RNA splicing, and variations in this process referred to as alternative splicing, are critical aspects of gene regulation in eukaryotes. From environmental responses in plants to being a primary link between genetic variation and disease in humans, splicing differences confer extensive phenotypic changes across diverse organisms1–3. Current approaches for analysing splicing rely on quantifying variant transcripts (i.e., isoforms) or splicing events (i.e., intron retention, exon skipping etc)4, 5. However, regulation of splicing occurs at the level of selection of individual splice sites, which results in variation in the abundance of isoforms and/or splicing events. Here, we present a simple approach to quantify the strength of individual splice sites, which determines their selection in a splicing reaction. Splice-site strength, as a quantitative phenotype, allows us to analyse splicing precisely in unprecedented ways. We demonstrate the power of this approach in defining the genomic determinants of the strength of individual splice-sites through GWAS. Our pilot-GWAS with more than thousand splice sites hints that cis-sequence divergence and competition between splice-sites and are among the primary determinants of variation in splicing among natural accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana. This approach allows deciphering the principles of splicing, which in turn has implications that range from agriculture to medicine.


In this paper we report on a unique and contextually-sensitive approach to sonification of a subset of climate data: urban air pollution for four Canadian cities. Similarly to other datadriven models for sonification and auditory display, this model details an approach to data parameter mappings, however we specifically consider the context of a public engagement initiative and a reception by an 'everyday' listener, which informs our design. Further, we present an innovative model for FM index-driven sonification that rests on the notion of 'harmonic identities' for each air pollution data parameter sonified, allowing us to sonify more datasets in a perceptually 'economic' way. Finally, we briefly discuss usability and design implications and outline future work.


Double oxide films (bifilms) are significant defects in light alloy castings which were reported to have detrimental effects on the reliability of the castings. The research reported here was aimed at studying how these defects develop with time. The results suggested that both O and N inside the bifilm would be consumed by reaction with the surrounding melt, and that H might be diffused into the defect. Based on the estimated reactions rates the time required for the consumption of the atmosphere inside a bifilm entrained in pure Al, Al-7wt.%Si-0.3wt.%Mg and Al-5wt.%Mg alloy melts, was determined to be 538, 1509 and 345 seconds respectively. The results also suggested the occurrence of two competing mechanisms during holding of the castings in the liquid state before solidification. The first mechanism was related to the consumption of the bifilm atmosphere, which might reduce the size of bifilms and therefore increase the Weibull moduli the UTS and the % elongation. The other mechanism was the diffusion of H into the bifilms, which would be expected to increase their sizes and reduce the moduli. This research therefore could lead to the development of new techniques by which bifilms might be deactivation in light alloy castings.


This study investigates whether intra-ASEAN trade represents higher trade with efficient members (trade creating) or with inefficient members (trade diverting). Since ASEAN integration efforts are geared toward "open regionalism", factors affecting both inter-industry and intra-industry trade at the disaggregated level are also identified. Using the extended gravity model, intra-ASEAN trade with efficient members is found for total exports, mainly contributed by five sectors: beverages & tobacco, minerals & fuels, chemicals & materials, machinery & transport equipment, and miscellaneous manufactures. Thus, this study finds that only "good", i.e., efficient intra-regional trade is taking place within ASEAN, which is in line with the objective of establishing the ASEAN Economic Community. Income levels, transportation costs as well as level of development are shown to have a significant effect on total trade as well as on most sectors. Based on the findings, the study provides policy recommendations to promote higher trade for ASEAN members.


This literary grace use cultural heritage data,expert interview,questionnaire,statistics analysis etc.method,pass establishment open type of the university athletics resources in the park share mode,with maximum limit scoop out limited athletics resources,solve an of the athletics resources limited and university the athletics need infinite existence of antinomy,push the university athletics in the park realization cross over type development.


Here we report urine-derived cell (UDC) culture and subsequent use for cloning which resulted in the successful development of cloned canine pups, which have remained healthy into adulthood. Bovine UDCs were used in vitro to establish comparative differences between cell sources. UDCs were chosen as a readily available and noninvasive source for obtaining cells. We analyzed the viability of cells stored in urine over time and could consistently culture cells which had remained in urine for 48hrs. Cells were shown to be viable and capable of being transfected with plasmids. Although primarily of epithelial origin, cells were found from multiple lineages, indicating that they enter the urine from more than one source. Held in urine, at 4°C, the majority of cells maintained their membrane integrity for several days. When compared to in vitro fertilization (IVF) derived embryos or those from traditional SCNT, UDC derived embryos did not differ in total cell number or in the number of DNA breaks, measured by TUNEL stain. These results indicate that viable cells can be obtained from multiple species' urine, capable of being used to produce live offspring at a comparable rate to other cell sources, evidenced by a 25% pregnancy rate and 2 live births with no losses in the canine UDC cloning trial. This represents a noninvasive means to recover the breeding capacity of genetically important or infertile animals. Obtaining cells in this way may provide source material for human and animal studies where cells are utilized.


Nogo-A, a member of the reticulon family, is one of the most important myelin-associated inhibitors for axonal growth, regeneration, and plasticity in the central nervous system. RhoA has been targeted pharmacologically to promote neurite outgrowth and functional recovery in the brain and spinal cord. However, the underlying mechanism of the inhibition of neurite outgrowth by Nogo-A has not yet been fully defined. Protein kinase B (PKB, also known as Akt) is a protein serine/threonine kinase that plays a key role in intracellular signaling and cellular homeostasis. This study reports the role of PKB signaling on Nogo-A-treated PC12 neuronal cells. An inhibitory fragment of Nogo-A (Nogo-66) activated RhoA and reduced the phosphorylation of PKB at Ser473 in a time-dependent manner. In contrast, pretreatment with Y27632, a specific inhibitor of Rho-A, resulted in an increase of the phosphorylation of PKB. Nogo-66 also inhibited the neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells, whereas pretreatment with LY294002, a specific inhibitor of PKB, ameliorated the neurite outgrowth. These data suggest that PKB is involved in the inhibition of neurite outgrowth by Nogo-A in PC12 cells.


This study sought to determine the extent to which literacy education facilitated acquisition, and development of intellectual skills. The study also sought to find out whether literacy education enhanced performance of civic responsibilities, mobilization of grass roots people for political participation, democratic governance and continuous life-long learning for sustainable development. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design while a purposive multistage random sampling procedure was adopted in selecting and administering questionnaire to the respondents. A total of 146 (88 males and 58 females) respondents of intact classes (groups) of learners. The questionnaire and interview schedule were the primary research instruments used in collecting data for the study. The results showed that 91.78 per cent of the respondents asserted that literacy resulted into development of intellectual skills, self-reflection, awareness creation and sensitiveness to social issues. Similarly, the results showed that 87.67 percent of the participants concurred that through dialogue, inquiry, sensitivity to cause and effect relations, and expression of the rights to self-determination, literacy engendered compliance with rules and regulations, and mobilization of grass roots people for political participation and democratic governance.


Hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication starts with binding of reverse transcriptase (RT) to the apical stem-loop region of epsilon, a conserved element of the RNA pregenome. For duck HBV, an in vitro replication system has provided molecular details of this interaction. Further insights can be obtained from the structure and dynamics of the duck and human apical stem-loops. Previously, we reported these for the human apical stem-loop. Here, we present the same for the duck counterpart. Unlike its human counterpart, the duck apical stem is unstable in its middle/upper part and contains noncanonical base pairs. This dynamics study is the first of an unstable RNA-DNA stem. Similar to the human stem, the duck apical stem comprises two helical segments with a bend angle of ca. 10 degrees , separated by a nonpaired mobile U residue. It is capped by a well-structured conserved UGUU loop with two residues mobile on the pico- to nanosecond time scale, one of which is involved in RT binding. Remarkably, the unstable middle/upper part of the stem does not show enhanced pico- to nanosecond time scale dynamics. Instead, adenine dispersion relaxation studies indicate enhanced millisecond time scale dynamics involving base pair opening. It can then be concluded that base pair opening is essential for epsilon-RT binding, because stabilization of the stem abolishes binding. We hypothesize that binding occurs by conformational capture of bases in the base pair open state. The unstable secondary structure of the apical stem-loop makes duck epsilon-RT binding unusual in light of recent classifications of RNA target interactions that assume stable secondary structures.


Background: Global DNA hypomethylation is an early molecular event in carcinogenesis. Whether methylation measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) DNA is a clinically reliable biomarker for early detection or cancer risk assessment is to be established. Methods: From an original sample-set of 753 male and female adults (ages 64.8 ± 7.3 years), PBMCs DNA methylation was measured in 68 subjects with history of cancer at time of enrollment and 62 who developed cancer during follow-up. Age- and sex-matched controls for prevalent and incident cancer cases (n = 68 and 58, respectively) were also selected. Global DNA methylation was assessed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677C>T genotype and plasma folate concentrations were also determined for the known gene-nutrient interaction affecting DNA methylation. Results: Cancer subjects had significantly lower PBMCs-DNA methylation than controls [4.39 (95% confidence intervals (CI), 4.25–4.53) vs. 5.13 (95% CI, 5.03–5.21) %mCyt/(mCyt+Cyt); P < 0.0001]. A DNA methylation threshold of 4.74% clearly categorized patients with cancer from controls so that those with DNA methylation less than 4.74% showed an increased prevalence of cancer than those with higher levels (91.5% vs. 19%; P < 0.001). Subjects with cancer at follow-up had, already at enrollment, reduced DNA methylation as compared with controls [4.34 (95% CI, 4.24–4.51) vs. 5.08 (95% CI, 5.05–5.22) %mCyt/(mCyt+Cyt); P < 0.0001]. Moreover, MTHFR677C>T genotype and folate interact for determining DNA methylation, so that MTHFR677TT carriers with low folate had the lowest DNA methylation and concordantly showed a higher prevalence of cancer history (OR, 7.04; 95% CI, 1.52–32.63; P = 0.013). Conclusions: Genomic PBMCs-DNA methylation may be a useful epigenetic biomarker for early detection and cancer risk estimation. Impact: This study identifies a threshold for PBMCs-DNA methylation to detect cancer-affected from cancer-free subjects and an at-risk condition for cancer based on genomic DNA methylation and MTHFR677C>T-folate status. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 22(3); 348–55. ©2012 AACR.


High-tech semiconductor fabrication equipment is dynamics-sensitive due to its ultra-precision requirements. Significant structural innovations have been made characterized by floating support and direct drive in order to eliminate effects of friction and vibration transfer. Nevertheless, complicate dynamic characteristics of multi-physics coupling, among electricity, magnetism, fluid, solid, heat, should be deliberately concerned in such kind of systems. Dynamicsdriven design is essential to the success of development. However, lack of integrated design tool embarrasses the efficiency of design work and reuse of design knowledge. This paper proposes a process-driven dynamics design approach. Process control is involved to guide designers to accomplish design work. Dynamics model of components used in high-tech semiconductor fabrication equipment are abstracted and encapsulated as set of templates. In this paper, process meta-model based on XML are detailed, and a process test tool is developed to facilitate customization process modeling by simple graphical operations and attributes assignment.


Clouds are virtualized datacentres and applications offered as services. Cloud datacentre hosts hundreds of servers with software and hardware constituents that requires huge amount of energy for its operation. This poses energy consumption challenge, as well as server consolidation and data security due to the required technologies. This study, therefore, focuses on the cost effectiveness and energy efficiency of securing the cloud. Cost, in this context, is the continuous efforts made by cloud vendors in maintaining and ensuring that cloud infrastructures are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities that are energy efficient and conform to Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Quality of Service (QoS) standards. Various factors that causes inefficiency in the cloud are considered in addition to conducts that ensure cost effective and energy efficient security in the cloud were evaluated using cloudsim and cloudreports, toolkits for modelling and simulating cloud environment as well as the feasibility of reducing the energy consumed in datacentres. The experimental results using Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and DataCentre Infrastructure Efficiency (DCIE) techniques for analyzing the energy consumed in datacentres demonstrates enhanced cloud


In the present study, the growth of the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lam., 1819 in the Black Sea on ropes has been studied. The result of a 18 month-trial showed that the mussels grew 72.84±0.74 mm in lenght. Temperature of seawater has been measured (minimum of 7u°C in the month of February and maximum of 27.7°C in August). Salinity varied from 17.2 to 19.3‰.


Part 1 Preface Part 2 I Chapter 3 1. Roberta E. Pearson: "O'er Step not the Modesty of Nature": A Semiotic Approach to Acting in the Griffith Biographs Chapter 4 2. William Rothman: Virtue and Villainy in the Face of the Camera Chapter 5 3. Jerome Delamter: Ritual, Realism and Abstraction: Performance in the Musical Chapter 6 4. Thomas Waugh:"Acting to Play Oneself": Notes on Perfomrance in Documentary Chapter 7 5. Bart Testa: Un Certain Regard: Characterization in the First Years of the French New Wave Chapter 8 6. Lucy Fischer: The Lives of Performers: The Actress as Signifier in Cinema Part 9 II Chapter 10 7. Marian Keane: The Great Profile: How Do We Know the Actor from the Acting? Chapter 11 8. Noel Carroll: Keaton: film Acting as Action Chapter 12 9. Sylvie Gendron, translated by Anne Golden with Carole Zucker: Actor and Text: La Grande Illusion Chapter 13 10. Carole Zucker: "I Am Dietrich and Dietrich is Me" An Investigation of Performance Style in Moroccoe and Shaghai Express Chapter 14 11. Johanne Larue and Carole Zucker: James Dean The Post of Reality? East of Eden and the Method Performance Chapter 15 12. Mario Falsetto: The Mad and the Beautiful: A Look at Two Performances in the Films of Stanley Kubrick Chapter 16 13. Doug Tomlinson: Performance in the Films of Robert Bresson: The Aesthetics of Denial Chapter 17 14. Angela Dalle Vacche: Representation, Spectacle, Performance in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist Part 18 Notes on Contributors Part 19 Index


While instant message (IM) is gaining its popularity it is exposed to increasingly severe security threats. A serious problem is IM spam (spim) that is unsolicited commercial messages sent via IM messengers. Unlike e-mail spam (unsolicited bulk e-mails), which has been a serious security issue for a long time and a number of techniques have been proposed to cope with, spim has not received adequate attention from the research community yet, and traditional spam filtering techniques are not directly applicable to spim due to its presence information and real time nature. In this paper, we present a new architecture for detecting and filtering spim. With the unique infrastructure of IM systems spim detection and filtering can be achieved not only at the client (receiver) side - for a personalized filtering - but also at the server side and various IM gateways - for a global filtering. Our technique integrates a number of mature spam defending techniques with modifications for IM applications, such as Black/White List, collaborative feedback based filtering, content-based technique, and challenge-response based filtering. We also design and implement new techniques for efficient spim detection and filtering, including filtering methods based on IM sending rate, content based spim defending techniques, fingerprint vector based filtering, text comparison filtering, and Bayesian filtering. We provide an analysis of their performances based on experimental results.


We study a continuous time Mutually Catalytic Branching model on the $\mathbb{Z}^{d}$. The model describes the behavior of two different populations of particles, performing random walk on the lattice in the presence of branching, that is, each particle dies at a certain rate and is replaced by a random number of offsprings. The branching rate of a particle in one population is proportional to the number of particles of another population at the same site. We study the long time behavior for this model, in particular, coexistence and non-coexistence of two populations in the long run. Finally, we construct a sequence of renormalized processes and use duality techniques to investigate its limiting behavior.


Nonlinear interaction between pulses can severely reduce the bit-rate of an optical communication system. One way of reducing this interaction is amplitude shifting of consequtive pulses. In the present work a detailed analytical and numerical investigation is made of the coherent and incoherent interactions between two soliton pulses of unequal amplitudes. For the case of coherent interaction the obtained expressions for the pulse parameters in terms of initial phase and amplitude differences give a clear and explicit prediction of the reduction of the interaction strength for unequal soliton amplitudes. A comparison with numerical simulation results shows good agreement. For the case of incoherent soliton interaction it is found that the dependence of the interaction strength on the amplitude difference is weak.


In this paper we define a formal strongly consistent transformation from UML2 sequence diagrams to coloured Petri nets (CPNs). We define the language of sequence diagrams (set of legal traces) and show how this is mapped onto an equivalent language of CPNs through formal transformation rules. The rules defined can be extended to consider modelling aspects such as stochastic and real-time behaviour. This work is part of a more general framework based on model driven transformations to validate UML models using Petri nets, and hence exploit existing Petri net analysis and verification tools for UML-based design.


This paper deals with the critical study of the way the denial of racism works in political discourse to serve for the justification of public policies. To study this issue two texts are selected for analysis. These are the republican Jeb Bush's interview on CNN in November the 15 th 2016 and the democrat Barack Obama's press conference speech in the G-20 summit in November the 16 th 2016 in Antalya, Turkey. The analysis of these two texts is carried within the framework of a multidisciplinary theoretical approach ranging from semantics, syntax, pragmatics, argumentation theories, rhetoric, and context. This multi-dimensional approach finds its ground within the CDA framework of discourse and language study. The methodology used for the analysis of the selected texts consists of two phases. The first phase is based on the collection of data via the scrutiny of the texts phrase by phrase, clause by clause, sentence by sentence, and even paragraph by paragraph tracing the discursive strategies of actor description, authority, burden, consensus, empathy, fallacies, lexicalization, normative expressions, reasonableness, populism, and victimization determined in Van Dijk (2000). The second phase is devoted to the establishment of relations between the employed strategies to determine how they serve for the denial of racism, the justification of the speakers' policies, and the extent to which they can reflect political continuity. The results showed that the denial of racism at various levels of discourse structure is justified and public policies are determined and justified through both the denial of racism and the political manipulation of the war on terror. Thus, the results of the analysis highlighted the relation between the concepts of policy (migration), denial of racism, and terrorism. These parameters form a triangulation we need to understand how terrorism is used in connection with the denial of racism to justify public policies.


Using cross-sectional, individual-level survey data from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh collected under the Indian National Family Health Survey programme of 1992–93, statistical modelling was used to analyse the impact of a range of variables on the survival status of children during their first 2 years of life. Attention was focused on the potential impact of the mother's autonomy. The strongest predictors of mortality were demographic and biological factors, breast-feeding behaviour, and use and knowledge of health services. Variables that can be interpreted as being related to maternal autonomy, such as the presence of a mother-in-law in the household, did not have a significant direct effect on child survival at the individual level, and their indirect effects were very limited.


End-to-end latency corresponds to the temporal difference between a user input and the corresponding output from a system. It has been shown to degrade user performance in both direct and indirect interaction. If it can be reduced to some extend, latency can also be compensated through software compensation by trying to predict the future position of the cursor based on previous positions, velocities and accelerations. In this paper, we propose a hybrid hardware and software prediction technique specifically designed for partially compensating end-to-end latency in indirect pointing. We combine a computer mouse with a high frequency accelerometer to predict the future location of the pointer using Euler based equations. Our prediction method results in more accurate prediction than previously introduced prediction algorithms for direct touch. A controlled experiment also revealed that it can improve target acquisition time in pointing tasks.


A population study for the F13B locus was carried out in a total of 396 South American individuals. The analysis comprised new data from 5 Amerindian populations, existing data from 3 Amerindian populations, and I urban sample from La Plata, Argentina. In both pooled Amerindian and La Plata samples, 6 alleles were found. The individual Amerindian samples showed a lower number of alleles, changes in modal alleles, and restricted variability. Interpopulation comparisons revealed significant differences among samples from distinct geographical regions. Differences among the groups were also corroborated by the F(ST) statistic. Data support the hypothesis that genetic drift and gene flow influence Amerindian differentiation.


This study aims to evaluate the modified Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle (NNN) medium by adding mycosel agar to inhibit the growth of fungi and comparing it to traditional culture for the isolation of Leishmania parasites from cutaneous lesions of patients presenting to a specialized leishmaniasis clinics in Iran. A total 128 (70 female and 58 male) consecutive patients aged 3 months to 75 years (mean age of 11.25 years), presenting to Lesion biopsies were cultured in duplicate and parallel in traditional culture tubes containing NNN medium and modified NNN medium. The contamination rate in two groups of media was assessed. After sufficient incubation we have investigated that the media tubes for the presence of fungi. Through 90 samples, in 46 NNN media and 58 mycoNNN promastigotes were growth and culture positive. The difference between NNN medium and Mycosel NNN was quite significant (p<0.05). The overall sensitivity of Modified NNN medium were 75, while traditional culture had sensitivity of 64.8. We have demonstrated that modified NNN medium is a more sensitive and time-efficient means of isolating Leishmania parasites from cutaneous lesions than traditional culture. Our study showed that contamination of NNN medium as base culture medium for isolation of Leishmania agents could be diminished significantly by addition of mycosel agar to NNN medium. © 2009 Academic Journals Inc.


In this paper, a new multichannel spatio-temporal filter is described for color video sequences restoration with the presence of non-Gaussian zero-mean additive noise. To address this problem, we propose a multichannel L-filter optimized by the least mean Kurtosis (LMK) algorithm. Prior to filtering, motion compensation is performed by a robust simultaneous estimation for all color components using an affine linear model. Then, we apply the proposed filter to the reconstructed frames. Experiments were performed on real color video sequences, and performance comparisons have been made both in RGB and L*a*b* color spaces.


Magnetoelectric (ME) multiferroics are materials in which ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity occur simultaneously and coupling between the two is enabled. Applied magnetic field H gives rise to an induced polarization P which can be expressed in terms of magnetic field by the expression, P=┙H, where ┙ is the ME-susceptibility tensor. Most of the known single-phase ME materials are known to show a weak ME coupling (Fiebig, 2005; Kita et al., 1988; Wang et al., 2003; Prellier et al., 2005; Cheong et al., 2007). A composite of piezomagnetic and piezoelectric phases is expected to have relatively strong ME coupling. ME interaction in a composite manifests itself as inducing the electrical voltage across the sample in an applied ac magnetic field and arises due to combination of magnetostriction in magnetic phase and piezoelectricity in piezoelectric phase through mechanical coupling between the components (Ryu et al., 2001; Nan et al., 2008; Dong et al., 2003; Cai et al., 2004; Srinivasan et al., 2002). In last few years, strong magneto-elastic and elasto-electric coupling has been achieved through optimization of material properties and proper design of transducer structures. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-ferrite and PZT-Terfenol-D are the most studied composites to-date (Dong et al., 2005; Dong et al.,2006b; Zheng et al., 2004a; Zheng et al., 2004b). One of largest ME voltage coefficient of 500 Vcm-1Oe-1 was reported recently for a high permeability magnetostrictive piezofiber laminate (Nan et al., 2005; Liu et al., 2005). These developments have led to magnetoelectric structures that provide high sensitivity over a varying range of frequency and DC bias fields enabling the possibility of practical applications. In this paper, we focus on four broad objectives. First, we discuss detailed mathematical modeling approaches that are used to describe the dynamic behavior of ME coupling in magnetostrictive-piezoelectric multiferroics at low-frequencies and in electromechanical resonance (EMR) region. Expressions for ME coefficients were obtained using the solution of elastostatic/elastodynamic and electrostatic/magnetostatic equations. The ME voltage coefficients were estimated from the known material parameters. The basic methods developed for decreasing the resonance frequencies were analyzed. The second type of resonance phenomena occurs in the magnetic phase of the magnetoelectric composite at much higher frequencies, called as ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). The estimates for electric field induced shift of magnetic resonance line were derived and analyzed for


The aim of this research was to select the fragments that make up the outer layer of the collagen IV (COL4A6) protein and to assess their potential usefulness for regenerative medicine. It was expected that because protein-protein interactions take place via contact between external domains, the set of peptides forming the outer sphere of collagen IV will determine its interaction with other proteins. Cellulose-immobilized protein fragment libraries treated with polyclonal anti-collagen IV antibodies were used to select the peptides forming the outer sphere of collagen IV. In the first test, 33 peptides that strongly interacted with the polyclonal anti-collagen IV antibodies were selected from a library of non-overlapping fragments of collagen IV. The selected fragments of collagen IV (cleaved from the cellulose matrix) were tested for their cytotoxicity, their effects on cell viability and proliferation, and their impact on the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The studies used RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage cells and Hs 680.Tr human fibroblasts. PrestoBlue, ToxiLight™, and ToxiLight 100% Lysis Control assays were conducted. The viability of fibroblasts cultured with the addition of increasing concentrations of the peptide mix did not show statistically significant differences from the control. Fragments 161-170, 221-230, 721-730, 1331-1340, 1521-1530, and 1661-1670 of COL4A6 were examined for cytotoxicity against BJ normal human foreskin fibroblasts. None of the collagen fragments were found to be cytotoxic. Further research is underway on the potential uses of collagen IV fragments in regenerative medicine.


Compositional real-time scheduling clearly requires that "normal" real-time scheduling challenges are addressed but challenges intrinsic to compositionality must be addressed as well, in particular: (i) how should interfaces be described? and (ii) how should numerical values be assigned to parameters constituting the interfaces? The real-time systems community has traditionally used narrow interfaces for describing a component (for example, a utilization/bandwidthlike metric and the distribution of this bandwidth in time). In this paper, we introduce the concept of competitive ratio of an interface and show that typical narrow interfaces cause poor performance for scheduling constrained-deadline sporadictasks (competitive ratio is infinite). Therefore, we explore more expressive interfaces; in particular a class called medium-wide interfaces. For this class, we propose an interface type and show how the parameters of the interface should be selected. We also prove that this interface is 8-competitive. A Pseudo-Medium-Wide 8-Competitive Interface for Two-Level Compositional Real-Time Scheduling of Constrained-Deadline Sporadic Tasks on a Uniprocessor Bjorn Andersson CISTER Research unit Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract—Compositional real-time scheduling clearly requires that "normal" real-time scheduling challenges are addressed but challenges intrinsic to compositionality must be addressed as well, in particular: (i) how should interfaces be described? and (ii) how should numerical values be assigned to parameters constituting the interfaces? The real-time systems community has traditionally used narrow interfaces for describing a component (for example, a utilization/bandwidthlike metric and the distribution of this bandwidth in time). In this paper, we introduce the concept of competitive ratio of an interface and show that typical narrow interfaces cause poor performance for scheduling constrained-deadline sporadic tasks (competitive ratio is infinite). Therefore, we explore more expressive interfaces; in particular a class called medium-wide interfaces. For this class, we propose an interface type and show how the parameters of the interface should be selected. We also prove that this interface is 8-competitive.Compositional real-time scheduling clearly requires that "normal" real-time scheduling challenges are addressed but challenges intrinsic to compositionality must be addressed as well, in particular: (i) how should interfaces be described? and (ii) how should numerical values be assigned to parameters constituting the interfaces? The real-time systems community has traditionally used narrow interfaces for describing a component (for example, a utilization/bandwidthlike metric and the distribution of this bandwidth in time). In this paper, we introduce the concept of competitive ratio of an interface and show that typical narrow interfaces cause poor performance for scheduling constrained-deadline sporadic tasks (competitive ratio is infinite). Therefore, we explore more expressive interfaces; in particular a class called medium-wide interfaces. For this class, we propose an interface type and show how the parameters of the interface should be selected. We also prove that this interface is 8-competitive.


Patients with end-stage liver failure, portal hypertension, and associated pulmonary artery hypertension (portopulmonary hypertension [PPHTN]) have a high mortality when undergoing liver transplantation. Successful transplantation in these patients may depend on efforts to reduce pulmonary artery pressure (PAP). To this end, a number of centers are using a continuous intravenous (IV) infusion of epoprostenol, which has been shown to improve symptoms, extend life span, and reduce PAP in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension. We report four cases in which treatment of patients with PPHTN with continuous IV epoprostenol was followed by the development of progressive splenomegaly, with worsening thrombocytopenia and leukopenia. This finding may limit the usefulness of epoprostenol in PPHTN and influence the timing of transplantation in such patients.


A detailed investigation of the switching characteristics for high frequency power devices based on different technologies has been provided: BJT, MOSFET, and MESFET/HEMT structures are considered. Advantages of GaAs power switches over silicon ones have been established and illustrated. Hybrid technology prototypes of DC-to-DC power converters operating above 10 MHz and exclusively using GaAs components have been realized: for a nonoptimized boost converter operating at 100 MHz, a power efficiency of 54% has been achieved with a 6 V/12 V conversion ratio and an output power of 1.5 W. For optimized prototypes, using high frequency assembly techniques, an efficiency of 80% at 50 MHz, 74% at 100 MHz and 60% at 250 MHz have been obtained with 6 V/12 V and 3 W.


Several recent studies in China have associated raised mortality risks with chronic exposure to ambient PM2.5. However, cohort evidence covering general populations and more homogeneous regions is extensively scarce. We conceived a nationwide perspective cohort study from 2010 through 2018, by enrolling 30 946 adult men and women aged 16-110 years from 25 provincial regions in mainland China. Cox proportional hazards models with time-varying exposures were adopted to quantify longitudinal association of PM2.5 exposure with all-cause mortality. A total of 1762 death events occurred during a median follow-up of 8.1 years. Participants were exposed to a broad range of annual mean PM2.5 concentrations (2.4-112 μg/m3), with an average estimate of 47.5 μg/m3. A 10-μg/m3 increase in annual average of PM2.5 exposure was associated with an hazard ratio of 1.055 (95% confidence interval: 1.022-1.088, p < 0.001) for all-cause mortality. We estimated totally 2.68 million deaths attributable to ambient PM2.5 in 2015, yielding a remarkable reduction of 36.7 thousand compared to the estimate in 2010 (2.72 million deaths). This study added nationally representative evidence regarding concentration-response function for long-term PM2.5-mortality association in Chinese adults, which may significantly contribute to national and global assessments of PM2.5-attributable death burden.


Communication one of the key considerations in majority of care domains. National Quality Forum steering committee reinstates two questions dealing with courtesy and respect. Quality managers should use poor scores to identify opportunities for improvement.


Employment, demographic, cultural, and legal changes in Europe over the past 40 years have brought unprecedented numbers of minority groups into organisations at all levels, and research suggests that most workplaces are likely to become even more diverse in the future. While much attention has been paid to negative experiences of minorities in the workplace, it also has the potential to be an important site of prejudice reduction. In response, drawing on original quantitative and qualitative data, this article explores the encounters of socially different groups in the workplace. It demonstrates that workplaces can promote meaningful encounters. However, cases of positive encounter with difference were often discussed at the level of the individual, with reference to specific people and friendships, rather than towards the minority group to which the individual belonged. As such, these positive encounters were often superficial with underlying tensions still existing between different groups in the workplace.


Water availability can limit maize (Zea mays L.) yields, and root traits may enhance drought adaptation if they can moderate temporal patterns of soil water extraction to favour grain filling. Root system efficiency (RSE), defined as transpiration per unit leaf area per unit of root mass, represents the functional mass allocation to roots to support water capture relative to the allocation to aerial mass that determines water demand. The aims of this study were to identify the presence of hybrid variation for RSE in maize, determine plant attributes that drive these differences and illustrate possible links of RSE to drought adaptation via associations with water extraction patterns. Individual plants for a range of maize hybrids were grown in large containers in shadehouses in Queensland, Australia. Leaf area, shoot and root mass, transpiration, root distribution and soil water were measured in all or selected experiments. Significant hybrid differences in RSE existed. High RSE was associated with reduced dry mass allocation to roots and more efficient water capture per unit of root mass. It was also weakly negatively associated with total plant dry mass, reducing preanthesis water use. This could increase grain yield under drought. RSE provides a conceptual physiological framework to identify traits for high-throughput phenotyping in breeding programs.


Purpose : To analyse spontaneous and in vitro bleomycin-induced chromosome aberrations in peripheral lymphocytes taken from Hodgkin's disease patients after prolonged (up to 31 years) remission periods, and to consider these data from the point of view of the carcinogenic potential of anticancer therapy. Materials and methods : Conventional analysis of chromosome preparations stained with azure-eosin. Results : The mean frequency and patterns of both spontaneous and induced aberrations in remission patients were significantly different from comparison groups (healthy donors and primary Hodgkin's disease patients). Individual values were characterized with high variation and did not show correlation with post-therapy time. New cancer cases diagnosed in remission patients were more frequent in subjects with high chromosome sensitivity to in vitro bleomycin challenge than in patients whose sensitivity to bleomycin was at a control level. Conclusions : The results are interpreted as suggesting that the tumorigenic potential of radiochemotherapy is mediated via induction of genetic instability in exposed cells. Long after the therapy, the instability may become an initiating event in the development of new malignancies in affected tissues, whereas the instability induced in haemopoietic stem cells may reveal itself in peripheral lymphocytes derived from formerly exposed precursors.


Disaster mental health research has found that psychological casualties from a given disaster can be expected to far outnumber physical casualties. Amidst a shortage of mental health professionals and against the backdrop of natural disasters, continued terrorism, and pandemic influenza, there is a striking need to expand and operationalize available human resources to enhance the psychological resiliency of those affected. Through the utilization of psychological first aid (PFA) as an early crisis intervention tool, and by virtue of their occupation and experience, nurses are particularly well-suited to assume a leadership role in expanding the disaster mental health presence beyond the existing cadre of mental health clinicians. Here, we characterize the importance of integrating PFA in the context of other nursing functions, to augment mental health surge capacity in disaster settings.


We present DeepCABAC, a novel context-adaptive binary arithmetic coder for compressing deep neural networks. It quantizes each weight parameter by minimizing a weighted rate-distortion function, which implicitly takes the impact of quantization on to the accuracy of the network into account. Subsequently, it compresses the quantized values into a bitstream representation with minimal redundancies. We show that DeepCABAC is able to reach very high compression ratios across a wide set of different network architectures and datasets. For instance, we are able to compress by x63.6 the VGG16 ImageNet model with no loss of accuracy, thus being able to represent the entire network with merely 8.7MB.


Computations in spaces like the real numbers are not done on the points of the space itself but on some representation. If one considers only computable points, i.e., points that can be approximated in a computable way, finite objects as the natural numbers can be used for this. In the case of the real numbers such an indexing can e.g. be obtained by taking the Gödel numbers of those total computable functions that enumerate a fast Cauchy sequence of rational numbers. Obviously, the numbering is only a partial map. It will be seen that this is not a consequence of a bad choice, but is so by necessity. The paper will discuss some consequences. All is done in a rather general topological framework.


Across several species, primary visual cortex (V1) is arguably the most heavily studied and best understood brain area. The investigation of its functional response properties was heralded by the seminal work of Hubel and Wiesel who were first in eliciting reliable and selective responses of single neurons to sensory stimuli. These stimulus-related response properties included retinotopic receptive fields and orientation selectivity and have appeared in every neuroscience textbook. Along these lines, V1 is still often thought of as a camera-like device that provides a somewhat distorted and fractured but fairly veridical representation of the retinal image. Yet its neurons seem to be involved in functions going beyond mere image representation. This insight comes as no surprise if one considers the anatomical connectivity of V1 and realizes that retinogeniculo-cortical afferents provide only a fraction of its input (Casagrande and Kaas, 1994). Despite these anatomical clues, it has proven more difficult to evoke V1 responses by mechanisms other than sensory stimulation, as for instance by visual imagery or spatial attention, cognitive processes that are associated with strong activity changes elsewhere in the brain. Following initial sparse electrophysiological reports of attentional V1 activity modulation, significant progress came from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that mapped activations during covert spatial attention to corresponding retinotopic representations of the attended visual field locations (reviewed in Posner and Gilbert, 1999). Given the number and quality of studies at the crossroads of V1 function and spatial attention, one would have believed this gold mine to be fully exploited, but the study by Jack et al. (2006) in this issue of Neuron comes up with a novel neuroscience nugget: they report transient V1 activations that are neither associated with stimulus processing nor with spatial attention. Separation in time (between stimulus presentation and behavioral reporting) and space (within retinotopic cortical maps) allow them not only to reproduce previous findings on spatial attention but also to distinguish from these signals a novel endogenously generated V1 response. Spatial attention (orienting) induces signal increases that are maximal at the time of stimulus presentation and at the cortical representation of stimulus location. Across retinotopic areas, these signals grow in size


Background The pressures of general practice contribute to high levels of stress, low morale, and burnout in some GPs. In addition, rurally-based doctors may experience significant professional isolation. Participation in continuing medical education (CME) appears to reduce stress, and may improve the retention of rural GPs. Aim As part of a larger study devised to examine the effectiveness of regular participation in CME small group learning (SGL) on rurally-based Irish GPs, this study explored whether CME-SGL had any impact on GP stress, morale, and professional isolation. Design & setting This was a qualitative study involving four CME-SGL groups based in rural Ireland. Method Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted in established CME-SGL groups in four different rural geographical locations. Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed thematically. Results All members of these CME-SGL groups (n = 43) consented to interview. These GPs reported that regular meetings with an established group of trusted colleagues who are 'in the same boat' provided a 'safe space' for discussion of, and reflection on, both clinical concerns and personal worries. This interaction in a supportive, non-threatening atmosphere helped to relieve stress, lift morale, and boost self-confidence. The social aspect of CME-SGL sustained these rural GPs, and served to alleviate their sense of professional isolation. Conclusion Delivery of CME through locally-based SGL provides as an important means of supporting GPs working in rural areas. The non-educational benefits of CME-SGL, as described by these Irish GPs, are of relevance for rural doctors in other countries.


ABSTRACT: Transmission pulse oximetry is used for monitoring in many clinical settings. However, for fetal monitoring during labor and in situations with poor peripheral perfusion, transmission pulse oximetry cannot be used. Therefore, we developed a reflectance pulse oximeter, which uses the relative intensity changes of the reflected red and infrared light (red/infrared ratio) to measure the arterial oxygen saturation. The performance of the reflectance pulse oximeter was studied in acute experiments in fetal lambs. By stepwise reduction of the inspired oxygen concentration of the ewe, measurements were done at the fetal scalp at various arterial oxygen saturation levels (17− 82%). Reflectance pulse oximeter readings were averaged over periods of 15 s and compared with simultaneously taken fetal arterial blood samples. A calibration curve for the relationship between red/infrared ratio and arterial oxygen saturation was obtained from 53 measurements in four fetal lambs, by linear regression analysis [red/infrared = 4.088 - (0.038 Sao2), r = 0.96]. In these experiments, the pulse oximeter showed a precision of 4.7% oxygen saturation around the calibration curve, with a 95% confidence interval of ± 9.4%.


'Foreword' - Geoffrey Parker 'Introduction' - M. van der Hoeven 'Experience and Experiment: some reflections upon the military developments in 16th- and 17th-century Western Europe' - J.A. de Moor 'The Eighty Years War' - H.L. Zwitzer 'The day the nation was born. The Battle of Heiligerlee, 1568 - L.L. Doedens 'Victory at Nieuwpoort, 2 July 1600 - J.P. Puype 'Maurits van Nassau and siege warfare, 1590-1597' - O. van Nimwegen 'Dutch public finance during the Eighty Years War: the case of the Privince of Zeeland: the case of the province of Zeeland, 1585-1621' - M.G.A. de Jong 'Foundation, organization and effects of the Dutch Navy, 1568-1648' - A.P. van Vliet 'For freedom and fortune. The rise of the Dutch privateering in the first half of the Dutch Revolt, 1568-1609' - I.J. van Loo 'Arms production and exports in the Dutch Republic, 1600-1650:' - H.P. Vogel 'The "waardgelders' of Den Haag' - F.P. Wagenaar


Abstract: Redox metals in the brain play many important roles in maintenance of cellular function. The maintenance of their homeostasis is of paramount importance to a number of diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. Iron, copper, and zinc are metals of special interest in the pathogenesis of these disorders. This review will focus primarily on iron.


This paper presents Jacobi stability analysis of 23 simple chaotic systems with only one Lyapunov stable equilibrium by Kosambi-Cartan-Chern (KCC) theory, and analyzes the chaotic behavior of these systems from the geometric viewpoint. Different from Lyapunov stability, the unique equilibrium for each system is always Jacobi unstable. Moreover, the dynamical behaviors of deviation vector near equilibrium are discussed to reveal the onset of chaos for these 23 systems, and show furtherly the coexistence of unique Lyapunov stable equilibrium and chaotic attractor for each system geometrically. The obtaining results show that these chaotic systems are not robust to small perturbations of the equilibrium, indicating that the systems are extremely sensitive to internal environment. This reveals that the chaotic flows generated by these systems may be related to Jacobi instability of the equilibrium. It is hoped that the study of this paper can help reveal the true geometrical structure of hidden chaotic attractors.


Chromosomal abnormalities in B-CLL are considered as potent prognostic factors. In other small lymphocytic disorders, closely related to B-CLL, such as SLL and MW the cytogenetic profile has not been extensively studied. The purpose of the present study is to identify any potential differences in chromosomal abnormalities between B-CLL, SLL and MW. We studied 24 consecutive B-CLL, 13 SLL and 8 MW patients diagnosed in our Unit. Diagnosis was based on standard morphologic and immunophenotypic criteria for B-CLL and SLL patients. Cases with absolute lymphocyte count 9 /L were considered as SLL. The diagnosis of MW was established in the presence of serum monoclonal IgM and lymphocytic/lymphoplasmacytic infiltration of the bone marrow. Separated lymphocytes from peripheral blood (B-CLL) or bone marrow (SLL and MW) were fixed and FISH analysis for trisomy 12 and 13q deletion was performed according to standard techniques. 200 intact interphase nuclei were scored for each sample. Cut-off levels were defined by the mean value plus 3 standard deviations of the frequency of the abnormalities in 10 normal controls. 5/24 B-CLL cases were positive for trisomy 12 (21%) versus 6/12 (50%) SLL and 0/7 (0%) MW cases. Del 13q was found in 8/14 (57%) of B-CLL, versus 1/6 (17%) of SLL and 0/8 (0%) of MW patients. We found a difference in the cytogenetic profile between B-CLL and SLL, which represent two closely related entities with different tissue localization pattern. Thus trisomy 12 was more frequently observed in SLL, whereas the opposite was true for del 13q. In addition none of these two chromosomal abnormalities was encountered in MW, a finding that could potentially serve as an additional tool for the differential diagnosis between these related disorders. These findings need to be confirmed in larger series of patients and their biologic significance should be further investigated.


This work provides a comprehensible overview of the ISO 15118 standard to show the potential of this future-proof charging communication protocol used for integrating electric vehicles (EVs) into the smart grid. The various parts of the ISO 15118 document family as well as their functionality scope are introduced. An internationally agreed-upon mechanism to enable EVs to feed energy back to the grid without compromising the grid's stability is key to a successful market introduction of Vehicle-to-Grid-enabled EVs and charging infrastructure. Therfore, the mechanism specified in ISO 15118 to enable bidirectional power flow is introduced and discussed.


Within density functional theory, full-potential linearized augmented plane wave calculations have been performed to study the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the Co/sub 2/MnGe Heusler compound. As a result of the semiconducting (metallic) character found in the minority (majority) band structure, this material is predicted to be half-metallic, with an integer magnetic moment of 5 /spl mu//sub B/. This peculiar property, highly desired for spintronics applications, stimulated the study of the Co/sub 2/MnGe/GaAs interface. Our calculations show that the predicted band offset is not suitable for spin-injection and that, due to interface states, the half-metallicity is lost in proximity to the junction.


Laboratory methods for work with plant and soil nematodes , Laboratory methods for work with plant and soil nematodes , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی


The growth of the American economy in the post-War era has been characterized by a growth in the consumer economy as a fundamental driving force in the economy. In turn, this growth in the consumer economy has been driven by a growth in usage and spread of the use of consumer credit. Yet the relationship between consumer credit and the American economy remains little understood and little explored by economists.This book explores the institutions, history, and economics of consumer credit, focusing especially on the causes and consequences of the growth of consumer credit in the post-War era. Focusing primarily on consumer, non-mortgage debt, we identify the reasons for growing use of consumer credit and public policy responses to it. Starting with the basic question of "Why do consumers borrow?" we consider the evolution of consumer credit institutions and the manner in which these evolutions have co-evolved with other elements of society and the economy and the ways in which these factors have transformed American society. We also discuss contrary hypotheses, such as the long-standing research efforts to study consumer behavior from the perspective of consumer psychology (recently taking the form of so-called Behavioral Economics) and the ways in which these views have been incorporated into the study of consumer credit. Most important, as the government stumbles through efforts to respond to the most recent financial crisis, we argue that a proper understanding of how consumers actually use consumer credit and the impact on the American economy is essential for sound policy-making.We present here Chapter 1, the Introduction to Consumer Credit and the American Economy, which provides an overview of the book and frames the discussions to follow.


Patients with unresectable parathyroid carcinoma develop severe hypercalcemia, bone fractures and renal failure, and become unresponsive to conventional treatments. It has been shown that successful induction of anti-parathyroid hormone (PTH) antibodies, using PTH peptide fragments for immunisation, normalized serum levels of calcium as well as improved clinical symptoms. Here, we report our experience of PTH immunization in a Japanese female suffering from refractory hypercalcemia and renal failure caused by unresectable metastatic parathyroid carcinoma. Upon immunization, there were apparent clinical responses including reduction of serum levels of Ca along with anti-PTH antibodies induction. Therefore, we concluded that PTH immunization was an effective treatment against hypercalcemia caused by metastatic parathyroid carcinomas that are unresponsive to conventional treatments.


The food crisis that is currently being faced by the world is very vulnerable to the survival of mankind. A food crisis usually begins with a shock to either supply or demand for food and often involves a sudden spike in food prices. Food security is a flexible concept that is reflected in many attempts at every definition used in research and policy. Empowerment of farmers in the African agricultural sector is the key to realizing African food security. The strategy of privatizing agricultural inputs by prohibiting the circulation of traditional seeds indirectly forces small farmers to buy private agricultural inputs


The Uniamazonia Botanical Garden (JBUDLA), is located on the campus of the University of Amazonia in Florencia - Caquetá, in the botanical gardens is able to present spaces of great importance as they manage living collections of plants in urban areas generating a suitable environment. It is an ex situ collection that houses different collections of plants with native species of Colombia and other parts of the region. Among the objectives proposed for this work was the recovery of the collection of live orchid plants of the Uniamazonia Botanical Garden, in order to strengthen the special collections of the Uniamazonia Botanical Garden since it did not have this new collection of orchids called Orquideario, These orchids belong to the Orchidaceae family. Field trips, germplasm rescue and planting were carried out in order to enrich the collection with some genera such as Rodriguezia (70), Cattleya (20), Dichaea (40) and Oeceoclades (13).


Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy of blood pressure (BP) measurements performed by primary care physicians (PCPs), and to assess whether it improves following a short theoretical training. Methods: Observational study in 26 primary care practices in Geneva, Switzerland. The PCPs were asked to measure BP on 10 volunteers, within the usual context of their practice. Two trained research assistants repeated the measures immediately after the PCPs. The PCPs were then randomized to receive detailed training documentation on standardized BP measurement (group I: 14 doctors) or information about high BP (group II: 12 doctors). Measures were repeated a few weeks later. We computed accuracy and diagnostic categorization of high BP comparing the PCPs' measurements to the average value of four measurements by the research assistants (gold standard). T-tests were used to compare measurements between the two educational groups, both at baseline and following exposure to the educational material. Results: BP measurements were performed on 257 volunteers at baseline and 251 after training. At baseline, the mean BP difference between PCPs and the gold standard were 23.0 mmHg (21.3–24.6) for systolic and 15.3 mmHg (14.3–16.3) for DBP. Following training, the mean difference remained high [group I: 22.3 mmHg (20.4–24.2) and 14.4 mmHg (12.6–16.2); group II: 25.3 mmHg (22.7–27.9) and 17.0 mmHg (15.3–18.7)]. As a result, 24–32% volunteers were misdiagnosed as having systolic hypertension and 15–21% as having diastolic hypertension. Conclusion: Though widely used in the assessment of hypertension in ambulatory settings, in-office BP measurements are highly inaccurate, even following training.


The German energy transition is not only a challenge for the technical system transformation but will also imply changes in the water system and reallocation of resource usage. This paper analyses which interactions provide valuable information for the energy system and how future water use projection could be conducted with the help of energy system modelling. It was assumed that different national climate policy scenarios for the energy system influence the water projections. The interactions considered for the German case study are: water demand for cooling technologies, irrigation practices of energy crops, as well as literature based assessments of total water demand and renewable water availability. Based on the energy scenario analysis, water use for the energy system will shift over time from cooling water use to irrigation water use for energy crops and the amount of irrigation water use is dependent on the demand of biomass which increases for stricter climate targets. There is a small risk of future water stress that can be eliminated through the use of recycled water for irrigation.


Eye movements, alternating movements, rapid pointing movements, and various tremors were measured on patients with Parkinson's disease (n = 21), on Cree subjects exposed to methylmercury (n = 36), and on healthy control subjects (n = 30). Neuromotor profiles were created according to thirty characteristics extracted from test results of four subgroups matched for age and composed of six subjects each. Z scores were calculated with respect to the mean and standard deviation of the control group for each of the 30 characteristics. The subgroup with the lower methylmercury blood level had larger z scores than the control subgroup and with a few positive values above one standard deviation. The subgroup with the higher methylmercury blood level had several z scores above two standard deviations. Interestingly, the abnormal values for the subgroup with Parkinson's disease were mostly limited to static tremor recorded with no visual feedback and reached up to 5 standard deviations. These results indicate that neuromotor profiles can be used to summarize information extracted from different neuromotor tests and to differentiate neurological conditions.


With its first person narrator, radical tonal changes, and wild blend of genres (autobiography, romance, Gothic melodrama, Christian exemplum, etc.), Bronte's Jane Eyre is a case study in the difficulties of cinematic adaptation, as the filmmaker attempts to balance "fidelity" with contemporary relevance and entertainment value. This article examines Cary Fukunaga's 2011 version, and in particular certain orientations animating his necessarily "partial" reading of the novel. Chief among these is the decision to begin the film when Jane leaves Thornfield; recounting much of the story in discontinuous flashback, the film manages simultaneously to admit Jane's narrative voice while eliminating its potentially distracting nature. Fukunaga's other choices include the toning down of the novel's lurid Gothic quality, its overt romanticism, and—today an overly familiar romantic comedy stereotype—the teasing interplay between the two protagonists. Communicating in a compact language of visual symbol, he also uses the original's "religious plot" as a tool for modern character analysis.


Large-scale e-mail campaigns are a staple in the modern environmental movement. Interest groups increasingly use online mobilizations as a way to raise awareness, money, and membership. There are legitimate political, economic, and organizational reasons for doing so, but these gains may come at the expense of a more substantial and efficacious role for citizens who wish to use e-mail to engage in public participation. This paper situates a close examination of the 1000 longest modified MoveOn. Org-generated e-mails sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about its 2004 mercury rulemaking, in the broader context of online grassroots lobbying. The findings indicate that only a tiny portion of these public comments constitute potentially relevant new information for the EPA to consider. The vast majority of Move On comments are either exact duplicates of a two-sentence form letter, or they are variants of a small number of broad claims about the inadequacy of the proposed rule. This paper argues that norms, rules, and tools will emerge to deal with the burden imposed by these communications. More broadly, it raises doubts about the notion that online public participation is a harbinger of a more deliberative and democratic era.


Aim. To optimize echocardiographic diagnosis of congestive heart failure in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods. Several modes of echocardiography using HD 11XE (Philips, USA) ultrasound scanner, 24-hour ECG monitoring using Microvit MT-101 (Schiller, Switzerland) 3-channel recorder and spirometry using АFD-02-«MFP» (Russia) machine were performed in 157 patients aged 39-76 years (male 114, female 43) who were divided into the following subgroups: (1) patients with COPD alone, (2) patients with COPD and concomitant arterial hypertension, (3) patients with COPD and concomitant ischemic heart disease, (4) patients with ischemic heart disease, (5) healthy controls. Results. 55.4% of patients with COPD had clinical signs of congestive heart failure (with signs of isolated diastolic dysfunction in 85.7% of patients with congestive heart failure). Diastolic dysfunction was associated with increase of peak isovolumic velocity (IVV) and even more significant decrease of peak early (Ea) and late (Aa) diastolic annular tricuspid vale velocities ratio at pulsed Doppler tissue imaging compared to patients without congestive heart failure. In patients with isolated COPD and isolated diastolic dysfunction echo signs of right ventricle dilatation, and in patients with COPD and concomitant ischemic heart disease also of pulmonary artery trunk dilatation and hypertrophy of both ventricles were significantly more frequent. Systolic dysfunction was found only in patients with COPD and concomitant ischemic heart disease, causing longitudinal systolic dysfunction of the right ventricle seen as a reduction of systolic excursion and peak systolic (Sa) annular velocity, increased Myocardial Performance Index (Tei Index) and corrected isovolumic relaxation time, as well as hypertrophy of both ventricles and left ventricular dilatation. Conclusion. Echocardiography (Doppler tissue imaging) can be used for congestive heart failure diagnosis verification in patients with COPD.


Background: Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), a tick-borne disease has been in the news with reports of its outbreak in Pakistan. Pakistan is considered as an endemic country for CCHF during last two decades . Humans get this infection after a bite of an infected tick or from one infected human to another by contact with infectious blood or body fluids. Aim: To assess the level of knowledge regarding Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) among the local residence of Karachi, Pakistan. Method: This questionnaire based cross-sectional survey was conducted among the local residence of Karachi, Pakistan. The questionnaire was composed of 20 questions. The questionnaire included demographic information with their designation and knowledge level regarding sources, transmission, symptoms, prevention and treatment of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF). Result: A total of 150 respondents interviewed in the survey. Sufficient knowledge about CCHF was not found in (23%) of the respondent participants. Literate individuals (71%) were relatively better knowledge about CCHF as compared to the illiterate people (29%). Television and internet (50%) were considered as the most important and useful source of information on the disease. Conclusion: This study revealed that the knowledge level of Karachi citizens about CCHF was insufficient. The need to educate the public about CCHF and the ticks is at an alarming level. As this disease can cause fatalities if the general community are not be informed and trained adequately. TV/radio broadcasts may be sufficient for the general public, but specialized educational programs and workshops are recommended for health workers and veterinary staffs.


A fast analytical method for the determination of perfluorinated compounds in poultry manure by LC-MS/MS was developed. The extraction was carried out by ultrasound-assisted extraction of 1 g of sample, during 2 × 15 min using low volume (5.5 mL) of a mixture of methanol and acetonitrile. An efficient extraction of perfluoroalkyl carboxylates, perfluoroalkyl sulfonates, and perfluoroalkyl sulfonamides from poultry manure was obtained with recoveries higher than 81%. The cleanup of extracts was carried out by dispersive SPE. The validation of the proposed method showed the suitability of this procedure to determine perfluorinated compounds in poultry manure with detection limits in the range of 0.44-2.12 ng/g, depending on the target compound. In comparison with previously published methods, the miniaturization of the sample preparation method with ultrasound-assisted extraction together with the use of a core-shell column permit a lower consumption of organic solvents and a fast analysis of perfluorinated compounds. Manure samples obtained from Spanish commercial farms were analyzed and low perfluorinated compounds levels were found, which may be originated by dietary or environmental exposure. The highest concentrations measured corresponded to the perfluoroalkyl sulfonates, which varied from 8.2 to 35.9 ng/g.


The Kingdom of Tonga is an isolated least developing country located on the northeast of New Zealand with a population of 103,252 (2011 census) and with a gross domestic product per capita of USD $2,545.20.  Before educational systems in a least developing country like the Kingdom of Tonga begin employing e-learning, an assessment of the current situation of students and learning institutions may contribute to its success. Using an appropriate assessment tool is important for accurately measuring the degree of e-readiness. In this study, we administered a survey to 186 students randomly selected from five secondary schools in the Kingdom of Tonga to measure Facebook usage as an index of e-readiness for e-learning. We found that a large percentage (81%) of secondary students use Facebook, and most (74%) of these students have used Facebook for two or more years. All (100%) students use a computer to access Facebook, and most also access Facebook through mobile phones (62%) or tablets (46%). We also found correlations between duration of having a Facebook account and other indicators of e-readiness. Our findings suggest that secondary students in the Kingdom of Tonga have developed e-readiness for e-learning through their use of Facebook.


Dynamic models of ships have been widely used for model-based control and short-term prediction in the past. Identifying the parameters of such models has mainly been done through scaled model tests, full scale tests or computational fluid dynamics software. This is a challenging task due to the many aspects that influence the ship dynamic behaviour and thus one would expect a certain degree of mismatch between the actual motion of the ship and the modelled behaviour. The mismatch in the dynamic model may be due to unmodelled effects, but also the lack of measurements of waves and ocean current. To make up for the discrepancies the authors propose to create a co-operative hybrid model consisting of the dynamic model and a neural network, where the neural network predicts the acceleration error of the dynamic model. The approach is tested on real data originating from the Research Vessel (RV) Gunnerus performing a shutdown of thrusters during stationkeeping. The subsequent task is to predict the propagation of position and heading while drifting due to wind, wave and current forces. Comparing the motion of the real ship and the modelled ship, shows the improved prediction accuracy of the hybrid model.


Identification and Tracking of online digital identity has been significant issue around efforts on cyber security. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how to utilized information being emitted from digital devices carried by suspicious user. In this paper, techniques to identify owner of digital devices connected to the Internet or local network are proposed. Techniques include tracing physical id of network interface, profiling of network traffic pattern of devices, Bluetooth device signals, web browser finger printings, and header information of e-mail messages. Each devices connected to computer network has its own finger print such as physical MAC address, network traffic generated by operating systems and its installed applications thus such information can be applied to identify and track unique digital device. If the device is personal item such as smartphone or personal computer owned by a specific person this information is being able to use to detect and trace location of the person. Each web browser installed on such devices also has its unique characteristics such as version, installed fonts, and difference in its settings, such information can be used to identify a person. E-mail message has significant information in its header, by analyzing messages headers certain amount of information of its sender are extracted. This is also used to detect impersonation of a message sender. By integrating these information obtained through such monitoring activity and related network sensors we are able to identify existence and physical location of a targeted personnel, to monitor their behavior and also we are able to use such data as evidence for law suites. Preservation of privacy is the issued to be considered for such application and this would discuss how to balance between user privacy and traceability of users in certain types of network.


Let (X,L) be a polarized projective complex manifold. We show, by a simple toric one-dimensional example, that Mabuchi's K-energy functional on the geodesically complete space of bounded positive (1,1)-forms in the first Chern class of L, endowed with the Mabuchi metric, is not strictly convex modulo automorphisms. However, under some further assumptions the strict convexity in question does hold in the toric case. This leads to a uniqueness result saying that a finite energy minimizer of the K-energy (which exists on any toric polarized manifold (X,L) which is uniformly K-stable) is uniquely determined modulo automorphisms under the assumption that there exists some minimizer with strictly positive curvature current.


Abstract. Nowadays, in the academic field, it is growing the demand for digital competencies bounded to advanced communication strategies. More and more national and international project required to the scientific community to be increasingly open to new targets of public, even not expert one. The focus point is that the research must be accessed not only by professionals, but it has to engage a broader public, starting from local communities to the public of the web. This statement is testified by the European funds calls that ask for communication activities and strategies, along with dissemination and exploitation. Why these three activities are so important? Because they are strictly related to the impact that a project can have, not only for the academic world, but also for the outside. This trend is growing fast in each scientific field: also in Cultural Heritage conservation, where it is more and more common the uses of 3D digital models not only for maintenance purposes, but also as a bridge between the heritage and non-expert publics. The question is how advanced digital techniques can help the process of valorisation of Cultural Heritage at different stages? The article wants to look for a standard practice to promote and enhance Cultural Heritage using digital technologies. Through the analysis of a series of case studies, it wants to show how to build a valorisation strategy, considering all the components of CH, and how it can be implemented adding new disciplines and skills (communication and promotion), enhancing users' access and interaction.


Backround: The English literature contains very few reports on disc herniation at upper thoracic levels. This report presents a patient with T1-2 disc herniation who underwent successful surgery. Case Presentation: A 47-year-old female presented that the right T1 root was compressed by foraminal disc herniation at the T1-2 level. Conclusion: The anterior approach is an easy and appropriate method to treat central and foraminal disc herniation of the thoracic spine.


Abstract Food literacy education at senior secondary school could provide immediate health benefits to adolescents. In the long term, this will help strengthen the relationship between citizens and the food system. The aim of this paper is to explore food system professionals' opinions of the importance of senior secondary school food literacy education. A purposive sample of 34 food system professionals from different sub-sectors within the Australian food system were interviewed individually in late 2015 and early 2016. Interviews were analysed using the template analysis technique. Many participants indicated that food literacy education helps students establish healthier eating patterns. Some participants suggested that food literacy education helps students join in food-related career pathways and some believed that this education helps students understand and question the food system and related issues. Moreover, some participants mentioned that the senior secondary school years are when it is most appropriate to deliver some of the broad aspects of food literacy, while some pointed out the importance of starting food literacy education in primary school. Furthermore, participants indicated the importance of food literacy education in school, referring to low food and nutrition knowledge and skills among modern consumers and inadequate family support for students to develop healthier food patterns. In conclusion, senior secondary school food literacy education helps students develop healthy eating patterns, and prepare them to make wise decisions in relation to food. This highlights the importance of provision of comprehensive food literacy education for senior secondary school students.


Active travel can contribute to physical activity achieved over a day. Previous studies have examined active travel associated with trips in various western countries, but few studies have examined this question for the Asian context. Japan has high levels of cycling, walking and public transport, similar to The Netherlands. Most studies have focused either on children or on adults separately, however, having children in a household will change the travel needs and wants of that household. Thus, here a household lifecycle stage approach is applied. Further, unlike many previous studies, the active travel related to public transport is included. Lastly, further to examining whether the built environment has an influence on the accumulation of active travel minutes, a binary logistic regression examines the built environment's influence on the World Health Organization's recommendations of physical activity. The findings suggest that there is a clear distinction between the urbanized centers and the surrounding towns and unurbanized areas. Further, active travel related to public transport trips is larger than pure walking trips. Females and children are more likely to achieve the WHO recommendations. Finally, car ownership is a strong negative influence.


We present a method, implementable on a field programmable gate array (FPGA), which allows real-time correction of video image distorted by the projection on a warped screen. The method is based on projecting a reference image, consisted of a mesh of reference points, onto the screen. The projected image is then acquired using a digital camera and compared to the original one to determine the parameters of the corrective transformation. The transformation uses a backward mapping algorithm and an anti-aliasing filter. Experimental results demonstrate that the presented FPGA implementation can significantly reduce geometrical distortion.


We conducted two laboratory experiments at the meter scale in which water was applied to the top of an initially dry, uncemented wall composed of porous bricks. One experiment (Experiment 1) encouraged evaporation and resulting mineral precipitation, while the other (Experiment 2) was designed to minimize these processes. In both cases, processes acting within the fracture network controlled early time behavior, forming discrete pathways and demonstrating fractures to act as both flow conductors and capillary barriers. At a later time, evaporation–mineral precipitation in Experiment 1 constrained flow, strengthening some pathways and starving others. In Experiment 2, the wetted structure took on the appearance of a diffuse plume; however, individual pathways persisted within the wetted structure and interacted, displaying erratic outflow over a wide range of timescales, including switching between pathways. Thus, under conditions of constant supply and both with and without evaporation–mineral precipitation, unsaturated flow through fractured rock can create dynamic preferential pathways.


Now a days, there are huge variety of application are designed by scientist and engineers which need to use of robots as opposed to humans. One of the reasons is, robots can perform such task which is dangers to human or inaccessible to them. By designing an unmanned vehicle are helping to increase human safety by enabling the human to control the vehicle from remote location. This paper describes the design and implementation of unmanned vehicle which is controlled or handled by SMS or call with the help of GSM network.


In this study, both pure fusion blanket and fusion‐fission (hybrid) reactor blanket performance were investigated and discussed separately in two phases. In the first phase, a Monte Carlo radiation damage analysis has been performed for stainless steel (SS304, SS316, and oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS)), molybdenum, vanadium, and tungsten as the first wall (FW) materials, in combination with selected tritium breeders. The main technical parameters for fusion reactors, such as tritium breeding ratio, fusion energy multiplication factor (M), displacement per atom (DPA), and gas production (He, H) have been evaluated. All numerical calculations have been carried out in spherical geometry with MCNP6 code package using continuous energy cross‐sections from the ENDF/B‐VIII.0 library, except DPA calculations. Instead of the ENDF/B‐VIII.0 library, the 30‐group CLAW‐IV library was employed for DPA calculations. Structural material selection for the FW respect to radiation damage limits and reactor performance for energy production and tritium has been concluded. Conventional thermal reactors, such as light water reactors andCanada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactors are producing substantial quantities of transuranic elements, which represent serious nuisance and permanent hazard potential. On the other hand, they become fissionable material under high energetic fusion neutron irradiation and multiply the fusion energy. In the second phase, the investigations are extended to the incineration of minor actinides (MA) in the fusion‐fission (hybrid) mode. The transmutation history of MA nuclear waste is included. MA are added into the first zone of the coolant in TRi‐structural ISOtropic particle TRISO particles with a volume fraction of 6%. The transformation scenario for all MA by SS 304 steel FW is practically the same as with the ODS FW.


Many studies take the slip as the major input for anti-lock braking system (ABS) controller. However, slip can only be calculated by vehicle velocity and wheel speed. The vehicle velocity cannot be measured by low cost sensors. In this paper, a vehicle velocity estimation and a friction coefficient estimation methods are proposed. The vehicle velocity estimation just requires wheel speed, wheel deceleration, brake pedal flag, and ABS enable flag. During the estimation, the friction of the road can also be obtained. The methods have been applied to real car ABS test data. There are four different road surface conditions including uniform low friction ($\mu$), high $\mu$, and $\mu$ jump from both low to high and the opposite. According to the results, the deviation between estimated velocity and the ground truth is at maximum 1.57 m/s on $\mu$ jump road surface which is from high $\mu$ to low $\mu$. As for other road surfaces, it provides more accurate outcome. The corresponding estimation of friction coefficient is close to reality. Moreover, the results show that the transition of road condition can be detected quickly. The proposed methods are proved effective for velocity estimation and friction coefficient estimation, which are beneficial for ABS control.


Abstract The aim of this paper was to examine the role of translation in social development. One aspect of culture that had not previously received much attention is the speech act of naming. In this article, this aspect was addressed in the translation between the Zulu and English cultures as used by CLS Nyembezi [1957 (1997)] in Lafa Elihle Kakhulu, a translation of Alan Paton's [1948 (2005)] Cry, the Beloved Country. The theoretical frameworks that informed this paper are Toury's (1995) descriptive translation studies that draws from Even-Zohar's (1980) polysystem theory and Bourdieu's (1984) sociological theory of translation in order to analyse the role of power in development and social change. The research was exploratory-descriptive-interpretive in nature. The study examined selected dialogues that appear in Book One between the protagonist, Rev. Stephen Khumalo, and several other characters who belong to different age groups, social status and power. The aim was to determine if Nyembezi's translation was acceptable to his target readership, i.e. Zulu-speakers, at the time of translation and beyond. It was found that Nyembezi used strategies of cultural substitution, omission and addition in an effort to make his text appealing to his target social and cultural audience.


Certain normal and malignant B-cells rely upon "tonic" B-cell receptor (BCR)-mediated survival signals. BCR signaling induces the phosphorylation of the associated Ig alpha and beta proteins and the recruitment and activation of spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK); thereafter, SYK initiates downstream events and amplifies the original BCR signal. A subset of DLBCL exhibits coordinate overexpression of BCR pathway components, including SYK, and relies upon tonic BCR signaling. FosD is an orally available inhibitor of SYK under development for rheumatoid arthritis, and has demonstrated significant in vitro activity against BCR-dependent NHLs. We have performed the first clinical trial of the oral SYK inhibitor, FosD, in patients (pts) with a variety of relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. We first enrolled 13 pts in a Phase I component, exploring two dose levels (200 and 250 mg BID) of FosD. Pts (Follicular [FL], 5; CLL/SLL, 2; mantle [MCL], 3; DLBCL, 3) were heavily pretreated. On the first day of FosD dosing at 200 mg and 250 mg, the maximum plasma concentrations were 668 ± 258 ng/mL and 1020 ± 781 ng/mL, and the AUC0–4 estimates were 1800 ± 602 ng*h/mL and 2590 ± 1900 ng*h/mL, respectively. Plasma concentrations increased approximately 2-fold with continued administration, but beyond Day 29 there was no apparent change in FosD concentrations measured over time. Dose limiting toxicity in Phase I was neutropenia; and 200 mg BID was chosen for Phase II evaluation. We then enrolled 68 pts with relapsed/refractory NHL in 3 separate disease cohorts: DLBCL (23); FL (21) and other B-cell NHL (24) including SLL/CLL (11), MCL (9) marginal zone/MALT (3) and lymphoplasmacytic NHL (1). The median age of pts in phase II was 61 (range 41–87); pts received a median of 5 prior therapies, including ASCT (16; 12 with DLBCL) and radioimmunotherapy (8). FosD was overall very well tolerated; there were 4 cases of febrile neutropenia reported. Eight pts required dose modification for neutropenia (2), hypertension (2), liver function test abnormalities (2), fever (1) and mucositis (1). Six pts withdrew before initial response evaluation (AE, 5; noncompliance, 1). Best responses by disease were: DLBCL 21% (4PR; 1CR); SLL/CLL 54% (6PR); FL 10% (2PR); MCL 11% (1PR). Stable disease was observed in an additional 23 patients, including 12 with FL, 4 with DLBCL, 4 with MCL, 2 with CLL/SLL and 1 with MALT. As of 7/15/08, 16 pts were treated for more than 200 days, and 14 pts remain on study. Median PFS is 4.5 months, and only 5 pts have died (4 with DLBCL of disease progression and 1 with CLL of infection following therapy). Several pts with CLL/SLL experienced a transient increase in circulating lymphocytes in the setting of responding nodal disease. Of the 6 responding pts with CLL, Zap-70 status was positive (3), negative (1) and unknown (2); cytogenetics were trisomy 12 (1), del13 (1), normal (1), complex (1) and unknown (2). We conclude that disrupting BCR-induced signaling by inhibiting SYK kinase represents a safe and well-tolerated novel therapeutic approach to NHL. In addition to significant responses in DLBCL and CLL/SLL, prolonged stable disease was observed in pts with FL. FosD should be developed further, as a single agent and in rational combinations, for BCR-dependent B-cell NHLs.


Plant extracellular vesicles (EVs) play critical roles in the cross-kingdom trafficking of molecules from hosts to interacting microbes, most notably in plant defense responses. However, the isolation of pure, intact EVs from plants remains challenging. A variety of methods have been utilized to isolate plant EVs from apoplastic washing fluid (AWF). Here, we compare published plant EV isolation methods, and provide our recommended method for the isolation and purification of plant EVs. This method includes a detailed protocol for clean AWF collection from Arabidopsis thaliana leaves, followed by EV isolation via differential centrifugation. To further separate and purify specific subclasses of EVs from heterogeneous vesicle populations, density gradient ultracentrifugation and immunoaffinity capture are then utilized. We found that immunoaffinity capture is the most precise method for specific EV subclass isolation when suitable specific EV biomarkers and their corresponding antibodies are available. Overall, this study provides a guide for the selection and optimization of EV isolation methods for desired downstream applications. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


In recent years, disk seek times have not improved commensurately with CPU performance, memory system performance, and disk transfer rates. Furthermore, many modern applications are making increasing use of large files. Traditional file system designs are limited in how they address these two trends. We present the design of a file system called yFS that consciously reduces disk seeking and handles large files efficiently. yFS does this by using extent-based allocations in conjunction with three different disk inode formats geared towards small, medium, and large files. Directory traversals are made efficient by using the B*-tree structure. yFS also uses lightweight asynchronous journaling to handle metadata changes. We have implemented yFS on FreeBSD and evaluated it using a variety of benchmarks. Our experimental evaluations show that yFS performs considerably better than the Fast File System (FFS) with Soft Updates on FreeBSD. The performance gains are in the range from 20% to 82%.


Forms have become widely used as a user interface for database systems. By analyzing the components of forms, a unified treatment of aggregation operators, headings, subheadings, and internal logic of a form is possible. In this paper we present a theory and a system based on that theory which allows users to easily specify displays. Displays are composed of components and the user can specify geometry of the components and grouping relationships between the components which allow for the generation of the desired display.


In the U.S., individual states enact Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) for renewable electricity production with little coordination. Each state imposes restrictions on the amounts and locations of qualifying renewable generation. Using a co-optimization (transmission and generation) planning model, we quantify the long run economic benefits of allowing flexibility in the trading of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) among the U.S. states belonging to the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC). We characterize flexibility in terms of the amount and geographic eligibility of out-of-state RECs that can be used to meet a state's RPS goal. Although more trade would be expected to have economic benefits, neither the size of these benefits nor the effects of such trading on infrastructure investments, CO2 emissions and energy prices have been previously quantified. We find that up to 90% of the economic benefits are captured if approximately 25% of unbundled RECs are allowed to be acquired from out of state. Furthermore, increasing REC trading flexibility does not necessarily result in either higher transmission investment costs or a substantial impact on CO2 emissions. Finally, increasing REC trading flexibility decreases energy prices in some states and increases them elsewhere, while the WECC-wide average energy price decreases.


The zombie figure is ubiquitous in contemporary horror film—particularly in the United States—and has prompted me to explore why zombie films have regained popularity post9/11, why the zombie has become a figure in flux, evolving from slow to fast, from un-dead to living, and from decaying to mutating body, and finally, to explore the practical use of an allegory of the zombie at the end of the world. My fascination with horror film has bloomed into an analysis of the ways in which the zombie figure in film troubles and in part reifies the human figure delineated by classical humanism and anthropocentrism; how posthumanism serves as a critical lens through which the zombie figure not only threatens ontology, but also the ideological constructs of speciesism, racism, and sexism that depend upon the fantasy figure of the human to justify dehumanization and atrocities. Zombie films' apocalyptic narratives warn of ecological crisis, of over-consumption, of ends that are always near yet always deferred. They are intertextual, historically and politically resonant, and draw particularly though not singularly on America-centric fear and trauma. It is particularly significant as a genre when one considers the 9/11 attacks as a benchmark. Extant criticism has focused on examining the political and cultural critiques of American society in George A. Romero's canonical films, and others, to conclude that "they" are "us". Moreover, it often suggests that zombies provide a background against which humans reach their full potential—re-endorsing humanism and anthropocentrism—or alternatively, they highlight essential flaws and the aggressive, 'animalistic' nature of humans. By contrast, I argue that these films do more than mediate terror; they profoundly affect political life since 9/11 by insisting that posthumanism must be addressed if we are to understand the ways in which the human subject is mapped and remapped by such events.


This research examines how the value of geolocation information varies at different stages of the purchase decision process. The analysis is based on a large sample of users from a mobile platform that enables firms to send geolocated promotions using two types of technology: beacons or GPS/Wi-Fi. Using push non-geolocated messages as a reference and fully controlling for customer heterogeneity by using customer fixed effects, the overall metrics indicate that beacon geolocated messages are 14% more likely to be redeemed, whereas non-beacon geolocated messages are 10% more likely to be redeemed. The decomposition of the effects reveals that although later stages of the purchase funnel account for an important fraction of the improvements obtained with geolocation, early stages of the purchase process also explain a significant part of the effect. Our results show that geolocation adds value, not only because the promotional content becomes more relevant for consumers when they are closer to stores, but also because it allows to reach consumers who are more willing to receive promotions in the first place. We analyze the role of location types and response times, providing complementary evidence to characterize the effectiveness of geolocated messages. Overall, our analysis contributes to a better understanding of the drivers of the value of geolocation information in mobile advertising, in comparison to traditional push and pull promotions. We discuss the implications of our insights for the design and management of mobile promotions.