T-type calcium channels (Cav3) play a key role in generating rhythmic action potentials in excitable cells such as the heart pacemaker and sleep-wake cycles in the thalamus. T-type channels are low voltage-activated channels, which can be opened near rest to cause an inward current that leads to membrane voltage rising to threshold to generate rhythmic action potential firing. The upstroke of the ventricular action potential in the vertebrate heart is attributed mostly to the cardiac-specific voltage-gated sodium channel, Nav1.5. Sodium channels are not expressed in the invertebrate heart, such as Lymnaea stagnalis. Instead, the major inward conductances of the invertebrate heart are due to voltage-gated calcium channels. The invertebrate pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, heart expresses T-type calcium channel, LCav3, which is alternatively-spliced in exon 12, generating a highly sodium selective T-type channel (with exon 12a) compared to a more calcium ion selective channel isoform (with exon 12b). The sodium permeant, LCav3-12a channel is the only T-type channel expressed in the heart, while LCav3-12b is more exclusive to the secretory glands, such as prostate and albumen. Our goal is to understand the functional consequence of differing sodium and calcium ion selectivities of T-type channels for the generation of rhythmic pacemaking in native tissues by conducting elecrophysiology experiments on dissociated ventricle cells and constructing a qualitative mathematical model of the invertebrate ventricular action potential. Mathematical models for both LCav3-12a and LCav3-12b T-type currents were constructed and implemented using current models from the Kyoto model, a guinea pig ventricular action potential model, to reflect the currents found in Lymnaea stagnalis. LCav3-12b had a smaller pacemaking current and showed slower rate of spike generation opposed to LCav3-12a which had a larger current and faster pacemaking activity. Spiking activity was not abolished with simulated T-type current block but had the greatest effect on rate of pacemaking. Simulations involving reduced current conductance or varying ion concentration show that LCav3 was primarily responsible for generating pacemaking activity and initiating the action potential upstroke.


Angiogenesis after pulmonary ischemia is initiated by reactive O2 species and is dependent on CXC chemokine growth factors, and its magnitude is correlated with the number of lavaged macrophages. After complete obstruction of the left pulmonary artery in mice, the left lung is isolated from the peripheral circulation until 5–7 days later, when a new systemic vasculature invades the lung parenchyma. Consequently, this model offers a unique opportunity to study the differentiation and/or proliferation of monocyte-derived cells within the lung. In this study, we questioned whether macrophage subpopulations were differentially expressed and which subset contributed to growth factor release. We characterized the change in number of all macrophages (MHCII int, CD11C+), alveolar macrophages (MHCII int, CD11C+, CD11B−) and mature lung macrophages (MHCII int, CD11C+, CD11B+) in left lungs from mice immediately (0 h) or 24 h after left pulmonary artery ligation (LPAL). In left lung homogenates, only lung macrophages increased 24 h after LPAL (vs. 0 h; p<0.05). No changes in proliferation were seen in any subset by PCNA expression (0 h vs. 24 h lungs). When the number of monocytic cells was reduced with clodronate liposomes, systemic blood flow to the left lung 14 days after LPAL decreased by 42% (p<0.01) compared to vehicle controls. Furthermore, when alveolar macrophages and lung macrophages were sorted and studied in vitro, only lung macrophages secreted the chemokine MIP-2α (ELISA). These data suggest that ischemic stress within the lung contributes to the differentiation of immature monocytes to lung macrophages within the first 24 h after LPAL. Lung macrophages but not alveolar macrophages increase and secrete the proangiogenic chemokine MIP-2α. Overall, an increase in the number of lung macrophages appears to be critical for neovascularization in the lung, since clodronate treatment decreased their number and attenuated functional angiogenesis.


Global economic growth and unprecedented population expansion coupled with climate change and unsustainable development will continue to cause an increase in the frequency, intensity and severity of natural disaster events into the future. Only through a clear understanding and appreciation of disaster risks can decision makers adequately prioritise the implementation of resilience building measures into development programs.
The aim of this dissertation is to critically analyse the natural disaster risk management strategies, emergency preparedness and response readiness of South Asian countries. To this end the available literature and statistical data was first analysed before a comparative study was undertaken of how the frameworks and mechanisms of the South Asia Region compare to global standards. Three South Asian countries, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan were studied in detail in an attempt to measure the region against these world standards. As part of this analysis a study of the roles that the various actors play in disaster risk management, specifically the restoration of engineering services after a disaster event was undertaken. Further detailed case studies were conducted to analyse how these frameworks and mechanisms were actually implemented during disaster events.
This combination of research methods revealed that significant advancements have been made in recent years towards individual communities, districts, states, countries and regions becoming more resilient to natural disaster events. The available literature and statistics reveal that there are vast areas for improvement available particularly with regard to reducing the damage to infrastructure caused by floods, earthquakes and storms. It has been conclude that a holistic approach towards disaster risk management that includes improved regional and global cooperation is vital to public safety and economic well being. One of the key outcomes of this research suggests that private companies have a responsibility to place greater importance on disaster risks when investing in infrastructure and development programs.


The demographic policy of the Russian government, which aims to 'preserve and increase the people', combines two qualitatively different approaches to understanding the problem of population decline. Most often, the emphasis is placed on stimulating fertility, although there is also an understanding that it is important to raise the quality of their upbringing and education. While the focus on increasing human capital is economically justified, the desire to increase the birth rate has no such justification. The theory of demographic transition proves that stimulating the birth rate is an erroneous goal. The 'cash for babies' policy applied in Russia is based on the conviction that children, even those born in poor and dysfunctional families, inevitably 'pass' through the education system and become qualified workers. On the basis of this stereotype, the system of pro-natalist incentives is built in such a way that, in accordance with the law of diminishing marginal utility, it creates stronger incentives for poorer families and is therefore actually aimed at increasing the birth rate primarily in the poor strata, having little effect on middle-class families. Meanwhile, modern theories of social capital and labor market signals prove the limited ability of schools and universities to play the role of social elevators. International studies (in particular, in the USA) shows that state benefits for children of poor and disadvantaged families contribute to the reproduction of a culture of poverty. Therefore, when the Russian authorities provide assistance primarily to low-income and single-parent families with children, they create problems for the future. The study proposes to replace the current policy based on the principle 'more babies but cheaper' with a policy aimed at middle-class families and based on the principle 'less is more'. Thus, an orientation towards stimulating population growth is replaced by an orientation towards fostering human capital.


The purpose of this study is to compare the osseointegration of calcium pyrophosphate(CPP) coated screws with uncoated screws. CPP coating was prepared and coated by dipping method. CPP coated and uncoated screws were inserted into the mongrel dogs. The insertion torques, radiographs, histology, histomorphometric analysis, and extraction torques were evaluated at 2, 4, and 8 weeks after surgery. The insertion torque was not different between CPP coated and uncoated screws. The extraction torques of CPP coated screws at 2, 4, and 8 weeks(5.45±2.05, 7.62±1.51 and 6.60±2.80 cNM) were significantly higher than their insertion torques(2.74±1.13, 2.98±0.70, and 2.18±1.34 cNM)(p<0.0001, <0.0001 and 0.0005 respectively) and significantly higher than the extraction torques of uncoated screws(1.14±0.470, 2.57±1.36, and 3.18 ±0.499 cNM). The percentages of direct bone-screw contact of CPP coated screws were statistically higher than those of uncoated screws at 2, 4, and 8 weeks. These results suggest that CPP coating may improve the clinical results by allowing early motion exercises and early weight bearing.


In this article, I add to the existing mindfulness literature by discussing other ways that law teachers might consider incorporating mindfulness and emotional intelligence into one or more of their classes. I also discuss the related idea of helping students develop a professional identity. Next, I focus on providing these tools in a first-year mandatory class and then attempt to provide a rationale, and a roadmap, for doing this. After explaining briefly what mindfulness and emotional intelligence are, I review literature from other disciplines on the benefits of mindfulness practice and emotional intelligence training. Next I discuss how this training might enhance the education of lawyers by improving their likelihood of success in the profession and, in turn, improving the quality of their lives both inside and outside their legal practices. Finally, I describe a few examples of materials that could be used in class, as well as some of the classes in which this material might be incorporated. As an example, I use our first-year mandatory professionalism class at the University of New Mexico School of Law called Practicum, in which we incorporated mindfulness and emotional intelligence in the fall of 2013. In concluding the article, I discuss whether now is the time to make the curricular changes I suggest here or whether it would be best to wait until these principles become more accepted in the profession.


Nonlinear optical methods have become ubiquitous in many scientific areas, from fundamental studies of time-resolved electron dynamics to microscopy and spectroscopy applications. They are, however, often limited to a certain range of parameters such as pulse energy and average power. Restrictions arise from, for example, the required field intensity as well as from parasitic nonlinear effects and saturation mechanisms. Here, we identify a fundamental principle of nonlinear light–matter interaction in gases and show that paraxial nonlinear wave equations are scale-invariant if spatial dimensions, gas density, and laser pulse energy are scaled appropriately. As an example, we apply this principle to high-order harmonic generation and provide a general method for increasing peak and average power of attosecond sources. In addition, we experimentally demonstrate the implications for the compression of short laser pulses. Our scaling principle extends well beyond those examples and includes many nonlinear processes with applications in different areas of science.


The  e-library users of the Faculty of Law, Nnamdi  Azikiwe University, Awka, was used to conduct  a survey   to ascertain their opinions on the facilities and services provided for their use in the areas of adequacy of computers, accommodation, seats, tables, power supply, hours of operation,  ventilation, databases accessed,  staff/users relationship.  Questionnaire was administered to 154 of the students in a planned order, in such a manner that every user on entering the library was administered with a questionnaire. This exercise lasted for one week and was done in such a way that there was no duplication of questionnaire administration.  All the administered questionnaire were duly returned representing 100% return.  The work revealed that the users were satisfied with the following facilities/resources: accessing e-mail, general web browsing, sanitation, lighting, ventilation, chairs and tables, opening hours, security.  Equally, the following challenges with using the facilities/resources were revealed: slow access speed, limited access to computer, too many information retrieved, takes too long to view/download pages, power failure and limited bandwidth, closing time.    It is recommended that the law library management should note the areas required for improvement and pay special attention to the areas of comments by students.  Awareness should also be created on the ICT services provided to enable students explore them. Keywords: E-library facilities, e-library services, readers assessment, university e-library.


This paper encompasses our first efforts towards the numerical simulation of friction stir welding by employing a Lagrangian approach. To this end, we have employed a meshless method, namely the Natural Element Method (NEM). Friction Stir welding is a welding process where the union between the work pieces is achieved through the extremely high deformation imposed by a rotating pin, which moves between the two pieces. This extremely high strain is the main responsible of the difficulties associated with the numerical simulation of this forming process. Eulerian and Arbitrary Lagrangian‐Eulerian (ALE) frameworks encounter difficulties in some aspects of the simulation. For instance, these approaches need additional techniques for the description of the boundary between materials, such as level sets, boundary markers or similar. In this paper we address the issue of employing a Lagrangian framework, which adequately describes the evolution in time of the interphase. The meshless character of the technique a...


The present study aimed to optimize the injected dose of 18F-FDG in whole-body PET/CT scans and assess its effect on noise-equivalent count rate (NECR) and visual image quality (IQ). Methods: Patients scheduled to undergo 18F-FDG PET/CT were prospectively recruited in the study from January to December 2019, regardless of the indication or underlying disease. Patients were divided into 4 groups and injected with different amounts of 18F-FDG radioactivity per kilogram of body weight (1.85, 3.7, 5.5, and 7.4 MBq/kg). All patients underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT studies, and NECRlocal was calculated by noting the trues rate, total prompts, and randoms rate for each bed position. Whole-body NECRglobal was calculated as the average NECR for all bed positions. IQ was qualitatively assessed for each bed position (IQlocal) and for whole-body PET (IQglobal) by 2 readers using 5-point scores based on prevalence of noise, contrast, and lesion detectability. NECR and IQ were compared among all 4 activity groups. Patients were also subdivided into 4 body-mass-index groups (group I, 15–20 kg/m2; group II, 20.1–25 kg/m2; group III, 25.1–30 kg/m2; and group IV, 30.1–35 kg/m2) for comparison. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: In total, 109 patients underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT studies after injection of different amounts of 18F-FDG radioactivity and a mean uptake time of 62.32 min. The mean NECRglobal and IQglobal for each group were significantly different from other groups (P < 0.05), with NECR and IQ being higher in high-activity groups than in low-activity groups. The overall IQ was acceptable in all patients, even in the lowest-activity group (1.84 MBq/kg). The mean NECRglobal and IQglobal were significantly different in all 4 body-mass-index groups (P < 0.05), except between groups II and III (P > 0.05). NECRlocal and IQlocal correlated moderately (r = 0.64). Conclusion: Optimization of injected 18F-FDG radioactivity from 7.4 MBq/kg (200 μCi/kg) to 1.85 MBq/kg (50 μCi/kg) resulted in acceptable IQ, despite a reduction in NECR.


Non-verbal communication or body messaging occurs when facial expressions, tone of voice, head and neck movements, smiling and ... affects others; which may be intentional or unintentional. Farhangi in nonverbal communication: the art of using movement and sound" defines this field as such: "Non-verbal communication is phonetic and non-phonetic messages which have been explained by other than language and linguistics means." (P. 22) News presenters while informing, use nonverbal communication alongside verbal. Because of Announcers' final role in news production process, they play an important role in influencing minds, persuasion and public opinion shaping. News as the most important output of media need formidable speakers so that the end result can be satisfying. This paper's aim is studying the nonverbal and non-phonetic factors of presenters in news processes; and its' influence in shaping and directing the public opinion, understanding the intended agenda of media and its' role in running tactics and strategies. In this research the survey method was used. The study population was 300 master students of the Tehran central branch of Islamic Azad University. The sample population was 168 students which were calculated through Cochran's formula. Among the 168 distributed questionnaires, 150 responses were received and the results of the research are based on this quantity. The results of this study show that the audiences of news programs believe that the news presenters face attraction is top priority, and they believe that the face can affect the audiences' absorption by the program. Other non-verbal variables studied in the study are Phonetic signs. The students believe that the presenters can grant positive or negative orientation to the News keywords through phonetic signs and specific tones. Hence convey media's desired meaning to the audience. According to the survey, respondents believe that news presenters know about the non-verbal factors affecting the audience; and they use meta-linguistic and nonverbal factors consciously, deliberately to influencing the audience.


We studied the interaction of lipid membranes with the disaccharide trehalose (TRH), which is known to stabilize biomembranes against various environmental stress factors. Generally, stress factors include low/high temperature, shear, osmotic and hydrostatic pressure. Small-angle X-ray-scattering was applied in combination with fluorescence spectroscopy and calorimetric measurements to get insights into the influence of trehalose on the supramolecular structure, hydration level, and elastic and thermodynamic properties as well as phase behavior of the model biomembrane DMPC, covering a large region of the temperature, osmotic and hydrostatic pressure phase space. We observed distinct effects of trehalose on the topology of the lipid's supramolecular structure. Trehalose, unlike osmotic pressure induced by polyethylene glycol, leads to a decrease of lamellar order and a swelling of multilamellar vesicles, which is attributable to direct interactions between the membrane and trehalose. Our results revealed a distinct biphasic concentration dependence of the observed effects of trehalose. While trehalose intercalates between the polar head groups at low concentrations, the effects after saturation are dominated by the exclusion of trehalose from the membrane surface.


The physico-chemical properties of oil from Moringa oleifera seeds from India were determined in the present study. The petroleum ether extracted oil ranged from 27.83 - 45.07% on kernel basis and 15.1-28.4% on whole seed basis in 20 different clones. Leaves and pods showed a good source of vitamin C. Oleic acid (C18:1) has been found to be the major fatty acid being 78.91-85.52% as compared to olive oil, which is considered to be richest source of oleic acid. All the clones from India did not show any presence of behenic acid (C 22:0). The oil was also found to contain high levels of beta-sitosterol ranged from 42.29-47.94% stigmasterol from 13.66-16.61%, campesterol from 12.53-16.63%. The gamma- and delta-tocopherol were found to be in the range of 128.0-146.95, 51.88-63.5 and 55.23-63.84 mg/kg, respectively.


The Fall of Singapore was a significant event in Australia and in Singapore. The memory of defeat occupies a difficult place in each nation's history. Since the end of the Second World War, Australians and Singaporeans have refashioned the event, and memories of the event to displace the reality of defeat. They have contextualised memories of defeat and suffering as sacred experiences and infused with ideas of cultural and national identity, often reflecting broader themes like myths of the nation. This is because nations from time to time are inspired by the myths forged in a previous conflict. Myths of a nation influence the way Australians and Singaporeans define their memories of war because of the sentiments it can invoke in a nation of people. And this has produced memories that, despite being anchored by a common event, are very different. This thesis explores the themes and influences that shape memory of a single event, 15 February 1942, from the Australian and Singaporean national perspective. In the Australian case, 15 February is intimately linked with the history of the Australian 8 Division, the experiences of the men, and how their experience is accommodated in both Anzac and the language of commemoration in Australia. For Singapore, 15 February has strong resonance with the Singapore Chinese community; it has inspired leaders of the community to preserve and position their wartime memories not only to ensure that their experience is remembered but also that it is seen as Singapore's history of the Japanese Occupation. Australians and Singaporeans have constantly returned to popular memories of the event, seldom the realities of it. A study of the influences that shape the language of commemoration in Australia and Singapore will inform our understanding of the meanings, myths, and popular memories associated with 15 February in these two nations.


Arguing that Baz Luhrmann's "Australia" (2008) is a big-budget, non-independent film espousing a left-leaning political ideology in its non-racist representations of Aborigines on film, this paper suggests the addition of a 'fourth formation' to the 1984 Moore and Muecke model is warranted. According to their theorising, racist "first formation" films promote policies of assimilation whereas "second formation" films avoid overt political statements in favour of more acceptable multicultural liberalism. Moore and Muecke's seemingly ultimate "third formation films", however, blatantly foreground the director's leftist political dogma in a necessarily low budget, independent production. "Australia", on the other hand, is an advance on the third formation because its feminised Aboriginal voice is safely backed by a colossal production budget and indicates a transformation in public perceptions of Aboriginal issues. Furthermore, this paper argues that the use of low-cost post-production techniques such as voice-over narration by racially appropriate individuals and the use of diegetic song in Australia work to ensure the positive reception of the left-leaning message regarding the Stolen Generations. With these devices Luhrmann effectively counters the claims of right-wing denialists such as Andrew Bolt and Keith Windschuttle.


Background The male-to-female-transgender persons recently registered the highest percentage of new Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) cases nationwide as they entered the world's oldest profession and the country's fourth largest contributor to the Gross National Product – prostitution. Objectives This qualitative study aimed to explore the sexual practices among MTFT persons in prostitution which made them vulnerable to HIV transmission. Methods Using narratives as an approach and Balan's Grid by Tagg (1985) to provide a structure for constructing and making sense out of life stories, five (5) MTFT persons in prostitution from Davao City, at least 19 years old with unknown HIV status, from various socio-economic backgrounds were purposively chosen as narrators. Guided by Helsinki principles, informed consent was obtained to answer two research questions: "What are your sexual practices as MTFT in prostitution? How do these sexual practices affect you as MTFT? The proposition of the study was "MTFT person who lack knowledge on HIV and condom negotiation skills tend to engage in unprotected anal sex". Result The conceptual framework is based on motivation as affected by psychosocial factors. Findings revealed that lack of education and work opportunity forced MTFT persons to engage in prostitution to earn a living for their families. Physical and sexual assault (performing sex against their will and not being paid) from patrons and at times police were also reported. Failure to negotiate for condom use to grant client's request, unavailability of condoms and substance abuse exposed MTFT to sexually transmitted infections. Sexual adventurism, promiscuity – along with anxiety and depression which led to suicide attempts – were attributed to traumatic effects of childhood neglect, physical and sexual abuse and emerged as common themes. Conclusion More scientific inquiry and theory-based studies should be made to come up with MTFT-focused behavioral modification strategies that could lead to effective HIV intervention policies and programs.


Due to the outbreak and alarming spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a recognized need for alternative ICT-based methods like online and blended methods of teaching school topics, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in particular. It seems that this sudden transition to emergency remote teaching has presented a number of challenges and constraints for EFL practitioners, as well as opportunities throughout all the cycles of the Moroccan education system. In Morocco, EFL learning specifically has become of vital importance. Research on the status of English proficiency and input from an online or distance learning perspective, nonetheless, is scarce and focuses mainly on face-to-face learning and hardly on the impact of online and blended learning on language proficiency in EFL. However, the effectiveness of learning EFL in the Moroccan context - such as English as a foreign language fully online in the Moroccan education system has yet to be uncovered. The principal objective of this paper was to investigate whether learning EFL fully online can be as effective as learning it fully face-to-face. A quantitative methodological approach was adopted. Independent sample t-tests were carried out to compare online and face-to-face learners' performance in Moroccan secondary schools in a Baccalaureate-level EFL course in the Regional Academies of Casablanca-Settat and Beni-Mellal-Khenifra, Morocco. The key variables 'age', 'gender', 'learning outcomes', 'the residential environment', 'access to Internet', 'Net connection availability' & 'digital device used' are controlled. The main findings, wherein the t-value of the seven subtests represented a mean difference of 31,380 in the fully face-to-face group and -17,582 in the fully online group, indicated that online EFL learning in Baccalaureate education cannot be at least as effective as face-to-face EFL learning. This study should, therefore, be of value to language course providers wishing to implement flexible EFL learning and to, broadly speaking, course designers and practitioners and computer-assisted language learning researchers.


The Holocene carbonate sediments of Cape Sable, Florida, form a facies mosaic in which facies are controlled by frequency and duration of flooding. The 4 following zones occur: 1. Flooding 0-5% of the time (supratidal)--massive to crudely bedded sandstone or siltstone, abundant birdseye, low species diversity, high abundance of single species with uniform-sized individuals. 2. Flooding 5-25% of the time (high intertidal)--low domal and flat laminated algal stromatolites, desiccation cracks and flat laminated pebbles, low species diversity, low abundance of individuals, microscopic invertebrates only. 3. Flooding 25-90% of the time (low intertidal)--massive End_Page 339------------------------------ burrow-mottled silts, moderate species diversity, moderate abundance of individuals, mainly microscopic, with a wide size range among individuals. 4. Flooding > 90% of the time (subtidal)--massive pelletal silts and clays, highly burrow-mottled, high species diversity, high abundance and wide size range of individuals within species, many macroscopic invertebrates. Areas of high intertidal and supratidal sediments where ponding of waters occurs for extended periods are characterized by single or multiple algal and sediment laminae much thicker than in areas where waters drain rapidly. Sedimentation in zone 1 forms thin beds, derived from sediment-laden waters driven over the area during storms. In Zone 2, sediments are deposited in thin laminae; sedimentation is controlled by the trapping of particles carried by tidal currents and binding them onto mats of blue-green algae. Sedimentation in zone 3 occurs mainly in the form of thin beds deposited during storms and subsequently reworked by organisms. In zone 4, deposition occurs by settling of (1) in situ sediments; (2) particles carried into the area by tidal currents; and (3) particles from sediment-laden storm waters. Measurement of production of calcareous sediment within the Cape Sable area, measurements of the net transport of sediment into the area by tidal currents, and measurement of the volume of sediment deposited in the area since its opening to the sea in the 1920s allow the following calculations to be made. Since 1920, 4% (0.01 cm/yr) of the total deposit has been derived from in situ production, 34% (0.28 cm/yr) by net transport into the area on tides, and 62% (0.50 cm/yr) by storms. End_of_Article - Last_Page 340------------


High throughput DNA sequencing technology has enabled entire biological communities to be characterised from DNA derived from pools of organisms, such as bulk-collected invertebrates, or DNA extracted from environmental samples (e.g. soil). These DNA-based techniques have the potential to revolutionise biodiversity monitoring. One approach in particular, DNA metabarcoding, can provide unprecedented taxonomic breadth at a scale not practically achievable through the morphological identification of individual organisms. Here, we assess the current strengths and weaknesses of DNA metabarcoding techniques for biodiversity assessment. We argue that it is essential to integrate conventional monitoring methods with novel DNA methods, to validate methods, and to better use and interpret data. We present a conceptual framework for how this might be done, explore potential applications within national biodiversity assessment frameworks, Maori biodiversity monitoring and the primary sector, and highlight areas of current uncertainty and future research directions. Rapid developments in DNA sequencing technology and bioinformatics will make DNA-based community data increasingly accessible to ecologists, and there needs to be a corresponding shift in research focus from DNA metabarcoding method development and evaluation to real-world applications that provide rich information for a range of purposes, including conservation planning and land management decisions.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity of the wheat germplasm using high-density genotyping with SNP markers. A set of 211 wheat varieties genotyped with 35,142 SNP markers were used in the experiment. Genetic distances ranged from 0.013 to 0.471, with the highest frequency of distances varying between 0.31 and 0.40. In the cluster analysis by the UPGMA method, 81% of the varieties were clustered in three groups. Genetic variability in the Brazilian wheat germplasm has remained constant for over 70 years. Mean genetic distances among the varieties developed in each decade ranged from 0.33 to 0.34. A trend of genetic distance between genotypes from different eras has been observed over time as a result of breeding. Results described in this study can help Brazilian wheat breeders to manage more adequately genetic variability in the Brazilian wheat germplasm.


The potential role of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-G as a target for new cancer immunotherapy drugs has increased the interest in the analysis of mechanisms by which HLA-G expression is regulated, and how the expression can be manipulated. We characterized HLA expression in breast cancer and malignant melanoma cell lines and investigated the induction of HLA-G expression by two distinct mechanisms: stimulation with interferon (IFN)-γ or inhibition of methylation by treatment with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC). The effect of IFN-γ and 5-aza-dC on HLA expression was dependent on the cancer cell lines studied. However, in general, surface expression of HLA class Ia was induced on all cell lines. Surface expression of HLA-G was inconclusive but induction of HLA-G mRNA was prevalent upon treatment with 5-aza-dC and a combination of IFN-γ and 5-aza-dC. IFN-γ alone failed to induce HLA-G expression in the HLA-G-negative cell lines. The results support that HLA-G expression is regulated partly by DNA methylation. Furthermore, IFN-γ may play a role in the maintenance of HLA-G expression rather than inducing expression. The study demonstrates the feasibility of manipulating HLA expression and contributes to the exploration of mechanisms that can be potential targets for immunotherapy in breast cancer and malignant melanoma.


Results of quantum chemical calculations for the and F centres in cubic and orthorhombic phases of a perovskite ferroelectric are presented and analysed in the light of existing experimental literature. It is shown that one (two) electrons of the and F centres, respectively, are considerably delocalized, even in the ground state of defects, over the two Nb atoms nearest to the O vacancy, and other close atoms. They resemble more electron defects in partly covalent crystals (the so-called centre) than F-type centres in ionic MgO crystals. We predict two or three absorption bands (depending on the crystalline phase) for each of the defects. The calculated absorption energies for the centre are by 0.3 - 0.4 eV lower than those for the F centre.


Inoculant (1177 in one trial) and non-protein nitrogen (LSA-100 in two trials) silage additives were evaluated with whole-plant forage sorghum silage. Steers fed LSA-100 silage gained faster than steers fed control silage supplemented with soybean meal (4.8% in trial 1; 12% in trial 2). Feed conversion was improved 11% in trial 1 and was similar to the control silage in trial 2. Silage inoculated with 1177 supported rates and efficiencies of gain similar to the control silage. Of the nitrogen added from LSA-100, 90.9% in trial 1 and 86.2% in trial 2 was recovered from the concrete stave silos. Dry matter recoveries averaged 6.0 percentage units less for LSA-100 silages than controls, however 1177 increased recovery by 2.65 units. In general, silage from the bottom half of each silo was far more stable in air than that from the top half. The additives did not consistently affect aerobic stability.


Video-based surveillance and security become extremely important in the new, 21st century for human safety, counter-terrorism, traffic control etc. Visual novelty detection and tracking are key elements of such activities. The current state-of-the-art approaches often suffer from high computational, memory storage costs and from not being fully automated (they usually require a human operator in the loop). This paper introduces a new approach to the problem of novelty detection in video streams that is based on recursive, and therefore, computationally efficient density estimation by a Cauchy type of kernel (as opposed to the usually used Gaussian one). The idea of the proposed approach stems from the recently introduced evolving clustering approach, eClustering and is suitable for online and real-time applications in fully autonomous and unsupervised systems as a stand-alone novelty detector or for priming a tracking algorithm. The approach proposed in this paper has evolving property - it can gradually update the background model and the criteria to detect novelty by unsupervised online learning. The proposed approach is faster by an order of magnitude than the well known kernel density estimation (KDE) method for background subtraction, while having has adaptive characteristics, and does not need any threshold to be pre-specified. Recursive expressions similar to the proposed approach in this paper can also be applied to image segmentation and landmark recognition used for self-localization in robotics. If combined with a real-time prediction using Kalman filter or evolving Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy models a fast and fully autonomous tracking system can be realized with potential applications in surveillance and robotic systems.


A capillary electrophoretic (CE) method for the determination of formoterol (FOR) in a pharmaceutical preparation is described. Analysis was made in a background electrolyte consisting of 20 % acetonitrile and 50 mMphosphoric acid at pH 2.5, using fused silica capillary (86 cm x 75 μm ID), 27 kV potential, and detecting at 200 nm. Under these electrophoretic conditions 3, 4‐dihydroxybenzylamine used as an internal standard (IS) and FOR showed symmetrical peaks at 6.1 and 8.3 min., respectively. The inter‐day and intra‐day precision was examined in the concentration range of 2.98 ? 10‐6 M to 8.94 x 10‐6 M. Good correlation and accuracy were obtained. Limit of detection, (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) values were 3.71 x 10‐7 M and 1.11 x 10‐6 M, respectively. The method was applied for the analysis of FOR in pharmaceutical inhaler capsules. The proposed method is reliable, precise, accurate, fast, and cost effective.


In humans, the most common epigenetic DNA modification is methylation of the 5-carbon of cytosines, predominantly in CpG dinucleotides. DNA methylation is an important epigenetic mark associated with gene repression. Disruption of the normal DNA methylation pattern is known to play a role in the initiation and progression of many cancers. DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), the most abundant DNA methyltransferase in humans, is primarily responsible for maintenance of the DNA methylation pattern and is considered an important cancer drug target. Recently, laccaic acid A (LCA), a highly substituted anthraquinone natural product, was identified as a direct, DNA-competitive inhibitor of DNMT1. Here, we have successfully screened a small library of simplified anthraquinone compounds for DNMT1 inhibition. Using an endonuclease-coupled DNA methylation assay, we identified two anthraquinone compounds, each containing an aromatic substituent, that act as direct DNMT1 inhibitors. These simplified anthraquinone compounds retain the DNA-competitive mechanism of action of LCA and exhibit some selectivity for DNMT1 over DNMT3a. The newly identified compounds are at least 40-fold less potent than LCA, but have significantly less complex structures. Collectively, this data indicates that substituted anthraquinone compounds could serve as a novel scaffold for developing DNMT1-specific inhibitors.


Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is a member of the cyclin-dependent kinase family and has been studied mainly in the differentiation of post-mitotic neurons. The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of cdk5 expression and activity in colon cancer cells and to investigate its role in the regulation of PPARgamma ligand-induced antiproliferation. We observed that cdk5 protein levels and kinase activity were elevated in both HT-29 cells and human tumor tissue in comparison to decreased levels in normal colonic mucosa. To elucidate cdk5's role in PPARgamma ligand-induced antiproliferation of colon cancer cells, HT-29 cells were treated with ciglitazone. A dose- and time-dependent decrease in cell proliferation were observed after ciglitazone exposure, which correlated with a decrease in cdk5 protein expression and kinase activity. Importantly, these ciglitazone-induced antiproliferative changes were reversed when cdk5 was overexpressed. Although present, p35, the regulatory protein of cdk5, showed no significant changes in protein expression with the introduction of ciglitazone. This is the first report of cdk5/p35 expression and kinase activity in colon cancer cells, which is associated with ciglitazone-induced antiproliferation in HT-29 cells.


Author(s): Kennett, DJ; Anderson, A; Winterhalder, B | Editor(s): Kennett, Douglas J; Winterhalder, Bruce | Abstract: Islands in Oceania were some of the last habitable land masses on earth to be colonized by humans. Current archaeological evidence suggests that these islands were colonized episodically rather than continuously, and that bursts of migration were followed by longer periods of sedentism and population growth. The decision to colonize isolated, unoccupied islands and archipelagos was complex and dependent on a variety of social, technological and environmental variables. In this chapter we develop an integrative, multivariate approach to island colonization in Oceania based on a model from behavioral ecology known as the Ideal Free Distribution. This ecological model provides a framework that considers the dynamic character of island suitability along with density-dependent and density-independent variables influencing migratory behavior. Unique among existing models, it can account for the episodic nature of certain aspects of the colonization process. Within this context we critically evaluate the role of foraging, lowlevel food production, and ultimately intensive food production, as important contextual variables that influenced decisions to disperse. We argue that intensive food production was one variable that contributed to decreasing suitability of island habitats, stimulating dispersal, and ultimately migrations to more distant islands in Oceania. © 2006 by The Regents of the University of California.


CHARGE syndrome is an autosomal dominant complex malformation disorder caused by mutations in CHD7. While ∼90% of the mutations in this gene are easily recognized as pathogenic, ∼8% of patients carry a missense substitution that would be called an unclassified variant at first observation. In the absence of a functional assay for CHD7 missense substitutions, Bergman et al. (Hum Mutat 33:1251–1260, 2012) have developed a computational approach to classify missense substitutions in this gene. Their task was confounded by two limitations: (1) there were no gold standard "clearly pathogenic" and "clearly neutral" missense substitutions to use in algorithm development, and (2) the number of known missense substitutions and amount of data available for each substitution are not sufficient to quantitatively calibrate the analytic methods that the authors sought to integrate into a single evaluation. To overcome these challenges, the authors started with the 145 CHD7 missense substitutions reported in the literature, dbSNP, or recorded by Dutch or Danish testing labs. Using clinical criteria, they developed a subset of 12 very likely benign and 9 very likely pathogenic substitutions, which were used to evaluate the performance of the multiple alignment-based algorithms SIFT, PolyPhen-2, and Align-GVGD, plus the completely structural algorithm FOLDX. Output from the most successful algorithms was integrated with observational data including de novo occurrence and co-occurrence with clearly pathogenic mutations. The final classification system recapitulated the initial 21 confidently classified substitutions exactly. Overall, 59 of 145 substitutions were classified as probably benign, 46 as uncertain, and 40 as probably pathogenic. The system should be a valuable tool for analysis of clinically observed CHD7 substitutions. Moreover, this classification method framework should prove to be a useful template for other genes and syndromes that face the problem of unclassified missense substitutions with insufficient data to perform the necessary quantitative methods calibrations.


Global Positioning System (GPS) velocity solutions of the western United States (WUS) are compiled from several sources of field networks and data processing centers for the 2023 U.S. Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM). These solutions include both survey and continuous-mode GPS velocity measurements. I follow the data processing procedure of Parsons et al. (2013) for the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, version 3 and McCaffrey, Bird, et al. (2013) and Zeng and Shen (2013) for their WUS deformation models in support of the 2014 NSHM update. All GPS velocity vectors are first rotated to a common North American reference frame. I edit the velocities to remove outliers and data with significant influence from volcanism. The solutions are then combined into a final GPS velocity field consisting of 4979 horizontal velocity vectors. I compute strain rates based on these GPS velocities using the method of Shen et al. (2015). These strain rates correlate closely with seismicity rates in the WUS. The results are used for WUS geodetic and geologic deformation modeling in support of the 2023 NSHM update.


It is understood from past decade of research that a wireless multi-hop network can achieve maximum network throughput only when its nodes operate at a minimum common transmission power level that ensures network connectivity (availability). This point of optimality where maximum availability and throughput is guaranteed in an interference-optimal network has been the basis of numerous design problems in wireless networks. In this paper, we claim that when performability (availability weighted performance) is considered as opposed to average case throughput performance, there does not exist a transmission power (or node density) that can maximize both availability and performability. Since the current mesh networks are expected to deliver carrier-grade services to its users, the availability-performability trade-off presented in this paper holds a special importance. While availability metric is a necessary one for any networking system intended to provide continuous service, past research [1] has shown a strong correlation between performability and quality of user experience in case of wireless networks. The contributions of the paper are as follows: (1) We first define availability and performability in the context of wireless mesh networks, and then develop efficient algorithms on the basis of intelligent state sampling that can calculate both the quantities with reasonable accuracy. (2) We apply the evaluation methods to two existing mesh networks (GoogleWiFi [2] and PoncaCityMesh [3]) to demonstrate that their current design can not guarantee a reasonable level of availability or performability. (3) Using hundreds of hours of simulations, we analyze the impact of two basic deployment factors (node density and transmission power) on availability and performability. We outline numerous novel results that emerge due to joint availability-performability analysis including the observation about availability-performability trade-off.


Nowadays, the citizens are more aware of high-quality medical care than ever. They pay much attention to medical treatment safety, instructions from physicians, and the overall service quality performed by the hospital. To manage a hospital successfully, the important goals are to attract and then retain as many patients as possible by meeting potential demands of various kinds of the patients. In this context, the decision making process is important in order to achieve a strategic decision and strategy. When the decision making problem occurs there is usually a limited number of possible alternatives but a large number of criteria according to which the optimal solution is selected. It is important to use an appropriate approach. This study presents a hybrid methodological approach based on the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method and analytic hierarchy process method to define the best allied hospital for an integrated network of outpatient service. The goal of this paper is to present a methodological approach and a practical application of hybrid method in a real case study.


The purpose of this contribution is to convey preliminary results involving the curriculum redesign of a chemical engineering laboratory course through the novel application of the Inquiry-guided Laboratory Manual (IGLM). The context of this curriculum redesign involves a heat transfer laboratory course, which is the first of the transfer science course series offered by the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tennessee Tech. The pedagogy of the IGLM is anchored in the innovation-driven learning strategies of the Renaissance Foundry and follows a scaffolding approach for inquiry-guided learning that seeks to provide students with learning experiences related to creativity and problem solving. Specifically, the research question embedded in this research design states: How might the application of the IGLM in a transfer science laboratory course influence student activities related to preparation prior to experimentation? The constructivist framework of this qualitative research design is paired with an inductive approach that applies a thematic analysis with open-coding strategies on data that was gathered from the normal coursework of the laboratory curriculum. The design of this study ensures that the preliminary results and themes will be representative of the data from which they emerge and will be further discussed within the study. Moreover, this contribution addresses the need for continued research-based discussions on the curriculum design of engineering laboratories and data-driven conversation on how to provide holistic learning experiences for engineering students.


DNA methylation is widespread in most species, from bacteria to mammals, and is crucial for genomic imprinting, gene expression, and embryogenesis. DNA methylation occurs via two major classes of enzymatic reactions: maintenance-type methylation catalyzed by DNA (cytosine-5-)-methyltransferase (DNMT) 1, and de novo methylation catalyzed by DNMT 3 alpha (DNMT3A) and -beta (DNMT3B). The expression pattern and regulation of DNMT genes in primordial germ cells (PGCs) and germ line cells has not been sufficiently established in birds. Therefore, we employed bioinformatics, RT-PCR, real-time PCR, and in situ hybridization analyses to examine the structural conservation and conserved expression patterns of chicken DNMT family genes. We further examined the regulation of a candidate de novo DNA methyltransferase gene, cDNMT3B by cotransfection of cDNMT3B 3′UTR- and cDNMT3B 3′UTR-specific miRNAs through a dual fluorescence reporter assay. All cDNMT family members were differentially detected during early embryonic development. Of interest, cDNMT3B expression was highly detected in early embryos and in PGCs. During germ line development and sexual maturation, cDNMT3B expression was reestablished in a female germ cell-specific manner. In the dual fluorescence reporter assay, cDNMT3B expression was significantly downregulated by four miRNAs: gga-miR-15c (25.82%), gga-miR-29b (30.01%), gga-miR-383 (30.0%), and gga-miR-222 (31.28%). Our data highlight the structural conservation and conserved expression patterns of chicken DNMTs. The miRNAs investigated in this study may induce downregulation of gene expression in chicken PGCs and germ cells.


The volumetric behavior of binary mixtures of tetrahydrofuran (THF) +2-methoxyethanol (2-MeOEtOH), + 2-ethoxyethanol (2-EtOEtOH) and 2-butoxyethanol (2-BuOEtOH) were studied at 293.15, 298.15 and 303.15 K to identify the types and strengths of intermolecular interactions taking place in the solvent systems. The densities, ρ, of the pure solvents and the binary mixtures ranging from 0.0003-0.9997 of THF were obtained at the working temperatures. Excess molar volumes, V, of the binary mixtures were calculated from the density data. The calculated excess molar volumes were fitted into the Redlich-Kister polynomial and the fitting coefficients, Ai, obtained. The values of excess molar volumes were negative in all the solvent systems and at all temperatures in the mole fraction region of0.00-0.50 THF. Beyond the mole fraction region of 0.50, the excess molar volumes were slightly positive. The negative excess molar volumes in the region of low THF concentration are attributed to intermolecular hydrogen bonding between unlike molecules of THF and the alkoxyethanols. The magnitudes of the negative excess molar volumes were also found to be dependent upon the chain length of the alkoxy group and the temperature. The results show that the excess molar volumes become more negative when the chain length of the alkoxy group increased and this was attributed to the relative proton-donating ability of the alkoxyethanols investigated.


Background: Social inequalities in health threaten social cohesion and, therefore, their investigation is an important research field. Monitoring the health of the population is necessary to identify health needs, design programs focused in people's needs and to evaluate the effectiveness of health policies.Methods: A cross-sectional survey using primary data was applied. The study investigates the size and the extent of social inequalities in quality of life and health behaviours in Limassol, Cyprus. Data collection was done by door-to-door survey, in the form of interviews. The sample consisted of 450 residents aged 45-64 across 45 randomly selected neighbourhoods, that met the selection criteria. The tools used were: Demographic questionnaire, SF 36 Questionnaire, IPAQ- International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form.Results: The social gradient appears in all social indicators. As for the physical dimension of health has a strong relationship between health-related quality of life with the education index. Specifically, the difference between the two poles is 12 points for men and 14 points for women (p = 0.16). Profession systematically appears to have a stronger relationship with men than with women, and is present in both physical and mental dimensions. Specifically, the difference between the two poles is 13 points for men and 10 points for women (p = 0.31).Conclusions: Exploring social inequalities in health-related quality of life, is a complex situation influencing social, physical and psychological health state. It seems that young male individuals, who are highly educated, employed full time, earning high incomes and engaging in mild physical activity, have significantly higher level of health-related life quality, compared to other middle age adult groups, living in Limassol. This finding is in agreement with other studies that show correlations between gender and the patterns of risk factors.


The MDM2 oncogene encodes an inhibitor of the p53 tumor suppressor protein that regulates p53 in a negative feedback loop. MDM2 gene amplification and overexpression occur in several types of tumors and are often associated with poor prognosis. An MDM2 antisense phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide has been identified that effectively inhibits MDM2 expression in tumor cells containing MDM2 gene amplifications. Antisense inhibition of MDM2 is associated with a decrease in MDM2–p53 complex formation, increase in p53-inducible gene expression, increase in p53 transcriptional activity, and apoptosis. Significantly, inhibition of MDM2 expression enhances the activation of p53 by a DNA-damaging cancer chemotherapy agent in a synergistic fashion. Therefore, the MDM2 negative feedback pathway is an important limiting factor in DNA damage-induced p53 activation. MDM2 antisense oligonucleotides may be useful as antitumor agents alone or as enhancers of other conventional


This study investigated the effect of a specialist eating disorders service on the attitudes and knowledge of local healthcare professionals. A questionnaire was sent to fully qualified psychiatrists, postgraduate trainees in psychiatry and general (internal) medicine, general practitioners (family physicians) and dietitians in two comparable cities: Leicester (which had a specialist eating disorders service) and Nottingham (which did not). Psychiatrists in training in Leicester had a greater knowledge of eating disorders than those in Nottingham. There was greater satisfaction with services in Leicester but no difference in attitudes. The presence of a local eating disorders service enhances postgraduate training and increases knowledge.


For pt.I see ibid., vol.45, no.9, p.1101-11 (1997). An adaptive code-aided technique for the simultaneous suppression of narrow-band interference (NBI) and multiple-access interference (MAI) in direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS/CDMA) networks is proposed. This technique is based on the recursive least-squares (RLS) version of the minimum mean-square error (MMSE) algorithm for multiuser detection. The convergence dynamics of the RLS blind adaptive algorithm for suppressing the combined NBI and MAI are analyzed. The steady-state performance of this algorithm in terms of the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) is also derived. Systolic array structures for parallel implementations of the RLS adaptive interference suppression algorithms are then proposed. Versions of the rotation-based QR-RLS algorithms for both the blind adaptation mode and the decision-directed adaptation mode are derived. These algorithms exhibit high degrees of parallelism, and can be mapped to VLSI systolic arrays to exploit massively parallel signal processing computation.


Research has consistently shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in combination with an intellectual disability are at greater risk for developing psychopathology than are typically developing individuals. Individuals with ASD and intellectual disability are also at increased risk of psychopathology compared to those who have an intellectual disability alone. Given this risk, accurate monitoring and screening of psychopathology in this population is critical. However, there are few well validated measures of psychopathology designed specifically for this population. The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales – Second Edition (Vineland – II; Sparrow, Cicchetti, & Balla, 2005) is a commonly used measure of adaptive skills, and includes an optional Maladaptive Behavior Domain. The Maladaptive Behavior Domain consists of four sections, Internalizing, Externalizing, Other, and Critical Items. The Vineland-II has been used extensively with individuals who have an intellectual disability as well as with individuals who have ASD. However, the Maladaptive Behavior Domain has been overlooked in the literature and little information on its reliability, validity, or clinical utility exists. The utility of the Maladaptive Behavior Domain as a screening tool for psychopathology in individuals with ASD and intellectual disability was examined. The Vineland-II was administered to the parents/caregivers of 231 individuals between the ages of 3 and 41 years (M = 10 years 4 months) with ASD and intellectual disability. A factor analysis of the items within the maladaptive domain revealed a solution composed of six factors, which were labelled Acting Out, Social Regulation, ASD, Emotion Regulation, Socially Inappropriate, and Self-Regulation. Five of the six new factors are substantially different from the original sections. The Externalizing scale was the only


Oral administration of thioridazine, an inhibitor of peroxisomal β‐oxidation, to normal rats from weaning till day 60 causes a small increase of the very long chain fatty acid C26 in brain lipids. Myelination in the brain is decreased. In the genu of the corpus callosum the ratio of non‐myelinated/myelinated axons is increased. In the commissura anterior the myelin sheaths of the axons are significantly thinner in treated than in control animals. Undernourishment caused by the drug is minimal in this experiment. Area and total DNA of glial nuclei are unaltered in both the genu and the commissura anterior of treated rats. The distribution of chromatin (texture), however, shows small differences in the corpus callosum.


The aim of this study was to prepare and investigate the potential use of liposomes in the transdermal drug delivery of meloxicam (MX). The vesicles containing a constant amount of MX, phosphatidylcholine (PC), cholesterol (Chol) and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) (1:5:1:1 MX/PC/Chol/CPC molar ratio) to obtain liposomes. MX loaded liposomes were investigated for particle size, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency (%EE) and in vitro skin permeation. The results indicated that the liposomes were spherical in structure, 77 to 100 nm in size and charged. The %EE of MX in the vesicles ranged from 55 to 56%. The elastic liposomes consisting of MX/PC/Chol/CPC provided a significantly higher skin permeation of MX compared to the other formulations. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analysis indicated that the application of liposomes may disrupt the stratum corneum lipid. Our research suggests that MX loaded elastic liposomes can be potentially used as a transdermal drug delivery system.


Roots and tubers are not welle documented in Indonesian historiography. Colonial civil servants regarded root crops as famine food, and they were rarely included in indigenous chronicles. This article presents data for the period 1500 to 1950 on the most important indigenous Indonesian roots and tubers-taro and yams. It looks as the geographical spread of these crops and their social and economic importance-dealing also briefly with adjacent areas like the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines. This is followed by the story of the introduction of the New World roots and tubers: sweet potato, bengkuang, (Irish) potato, and cassava. The article analyzes the differences between the various crops as regards their spread in time and space and the reasons that the indigenous roots and tubers were pushed aside by the alien crops. In conclusion, the findings are related to various economic, social, cultural, and political developments and to the rizification hypothesis


Unlike many other diseases, the skin disease has more irritability. Dermatology sicknesses incorporates normal skin rashes to serious skin contaminations, which happens because of scope of things, like diseases, warm, allergens, framework issue and drugs. First regular skin issue are dermatitis. Atopic dermatitis is relating current (perpetual) condition that causes eager, aroused skin. Most much of the time it appears as patches on the face, neck, trunk or appendages. It will in general erupt sporadically so die down for a period. A large portion of the dermatological sicknesses are not reparable but rather most the treatments depend on the administration of the side effects related with it. The focus of this research will be the Dermatology database. The problem is to determine the type of Eryhemato-Squamous disease like psoriasis, seboreic dermatitis, lichen planus, pityriasis rosea, cronic dermatitis and pityriasis rubra pilaris. The differential analysis of erythemato-squamous maladies is a genuine issue in dermatology. They all offer the clinical highlights of erythema and scaling, with next to no distinctions. Each pattern is a set of 33 numbers in the range linear values and one of them is nominal. The 80% of the dataset utilize for demonstrating and keep down 20% for approval. Objective is to accomplish best performer algorithm which will convey in dermatology informational collection so for this reason the gut feel recommends distance based calculations like k-Nearest Neighbors and Support Vector Machines may progress admirably. By using 10-fold cross validation and assess calculations utilizing the accuracy metric.


The screenplay has been the uncle in the attic for most of film's history-largely (though not wholly) ignored and abandoned after it has served its usefulness. Seen by most as an interstitial literary product, the screenplay emerged out of the need to control film production. It evolved from the scene lists employed by Georges Melies and others at the turn of the century and became a legitimate literary work in 1904 when American Mutoscope and Biograph successfully copyrighted Frank J. Marion's scenario for The Suburbanite as a "dramatic composition," but screenplay form was not codified until the 1910s when Thomas Ince "located the essence of the movies inside the screenplays" and divided film into "two distinct movements, two discrete labors, the writing and the execution" (Geuens 85). Thus, in its earliest form as a literary work sui generis, the screenplay surfaced during the modern period in American literature, taking shape during the 1910s and achieving full realization in the late 1920s. As we might expect from a concomitant form, its style reflects modernist aesthetics, particularly those articulated by the imagism movement, which, according to T. S. Eliot, began in London in 1910, and whose most vital publication period dates between 1914 and 1917. Ezra Pound's modernist imperative to "make it new" is inadvertently actualized in the new screenplay form, although modernists, like most people, failed to attend to this new form of writing The screenplay was not dismissed as nonliterary; it was simply not acknowledged. But the screenplay was in some ways an ideal modernist work It had no direct antecedent (odier than the early influence of theatre), and adhered to no model other than language itself. It was unquestionably "new," but was it literature? We might make the overly simplistic argument that because it is composed of text and can be read (as everything, in a postmodern sense, can be read), it automatically qualifies as literature. Such a position, however, renders the term moot. If it is to be used at all, the term "literature" must render distinctions, and, in rendering distinctions, it must inevitably evoke aesthetic judgment and facilitate the differentiation of a work from other works (beyond issues of genre or form), implying qualitative distinctions. This is the reflex that makes literary criticism possible and distinguishes it from (though not to the exclusion of) interpretation. Literary criticism demands articulated judgment. It may encompass communal subjectivity, as in the case of critical movements, but it is nonetheless subjective, as evident in H. L. Mencken's pejorative observation that literary criticism is "no more than prejudice made plausible" (153). Underlying literary criticism is the notion that simply because a work can be examined, does not mean that it should be examined, yet unless we examine a work, we cannot judge its merit. It follows that we cannot orient the screenplay to literary studies until we pay more attention to the screenplay. Screenplays cannot be considered literature until we acknowledge the possibility that they may be literature. What we discover when we begin to examine screenplays is that they are as amenable to literary critique as poems, novels, and stage plays, and like poems, novels, and stage plays, they can be examined independent of dieir individual performances. Literary Qualities of Screenplays Imagism and Scene Descriptions The imagist movement sprang up in America around 1912, the year Max Sennett formed Keystone Studios.1 It was principally a poetic movement founded by Ezra Pound along with F. S. Flint and Hilda Doolittle, but its principles parallel the screenplay art. The focus of the movement was the "image," which Pound defined as "that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time." He argued that "it is the presentation of such a 'complex' instantaneously which gives the sense of sudden liberation; that sense of freedom from time limits and space limits; that sense of sudden growth, which we experience in the greatest works of art" ("Retrospect" 4-5). …


This study employed immunocytochemistry and toluidine blue counterstaining to compare different procedures utilized in primary myoblast cultures, from which an optimal culture model for normal myoblasts could be derived. The growth characteristics of normal and dystrophic myoblasts were also investigated by means of this model. Results indicate that the requirements for an ideal myoblast culture should include a combined enzyme of 0.25% trypsin and 0.2% collagenase (type IV) (1:1), a preplating time of approximately 15-20 minutes, and a seeding density of 1 x 10(5) cells/ml. Furthermore, the mouse samples should be newborn mice. A better proliferative capacity of myoblasts was noted in an incubator with 10% CO2 coupled with Dulbecco's MEM plus 15% fetal calf serum. With regard to the growth characteristics of normal and dystrophic myoblasts, the doubling time of normal myoblasts was shorter than that of dystrophic myoblasts. In terms of the fusion percentage of myoblasts, dystrophic myoblasts tended to fuse earlier than normal ones, especially after 5 days in culture. The findings of this study are valuable in understanding the myogenesis of myoblasts under different culture conditions. The establishment of requirements for good growth of myoblast cultures will facilitate myoblast transfer therapy. Finally, the growth characteristics of normal and dystrophic myoblasts as well as variances in the proliferation and differentiation of these two types of cells are clarified.


The growth cone is responsible for axonal elongation and pathfinding by responding to various modulators for neurite growth, including neurotransmitters. We demonstrated an outline of the gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)A‐dependent signaling in growth cones. Here, we examined the effects of the modulators of GABAA receptor on the signaling in growth cones. Phenobarbital or propofol, acting on β‐subunit, enhanced the [Cl‐]infi change and [Ca2+]i elevation by the GABA stimulation to isolated growth cones. Besides, propofol enhanced GABA‐dependent phosphorylation of growth‐associated protein of 43 kDa (GAP‐43) by protein kinase C. In contrast, an α‐subunit acting agent diazepam did not modulate any of the above signals. Next, we examined the effect of the developmental change of α‐subunit on the outline of the GABAA‐dependent signaling in growth cones. We also found that the amounts of several different α‐subunit isoforms developmentally increased or decreased in growth cone membrane (GCM), but that the affinity and density of the [3H]diazepam binding sites were similar to those in adult synaptic membrane. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that each step of GABAA‐dependent signaling in GCM is not modified by diazepam, indicating that the signaling pathway mediated by GABAA receptor in growth cones is applicable to any compositional change of α‐subunit isoforms. J. Neurosci. Res. 58:407–416, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Self-compassion – a self-relating style characterised by kindness, acceptance, and the motivation to soothe emotional distress – has been empirically validated as a correlate of optimal psychological functioning, wellbeing, and physical health among adults. However, literature examining the relationship between self-compassion and positive outcomes during adolescence is in its infancy. The current research portfolio was thus designed to examine self-compassion as a potential intrapersonal resilience resource that may help young people navigate transitions and challenges during the adolescent period, including living with a chronic illness.

The association between self-compassion and subjective wellbeing in adolescents was estimated through meta-analytic modelling, while self-compassion was empirically examined as a correlate of effective disease management in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. The meta-analysis revealed a large, positive correlation between self-compassion and subjective wellbeing (r = .46) in studies with adolescents aged 10 to 19. Among a sample of 52 adolescents (aged 11 to 18) with established type 1 diabetes, self-compassion was found to predict improved glycaemic control and regimen adherence, outcomes linked to a reduced risk of short- and long-term health complications. Impaired self-soothing was also discovered to mediate the relationship between emotional distress and poorer diabetes regimen adherence.

A compassionate self-approach thus appears to be linked with the subjective experience of wellbeing among adolescents, as well as having specific implications for behavioural and physiological resilience among those living with a chronic health condition. As a trainable resource, self-compassion may provide a valuable tool for promoting positive mental and physical health among young people.


Purchasing souvenirs from a foreign country is a way for tourists to preserve a memory of travel or bestow as a gift to others. Souvenirs are one of the prevalent elements that promote the identities of cultures. The purchasing preferences of souvenirs are influenced by various attributes, such as local branding, and packaging features. Therefore, distinctive souvenir packaging design can both communicate the identity of the culture and attract consumers' attention. In addition to the basic purposes of containing, protecting, identifying, and distinguishing products, souvenir packages can deliver a cultural representation. Effective souvenir package design can be a way to promote a culture. Each culture has its unique features that attract tourists, such as famous landmarks and traditions, and packaging design can help to advertise these features. While the souvenir itself is a significant item for tourists to purchase, the packaging of the souvenir can include elements for communicating information about the culture and attracting tourists' attention. Thus designing souvenir packages is a way to develop cultural representation in the tourism market and promote local products to the world. Because souvenir packaging can represent the culture itself, it can serve to show the identity of the culture and allow people to know more about it. Developing the packaging design of souvenirs can therefore increase awareness of the culture internationally. Although many countries have distinctive identities, a country such as Taiwan struggles with an ambiguous identity and a lack of international visibility; most people from other countries are not familiar with Taiwan. Developing more distinctive and recognizable packaging for Taiwanese souvenirs is a way to present its uniqueness to people from other countries. A good packaging design for souvenirs could have a strong impact on people that would be valuable for both the product and the country.


Chiral honeycombs which exhibit auxetic behaviors (negative Poisson's ratios) have attracted much research interest due to their novel mechanical properties. They are broadly used in designing new functional structures, such as energy absorption and noise mitigation materials. To analyze the behaviors of these materials, finite element models are generally adopted, which may require much time and labor to construct and implement. To simplify the numerical modelling, a novel Chiral Beam Element for finite element simulation is proposed in this paper. Both static and dynamic analyses are conducted and the numerical expense, i.e., the modelling procedures and the computational time, is reduced significantly when compared to traditional finite element models.


The subject of research of this paper is the specifics of forming and managing a budget surplus when providing economic growth for the national economy The results of analyzing the concepts of a budget balance are presented, and directions for managing a positive balance of the state budget are revealed The specifics of the macroeconomic politics of a surplus are given, and it is revealed that forming a "new" fiscal regime – surplus regime – requires a radical restructuring of budget management The general typical features of countries with a long-term period of a budget surplus are revealed: focus on budget consolidation on the expenditure side of the budget and the ensuing complex budget reforms made after achieving a surplus It is discovered that one of the main reasons for supporting a stable surplus budget in a number of the world's countries is the radical restructuring of economic and financial priorities, which was caused by serious macroeconomic shocks It is noted that when assessing the possibility of maintaining a budget surplus in specific countries, it should be taken into account that unfavorable macroeconomic events such as the financial crisis of 2008 or the global pandemic of COVID-19 in the current year (2020) are of crucial significance for maintaining a surplus According to the results of a comparative analysis of the dynamics of the level of budget deficit and the rates of economic growth, using the example of Switzerland and Norway for 2009–2019, no direct correlation between these indicators was discovered, and it was concluded that there was a lack of empirical evidence and appropriate theoretical generalizations about the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship between economic growth and the type of balance (deficit, surplus, "zero-based") of the state budget The advisability of using the budget surplus to reduce the tax burden and to reduce the level of state debt was assessed © 2020 National Research University Higher School of Economics All rights reserved


Considering the increasing demand for seedlings of plants for aforestation and the scarcity of raw materials for the substrates used for plant growth, it is necessary to evaluate new components and formulations that ensure the quality of seedlings. In this experiment the development and quality of production of Eucalyptus urophylla x E. grandis seedlings was studied through vegetative propagation, as a function of nine compositions of substrate, produced from fine-grained vermiculite, carbonized rice chaff and coconut fiber in hard plastic tubes of 50 mL as containers. The physical properties of substrates and morphological development and the quality of the root system of seedlings were evaluated at 90 days after staking. The substrates with higher total porosity promotes better quality of the root system, which consequently results in cuttings with larger diameter, shoot and root dry weight and Dickson Quality Index. Other properties for the physical characteristics of substrates other than mentioned in literature can also be considered adequate.


Radiatively driven winds are a key component in a number of astrophysical settings, most notably the wind of hot massive stars. In this thesis we present the mechanism by which line radiation can drive hot star winds. In order to become familiar with the dynamics of numerical wind solutions in one and two dimensions, we also make calculations for winds driven by perfect gas pressure and continuum radiation pressure. The main emphasis of this work is to approximate the form of the line-driving as given by Owocki, Castor & Rybicki (1986), with an efficient algorithm, in a pure absorption (no scattering) case. We construct an efficient model for the solution to the line-driving problem and use this to investigate the dynamics of perturbations in the wind. Once we have shown that our method can reproduce the results of previous authors we add more physics to the model. We firstly change the shape of the line-profile function and observe that although this has a stabilizing effect on the flow the response of the wind to perturbations is largely unchanged. As separate refinement we move away from the pure absorption model and include the line drag phenomenon in the radiative driving calculation. This phenomenon also stabilizes the flow but its effect is decreases further from the central star and the downstream flow feels little of its influence. We use the results from all of our models of hot star winds to create synthetic spectral diagrams. The spectra created from the perturbed models resemble structures which are observed in the spectra of hot star winds called Discrete Absorption Components, the origin of which is unclear. We show that our models can be used to explain astrophysically observed structure and better understand the nature of hot star winds.


Severe acute respiratory syndrome Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) has been declared a worldwide emergency and a pandemic disease by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It started in China in December 2019, and it is currently rapidly spreading throughout Italy, which is now the most affected country after China. There is great attention for the diffusion and evolution of the CoVid-19 infection which started from the north (particularly in the Lombardia region) and it is now rapidly affecting other Italian regions. We investigate on the impact of patients hospitalisation in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) at a regional and subregional granularity. We propose a model derived from well-known models in epidemic to estimate the needed number of places in intensive care units. The model will help decision-makers to plan resources in the short and medium-term in order to guarantee appropriate treatments to all patients needing it. We analyse Italian data at regional level up to March 15th aiming to: (i) support health and government decision-makers in gathering rapid and efficient decisions on increasing health structures capacities (in terms of ICU slots) and (ii) define a scalable geographic model to plan emergency and future CoVid-19 patients management using reallocating them among health structures. Finally, the here proposed model can be useful in countries where CoVid-19 is not yet strongly diffused.


The interaction and dimension of points are two important axes in designing point operators to serve hierarchical 3D models. Yet, these two axes are heterogeneous and challenging to fully explore. Existing works craft point operator under a single axis and reuse the crafted operator in all parts of 3D models. This overlooks the opportunity to better combine point interactions and dimensions by exploiting varying geometry/density of 3D point clouds. In this work, we establish PIDS, a novel paradigm to jointly explore point interactions and point dimensions to serve semantic segmentation on point cloud data. We establish a large search space to jointly consider versatile point interactions and point dimensions. This supports point operators with various geometry/density considerations. The enlarged search space with heterogeneous search components calls for a better ranking of candidate models. To achieve this, we improve the search space exploration by leveraging predictor-based Neural Architecture Search (NAS), and enhance the quality of prediction by assigning unique encoding to heterogeneous search components based on their priors. We thoroughly evaluate the networks crafted by PIDS on two semantic segmentation benchmarks, showing ~ 1% mIOU improvement on SemanticKITTI and S3DIS over state-of-the-art 3D models.


PURPOSE
To determine the roles of oxidation and glycolysis with aerobic and anaerobic lactate formation in the glucose metabolism of the cat outer retina in light and darkness.

METHODS
Blood was collected from a choroidal vein and from an artery, and veno-arterial differences in lactate concentration (Lac(v-a) were determined at increasing light intensities. Blood also was sampled under conditions of darkness, light, and hyperoxia and were analyzed for oxygen, glucose, and lactate concentrations with or without blood flow determinations.

RESULTS
When the dark-adapted eye was subjected to increasing light intensities, there was a reduction in the Lac(v-a), indicating reduced glycolysis in the outer part of the retina as the rods saturated. In darkness, the mean lactate formation per retina was 0.409 mumol/minute, oxygen consumption was 0.198 mumol/minute, and glucose consumption 0.236 mumol/minute. In light, the corresponding figures were 0.253, 0.166, and 0.123 mumol/minute. Hyperoxia reduced lactate formation and increased oxygen consumption in light and in darkness.

CONCLUSIONS
Approximately 80% of the glucose consumed by the outer retina is used primarily in aerobic lactate formation. Because it is more efficient, oxidation of glucose still accounts for most of the energy production in light and in darkness. Light reduces oxidation as well as aerobic and anaerobic lactate formation.


Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a high throughput sequencing technology, which has revolutionized both basic and clinical research of the human genetic disorders. This technology is also called massively parallel sequencing (MPS) due to its ability to generate a huge amount of output data in a cost- and time-effective manner. NGS is widely utilized for different sequencing applications such as targeted sequencing (a group of candidate genes), exome sequencing (all coding regions), and whole genome sequencing (the entire human genome). With NGS, a variety of genomic aberrations can be screened simultaneously such as common and rare variants, structural variations (amplifications and deletion), copy-number variation, and fusion transcripts. NGS technologies combined with advanced bioinformatic analysis have tremendously expanded our knowledge. On the one hand, the basic research area involves direct use of NGS to identify novel variations and determine human disease mechanisms. On the other hand, clinical research is being advanced by high-throughput genetic tests with high resolution and clinically relevant genetic information for molecular diagnoses of human disorders. In this communication, we introduce NGS technologies and review a few key areas where NGS has made a significant impact, with an emphasis on the application of NGS to the identification of the molecular bases of human genetic diseases.


At present, cementitious binders are used extensively in the construction industry and principally in concretes. They are also used in some applications like ground improvement. In these applications the cost of the binder, typically Portland cement, accounts for a considerable proportion of the total cost of the technique. In addition to the financial cost there is also the environmental impact of quarrying and processing of raw materials to produce Portland cements. Gypsum waste, by-pass dust and fly ash by-products have been identified as the alternative sources of cementitious binder. Using these materials has two advantages: they have little or no production cost; and the re-use of such material would negate the need for expensive disposal. This thesis describes a programme of laboratory testing and study on the possible field trials to investigate the possibility of using mentioned by-product materials as construction materials. Laboratory trials carried out to investigate the properties of waste materials in different combinations; binary and ternary using the same water content. Specimens were evaluated on the basis of Unconfined Compressive Strength at 3,7 and 28 days curing. It was found that pastes containing waste gypsums, Basic oxygen Slag and Run of station ash achieved the highest unconfined compressive strengths (up to 20 MPa) and five mixes of these groups were selected for further tests such as viscosity, permeability, expansion, XRD and freeze and thaw. Data obtained from the ternary combinations were analyzed using two different methods, i.e. Response Surface method and Artificial Neural Network. Two prediction models were created using MINITAB and MATLAB software and the predicted results were compared. It was concluded that the Artificial Neural Network had fewer errors than the response surface model. The feasibility of using by-product materials in two field trials was also studied and the possibility of 100% cement replacement in low strength concrete used in subway backfilling (using 80%BOS-15% Plasterboard Gypsum-5%bypass dust) and light weight blocks (60% run of station ash-20%plaster board gypsum-20% bypass dust) was investigated. It was found that waste gypsum could be used in both trials and the basic oxygen slag could be used for subway backfilling because it improved the flow. However it was not a good idea to use the steel slag in light weight products because of its density. The thesis concludes that there are several potential applications for the use of the waste gypsums in combination with other waste materials in the construction industry but further work is required before it can be used commercially. However the sources and differing chemical contents of the by-product materials may have significant impact on the cementitious behaviour of by product materials. CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION


Many enantiomer separation systems are studied to meet the increasing demand for enantiopure compounds. One way to obtain pure enantiomers is to apply enantioselective micelles in ultrafiltration systems. We have studied the separation of phenylalanine (Phe) enantiomers by the ultrafiltration of nonselective nonionic micelles containing selector molecules, cholesteryl-L-glutamate:CuII (CLG:CuII). Because the net charges of enantiomer and CLG are pH-dependent, it is foreseen that pH will be an important factor in the design of a cascaded separation process that yields enantiopure products. Experiments at pH 7, 9, and 11 showed that the complexation can be described by multicomponent Langmuir isotherms. The CLG enantioselectivity for D-Phe increases with decreasing pH, being 1.4, 1.7, and 1.9 for pH 11, 9, and 7, respectively. Accordingly, the saturation concentration and the affinity constants decrease with decreasing pH, finally resulting in no complexation at pH 6. To design an economically attractive separation process, the regeneration of D-Phe-saturated micelles leaving the multistage system is inevitable. Regeneration, i.e., recovery of enantioselective micelles for reuse, is possible at pH 4. To keep salt production to a minimum, the shift in pH between the separation and regeneration processes must be minimized. Therefore, a separation process at pH 7 seems most attractive.


Many urban estuaries worldwide contain both eutrophication-induced macroalgal blooms and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in their sediments. Between 2007 and 2012, we studied an annually occurring green tide of Ulva rigida in the PCB-contaminated Superfund site of New Bedford Harbor, MA, USA. Ulva PCB concentrations were highest (95−99 mg kg−1 dry weight) near the contamination source and decreased to only 2−4 mg kg−1 at the site's southern end, approximately 2.5 km away. To assess the bloom's potential role as a PCB contributor to higher trophic levels, we performed stomach content analysis on the system's primary mid-trophic level predator, the salt marsh mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus, and stable isotope analysis on associated potential energy sources. In addition to detritus and macroinvertebrate prey, Ulva was a major component of mummichog stomach contents, and a 15N-labeled feeding experiment demonstrated that mummichogs can assimilate ingested Ulva. Among invertebrate prey, stable isotope mixing models showed Ulva as the main diet source for amphipods Gammarus spp., while grass shrimp Palaemonetes spp. and sandworms Nereis spp. relied on a mix of Ulva and Spartina or particulate organic matter, respectively. Sandworms and grass shrimp were the main mummichog energy sources, suggesting that this estuarine keystone species is linked to the Ulva bloom mainly through predation on Ulva-consuming grazers rather than direct ingestion. Our data provide evidence for a potentially overlooked impact of macroalgal blooms—namely, their potential role in the trophic transfer of PCBs and other bioaccumulated pollutants.


The increasing market trends of extremely low power operated handy applications like laptop, electronics gadgets etc requires microelectronic devices with low power consumption. It is obvious that the transistor dimensions continues to shrink and as require for more complex chips increases, power management of such deep sub-micron based chip is one of the major challenges in VLSI industry. The manufacturers are always targeting for low power designs for the reason that to provide adequate physical resources to withstand against design hurdles and this lead to increases the cost and restrict the functionality of the device. This power reduction ratio is the highest among FFs that have been reported so far. The reduction is achieved by applying topological compression technique, merger of logically equivalent transistors to an eccentric latch structure. Fewer transistors, only three, connected to clock signal which reduces the power drastically, and the smaller total transistor count assures to retain the chip area as conventional FFs. In addition, fully static full-swing operation makes the cell lenient of supply voltage and input slew variation. An experimental chip design with 32 nm CMOS technology shows that almost all conventional FFs are expendable with proposed FF while preserving the same system performance and layout area. The performance of this paper is evaluated on the design simulation using Microwind 3.1 simulator


A contractor faces a decision whether to bid on becoming the private partner in a public–private partnership in the capital city of a southeastern province in Afghanistan. At stake is an investment in building an open-air slaughter facility and operating costs in return for 75% of generated revenues. The contractor works to develop a budget to estimate the economic viability of the operation. Factors encouraging risk analysis include estimates of daily animal slaughter numbers and the viability of and enforcement of a facility-use requirement to support use estimates. This teaching case is suitable for advanced undergraduate or graduate courses in business strategy examining the challenges faced by small-scale agribusinesses in an emerging economy. It is also appropriate for executive education considering foreign investment or management opportunities.


The role that shared group membership plays in decisions to trust others is now well established within social psychology. A close reading of this literature, however, shows that this process is often moderated by other variables. Currently, we examined one potential moderator of this process. In particular, we evaluated the role that common knowledge of a shared social group membership between self and a to-be-trusted stranger provides as a basis for trusting this stranger. This common knowledge emerges when the truster knows the group membership of the to-be-trusted other, and believes that this other also knows the group membership of the truster. In two experiments, using pre-existing and minimal groups, we show that people are more likely to trust an in-group member over an out-group member under conditions of common group-membership knowledge rather than private group-membership knowledge (i.e. other does not know truster's group), even when they could choose not to trust anyone. The manner in which these data add to current understandings of group-based trust in strangers is discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In this article, we show how the use of a bio-inspired dynamic task replication algorithm, in the context of stream processing, can be used to significantly improve the performance of embedded programs. We also show that this programming methodology, which is not tied to a particular implementation, can also be used as an heuristic for task mapping in the context of embedded multiprocessors systems. The technique was applied to a 36-processor system implemented on a scalable mesh of FPGAS for two different case studies: for AES encryption, it resulted in a ten-fold speedup compared to a static implementation, while for MJPEG compression a throughput multiplication of 11 was obtained.


We introduced surprisal as abstraction from lexical bundles to lexical bundleness. There are forces beyond lexical bundles: on the one hand word-sequence abstractions to word classes, on the other hand the syntax principle (SSP) in contradistinction to the idiom principle (SIP). We ultimately aim for a model of their mutual influence (Sinclair 1991).We motivate the use of models, then abstract to word-class models using a part-of-speech tagger, and to syntactic models, using a large-scale parser. Part-of-speech taggers assign word-classes based on sequences. They typically achieve high accuracy. Areas of low accuracy and low tagger confidence for word class assignment indicate low model fit, and thus often high entropy, lack of formulaic sequences. Tagger model fit can be used as measure of morphosyntactic bundleness.Although creative language (SSP) is rarer, it needs to be respected. We thus also use a syntactic parser language model (Schneider 2008) which combines SSP in form of a hand-written competence grammar and SIP as probabilistic performance disambiguation, paying tribute to Hoey (2005)'s insights on lexical priming. We show that parser model fit is lower on low-level L2 texts, as we can expect according to Pawley and Syder (1983). Finally, we introduce measures of syntactic surprisal.