Recent studies have shown that enhanced Na/H exchanger activity, a frequently observed abnormality in essential hypertension, persists in Epstein-Barr-virus-immortalised lymphoblasts from afflicted patients. This phenomenon is associated with an enhanced proliferation of these cell lines. Studies have ruled out structural changes in the Na/H exchanger protein, but demonstrated a distinct enhancement of intracellular signal transduction in these cell lines. The ultimate cause can be assigned to an obviously genetically fixed increased reactivity of pertussis-toxin-sensitive G proteins, which can easily explain the increased formation of intracellular- second messengers, enhanced Ca2+ signals, and enhanced proliferation of these cell lines. Thus, hypertension in the subset of patients with enhanced Na/H exchanger activity could be caused by increased G protein reactivity.


Spatiotemporal-wave-based computing on an active medium, which is known as wave computing paradigm, mimics the way biological systems process information. Recent anatomic and physiological studies and technological developments in very large-scale integration technology have encouraged the engineers to brace up with this new paradigm. In this paper, a simple network model that is essential in order to explore spatiotemporal behavior and to develop new algorithms based on wave computing technique has been presented. The presented network is a 2-D reaction-diffusion cellular neural network consisting of relaxation oscillators. The network can be programmed as an autowave generator and sources of the wave can be placed at any place on the network. The network has the simplest model that exhibits autowaves. Furthermore, the model is suitable for the implementation of a larger network. The propagation of autowaves between the cells whose dynamics is fixed shows that the network can be adapted to already developed wave computing algorithms in literature.


We propose a new XOR based scheduling algorithm for network coding in cooperative local repair. The proposed algorithm proceeds in three phases. First, the nodes exchange their packets availability vectors. This is followed by a short period of distributed scheduling, wherein the nodes execute the processing algorithm, developed to minimize the total transmission time. In the third phase, nodes transmit the encoded packets as per the decision of the scheduling algorithm. In addition, we study the effects and trade-offs of file sizes, processing delays, number of users and packets' availability. In the sequel, we display the favorable effects of file segmentation. Simulation results show improvement in the system throughput and in the processing delay.


This research on a 2-link pneumatic manipulator develops from the occurrence of chaos phenomena and it's stabilizing control in following a circular trajectory by considering a dead time in the system. In generally it is difficult for this manipulator to follow a desired trajectory, because chaos is often caused in the manipulator with a dead time of the pneumatic signal transmitted through the long air tube. In order to solve this kind of problem, the chaos behavior is made clear by recording the Lyapunov exponent of the trajectory, and a new stabilizing method with a neural network is proposed. Through simulations and the experiment, the occurrence of chaos and the possibility of stabilization are verified by using the proposed method.


ABSTRACT Elicitor-associated compounds included in oral secretions of herbivorous arthropods, defined as herbivore-associated molecular patterns (HAMPs), induce defense responses in plants. Recognition of HAMPs by the host plants triggers the activation of downstream intracellular and intercellular signaling, resulting in the production of defensive secondary metabolites and volatile emissions to defend against herbivore attack. Thus far, several chemical classes of HAMPs, e.g., fatty acid-amino acid conjugates, peptides, enzymes, and oligosaccharides, have been characterized from not only plant-chewing arthropod herbivores but also plant-sucking arthropod herbivores. Here, we introduce the latest insights about HAMPs and the HAMPs-induced defense signaling network in host plants.


Aim: To determine the types, severity and evolution of aphasia in unselected, acute stroke patients and evaluate potential predictors for language outcome 1 year after stroke. Methods: 270 acute stroke patients with aphasia (203 with first-ever strokes) were included consecutively and prospectively from three hospitals in Copenhagen, Denmark, and assessed with the Western Aphasia Battery. The assessment was repeated 1 year after stroke. Results: The frequencies of the different types of aphasia in acute first-ever stroke were: global 32%, Broca's 12%, isolation 2%, transcortical motor 2%, Wernicke's 16%, transcortical sensory 7%, conduction 5% and anomic 25%. These figures are not substantially different from what has been found in previous studies of more or less selected populations. The type of aphasia always changed to a less severe form during the first year. Nonfluent aphasia could evolve into fluent aphasia (e.g., global to Wernicke's and Broca's to anomic), whereas a fluent aphasia never evolved into a nonfluent aphasia. One year after stroke, the following frequencies were found: global 7%, Broca's 13%, isolation 0%, transcortical motor 1%, Wernicke's 5%, transcortical sensory 0%, conduction 6% and anomic 29%. The distribution of aphasia types in acute and chronic aphasia is, thus, quite different. The outcome for language function was predicted by initial severity of the aphasia and by the initial stroke severity (assessed by the Scandinavian Stroke Scale), but not by age, sex or type of aphasia. Thus, a scoring of general stroke severity helps to improve the accuracy of the prognosis for the language function. One year after stroke, fluent aphasics were older than nonfluent aphasics, whereas such a difference was not found in the acute phase.


Salicornia europaea L. is a halophyte that grows in salt marshes and muddy seashores, which is widely used both as traditional medicine and as an edible vegetable. This salt-tolerant plant is a source of diverse secondary metabolites with several therapeutic properties, including antioxidant, antidiabetic, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-obesity effects. Therefore, this review summarizes the chemical structure and biological activities of secondary metabolites isolated from Salicornia europaea L.


Abstract The mapping of the ancient city of Teotihuacan was an archaeological project of singular importance in the history of archaeology. In this paper, we discuss the origin and history of the Teotihuacan Mapping Project (TMP) through a series of personal vignettes written by the project's leader, René Millon, which are put into larger context by Jeff Altschul, one of the many students who worked on the project. We examine the characteristics that led to the TMP's successes and its shortcomings and discuss lessons learned that may be of value to planning future big, complex archaeological projects. We argue that above all, a big project needs a big problem to solve. In the case of the TMP, the problem was the origin of the city. Marshaling a team of diverse talents, Millon and his colleagues were able to make many key decisions in ways that successfully overcame problems that had not been heretofore confronted by archaeologists. These decisions include the use of low-altitude aerial photography, the definition of sites to include nonliving urban spaces, the sampling of surface artifacts, strategic test excavations, computerized data management and sophisticated statistical analyses, and a unique manner of publication. Less successful was the project's record in publishing descriptive data. The project's success lay in its ability to take on an important problem and to follow through, even though some tasks required decades to complete and others remain to be completed.


Knowledge of how people interact with each other and with their environment is a necessary component of effective resource policy. Policymaking, including for MPAs, appears to be most informed and innovative when it is open to the views and experience of all stakeholders. However, despite their involvement in the use of coastal and marine resources around the world, many women face barriers to participating fully in the planning and management of those resources. Such barriers can be institutional, educational, or cultural in nature, and can profoundly influence decisionmaking that affects the welfare of marine resources and coastal communities.


Cooperative communication mechanisms have been proposed as an effective way of exploiting the spatial diversity to improve the quality of wireless transmissions. To the best of our knowledge, a number of research efforts have been paid to study how to employ diversity to the network layer routing design, realizing the minimum energy expenditure in the data transmission. However, there is a lack of a systematic strategy for evaluating the existing schemes. To address this issue, we first develop a taxonomy to summarize the existing energy-efficient cooperative routing algorithms and compare their pros and cons. In particular, we focus on the relay set selection strategies, which have great impact on energy saving. To fairly compare the performance of those schemes, we conduct theoretical analysis and derive three theorems to instruct energy-efficient cooperative routing. Our extensive experiments validate our findings. Our research summarizes the state-of-art research development and lay out future directions in this area.


This paper presents a simplified and efficient piston ring assembly (PRA) friction model of the piston ring pack. The model, which considers both mixed and hydrodynamic lubrication, uses the Reynold's equation as a governing equation and simplified assumptions to include mixed lubrication. Unique Stribeck curves are generated for a given ring's geometry and inter ring starvation effects are introduced by varying the boundary conditions, as appropriate. The model is validated by measurements made on a single cylinder diesel engine.


Because of their present relevance to divertor modeling of fusion reactors, differential and total elastic cross sections have been calculated for collisions of Be, Be+ and Be2+ in the ground state with atomic hydrogen. The collision energy was varied over more than four orders of magnitude, from 0.01 eV up to 500 eV. The differential cross sections are shown for the full range of scattering angles, at four representative values of energy. The total elastic cross section and its plasma transport relevant moments (momentum transfer, viscosity) are presented as functions of the energy.


The population attributable risk (PAR) of mental disorders compared to indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) for attempted suicide was estimated for Australia. For mental disorders, the highest PAR% for attempted suicide was for anxiety disorders (males 28%; females 36%). For SES, the highest PAR% for attempted suicide in males was for occupation (males 31%; females 16%) and education level (males 19%; females 8%), following adjustment for age and mental disorders. The study results suggest that one third of suicide attempts in both males and females are attributable to anxiety disorders, the same proportion attributable to low educational or occupational status.


This study discusses how to use information on mindfulness and its applications as a method for coping with difficult emotions in order to prevent a relapse of drug addiction. Mindfulness practices, while supporting healthy development, also reduce stress, improve well-being, and provide emotional balance. Its use in substance abuse treatment is quite new. Mindfulness helps one to be able to cope with their state of mind in the moment of stress related to substance withdrawal by supporting learning and well-being, and by enabling a direct relationship to be established among self-awareness, self-control, and emotion regulation. In the working group of this study on the prevention of substance abuse relapse, sessions consisted of experimental exercises and discussions. The objective is to keep key points such as the person's current experiences, relapse, improvement or lifestyle in the center of the discussion. The attention of the participants, through mindfulness application, is a continual in "the moment" review of their surroundings and can prevent them from getting lost in their history. As another strong side of the program, the importance of an individual addressing one's self before judging or being made to feel guilty is gently encouraged in these applications. In this way, difficulties that emerge in the practice are assessed not as failures but as a sign of tendencies related to the mind, and people's motivations are protected by normalizing the difficulties they experience. Perhaps the most crucial point of the mindfulness-based relapse prevention program, unlike other therapies, is that labeling in any manner is not performed. Instead of people experiencing the worth of being forgiven, people are required to only observe and accept. Through all of these practices, the target is to ensure a person becomes more aware and accepting towards their actions.


Chronic renal failure is an unusual complication of hereditary clotting disorders (HCDs), but this situation could change in the near future. The modality of dialysis for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in patients with an HCD is a difficult choice. Hemodialysis (HD) may be considered, but intensive treatment with coagulation factors is required for vascular access execution and for each HD procedure. Peritoneal dialysis (PD) has been infrequently proposed. However, PD requires coagulation replacement therapy only during peritoneal catheter placement. The aim of this paper is to describe our experience of three patients with ESRD and HCD, successfully treated with chronic PD in the medium term. Case 1 was a 58-year-old man with moderate hemophilia A, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. His ESRD was secondary to glomerulonephritis. A double-cuff peritoneal catheter was surgically placed with pre-emptive factor VIII administration. He began treatment with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). An inguinal hernia was repaired without complications. After eleven months of follow-up, no hemorrhage episodes have been observed and clinical outcome is optimal. Case 2 was a 46-year-old man with severe hemophilia A, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and HCV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. He developed a diabetic nephropathy that required renal replacement therapy. A permanent silicone catheter was inserted in the left internal jugular vein, and the patient started HD treatment. Later on, PD therapy was proposed. A peritoneal catheter was implanted with simultaneous factor VIII infusion. Minimal bleeding was observed at the subcutaneous tunnel over the following 48 hours. The patient started PD treatment without complications, and two months later, remaining asymptomatic, transferred to another center. Case 3 was a 41-year-old woman diagnosed with von Willebrand disease type 2A, HCV infection, and polycystic kidney disease, who presented with ESRD. An internal arteriovenous fistula was performed under coagulation factor cover. During a fistulography, and despite coagulation factor substitutive treatment, the patient showed an important hematoma. Afterwards, PD was considered. A peritoneal catheter was implanted under coagulation factor cover. The postoperative course was uncomplicated, and the patient started CAPD treatment. During follow up, she suffered two hemoperitoneum episodes that were resolved with cold dialysate. After nine months, she uneventfully continued on PD. In conclusion, PD is the therapy of choice for patients with hereditary clotting disorders and ESRD requiring dialysis. Peritoneal dialysis therapy avoids many of the complications related to HD therapy.


This paper is concerned with the analysis of the Helmholtz–Hodge decomposition theorem since it plays a fundamental role in the projection methods that are adopted in the numerical solution of the Navier–Stokes equations for incompressible flows. The paper highlights the role of the orthogonal decomposition of a vector field in a bounded domain when general boundary conditions are in effect. In fact, even if Fractional Time‐Step Methods are standard procedures for de‐coupling the pressure gradient and the velocity field, many problems are encountered in performing the decoupling with higher accuracy. Since the problem of determining a unique and orthogonal decomposition requires only one boundary condition to be well posed, thus either the normal or the tangential ones, result exactly imposed at the end of the projection. Numerical errors are introduced in terms of both the pressure and the velocity but the orthogonality of decomposition guarantees that the former does not contribute to affect the accuracy of the latter. Moreover, it is shown that depending on the meaning of the vector to be decomposed, i.e. acceleration or velocity, the true orthogonal projector can be defined only when suitable boundary conditions are verified. Conversely, it is shown that when the decomposition results non‐orthogonal, the velocity accuracy suffers of other errors. The issue on the resulting accuracy order of the procedure is clearly addressed by means of several accuracy studies and a strategy for improving it is proposed. This paper follows and integrates the issues reported in Iannelli and Denaro (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids 2003; 42: 399–437). Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Systematic reviews and meta‐analyses pool data from individual studies to generate a higher level of evidence to be evaluated by guidelines. These reviews ultimately guide clinicians and stakeholders in health‐related decisions. However, the informativeness and quality of evidence synthesis inherently depend on the quality of what has been pooled into meta‐research projects. Moreover, beyond the quality of included individual studies, only a methodologically correct process, in relation to systematic reviews and meta‐analyses themselves, can produce a reliable and valid evidence synthesis. Hence, quality of meta‐research projects also affects evidence synthesis reliability. In this overview, the authors provide a synthesis of advantages and disadvantages and main characteristics of some of the most frequently used tools to assess quality of individual studies, systematic reviews, and meta‐analyses. Specifically, the tools considered in this work are the Newcastle‐Ottawa scale (NOS) and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) for observational studies, the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT), the Jadad scale, the Cochrane risk of bias tool 2 (RoB2) for randomized controlled trials, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐analysis (PRISMA) and the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR2), and AMSTAR‐PLUS for meta‐analyses.


The design and fabrication of bioinspired nanomaterials for tissue-engineering applications requires a fundamental understanding of the interactions between polymers, nanostructures, and cells. Most biomimetic polymeric nanocomposites consist of two or more types of polymers or of polymers combined with different nanomaterials to obtain composite structures with desired properties. In this Talents & Trends article, the focus is on bioinspired poly meric nanocomposites surrounding three major strategies. Firstly, biomimetic structures composed of a fi brous architecture are discussed. Secondly, the emerging trends in designing complex nanocomposites with multiple functionalities are assessed. Finally, some of the most critical challenges that come with the design and fabrication are highlighted in bioprinting. Finally, the emerging trends in the fi eld of bioinspired polymeric nanocomposites are highlighted.


While the Japanese banking sector seems to have disciplined borrower firms for inefficient management in the high growth era, its fragility was revealed by the serious non-performing loans since the early 1990s. According to 'the financial restraint hypothesis' advocated by Hellmann, Murdock and Stiglitz (1996), the comprehensive competition-restricting regulation was effective in motivating banks to prudently monitor their client firms by giving the banks excess profit opportunities. The financial deregulation started at the beginning of the 1980s undermined banks' profitability and induced the banks to shirk monitoring. Thus, according to the financial restraint hypothesis, the Japan's bank crisis in the 1990s was a consequence of the financial deregulation in the 1980s. This paper criticizes the financial restraint hypothesis, and proposes the alternative hypothesis that the banking sector was potentially fragile even before the 1980s because the government was unable to penalize inefficiently managed banks in credible ways. The manufacturing firms, which were disciplined by competitive pressures from abroad, reduced their reliance on bank credit in the late 1970s, and non-traded good industries such as real estate became major borrowers of bank credit in the 1980s. This structural change in the bank credit market revealed the potential fragility of the Japanese banking sector. The empirical analyses based on more than 1,600 manufacturing firms supports the alternative hypothesis this paper proposes.


Letters from Ancient Egypt translated by Edward F. Wente and edited by Edmund S. Meltzer ([1990], $25.95, pb. $16.95, pp. 271, ISBN 1-55540-472-3, pb. -473-1) is the first of a new series, 'Writings from the Ancient World', which is intended to include collections of myths, epics, poetry, law codes, historical material, texts from daily life, hymns, prayers, and rituals. What will be offered are samples rather than exhaustive collections. The present volume contains 355 letters, with introduction, glossary, bibliography and indexes. In Linguistic Evidence for the Northern Origin of Selected Psalms ([1990], $24.95, pb. $14.95, pp. 143, ISBN 1-55540-565-7, pb.-566-5) Gary A. Rendsburg argues that 36 (and only 36) of the psalms originated in Northern Israel. Since he believes that Israelite Hebrew persisted after 721 this does not prove that they can be dated earlier than the fall of the Northern kingdom, though this is probable. Mark S. Smith examines The Laments of Jeremiafr and Their Contexts ([1990], n.p., pp.92, ISBN 155540-460-X, pb. -461-8), seeing them as composed initially to defend the prophet's ministry and later redacted for wider purposes. In 1988 a group of biblical scholars and students of anthropology and folklore met in Amherst College. The papers and responses have been edited by Susan Niditch in Text and Tradition: The Hebrew Bible and Folklore ([1990], $29.95, pb. $19.95, pp. 261, ISBN 1-55540-440-5, pb. -441-3). It contains studies of narratives, proverbial sayings, and law, and five concluding 'reflections'. Finally, SBL Resources for Biblical Study 20 is a revised edition of Joseph A. Fitzmyer's The Dead Sea Scrolls: Major Publications and Tools for Study ([1990], $25.95, pb. $16.95, pp.246, ISBN 1-55540510-X, pb. -511-8). THE EDITOR


Any woman who gives birth can have post-partum haemorrhage which may threaten her life. PPH is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and an important cause for serious morbidity in the developing and developed world. We are at the threshold of major developments in its prevention and treatment due to changing ideas about its definition and medical and surgical management. The implementation of these changes is an essential part of a wider commitment towards saving mothers from complications of childbirth.


The worldwide death toll claimed by Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Disease 2019 (SARS-CoV), including its prevailed variants, is 6,812,785 (worldometer.com accessed on 14 March 2023). Rapid, reliable, cost-effective, and accurate diagnostic procedures are required to manage pandemics. In this regard, we bring attention to quantum spin magnetic resonance detection using fluorescent nanodiamonds for biosensing, ensuring the benefits of artificial intelligence-based biosensor design on an individual patient level for disease prediction and data interpretation. We compile the relevant literature regarding fluorescent nanodiamonds-based SARS-CoV-2 detection along with a short description of viral proliferation and incubation in the cells. We also propose a potentially effective strategy for artificial intelligence-enhanced SARS-CoV-2 biosensing. A concise overview of the implementation of artificial intelligence algorithms with diamond magnetic nanosensing is included, covering this roadmap's benefits, challenges, and prospects. Some mutations are alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and Omicron with possible symptoms, viz. runny nose, fever, sore throat, diarrhea, and difficulty breathing accompanied by severe body pain. The recommended strategy would deliver reliable and improved diagnostics against possible threats due to SARS-CoV mutations, including possible pathogens in the future.


This chapter describes gender differences in Montevideo through the study of daily mobility. Generally, mobility studies do not account for gender differences more than in a superficial way, distinguishing basic travel patterns by sex. However, different patterns and mobility behaviours can obscure situations of deeply entrenched gender inequality that have direct consequences on the opportunities that men and women are able to reach. To disentangle these inequalities, this work addresses some mainstream mobility indicators classified by gender but also some specific indicators, with special attention to care mobility as a factor that can restrain women's ability to move. Moreover, a tour-based analysis is performed to shed light on gendered schedules and mobility patterns. Results show that women's mode share comprises a larger proportion of transit trips, they travel shorter distances – investing more time – and they contribute in a greater proportion than men to care mobility, especially among the lower quintiles of income. While men's commuting patterns have a defined 'home-based work' profile, women have a higher level of heterogeneity in their daily itineraries. Access to private motorised means of transport is a key variable in explaining the configuration of mobility patterns, and there is a persistent gender gap in this matter. The chapter concludes that, as several authors have reported, gender is a marker in terms of mobility. It sets specific conditions for urban life in general and mobility in particular that, in turn, may be the cause of further inequality.


Adjuvant arthritis (AA) can be induced in Lewis rats by a single injection of either heat-killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis or the lipoidal amine CP20961. Concanavalin A (Con A)-stimulated T cells isolated from AA rats are able to adoptively transfer the disease to naive syngeneic recipients. It is unclear, however, whether these transferred cells traffic directly to the joint and initiate arthritis, or whether secondary host cells are responsible for activation of the disease. In the current investigation, T cells labelled with the vital fluorescent dyes Hoechst H33342 and Zynaxis PKH26-G were used to adoptively transfer adjuvant disease to naive recipients. At various stages of disease development sections of ankle joints, together with a range of soft tissues, were examined by fluorescence microscopy to determine the distribution of labelled donor cells in the recipients. Intensely fluorescent lymphocytes were observed in the liver, spleen and lymph nodes within 24 hr of adoptive transfer. Foci of such cells were clearly visible in the primary lymphoid tissues as late as 14 days after transfer. However, close examination of both ankle joint sections and patellar fat pad cells throughout the time-course of the study failed to detect any labelled cells at the lesion site. To develop these observations further, we performed adoptive transfers to nude Lewis rats (rnu/rnu) and found that they were only moderately sensitive and developed, at best, a transient arthritis. This observed difference could not be explained by a generalized lack of an inflammatory response, since we were able to elicit a zymosan peritonitis in the nude rats. However, in nude Lewis rats a striking increase in adoptively transferred AA was obtained after reconstitution with 4 x 10(8) naive syngeneic spleen cells. These combined observations suggest that a host-derived immune cell population is crucial for arthritis induction in the adoptive transfer system.


Introduction: PROSPECT is a multicenter registry evaluating epoprostenol for injection (Veletri ® , Epo-A) in PAH patients. Epo-A dosing requires chronic up-titration with the majority of patients receiving additional PAH therapies. There is limited information on Epo-A dosing over time, especially with concomitant oral PAH therapy (ERA and PDE5i). To assess whether concomitant PAH therapies affect the Epo-A dose over time, we assessed dosing in parenteral prostanoid-naive patients. Methods: Patients were considered prostanoid-naive if they had not received parenteral prostacyclin or prostacyclin analog in the 30 days prior to Epo-A initiation. Median dose of Epo-A by concomitant PAH therapy (neither, ERA only, PDE5i only or both) was determined at 3 and 6 months post-initiation of Epo-A in prostanoid-naive adults. Results: At 3 months, Epo-A dose in naive patients (n=135) was 16, 15.7, 15.8 and 18 ng/kg/min and at 6 months (n=126) Epo-A dose was 23.7, 19.5, 17.6 and 21 ng/kg/min for patients receiving neither oral therapy, ERA only, PDE5i only or both, respectively. Naive patients receiving no concomitant PAH therapy showed the highest dosing increase (∼48%) over the 3 month period, while the dose increase in naive groups receiving additional medications was ∼22%, 11% and 16% for ERA only, PDE5i only, and both, respectively, during the same 3 month period. Conclusion: Dosing of Epo-A in prostanoid-naive patients during the first 6 months of treatment was not substantially altered by use of concomitant PAH therapies. Baseline characteristics, efficacy and attributable side effects may also influence Epo-A dosing and requires additional investigation.


Expanding the range of products of therapeutic and prophylactic orientation is a priority direction of the state policy in the field of healthy nutrition. Products enriched with functional components improve the general state of the body, have high organoleptic characteristics in combination with increased biological value. The production of synbiotic ice cream is one of the promising trends in the dairy industry. Due to its unique composition and technological peculiarities, the ice cream retains the desired organoleptic and functional properties. Pro- and prebiotic components in it are conserved by freezing, and activated only when they enter the organism. It has been established experimentally, that high concentrations of monosaccharides have an inhibitory effect on the development of probiotic cultures, therefore, the purpose of the research is to simulate the fermentation process of the ice cream enriched with prebiotic components, in order to determine optimal characteristics and establish rational syrup concentrations. Lactic bacteria of Lactobacillus acidophilus species that remain active in a wide temperature range and suppressing pathogenic microflora, as well as berry syrup with a high concentration of vitamins and minerals have been used as components that ensure the functionality of the product. Phased addition of syrup has been recommended for the ex- periment. As a result of the research, a model recipe for synbiotic ice cream has been developed, the quantitative regularities of the influence of various concentrations of fructose syrup on the process of fermentation of compound have been determined, organoleptic characteristics of soft-serve ice cream have been investigated, a power-law model of the dependence of the duration of fermentation on the mass fraction of fructose syrup has been obtained. It has been found that a decrease in the initial concentration makes it possible to shorten the technological cycle and regulate the acidity index.


Asymmetric arylation of secondary silanes catalyzed by a Pd-chiral phosphoramidite complex was developed for application to low-molecular-weight circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials. The asymmetric arylation provided a convenient, efficient synthetic method for a variety of chiral tertiary silanes (2-21), which were key intermediates for preparing the quaternary silicon center. A stepwise, one-pot procedure was used to transform the appropriate aryl iodide to the quaternary silane (22) with good yield and enantioselectivity. Among compounds synthesized in this work, four optically pure tertiary silanes (18-21) were selected to investigate the relationship between the structure and optical properties. Optically pure (S,S)-21 displayed the highest CPL emission with a high fluorescence quantum yield (glum: +0.008, ΦF: 0.42). This simple molecular design provides new strategies for developing small organic CPL dyes.


This study is to find the effect of capital structure, liquidity and free cash flow to firm value with profitability as a moderating variable. Sample 12 companies taken by nonprobability sampling (purposive sampling) of 12 automotive companies and components listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange 2012-2016. The method of data analysis used in this research is explanatory, research with multiple regression approach with the help of SPSS 23. The result of research indicates that capital structure, liquidity, free cash flow of profitability as a moderation variable have no positive and significant influence to firm value and free cash flow have influence positive and significant to value firm. Keywords : capital structure, profitability, liquidity, free cash flow and firm value


algorithm. The author shows that, as a class of nonlinear mappings between vector spaces, neural networks (including radial basis functions) can indeed be a useful method of dimension reduction. Chapter 9 is, as the author claims, "the basic goal of the book, that is the development of methods for constructing empirical dimensionality-reducing mappings of data" (p. 299). The so-called WRN (Whitney reduction network), based on Whitney's embedding theorem as a global approach, is covered in detail. However, in these global approaches, as the author notes, "when the domain dimension is large, are far less practical." The local approach is the Taylor expansion of the nonlinear mapping. Thus the linear term of the Taylor expansion can be applied by the KL procedure; a local KL algorithm is also given (p. 326). This book provides a valuable summary of data reduction. Of course, mathematical theory is an important part of the foundation for data analysis. But due to the limitation of the book's purely mathematical viewpoint, only the least squares–type criteria are discussed for determining an optimal basis. Many other approaches, including maximum likelihood, are not mentioned at all. This view limits the book's applicability.


This study investigates the association between cost rigidity and managerial ability. Cost rigidity refers to the percentage variation in costs relative to the percentage variation in sales, which can be captured by the relative proportion of fixed and variable costs. Traditional management accounting theory suggests that a less rigid cost structure with lower fixed costs offers companies flexibility in resource planning. However, we expect that higher-ability managers tend to adopt a more rigid cost structure. This is because higher-ability managers are more likely to realize unusually high demand and confront congestion if the fixed capacity is limited. To reduce congestion costs associated with higher future demand, more able managers will attempt to retain higher capacity and choose more fixed inputs, leading to a more rigid cost structure with higher fixed and lower variable costs. Consistent with our prediction, we find a positive association between managerial ability and the degree of cost rigidity. This association is stronger for firms with (1) sales increase; (2) greater demand uncertainty; and (3) lower capital intensity. Focusing on a subsample with CEO turnovers, we find an increase in cost rigidity when former CEOs are replaced with more capable CEOs. Taken together, our evidence challenges the traditional view on cost rigidity, suggesting that firms' capacity management choices differ with the level of managerial ability.


PURPOSE: The study examines differentials in various measures of pregnancy outcomes among all Asian Americans (N=328, 890) in the United States. METHODS: Cumulative data from the linked birth and infant/fetal death files for the period 198587 were used to study such Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) groups as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian, and "Other Asian and Pacific Islanders." White and black infants were considered as main comparison groups. Race/ethnic differences in pregnancy outcome measures such as perinatal, neonatal, postneonatal, and infant mortality rates, rates of low birth weight and preterm birth as well as those in maternal characteristics (e.g., maternal age, education, marital status, parity, nativity, and prenatal care) were analyzed. SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT FINDINGS: Results of the descriptive analyses indicate important race/ethnic differences, with Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and "Other Asians and Pacific Islanders" showing generally more favorable pregnancy outcomes and lower maternal risk profiles than Whites, Blacks, and Hawaiians. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: There is substantial heterogeneity among the AAPI groups, with Chinese exhibiting the most favorable and Hawaiians the least favorable pregnancy outcomes. The lower maternal risk profile appears to contribute to the relatively advantageous pregnancy outcomes of the Chinese and Japanese Americans compared to the other groups. The ethnically diverse group "Other Asian and Pacific Islanders" needs to be further subdivided so that specific Asian subgroups within this category, which may be at increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes, can be identified. RELEVANCE TO ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER AMERICAN POPULATIONS: This study reports comparative analyses of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian, and "Other Asian and Pacific Islanders." KEY WORDS: Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, pregnancy, infant, perinatal, preterm, low birth weight


Existing research on organizational defensive routines (ODRs) posits that they have strong and intertwined individual and organizational components. However, the literature has not yet systematically isolated and analyzed factors at both levels that trigger ODRs. This paper first utilizes theory on organizational routines to explain the characteristics of ODRs. Next, it identifies their individual and organizational level triggers. At the individual level factors generating ODRs are general self-efficacy, locus of control, and neuroticism while those operating at the organizational level are organizational politics, red tape, and organizational structure. The paper finally explores the potential damages ODRs could cause to individuals and organizations related to individuals' job satisfaction, work engagement, organizational ambidexterity, and organizational learning. The theoretical model in this paper builds a foundation for future empirical study and extends theoretically the nomological network of ODRs.


Hans and Peppina Zellenka featured prominently in Freud's case study of the teenage girl "Dora," in which they were anonymized as "the Ks." Much has been written about Dora, but until recently, little has been known about the Ks. This article describes the upbringings of Hans and Peppina in the Jewish communities of Vienna and the South Tirol and their coming together at the health resort of Meran (where Peppina's father was a bank director and where Peppina began an affair with Dora's father). The article also describes the Ks' move to Vienna in 1900 and their continuing involvement with the Bauers there. Hans Zellenka died in 1928. Dora escaped from Vienna in 1938, but Peppina remained and was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942, at the age of seventy-two. She survived thirty months in the camp before being released. Peppina Zellenka died in Mayrhofen in 1949, having told no one of her involvement in the Dora story.


This is a guide for the information professional to formulate a strategy or career plan to assist them when they apply for a new job. Using checklists, action summaries, points for reflection and outline career maps, the text offers practical advice on writing a CV, preparing for an interview, and presentation skills. It also gives guidance on assocated issues, such as career breaks, short-term postings, cross-sectoral moves and going freelance. The major areas covered in this text are: employment challenges for the information professional; your master career plan; researching the marketplace; applying for a job; your successful interview; going for promotion; continuous professional development; what is right for you.


A Multi-stage Interconnection Network (MIN) is one of the choices for Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) architecture designer for its simple topology and easy scalability with low degree. The evolution of digital design lies in the ability to shrink circuit size with each advance in process technology. As CMOS implementing technology continues to scale down, standard interconnect will become a major bottleneck for on-chip MIN platform performance. One of the nanoelectronic architectures that have been reorganized as one of the top six emerging technologies in future computers, known as Carbon NanoTube (CNT). CNTs have emerged as a promising material for future generation ICs. It is our purpose, in this paper, to present a comparative performance study for implementation of six prominent MINs (i.e., Omega, Butterfly, Baseline, Generalized Cube, Benes, and Clos networks) using CNT-based switches. The performance measures studied are compared to that of conventional CMOS in 16nm process technology and reflect a great deal of improvement in the network performance.


We are living in the era of expeditiously increasing population and industrialization and water is used in almost all industrial sectors such as food, pharmaceutical, metallurgy, chemical, textile industry and leather industry etc. which produces different kind of effluent. There are several methods used for removing pollutants from wastewater, among them the adsorption method is best as it removes diverse species of pollutants. Textile effluent is one of the major problems for aquatic as well as human life, contains several kinds of dyes, chemicals & hazardous substances that needs to be removed before further use. If the effluent is discharged into the environment without any treatment process, it will cause serious issues related to environmental as well human health. In various waste water treatment plants that are used for treating wastewater through adsorption, cellulosic, lignin based carbon materials, chemically or biologically activated carbonaceous of different biomass origin are used as adsorbent. This paper reviews the possibility of Okara (soyabean milk waste), being a cellulosic biomass and shows some adsorption capacity, as a low-cost adsorbent for treatment of the waste water generated from the textile industries.


Today, numerous analytical tools are available for metabolomics research; $^1$among them, high-resolution $^1$H liquid-state NMR spectroscopy offers a quantitative, non-destructive high-throughput method for rapid analysis of biospecimens. Therefore, $^1$H liquid-state NMR is widely used and is considered a convenient screening tool to discriminate between specimens of different biological origin. $^{2,3}$ One reason for this success is that in liquid-state NMR the samples are homogeneous (e.g., biofluids), permitting the acquisition of sharp signals (up to 0.001 ppm) for rich metabolic screening. Conversely , semisolid samples like tissue biopsies, whole cells and organisms are heterogeneous in nature and give broad NMR lines that hamper any precise and detailed metabolic investigation. This broadening is caused by the variation of the magnetic susceptibility in intercellular and intracellular boundaries. $^{4,5}$ However, in the early-mid 1990s an NMR technique emerged called high-resolution magic-angle spinning (HR-MAS) that extended the CHApTeR 5


In this work, we highlight our novel evolutionary sparse time-series forecasting algorithm also known as EvoSTS. The algorithm attempts to evolutionary prioritize weights of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Network that best minimize the reconstruction loss of a predicted signal using a learned sparse coded dictionary. In each generation of our evolutionary algorithm, a set number of children with the same initial weights are spawned. Each child undergoes a training step and adjusts their weights on the same data. Due to stochastic back-propagation, the set of children has a variety of weights with different levels of performance. The weights that best minimize the reconstruction loss with a given signal dictionary are passed to the next generation. The predictions from the best-performing weights of the first and last generation are compared. We found improvements while comparing the weights of these two generations. However, due to several confounding parameters and hyperparameter limitations, some of the weights had negligible improvements. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to use sparse coding in this way to optimize time series forecasting model weights, such as those of an LSTM network.


Summary The tumour suppressor phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN), mutated or lost in many human cancers, is a major regulator of angiogenesis. However, the cellular mechanism of PTEN regulation in endothelial cells so far remains elusive. Here, we characterise the urokinase receptor (uPAR, CD87) and its tumour-derived soluble form, suPAR, as a key molecule of regulating PTEN in endothelial cells. We observed uPAR-deficient endothelial cells to express enhanced PTEN mRNA- and protein levels. Consistently, uPAR expression in endogenous negative uPAR cells, down-regulated PTEN and activated the PI3K/Akt pathway. Additionally, we found that integrin adhesion receptors act as trans-membrane signaling partners for uPAR to repress PTEN transcription in a NF-κB-dependent manner. Functional in vitro assays with endothelial cells, derived from uPAR-deficient and PTEN heterozygous crossbred mice, demonstrated the impact of uPAR- dependent PTEN regulation on cell motility and survival. In an in vivo murine angiogenesis model uPAR-deficient PTEN heterozygous animals increased the impaired angiogenic phenotype of uPAR knockout mice and were able to reverse the high invasive potential of PTEN heterozygots. Our data provide first evidence that endogenous as well as exogenous soluble uPAR down-regulated PTEN in endothelial cells to support angiogenesis. The uPAR-induced PTEN regulation might represent a novel target for drug interference, and may lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies in anti-angiogenic treatment.


Redox imbalance plays essential role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Chronic heart failure (CHF) and hypertension are associated with central oxidative stress, which is partly mediated by the downregulation of antioxidant enzymes in the central autonomic neurons that regulate sympathetic outflow, resulting in sympathoexcitation. Antioxidant proteins are partially regulated by the transcriptional factor nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). Downregulation of Nrf2 is key to disrupting central redox homeostasis and mediating sympathetic nerve activity in the setting of Chronic heart failure and hypertension. Nrf2, in turn, is regulated by various mechanisms, such as extracellular vesicle-enriched microRNAs derived from several cell types, including heart and skeletal muscle. In this review, we discuss the role of Nrf2 in regulating oxidative stress in the brain and its impact on sympathoexcitation in Chronic heart failure and hypertension. Importantly, we also discuss interorgan communication via extracellular vesicle pathways that mediate central redox imbalance through Nrf2 signaling.


We consider coupled structures consisting of two different linear elastic materials bonded along an interface. The material discontinuities combined with geometrical peculiarities of the outer boundary lead to unbounded stresses. The mathematical analysis of the singular behaviour of the elastic fields, especially near points where the interface meets the outer boundary, can be performed by means of asymptotic expansions with respect to the distance from the geometrical and structural singularities. The coefficients in the asymptotics, which are called generalized stress intensity factors, play an important role in classical fracture criteria. In this paper we present several formulas for the generalized stress intensity factors for 2D and 3D coupled elastic structures. The formulas have the form of scalar products or convolution integrais of the given data or the unknown displacement field and the so-called weight functions, similar to Maz'ya/Plamenevsky functionals introduced in (19) for elliptic boundary value problems. The weight functions are non- energetic elastic fields, which admit a decomposition into a known singular part and a more regular one, which is computed by boundary ele- ment domain decomposition methods. Numerical experiments for two-dimensional problems illustrate the theoretical results.


The mammalian proximal tubule reabsorbs the bulk of the glomerular filtrate in a nearly isosmotic fashion due to the high osmotic water permeability (Pf) of this segment. Although the characteristics of proximal tubule water transport have been studied in the adult proximal tubule, little is known about the neonatal segment. The present study directly measured the Pf and diffusional water permeability (PDW) of neonatal (10 +/- 2 day old) and adult rabbit juxtamedullary proximal convoluted tubules (PCT) using in vitro microperfusion. The Pf of neonatal juxtamedullary PCT was greater than the Pf of adult juxtamedullary PCT. In contrast, the PDW was not different between the two groups. The Pf and PDW values of both neonatal and adult tubules were inhibited to the same degree by p-chloromercuribenzene sulfonate and had identical activation energies. The transepithelial reflection coefficients of NaCl and NaHCO3 were also found to be similar in both the neonatal and adult proximal tubules. Thus neonatal and adult juxtamedullary PCT have many characteristics of water transport that are identical; however, neonatal Pf is three to five times that of the adult value. This difference in Pf with identical PDW values may give an insight into the transepithelial pathway for water movement in the neonatal tubule.


The presence of sand particles flowing along with reservoir fluids in a pipeline increases the probability of pipeline failure. The risk of pipeline failure is either accentuated or abated by the flow conditions of the fluids in the pipeline. In this study, a quantitative risk analysis of the effect of sand on pipelines during multiphase flow, under the pipeline failure modes; sanding up, erosion, and encountering abnormal pressure gradient was conducted. Three piping components were considered: line pipe (nominal size 1.5 in [3.8 cm]), swing check valve (nominal size 12.007 in [30.5cm]) and 90 deg LR Elbow (nominal size 2.25 in [5.7cm]). Correlations that indicate the critical velocities and the critical sand concentrations above/below which these failures occur were employed and implemented in a Visual Basic program. The analysis was conducted at a temperature of 204 °C and pressure of 604 psi [4.2×106 Pa]. A probability distribution, simulating real-life scenario was developed using Monte Carlo simulation. This determines the probability of deriving critical sand concentration values that fall beyond the set statistical limits which indicates the probability of occurrence of the failure being investigated. For all three failures, the severity of occurrence (represented by CAPEX incurred in solving the failures) was multiplied with the probability of failure which gave rise to the risk indexes. Based on the histogram plot of average risk index and analysis, the study reveals that larger diameter components are prone to turbulence which lead to greater risk of erosion. The risk of abnormal pressure drop and sanding up were considerably lower than that for erosion (abrasion).


In this dissertation I theorize and analyze the rhetorical deployment of a "politics of location" within the context of poststructural theories of discourse, subjectivity, and agency. In her book, Blood Bread and Poetry, Adrienne Rich coins the phrase "a politics of location," which marks an effort to move away from a hegemonic Western feminism that universalizes all women's experiences and constructs a normative (and hence limiting and exclusionary) subject of feminism. Rich forwards a politics of location as a radical materialist political stance that grounds feminist theory in accountability for the situatedness of knowledge production. I extend Rich's phrase to theorize how radical, lesbian feminists have used a politics of location as a signifying practice to construct alternative subjectivities and assert discursive agency. More specifically, in this project I historicize and contextualize a politics of location as it developed within lesbian feminist interchanges during the 1980s and early 90s. This is a significant historical juncture for two reasons. First, the universal concept of "woman" came under radical critique by third-space feminists. Second, feminist publishing houses began to proliferate as a counter-public context for the dissemination of new voices and knowledges, thus allowing for the invention of new discursive strategies within feminist conversations. After historicizing a politics of location, I trace its development as a rhetorical strategy deployed specifically within interchanges between radical, lesbian feminists. Additionally, I use a Foucauldian theory of discursive formations to show how this rhetorical strategy interrupts the normative subject of the rhetorical tradition. Finally, I show how a politics of location contributes to the growing field of research on feminist rhetorical theory.


A child's early academic learning experiences take place at home as well as at school. These two 'overlapping spheres' have unique roles to play for the child, and affect them in different ways. In this thesis, I focus on the child's home life, and mother-child interactions nested within the home, and investigate how individual and dyadic characteristics of child and of mother may have a bearing on the quality of children's academic and non-academic learning experiences at home, and on their experience of school.

The first three papers used data from eighty-five families of Year 1 children in South-East England. This data was collected using questionnaire and interview measures and videotaped observations of mother-child interactions during home visits.

Paper 1 explores personal and social factors in Year 1 children relating to their self-reported school adjustment. Results from interviews showed that family and home life were important for academic self-concept, but not for school engagement, further reinforcing existing research showing that each distinct environment within the child's microsystem affects their experience of the other.

Paper 2 focused on homework: an area of children's formal education outside school. Most homework interaction research uses researcher-set activities; my study tested the validity of this by comparing genuine homework and a researcher-set task. In observations of 85 families of year 1 children, mother's and child's affect during genuine homework did not correlate with their affect during the non-homework tutored task, and were related to different personal and social factors.

Taking this further, Paper 3 investigated whether maternal beliefs about education predicted how she scaffolded her child during Year 2 homework. This paper used data from eighty of the families, visited a year after the original visit. Results showed that instruction quality during homework was predicted by mothers' earlier learning attribution beliefs, but not by their attitudes or expectations.

Homework is believed to help children refine their self-regulation skills. Paper 4 examined maternal scaffolding interactions through the conceptual lens of 'transfer of regulation'. Using a different dataset of home visits with seventy-eight families of children aged 8-11, the fine-grained coding method sheds light on aspects of tutored interactions typically missed by traditional scaffolding coding schemes, identifying various aspects of self-regulation and other-regulation, and mapping increases and decreases over the course of the task, thus providing rich information about the interaction quality within each mother-child dyad.

In conclusion, both social (transfer of regulation: Paper 4; parenting styles, mother-child relationship: Paper 1) and individual (maternal beliefs and personality: Papers 2 and 3) factors within the home context play a role in the child's learning and school experience – as assessed by academic self-concept, self-regulation, and the positivity and cognitive support received during homework. This thesis further reveals the interlaced nature of home and school, highlighting the value of unpacking the role of the home environment on children's education.


The Victoria Skating Rink won its place in history of great hockey buildings for a very simple feat: hosting the first organized hockey game indoors.


Background Several genes and their single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with either spontaneous resolution of hepatitis C infection or better treatment-induced viral clearance. We tested a cohort of intravenous drug users (IVDU) diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) for treatment response and its association with the SNPs in the interleukin-6 (rs1800795-IL6) and the interleukin-28B (rs12979860-IL28B) genes. Methods The study included 110 Croatian IVDU positive for anti-HCV antibody. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based approach. Patients were treated by standard pegylated-interferon/ribavirin and followed throughout a period of four years, during which sustained virological response (SVR) was determined. All data were analysed with statistical package SPSS 19.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA) and PLINK v1.07 software. Results Patients showed a significantly better response to treatment according to the number of copies of the C allele carried at rs1800795-IL6 (P = 0.034). All but one of the patients with CC genotype achieved SVR (93%), whereas the response rate of patients with GG genotype was 64%. The association of rs1800795-IL6 with SVR status remained significant after further adjustment for patients' age, fibrosis staging, and viral genotype (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.16–4.68, P = 0.019). Distributions of allele frequencies at the locus rs12979860-IL28B among the study cohort and the underlying general population were suggestive of a protective effect of CC genotype in acquiring chronic hepatitis C in the Croatian IVDU population. Discussion The rs1800795-IL6 polymorphism is associated with positive response to treatment in IVDU patients positive for HCV infection. A protective role of rs12979860-IL28B CC genotype in acquiring chronic hepatitis C is suggested for Croatian IVDU population.


Diabetes‑associated neuronal dysfunction (DAND) is one of the serious complications of diabetes, but there is currently no remedy for it. Streptozotocin [2‑deoxy‑2‑(3‑methy1‑3‑nitrosoureido) D‑glucopyranose; STZ] is one of the most well‑established diabetes inducers and has been used in vivo and in vitro DAND models. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate that C8‑B4 microglia transformed by the stimulus of repetitive low‑dose lipopolysaccharide (LPSx3‑microglia) prevent STZ‑induced Neuro‑2a neuronal cell death in vitro. The ELISA results showed that neurotrophin‑4/5 (NT‑4/5) secretion was promoted in LPSx3‑microglia and the cell viability assay with trypan blue staining revealed that the culture supernatant of LPSx3‑microglia prevented STZ‑induced neuronal cell death. In addition, reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR showed that neurons treated with the culture supernatant of LPSx3‑microglia promoted the gene expression of B‑cell lymphoma‑extra large and glucose‑dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor. Furthermore, the inhibition of tyrosine kinase receptor B, a receptor of NT‑4/5, suppressed the neuroprotective effect of LPSx3‑microglia. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that LPSx3‑microglia prevent STZ‑induced neuronal death and that NT‑4/5 may be involved in the neuroprotective mechanism of LPSx3‑microglia.


In his Discussion of the paper by Dill et al. (2007), Romer (2008) proposes an alternative explanation for U-Pb data of limonite enclosed in Pliocene torbernite. According to Romer (2008), limonite formed shortly after Carboniferous columbite and its U-Pb system was perturbed by the loss of intermediate daughters from the 238U decay series subsequent to their dislocation near to grain boundaries by α-recoil. The 206Pb/238U and 207Pb/235U ages >300 Ma are explained by U-loss in limonite during torbernite formation. In the model advocated by Romer (2008), both processes in concert caused a displacement of the analytical points and therefore of the discordia resulting in an aberrantly old upper intercept age (Romer, 2008; Figure 1⇓). In principle, Romer (2008) presents a scientifically sound explanation, which does not to take into account inherited columbite/limonite. We agree with Romer (2008) that, according to present knowledge, inherited columbite appears rather unlikely in a pegmatite melt and has so far not been reported. Despite various studies, mainly by Romer and co-workers (see references in Romer, 2008), the U-Pb system in columbite has not been studied in as much detail as in other U-bearing accessory minerals, such as zircon, monazite, rutile, and titanite.

Fig. 1.
Diagram of apparent 206Pb/238U age vs. U concentration of limonite enclosed in Pliocene torbernite. Two σ error bars of 206Pb/238U age are in most cases …


Objective: Lymphomas, a heterogeneous group of disorders caused by malignant proliferation of lymphocytes. Hodgkin and nonHodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is divided into two. Because of the rarity of NHL in pregnancy, the diagnosis and the management was presented with the literature. Case: In the 5. gestational week; the symptoms of the patient were sore throat and a palpable mass in the neck. The biopsy was diagnosed as NHL. In the 28. gestational week, syclophosphamid, docsorubicin, vincristin, prednisone (CHOP) chemotherapy was started. In the 39. gestational week, 3,310 gr female baby was delivered. Left ventricular mild systolic dysfunction was revealed in the postnatal echocardiography of the baby. After birth, rituximab was added to the chemotherapy regimen. Conclusion: The management of the NHL patients during pregnancy, performed with a multidisciplinary approach. Palpable cervical and submandibular masses during pregnancy, certainly should be considered in the differential diagnosis of lymphoma. That patients are showing fast cruise, must be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.


We experimentally investigate the phenomenon of a quantum ratchet created by exposing a Bose-Einstein Condensate to short pulses of a potential which is periodic in both space and time. Such a ratchet is manifested by a directed current of particles, even though there is an absence of a net bias force. We confirm a recent theoretical prediction [M. Sadgrove and S. Wimberger, New J. Phys. \textbf{11}, 083027 (2009)] that the current direction can be controlled by experimental parameters which leave the underlying symmetries of the system unchanged. We demonstrate that this behavior can be understood using a single variable containing many of the experimental parameters and thus the ratchet current is describable using a single universal scaling law.


Abstract One metal-free porphyrin, modified by electron-withdrawing groups, was synthesized by introduction of two peripheral pyridyl substituents and two metal coordination polymers, {[Zn(C42H16F10N6)]·2C2H7 N}n (1) and {[Co(C42H16F10N6)]·C2H7 N}n (2), were synthesized solvothermally. In 1, each porphyrin connected four other porphyrin molecules to construct a 2-D network through coordination bonds. Similarly, in 2 every Co(II) porphyrin coordinated with four adjacent molecules to form a 2-D framework. Thermogravimetric analyses indicate that both 1 and 2 show high-thermal stabilities. The fluorescence data of 1 and 2 show that 1 may be a candidate for potential inorganic–organic photoactive materials. Catalytic oxidation results show that 2 displays high activity with the only product acetophenone quantitatively in 81.4%, and after six cycles, the catalytic activity slightly decreases. These features of 2, including the exceptional stability, and high catalytic activity, make it outstanding among MOFs reported in the literature.


The socialization of a child into society's ways of managing body wastes is an important life skill which can impact the physical and mental health of the child and the public health of the child's community. Literature in this area has predominantly focused on how to toilet train, the connection between toilet training methods and ongoing incontinence issues, and the risk of cross contamination in child care facilities. It is our argument, however, that the discursive practices of 'in the moment time' of toilet training are under considered. Using a Foucauldian discourse analysis drawing on texts accessible within Aoteraroa New Zealand. We located three constructions of toilet training time with children, purchasing time, quality time and critical time. We propose that these constructions are contested, with multiple requirements produced from medical, aesthetic and moral discourses. Our findings showcase the covert underpinning of medical neurodevelopmental knowledge to the justification for aesthetic and moral discourses, as well as locating the opposing subjectivities of a committed mother and a non-committed mother. This analysis opens space to think otherwise about the assumptions underpinning the task of toilet training, how mothers are required or choose to use their 'in the moment time' during this task.


This text compares media institutions and political experiences in countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, to enable students to think critically about the central questions in the study of media and politics. The book balances contemporary case studies with explanations of key theories and concepts, and includes a section on political communication research methods, empowering students to fully understand - and conduct their own comparative research into - the impact of media on the political sphere.


Diclofenac, a frequently prescribed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug for the treatment of various musculoskeletal disorders and pain management therapies, is frequently associated with low bioavailability and delay onset of therapeutic activities. A prolonged administration of diclofenac also leads to multiple undesired adverse drug reactions such as gastrointestinal, hepatic and renal complications. In the present work, liposomal drug delivery system, a promising lipid-based nanoparticle technology, was exploited with the aim to improve the therapeutic efficacy and reduce toxicity of diclofenac. Different in vitro and in vivo experimental models were employed to attain a proof of concept, as well as to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying present diclofenac liposomal oral formulation. A validated, rapid and reproducible proliposomes method for the preparation of liposomes-encapsulated diclofenac was successfully developed. The optimized liposomal formulation (Pro-Lipo™ Duo from Lucas Meyer, France; DMSO solvent; 16 mg diclofenac per 1 g Pro-Lipo™; 10 hours hydration time; no size reduction treatment) yield a homogenous liposomes population (polydispersity index = 0.15) with small particle size (244.3 nm), the formulation also shown highest drug entrapment (581.4 μg/g Pro-Lipo™) and exhibited a satisfactory entrapment efficacy of 91.2 %. The prepared liposomes-encapsulated diclofenac was stable in refrigerated temperature (2-8 °C) for at least 4 weeks. In Lipopolysaccharideinduced RAW 264.7 murine macrophage model, the potential of present optimized liposomal diclofenac formulation in reducing both cytotoxicity and in vitro inflammatory responses were demonstrated. Liposomes-encapsulated diclofenac exhibited a significantly (P<0.05) stronger inhibition of proinflammatory mediators (NO, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and PGE2) than the conventional diclofenac formulation of equivalent dosage. Present research work also demonstrated that intragastrically administered liposomes-encapsulated diclofenac was able to improve the drug's therapeutic effects in various in vivo experimental models with percentage inhibition of inflammation up to 78.7 %. Paw edema test of multiple inducers (carrageenan, histamine, serotonin and formalin), carrageenan-induced granuloma pouch test and cotton pellet-induced granuloma test showed that liposomes-encapsulated diclofenac possessed a significantly (P<0.05) stronger acute and chronic anti-inflammatory activities than diclofenac, even if lower drug dosage were used to treat animals, percentage inhibition of inflammation ranging from 51.1 % to 61.9 % were observed. The improved in vivo drug therapeutic efficacy were attributed to the enhanced inhibition of pro-inflammatory mediators, including TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and COX mediated PGE2 synthesis cytokines (improved in percentage of inhibition up to 63.7 %), as well as suppression of NO production (46.6 %) in animals. In addition, sub-acute toxicity study revealed that animal models treated with liposomal formulation exhibited less signs of toxicity. Biochemical analysis (liver and kidney function tests) as well as histopathology assessment indicated that present liposomal formulation was able to significantly (P<0.05) reduce diclofenac-induced organ (stomach, liver and kidney) toxicity, with reduced macroscopic and microscopic gastric lesion in repeatedly treated rats. The highest percentage of improvement for stomach, liver and kidney lesion score were observed to be at 45.1 %, 25.7 % and 22 %, respectively. In conclusion, present research work successfully developed a practical liposomal diclofenac formulation with improved therapeutic efficacies and reduced systemic toxicities.


Traffic Engineering for Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER-TE)
shares part of architecture, definition and packet format with Bit
Index Explicit Replication (BIER) according to the introduction in
[I-D.eckert-bier-te-arch]. But BIER-TE supports the traffic
engineering by explicit hop-by-hop forwarding and loose hop forwarding
of packets. This document proposes a set of extensions to realize the
BIER-TE forwarding including the assignment of BitPositions to
adjacencies and the configuration of Bit Index Forwarding Table
(BIFT).


New technologies have increased access to written texts, while creating new ways of reading and of sharing responses. Yet, despite the centrality of reading in language learning, and the expanding use of computer technology in English Language Teaching (ELT), many questions concerning the integration of these two fields of knowledge remain unanswered. This study explores a global online discussion forum which links over 1,400 ELT professionals and students of TESOL (Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages). The ELT Online Reading Group makes literary works in English available to participants in over 75 countries and, by facilitating asynchronous discussion, contributes to their professional development. This study investigates readers' responses to literary texts and their comments on such texts. It adopts Bakhtin's concepts of dialogue and heteroglossia as the theoretical framework for the analysis of data collected from the forum. The forum posts are complemented by an online survey and by semi-structured narratives provided by selected Group members. The data are analysed in terms of compositional features, interactive patterns, and participants' accounts of group participation. The findings suggest that readers engage in dialogue with literary texts by making use of the language and features of the fictional narrative in the composition of their comments. The findings also suggest that the internal dialogue that Bakhtin observes in the novel is also present in the fabric of the texts which participants create in order to discuss literary works in the Group online environment. The thesis concludes with some reflections on the validity and limitations of this study, and a discussion of its possible implications for ELT professionals, educators and researches working on various disciplines in social sciences, arts and humanities.


Visual Abstract Background Rates of nephrotoxic AKI are not well described in adults due to lack of a clear definition, debate over which drugs should be considered nephrotoxins, and illness-related confounding. Nephrotoxic Injury Negated by Just-in Time Action (NINJA), a program that reduces rates of nephrotoxic AKI in pediatric populations, may be able to address these concerns, but whether NINJA can be effectively applied to adults remains unclear. Methods In this retrospective cohort study conducted at the University of Iowa Hospital, we included adult patients admitted to a general hospital floor for ≥48 hours during 2019. The NINJA algorithm screened charts for high nephrotoxin exposure and AKI. After propensity score matching, Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to evaluate the relationship between nephrotoxic exposure and all-stage AKI, stage 2–3 AKI, or death. Additional analyses evaluated the most frequent nephrotoxins used in this population. Results Of 11,311 patients, 1527 (16%) had ≥1 day of high nephrotoxin exposure. Patients with nephrotoxic exposures subsequently developed AKI in 29% of cases, and 22% of all inpatient AKI events met nephrotoxic AKI criteria. Common nephrotoxins were vancomycin, iodinated contrast dye, piperacillin-tazobactam, acyclovir, and lisinopril. After propensity score matching, Cox proportional hazard models for high nephrotoxin exposure were significantly associated with all AKI (hazard ratio [HR] 1.43, 1.19–1.72, P<0.001), stage 2–3 AKI (HR 1.78, 1.18–2.67, P=0.006), and mortality (HR 2.12, 1.09–4.11, P=0.03). Conclusions Nephrotoxin exposure in adults is common and is significantly associated with AKI development, including stage 2–3 AKI.


Background This paper presents follow-up data from a qualitative study of a Big Lottery funded 'Well London' project; an initiative set up to improve the health and well-being of Londoners living in areas historically marked by social, economic and environmental deprivation. The project introduced a series of health interventions: healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health and well-being, across a total of 20 areas within London. An evaluation of the interventions was conducted through a series of in depth semi-structured interviews with residents in 3 of the areas. Participants were interviewed twice: initially at the start of the interventions and again twelve months later. The interviews explored which of the project components acted positively on participant's sense of well-being and lead to changes in health behaviour. The methodology used, placed emphasis on the opinions and reflections of study participants and responds to Popay's call for research to be centred not only on theoretical concerns, but also to be attentive to 'lay' theories of health. Methods Two sets of 60 semi-structured interviews, taking place a year apart were conducted across three locations identified as Census Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs). These measured changes in health behaviour and residents' perceptions of 'well-being' that arose following the Well London interventions. Residents were interviewed about their experiences and perceptions of the neighbourhood; also their health and views of the Well London interventions. Residents who had not taken part in the project interventions were also selected and interviewed, for comparison. Results The study found that the project objectives succeeded where there were at least one of the following present; a) high levels of individual motivation; b) the involvement of external agencies in the form of key worker and/or agency support; c) where residents were involved in the organisation and dissemination of the projects, often as volunteers; and d) where the environment was made accessible, safe and conducive to a sense of belonging and 'community ownership'. Conclusion The findings indicate that the Well London project increased perceptions of well-being in populations defined by inner city social disadvantage. However, the pathways to change are complex and not easily generalized. Success is dependent on multiple interacting interpersonal, social and contextual factors, as well as the actual type of interventions themselves.


Tissue assessment for chronic wounds is the basis of wound grading and selection of treatment approaches. While several image processing approaches have been proposed for automatic wound tissue analysis, there has been a shortcoming in these approaches for clinical practices. In particular, seemingly, all previous approaches have assumed only 3 tissue types in the chronic wounds, while these wounds commonly exhibit 7 distinct tissue types that presence of each one changes the treatment procedure. In this paper, for the first time, we investigate the classification of 7 wound tissue types. We work with wound professionals to build a new database of 7 types of wound tissue. We propose to use pre-trained deep neural networks for feature extraction and classification at the patch-level. We perform experiments to demonstrate that our approach outperforms other state-of-the-art. We will make our database publicly available to facilitate research in wound assessment.


(1) Background: The importance of studying the health interventions used to prevent and treat overweight and obesity in school-aged children is imperative. This overview aimed to summarize systematic reviews that assess the effects of school-based, family, and mixed health interventions for preventing and treating overweight and obesity in school-aged children. (2) Methods: The Cochrane Collaboration methodology and PRISMA statement were followed. A search was conducted using terms adapted to 12 databases. Systematic reviews reporting interventions in children from six to 12 years old with an outcome related to preventing or treating obesity and overweight were included. Studies with pharmacological or surgical interventions and adolescents were excluded. (3) Results: A total of 15,226 registers were identified from databases and citation searching. Of those, ten systematic reviews published between 2013 and 2022 were included. After the overlap, 331 interventions for children between 6 and 12 years old were identified, and 61.6% involved physical activity and nutrition/diet intervention. Multicomponent intervention, combining physical activity with nutrition and behavioral change, school-based plus community-based interventions may be more effective in reducing overweight and obesity in children. (4) Conclusions: Plenty of interventions for childhood overweight and obesity aimed at prevention and treatment were identified, but there is a gap in the methodological quality preventing the establishment of a certain recommendation.


A recurrent neural network is proposed to deal with the nonlinear variational inequalities with linear equality and nonlinear inequality constraints. By exploiting the equality constraints, the original variational inequality problem can be transformed into a simplified one with only inequality constraints. Therefore, by solving this simplified problem, the neural network architecture complexity is reduced dramatically. In addition, the proposed neural network can also be applied to the constrained optimization problems, and it is proved that the convex condition on the objective function of the optimization problem can be relaxed. Finally, the satisfactory performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated by simulation examples.


Binding of Mg2+, Ca2+ and Co(NH3)6(3+) ions to the HIV-1 TAR RNA in solution was analysed by 19F NMR spectroscopy, metal ion-induced RNA cleavages and Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations. Chemically synthesised 29mer oligoribonucleotides of the TAR sequence labelled with 5-fluorouridine (FU) were used for 19F NMR-monitored metal ion titration. The chemical shift changes of fluorine resonances FU-23, FU-25 and FU-40 upon titration with Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions indicated specific, although weak, binding at the bulge region with the dissociation constants (K(d)) of 0.9 +/- 0.6 and 2.7 +/- 1.7 mM, respectively. Argininamide, inducing largest (19)F chemical shifts changes at FU-23, was used as a reference ligand (K(d) = 0.3 +/- 0.1 mM). In the Pb2+-induced TAR RNA cleavage experiment, strong and selective cleavage of the C24-U25 phosphodiester bond was observed, while Mg2+ and Ca2+ induced cuts at all 3-nt residues of the bulge. The inhibition of Pb2+-specific TAR cleavage by di- and trivalent metal ions revealed a binding specificity [in the order Co(NH3)6(3+) > Mg2+ > Ca2+] at the bulge site. A BD simulation search of potential magnesium ion sites within the NMR structure of HIV-1 TAR RNA was conducted on a set of 20 conformers (PDB code 1ANR). For most cases, the bulge region was targeted by magnesium cations.


Finding the correlation between stocks is an effective method for screening and adjusting investment portfolios for investors. One single temporal feature or static nontemporal features are generally used in most studies to measure the similarity between stocks. However, these features are not sufficient to explore phenomena such as price fluctuations similar in shape but unequal in length which may be caused by multiple temporal features. To research stock price volatilities entirely, mining the correlation between stocks should be considered from the point view of multiple features described as time series, including closing price, etc. In this paper, a time-sensitive composite similarity model designed for multivariate time-series correlation analysis based on dynamic time warping is proposed. First, a stock is chosen as the benchmark, and the multivariate time series are segmented by the peaks and troughs time-series segmentation (PTS) algorithm. Second, similar stocks are screened out by similarity. Finally, the rate of rising or falling together between stock pairs is used to verify the proposed model's effectiveness. Compared with other models, the composite similarity model brings in multiple temporal features and is generalizable for numerical multivariate time series in different fields. The results show that the proposed model is very promising.


A real-time task usually generates data. The study on real-time tasks either ignores this fact like most of the research do, or models data as execution time like when handling multimedia data. On the other hand, the network research community usually pays little attention to the data source other than assuming certain characteristics. There are many real world applications where data is not generated at a constant rate during task execution, and the average data rate is not the same among tasks. In this paper we study a new task model with data output as an explicit parameter. We analyze the data output of such task set. We shall derive the data source parameters assumed by network studies. Different scheduling policy results in different data output curve, we look at this in detail with simulations. Our work extends the real-time research to cover a new set of real world applications; it also complements the network study on data transmission.


The present study is an attempt to assess the growth and biochemical responses of Pongamia pinnata grownunder elevated levels of CO2 supply. Saplings (18 months) maintained in the nursery were brought toexperimentation in two growth chambers having controlled supply of air and air- CO2 mixture, for a periodof 15 days. The control and treated chambers were retained at an average CO2 concentration of 505.28±17.39 ppm and 1053.85± 24.99 ppm respectively. Day and night fluxes of CO2 within the chambers wereanalysed daily, along with a periodic assessment of the growth and biochemical responses associated withthe plants. A standardization study, excluding plants, was also attempted to assess the resultantflux ofCO2 associated with the growth chambers. The day flux of CO2 in the control and treatedchambers wasdifferent from that of the night flux in both experimentation and standardization studies. Higher CO2assimilation by the plants in the CO2 enriched system during the day time has also resulted in increasedplant height, stem thickness, leaf area and also in the assimilation of carbohydrates, sodium and potassium.Increased Carotenoids and phenol are implications of the stress to which the plants are subjected to underelevated levels of CO2 supply. The present study confirms that, despite certain signs of stress, Pongamiapinnata can be an ideal candidate for carbon offset planting.


This paper describes an algorithm for the sequential computation of transfer function dominant poles of s-domain system models. The algorithm is suited for the modal analysis of high-frequency dynamics of electrical networks having distributed parameter transmission lines. Results on a 39-bus electrical network containing 34 transmission lines are described to show the potential application of the proposed algorithm to infinite systems. The results clearly demonstrate the computational efficiency and numerical robustness of the algorithm, which is quite general and may be applied to s-domain system models that appear in other areas of engineering.


We consider the farthest-neighbor Voronoi diagram of a set of line segments in three dimensions. To understand the structure of the diagram, we define the "farthest hull" of the segments and investigate it by its representation in a Gaussian map. We then provide lower and upper bounds on the worst-case complexities of the farthest hull and of the Voronoi diagram.


Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) enable a wide series of technological advancements, ranging from clinical imaging, to predictive industrial maintenance and autonomous driving. However, recent findings indicate that transient hardware faults may corrupt the models prediction dramatically. For instance, the radiation-induced misprediction probability can be so high to impede a safe deployment of DNNs models at scale, urging the need for efficient and effective hardening solutions. In this work, we propose to tackle the reliability issue both at training and model design time. First, we show that vanilla models are highly affected by transient faults, that can induce a performances drop up to 37%. Hence, we provide three zero-overhead solutions, based on DNN re-design and re-train, that can improve DNNs reliability to transient faults up to one order of magnitude. We complement our work with extensive ablation studies to quantify the gain in performances of each hardening component.


To promote the coordinated development of regional economy, the application of price policy to promote the coordinated development of regional economy is worth research besides the application of fiscal policy, financial policy and other traditional polices in terms of the regional economic policy. As for the application of price policy, the following several aspects can be the start: to moderately increase resource prices and promote the adjustment of regional industrial structure; to implement price compensation system for resources and ecological environment and promote the sustainable development of regional economy; to formulate reasonable region difference and product price ratio and promote the development of regional trade; to determine the reasonable resources price ratio and the production factors price and narrow the gap in development among regions; to use the price transfer payment and promote the development of less developed regions.


Economy of scale is becoming of more concern in the financing of school districts. The relationship between school size and efficiency appears to be dependent on whether the schools are relatively small or relatively large (Butler and Monk, 1985). Increasing school size may or may not lead to increase achievement. Fowler and Walberg (1991) found a negative relationship between school size and some educational outcomes among New Jersey school districts. Increasing the size of small schools may make them more economically efficient. But, when schools become too large there is also a tendency for the schools to become economically inefficient. The consolidation of smaller districts in order to increase school size has bee the trend for many years. Ornstein (1989) points out that the consequences of the consolidation efforts have lead to controversy. Schools are very complex social and economic organizations. From a social point of view as schools get larger there appears to be a decline in the individual participation of parents and students in school affairs (Green and Stevens, 1988). The effect of school size on achievement may be different for variations in size of small schools as compared to variations in size of relatively large schools. Walberg and Fowler (1987) emphasize the need to distinguish between spending efficiency and production efficiency. Approximately half of a school districts budget is spent on teacher salaries. Hence a schools spending efficiency is related to the student teacher ratio. Student teacher ratio is a primary factor in economy of scale (Tholkes, 1991). Production efficiency is concerned with student achievement relative to the consumption of school resources. A major proportion of school resources is reflected in the size of the teaching staff. Rather than look at the relationship between school size and efficiency directly, this study considers the intermediate variable of student teacher ratio in relation to school size. The second part of the investigation explores the relationship between S/T ratio and school efficiency. Teacher salaries as a function of S/T ratio are considered as an indicator of spending efficiency. Th third issue in the study is concerned with the relationship of S/T ratio and student achievement in terms of production efficiency. Sample School Districts In order to study the relationship between elementary and secondary student teacher ratios it was necessary to have a sample of school districts with a consistent grade level organization. There are many different grade level organizations employed in the 453 Missouri school districts. Some districts hav a K-8, 9-12 organization. There is a larger group of school districts with either junior high schools or middle schools. The dominate grade level organization is K-6, 7-12 which is employed in 226 of the Missouri school districts. The K-6, 7-12 organization allows the most flexibility in teacher assignments within low enrollment districts. Because of the high correlation between secondary enrollment and student teacher ratio the districts were divided into five enrollment groups based upon their 7-12 enrollments. A random sample of twelve schools was selected for each of the five secondary enrollment groups. By restricting the sample of districts to the K-6, 7-12 organization th findings of this study are limited to considering the economy of scale issue fo small school districts. Student Teacher Ratio as a Function of School Enrollment Table 1 contains the means and standard deviations for the elementary and secondary student teacher ratios for the sample schools. S/T ratio is defined t be the number of pupils enrolled in September divided by the number of teachers counselors and librarians. The average class size is a little larger than the S/T ratio. The size of the standard deviations indicate that there is a large amount of variation in the S/T rations within the enrollment groups. …


The work presents results of investigations concerning the production of cast iron containing about 5-6% aluminium, with the ferritic matrix in the as-cast state and nodular or vermicular graphite precipitates. The examined cast iron came from six melts produced under the laboratory conditions. It contained aluminium in the amount of 5.15% to 6.02% (carbon in the amount of 2.41% to 2.87%, silicon in the amount of 4.50% to 5.30%, and manganese in the amount of 0.12% to 0.14%). After its treatment with cerium mixture and graphitization with ferrosilicon (75% Si), only nodular and vermicular graphite precipitates were achieved in the examined cast iron. Moreover, it is possible to achieve the alloy of pure ferritic matrix, even after the spheroidizing treatment, when both the aluminium and the silicon occur in cast iron in amounts of about 5.2÷5.3%.


With the built environment being one of the largest contributors to anthropogenic emissions, it is essential that building energy demand is controlled, cleaner energy sourced and emissions reduced. However, aligning demand with supply is challenging, as building performance is variable and largely unknown. Central to understanding energy demand is the ability to quantify the energy required to comfortably condition a building and the role that the building envelope plays in effectively enclosing the space. Unfortunately, relatively little is known about building fabric features and how different aspects affect performance under real conditions. Of serious concern and a factor that impacts greatly on control, is the degree that a building's fabric performance differs from that which is expected. Many buildings do not offer the thermal resistance required to meet their design intent. Where variations in fabric thermal performance are significant this will prove a barrier to the effective use of energy and affect the control of buildings. For effective control, the building demand under different environmental conditions should be relatively stable. The building behaviour and response must be a known quantity. This paper explores air tightness studies in existing and retrofit properties, demonstrating how some buildings have the capacity to be stripped of all conditioned air, while others prove more airtight. Furthermore, results of whole building heat loss tests on new buildings are presented showing the variance in heat loss coefficient, an established indicator of difference in designed v's as-built performance. The work also demonstrates that energy efficient, thermally resistant, building enclosures can be built within acceptable tolerance; such fabric solutions being key to the nearly zero energy buildings required. The results provide an important step in understanding what is required to achieve the control necessary to move towards energy flexible and efficient buildings.