian art history has given the Indian subcontinent a rich storage of traditional painting from pre-history to present time. The painting style varies from region to region, even from time to time. There is a living tradition in Bihar's art field called Madhubani painting that sheds light on the social system as well as on Bihar's cultural identity, and painting styles have changed from generation to generation. India has always been recognized as the land which through its modern arts and crafts portrayed cultural and traditional vibrancy. The 35 nation-wide states and union territories have their own distinct cultural and social cultures and are expressed there by different types of art. Every area in India possesses its own style and art pattern, Referred to Since folk art. India's folk and tribal arts are both Multicultural and very racial basic but colorful and to speak rich volumes patrimony of the country. Owing to its conventional sense of beauty and authenticity, across the foreign market, folk art in India clearly has great potential. Rural Indian folk paintings display unique, vivid designs rendered with supernatural and religious motifs. Folk art stands for tribal heritage By introducing the rising cultural values and the esthetics. It includes assortment objects of use decoration including clothes, wood, paper, clay, metal, etc. Common to international tourists due to their anthropology. By introducing the rising cultural values and the esthetics. It includes a variety common with international tourists due to their Anthropology. And its elegance modern. Some of the most famous folk paintings in India include Bihar's Madhubani, Odisha's Patachitra, Rajasthan's Phad, and Andhra Pradesh's Kalamkari, Pichhvai Rajasthan paintings, Maharashtra Warli paintings, Andhra Pradesh Nirmal paintings, Uttarakhand Gujarat Aipan paintings of by Pithora, Madhya Pradesh paintings by Gond and Mandana, Calcutta paintings by Kalighat and many other types. Several of those folk tribal paintings will be discussed below


The surface of cultural heritage and façade of historic buildings represent most values. The conservation of such surfaces need special cares, because most of them are non-structural exposed to extreme weather conditions. The refitting and consolidation delaminated surface were carried out using organic resins, like epoxy resins or cement suspension. However the evaluation in the recent years show such kinds of materials are not chemically compatible with historical materials. Based on inspection on cracks of Huashan's Pictographs and other historic buildings in Shanghai and Hangzhou, a new system composed of adhesives and injection grouts based on natural hydraulic lime (NHL) has been developed for refitting and rehabilitation of delaminated surfaces made of natural stones, plaster and bricks. The laboratory researches and trial areas on site have shown the adhesives based on modified NHL have sufficient bonding strength to hold delaminated stone slices and blocks. Furthermore, they show slow setting and carbonation process, almost same heat expansion coefficient as the lime stone and inorganic historical materials. After exposure of 135days on site, the trial areas show neither cracking nor efflorescence. The application of developed adhesives and injection grouts in the restoration work of historic Shanghai plaster gates of Jiuxinli in Hangzhou, Zhejinag Province, has been observed positively. Because of high performance and competitive price against organic resins, they are expected to be an optimal material system in the future for façade restoration of architectural heritage and monuments.


Daily growth variability of bluefin (Thunnus thynnus) larvae sampled in their Balearic Sea spawning grounds during the 2003–2005 spawning seasons was examined. Multi-factorial ANOVA was applied to study the effects of environmental variables, such as temperature at 10 m depth (T10), microzooplankton dry weight (MDW) and protein/dry weight ratio (PROT/MDW) on larval growth. The 2003 bluefin tuna (BFT) larval cohort showed the fastest growth, recognizable from enhanced otolith and somatic mass increment compared to the 2004–2005 larval cohorts. The 2003 BFT larvae showed greater recent growth than the 2004–2005 BFT cohorts, which decreased in the last stages of development. Growth differences between the 2004 and 2005 larval cohorts were not significant. The environmental conditions between 2003 and 2004–2005 were highly contrasting as a result of the 2003 warming anomaly. Somatic and otolith growth rates (OGR) were significantly related to T10 and MDW, as well as to the PROT/MDW ratios. Nonetheless, the effect of T10 on OGR depended on the relative high (H) or low (L) levels of MDW and PROT/DW. Higher OGR was observed when T10 was high, MDW was low and PROT/DW was high. This environmental scenario conditions were met during 2003, which recorded the highest surface temperature and low planktonic biomass. Somatic growth, expressed as larval DW growth increase (DWGR), showed three-factor significant interactions with T10*MDW*PROT/MDW, in which the two-way interactions of MDW*PROT/MDW showed differences in the function of T10 levels.