Aldehyde oxidase (AO) and xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) are molybdo-flavoenzymes (MFEs) involved in the oxidation of hundreds of endogenous and exogenous aldehydes and N-heterocyclic compounds many of which are drugs, vitamins and environmental pollutants. Mutations in the XOR and molybdenum cofactor sulfurase (MCS) genes result in a deficiency of XOR or dual AO/XOR deficiency respectively. At present despite AO and XOR being classed as detoxification enzymes the definitive experimental proof of this has not been assessed in any animals thus far.

The aim of this project was to evaluate ry and ma-l strains of Drosophila melanogaster as experimental models for XOR and dual AO/XOR deficiencies respectively and to determine if MFEs have a role in the protection against chemical and physical stress. An additional aim was to determine the molecular basis for deficiency in ma-l strains by cloning and sequencing the MCS gene.

Spectrophotometric and HPLC assays demonstrated that Drosophila AO and XOR were able to catalyse the biotransformation of numerous substrates of the well-scrutinised mammalian orthologs. These included several aromatic aldehydes and N-heterocyclic pollutants, drugs and endogenous vitamins. Investigation of the enzyme activity in ry strain revealed a compromised ability to biotransform several XOR substrates that reflected the situation in human hereditary xanthinuria type I. Both ma-l strains were found to be unable to biotransform all AO substrates tested. These results confirmed that Drosophila were good experimental models for testing the role of MFEs as detoxification enzymes.

In order to test the role of the enzymes in chemoprotection, MFE substrates were administered to Drosophila in media and survivorship monitored. It was demonstrated that several methylated xanthines were toxic to XOR-deficient strains. In addition a range of AO substrates including N-heterocycles and aldehydes were significantly more toxic to ma-l AO-null strains. This study therefore provides definitive proof that both AO and XOR are involved in detoxification.

Investigations to determine the effect of MFE deficiencies on lifespan revealed that ry and ma-l strains had significantly reduced lifespan when compared with the wild type strain with the mean lifespan being reduced approximately 60% and 30% respectively ii in these strains. The effect the MFE deficiencies have on heat and cold stress indicated that ry and ma-l strains had significantly reduced ability to survive, with the survivorship of the AO-null ma-l strain being most compromised in these conditions. The effect of the toxic chemicals, lifespan and temperature stress were rescued in ry mutant animals that had the normal ry (XOR) gene reinserted by transgenesis.

Cloning and DNA sequencing of the MCS gene in the ma-l strains revealed that the mal-1 and mal-f1 strains had a 6 bp insertion and a 23 bp deletion in exon 4 respectively that are predicted to lead to alterations of the deduced MCS protein structure, thus explaining the dual AO/XOR deficiency in these strains.


The objective of this work is to analyze the effects of decrease in water subsidies (increase in the price of the water) on various economic sectors in order to promote the conservation of this resource based on the actual price of water. But over the past decades, various subsidizing methods hold the cost of water down. On the other hand, the indiscriminate use of these resources led the government to impose enormous costs. Determining the economic impact of subsidy reform can be an essential factor in the determination of water price reform scenarios. The methodology that will be used to explore the implications on the economy will be a computable general equilibrium model (CGE), previously designed for an analysis of the direct taxes of the Andalusian economy (Cardenete and Sancho, 2003), but now enhanced and extended to include emissions of pollutants and the introduction of environmental taxes (Andre, Cardenete and Velazquez, 2005). This model has been further modified to introduce the variations in the water price that this study investigates the effect of water subsidy reform on the economy based on six scenarios using computable general equilibrium model. Results show that by decreasing subsidies, GDP will reduce in all economic sectors. Government can prevent the decrease in production by redistributing incomes.


In this paper we present an approach to lexical typology which will be referred to as the "frame method". It was developed and tested in the Moscow Lexico-Typological Group and is currently used in all its projects, such as Majsak, Rakhilina (eds.) 2007, Britsyn et al. (eds.) 2009, Kruglyakova 2010, Reznikova et al. 2012. Our main principle, taken from the Moscow semantic school (Apresjan 1974/1992, cf. also Firth 1957: 11), is that lexical meanings can be studied and reconstructed by observing the word's "surroundings", primarily their collocation. Then, they can be compared by procedures similar to those used in grammatical typology. Section One will clarify the goals of lexical typology (LT), as we see them in relation to our method, and the method itself will be presented in more detail in Section Two.


In this paper we describe a semi-supervised approach to the extraction of time expression mentions in large unlabelled corpora based on bootstrapping.
Bootstrapping techniques rely on a relatively small amount of initial human-supplied examples (termed "seeds") of the type of entity or concept to be learned, in order to capture an initial set of patterns or rules from the unlabelled text that extract the supplied data. In turn, the learned patterns are employed to find new potential examples, and the process is repeated to grow the set of patterns and (optionally) the set of examples. In order to prevent the learned pattern set from producing spurious results, it becomes essential
to implement a ranking and selection procedure to filter out "bad" patterns and, depending on the case, new candidate examples. Therefore, the type of patterns employed (knowledge representation) as well as the ranking and selection procedure are paramount to the quality of the results. We present a complete bootstrapping algorithm for recognition of time expressions, with a special emphasis on the type of patterns used (a combination of semantic and morpho- syntantic elements) and the ranking and selection criteria. Bootstrap-
ping techniques have been previously employed with limited success for several NLP problems, both of recognition and classification, but their application to time expression recognition is, to the best of our knowledge, novel. As of this writing, the described architecture is in the final stages of implementation, with experimention and evalution being already underway.


Of the many treatises written in Italy during the Counter-Reformation, none is more illustrative of the intellectual fermentation of the period than Comanini's work on the purpose of painting, Il Figino overo del fine della Pittura (1591). Although the importance of Il Figino has long been recognized, the text has remained largely inaccessible to many scholars throughout the world. This first complete English translation will make the work available to those readers for the first time. In Il Figino, Comanini addresses all of the most hotly debated aesthetic issues of the time, drawing on an array of classical, medieval and Renaissance sources, including Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Mazzoni, Tasso and Paleotti. The editor and translator provide copious notes which clarify Comanini's aesthetic and theological references, as well as a lucid introduction that places the issues and debates in context. Comanini's impressive erudition makes his treatise an excellent barometer of the state of scholarship in the Counter-Reformation era. This translation is a long-overdue addition to the field of Renaissance studies.


Namias had defined fractionalization of conventional Hankel transform, using the method of eigen values and studied and open the door for the research in fractional integral transform. This paper studies the fractionalization of generalized Hankel transform, as given by Zemanian. We referred it as fractional Hankel transform. First we introduce fractional Hankel transform in the generalized sense. Generalized operational relations are derived that can be used to solve certain classes of ordinary and partial differential equations. Lastly the values of fractional Hankel transform are obtained for some special functions.


The concept of social closure may be used to explain how occupational groups, particularly the professions, seek to secure and retain their status. The pursuit of legislative controls to support and protect these privileges constitutes a key component of closure. Attempts within state podiatry to attain statutory changes to, and replacement of, the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act (1960) has been marked by a series of identifiable occupational strategies. This paper examines the nature of these strategies, their underpinning professional aspirations and their dependence upon State policy and ideology. The quest to secure a more powerful and durable form of occupational closure, in line with the dental or medical models, is evaluated and informed through theory derived from the sociology of the professions. The prospects for current and future closure strategies are further examined in the light of the recent Health Act (1999).


Experts from three different fields will cooperate to explore this study, including e-learning experts from Taiwan; data mining experts from Canada, and Artificial Intelligence experts from Germany. Through this new analysis technique (data mining), new discoveries can be concluded in the field of web-based mathematics competition. Researchers try to explore these relations between different students' portfolios and achievements of Taiwan Web-based Mathematics Competition. These findings will provide valuable information for instructors, researchers and government. In particular, optimal learning conditions in- and outside the learning scenario can be explored.


One high profile intra predictor generation engine is proposed in this paper. Firstly, hardware level algorithm optimization for intra 8 × 8 (I8MB) mode is introduced. The original candidate pixels for generating prediction samples of I8MB are replaced with boundary pixels of intra 4 × 4 (I4MB) blocks. Based on this adoption, full data reuse between predictors of I4MB and filtered samples of I8MB can be achieved with almost no quality loss. Secondly, one lossless two-4 × 4-block based parallel predictor generation flow is proposed. The original predictor generation flow is optimized from 16 stages to 10 stages for I4MB and Intra 16 × 16 (I16MB), which saves 37.5% processing cycles. For I8MB, similar methodology with different processing order of 4 × 4 scaled blocks is introduced. Thirdly, fully utilized hardwired engines for I4MB, I16MB and I8MB are proposed in this paper. Except DC (direct current) and plane modes, full data reuse among all intra modes of high profile can be achieved. Fourthly, for DC mode, one combined predictor generation process is introduced and predictor generation of I16MB's DC mode is merged into the process of I4MB's DC mode. Moreover, by configuring proposed hardwired engines, predictor generation of I16MB's plane mode and chrominance plane mode can be accomplished with only 50% cycles of original design. Totally, when compared with original full-mode design and latest dynamic mode reused design, the proposed predictor generation engine can achieve 89.5% and 73.2% saving of processing cycles, respectively. Synthesized by TSMC 0.18µm technology under worst work conditions (1.62V, 125°C), with 380MHz and 37.2k gates, the proposed design can handle real-time high profile intra predictor generation of Super Hi-Vision 4k × 4k@60fps. The maximum work frequency of our design under worst condition is 468MHz.


Purpose. The work is devotes to the definition of the prerequisites, the rationale and the formation of a new marketing research concept for rail passenger traffic, which is the holistic management of the consumer value of services for passengers. Research methodology. To achieve the goal of the work, a critical analysis was made of the existing marketing research methodology, carried out in compliance with the general basic principles, at certain stages, using common methods, and the practical significance of these studies for the management of the national railway. Systems analysis allowed to identify the main problems of Ukraine's railway passenger transport of a practical nature and to identify unresolved aspects of a scientific task. Results. The lack of effectiveness of the existing long-distance passenger transport management was notes. It is proves that the demand for rail passenger transportation in longdistance traffic is an extremely complex socio-economic phenomenon, the study of which requires a special approach. The essence of consumer value as a complex structure is analyzes, its features are highlights, which proves its heterogeneity for different services and consumer segments. It is shows that the existing methods for determining consumer value do not provide an opportunity to correctly establish its value, effectively manage it and are not properly adapted to the services of long-distance railway passenger transport. The need for the development of a marketing research methodology based on the holistic management of the consumer value of passenger services has been substantiate. Scientific novelty. Introduced the concept of holistic management of consumer value, revealed its essence and differences from the integrated management. The development of the marketing research methodology is gives in terms of the fundamental principles - general and specific, which are necessary for the implementation of the new concept of holistic management of the consumer value of services. Practical significance. Taking into account the specifics of passenger transportation services by long distance rail transport, the stages of determining the use value of services of this type of transportation were develops on the basis of the proposed concept of holistic management of it, which should increase the soundness and effectiveness of management decisions in the passenger rail transport sector of Ukraine.


The paper presents the results obtained during the geochemical examinations of the thermomineral waters of the Borovik site, Kratovo. The results are related to data of earlier geochemical examinations (drill hole ZD-3) and investigations carried out during 2003 and 2004 (drill holes ZD-3, ZD-77 and ZD-1).
The chemical composition of the hydrothermal fluids and the isotopic composition of some of the dissolved ions examinations of the themominerals waters of Borovik have been carried out. The paper will present the calculated values only of hydrogeochemical geothermometers that are directly dependent on the temperatures prevailing in the collector.
The thermomineral waters of Borovik are sodium-potassium-hydrocarbonate, sulphate, sulphide and low acid carbon hypertherms. This can be inferred from the percentage of individual dissolved component parts (in mg/l). Dry residue at 180 C of the water studied amounts to 2.1743 gr/l, which indicates that it can be classified as mineral water.
It was determined that cations exceeding 20 millival% include those of sodium (42 mval%) and calcium (48 mval%), whereas of the anions, hydrocarbonate of up to 51 mval% and sulphate So4 to 42.0990 mval% were found. This allows the water to be classified as sodium-calcium-hydrocarbonate,sulphate mineral water.
The water contains free sulphurhydrogen H2S of 0.0012 gr/l and free CO2 of 0.8800 gr/l and allows us to classify it as sodium-calcium-hydrocarbonate,sulphate, sulphide and low acid carbon hypertherms.
The results of the chemical analysis of heavy metals indicate that all heavy metals studied are within the allowable values.
Latest investigations indicate that the water is characterized by increased contents of elements such as Sr,Se and As that, probably are the product of classical hydrothermal systems, located at depth.


Sensitive high-resolution ion-microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb zircon dating of four gneissic granitoid intrusions, whose field relationships indicate that they are among the oldest plutonic rocks exposed in the Dry Valleys region of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica, gives ages between 531 ± 10 and 502 ± 9 Ma. Two samples from 1- to 3-km-scale gneissic plutons characterized by the distinctive enrichment in Sr and depletion in Y (DV1b suite) typical of "adakitic" igneous rocks yielded dates of 531 ± 10 Ma and 516 ± 10 Ma, respectively. Two other samples of gneissic, K-feldspar– megacrystic granodiorite intercalated with the Skelton Group country rocks that are characterized by more typical Cordilleran I-type chemistries (DV1a suite) yielded dates of 505 ± 9 Ma and 502 ± 9 Ma, respectively. A fifth sample from the large Bonney pluton (DV1a suite) emplaced at the peak of magmatic activity during the Ross orogeny, gave a date of 499 ± 6 Ma.

The new dates indicate that subduction and magmatism associated with the Ross orogeny had begun by ca. 530 Ma along this segment of the East Antarctic margin. They also require cessation by this time of the Neoproterozoic–Cambrian rifting that predated the Ross orogeny. None of the gneissic granitoid plutons was emplaced during a Neoproterozoic Beardmore orogeny, as has been suggested by some previous workers. Emplacement of small plutons characterized by an "adakitic" chemistry, punctuated by folding events, continued for 10–30 m.y. after ca. 530 Ma before major, more typical Cordilleran-style magmatism occurred between 505 and 499 Ma. Large volumes of calc-alkalic plutonic rocks in the Ross orogen south of the Dry Valleys region were emplaced 10–40 m.y. earlier than those in the Dry Valleys region, indicating marked variations in the timing of calc- alkalic granitoid magmatism parallel to the Ross orogen. The full extent and significance of these variations remain to be defined.


This paper describes and defends two arguments connecting ethics and religion that Kant makes in Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. The first argument is that the moral demand is too high for us in our natural capacities, and God's assistance is required to bridge the resulting moral gap. The second argument is that because humans desire to be happy as well as to be morally good, morality will be rationally unstable without belief in a God who can bring happiness and virtue together. The paper states and replies to three objections to each argument.


Th is article presents the results of the research of the current state, tendencies and developments of the modern corporate media and the peculiarities of their use of innovations in communications. Th e theoretical part is based on the study of the knowledge base through a general review, critical analysis, systematization and generalization. Practical part contains analysis of statistical data and descriptive analysis of samples of corporate media. Th e overall state of the industry in corporate publishing in Ukraine is investigated. Th e data on projects presented during the last fi ve years for the Association of Corporate Media, Ukraine is analyzed. Features and prospects of development of printed and digital communication channels are considered. Th e innovative approaches used by companies when using corporate media are analyzed, the main trends of their development are formulated. A statement can be made that innovation signifi cantly transforms the status, content and forms of corporate media. In particular, with the reduction of printed publications, the company 's active development of social networking websites, online video, mobile applications, chat bots, other digital channels and communication tools are envisaged. Given the current state of corporate media it is possible to predict their further growth and deeper integration in social and business processes. More and more companies from diff erent industries will use this communication tool to build a comprehensive dialogue with the audience, create an image, promote the market for goods or services, and enhance corporate culture and employee motivation.


This paper will focus on developing and designing a portable fisheries assistant system (FAS), a micro fisheries activity assistant system which integrates operation zone detections, i.e., marine protected zones and closed fishing season areas, online digital crew declaration system, emergency distress calls, and trajectory recording. FAS combines external modules, i.e., GSM transmitter and receivers, GPS receivers, and external storage, and uses microdevices which is light and can be powered by a battery bank. This makes FAS suitable as a carry-on device for fishing rafts and sampans which do not have a stable source of electric power. Development of the software will also take account of using operations that consume less electricity to lengthen the operation time of FAS. The current development stage uses mobile network systems to relay information and is field-tested by going on the seas. Finally, research and experiments will be done to evaluate the capability of FAS integrated with a current existing central control system at the Fisheries Agency of Taiwan.


Lower extremity injuries in frontal automotive crashes usually occur with footwell intrusion where both the knee and foot are constrained. In order to identify factors associated with tibial shaft injury, a series of numerical simulations were conducted using a finite element model of the whole human body. These simulations demonstrated that tibial mid-shaft injuries in frontal crashes could be caused by an abrupt change in velocity and a high rate of footwell intrusion.


Collocations in the sense of idiosyncratic lexical co-occurrences of two syntactically bound words traditionally pose a challenge to language learners and many Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications alike. Reliable ground truth (i.e., ideally manually compiled) resources are thus of high value. We present a manually compiled bilingual English–French collocation resource with 7,480 collocations in English and 6,733 in French. Each collocation is enriched with information that facilitates its downstream exploitation in NLP tasks such as machine translation, word sense disambiguation, natural language generation, relation classification, and so forth. Our proposed enrichment covers: the semantic category of the collocation (its lexical function), its vector space representation (for each individual word as well as their joint collocation embedding), a subcategorization pattern of both its elements, as well as their corresponding BabelNet id, and finally, indices of their occurrences in large scale reference corpora.


To understand what "to be a father" means today, we need to take into account the current historical-social context, characterized by the instrumental reason predominance, that depreciate the design dimension proper to the father's function, hindering his ability to indicate meanings, future possible worlds, models of humanity. The meaning and the sense can not be the result of a technical organization (information is it) but, with Dewey, of the wholeness of the experience and of its natural push out towards the future. The lack of sense is thus compensated in the capacity of the mother's function to provide care and meaning. Subtracted from the dialectic with the father's "separating-design" function, at the maternal function does not remain that indulging in the gratification of care, as happens in many pedagogies that unilaterally insist on affectivity. Taking advantage of psychoanalytic tools and contributions and, in particular, of a conception of education as an "antinomy" (Bertin 1961a; 1961b), on the one hand, and as an interconnection of "two reciprocal directions of meaning": educere and educāre (Bertagna, 2000, pp. 109 fol.), on the other hand, the present contribution will try to highlight how the true opportunity for changing the father's role in today's society is his transformation from authoritarian-father into a "designing father".


Correspondence: David Christmas Academic Unit of Psychiatry, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol, Avon BS8 2BN, UK Tel +44 117 331 4012 Fax +44 117 331 4026 email firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract: This article highlights the evidence linking depression to increased inflammatory drive and explores putative mechanisms for the association by reviewing both preclinical and clinical literature. The enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase is induced by proinflammatory cytokines and may form a link between immune functioning and altered neurotransmission, which results in depression. Increased indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase activity may cause both tryptophan depletion and increased neurotoxic metabolites of the kynurenine pathway, two alterations which have been hypothesized to cause depression. The tryptophan-kynurenine pathway is comprehensively described with a focus on the evidence linking metabolite alterations to depression. The use of immune-activated groups at high risk of depression have been used to explore these hypotheses; we focus on the studies involving chronic hepatitis C patients receiving interferon-alpha, an immune activating cytokine. Findings from this work have led to novel strategies for the future development of antidepressants including inhibition of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, moderating the cytokines which activate it, or addressing other targets in the kynurenine pathway.


Individuals are generally predicted to avoid inbreeding because of detrimental fitness effects. However, several recent studies have shown that limited inbreeding is tolerated by some vertebrate species. Here, we examine the costs and benefits of inbreeding in a largely polygynous rodent, the yellow‐bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris). We use a pedigree constructed from 8 years of genetic data to determine the relatedness of all marmots in our study population and examine offspring survival, annual male reproductive success, relatedness between breeding pairs and the effects of group composition on likelihood of male reproduction to assess inbreeding in this species. We found decreased survival in inbred offspring, but equal net reproductive success among males that inbred and those that avoided it. Relatedness between breeding pairs was greater than that expected by chance, indicating that marmots do not appear to avoid breeding with relatives. Further, male marmots do not avoid inbreeding: males mate with equal frequency in groups composed of both related and unrelated females and in groups composed of only female relatives. Our results demonstrate that inbreeding can be tolerated in a polygynous species if the reproductive costs of inbreeding are low and individuals that mate indiscriminately do not suffer decreased reproductive success.


To store data and information on digital media and be accessible via the internet, makes the life easy. Lots of user save or share personal information on digital platforms which are defined as local or public source. Banks, government agencies, commercial organizations also store and operate institutional customers' information on digital systems. An account information of a customer, a secret project that a company working on, an official secret which saved on a digital platform also attract the attention of attacker. Therefore the concept of information security has been put forward. In the first part of this study; information, information security, privacy, availability, data integrity, the importance of information security; data theft and the reasons of it have been described. Other parts, describe the most common types of malwares, web application security risks and the open source intrusion detection and prevention software that can be used against risks and


Purpose of review Optimal treatment of a possible first seizure depends on the determination if the paroxysmal event was an epileptic seizure and was on an accurate assessment of the recurrence risk. This review summarizes evidence from the last 5 years addressing the following questions: Is it an epileptic seizure? Is it a first seizure? When does a first seizure indicate epilepsy? Recent findings The acts of taking and interpreting the history from patients and witnesses continue to be the most important tools in the diagnosis of first seizures. Assessment tools based on factual questions and the observation of patients' conversational behaviour can contribute to the differentiation of patients with epileptic seizures from those who have experienced other types of transient loss of consciousness (TLOC). At present, only about 40% of patients are seen after their very first seizure. Tests have a limited role in the initial diagnosis of a seizure but help to determine the recurrence risk based on the cause. A remote symptomatic cause and detection of epileptiform discharges are associated with a recurrence risk of at least 60% and allow a diagnosis of epilepsy after a first seizure. The risk of recurrence after an acute symptomatic first seizure is well below 60%. Summary Expert history-taking continues to be the most important tool in the diagnosis of a first seizure. Cause is the most important determinant of the recurrence risk. Unfortunately, there is currently no formula enabling a precise calculation of an individualized recurrence risk.


Studies of opsin genes offer insights into the evolutionary history and molecular basis of vertebrate color vision, but most assume intact open reading frames equate to functional phenotypes. Despite known variation in opsin repertoires and associated visual phenotypes, the genetic basis of such patterns has not been examined at each step of the central dogma. By comparing sequences, gene expression, and protein localization across a hyperdiverse group of mammals, noctilionoid bats, we find evidence that independent losses of S-opsin arose through disruptions at different stages of protein synthesis, while maintenance relates to frugivory. Discordance between DNA, RNA, and protein reveals that the loss of short-wave sensitivity in some lineages resulted from transcriptional and post-transcriptional changes in addition to degradation of open reading frames. These mismatches imply that visual phenotypes cannot reliably be predicted from genotypes alone, and connect ecology to multiple mechanisms behind the loss of color in vertebrates.


Small (<10 mm) and diminutive (<6 mm) polyps harbour high-grade dysplasia or cancer in 0.3-5% of cases. The potential to grow and develop advanced histology is low. Traditional guidelines still recommend the removal of all polyps. Visual characterisation with modern endoscopic technology could enable us to leave diminutive hyperplastic polyps in situ and remove but discard small polyps. In expert hands, high-definition white-light endoscopy and virtual chromoendoscopy can reach an accuracy of more than 90% in distinguishing between hyperplastic and adenomatous pathology. For less experienced endoscopists the values are lower and therefore the concept is not yet fit for routine use. Polyps can be removed completely with snares but not with forceps. The cold snaring technique in particular has proved safe and effective for small polyps. With more experience in the future a 'cut and discard' strategy for small polyps and a 'do not resect' strategy for diminutive polyps will save money and time to deal with more advanced lesions.


To isolate secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation in ozone-alkene systems from the additional influence of hydroxyl (OH) radicals formed in the gas-phase ozone-alkene reaction, OH scavengers are employed. The detailed chemistry associated with three different scavengers (cyclohexane, 2-butanol, and CO) is studied in relation to the effects of the scavengers on observed SOA yields in the ozone-cyclohexene system. Our results confirm those of Docherty and Ziemann that the OH scavenger plays a role in SOA formation in alkene ozonolysis. The extent and direction of this influence are shown to be dependent on the specific alkene. The main influence of the scavenger arises from its independent production of HO2 radicals, with CO producing the most HO2, 2-butanol an intermediate amount, and cyclohexane the least. This work provides evidence for the central role of acylperoxy radicals in SOA formation from the ozonolysis of alkenes and generally underscores the importance of gas-phase radical chemistry beyond the initial ozone-alkene reaction.


Tablets receive educational data from cloud servers in envisaged structure of Fatih (Movement of Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology) project. Constraints such as increasing educational data size, droping in internet connection speed and limited bandwidth cause increasing time and cost for data transfers. Employing school level proxy server in Fatih project ecosystem is promising approach to overcome these problems. It is critical to estimate idle time for synchronization between cloud and proxy server. In this study, two different idle time estimation approaches are compared. While former one is based on local system resources such as CPU and memory usage, latter one is based on measuring and clustering RTT values.


The symmetric implosion of the pellet is very important in an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) system. The evaluation of symmetric distribution on the ICF pellet is time and memory consuming, especially when the elements of cylindrical hohlraums are iteratively subdivided. A novel compressive sensing (CS) based approach is presented in this paper to accurately valuate the distribution symmetry with much less computation. The core idea is that, the thermal radiation distribution is transformed in the spherical harmonic field, and the sparsity of spherical harmonics is accurately evaluated through CS approach. Finally, experiments are demonstrated to show higher efficiency of the proposed approach.


Abstract Geophysical methods can be used to identify the frequency and spatial distribution of plant debris, as well as for the study of the development of such accumulations in recent depositional settings. Side-scan sonar and a sub-bottom profiler were used to generate acoustic images of plant macroremains along a 16.9 km stretch of the meandering course of the Preto River in the municipality of Itanhaém, São Paulo, Brazil. Numerous inclined heterolithic stratification (IHS) deposits with plant debris constitute point bars, while sand dunes mark the migration of the channel along the straighter portions of the river. A large concentration of methane gas was found associated with older organic sediments in the river. The acoustically generated results were confirmed by the analysis of cores with all data integrated into the geographic information system (GIS) environment. The present study is one of the first to apply the methods of geotechnology to taphonomic research.


Recent studies show that light detection and ranging (LiDAR) derived habitat variables significantly increase the performance and accuracy of species distribution models (SDMs). In particular, the structure of complex habitats such as forest can be accurately parametrized by an area‐wide, LiDAR‐based vegetation profile. However, evidence of specific applications of such models in real‐world conservation management still remains sparse. Here, we developed a resource selection SDM for hazel grouse (Bonasa bonasia L.) in a Swiss nature park with the aim to map habitat suitability and to inform the park management about habitat improvement measures. We used remote sensing, particularly LiDAR to derive ecologically relevant forest vegetation characteristics at the local scale and used them as predictors in an ensemble SDM approach. The predicted habitat suitability was mainly affected by local, fine grained vegetation structure. Average vegetation height, shrub density and canopy height variation contributed most to the habitat quality for hazel grouse. This clearly shows how LiDAR provides the means to develop ecologically interpretable predictor variables of forest habitat structure and that these predictors can be used to reliably map local‐scale habitat quality, indicated by high model performance scores (median AUC of 0.918). This improves spatial conservation planning, and at the same time, provides meaningful information to derive habitat improvement measures that can be implemented in the field by foresters. Hazel grouse occurrence in the park is restricted to a few highly suitable, disjunct habitat patches. Therefore, conservation management should increase the connectivity of suitable habitat with the aim to stimulate an increase and better exchange of individuals in the regional hazel grouse population. Habitat improvements can be achieved by forestry measures that regularly integrate early successional forest stages into production forests. They should contain stands with a shrub density of around 30% as well as heterogeneous stands in terms of vegetation height.


Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a rescue therapy for patients in Intensive
Care Units (ICUs) that are critically ill and at great risk of dying from acute lung or heart
failure. It consists of specialised cannulae that connect to the body circulation, as well as
circuit tubing, a membrane that oxygenates the blood and removes carbon dioxide externally
from the body and a blood pump that drives circuit blood flow. ECMO can support the
lungs and the heart for hours to weeks until the underlying condition has resolved.

Survivors of critical illness, such as surviving ECMO patients, face a magnitude of short and
long term physical, cognitive, and mental health impairments that also affect the caring family.
Patients treated with ECMO are the sickest patients in ICU and are at high risk to develop
health impairments. These new or worsening problems have been defined as Post Intensive
Care Syndrome of the patient (PICS) and the family (PICS-F). This PhD thesis investigated
these syndromes in ECMO survivors and their families.

The systematic review of high quality evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs), that
compared survival of ECMO patients to control groups, was the starting point of this thesis.
The quality of evidence was low to moderate, with clinical heterogeneity preventing metaanalysis
of studies. Further evidence from ongoing RCTs is required to determine the
effectiveness of ECMO.

A risk factor profile of ECMO patients was developed with a focus on post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). The profile was applied to a retrospective ECMO cohort. Psychiatric
histories, admission to ICU and drug therapy were identified risk factor clusters. Complex
and profound illness severity, as well as prolonged ICU stay exposed ECMO patients to
almost all known risk factors for PTSD and other mental and physical health risks.

This risk profile was then applied to prospective patient outcomes during a cohort study. The
study examined adverse health outcomes, health status, cognitive functioning and risk of
anxiety, depression and PTSD 3, 6 and 12 months after discharge. The analysis revealed that
physical function was greatly impaired in survivors compared to mental health, but trended to
resolve over time. Psychiatric risk factors showed an irregular pattern but both health
impairments and psychiatric risk factors remained elevated 12 months after discharge. Only
half of the participants scored non-impaired cognitive tests.

The final part of this thesis explored the acute care experiences of patients and relatives 12
months after discharge. ECMO patients experienced deconditioning, immobility, dependency
and death-threats during deterioration, admission and delusional experiences in the ICU.
Relatives were confronted with uncertainties of the survival of a loved one and carried most
of the acute psychological burden while patients were sedated.

In summary, the collated evidence presented in this thesis strongly mandates that all available
support systems must be activated to help ECMO survivors and their families to overcome
the existing multiple risks and health impairments that PICS and PICS-F may cause in the
year after discharge.


This paper is based on findings obtained from a qualitative research on the role of public library service in reducing digital inequalities in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Newcastle upon Tyne. Semi-structured interviews with four libraries' staff members, direct observation during ordinary activities and events organised by libraries aimed to explore both the role played by public libraries in reducing digital inequalities and the current challenges that these actors face to promote digital and social equality. On the one hand, it identifies positive impacts produced by the public libraries through digital education and digital infrastructures on disadvantaged neighbourhoods; on the other, it identifies some barriers experienced by public library authorities in providing such services.


PurposeThe authors examine whether reports of internal control weaknesses (ICWs) under federal single audit (FSA) guidelines are a useful tool for evaluating non-profit (NP) management, using a unique nationwide sample of NP charter schools. While prior research focuses on external stakeholder reactions to reported ICWs, little if any research addresses the utility of these reports for internal users. The authors fill this gap in the literature, finding evidence suggesting that NP charter school decision-makers use internal control (IC) reports when setting executive compensation – awarding lower pay increases when deficiencies are reported.Design/methodology/approachThe authors regress executive compensation changes on reported ICWs and likely determinants of NP compensation, including organization size, growth, liquidity and management performance, using a sample of 173 school/year observations representing 113 unique schools for the years 2012–2015.FindingsThe authors find a negative relationship with executive pay increases subsequent to reports of initial and repeated IC deficiencies, indicating that lower than average pay increases are awarded subsequent to reports of ICWs.Research limitations/implicationsInterpretation of the authors' results is subject to several limitations, including the possibility of omitted variable bias and the authors' sample, though it comprises all available data for the sample period, and is relatively small and may be considered exploratory in nature. Further, charter schools represent a unique public/private partnership in the educational sector, and the results may not be generalizable to other NPs. Future research could explore the relationship between reported IC deficiencies and governance in other, broader NP sectors.Practical implicationsThe authors' findings are useful to NP organization boards of directors as they consider what factors to evaluate in their chief executive officer (CEO) compensation decisions. In addition to other criteria, inclusion of IC effectiveness in the CEO reward system is prudent, especially in today's environment of increasingly important information security and IC matters. The results suggest such information is being included. This previously undocumented use is also of particular value to regulators when weighing the costs and benefits of mandating single audits for smaller NPs, who are otherwise unlikely to obtain information on the organization's IC environment.Social implicationsThese findings may help inform the debate regarding NP charter schools, a fast-growing, economically significant and highly controversial sector in public education. Charters are predominantly funded by state and local taxes. As such, the quality of governance in NP charter schools is of interest to a wide range of stakeholders including parents, regulators and the public at large.Originality/valueWhile prior research on ICWs and NPs focuses on external stakeholder reactions to reported ICWs, little if any research addresses the utility of these reports for internal users, especially in relatively smaller organizations. The research leverages the existence of charter schools, which are independent but present nationwide, providing a suitable sample of like organizations. Further, no extant research to the authors' knowledge examines the relationship of NP executive compensation and reported ICWs – a topic previously addressed in the for-profit (FP) literature.


This Essay considers the possibility of a political and dialectical theory of rights that builds on critical race and neo-Marxist traditions through revision of formal Marxian approaches and in light of racialized forms of accumulation and anti-systemic struggle. This Essay borrows from the CRT and neo-Marxist traditions in arguing for the centrality of both political contestation and structural economic-materialist conditions in forging a progressive politics of rights. This can be contrasted to a critique of human rights in the international context that sees the discourse itself as depoliticizing insofar as rights become the prime possession of those who are denied a political space in which to assert their claims. The metaphor of rights (re)territorialization captures these concerns, while foregrounding the ongoing importance of race in grounding various aspects of global capital accumulation and concomitant political formations.


Information about the activity of the autonomic nervous system can be derived by an analysis of key physiological signals on a beat-to-beat basis. However, due the large amount of data and complex mathematical processing involved, analysis by hand is prohibitive. The solution developed facilitates this procedure by performing the entire processing on a dedicated stand-alone PC-based instrument incorporating existing medical equipment, a data acquisition board and a computer program to acquire and process the physiological signals. The automated virtual instrument was written using LabVIEW/spl copy/ as the main platform. The techniques implemented include impedance cardiography, time- and frequency-domain analysis, invasive and non-invasive baroreflex sensitivity assessment, and forearm blood flow measurements. The system was designed to study patients suffering vasovagal blackouts where the changes that occur in the heart and circulation during an attack could increase our understanding of the physiological processes which underlie their blackouts.


The Penobscot River Watershed drains nearly one-quarter of the State of Maine (23,180 km 2 ). The River's estuary stretches 40-km, from the fall line at presentday Bangor, to the Penobscot Bay along Maine's rugged "Downeast" Atlantic coast. This lower stretch of the River, along with much of coastal Maine, is experiencing increased development pressures and was recently ranked first in the Nation in the amount of forestland at risk from future development. Within this region, shorelands are at greatest risk due to ready access and high amenity values. Such development poses significant risks to a wide range of ecosystem services and is in turn at risk from unstable shorelands and bank erosion. Maine's 1971 Shoreland Zoning Act restricts land use, vegetation management, and the location of structures within shoreland zones. The law's effectiveness, however, is oftentimes compromised by its implementation at the municipal level, where resources and expertise are limited. This paper develops a logistic regression model of bank stability for a 15.2-km section of the River's estuary based on natural and regulatory variables (i.e., current land cover, land use, vegetation type and density, and structure setback). Results indicate that bank stability is positively correlated with greater structure setbacks and increased vegetation density and size along the riverbank. Model predictions suggest that 24% to 92% of the riverbank is at risk of increased erosion from future development. These predictions are then used to evaluate the effectiveness of existing land use ordinances under current and future development scenarios – particularly with regard to structure setbacks and vegetation removal guidelines.


In this article, I present a procedure that generates proofs for finally derivable adaptive logic consequences. A proof procedure for the inconsistency adaptive logic CLuNr is already presented in [7]. In this article a procedure for CLuNm is presented and the results for both logics are generalized to all adaptive logics, on the presupposition that there exists a proof procedure for the lower limit logic. The generated proofs are so called goal-directed proofs, i.e. proofs that (i) start with the formula (the goal) of which one wants to know whether it is a consequence of a certain premise set and (ii) only consist of lines that may potentially be useful for proving or disproving the goal. The goal-directed proofs form good explications of actual problem-solving reasoning processes.


THE AIM OF THE PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A NEW METHOD TO QUANTIFY THE POTENTIAL HAZARD ASSOCIATED WITH COINCIDENT AND CLUSTERED DISASTER EVENTS ON THE COAST, WITH AN INITIAL FOCUS ON STORMS THAT ERODE AND RESHAPE THE COASTLINE AND IMPACT ON BUILDINGS AND INFRASTRUCTURE. TO DATE, A RANGE OF BASELINE DATA HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AND COLLECTED FOR TWO STUDY SITES WHERE EROSION IS AN ACTIVE MANAGEMENT ISSUE; ADELAIDE METROPOLITAN BEACHES (SA) AND OLD BAR (NSW MID-NORTH COAST). EXAMPLES OF INTEGRATED DATASETS FOR EACH STUDY SITE ARE PRESENTED WITH INITIAL RESULTS FROM THE STATISTICAL MODELLING OF STORM EVENTS.


Axial and radial distributions of the rotational temperature and density of N2 molecules in supersonic nitrogen jets formed with conic nozzles (critical diameters dcr of 0.17 and 0.21 mm) were studied using the electron beam fluorescence technique at stagnation pressures P0 of 0.1-0.6 MPa. A rotational temperature Tr, equaling a gas temperature Tg owing to fast RT relaxation, was obtained using the rotational line relative intensity distribution in (0-1) vibrational band of the N2 first negative system. Gas density profiles in the jets were obtained using the integral intensity of the band. It is found, Tr at the nozzle outlet is of the order of a few tens of Kelvin and at further expansion Tr drops up to 15-20K at distance of (100-200) dcr. The gas temperature and density distributions in the studied supersonic nitrogen jets are not similar to the isentropic distributions. It is shown that the lower is the stagnation pressure the faster the gas density and temperature decrease with distance from the nozzle. Increase in P0 leads to elevating Tg in the jets. A reason for this effect may be cluster formation in the jets. Estimations of cluster mean sizes in the jets using Hagena's parameter show presence of large clusters (M≥200) at P0 = 0.4-0.6 MPa.


The problem of partial supply chain integration is going on within the cocoa industry in Ghana. The study sort to examine the major challenges within the industry, which inhibits effective implementation and use of supply chain integration; the relative importance index run on the mean factors indicated that, all the factors of internal, customer and supplier integrations were important for all the groups. The study further revealed that the best way of implementing supply chain integration is to start from functional integration through internal to external integrations. Implementing complete integration both upstream, operations, and downstream is better. Some of the major challenges were poor technological innovations, lack of information sharing and poor integrated database. Finally, the Cocoa industry should adopt pragmatic approach to implement all the three aspects of integration and follow the right way of implementing them to reduce the challenges of integration.


ABSTRACT Binding of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) to CD4 receptors induces multiple cellular signaling pathways, including the MEK/ERK cascade. While the interaction of X4 HIV-1 with CXCR4 does not seem to activate this pathway, viruses using CCR5 for entry efficiently activate MEK/ERK kinases (W. Popik, J. E. Hesselgesser, and P. M. Pitha, J. Virol. 72:6406–6413, 1998; W. Popik and P. M. Pitha, Virology 252:210–217, 1998). Since the importance of MEK/ERK in the initial steps of viral replication is poorly understood, we have examined the role of MEK/ERK signaling in the CD3- and CD28 (CD3/CD28)-mediated activation of HIV-1 replication in resting peripheral blood CD4+ T lymphocytes infected with X4 or R5 HIV-1. We have found that the MEK/ERK inhibitor U0126 selectively inhibited CD3/CD28-stimulated replication of X4 HIV-1, while it did not affect the replication of R5 HIV-1. Inhibition of the CD3/CD28-stimulated MEK/ERK pathway did not affect the formation of the early proviral transcripts in cells infected with either X4 or R5 HIV-1, indicating that virus reverse transcription is not affected in the absence of MEK/ERK signaling. In contrast, the levels of nuclear provirus in cells infected with X4 HIV-1, detected by the formation of circular proviral DNA, was significantly lower in cells stimulated in the presence of MEK/ERK inhibitor than in the absence of the inhibitor. However, in cells infected with R5 HIV-1, the inhibition of the MEK/ERK pathway did not affect nuclear localization of the proviral DNA. These data suggest that the nuclear import of X4, but not R5, HIV-1 is dependent on a CD3/CD28-stimulated MEK/ERK pathway.


Building on Kachru"s (2005) diagram of World Englishes and Norton"s (2000) theoretical conception of identity, the researcher acknowledges that each Non-Native English Speaking Teacher (NNEST) comes to the English-speaking community with a different variety of Englishes. Each believes in various cultural values and norms, and his or her identity is an ongoing process that can be impacted when he or she is immersed in different contexts. Using a qualitative approach, this study examined the way NNESTs construct their self-perceptions of English Language Teaching (ELT) professionalism based on social and educational experiences in their countries. In addition, the study examined how they reconstruct professional identity depending on current social and educational experiences in an English-speaking country, and how they contribute this newly-constructed sense of professionalism in future ELT practices. Findings revealed participants possessed less awareness of the importance of professional identity in their home countries, but the education offered through Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programs in the United States played an essential role in raising this awareness. However, the participants" identity was impacted by feelings of inferiority. Most participants never thought that they were as competent as Native English Speaking Teacher"s (NESTs) in terms of English teaching. Various contributing components, such as selfconfidence, expectation, perception, investment, language ideology, and language proficiency played essential roles in the development of each NNEST"s self-image. Having a TESOL program that provides practicums and social programs that connect NNESTs with NEST"s and


Alcoholism is a debilitating disorder for the individual and very costly for society. A major goal of alcohol research is to understand the neural underpinnings associated with the transition from alcohol use to alcohol dependence. Positive reinforcement is important in the early stages of alcohol use and abuse. Negative reinforcement can be important early in alcohol use by people self-medicating coexisting affective disorders, but its role likely increases following the transition to dependence. Chronic exposure to alcohol induces changes in neural circuits that control motivational processes, including arousal, reward, and stress. These changes affect systems utilizing the signaling molecules dopamine, opioid peptides, γ-aminobutyric acid, glutamate, and serotonin, as well as systems modulating the brain's stress response. These neuroadaptations produce changes in sensitivity to alcohol's effects following repeated exposure (i.e., sensitization and tolerance) and a withdrawal state following discontinuation of alcohol use. Chronic alcohol exposure also results in persistent neural deficits, some of which may fully recover following extended periods of abstinence. However, the organism remains susceptible to relapse, even after long periods of abstinence. Recent research focusing on brain arousal, reward, and stress systems is accelerating our understanding of the components of alcohol dependence and contributing to the development of new treatment strategies.


There are many influences on precipitation chemistry and its variation. The transport paths of air masses before rainfall provide useful knowledge for evaluating and understanding the results of the analysis of the chemical compositions of precipitation. As a consequence, it is important to determine the variation of the chemical composition of rainwater by back trajectory analysis for estimating the source of the emissions. In this study, the rainwater samples were collected using specially designed collectors between November 1997 and June 1998 in the urban and forest areas of Istanbul. The rainwater samples were analyzed for major ion concentrations and pH. The volume-weighed mean pH values were 5.8. The rainwater samples were classified to determine the source region of pollutants in rainwater using synoptic maps. In general, the results of the analysis on the chemical concentrations of precipitation during the measurement period showed that most of ions reached Istanbul from the directions of W-SW, NW-W, and NE-N, respectively.


This paper depends on a new analytical method to ca lculate relative deformation energies for complex die shape by using upper bound theory which is an important method to solve technical problem in t he field of metal deformation .This study divides the complex shape t o a number of sectors for counting the deformation energies and then to find the total energy requirement for extrusion process in die with arbitrary linear function. This study uses (H) section which represents one of complex shapes to c alculate the relative deformation energies for it, taking into account th e effects of friction factor , relative die length and reduction of area . The results of the present study are compared with M.KIUCHI study and found it in a very good agreement.


Exhaust noise is a major contributor to the radiated noise level of a vehicle, especially at idle. The radiated noise level has to meet a certain criteria based on regulation and consumer demand. In many cases, the problem appears after the vehicle is manufactured and the tailpipe noise measurement is performed indicating a high noise level that needs to be reduced. This paper describes one of those cases where the radiated noise level of a certain passenger car at idle was required to be reduced by 6 dB(A). The exhaust system consists of one main muffler and one auxiliary muffler. A 1D two-port model of the exhaust system including the two mufflers was built using commercial software. This model was validated against the measurement of the two-port matrix of both mufflers. The model was then used together with tailpipe noise measurements to estimate the characteristics of the source strength and impedance. Using a 1D model of the complete system, it was possible to propose several modifications for the vehicle manufacturer to choose from. A systematic optimization approach is presented in this paper describing several suggestions to reduce the radiated tailpipe noise.


This thesis examines the long-run determinants of FDI in oil-exporting countries, and the causal relationship between FDI and economic growth in that group of countries. It focuses on the "traditional" determinants of FDI that have been examined within the literature as well as on a number of other determinants which specifically relate to oil-exporting countries, with a special focus given to political and institutional risk determinants. The thesis relies on two theories as a theoretical background; the Eclectic Paradigm and the Rentier State theory. It contributes to the existing literature of the determinants of FDI. That is to say, it is the first to investigate the long-run determinants of FDI in oil-exporting countries. It also provides a further test for the Eclectic Paradigm particularly by analysing the locational advantages (L) of that theory, taking into the account the long-run effect of these advantages upon FDI in host countries. Finally, it contributes to the literature on economic growth by empirically testing the relationship between FDI and economic growth; considering the impact of FDI on economic growth and vice versa. The data sample in the thesis comprises 44 oil-exporting countries over 30 years from 1984-2012. The thesis reports a number of findings regarding the determinants of FDI. It firstly finds that "openness to trade" and "composite risk" are the most important variables (amongst the overall determinants) for FDI inflows in oil-exporting countries in the long-run, while "law and order" is the most important variable amongst the institutional and political determinants. It also concludes that FDI does not contribute to economic growth in oil-exporting countries; the only contribution is observed within non-rentier and non-Islamic oil-exporting countries.


In this study, La and Mg doped, and co-doped ZnO nanoparticles were prepared using the sol-gel method. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and N2 physisorption techniques. The XRD results indicated that the prepared nanoparticles can be well adopted by the hexagonal wurtzite structure crystal and there are no second impurity peaks. Studies of the FESEM, EDX and TEM have shown that the samples have uniform spherical-like morphology with a homogenous distribution. The incorporation of La and Mg into the ZnO lattice had no effect on the morphology of the nanoparticles, but a reduction in the size of the grains (≈ 14 nm to ≈ 7 nm) was observed due to the insertion of these ions. The results of N2 physisorption indicated that there was an increase in BET surface area and pore volume for doped and co-doped samples. The results of DRS showed an increase in band gap energy and a blue shift at the absorption edge for doped and co-doped samples. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared catalysts was evaluated in the removal of RhB under UVA irradiation. The results showed that Mg5%-La5%/ZnO had the highest photoactivity (91.18 %) among all samples.


The mechanisms of Gardeniae Fructus (GF) for anti-hyperglycemic action were demonstrated in streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetic mice. Six hours after single intraperitoneal administration of GF (300 mg/kg) or H2O into 3 hour-fasted STZ-diabetic mice, glucose and insulin tolerances were assessed by intraperitoneal glucose (1.5 g/kg) tolerance test (IPGTT) and intraperitoneal insulin (0.65 U/kg) tolerance test (IPITT), respectively. Effects of GF on insulin signaling pathways in soleus muscle such as glucose uptake, expression of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) in the plasma membrane and phosphorylation of Akt (P-Akt) in cytosolic fraction were examined in STZ-diabetic mice. In IPGTT test, GF significantly accelerated clearance of exogenous glucose and its glucose-lowering action was greater than H2O-treated controlin STZ-diabetic mice. GF also promoted an exogenous glucose-increased insulin level in STZ-diabetic mice. In IPITT test, GF decreased glucose level to the greater extent than H2O-treated control in STZ-diabetic mice. Furthermore, GF significantly decreased high HOMA-IR in STZ-diabetic mice from 21.6 ± 2.4 to 12.4 ± 1.9 (mg/dl × μU/ml). These results implied that GF improved insulin resistance in STZ-diabetic mice. GF increased glucose uptake of soleus muscle 1.5 times greater than H2O-treated control in STZ-diabetic mice. GF enlarged insulin (10 nmol/ml)-increased glucose uptake to 1.8 time-greater. Correspondingly, GF increased expression of GLUT4 in the plasma membrane of soleus muscle to 1.4 time-greater, and P-Akt in the cytosolic fraction of soleus muscle to 1.9 time-greater than those in H2O-treated control. In conclusion, the improvement of GF on insulin resistance is associated with the repair of insulin signaling via P-Akt, GLUT4 and glucose uptake pathway in soleus muscle of STZ-diabetic mice.


This book exhibits deep philosophical quandaries and intricacies of the historical development of science lying behind a simple and fundamental item of common sense in modern science, namely the composition of water as H2O. Three main phases of development are critically re-examined, covering the historical period from the 1760s to the 1860s: the Chemical Revolution (through which water first became recognized as a compound, not an element), early electrochemistry (by which water's compound nature was confirmed), and early atomic chemistry (in which water started out as HO and became H2O). In each case, the author concludes that the empirical evidence available at the time was not decisive in settling the central debates, and therefore the consensus that was reached was unjustified, or at least premature. This leads to a significant re-examination of the realism question in the philosophy of science, and a unique new advocacy for pluralism in science. Each chapter contains three layers, allowing readers to follow various parts of the book at their chosen level of depth and detail. The second major study in "complementary science", this book offers a rare combination of philosophy, history and science in a bid to improve scientific knowledge through history and philosophy of science. – Contents : 1. Water and the Chemical Revolution; 2. Piles of Confusion: the Mixed Blessing of Electrolysis; 3. HO or H2O?; 4. Evidence in Action (or, The Contextuality of Evidence); 5. Pluralism in Practice: 6. Realism in a Free Society. – Epilogue: Complementary Science Continued.


Managing time while presenting is challenging, but mobile devices offer both convenience and flexibility in their ability to support the end-to-end process of setting, refining, and following presentation time targets. From an initial HCI-Q study of 20 presenters, we identified the need to set such targets per 'zone' of consecutive slides (rather than per slide or for the whole talk), as well as the need for feedback that accommodates two distinct attitudes to time management. These findings led to the design of TalkZones, a mobile application for timing support. When giving a 20-slide, 6m40s rehearsed but interrupted talk, 12 participants who used TalkZones registered a mean overrun of only 8s, compared with 1m49s for 12 participants who used a regular timer. We observed a similar 2% overrun in our final study of 8 speakers giving rehearsed 30-minute talks in 20 minutes. Overall, we show that TalkZones can encourage presenters to advance slides before it is too late to recover, even under the adverse timing conditions of short and shortened talks.


Abstract Objective: To evaluate the smear layer removal and wettability of AH Plus sealer on root canal dentin treated with MA (maleic acid), MA + CTR (cetrimide) and MA + CTR + CHX (chlorhexidine) as final irrigating regimens. Material and methods: For smear layer removal, 40 teeth were instrumented to size F4 and divided into four groups: (1) 7% MA, (2) 7% MA + 0.2% CTR, (3) 7% MA + 0.2% CTR + 2% CHX, (4) distilled water (control). After irrigation, teeth were subjected to SEM analysis. For contact angle analysis, 20 teeth were split longitudinally and divided into four groups similar to smear layer analysis. AH plus sealer was placed on each specimen and contact angle was analysed. Results: In both smear layer (p = .393) and contact angle analysis (p = .961), there was no significant difference between the groups MA and MA + CTR. However, MA + CTR + CHX removed smear layer less effectively (p = .023) and increased the contact angle of the sealer (p = .005). In smear layer analysis, specimens in negative control group were heavily smeared. In case of contact angle analysis, samples in the control group had least contact angle. Conclusion: MA alone or in combination with CTR removed smear layer effectively and increased the wettability of AH plus sealer to root canal dentin.


Several abundance analyses of Galactic open clusters (OCs) have shown a tendency for Ba but not for other heavy elements (La−Sm) to increase sharply with decreasing age such that Ba was claimed to reach [Ba/Fe] ≃ +0.6 in the youngest clusters (ages < 100 Myr) rising from [Ba/Fe] = 0.00 dex in solar-age clusters. Within the formulation of the s-process, the difficulty to replicate higher Ba abundance and normal La−Sm abundances in young clusters is known as the barium puzzle. Here, we investigate the barium puzzle using extremely high-resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra of 24 solar twins and measured the heavy elements Ba, La, Ce, Nd, and Sm with a precision of 0.03 dex. We demonstrate that the enhanced Ba ii relative to La−Sm seen among solar twins, stellar associations, and OCs at young ages (<100 Myr) is unrelated to aspects of stellar nucleosynthesis but has resulted from overestimation of Ba by standard methods of LTE abundance analysis in which the microturbulence derived from the Fe lines formed deep in the photosphere is insufficient to represent the true line broadening imposed on Ba ii lines by the upper photospheric layers from where the Ba ii lines emerge. Because the young stars have relatively active photospheres, Ba overabundances most likely result from the adoption of a too low value of microturbulence in the spectrum synthesis of the strong Ba ii lines but the change of microturbulence in the upper photosphere has only a minor affect on La−Sm abundances measured from the weak lines.


Asparagus (Asparagaceae) is a large genus that is widely distributed in arid and subarid regions of the Old World. To investigate the phylogenetic relationships within this genus, the intron of petB and the intergenic region between petD and rpoA of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) were sequenced. A strict consensus tree resulting from the phylogenetic analysis indicates that southern African species comprise a potentially paraphyletic assemblage and that Eurasian species are monophyletic. This result suggests that the genus Asparagus originated in southern Africa, and that Eurasian species originated from a southern African progenitor. Moreover, extensive survey of the intergenic region between trnL and trnF and the intron of trnL of cpDNA in species of the genus Asparagus displayed no sequence differences despite the non-coding regions frequently used to reconstruct intrageneric phylogenies. Therefore, we hypothesized that rapid radiation of this genus might have been influenced by the gaining of unique characteristics, such as phylloclades, in order to adapt to the dry environment.


Single-cell genomics is an alluring area that holds the potential to change the way we understand cell populations. Due to the small amount of DNA within a single cell, whole-genome amplification becomes a mandatory step in many single-cell applications. Unfortunately, single-cell whole-genome amplification (scWGA) strategies suffer from several technical biases that complicate the posterior interpretation of the data. Here we compared the performance of six different scWGA methods (GenomiPhi, REPLIg, TruePrime, Ampli1, MALBAC, and PicoPLEX) after amplifying and low-pass sequencing the complete genome of 230 healthy/tumoral human cells. Overall, REPLIg outperformed competing methods regarding DNA yield, amplicon size, amplification breadth, amplification uniformity –being the only method with a random amplification bias–, and false single-nucleotide variant calls. On the other hand, non-MDA methods, and in particular Ampli1, showed less allelic imbalance and ADO, more reliable copy-number profiles and less chimeric amplicons. While no single scWGA method showed optimal performance for every aspect, they clearly have distinct advantages. Our results provide a convenient guide for selecting a scWGA method depending on the question of interest while revealing relevant weaknesses that should be considered during the analysis and interpretation of single-cell sequencing data.


A stroke is the loss of brain function following the cessation of blood supply
to a region of the brain caused by either a blockage or haemorrhage in the
vasculature. It is a leading cause of death worldwide but survival rates have
increased significantly in the past 25 years with recent estimates putting the
number of worldwide stroke survivors at 33 million. Stroke survivors live
with lasting effects such as limb weakness, limb paralysis, loss of speech,
loss of comprehension and other neurological disorders. The purpose of
stroke rehabilitation is to return the sufferer to as normal a life as possible.
Traditional methods for this involve mass practice of the affected function to
provoke improvement, acquisition of compensatory skills and adaptation to
residual post-stroke disability. Recently, however, brain computer interfaces
(BCI) have emerged as a technology which may have impact in augmenting
traditional approaches, particularly for motor deficits. In this context, BCI
provides a means for closing the sensorimotor loop and driving neuroplastic
processes to enhance recovery.
A BCI is a system for translating measured brain activity into control signals
for an external device, such as a computer or machine. Rehabilitation
BCI attempts to use such a device to encourage positive neurorehabilitation
in the stroke survivor, to return or strengthen lost or diminished
function. This thesis describes concerted work to improve the current state
and future prospects of rehabilitation BCI. In particular, BCIs which use
electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy
(fNIRS) to measure brain activity are the focus of these efforts. EEG and
fNIRS are relatively inexpensive, easy-to-use and portable brain measurement/
imaging systems compared to other brain imaging methods commonly
found in hospital settings, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET) or magnetoencephalography
(MEG). These advantages motivate this research in the hope that at-home
stroke rehabilitation becomes widespread and the accepted method of stroke
rehabilitation.
Investigations described here include the design and development of a novel
fNIRS imaging method, a novel fNIRS synthetic data generation algorithm,
a novel hybrid fNIRS/EEG measurement system, a novel portable EEG
biofeedback BCI, a substantial investigation into the effect of stroke on
EEG BCI operation and performance, and an investigation into potential
biomarkers for neurorehabilitation based on BCI parameters and scalp EEG.
These investigations, based on measurements of both healthy and stroke affected brain activity, have lead to the advancement of EEG and fNIRSbased
rehabilitation BCI technology.


In order to better differentiate the drivers of corporations' actions, in particular shareholder wealth and stakeholder interests, the paper explores the significance of the comply or explain-principle and its underlying enforcement mechanisms more generally. Against this background, compliance rates with specific provisions may shed a light on companies' reasons for following the code. An analysis of these rates at the example of distinct provisions of the German Corporate Governance Code is therefore entered into. In light of the current corporate governance debate and the legitimacy problems that are raised, among the code provisions that exemplify these questions very well are those regulating incentive pay, severance pay caps, and age limits for supervisory board members. Their analysis will lay a basis for an answer to the question about what motivates companies to comply with the code. The motivation then paves the way to arrive at a further specification of the determinants of the regulatory evolution of the Code and the range of stakeholders and their concerns that enter into it.


This paper documents the basic features of data on motor vehicles from the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey. Despite some methodological differences between the two surveys, we find that they yield strikingly similar pictures of households' vehicle holdings. The survey data are also quite consistent with population estimates of vehicle stocks obtained from other sources. Finally, we document the growth of auto leasing by consumers, and find little evidence for the commonly-held view that liquidity constraints are an important motivation for leasing.


join the rota for experience, and the senior house officer on rotation." Dr R J Brereton (15 October, p 1021) takes me to task for my careless sentence construction and asks for enlightenment. I had thought that it was obvious from the text that good antenatal supervision and intensive care after delivery, when necessary, contributed to an improved perinatal situation, whereas competent antenatal investigation would reduce the number of children born with disorders such as Down's syndrome and spina bifida. GEORGE KOMROWER


Traditional culture is the root for modern China. The translation of Chinese cultural terms makes it possible to communicate widely with other communities. The study describes a self-collected Chinese-English parallel corpus of Chinese classical and cultural terms in Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (I) & (II), with the theory of translation cognition and descriptive and comparative methods. It discusses the translators' subjectivity and analyzes translation strategies during translation. The results show that acceptability and expressiveness are main concerns for the English translations of Chinese traditional culture in the two volumes; the study also puts forward some suitable and effective ways in cross-cultural communication.


Much of the focus of the UK pensions policy debate over the past decade has been on the adequacy (or otherwise) of private retirement saving. In this paper, we present the first assessment of the optimality of the retirement resources of English couple households born in the 1940s. Here, 'optimal' wealth holdings are those that allow households to enjoy the same level of living standards in both working life and retirement. We use a life-cycle model of consumption and saving to calculate this level of wealth, and compare that with how much wealth households are observed to hold. We find that the majority of households hold more wealth than our model suggests is optimal and that this would still be true even if housing wealth were excluded from observed wealth holdings. A comparison of this approach with the replacement rate approach commonly used to assess the adequacy of households' retirement resources suggests that using a simple replacement rate benchmark could give a misleading picture of households' preparedness for retirement as it cannot capture the vast heterogeneity in households' circumstances. Figure. Comparing observed and optimal wealth holdings Figure. Comparing observed and optimal wealth holdings This paper wasl presented at the 'Are you prepared for retirement?' conference.


The painful effects of separation and loss are experienced by children and their families, social workers, foster parents, adoptive parents—everyone touched by child welfare social work. In this issue of Practice Notes, we look at these powerful forces. Our lead article defines separation and attachment, presents ways to help a child deal with separation, and outlines the grief process that separation so often initiates. On page 4, we look at the dynamic between maternal substance abuse and infant attachment; we also provide you with an assessment tool to help you decide whether to remove an infant at this crucial stage. On page 6, we explore the influence grief has on foster parent retention. Why do some foster parents grieve the end of a placement so much that they stop fostering? What can you do to help them?


This conceptual paper aims to identify the key determinants of customer expectations of service (CEOS), which serves as the basis for fostering customer satisfaction. The literature review of customer expectations of service is mainly based on the theories by Kotler (2002); Buttle (2004, 2008); Miller (1997); Oliver (1997); Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985, 1988, 1991, 1994); and Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman (1993). Literature on the classification, levels, and determinants of CEOS is synthesized, which is followed by the presentation of the significance of identifying the determinants of CEOS in enhancing customer satisfaction. The paper comprises three main sections: (1) Features of service and service quality, (2) Concept and types of customer expectations of service, and (3) Implications for fostering customer satisfaction. KeywordsDeterminants, Customer Expectations, Service, Customer Satisfaction.


Functional Deficits and Self-perceived Performance After Surgical Hip Dislocation Background: Surgical hip dislocation (SHD) is a common procedure to treat several hip prob-lems, namely femoroacetabular impingements. After surgery patients are required to walk with reduced weight-bearing for six to eight weeks. The literature describes important changes in general health and functional state after immobilization but little is known about physical and functional recovery of these deficits. The aim of the study was to investigate the condi-tional deficits and changes of patients 3 and 12 months after SHD, and to compare them to healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study with three groups was performed: 29 patients 3 months after SHD (G3), 28 patients 12 months after SHD (G12) and 34 healthy persons (G0). Strength, endurance, gait, stair climbing and balance were measured and self-perceived performance and satisfaction with daily-life activities was evalu-ated with questionnaires. Group differences were tested with Kruskal-Wallis test and post-hoc with the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Significant differences were found for G3 compared to G0 in strength and endurance parameters, as well as for gait and self-perceived perform-ance. G12 also showed significant differences compared to G0 and only little differences were found compared to G3. Conclusion: The remaining deficits in patients twelve month after SHD with regard to conditional and functional parameters indicate that full recovery for ac-tivities of daily life has not been achieved by these patients. A specific therapy program may be able to improve the patient's strength, endurance and functional performance and may pos-sibly lead to effective protection of the joint and enhanced performance in daily life.


Apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway requires release of cytochrome c into the cytosol to initiate formation of an oligomeric apoptotic protease-activating factor-1 (APAF-1) apoptosome. The apoptosome recruits and activates caspase-9, which in turn activates caspase-3 and -7, which then kill the cell by proteolysis. Because inactivation of this pathway may promote oncogenesis, we examined 10 ovarian cancer cell lines for resistance to cytochrome c-dependent caspase activation using a cell-free system. Strikingly, we found that cytosolic extracts from all cell lines had diminished cytochromec-dependent caspase activation compared with normal ovarian epithelium extracts. The resistant cell lines expressed APAF-1 and caspase-9, -3, and -7; however, each demonstrated diminished APAF-1 activity relative to the normal ovarian epithelium cell lines. A competitive APAF-1 inhibitor may account for the diminished APAF-1 activity because we did not detect dominant APAF-1 inhibitors, altered APAF-1 isoform expression, or APAF-1 deletion, degradation, or mutation. Lack of APAF-1 activity correlated in some but not all cell lines with resistance to apoptosis. These data suggest that regulation of APAF-1 activity may be important for apoptosis regulation in some ovarian cancers.


Purpose. The purpose of present study was to construct the best screening model of congenital heart disease serum markers and to provide reference for further prevention and treatment of the disease. Methods. Documents from 2006 to 2014 were collected and meta-analysis was used for screening susceptibility genes and serum markers closely related to the diagnosis of congenital heart disease. Data of serum markers were extracted from 80 congenital heart disease patients and 80 healthy controls, respectively, and then logistic regression analysis and support vector machine were utilized to establish prediction models of serum markers and Gene Ontology (GO) functional annotation. Results. Results showed that NKX2.5, GATA4, and FOG2 were susceptibility genes of congenital heart disease. CRP, BNP, and cTnI were risk factors of congenital heart disease (p < 0.05); cTnI, hs-CRP, BNP, and Lp(a) were significantly close to congenital heart disease (p < 0.01). ROC curve indicated that the accuracy rate of Lp(a) and cTnI, Lp(a) and BNP, and BNP and cTnI joint prediction was 93.4%, 87.1%, and 97.2%, respectively. But the detection accuracy rate of the markers' relational model established by support vector machine was only 85%. GO analysis suggested that NKX2.5, GATA4, and FOG2 were functionally related to Lp(a) and BNP. Conclusions. The combined markers model of BNP and cTnI had the highest accuracy rate, providing a theoretical basis for the diagnosis of congenital heart disease.


The US and EU agreed recently to share a common normalized Power Spectral Density (PSD) function for their civil signal on L1. This PSD, referred to as Multiplexed Binary Offset Carrier (MBOC), because of its frequency definition, can lead to different temporal implementations. Two modulations were proposed to implement the MBOC: the Composite BOC (CBOC) seems to be the leading candidate for Galileo L1 OS signal, and the Time-Multiplexed BOC (TMBOC) seems to be the main candidate to be used by the GPS L1C signal. These two modulations use the BOC(1,1) and BOC(6,1) waveforms, but in different ways. The CBOC adds them linearly, creating a multi-level waveform, while the TMBOC multiplexes them. Thus, although very close, the two MBOC implementations would require different architectures that will make the receiver more complex if traditional tracking techniques are used, especially for GPS/Galileo combined receivers (need for a local generation of a multi-bit replica and a time-multiplexed replica). The goal of this paper is to present two tracking techniques that significantly simplify the receiver architecture of future GPS/Galileo L1 receivers (one-bit local replica, no time-multiplexing, ?) while maintaining good performances in presence of thermal noise and multipath. This means that the tracking techniques are easily adaptable to both CBOC and TMBOC signals. Taking advantage of the GPSIII L1C and Galileo E1 OS interoperability and compatibility, these methods are a first step towards the development of combined GPS/Galileo receivers. The first technique, based on the use of either a pure BOC(1,1) or a pure BOC(6,1) subcarrier in the correlation process, allows a drastic simplification of the receiver architecture, but implies a degradation of the tracking noise compared to traditional CBOC or TMBOC tracking, although improving the multipath resistance. The second technique is more demanding in terms of correlators since it requires the use of both a pure BOC(1,1) and a pure BOC(6,1) sub-carrier for the correlation process. However it brings improved tracking performances compared to traditional CBOC and TMBOC tracking and a high flexibility to the receiver architecture. These two techniques, though, seem more suited for CBOC tracking since a slightly more complex architecture is needed for relevant TMBOC tracking.


The purpose of this paper is to address a problem that may arise with the assumption of a continuous spatial market in the TCM model. We find that this assumption can be challenged by geographical limitations that an area of study might have. Particularly for islands (or isolated island-like areas) that have a valuable non-market resource or good, the spatial market characteristic of the TCM model might be limited or truncated. The geographical truncation limits the observed maximum travel cost of the demand curve falsely implying a lower WTP than otherwise. The study uses a dichotomous choice CVM to confirm that the resulting demand schedules from the TCM underestimates WTP for day trips to the Caribbean National Forest in Puerto Rico. This results in a considerably smaller TCM WTP for the value of recreation sites at $17 to $29 versus $109 per day trip from the dichotomous choice CVM.


The Argon Oxygen Decarburization (AOD) process is one of the major stainless steel refining routes. Several parameters come into play deciding the outcome of the process. The task focuses on studying an optimized processing in an AOD converter using the UHT's Converter Automation System (UTCAS)-process control program. The process parameters that mostly influence the process are studied and their effect on the process are analyzed. The 304, 409, 316, 430, 201, 2205 stainless steel grades are chosen for this study. The input temperature, input element content (carbon, chromium, nickel, silica, molybdenum and manganese), input steel mass are varied individually keeping all the other parameters constant and their effect on the process is analyzed. The parameters like process time, amount of gases (O2, N2 and Ar) consumed, amount of reducing agent (FeSi) and amount of alloy addition are taken into consideration to decide the optimal outcome of the process. The number of gas blowing steps is also varied to study its influence on the AOD process. This is done at different process initial input to also study the effect varying parameters on the stainless steel process. After analyzing the effect of all the parameters suggestible range of values for the parameters are proposed for on optimal blowing in an AOD converter.


The transmittance and reflectance of superconductive YBa2Cu307.s (YBCO) thin films deposited on Si substrates have been measured in the far-infrared frequency region from 10 to 100 cm' (wavelength from 1000 to 100 pm) at temperatures between 10 and 300 K. The effects of interference, optical resonance, and antireflection on the radiative properties of high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) films are observed and quantitatively analyzed. Furthermore, we have measured the reflectance of the HTSC filmsubstrate composites for radiation incident on the substrate side (backside reflectance) for the first time. The backside reflectance increases significantly from the normal state to the superconducting state at certain frequencies; this experimentally demonstrates that HTSC films can be used to build far-infrared intensity modulators. The complex refractive index of the YBCO films is determined from the measured transmittance using the Drude model in the normal state and a two-fluid model in the superconducting state. The complex refractive index obtained from this study is useful for various applications of YBCO films, including radiation modulators, detectors, and Fabry-Perot resonators.


Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of SEZs policy over EPZs structure is analysed in this paper by aggregating data of seven conventional SEZs from 1986-87 to 2007-08. The study reveals that the introduction of SEZs in place of its predecessor, the EPZs, is having a significant and positive impact on its performance at the aggregate level. However, in terms of contribution to national trade, the Indian SEZs are lagging way beyond the expectations of policymakers. Further, the SEZ policy does not seem to be successful in diversifying exports basket, which in turn has affected the direction of exports by SEZs. Moreover, these zones were found to be highly susceptible to external shocks. Thus, we strongly argue in favour of a care in deciding the sectoral choice of SEZs and careful scrutiny of its approval across major Indian States.


Developing high-performance and energy-efficient algorithms for maximum matchings is becoming increasingly important in social network analysis, computational sciences, scheduling, and others. In this work, we propose the first maximum matching algorithm designed for FPGAs; it is energy-efficient and has provable guarantees on accuracy, performance, and storage utilization. To achieve this, we forego popular graph processing paradigms, such as vertex-centric programming, that often entail large communication costs. Instead, we propose a substream-centric approach, in which the input stream of data is divided into substreams processed independently to enable more parallelism while lowering communication costs. We base our work on the theory of streaming graph algorithms and analyze 14 models and 28 algorithms. We use this analysis to provide theoretical underpinning that matches the physical constraints of FPGA platforms. Our algorithm delivers high performance (more than 4x speedup over tuned parallel CPU variants), low memory, high accuracy, and effective usage of FPGA resources. The substream-centric approach could easily be extended to other algorithms to offer low-power and high-performance graph processing on FPGAs.


The late myocardial and vascular ultrastructural changes in rat hearts following consumption of the cardiovascular toxin allylamine were studied. Rats were given 0.1% allylamine HCl in drinking water for 10-104 days. From 10 to 21 days, there was organization of acute myocardial necrosis by macrophages and scattered polymorphonuclear leukocytes with prominent interstitial-cell proliferation. Alterations at 21-104 days included extensive scarring with formation of dense mature collagen with scattered fibroblasts present, grossly evident left-ventricular aneurysm, and gross and microscopic changes similar to those observed in the secondary form of endocardial fibroelastosis. Areas of scar contained highly cellular foci of smooth-muscle cells, myofibroblasts, and abundant extracellular elastin. Cardiac myocytes frequently showed markedly disorganized myofilaments, bizarrely distorted mitochondria with condensed cristae, and other severe degenerative changes. Small vessels within and adjacent to scar showed proliferation of intimal smooth-muscle cells. Endothelial lesions or recent or organized thrombi were not seen. Focal endocardial metaplasia, consisting of both chondroid and osseous tissue, was found in areas of transmural scarring, or ventricular aneurysm. Chondrocytes had the overall nuclear and cellular morphology, abundant rough endoplasmic reticulum, and surrounding lacunae typical of mature fibrocartilage. In some areas, the collagen matrix was undergoing calcification with the typical cross-banded pattern of calcifying connective tissue. Osteocytes were located in a densely calcified bone matrix and displayed characteristic cellular extensions into surrounding canaliculi. These findings indicate a severe myocardial, small-vessel, and endocardial injury during the course of chronic allylamine intoxication.


Abstract Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) is an important crop nutrient for plants and its use is increasing day by day with increase in population. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an important tool in the evaluation of the environmental performance of the product/ system throughout the life cycle. In this paper, LCA has been used to evaluate the performance of the Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertilizer production. The system investigated includes DAP production process. The quantification of environmental emissions, material and energy usage are quantified and environmental effects are assessed. The impact categories most affected by the DAP production, are respiratory inorganics and terrestrial acid/nitrification. Interpretations have been made and recommendations are given for operational improvements in DAP production


If we accept the evidence at face value, we are led to conclude that emmer was probably domesticated in the upper Jordan watershed and that einkorn was domesticated in southeast Turkey. Barley could have been domesticated almost anywhere within the arc bordering the fertile crescent. All three cereals may well have been harvested in the wild state throughout their regions of adaptation long before actual farming began. The primary habitats for barley, however, are not the same as those for the wheats. Wild barley is more xerophytic and extends farther downslope and into the steppes and deserts along the wadis. It seems likely that, while all three early cereals were domesticated within an are flanking the fertile crescent, each was domesticated in a different subregion of the zone. Lest anyone should be led to think the problem is solved, we wish to close with a caveat. Domestication may not have taken place where the wild cereals were most abundant. Why should anyone cultivate a cereal where natural stands are as dense as a cultivated field? If wild cereal grasses can be harvested in unlimited quantities, why should anyone bother to till the soil and plant the seed? We suspect that we shall find, when the full story is unfolded, that here and there harvesting of wild cereals lingered on long after some people had learned to farm, and that farming itself may have orig inated in areas adjacent to, rather than in, the regions of greatest abundance of wild cereals. We need far more specific information on the climate during incipient domestication and many more carefully conducted excavations of sites in the appropriate time range. The problem is far from solved, but some knowledge of the present distribution of the wild forms should be helpful.