: The absorption of vitamin B12 was assessed using the 58Co-absorption test (Schilling test) in 39 patients in whom ileal loops had been used as urinary diversion after excision of the bladder for transitional cell carcinoma. 29% of the patients were found to absorb less than 12% of the offered dose of labelled vitamin B12 after excluding gastric-mediated malabsorption by the modified Schilling test. Examination of haemoglobin, MCV or vitamin B12 in the peripheral blood gave unreliable indications of the absorptive ability of these patients.


The patient with incidentally discovered prostate cancer by transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) presents a difficult management problem for the clinician. These tumors are small and generally of low biologic potential. Offering aggressive treatment is not necessary in most patients; though in some patients, the tumor is not organ confined. Selecting that patient who may require tumor eradication to optimize survival requires careful analysis of known histological parameters identified at the time of diagnosis, an estimation of projected individual survival, and extensive counseling regarding options.


This work presents two image-based inspection approaches for the quality evaluation of cylinder bore surfaces. In the first algorithm, metal folds on plateau-honed surfaces are inspected with scanning electron microscopy. An edge-aware structure tensor is proposed for feature extraction and localization of surface defects. The second algorithm uses a morphgraphical method for detecting graphite grains in optical micrographs. Based on the inspection results, quality parameters are proposed.


In this paper, we introduce a theoretical framework for coupled distributed estimation and motion control of mobile sensor networks for collaborative target tracking. We use a Fisher Information theoretic metric for quality of sensed data. The mobile sensing agents seek to improve the information value of their sensed data while maintaining a safe-distance from other neighboring agents (i.e., perform information-driven flocking). We provide a formal stability analysis of continuous Kalman-Consensus filtering (KCF) algorithm on a mobile sensor network with a flocking-based mobility control model. The discrete-time counterpart of this coupled estimation and control algorithm is successfully applied to tracking of two types of targets with stochastic linear and nonlinear dynamics.


Parasitic zoonoses, which are rising in the wake of climate change, impact the interface of human and animal health. In this perspective paper, a historical analysis is presented regarding the role veterinarians have played from the 1990s to 2022 in addressing parasitic infections. Utilizing a thematic analysis of popular veterinary science articles and a discussion of the peer-reviewed literature, a need is demonstrated for both veterinarians and physicians to contribute to the education of clients/patients, as well as the general public, about zoonotic parasites and prevention practices. In order to mitigate parasitic zoonoses via improved health communication and education, it is critical for veterinarians to be aware of public perceptions and misconceptions about parasites, to augment their professional training on best practices for communicating about parasites, and to advocate for the vital role of veterinarians in integrated, One Health-centric conversations. While broad-scale campaigns directed at disease education and prevention are often delivered by public health agencies and non-profit organizations, the explicit pleas in the Veterinarian's Oath to promote public health and benefit society serve as tangible reminders of the opportunities for veterinary professionals to communicate and educate about parasitic zoonoses.


Simulations show that neglecting ion-ion interaction processes (both particles having Z>1) results in an underestimation of the total on-orbit single event upset error rate by more than two orders of magnitude for certain technologies. The inclusion of ion-ion nuclear reactions leads to dramatically different SEU error rates for CMOS devices containing high Z materials compared with direct ionization by the primary ion alone. Device geometry and material composition have a dramatic effect on charge deposition in small sensitive volumes for the spectrum of ion energies found in space, compared with the limited range of energies typical of ground tests.


There is a significant association between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and periodontal disease (PD). Patients with longstanding active RA have been found to have a substantially increased frequency of PD compared with healthy subjects. Further, patients with PD have been shown to have a higher prevalence of RA than patients without periodontitis. Antibodies to Gram-negative, anaerobic periodontal pathogens such as Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, Prevotella melaninogenica, and Tannerella forsythia have been detected in the serum and synovial fluid of RA patients. These pathogens have also been identified in the synovial fluid of RA patients, with higher levels of bacterial DNA in RA patients than in controls. This review examines the association between periodontopathic bacteria and the etiology of RA.


The digital reproduction of archival records involves different rights as the right of scientific reseaech, the right of free expression of thought but also the right to privacy. These rights must be carefully balanced. The relationship between them is analyzed in legal terms, under Italian legislation, and in technological terms, just about the use of the technologies of the digital reproduction of documents, with particular attention to the concepts of communication and dissemination of personal data. The paper shows that the existing regulation framework fully meets the needs of protection of privacy, including in relation to technological changes taking place. Finally it proposes strengthening instruments like the statement of informed consent and the elaboration of specific policies to ensure the highest possible protection.


An evaluation was conducted to compare four TTS systems for Dutch with respect to intelligibility and acceptability, as a follow-up to an evaluation study conducted in 1997. Intelligibility was measured by the ability of listeners to write down correctly semantically unpredicatable sentences. Acceptability was tested in two ways: by asking listeners for subjective judgments on a number of semantic scales for individual TTS systems, and by asking for preference judgments in a pairwise comparison. For the acceptability tests a weather forecast and an e-mail text were used as test materials. It was found that the system giving best intelligibility performed worst in the acceptability tests. It was concluded that subjective acceptability is not a simple consequence of intelligibility, and that a distinction needs to be made between the esthetic and functional dimensions of synthetic speech. In comparing the results of the current study with those of the evaluation study conducted in 1997, it appeared fair to conclude that at least two systems are available for Dutch which constitute a substantial improvement over last year's state of the art, although it is evident from the results that many aspects are still in need of improvement.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Numerous imaging techniques have been developed and applied to evaluate brain hemodynamics. Among these are positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, Xenon-enhanced computed tomography, dynamic perfusion computed tomography, MRI dynamic susceptibility contrast, arterial spin labeling, and Doppler ultrasound. These techniques give similar information about brain hemodynamics in the form of parameters such as cerebral blood flow or cerebral blood volume. All of them are used to characterize the same types of pathological conditions. However, each technique has its own advantages and drawbacks.

SUMMARY OF REVIEW
This article addresses the main imaging techniques dedicated to brain hemodynamics. It represents a comparative overview established by consensus among specialists of the various techniques.

CONCLUSIONS
For clinicians, this article should offer a clearer picture of the pros and cons of currently available brain perfusion imaging techniques and assist them in choosing the proper method for every specific clinical setting.


Traditional approaches to characterizing the transformation from stimulus to response in sensory systems assume both stationarity of the stimulus and time-invariance of the stimulus/response mapping. However, recent studies of sensory function under natural stimulus conditions have demonstrated important features of neural encoding that are in violation of these assumptions. Many sensory neurons respond to changes in the statistical distribution of the stimulus that are characteristic of the natural environment with corresponding changes in their encoding properties. In this paper, an extended recursive least-squares (ERLS) approach to adaptive estimation from stimulus/response observations is detailed. The ERLS approach improves the tracking ability of standard RLS approaches to adaptive estimation by removing a number of assumptions about the underlying system and the stimulus environment. The ERLS framework also incorporates an adaptive learning rate, so that prior knowledge of the relationship between the stimulus and the adaptive nature of the system under investigation can be used to improve tracking performance. Simulated and experimental neural responses are used to demonstrate the ability of the ERLS approach to track adaptation of encoding properties during a single stimulus/response trial. The ERLS framework lends tremendous flexibility to experimental design, facilitating the investigation of sensory function under naturalistic stimulus conditions.


Objectives To explore barriers to free cervical cancer screening among rural women in China from the perspective of women, healthcare providers and women's husbands to inform intervention planning. Design A qualitative study framed around potential policy and practice options, drawing on the concepts of descriptive phenomenology and implementation research. Setting This study was carried out at township level within two counties in Jining Prefecture of eastern China. Participants and data collection Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 21 women and five healthcare providers, focus group discussions with nine healthcare providers and key informant interviews with four husbands of women eligible for screening. Results Thematic analysis generated five major themes: (1) gaps in knowledge of cervical cancer and health awareness, (2) fear of cancer and screening outcomes, (3) cultural barriers including reticence for intimate examinations, (4) influence of close contacts on screening decisions and (5) inconvenience. These demonstrate key knowledge gaps challenging current community health education. Important barriers, including fear of treatment cost and the time needed for screening, were also raised. Conclusion Our study details important barriers to cervical cancer screening relating to knowledge gaps, attitudes of fear or embarrassment and the role of contacts and service models. These provide data for policy and planning to improve the screening that will decrease the incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer in China.


The Ricci collineation classifications of Kantowski–Sachs, Bianchi types I and III spacetimes are studied according to their degenerate and non-degenerate Ricci tensor. When the Ricci tensor is degenerate, the special cases are classified and it is shown that there are many cases of Ricci collineations (RCs) with infinite number of degrees of freedom, and the group of RCs is ten-dimensional in some spacial cases. Furthermore, it is found that when the Ricci tensor is non-degenerate, the group of RCs is finite-dimensional, and we have only either four which coincides with the isometries or six proper RCs in addition to the four isometries.


Based on growing evidence of the long-term benefits of enriched early childhood experiences, we evaluate the potential for addressing gender disparities in elementary school through early care and education programs. Specifically, we explore the community-wide effects of two statewide initiatives in North Carolina on gender differences in academic outcomes in Grades 3 to 5, using administrative student data and information on variation in program availability across counties and over time. We find that although investments in early care and education programs produce significant gains in math and reading skills on average for all children, boys experience larger program-related gains than girls. Moreover, the greatest gains among boys emerge for those from less advantaged families. In contrast, the large and statistically significant reductions in special education placements induced by these early childhood program do not differ consistently by gender.


The precise guidance of heat from one specific location to another is paramount in many industrial and commercial applications, including thermal management and thermoelectric generation. One of the cardinal requirements is a preferential conduction of thermal energy, also known as thermal rectification, in the materials. This study introduces a novel nanomaterial for rectifying heat—the boron nitride nanotube peapod thermal rectifier. Classical non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are performed on this nanomaterial, and interestingly, the strength of the rectification phenomenon is dissimilar at different operating temperatures. This is due to the contingence of the thermal flux on the conductance at the localized region around the scatterer, which varies with temperature. The rectification performance of the peapod rectifier is inherently dependent on its asymmetry. Last but not least, the favourable rectifying direction in the nanomaterial is established.


This paper is based on a study which determined what factors contribute to the success and failure of students in the pre-degree Foundation Computer Studies (HCS081) course at the National University of Samoa. Students are admitted to the Foundation Computer Studies course based on their Pacific Senior Secondary Certificate (PSSC) exam results taken upon completion of Year 13 (last year of secondary school in Samoa). The model used in the investigation included cohort, PSSC Computer studies, PSSC Maths, PSSC English, secondary school attended and gender as possible predictive factors for success in the Foundation Computer studies course. Data used were: PSSC marks in Mathematics, Computer Studies, and English, students' PSSC aggregate and attended, for the years 2002 to 2006 and Foundation Computer studies (HCS081) results, program enrolled within the Foundation year, and gender for the years 2003 to 2007. The study revealed PSSC Maths, PSSC English, and PSSC Computer Studies as strong predictive factors for Foundation Computer studies. There were significant differences in performance in Foundation Computer studies across the various Foundation programs at the National University of Samoa. There were no gender effects for Foundation Computer studies. However there were gender effects for PSSC English where female students outperformed the males. The study also revealed significant variations in performance in Foundation Computer studies and PSSC Maths between cohorts.


This monograph offers the first in-depth lexical and semantic analysis of motion verbs in their development from Latin to nine Romance languages — Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, Occitan, Sardinian, and Raeto-Romance — demonstrating that the patterns of innovation and continuity attested in the data can be accounted for in cognitive linguistic terms. At the same time, the study illustrates how the insights gained from Latin and Romance historical data have profound implications for the cognitive approaches to language — in particular, for Leonard Talmy's motion-framing typology and George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's conceptual metaphor theory. The book should appeal to scholars interested in historical Romance linguistics, cognitive linguistics, and lexical change.


Critical analysis of the Ontario government's Lands for Life public consultation process uncovers the myriad ways in which the government put forward an economistic construct of Crown land, privileging industrial interests over all others. By reflecting on how this process went awry, future consultation processes might be further democratized, such that they would stand up to ethical scrutiny. This paper details several prescriptive suggestions and reflections as constructive input towards democratizing future land use planning processes. Specifically, it addresses a number of considerations that might be taken into account when posing the following questions: Who should consult the public? Who should be consulted? What should they be asked? And how should they be asked? Moving along the continuum towards greater inclusivity of marginalized social actors, representing a broader range interests, and mitigating power differentials ensures at the very least a more robust and deliberative democracy. This analysis challenges the entrenched government-industry collusion that has now become so prevalent, and explores how practices of ecological citizenship can be either promoted or constrained by the state.


Counselors should be able to increase their effectiveness by appropriate use of social influence strategies; learning to use power bases is a critical need of counselor trainees. One way they can learn to use power bases is by modeling their supervisors in counseling practica. In this study, the effects of faculty supervisors' attitudes on counseling trainees' attitudes toward power bases were examined. Supervisors' and trainees' attitudes were measured using a questionnaire developed by Robyak (1981) for assessing referent, legitimate, and expert power base preferences. During a one-semester counseling practicum, pre/post measures of preference strength were obtained from 50 trainees in 8 supervisory groups. Analysis of variance procedures yielded no significant differences between repeated measures or between groups. Observed trends consistent with desirable use of power bases indicated that trainees were not unduly influenced by their supervisors' preferences. Implications of these results for counselor training programs are discussed, and references are included.


ABSTRACT This article discusses the results of a school of social work survey assessing the geriatric training needs of social workers and other professionals in aging and the need for a gerontology practitioner's continuing education (CE) certificate program. A total of 391 professionals, the majority of whom were social workers, participated in an online needs assessment survey. Of all respondents, the majority (77%) expressed some interest in enrolling in a certificate program within 2 years. Increased knowledge and competence, personal satisfaction and growth, and meeting CE requirements for professional licensure renewal were the major reasons given for interest in enrollment. Cognitive changes, dementia, and end-of-life issues were each selected by almost half of the respondents as areas in which they felt they needed the most training. Legal issues, health care, and social policies and programs were also of interest. In response to survey findings, a 100-clock-hour program was developed to strengthen the skills of persons who work with older adults. The emphasized curricular areas included understanding aging processes and social and economic issues confronting older persons. Related programs, seeking to assess the geriatric training needs of professionals in efforts to develop an appropriate educational program to respond to these needs, can benefit from challenges and lessons learned from this interdisciplinary CE program development.


In this paper I compare the situations of engineers, managers, and clerical workers in engineering consulting projects in the Norwegian oftshore oil business in order to determine what factors facilitate career development and who controls career development. I argue that career development depends on a series of elements including the availability of jobs, access to information about jobs, the arrangement of jobs into a clear sequence, tasks or training to enhance ability, the collection of information about a worker's ability and progress, and the dissemination of this information about the worker. Whether these elements are present depends to a large extent on how interested the employing organization is in the careers of a group of workers and on whether the workers themselves are able to look out for their own interests.


OBJECTIVE
To use whole exome sequencing (WES) of a family trio to identify a genetic cause for polyvalvular syndrome.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A male child was born with mild pulmonary valve stenosis and mild aortic root dilatation, and an atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, and patent ductus arteriosus that were closed surgically. Subsequently, the phenotype of polyvalvular syndrome with involvement of both semilunar and both atrioventricular valves emerged. His family history was negative for congenital heart disease. Because of hypotonia, myopia, soft pale skin, joint hypermobility, and mild facial dysmorphism, either Noonan syndrome- or William syndrome-spectrum disorders were suspected clinically. However, chromosomal analysis was normal and commercially available Noonan syndrome and William syndrome genetic tests were negative. Whole exome sequencing of the patient and both parents was performed. Variants were analyzed by sporadic and autosomal recessive inheritance models. A sporadic mutation, annotated as c.1491 T > A, in TAB2, resulting in a nonsense mutation, p.Y497X, in the TAB2-encoded TGF-beta activated kinase 1 (TAK1) was identified as the most likely disease-susceptibility gene. This mutation results in elimination of the terminal 197 amino acids, including the C-terminal binding motif critical for interactions with TRAF6 and TAK1.

CONCLUSIONS
The combination of WES, genomic triangulation, and systems biology has uncovered perturbations in TGF-beta activated kinase 1 signaling as a novel pathogenic substrate for polyvalvular syndrome.


In this paper, we propose an image segmentation model that incorporates convexity shape priori using level set representations. In the past decade, several discrete and continuous methods have been developed to solve this problem. Our method comes from the observation that the signed distance function of a convex region must be a convex function. Based on this observation, we transfer the complicated geometrical convexity shape priori into some simple constraints on the signed distance function. We propose a simple algorithm to keep these constraints exactly. The proposed method could be easily applied to level set based segmentation models, such as the well-known Chan-Vese mode and the active contour models. By setting some good initial curves, the proposed method can easily segment convex objects from images with complicated background. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed methods on both synthetic images and real images, as well as the comparison to some state-of-the-art methods.


The t(6;11)(q27;q23) is a recurrent chromosomal rearrangement that encodes the MLLAF6 fusion oncoprotein and is observed in patients with diverse hematologic malignancies. The presence of the t(6;11)(q27;q23) has been linked to poor overall survival in patients with AML. In this study, we demonstrate that MLL-AF6 requires continued activity of the histone-methyltransferase DOT1L to maintain expression of the MLL-AF6-driven oncogenic gene-expression program. Using gene-expression analysis and genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation studies followed by next generation sequencing, we found that MLL-fusion target genes display markedly high levels of histone 3 at lysine 79 (H3K79) dimethylation in murine MLL-AF6 leukemias as well as in ML2, a human myelomonocytic leukemia cell line bearing the t(6;11)(q27;q23) translocation. Targeted disruption of Dot1l using a conditional knockout mouse model inhibited leukemogenesis mediated by the MLL-AF6 fusion oncogene. Moreover, both murine MLL-AF6-transformed cells as well as the human MLL-AF6-positive ML2 leukemia cell line displayed specific sensitivity to EPZ0004777, a recently described, selective, small-molecule inhibitor of Dot1l. Dot1l inhibition resulted in significantly decreased proliferation, decreased expression of MLL-AF6 target genes, and cell cycle arrest of MLL-AF6-transformed cells. These results indicate that patients bearing the t(6;11)(q27;q23) translocation may benefit from therapeutic agents targeting aberrant H3K79 methylation.


In this paper, we do a comparison between maximal and daily average production of photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy based on a transmission system operator in Germany using statistical analysis with different seasonality functions. We adopt sun intensity as a seasonal function for PV and a trigonometric function for wind, while the deseasonalized data is modeled by an autoregressive process. The stochastic component of both energies is relatively well captured by a skew normal distribution. Further, a weak anticorrelation between residuals of PV and wind is found, which leads to the complexity of balancing supply of renewable energy. No clear copula pattern is detected between transformed residuals, but it exhibits seasonality in the dependence. We can exploit this feature as a risk management strategy, such as quanto options, for nonrenewable energy producers to hedge against high renewable energy generation.


CONTEXT
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy is a fatal demyelinating disease of the central nervous system frequently seen in patients with impaired immune systems, particularly acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. JC virus (JCV), a human neurotropic polyomavirus, is the etiologic infectious agent of this disease.

OBJECTIVE
The significantly higher incidence of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome than in patients with other immunosuppressive conditions suggests that molecular interactions between human immunodeficiency virus 1 and JCV, via the Tat protein, are responsible for the activation of the JCV enhancer/promoter and the development of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. An indirect mechanism through activation of cytokines, such as transforming growth factor beta1 and Smads 3 and 4, may also be responsible for the enhancement of JCV gene expression.

DESIGN
Immunohistochemical analysis in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy samples and chloramphenicol acetyl transferase assays on cell cultures were performed to corroborate this hypothesis.

RESULTS
The JCV capsid protein VP-1 was found in the nuclei of oligodendrocytes and in the nuclei and cytoplasm of bizarre astrocytes. Human immunodeficiency virus proteins, including p24 and Tat, were detected in the cytoplasm of astrocytes. Tat, but not p24, was detected in oligodendrocytes, suggesting that extracellular Tat accumulates in the nuclei of oligodendrocytes, where JCV gene transcription takes place. High levels of transforming growth factor beta1 and Smads 3 and 4 were detected in JCV-infected oligodendrocytes. Results from in vitro studies confirm activation of the JCV early and late promoters by Smads 3 and 4.

CONCLUSIONS
These observations support our model, suggesting that the induction of transforming growth factor beta1 by human immunodeficiency virus 1 Tat can stimulate its downstream factors, including Smads 3 and 4, which in turn augment transcription of the JCV promoter in glial cells.


This report discussed about the statement at the United Nations. The World Bank, in many ways, has a very simple mandate. Our role is to increase prosperity by fostering economic growth and, in the process, ending poverty. There is almost nothing that we do that is not effective in some very important way by our collaboration with the United Nations system.


Background: The purpose of the present study is to analyze the autonomic nervous activity in multiparas while resting, nursing, and rooming-in/rooming-out during days 1 to 3 of early postpartum period. Methods: Subjects were asked to record the actions they performed while wearing a heart rate monitor. Changes in autonomic nervous activity from 9 am to 12 pm and relaxation based on the relaxation (RE) scale were surveyed in multiparous women experiencing a normal postpartum period, on postpartum days 1 to 3. Results: Thirteen subjects were enrolled but heart rate data for all 3 days were available for only 5 of them. In these patients, the autonomic nervous activity (heat rate, high frequency [HF], or low frequency [LF]/HF) showed no significant differences between the days during any of the time periods. However, of the 3 days, day 2 demonstrated a lower HF and higher LF/HF. Subjective sense of relaxation was higher on postpartum day 3 compared to days 1 and 2, but there was no significant difference observed in the 3-day total score. Though no significant differences in HF and LF/HF at rest and during nursing were observed for any of the 3 days, there was a tendency for HF to be lower and LF/HF to be higher during nursing than at rest. Conclusions: Autonomic nervous activity demonstrated no significant major changes between the 3 days of postpartum (day 1 to 3). However, the lower HF and higher LF/HF during nursing and rooming-in suggest that even multiparas, who are supposedly accustomed to nursing and child-rearing, can be tense. Results suggest that multiparas require monitoring, personal care, and attention so that they can be relaxed and less tense while nursing and caring for their children.


This guide presents a selection of resources for students and practitioners in Social Work. Multiple Social Science Databases; Social Services Abstracts; Know Item Searching


This paper presents views of university staff about what has become called the 'transition problem' when students start studying mathematics at university. The data are from a focus group interview with eight experienced university lecturers at a Swedish university department that offers mathematics courses for engineering students. We use the portrayal of the problem in the literature as an axis for the discussion.


The salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis is a major disease problem in salmonids farming and there are indications that it also plays a role in the decline of wild salmon stocks. This study shows the first ultrastructural images of pathological changes in the sensory setae of the first antenna and in inner tissues in different stages of L. salmonis development after sound exposure in laboratory and sea conditions. Given the current ineffectiveness of traditional methods to eradicate this plague, and the strong impact on the environment these treatments often provoke, the described response to sounds and the associated injuries in the lice sensory organs could represent an interesting basis for developing a bioacoustics method to prevent lice infection and to treat affected salmons.


The aim of this paper is to construct a new nonlinear and nonseparable multiscale representation of piecewise continuous bidimensional functions. This representation is based on the definition of a linear projection and a nonlinear prediction operator, which locally adapts to the function to be represented. This adaptivity of the prediction operator proves to be very interesting for image encoding in that it enables a considerable reduction in the number of significant coefficients compared with other representations. Applications of this new nonlinear multiscale representation to image compression and super-resolution conclude this paper.


Abstract
 To examine whether chemical cues from intraguild predators may affect microhabitat selection by plethodontid salamanders of the genus Eurycea, we tested metamorphosed individuals for the ability to discriminate among odors from 3 larger salamander species. Metamorphosed individuals of Eurycea and 2 of the larger species (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus [Spring Salamander] and Pseudotriton ruber [Red Salamander]) are semiaquatic and often inhabit streamside environments, whereas individuals of the third of the larger species, Plethodon glutinosus (Northern Slimy Salamander), are strictly terrestrial and primarily inhabit woodlands. In the lab, we placed each Eurycea individual in a petri dish with 2 substrate choices. One substrate had chemical cues (i.e., skin secretions and wastes deposited for 6 d) from an adult individual of 1 of the 3 large salamander species, whereas the other substrate had chemical cues from an adult individual of a small Plethodon species (P. dorsalis [Northern Zigzag Salamander] or P. ventralis [Southern Zigzag Salamander]). We recorded the location of each individual on either substrate at 3-min intervals for 2 h. For individuals of both Eurycea cirrigera (Southern Two-lined Salamander) and E. longicauda (Long-tailed Salamander), we tested different experimental groups with the odor of 1 large salamander species. Our results indicate that Southern Two-lined Salamander individuals in Kentucky avoid chemical cues from Spring Salamander and Red Salamander, but not Northern Slimy Salamander. Individuals of both Southern Two-lined Salamander and Long-tailed Salamander in Alabama avoid chemical cues from Red Salamander, but not Northern Slimy Salamander. Spring Salamander and Red Salamander often prey on salamanders, whereas Plethodon rarely do; thus, we conclude that individuals of different Eurycea species and populations distinguish the odors of salamander species that are potential predators.


The ocean water covers seven-tenths of the earth's surface
with a mean depth of 4000 meters (Colin Nicol, 1960). This tremendous
expanse and depth are inhabited by living organisms which
are partially exploited for the livelihood of the ever increasing
world population. However, the oceans are not evenly populated
throughout their extent. The density and total volume of living
creatures are the greatest in coastal waters. The food of all
animals in the sea is ultimately derived from marine plants
including phytoplankton and seaweeds. At present, the growing
population of the world is badly in need of food grains and also
of animal protein which is rich in fishes.
Hindu Religion considers fish as one of the incarnations
of God and is called "Matsyavathara" in Sanskrit. Va luable
information is available regarding fish, in the great epics of
India, in stone carvings and paintings . History of India also
has a lot of information on fish, its trade and fisher-folk.
Information is also available about salt-fish trade in the west
Coast of India which has been carried out as early as i n the 18th
century. Traditionally fishing has been the principal occupation
for the livelihood of a section of the population living along
coastal areas.


The basic fault types of wind turbine blades are introduced, a novel blade surface damage detection method based on machine vision is being suggested. The network of wind turbine blade surface damage fault on-line monitoring and fault diagnosis system has already been developed. The system architecture, software modules and functions are described, and given application example illustrates the usefulness and effectiveness of this system. The result shows that this system can monitor the surface damage failure of the blade in real time, and can effectively reduce the blade's maintenance costs for wind farms, especially offshore wind farm.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


IntroductionThe province-wide Families First Home Visiting Program (FFHV) provides home visiting to families with children living in conditions of risk. It remains unknown if First Nations families are benefiting from the program. Using existing administrative and population-wide data is an innovative practice to evaluate programs that have been scaled up.
Objectives and ApproachThe objective is to determine FFHV's effectiveness at improving outcomes for First Nations children and parents. The partnership with First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba facilitated access to First Nations identifiers and provided guidance in conducting the study. Program data from 4,010 First Nations children and parents were linked at an individual-level to administrative data housed at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. We compared the predictive probability of outcomes of program and non-program families. Inverse probability of treatment weights were used to adjust for confounders related to both entry into FFHV and the outcomes under study.
ResultsThe cohort of First Nations children and parents was successfully linked through an individual scrambled health identifier. FFHV was associated with higher rates of child immunization at age one (71% versus 66%) and age two (47% versus 41%) and parental involvement in community support groups (21% versus 17%). It was also associated with lower rates of being in care of child welfare at age one (10% versus 14%) and age two (15% versus 19%); maltreatment-related hospitalizations at age three (0.4% versus 1.0%); and child victimization as measured by justice system records (1.7% versus 3.0%). However, there were no differences in being "not ready for school" between the two groups of children, nor between the groups of mothers in physician visits for mental health reasons.
Conclusion/ImplicationsHome visiting services can play a role in supporting healthy development of First Nations children by providing support to parents and connecting children to health and social services, however, there also remains an urgent need for long term strategies to address structural inequality and the ongoing effects of colonization.


Interferon-gamma knockout (IFN-gamma KO) mice were infected with Sarcocystis neurona merozoites to characterize the immunopathology associated with infection. By day 14 postinfection (PI), mice developed splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy, characterized by marked lymphoid hyperplasia with increased numbers of germinal centers. Additional histopathologic changes included increased extramedullary hematopoiesis, multifocal mixed inflammatory infiltrates in the liver, perivascular infiltrate of the liver and lung, and interstitial pneumonia. The total number of B-cell splenocytes (P < 0.05) and the percentage of B-cells increased on day 14 PI in the spleen and on day 28 PI in the lymph nodes (P < 0.05). By day 28 PI, the number of B-cell splenocytes decreased significantly. A non–subset-specific decrease in percentages of CD4 lymphocytes throughout all lymphoid organs was observed on day 14 PI. However, total CD4 and CD44/CD4 splenocytes increased significantly by day 28 PI. Early-activation CD8 lymphocytes were reduced in the blood and spleen, whereas memory CD8 lymphocyte percentages and total numbers were significantly increased. On the basis of the results, we propose that S. neurona–infected IFN-gamma KO mice are immunocompromised and unable to clear the infection. Thus, they develop B-cell exhaustion and a delayed, but sustained, increased number of memory CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes due to chronic antigen stimulation.


The paper evaluates the general tax reduction in lieu of investment allowance. The general tax reduction affects the tax rates and has universal impact, while investment allowance helps lower the tax base and thus, affects different tax payers differently. By analyzing the impact of two alternatives on acceptance of a new project and relating it to existing operations, it is concluded that under the Finance Minister's proposal of reducing tax rates from 52.5 per cent to 45 per cent in lieu of investment allowance, the companies to be adversely affected are those which have at minimum more than 20 per cent growth in their profits. Not many companies are growing at that rate. Further research is advocated in the area of replacement cost depreciation and productive capacity creation, utilization and its profitability.


This Research Paper emphasize on customize route computation should be offered as a ervice by Third Party Providers.In Internet routing, there is a fundamental tussle between the end users who want control over the end-to-end paths and the Autonomous Systems (ASes) who want control over the flow of traffic through their infrastructure. To resolve this tussle and offer flexible routing control across multiple routing domains, we argue that customized route computation should be offered as a service by third-party providers. Outsourcing specialized route computation allows different path-selection mechanisms to coexist, and evolve over time.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity of gadopiclenol, a high-relaxivity gadolinium-based contrast agent to detect brain metastases in mice as a function of dose (0.08 mmol/kg or 0.1 mmol/kg) compared with gadobenate at 0.1 mmol/kg.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Brain metastases were induced by ultrasound-guided intracardiac implantation of 1.105 MDA-MB-231Br cells in the left ventricle of 18 anesthetized Balb/c Nude nu/nu female mice. At day 28 ± 3 after cell injection, each mouse received 2 crossover intravenous injections at 24-hour intervals, randomly selected from 2 doses of gadopiclenol (0.08 mmol/kg or 0.1 mmol/kg) and gadobenate (0.1 mmol/kg) with n = 6 mice/group (3 groups). Brain magnetic resonance imaging sessions were performed at 4 weeks on a 2.35 T magnet with a 3-dimensional T1-weighted high-resolution gradient echo sequence, before and after each injection. Images were blindly and randomly analyzed to detect enhancing lesions. Contrast-to-noise ratio between the metastases and the surrounding healthy parenchyma was calculated, based on region-of-interest signal measurements. In 2 animals per group, an early time point was added to the protocol (day 22 ± 3) to evaluate the sensitivity of detection as a function of time. After the last imaging session, the presence and location of whole-brain metastases were confirmed by histology in 4 mice.

RESULTS
After gadopiclenol, approximately twice as many metastases were detected compared with gadobenate, regardless of the dose. Contrast-to-noise ratios of the detected metastases were 2.3 and 3.3 times higher with gadopiclenol at 0.08 mmol/kg and 0.1 mmol/kg, respectively, compared with gadobenate at 0.1 mmol/kg (P < 0.0001). Gadopiclenol at the dose of 0.1 mmol/kg resulted in a 1.4-fold higher contrast compared with gadopiclenol at 0.08 mmol/kg (P < 0.02). In a subset of mice that were imaged 1 week earlier, 2 metastases were detected with gadopiclenol and not with gadobenate.

CONCLUSIONS
The high-relaxivity macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agent gadopiclenol allowed higher diagnostic performance for detecting brain enhancing metastases in terms of contrast-to-noise ratio and number of detected metastases compared with gadobenate, at both equal (0.1 mmol/kg) dose and 20% lower Gd dose (0.08 mmol/kg). Tumor detection was higher after gadopiclenol at the dose of 0.1 mmol/kg compared with 0.08 mmol/kg.


We demonstrate a patient-specific method of adaptive IMRT treatment for glioblastoma using a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA). The MOEA generates spatially optimized dose distributions using an iterative dialogue between the MOEA and a mathematical model of tumor cell proliferation, diffusion and response. Dose distributions optimized on a weekly basis using biological metrics have the potential to substantially improve and individualize treatment outcomes. Optimized dose distributions were generated using three different decision criteria for the tumor and compared with plans utilizing standard dose of 1.8 Gy/fraction to the CTV (T2-visible MRI region plus a 2.5 cm margin). The sets of optimal dose distributions generated using the MOEA approach the Pareto Front (the set of IMRT plans that delineate optimal tradeoffs amongst the clinical goals of tumor control and normal tissue sparing). MOEA optimized doses demonstrated superior performance as judged by three biological metrics according to simulated results. The predicted number of reproductively viable cells 12 weeks after treatment was found to be the best target objective for use in the MOEA.


Since Grid computing systems involve large-scale resource sharing, resource management is central to their operations. Whereas there are more Grid resource management systems adopting auction, commodity market, and contract-net (tendering) models, this survey supplements and complements existing surveys by reviewing, comparing, and highlighting existing research initiatives on applying bargaining (negotiation) as a mechanism to Grid resource management. The contributions of this paper are: 1) discussing the motivations for considering bargaining models for Grid resource allocation; 2) discussing essential design considerations such as modeling devaluation of Grid resources, considering market dynamics, relaxing bargaining terms, and co-allocation of resources when building Grid negotiation mechanisms; 3) reviewing the strategies and protocols of state-of-the-art Grid negotiation mechanisms; 4) providing detailed comparisons and analyses on how state-of-the-art Grid negotiation mechanisms address the design considerations mentioned in 3); and 5) suggesting possible new directions.


Cell migration plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes where the fibrillar morphology of extracellular matrices (ECM) could regulate the migration dynamics. To mimic the morphological characteristics of fibrillar matrix structures, low-voltage continuous electrospinning was adapted to construct straight, wavy, looped and gridded fibre patterns made of polystyrene (of fibre diameter ca. 3 μm). Cells were free to explore their different shapes in response to the directly-adhered fibre, as well as to the neighbouring patterns. For all the patterns studied, analysing cellular migration dynamics of MDA-MB-231 (a highly migratory breast cancer cell line) demonstrated two interesting findings: first, although cells dynamically adjust their shapes and migration trajectories in response to different fibrillar environments, their average step speed is minimally affected by the fibre global pattern; secondly, a switch in behaviour was observed when the pattern features approach the upper limit of the cell body's minor axis, reflecting that cells' ability to divert from an existing fibre track is limited by the size along the cell body's minor axis. It is therefore concluded that the upper limit of cell body's minor axis might act as a guide for the design of microfibre patterns for different purposes of cell migration.


We present a new approach to path planning for flexible wires. We introduce a method for computing stable configurations of a wire subject to manipulation constraints. These configurations correspond to minimal-energy curves. The representation is adaptive in the sense that the number of parameters automatically varies with the complexity of the underlying curve. We introduce a planner that computes paths from one minimal-energy curve to another such that all intermediate curves are also minimal-energy curves. Using a simplified model for obstacles, we can find minimal-energy curves of fixed length that pass through specified tangents at given control points. Our work has applications in motion planning for surgical suturing and snake-like robots.


Fungi are very abundant and functionally pivotal in Arctic terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, our understanding of their community composition, diversity and particularly their environmental drivers is superficial at the very best. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Timling et al. ( ) describe perhaps one of the most comprehensive and geographically ambitious molecular studies on Arctic fungal communities to date. The results highlight the potential sensitivity of the fungal communities to plant communities, environmental conditions and therefore to environmental change. Thus, these studies lay a foundation to educated speculation on the fungal community migration northwards as a result of predicted climate change.


Life cycle engineering is the engineering and design of products and processes to minimize the cost and environmental impact for the life cycle phases of a product. Relevance Vector Machine method (RVM) is used to determine recycling strategy (reuse, service, remanufacture, recycle with disassembly, recycle without disassembly and disposal). Seven parameters (wear – out life, technology cycle, level of integration, number of parts, reason for redesign and design cycle) were considered as the input for the RVM model. Three electronic equipments were selected to be examined such as vacuum cleaner, washing machine, television. All the results verify previous literature study. The prediction model predicts the end of life (EOL) strategies quite closely with real industry practices.


Lactic acidosis (LA) due to malignancy was first reported in patients with acute leukemia. Since then, several malignancies have been reported to be associated with LA. The pathophysiology of cancer-related LA is multifactorial and still poorly understood. In general, chemotherapy is the only effective mean of correcting malignancy-related LA by cytoreduction of the tumor cells while at the same time decreasing malignant liver involvement leading to improved clearance of lactic acid. LA is rare in patients with malignancies and is usually associated with high mortality because of advanced disease process and high tumor burden. Increased awareness of this complication in certain malignancies is important because early initiation of chemotherapy may decrease LA and perhaps prolong survival. To our knowledge, this is the first case of otherwise unexplained severe LA in a patient with chemotherapy-refractory metastatic prostate cancer.


We present a data-driven model for detecting suitable response locations in the user's speech. The model has been trained on human–machine dialogue data and implemented and tested in a spoken dialogue system that can perform the Map Task with users. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a dialogue system that uses automatically extracted syntactic, prosodic and contextual features for online detection of response locations. A subjective evaluation of the dialogue system suggests that interactions with a system using our trained model were perceived significantly better than those with a system using a model that made decisions at random.


The objective of this research was to analyze pedestrian exposure to risk along urban trips in relation to pedestrian crossing behavior. First, an appropriate microscopic indicator was selected for the estimation of pedestrian exposure to risk while a person crossed a road at isolated locations. This indicator expressed exposure as the number of vehicles encountered by pedestrians during the crossing of a single uncontrolled road lane and could be further adapted and applied for various road design and traffic control features. Moreover, the number and type of crossings along a pedestrian trip could be identified on the basis of the trip length and topology, whereas the set of choices of alternative crossing locations for each crossing decision could also be defined. The crossing probability associated with each alternative location along the trip could then be estimated by means of a sequential logit model. A method is presented for the estimation of exposure to risk for pedestrians along a trip in relation to their crossing behavior. The proposed approach was demonstrated in a pilot implementation for a typical pedestrian trip in the center of Athens, Greece, for four scenarios combining different traffic conditions and pedestrian walking speed. The results showed that exposure to risk for pedestrians along a trip was significantly affected by the pedestrians' crossing choices, as well as by road and traffic characteristics. Results also revealed that pedestrians with increased walking speed might have partly compensated for their exposure to risk so that the risk was not significantly affected by traffic volume. Moreover, specific locations with increased pedestrian exposure to risk could be identified for each trip. The proposed microscopic analysis of exposure to risk proved advantageous compared with existing macroscopic ones. This microscopic analysis revealed the different possible definitions and aspects of pedestrian exposure, with useful implications for road safety analysis.


Are the early expressed attitudes of pupils to staying on in education post-16 a valuable predictor? This is an important question, because if such attitudes are very likely to be converted into subsequent revealed actions then the early attitudes provide a sound basis for planning and intervention. This short paper queries the scientific accuracy of claims made in a previous paper by Croll (2010) based on a re-analysis of the British Household Panel Survey. It shows that even if the expressed intentions of young people to stay on in education post-16 were actually unrelated to their subsequent participation, the figures used by Croll would still display a substantial overlap between the two. This is because both reported intentions to stay on and subsequent participation are heavily imbalanced in favour of staying on. If this imbalance is taken into account then Croll's conclusions, that early intentions are accurate and useful, fall to the ground. On these data, we should take little or no account of early expressed intentions to study post-16.


Introduction Men who have sex with men (MSM) who are asymptomatic and do not require treatment are eligible to use the new express HIV/STI testing service called 'Test-And-GO' (TAG) or the general clinic service for an asymptomatic screen. We aimed to evaluation the utilisation of the TAG service. Methods MSM attending the clinic for a TAG service or a general clinic service between 5 August 2015 and 1 June 2016 were analysed. A general estimating equation regression model was constructed to examine the association between the use of TAG service and demographic characteristics, sexual behaviours, and HIV/STI diagnoses. Results Of the 4,212 consultations, 750 (17.8%) were TAG consultations and 3,462 (82.2%) were routine consultations for asymptomatic MSM at the general clinic. MSM were more likely to use the TAG service if they were aged >30 years (OR=1.32 [95% CI 1.10–1.58]), were born in Australia (OR=1.40 [95% CI 1.16–1.70]), and had ≤4 male partners in the last 12 months (OR=1.30 [95% CI 1.12–1.52]) but there was no significant difference between condom use in the last 12 months. MSM who used the TAG service had less syphilis but there were no differences in detection of gonorrhoea, chlamydia and HIV diagnoses between the two services. Discussion Demographic and some behavioural characteristics differed between the two services but other than syphilis there was no difference in STIs. The TAG service required less clinician time and hence created additional clinical capacity at the general clinic to see patients at higher risk.


We investigated the impact of the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform on insurance coverage and stability among minority and underserved women. We examined 36 months of insurance claims among 1,946 women who had abnormal cancer screening at six community health centers pre-(2004–2005) and post-(2007–2008) insurance reform. We examined frequency of switches in insurance coverage as measures of longitudinal insurance instability. On the date of their abnormal cancer screening test, 36% of subjects were publicly insured and 31% were uninsured. Post-reform, the percent ever uninsured declined from 39% to 29% (p .001) and those consistently uninsured declined from 23% to 16%. To assess if insurance instability changed between the pre- and post-reform periods, we conducted Poisson regression models, adjusted for patient demographics and length of time in care. These revealed no significant differences from the pre- to post-reform period in annual rates of insurance switches, incident rate ratio 0.98 (95%- CI 0.88–1.09). Our analysis is limited by changes in the populations in the pre- and post-reform period and inability to capture care outside of the health system network. Insurance reform increased stability as measured by decreasing uninsured rates without increasing insurance switches.


HowLeaky is an important asset for the Queensland Government, universities, research institutes and is useful for estimating water balance and water quality for a range of land uses and management options. It is applied to benchmarking water quality changes associated with the Great Barrier Reef catchment investments.

This project has developed a new web-based platform for the HowLeaky model to facilitate improved management, development and governance of the model. This was delivered through a collaborative research agreement between the University of Southern Queensland and the Queensland Government, Department of Science and Environment.

With these enhancements and improved accessibility and management, HowLeaky becomes a community governed model, with software, source code, and experimental datasets required for development being accessible and freely available through the HowLeaky website (www.howleaky.com). Tasks completed during this project included:

1. Model code translated from C++ to C# and a new command line version of HowLeaky developed;
2. A hosting framework developed with model source code placed on GitHub while the web-based platform and databases are on three servers hosted by Nectar (The National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources project) infrastructure;
3. Code and model parameter change submission process was automated;
4. A web-based interface developed to facilitate code modifications and automate model validation using key datasets and parameters of calibrated models;
5. Available datasets and parameters archived on the website and available to users;
6. Workflow developed to facilitate access and archival of data and parameters within the hosting framework;
7. Terms of reference and peer review procedures developed, documented and agreed;
8. An oversight committee convened for peer review;
9. The model can be run via the website, building on previous examples and having access to external databases of climate (P51 from SILO) and soil descriptions (Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia) using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs); and
10. The model has a Swagger UI for HowLeaky REST API which can be accessed by third parties for review, using related API the simulations can be run on the cloud.

Given the nature of developing new software, this development should be regarded as a first phase of an ongoing development process, while completing all deliverables of the project. The software has not yet been tested with a user group to determine the user reaction or system robustness (was not part of the project). It is expected that future iterations of software development will be required following feedback received from both modellers and developers. Additional time, effort and resources may be required to ensure model uptake of this version of HowLeaky within the Queensland Water Modelling Network.

A peer review and support framework including a HowLeaky Steering Committee and Panel were developed to oversee model peer review activities and governance. The Panel includes members from the Queensland Government, the University of Southern Queensland and the private sector. The activities of the Panel are overseen by a Steering Committee which consists of the delegate(s) from the Queensland Government and the University of Southern Queensland. The Steering Committee ensures on-going support for the development and use of HowLeaky.


From the process of sedimentation the mathematical relationship between deposition volume and powder properties as well as sedimentation parameters was deduced in this paper. The relationship was expressed by using indirect method. Based on the formula, design model and prediction model were set up. The models can be used to design powder properties and predict the volume fraction of FGM. Programs to solve the models were developed in numerical methods. As examples, TiC-Ni system FGM were designed and predicted. The prediction results fit well with the design. Experiment of Mo-Ti system FGM was used to validate the prediction model.


A single intraperitoneal injection of nicotinamide (500 mg/kg) to mongrel albino rats causes a 6-hour increase in the 2-oxoglutarate level and the free NAD+/NADH ratio in liver mitochondria. The levels of taurine and taurocholates as well the activity of cysteine oxidase in liver tissues remains thereby unchanged, whereas the cysteine transaminase activity diminishes. In the heart and brain of experimental animals the activity of both enzymes is decreased. In the liver, blood plasma and heart of experimental animals, the Ala and Ser levels are low, whereas the taurine content is elevated both in blood plasma and brain. Nicotinamide administration eliminates positive correlations between the levels of taurine, its precursors and metabolically bound amino acids. In the liver the negative correlations between the activities of cysteine oxidase and cysteine transaminase observed in the control group disappear in the experimental group. Apparently, one of regulatory mechanisms of the taurine pool formation in the liver is the ratio of activities of the both enzymes as well as their competition at the substrate level. This emphasizes the importance of the transamination reactions in the metabolism of sulphur-containing amino acids.


In recent years, marked and novel changes have been made to the procedural rules and practice of tribunals conducting arbitrations to resolve commercial disputes. This article explores the most important trends, and provides practical advice upon how recent developments can offer effective solutions when conducting an arbitration. Five key changes are explored: first, the globalization of the rules to conduct arbitrations; second, the evolution towards court support of the conduct of arbitrations; in a similar vein, third, the introduction of rules allowing courts to award extra-territorial relief in support of foreign arbitrations; fourth, the introduction of measures to curb the increasing costs of arbitrations; finally, the unfortunate increase in the abuse of the rules to conduct arbitrations to manipulate the arbitral process. It is hoped that the material discussed, and the guidance given, will assist practitioners and commercial parties conduct arbitrations cost-effectively and efficiently, with an awareness of the importance of ensuring justice between the parties.


The DelftaCopter is a tilt-body tailsitter unmanned air vehicle which combines a large swashplate controlled helicopter rotor with a biplane delta-wing. Previous research has shown that the large moment of inertia of the wing and fuselage significantly interacts with the dynamics of the rotor. While this rigid rotor cylinder dynamics model has allowed initial flight testing, part of the dynamics remains unexplained. In particular, higher frequency dynamics and the forward flight dynamics were not modeled. In this work, the cylinder dynamics model is compared with the tip-path plane model, which includes the steady-state flapping dynamics of the blades. The model is then extended to include the wing and elevon dynamics during forward flight. Flight test data consisting of excitations with a large frequency content are used to identify the model parameters using grey-box modeling. Since the DelftaCopter is unstable, flight tests can only be performed while at least a rate feedback controller is active. To reduce the influence of this active controller on the identification of the dynamics, one axis is identified at a time while white noise is introduced on all other axes. The tip-path plane model is shown to be much more accurate in reproducing the high-frequency attitude dynamics of the DelftaCopter. The significant rotor–wing interaction is shown to differ greatly from what is seen in traditional helicopter models. Finally, an Linear-Quadratic Regulator (LQR) controller based on the tip-path plane model is derived and tested to validate its applicability. Modeling the attitude dynamics of the unstable DelftaCopter from flight test data has been shown to be possible even in the presence of the unavoidable baseline controller.


This thesis documents the design, verification and benchmarking of a new set of handshake components for the Balsa synthesis system. The handshake components employ the 2-phase single-rail asynchronous communication protocol. Balsa is the common name of a synthesis system and language that enable syntax-directed implementations of asynchronous circuits by connecting networks of handshake components. Handshake components enable an abstraction away from the gate level implementation, thus letting the designer focus entirely on functionality. To provide a background, an introduction to asynchronous systems and design styles is given, before the Balsa system and how it can help make asynchronous designs easier is explained. The general handshake component design process is gone through, in addition to particular challenges regarding specific components and evaluations of and possible improvements to certain components being highlighted. A collection of Balsa designs representing a diverse range of applications are used as benchmarking circuits for the 2-phase single-rail handshake components. Results of the benchmarks are presented, analyzed and compared to results from benchmarks of circuit implementations using the 4-phase single-rail protocol. Area estimations reveal an area overhead in implementations using the 2-phase single-rail protocol compared to 4-phase single-rail, which complies with expectations of complex control logic for the 2-phase single-rail protocol. Analysis of synthesis results also reveals that area is distributed on quite different handshake components for the two protocols because of differently optimized handshake components. Estimations of throughput and latency indicate a certain performance increase for circuits implemented using the 2-phase single-rail protocol, which can be seen as an expected, fortunate byproduct of the handshaking protocol's nature. Power consumption analyses performed on the benchmarking circuits indicate a substantial power and energy consumption decrease for the 2-phase single-rail protocol in the Atmel technology, but the numbers are incomplete and will need verification. Together the results indicate that circuits implemented using the 2-phase single-rail protocol will have potential benefits over the 4-phase single-rail protocol for certain applications and cost functions, and can become an important asset to the Balsa system.


This paper discusses research on electronic waste in Canada and Bangladesh. We engage with ongoing debates in geography and the broader social sciences on the need to move beyond linearity in the analysis of commodity/value chains and global production networks. Our analysis suggests that the
problem of linearity may be an artefact of theoretical and methodological presuppositions, which explains its longevity as an issue in methodological approaches and empirical research. Recent theoretical insights from actor network theory, combined with our own research on electronic waste, provide a potential solution to the problem of linearity. Our research points to the need for a focus on 'actions', not just 'things', in tracing economic activity. This signals a shift away from beginnings and endings in production network approaches to analyses that are concerned with boundaries and edges.


We describe two studies designed to characterize the total column densities, kinetic energies, and acceleration physics of broad absorption line (BAL) outflows in quasars. The first study uses new Chandra X-ray and ground-based rest-frame UV observations of 7 quasars with mini-BALs at extreme high speeds, in the range 0.1c to 0.2c, to test the idea that strong radiative shielding is needed to moderate the mini-BAL ionizations and facilitate their acceleration to extreme speeds. We find that the X-ray absorption is weak or absent, with generally N_H 15% of the UV continuum source along our lines of sight (based on measured line depths), then the radial thickness of these outflows is only Delta_R 8 x 10^15 cm. Thus the outflow regions have the shape of very thin "pancakes" viewed face-on, or they occupy larger volumes like a spray of dense cloudlets with a very small volume filling factor. We speculate that this situation (with ineffective shielding and small dense outflow substructures) applies to most quasar outflows, including BALs. Our second study focuses from BALs of low-abundance ions, mainly PV 1118,1128 A, whose significant strengths imply large column densities, N_H > 10^22 cm^-2, that can further challenge models of the outflow acceleration. In spite of the difficulties of finding this line in the Ly-alpha forest, a search through the SDSS DR9 quasar catalog reveals >50 BAL sources at redshifts z>2.3 with strong PV BALs, which we are now using to characterize the general properties of high-column outflows.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Induction therapy with oral cyclophosphamide (CYP) has been a mainstay of treatment in patients with severe renal failure secondary to ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). Recent evidence proposes using pulsed intravenous CYP in less severe disease to minimize adverse events. It is unclear if this can be translated to those with dialysis-dependent renal insufficiency.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & METHODS
All AAV patients presenting between 2005 and 2010 requiring dialysis at presentation were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were treated with plasma exchange, corticosteroids, and intravenous CYP. Rate of dialysis independence at 3 and 12 months and adverse effects were assessed and compared with the outcome of the plasmapheresis, prednisolone, and oral CYP arm of the randomized MEPEX (methylprednisolone versus plasma exchange) trial.

RESULTS
Forty-one patients were included. At 3 months, 3 (7.3%) patients had died on dialysis, 12 (29.3%) remained dialysis dependent, and 26 (63.4%) were dialysis independent (creatinine, 2.5 mg/dl; GFR, 26 ml/min per 1.73 m(2)). Four patients subsequently reached ESRD at a median time of 83 days. Thirty-seven (90%) patients reached 1 year follow-up, 13 (35%) remained dialysis dependent, and 24 (65%) had independent renal function. Eleven patients (27%) had episodes of leukopenia (white cell count <4×10(9)/L) during CYP therapy and 17 (41%) experienced infectious complications. This compares favorably with the dialysis-dependent cohort treated with plasmapheresis in the MEPEX study in which 51% were alive with independent renal function at 1 year.

CONCLUSIONS
Intravenous CYP used with corticosteroids and plasmapheresis may be an effective alternative to oral CYP in patients with dialysis-dependent AAV.


We evaluated the bone healing effect of grafting with synthetic β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP; Cerasorb®), bovine-derived hydroxyapatite (HA; Bio-Oss®), and a mixture of β-TCP and HA in rats. Each material was grafted in prepared 8-mm frontal bone defects in 15 rats. The control group underwent surgery without any grafting materials and was examined after 4 weeks, whereas the experimental groups received grafting materials and were examined after 1, 2, and 4 weeks. After implantation, the rats were sacrificed for histomorphometric studies using light microscopy, and the data were analyzed using analysis of variance. Considerable inflammation and fibrosis were observed after 1 and 2 weeks in all experimental groups, whereas the inflammation was reduced and fibrosis was stabilized after 4 weeks. New bone formation was observed at the defect margin. Statistically, there was no difference in new bone formation among the three experimental groups. In conclusion, there was no difference in new bone formation using Bio-Oss®, Cerasorb®, and a mixture of Bio-Oss® and Cerasorb®.


Based on the following realities, general knowledge on the management of psychodrugs in the elderly population is necessary for any physician: high prescription of psychodrug in this population, up to 25% of the elderly may require this treatment at any time, and good therapeutic response. To achieve good compliance to the psychiatric treatment by the elderly patient, the pharmacokinetic characteristics and interactions in this population must be well known to avoid the appearance of significant side effects. These side effects may induce the patient to drop out of the treatment or to even have at risk side effects. A review on the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic characteristics related with psychodrugs in the elderly is done in this article. Based on this, the three large groups of anxiolytic, antidepressive and antipsychotic psychodrugs are reviewed.


The subject of the thesis was the use of borosilicate glass tubes as an interface to waferlevel
microfluidic devices. The tubes are compatible with the standard fluidic connectors
and can be used as a package for the so-called MEMS-on-a-tube assembly. The
connections are produced by the brief reflow of the glass tubes after they are placed on
single crystal silicon wafers. At the bonding temperature, the glass at the interface with
the silicon flows slowly over time enabling the voids at the interface to be filled,
producing a permanent bond between the glass and the silicon substrate.
The preparation and positioning of the samples in an oven and the formation of the bond
at high temperature were explained and the selection of bonding parameters was
discussed. The heterogeneous nucleation and growth of crystals in borosilicate glass
during its heat treatment for the reflow bonding above its glass transition temperature
were investigated, although the bulk of the borosilicate glass remained unaffected by
crystallisation.
The strength of the connections between borosilicate glass tubes and silicon substrates
has been tested by pressurising it to failure. Failure occurred in the bonded materials
rather than along the bond itself. The bond formed was hermetic. The only leakage was
due to gas diffusion through the glass. The interface of borosilicate glass tube–silicon
joins formed after the reflow bonding was studied by electron microscopy. Amorphous
borosilicate glass has been found to be fully intact with silicon even at the atomic scale.
The incorporation of in-plane electrical interconnects to reflow bonding has been studied.
After joining the tubes to silicon substrates, the electrically conductive lines will allow
probing into the volume confined by the tube. Therefore methods of fabrication of
electrical interconnects, which would survive the bonding and not alter the quality of the
bond interface, were investigated. Lastly, the examples of applications of borosilicate
glass tubes as package or fluidic interconnects were given.
The thesis was concluded with a detailed summary of the results and an outlook for the
reflow bonding process.


Solar energy is clean, cheap, renewable, and abundantly available source of energy and hence many researchers focus on the techniques of increasing absorption of solar power for different practical applications. Solar tracking system plays a major role in this field because of the importance of tracking the sun and increasing absorption of solar energy during the day light timing. This paper presents a new design, simulation as well as results of dual axis solar tracking system that is able to make the solar panel produce maximum power during its function. The design takes into account that all related electronic (transducers, controlling, and drive circuits) are supplied by an efficient designed and simulated DC power supply which is fed from the connectedsolar panel. The simulation results show that the dual axis tracker has better capability of tracking the sun light in two planes instead of single plane tracking of single axis tracker. The design of the proposed system depends on general use discrete electronic components that make the practical implementation to be easily constructed


This paper examines the politics of family law reform in Korea up to the 2005 revision, when the family head system was abolished. Why did it take so long to abolish the gender hierarchy of Korea's family law, and what made the family head system so entrenched? Moreover, how was the family head system finally abolished, in 2005, after a long history of conservative obstruction? This paper demonstrates that there have been multiple and conflicting views on gender equality in family, presented by three major actors: conservatives, the Korean state, and women's groups. Each vigorously defended its view of how gender relations in the family should figure into the construction of the Korean nation. Conservatives attempted to reify gender hierarchy in the family as a core value of the Korean culture, and therefore argued to preserve it. Women's groups envisioned gender equality as intrinsic to genuine democracy, which could not be achieved if the old family law were preserved. This paper argues that the revisions to the family law were the outcome of changing political relations among these three critical stakeholders. These relations were reflected by changes in the dominant discourse on the social functions of family law at each revision, from a carrier of tradition in the early postcolonial period, to a transmitter of economic development in the 1970s, and finally into a catalyst for democracy in the late 1980s and afterward. The growing political influence of women's groups in the 1990s and their close relationship with the Korean government and "progressive" social groups finally brought about the abolition of the entrenched gender hierarchy in family law.


In this paper we report on a dialectometrical study of dialect change at the lexical, morphological and sound component levels. In particular, recently collected fieldwork data on a reasonable number of different Dutch dialects have been analysed to trace the processes leading to their convergence and/or divergence. Then, using these data, we provide the answers to four sets of research questions: Do dialects change? Do the patterns of change at the different levels correlate with each other? Which level is most strongly affected? Do dialects converge towards each other? Do the patterns of convergence/divergence at the different levels correlate with each other? Do dialects converge towards or diverge from standard Dutch? Do the patterns of convergence/divergence at the different levels correlate with each other? Do dialects which are distant from standard Dutch converge more strongly towards it than those that are closer to it? Can dialect change be explained by convergence among dialects and dialect convergence towards standard Dutch? In Section 2, as a first step towards answering the research questions, we outline the methods used to collect the data in the field and the measurement techniques applied to this information. Then, in Section 3, some initial results are presented and the research questions are answered. As this contribution is an interim report on work-in-progress, only part of our planned study can be discussed herein. Accordingly, only the preliminary conclusions from the outcomes of the available data for this part of the project will be discussed in Section 4.


STUDY DESIGN
Prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with unfavourable patient-reported outcomes after spine surgery. Chronic low back pain (CLBP) with Modic Changes (MCs) in the lumbar vertebrae, as observed on MRI, forms a specific subgroup. This study aims to investigate the potential influence of DM on CLBP with MCs.

METHODS
This study involved 259 patients with CLBP accompanied MCs. We recorded the patient-reported outcomes (visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ)) at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Multivariable linear regression analyses were performed to determine predictors of patient-reported outcomes.

RESULTS
103 patients had DM. Patients with DM exhibited higher VAS (P < .05), ODI (P < .001), and RMDQ (P < .001) scores at 3, 6, and 12 months, while patients without DM experienced more significant improvements in the scores over time (P < .001). Patients with DM reported longer durations of physical exercise (P = .007). Additionally, patients without DM had a significantly higher patient satisfaction index (P < .001) and a lower prevalence of hypertension (P < .001). Notably, significant differences were observed in the distribution of MCs of lumbar vertebrae (P = .034) and Pfirrmann grades of intervertebral disc degeneration between two groups (P < .001).

CONCLUSION
Patients with DM demonstrated poorer patient-reported outcomes compared to those without DM in 1-year. DM emerged as an independent predictor of adverse patient-reported outcomes. It can be utilized to enhance the management and treatment of CLBP in patients with MCs.


Cross border reproductive care (CBRC) is a growing phenomenon and attracting increasing interest in the media, among stakeholders and regulatory bodies. Shenfield et al. (2010) estimated that annually 24 to 30,000 CBRC cycles took place within Europe involving 11 to 14,000 patients. Based on international outgoing treatment cycles, Nygren et al (2010) estimated that over 5,000 CBRC cycles are performed in more than 25 countries. Many patients have raised concerns about their treatment including the quality assurance, safety requirements and treatment standards (Blyth, 2010; Infertility Network UK, 2009). Higher order multiple births from CBRC also pose an increasing challenge not only to the individual and to families, but also to health care providers (McKelvey et al., 2009).
Little is known about patients' experience of CBRC. Empirical research into CBRC has mainly comprised surveys. Against this background this qualitative study aimed to explore the infertility patients' motivations for and experiences of CBRC.


: The effect of different silver compounds (silver sulphate, silver nitrate, electrolytic ionic silver) on microorganisms in water reclaimed from the atmospheric condensate in an enclosed environment was investigated. The following microorganisms were examined: Alcaligenes faecalis, Citrobacter freundii. Aeromonas hydrophila, Staphylococcus epidermidis, etc. The ionic silver concentrations in solution varied from 0.1 to 10 mg/l. The efficiency of the silver compounds was found to depend on the microbial strain, ionic silver concentration in solution, and time of exposure. The microflora of the reclaimed water proved to be highly resistant to the preservatives which was strongly associated with the bacterial physical and chemical composition of the products preserved.


Tantalum nitride (Ta3N5) based photoanodes were overlaid with magnesium-doped gallium nitride (Mg:GaN) thin films by using a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PCVD) technique, and subjected to photoelectrochemical activity tests, aiming for a negative shift of onset potential for O2 evolution. A remarkable negative shift of the onset potential was observed after annealing Mg:GaN in N2 gas, reaching 0 V vs. RHE, despite a lower photocurrent than that on bare Ta3N5. Mg:GaN annealed in NH3 exhibited an improvement of the photocurrent. A detailed study of the photoelectrochemical performance for various samples and a thorough characterization have revealed the effects of N2/NH3 post annealing on Mg activation/Ta3N5 damage recovery, controlling the onset potential shift and the current density improvement. N2 post annealing shifted the onset potential to 0 V vs. RHE but decreased the current density. On the other hand, NH3 post annealing slightly shifted the onset potential and increased the current density largely. Despite the current density loss, this onset potential shift unlocks the prospect of unassisted photoelectrochemical water splitting on Ta3N5.


The morphology and isozyme marker was not enough to reveal banana genetic diversity. So, it needs molecular analysis. The purpose of this research is to know the genetic diversity of banana with B genome using microsatelite marker. Forty bananas with B genom from Yogyakarta Agriculture Service and Animal Husbandary Service and also from Tropical Fruit Centre of Bogor Agriculture Institute were amplified using 6 loci (MaCIR327b, MaCIR108, Ma-3-139, Ma-3-90, Ma-1-17, and Ma-1-27). The diversity were identified with allele amount, genotype, observe heterozigosity, and filogeny. There are eight allele per locus average from six microsatelites. MaCIR108 produced the highest allele amount, there are 13 alleles. The research identified 75 genotypes. MaCIR327b, MaCIR108, Ma-3-139, Ma-3-90, Ma-1-17, and Ma-1-27, respectively, produced 8, 20, 13, 14, 15, and 5 alleles. The Ho average is quite high, there are 0,77. The similarity coefficient is between 0,597 – 1,00. MaCIR108 and Ma-3-90 can be used to identify banana group genom. As a group genom characteristic, Ma-1-17 needs more research. Identification result between morphology and microsatelite marker were different. Based on morphology marker, Sri Wulan and Byar cultivar were ABB, and Ketip Gunung Sari were AAB, but based on microsatelite marker Sri Wulan and Byar cultivar were AAB, while Ketip Gunung Sari has not B on its genom.


Energy Star Program Integrity Act This bill amends the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to revise the Energy Star program to prohibit a disclosure relating to participation of a product in the program from creating a warranty or giving rise to private claims or rights of action relating to disqualification of the product from Energy Star if: (1) the product has been certified by a certification body recognized by the program, (2) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved corrective measures, and (3) the responsible party has fully complied with all such measures. The bill may not be construed to require the EPA to modify any procedure or take any other action.


To detect faults in a system we can adopt an observer, designed for the healthy system, and monitor the discrepancy between actual and expected behaviour of the residual (difference between the system output and its estimate). To isolate faults, we can compute the invariant sets associated with each fault, and their projection in the residual space (limit set): faults can be isolated if the associated limit sets are separated when a (constant) test input is applied. However, the explicit computation of limit sets can be hard even for low-dimensional systems. As a main contribution, we show that, by adopting an implicit representation of limit sets, very efficient procedures can be used to solve the problem, based on convex quadratic programming or linear programming. Simulations show that the approach is effective in solving even large dimensional problems, which makes it suitable for large- scale networked systems.


: A parabolic trough solar collector uses the glass mirror as a reflecting material in the shape of a parabola in order to reflect and concentrate the sun radiation towards a receiver tube located at the focus of the parabola. Various solar tracking systems have been developed by various researches in the past decades. A tracking system is still required which can track the sun on real time basis without any geographical data. In the present work, an automatic sun tracking system for parabolic trough collectors is designed for its feasibility. It is found that the automatic sun tracking system provides higher efficiency when compared to manually operated and fixed collectors. In this work, a direct formula is proposed for design of robust PID controller for sun tracking system using quadratic regular approach with compensating pole (QRAWCP). The main advantage of the proposed approach is that it eliminates the need to use recently developed iterative software computer techniques which are time consuming, computationally inefficient and also with this new approach there is no need to obtain boundaries of search space. In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, performance of the sun tracking system is compared with the recently applied tuning techniques for sun tracking systems such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Firefly Algorithm (FFA) and Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA).


Direct observation of polarization distribution at nanoscale by scanning force microscopy across partially etched Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 film ferroelectric capacitors with size 2×3 μm and preferential orientation (111) has revealed an anomalous polarization pattern characterized by polarization inversion in the center of the capacitor. This self-structured pattern is reproducible and independent on the spontaneous polarization orientation, but strongly influenced by the film texture and capacitor size. In particular, capacitors of the same texture with size 0.5×0.5 μm as well as capacitors with (100) preferential orientation of any size did not exhibit such anomalous polarization distribution. A tentative explanation consistent with the essential features of the observed polarization behavior in terms of strain-induced phase transition is discussed.


BACKGROUND
Though the World Health Organization declared the 'elimination of leprosy as public health problem' in 2000, the disease remains endemic in many countries. Current trends in incidence of infection and disease are unclear.

METHODS
Data on leprosy prevalence between 1977-2013 and data on new leprosy cases detected in the Republic of Korea between 1989-2013 were analysed by age, sex, clinical types, mode of detection, family history, disability grading and geographical distribution.

RESULTS
Both prevalence and incidence have declined greatly. There has been a shift to an increased proportion of multibacillary disease, and older age groups, consistent with a dramatic decrease in infection transmission in recent decades. An increase in proportion of cases with family history of disease is consistent with these declines. There is evidence that declines in infection and disease have been greater in the north of the country, as revealed in patterns by place of birth over time. Cases in immigrants now form a substantial proportion of leprosy disease in the Republic of Korea.

CONCLUSIONS
Leprosy has declined dramatically in the Republic of Korea in recent decades, and transmission of M. leprae may have effectively stopped. There remains a burden of care for individuals whose disease developed in the past, and there may be some additional newly detected cases among immigrants and among older individuals who acquired autochthonous infections decades ago.


Background and Objective: Investigating the use of radiofrequency myolysis (RFM) for the treatment of fibroids through less invasive access by combining transvaginal ultrasound, hysteroscopy and laparoscopy. Materials and Methods: Fifty-four premenopausal women with 106 symptomatic uterine myomas. Patients underwent RFM in three ways: Vaginal Ultrasound-guided RFM (VU-RFM), Laparoscopic RFM (L-RFM) and Hysteroscopic-RFM (H-RFM). The mean patient age was 43 years; 52 symptomatic uterine myomas were subserosal, 44 intramural and 10 submucosal. The outcomes evaluated at 1 and 12 months after RFM were myoma size (volume-diameter), "Uterine Fibroid Symptom and Quality of Life (UFS-QOL)" questionnaire and a 10-point Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The therapy was completed with a single ablation in all patients, no complication was registered. The average number of fibroids treated per intervention was two with the use of different accesses: 64/106 VU-RFMs (60.4%), 32/106 L-RFMs (30.2%) and 10/106 H-RFMs (9.4%). Results: Volume and diameter of fibroids were significantly reduced by, respectively, 51.3% and 20.1% in the first 30 days post-intervention (p < 0.001) up to a maximum of 73.5% and 37.1% after the second follow-up visit at 12 months (p < 0.001). A similar trend was shown in terms of disability with a progressive and significant reduction of symptoms (menorrhagia, dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia and pollakiuria) demonstrated by percentage variation of UFS-QOL Symptom Severity and VAS scores to −74.3% and −45.3% as well as −84.9% and −74.3%, respectively, at 1 and 12 months after RFM (p < 0.001). An overall improvement in the quality of life was also demonstrated by a significant increase in the UFS-QOL total score of +38.2% in the first 30 days post-intervention up to +44.9% after the second follow-up visit at 12 months (p < 0.001). The overall average surgery time of the RFM for each patient was 48 minutes, and the time to treat each fibroid by Vaginal Ultrasound-guided RFM (23 min) was found to be significantly less than those of laparoscopy or hysteroscopy (respectively 35 and 34 min) (p < 0.05). An electromagnetic virtual needle tracking system (VNTS) was successfully tested during the RFM procedures, and real-time contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has proven to be effective in determining the duration of myolysis through the identification of eventual residual areas of enhancement within the fibroids. Conclusion: Radiofrequency can be considered a minimally invasive and safe procedure for the treatment of uterine myomas through the customization and possible combination of transvaginal, laparoscopic or hysteroscopic accesses. The standardization of the ablation technique with pre-intervention biopsy and new technologies such as VNTS and CEUS spares healthy uterine tissue and may change the future management of symptomatic uterine fibroids.


The adaptive beamforming problem is solved using an algorithm-architecture-arithmetic combination that can be used for a small platform such as are found on aircraft or sonobuoys. The arithmetic used is the RNS system implemented on an array of processors that can be reassigned as the algorithm proceeds. The underlying algorithm is a modified Gaussian elimination. The (non-RNS) division operations are eliminated in favor of some scaling and the adaptive use of the processor array to accommodate the growth in dynamic range.<<ETX>>


The visualization of brain connectivity becomes progressively more challenging as analytic and computational advances begin to facilitate connexel-wise analyses, which include all connections between pairs of voxels. Drawing full connectivity graphs can result in depictions that, rather than illustrating connectivity patterns in more detail, obfuscate patterns owing to the data density. In an effort to expand the possibilities for visualization, we describe two approaches for presenting connexels: edge-bundling, which clarifies structure by grouping geometrically similar connections; and, connectivity glyphs, which depict a condensed connectivity map at each point on the cortical surface. These approaches can be applied in the native brain space, facilitating interpretation of the relation of connexels to brain anatomy. The tools have been implemented as part of brainGL, an extensive open-source software for the interactive exploration of structural and functional brain data.


We use a microfluidic method to estimate the water permeability coefficient (p) of membranes. As model lipid membranes we employ giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) composed of palmitoyloleoyl phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol (10 mol%). We have developed a microfluidic device with multiple chambers to trap GUVs and allow controlled osmotic exchange. Each chamber has a ring-shaped pressure-controlled valve which upon closure allows isolation of the GUVs in a defined volume. Opening the valves leads to a rapid fluid exchange between the trapping region and the microchannel network outside, thus allowing precise control over solution concentration around the GUVs contrary to other experimental approaches for permeability measurements reported in the literature. The area and volume changes of individual vesicles are monitored with confocal microscopy. The solute concentration in the immediate vicinity of the GUVs, and thus the concentration gradient across the membrane, is independently assessed. The data are well fitted by a simple model for water permeability which assumes that the rate of change in volume of a GUV per unit area is linearly proportional to concentration difference with permeability as the proportionality constant. Experiments of GUV osmotic deflation with hypertonic solutions yield the permeability of POPC/cholesterol 9/1 membranes to be p = 15.7 ± 5.5 μm s-1. For comparison, we also show results using two other approaches, which either do not take into account local concentration changes and/or do not resolve the precise vesicle shape. We point out the errors associated with these limitations. Finally, we also demonstrate the applicability of the microfluidic device for studying the dynamics of vesicles under flow.


Contributors to the Reformulation Project have expressed support and outlined concerns, both of which we are now seeking to develop and address. our main areas of concern have arisen regarding our initiative to place a proposal for the fundamental restructuring of refugee law on the table at the present time: 1. There is not a consensus that the magnitude of the present crisis in the refugee protection system warrants its wholesale replacement by a new regime. Many participants believe that there is a real chance that significant protection value might be "extracted" from the creative tailoring of extant mechanisms of protection; 2. There is concern that the lack of concrete experience in the implementation of several key components of the proposed protection regime would militate against govemmentalinterest in a reform of the kind suggested. In particular, the viability of enhanced international management of the system, the ability to humanely ensure that "temporary" protection is, at least in most cases, genuinely of finite duration, and the willingness of host governments to subscribe to an empowering model of temporary protection, were all viewed as untested hypotheses. Most of the contributors believe that, while each of these mechanisms might well prove of value, their wholesale adoption by governments was highly unlikely without clear evidence of their practicality and political acceptability; 3. Related to the second concern, it was the view of a number of con-