The recently published randomized controlled Nateglinide And Valsartan in Impaired Glucose Tolerance Outcomes Research (NAVIGATOR) study evaluated the effect of nateglinide in people with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) who also had cardiovascular disease (CVD) or CVD risk factors (1). After a median of five years, there was no effect on either incident diabetes or CVD. In five studies (2–6) in which the development of diabetes in subjects with IGT was delayed by lifestyle intervention or drugs, the beneficial effect was postulated to be mainly due to decreasing insulin resistance with resulting less demands on β-cell insulin secretion. On the other hand, subjects with IGT in an older small study treated with tolbutamide (a first-generation sulfonylurea agent) (7) or in the more recent Study To Prevent Noninsulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (STOP-NIDDM) given acarbose (8), there was significantly less incident diabetes than in their control groups. (The STOP-NIDDM study, however, has been severely criticized [9]). Neither tolbutamide nor acarbose are thought to primarily affect insulin resistance. It is very possible, of course, that all of these drugs were simply masking the development of diabetes by treating hyperglycemia (10). If so, nateglinide was unable to accomplish this.

The rationale for the CVD end point in the NAVIGATOR study might have been that glucose levels after a glucose challenge, extending all the way down into the midnormal range, are associated with CVD (11). It is important to point out that in many articles postprandial glucose is used mistakenly to describe glucose levels after the …


The problem considered in this paper is a kind of bivariate continuous function with a period of 2π.The estimate of Marcinkiewicz-type sum was(p,q)-th strongly approximation for every positive real number,therefore the positive theorem was obtainecl.


We study existence of a unique mild solution of evolution quantum stochastic differential equations with nonlocal conditions under the strong topology. Using the method of successive approximations, we do not need to transform the nonlocal problem to a fixed point form. The evolution operator A generates a family of semigroup that are continuous. Nonlocal conditions allow additional measurements of certain phenomena that cannot be captured by the traditional initial conditions. We show that under some given conditions, the mild solution is unique and also stable. The method applied here is much easier when compared with previous methods used in literature.


We report the characteristics of a prototype optical parametric diffuser (OPD), which is a novel optical sampling device. A high conversion efficiency (over -20 dB) was obtained across a wavelength conversion bandwidth of about 83 nm.


Based on a comprehensive analysis of the experimental studies from the standpoint of their convergence with the theoretical solutions, the computational models of resistance (CMR) of reinforced concrete are proposed. These models include CMR1 - modeling of normal cracks, CMR2 - modeling of inclined cracks, CMR3 - modeling of diagonal cracks, CMR4 - modeling of intersecting cracks in the wall, CMR4* - modeling of cracks in a flat slab, and CMR5 - modeling of spatial cracks in torsion with bending, CMR5* - modeling of spatial cracks in bending with transverse force. Also, a hierarchy of computational models of the second and third levels is proposed. The distribution of intensity of working reinforcement along the cross-section of the calculated element was obtained in an analytical form by creating closed equations of blocks, corresponding to the blocks of the reinforced concrete element under the condition of equality to zero of partial derivatives of the Lagrange function to determine the maximum crack opening width. It is considered the effect proposed by the author on the additional deformation impact of the reaction "concrete - reinforcement" from the discontinuity of concrete during the formation of the crack by means of a special model of the two-cantilever element of fracture mechanics. Hypotheses about the distribution of linear and angular deformations during cross-section with account of gradients of deformations caused by formation of cracks were formulated for a complex-stressed element subjected to torsion with bending. Crack opening is defined as mutual displacements of reinforcement and concrete, taking into account deformation. The consolidation of substructures in the building system is performed by the method of initial parameters.


TV White Spaces refers the unoccupied portions of spectrum in the UHF/VHF terrestrial television frequency bands. Operation on the trial and test are currently underway in various countries and some commercial applications are emerging, looking at improving the utilization. The concept of sharing the highly valued UHF spectrum resource and its use with the primary terrestrial television service is a primary concern today. Wireless broad-band applications are the main focus of trials, nonetheless, the usefulness of this highly sought after spectrum is also being considered for other applications, such as machine-tomachine communications (M2M). This paper reviews relevant regulatory aspects concerning the operational implementation of Television White Space (TVWS) devices in some parts of the spectrum allocated to TV broadcasting. Also the paper overviews the different approaches and considerations currently being reviewed for TV white spaces. These approaches are intended for improving the efficiency of the spectrum resource use, through accessing idle spectrum to deliver low-cost implementation and rapid development of user applications.


Buraydah is the capital city of Al Qassim. Khubaib enjoys the merit of being renowned as the most attractive marketplace for non Saudi residents of Buraydah. The place is home to non Saudi nationals who after their daily work, come here to recreate and refresh themselves. Thursdays and Fridays specially enjoy a very enormous footfall of people from neighboring villages and cities. People frequent this space for shopping. After indulging in shopping they recreate themselves by sitting down for a while on the small platform flanking the space. This activity of people highlights the absence of adequate street furniture for people. Yet another demerit of this space is that this space does not allow users to indulge in active recreation or passive recreation. The main attempt of the study undertaken is to study the recreation potential of this commercial street as well as suggest measures to transform this street into a multi cultural recreation space for the people of all nationalities.


The former research dean of Sheffield University's medical school was accused of dishonesty at a General Medical Council hearing on 2 November for allowing a journal to publish a false claim that he had seen all the data in a research study of which he was the lead author.

Richard Eastell, who heads the bone research unit at Sheffield University, is at the centre of a research ethics case that saw the other main investigator, Aubrey Blumsohn, who raised questions over the data, take a financial settlement to leave his job at …


In recent years, the fast fashion industry as a whole has been on a downward trend. In China, although the fast fashion industry occupies a large market share, the consumption behavior of the main consumers of the fast fashion industry is changing because of the transformation of consumer perceptions and the rise of the Internet and e-commerce. And this will subconsciously affect the sales of fast fashion brands. Therefore, it is important to explore the sustainable development path of the fast fashion industry and new marketing models for the future development of this industry. This essay examines the benefits and drawbacks of this business model from the perspective of the fast fashion industry's present state of development. This article also analyzes the key consumers of the fast fashion industry's products today and the effects of the industry on its customers. By listing the established marketing strategies of the fast fashion industry, the future direction of the industry's development is extended and analyzed.


Abstract : The project involved theoretical studies of the ion sampling problem for balloon-borne mass spectrometric apparatus in the stratosphere, manufacturing of standard, special, and prototype apparatus, construction of a vacuum system and ancillary apparatus for testing and experimentation, and described experimental work. Appendices to the report include a literature survey and instructions for the deliverable manufactured items. (Author)


The genomic landscape of Waldenström Macroglobulinemia (WM) is characterized by recurrent somatic mutations in MYD88, with a lower incidence of mutations affecting CXCR4, ARID1A, CD79B and the NFKB signaling pathway (Hunter et. al. Blood 2014). We aimed to characterize the relationship between single base substitutions (SBS), mutational signatures, copy number aberrations (CNA) and structural variants (SV) in WM.
 We performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) on 14 primary samples from WM patients at various clinical stages, including IgM monoclonal gammopathy (n=1), smoldering (n=5), newly diagnosed (n=7) and relapsed WM (n=1). We identified a median of 2806 clonal SBS per sample (IQR 1870-3079), and 12/14 (85%) samples harbored MYD88 mutations. To investigate which mutational processes are involved in shaping the genomic landscape of WM we performed a mutational signature analysis. Four previously reported SBS signatures were detected: SBS1 and SBS5 (aging), SBS9 (germinal center; GC) and SBS8, with the contribution of age-related signatures SBS1/SBS5 being directly correlated with age at presentation (R 2=0.44, p=0.014). The GC signature SBS9 demonstrated sustained GC activity, as evidenced by the same proportion of mutations attributable to SBS9 at both the clonal and subclonal level (24%). At the immunoglobulin loci, we observed evidence of clustered SBS84 (AID), reflecting somatic hypermutation, with SBS84 accounting for 30% of signature contribution from subclonal mutations. Overall, these data suggest that, similarly to MM and other hematological malignancies, the interaction between WM and the GC is sustained over time.
 We have previously demonstrated that SV and complex events are critical in the pathogenesis and clinical outcomes of multiple myeloma. In contrast, in this WM WGS cohort, we found a low prevalence of complex SV, with no chromothripsis detected, and a single chromoplexy event found in 3 patients (21%), all of whom had progressed to symptomatic WM.
 To explore WM CNA features in a larger cohort, we examined the WGS data together with 38 MYD88-mutated WM samples for which targeted sequencing was available (MSK-IMPACT-Heme 400 gene panel). In this combined dataset (n=52), GISTIC analysis identified significantly deleted regions at 6q16.1, 7q34, 17p13.1 (TP53) and 21q22.2, along with significant amplification at 6p22.1 (HLA-A). To better characterize the HLA loci using the loss of heterozygosity in human leukocyte antigen (LOHHLA) tool (McGranahan et. al. Cell 2017) we found the presence of HLA-specific loss of heterozygosity in 1 sample, while 4 samples had HLA CN >2.5 (all from patients who progressed to symptomatic WM).
 CNA analysis demonstrated that while some samples harbored typical CNA features, others had minimal changes, with MGUS / smoldering WM samples having less CNA compared with those who progressed to symptomatic WM. The 2 MYD88 wild type WGS contained a clonal gain affecting chromosome 12, which is typically an early event in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Molecular time analysis (the corrected ratio between duplicated and non-duplicated clonal mutations within large chromosomal gains [Maura et al. Nat Comm 2019]) demonstrated that these 2 chromosomal gain events occurred early in cancer development (relative timing <0.5), while multiple other CNA changes occurred later in the disease course (timing >0.5) and tended to be subclonal. This data suggests that, while MYD88-mutations are central to WM clone establishment and can be observed in precursor disease, CNA may contribute to later phases and disease progression.
 In summary, WGS in WM allows the demonstration that germinal center activity is sustained over time. CNA in WM are not random in distribution, with specific loci being significantly amplified or deleted, and a potential role for HLA CNA. In contrast to MYD88 mutations, which are carried by stable precursor patients, the subclonal status and late molecular time of most CNA changes suggest a late role in cancer progression.

 Kastritis: Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Takeda: Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Genesis Pharma: Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Diamond: Sanofi: Honoraria; Medscape: Honoraria. Kazandjian: Arcellx: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Papaemmanuil: Isabl Technologies: Divested equity in a private or publicly-traded company in the past 24 months; Kyowa Hakko Kirin Pharma: Consultancy. Dogan: Roche: Consultancy, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy; EUSA Pharma: Consultancy; Peer View: Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Research Funding; Physicians' Education Resource: Honoraria. Lesokhin: Trillium Therapeutics: Consultancy; Serametrix, Inc: Patents & Royalties; Genetech: Research Funding; Iteos: Consultancy; bristol myers squibb: Research Funding; Behringer Ingelheim: Honoraria; pfizer: Consultancy, Research Funding; Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding. Landgren: Janssen: Other: IDMC; Janssen: Honoraria; Celgene: Research Funding; Amgen: Honoraria; Janssen: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Takeda: Other: IDMC; GSK: Honoraria. Palomba: Rheos: Honoraria; Pluto: Honoraria; Lygenesis: Honoraria; Ceramedix: Honoraria; Seres: Honoraria, Other: Stock, Patents & Royalties, Research Funding; Nektar: Honoraria; PCYC: Consultancy; Wolters Kluwer: Patents & Royalties; Notch: Honoraria, Other: Stock; Priothera: Honoraria; Kite: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Magenta: Honoraria; WindMIL: Honoraria; BeiGene: Consultancy; Juno: Patents & Royalties. Maura: OncLive: Honoraria; Medscape: Consultancy, Honoraria. Dimopoulos: Amgen: Honoraria; BMS: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria; BeiGene: Honoraria.


Fairly well-preserved pygidiums and cephalon of phychopariids were discoveried for the first time from the middle—upper part of Member 2, Nanhao Formation, in Jinbolaocun Village, northwest of Hainan Island. They include Australosutura sp.,Conophillipsia sp., Hunanoproetus sp., Linguaphillisia sp.,Weberiphillipsia cf. linguiformis Yuan Li, and W. sp. , and widely spread in Lower Carboniferous. The discovery of these trilobites offer some new information on the geological distribution of Lower Carboniferous trilobites in the world. In addition, it also provides the precise trilobite-biostratigraphic data for the revision of chronologic age of the Nanhao Formation, and the stratigraphic correlation of the Nanhao Formation both on the island and adjacent continent areas. Meanwhile this fauna is very similar to the Tournasian trilobites occurred in Rangari Limestone, the member of Tulcumba Sandstone New South Wales, Australia. They may belong to the same palaeobiogeographic province.


This paper proposes a technique for planar trajectory following for an autonomous aerial robot. A trajectory is modeled as a planar spline. A behavior-based control system. which stabilizes the robot and enforces trajectory following, has been implemented and tested on an autonomous helicopter. Results from two flight, experiments are presented. The trajectory tracking error is on the order of the size of the robot (1.8 m). Given the inherent error in GPS positioning, and environmental disturbances (wind), this is quite reasonable.


Abstract : A combustion model for metal particles is derived and compared with experimental results for a few metals with high combustion enthalpies. It is concluded that aluminum and beryllium oxidize slowly because of formation of solid oxide films which impede the transport of reactants at temperatures below their oxide melting points. Diffusion through the liquid oxides is several decades faster, causing ignition to occur at the oxide melting point. After ignition, the temperature rises rapidly. When the metal boiling point is reached, metal evaporation expands the liquid oxide shell until the evaporation rate and rate of diffusion of reactant through the oxide shell are equal. The oxidation reaction occurs at the oxide shell rather than the metal interface and proceeds by this mechanism until the particle is consumed. Expansion of this shell accounts for the prevalence of hollow oxide spheres observed in the quenched combustion products. Calculations of the elapsed times for each stage in the combustion sequence were machine computed. Inadequate knowledge about diffusion coefficients in liquid oxides is the principal uncertainty involved. The diffusion flame theory adequately accounts for the combustion of magnesium.


Cohesive hydrogel biodegradable characterized in that it consists of a homogeneous mixture of polymers x, identical or different, cross-linked prior to their mixture, insoluble in water, miscible with each other, where x is between 2 and 5. In a embodiment, the hydrogel according to the invention is characterized in that the polymers have identical x degree of crosslinking or different, at least one of x polymers having a degree of crosslinking x1 and at least one of polymers having x a crosslinking rate x2, x1 is greater than or equal to x2.L'invention also concerns the method for obtaining a hydrogel according to the invention and its uses, for example in viscosupplementation and filling wrinkles.


A new algorithm for super-resolution image restoration based on the segmentation is proposed to resolve contradictions of the effect and the complexity of the current algorithm.Firstly,an image segmentation method is presented to obtain two areas according to the quantity of the texture.Then,for the less texture area a progressive wavelet multi-scale interpolation method is used.For the more texture area a neural network method based on the invariable learning set is introduced.So the new algorithm uses the characteristics of the wavelet and the neural network.Experimental results demonstrate that the new algorithm has the properties of good vision effect,less complexity and simple operation.


Companies operating in passenger transport face the challenge that they cannot easily assess the effects of pricing decisions they take. Particularly, many incumbent European Railways are revisiting their traditional pricing structures based on static distancebased fares and develop new ways for pricing their services. Building on insights of behavioural pricing and Revenue Management, I investigate on alternative, more revenue-efficient pricing structures for a focal railway company given individual passenger price reaction behaviour and intramodal competition. First experiments with the model suggest that a limited quota for permanent special offers is counterproductive, while an increase in fuel price gets relatively quickly absorbed by the market.


The article presents an assessment of the trends of mercury emissions from the chIor-alkali industry in EECCA countries during the period 1990–2006. Factors contributing to the decrease in the atmospheric emissions of mercury, as well as uncertainties surrounding its sources and assessment, are analyzed. The assessment of mercury emissions is based on emission factors and on available data on mercury-cell caustic soda production. Previously developed emission factors for mercury-cell caustic soda production have been revised; high and low emission factors have been calculated taking into account technological advances since 1990. The results show that the range of mercury emissions from the chlor-alkali industry amounted to 22.9–91.8 tons in 1990, and 2.4–19.2 tons in 2006. The median value of mercury emissions has been estimated at 57.3 tons in 1990 and 5.9 tons in 2006. Although mercury emissions decreased by a factor of almost 10 during the period studied, the difference between the high and low values increased by a factor of roughly 2. Among the EECCA countries, Russia's share of total mercury emissions is the largest. Furthermore, its contribution to mercury emissions from the chlor-alkali industry is increasing: in the early 1990s it produced 74% of total mercury emissions in EECCA countries, in 2006 it produced 94%.


To estimate the proportion of patients with persistent normoprolactinaemia following dopamine agonist (DA) withdrawal and to identify predictors of successful withdrawal in patients with hyperprolactinaemia.


Reduced image stereo system comprised of a stereo camera, a print film and a stereo projector. The stereo apparatus produces on the film half images which are interconnected by a separation bridge and which must be assembled without cutting them in a stereo frame. The spacing of the objectives of the stereo apparatus and of the stereo projector is set so that the spacing of the window framing corresponds to half the width of the stereo frame and that said width is twice the width of the frame of a standard reduced image slide.


This article explores one woman's activism in the context of a large scale dam and infrastructure project in Southern Africa. Since 1986, Lesotho and South Africa are building one of the largest multi-dam water schemes in the world, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). Local communities impacted by the LHWP face resettlement, increased risk of impoverishment, and changed access to natural resources. Much like with other projects of this type and scale (Scudder, 2006), the multidimensional costs of the $8 billion dollar World Bank funded water scheme will fall hardest on rural women. Rural Basotho women are at the front lines in negotiating a changed landscape, and lead the struggle to speak out about their experiences and organize impacted people against transnational environmental injustice. This paper privileges one woman's activist experiences as a way to explore in depth the diversity of actions and choices that activism might entail and the contexts in which activism can take place in the everyday lives of women in Lesotho, specifically, but also throughout the world. Social Movements and Women's Activism The sociological study of social movements, in the U.S. particularly, has tended to focus on formal organizations, emphasize particular definitions of activism, and analyze a standard range of activist behavior. Much like feminist analyses of other areas of social life, feminist critiques have challenged this construction by revealing how certain types of social movement activity and social movement actors are rendered invisible in analyses that privilege formal or institutional social action, to the neglect of other types of work and activism. This privileging is often gendered, raced, and classed in particular ways (Naples & Desai, 2002). The literature on women's movements, in particular, is often framed within a set of assumptions about their relation to larger political and economic forces and who participates in such movements. Based largely on the Western experience, or the dominant discourse on the Western experience, it is often assumed that women's movements arise solely around the desire for rights based development or that they are an outcome of advances in industrialization, modernization, and development (Basu, 1995). For example, Basu illustrates how analyses have suggested that women's activism arises from these economic and political advances, forging a middle class that fuels the movement. Such narratives often conclude that there is, perhaps, a threshold of industrialization or development needed before such activism emerges. Southern scholars and studies of movements in the global South have challenged these assumptions, emphasizing the ways in which this privileging has either rendered some movements and social actors invisible or constructed activism in the South, particularly women's activism, as simply about survival (as opposed to quality of life or rights based) (Visvanathan, Duggan, Nisonoff, & Wiegersma, 1997). It is worth noting that while many movements and actors within movements are responding to social relations, forces, or policies that might indeed threaten their survival, the false dichotomy that women's activism in developing areas is rooted in issues of basic needs (survival) (Sen & Grown, 1987) while women's activism in more industrialized areas is rooted in strategic needs (rights) (Beneria, 2003), artificially reifies these hierarchical social relations and misses the ways in which all actors might be concerned with basic and strategic needs (Lind, 2005; Pala, 2005; Parpart, Rai, & Staudt, 2002). Further, this privileging of certain types of activists and social activism--middle class actors in more industrialized societies--reproduces global and local hierarchies of what is considered "legitimate" activism and constrains our investigation and understanding of a broader range of social actors and social activist behavior. …


0901. Ascenzi, A. and G. Silvestrini. BONE-BORING MARINE MICRO-ORGANISMS: EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION. Journal of Human Evolution. 1984, 13(6):531-536. An investigation has been carried out to gather information about the micro-organisms responsible for the boring canaliculi that are found in bones preserved for centuries in sea-water, and that contain electron-dense spherical aggregates. For the first time evidence is reported that in sea-water most of the micro-organisms responsible for boring canaliculi are amoebic.


Method for protecting a FPGAs before an unauthorized use of the RTL source code, wherein the FPGA from many logic elements (LE), which are connected to one another over a grid, wherein a logic element (LE) each comprise a logic circuit (L; L1, L2, L3) and a register (R1) having wherein the configuration data in which the logic circuits when the supply voltage of the FPGAs (L; L1, L2, L3) are generated by a synthesis tool from the RTL source code and the registers (R1, R2) can be loaded, wherein the synthesis tool in generating the configuration data in addition to the RTL source code, a command is supplied in the form of a synthesis condition, with which at least one signal path (S) for a logic element (LE) is defined such that during operation of the FPGAs on this signal path a term yields, which is longer than one cycle of the FPGA.


We study the complexity of approximating the vertex expansion of graphs G = (V, E), defined as ΦV def = minSCV n . |N(S)|/(|S||V\S). We give a simple polynomialtime algorithm for finding a subset with vertex expansion O(√(ΦV log d)) where d is the maximum degree of the graph. Our main result is an asymptotically matching lower bound: under the Small Set Expansion (SSE) hypothesis, it is hard to find a subset with expansion less than C(√(ΦV log d)) for an absolute constant C. In particular, this implies for all constant ε > 0, it is SSE-hard to distinguish whether the vertex expansion <; ε or at least an absolute constant. The analogous threshold for edge expansion is √Φ with no dependence on the degree (Here Φ denotes the optimal edge expansion). Thus our results suggest that vertex expansion is harder to approximate than edge expansion. In particular, while Cheeger's algorithm can certify constant edge expansion, it is SSE-hard to certify constant vertex expansion in graphs.


In contrast to previous assumptions, the isoquinoline alkaloid (S)-norreticuline is the biosynthetic precursor to Erythrina alkaloids and, furthermore, this precursor is asymmetrically incorporated into these spirocyclic alkaloids.


Several amide and imide compounds of phenylmercury were prepared and their stability studied polarographically under different conditions. The half-wave potentials of these compounds were found to be identical, within experimental error, to the decomposition potential of phenylmercuric hydroxide, suggesting a ready hydrolysis in each case. Other characteristics of the polarograms were also compared. Polarograms of mixtures of the coordinating compounds with phenylmercuric hydroxide in molar ratios greater than 1:1 were obtained. An increase in the half-wave potentials to greater negative values in the case of the amides of higher molecular weight and also succinimide indicates a greater binding of these compounds with phenylmercury as contrasted with the amides of lower molecular weight which did not shift the half-wave potentials under the conditions employed.


The herbarium is estimated at about 4 million samples
 distributed in 15,000 packets. The quantity and quality is one of the
 largest French collections of dried plants.


Introduction: The 2009 H1N1 pandemic resulted in a substantial increase in the use of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR). The concurrent release of guidelines by the French Ministr...


The environmental temperature and humidity of mobile base station must be controlled in a certain range throughout the year,at present,which mainly relies on the air conditioning equipment to ensure.Due to the large number of base station and enormous energy consumption,saving energy and reducing consumption is the inevitable trend of mobile telecom carrier.According to the haracteristics of mobile base station,the author proposes solutions of energy-saving technology through the aspects of air conditioning,heat and power factor,and analyzes briefly.


It is well known that the eigenvalues of tridiagonal matrices can be identified with the zeros of polynomials satisfying three-term recursion relations and being therefore members of an orthogonal set. A class of such polynomials is identified some of which feature zeros given by simple formulae involving integer numbers. In the process certain neat formulae are also obtained, which perhaps deserve to be included in standard compilations, since they involve classical polynomials such as the Jacobi polynomials and other 'named' polynomials.


The effort to negotiate and adopt a legally binding instrument to manage marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction (BBNJ) implicates national security interests both directly and tangentially. First, negotiations for any agreement will contend with the long-standing concept that the oceans are reserved for "peaceful purposes." The maritime powers will insist that the concept, which reflects customary law and the practice of virtually all states, does not demilitarize the oceans. Second, any BBNJ treaty must overcome two interrelated spatial issues: the geographic parameters of what constitutes "areas beyond national jurisdiction" when those maritime boundaries are often uncertain, and how measures to protect the environment interact with military activities in those areas. Naval powers will insist that requisite marine protected areas (MPAs) and associated protective measures do not diminish naval freedom of navigation and other military uses of the sea. Third, BBNJ negotiations will be compelled to address how a new treaty will relate to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a host of other treaties, and customary norms. Imperfect as the contemporary global order of the oceans is, major maritime powers and even middle powers will seek to protect it and resist efforts at radical change that may destabilize existing regimes in pursuit of an ephemeral gain for BBNJ. This strategic interest in international stability, while understandable, unintentionally creates inertia that is likely to frustrate the most progressive proponents of BBNJ. Fourth, more broadly, any treaty is likely to affect marine ecosystem services and perhaps marine genetic resources (MGR), which help propel the "blue economy" and undergird national security. We may expect most coastal states to continue to jealously protect their exclusive rights to the living and nonliving resources offshore, and even to propose expansion of those rights and jurisdiction to "adjacent areas." The most developed states, for their part, are unlikely to agree to any text that diminishes their rights to intellectual property related to marine biotechnology, which is a strategic sector for bio-weapons research and defense. In short, states with advanced military capabilities, and major maritime powers in particular, are unlikely to support more than incremental change to the regimes reflected in UNCLOS.


Objective To study on the incidence,reason and prevention methods of re-hemorrhage of hypertensive hemorrhage.Methods The clinical materials of 14 cases of such patient were analyzed retrospectively.Results The re-hemorrhage were 1~13 days(2.9 in average) after operation and the clinical manifestations were high pressure at decompression window,Bp increased,conscious disturbance,refractory singultus and hemiparalysis.The patients were underwent re-operation under guiding of B ultrasound and the results were as well as the patient had no re-hemorrhage without difference.Conclusion The good exposure,stop bleeding completely,control Bp might be the key point to prevent re-hemorrhage.The B ultrasound might help to find the hemorrhage.


The dynamic performance of any structure is function of existing material properties and boundary stiffness parameters which may deteriorate or become more flexible due to prolonged use. These parameters are estimated inversely through optimization of a suitable objective function. The gradient based optimization methods are preferred due to their faster convergence from a set of initial guess points, but suffers mostly from lack of reliable methodology to select appropriate step sizes. Arbitrary selection of step sizes may sometimes work well, depending upon the judgment of the user, but is case specific. The present work describes the estimation of existing material properties and boundary stiffness of isotropic and orthotropic plates from measured frequencies and mode shapes using a new gradient based step size controlled inverse eigensensitivity algorithm. The method takes a strategy that the step sizes automatically become smaller when the change in gradient of objective function is having a high value and similarly, takes larger steps when the gradient is remaining fairly constants in subsequent iterations. The results obtained from the investigations are encouraging, as some convergences could be achieved by this new adaptive step size control only, whereas methods adopting arbitrary or no step size control diverged.


Truck-related crashes contribute to a significant percentage of vehicle crashes in the work zones, which often result in injuries and fatalities. To mitigate the risk of truck-related crashes and develop effective safety countermeasures, a study on truck-related crashes between 2000 and 2008 in Kansas highway work zones was conducted. Results of the study indicated that about half of the truck drivers were at fault and were responsible for the fatal crashes in the work zones; straight following was the maneuver most truck drivers took before the crash happened; the rear-end crash was the dominant type for fatal, injury and property damage only crashes; and more than half of the fatal crashes occurred on straight and level highway work zones. Based on the study results, safety countermeasures that focus on mitigating the severity of truck-related crashes in the work zones were recommended in terms of work zone traffic control and public education.


In order to improve the coal mining rate of the fully mechanized top coal caving mining, in combined with the top coal caving practices in Kailuan Mining Area, the paper had a statistics and analysis on the coal lost composition, form and quantity. The paper intro- duced the tail coal recovery devices equipped with the real face conveyor applied in Fangezhuang Mine and Tangshan Mine. The head and tail parts of the face conveyor were placed in the mining gateways and the top coal caving operation was conducted behind the face end hy- draulic powered supports in order to improve the coal recovery rate. The paper also introduced the other technical access to improve the coal recovery rate of the fully mechanized top coal caving mining and to reduce the coal lost.


Ion bombardment of solid targets leads to the emission of light either from sputtered or backscattered particles or from the solid materials [1]. Since a fraction of the sputtered particles leaves in some excited state and participates in the photon emission, it is of interest to compare the dependence of the sputtering yield on various parameters with the analogous dependence of light emission. Though the mechanisms of sputtered-atom excitation are not well understood, it is often assumed that the energy distributions of sputtered atoms in the excited state and in the ground state are identical. This implies that the light intensity from the sputtered atoms should be proportional to the total sputtering yield as it is evident from the energy dependence of light intensity measurements [2]. However, some recent experiments [3, 4] show that such a correspondence may not be always valid. In this communication, the angular dependence of excited atom yields is compared , to that of the total sputtering yield in order to test further the relation of atomic excitation with the sputtering process. Qualitatively, a typical angular dependence of photon yield curve is found to be similar to that of the neutral sputtering yield, i.e. the yield first rises monotonically with θ, the angle of ion incidence with respect to the surface normal, passes through a maximum at θ typically 60°-80° and then decreases sharply as θ approaches 900. For not-toooblique incidence, Sigmund [5] predicted a (cos θ) f dependence rather than the normally expected (cos θ) -1 trend, where 1 < f < 2. Quite recently, Yamamura [6] proposed an empirical formula containing two adjustable parameters for the angular dependence of sputtering yield covering the whole angular range. One of the parameters corresponds to Sigmund's f, while the other is related to O.


Despite its prominent place in development strategies, poultry breeding faces many constraints, including pathological ones. Among pathologies that affect poultry, colibacillosis is one of the most diseases that are communicable to humans and associated with heavy economic losses. To fight efficiently against avian colibacillosis, the work aimed to evaluate antimicrobial potential evaluation of non-volatile extracts of Euphorbia hirta and Psidium guajava, as well as the essential oils of Clausena anisata and Aeollanthus pubescens extracts and two commercial antibiotics namely tetracolivit and Oxytetracyclin against Escherichia coli. To achieve this goal, susceptibility tests were performed on a strain of E. coli using agar diffusion and microdilution methods. Results obtained showed that essential oils from Clausena anisata and non-volatile extracts tested were not active on E coli. However, the essential oils extracted from Aeollanthus pubescens were active on the E. coli with MIC of 0.44 ± 0.21 mg/ml and MBC of 0.87 ± 0.41mg / ml for the oil of the whole part, followed respectively by flower oil  (MBC = 0.99 mg/ml) and leaf stem oil (MBC= 1.62 mg / ml). Comparing the activity of the essential oils of Aeollanthus with antibiotics tested, we noticed that tetracolivit was more active with MBC =0.15±0.07mg/ml on E. coli than these extracts which were more active than Oxytetracyclin (MBC=2.34±1.11mg/ml). In sum, the study showed that for a better management of avian collibacillosis in Benin, the tetracolivit is suitable as antibiotic which can be substituted by Aeollanthus pubescens essential oils.


When we execute the typical fine-tuning 001 paradigm on continuously sequential tasks, the 002 model will suffer from the catastrophic for- 003 getting problem (i.e., they forget the param- 004 eters learned in previous tasks when training 005 the model on newly emerged tasks). Exist- 006 ing replay-based methods need extra storage 007 for old data to update the parameters of the 008 previous classifier to overcome catastrophic 009 forgetting. Our work aims to achieve the se- 010 quential/continual learning of knowledge with- 011 out accessing the old data. The core idea is 012 to calibrate the parameters and logits (output) 013 so that preserving old parameters and general- 014 ized learning on new concepts can be solved 015 simultaneously. Our proposed framework in- 016 cludes two major components, the Logits Cal- 017 ibration (LC) and Parameter Calibration (PC). 018 The LC focuses on calibrating the learning of 019 novel models with old models, and PC aims to 020 preserve the parameters of old models. These 021 two operations can maintain the old knowledge 022 while learning new tasks without storing previ- 023 ous data. We do experiments on 9 scenarios of 024 the GLUE (the General Language Understand- 025 ing Evaluation) benchmark. The experimental 026 results show that our model achieves state-of- 027 the-art performance on all scenarios. 028


This research was designed to optimize the culture medium for Bacillus mucilaginous in submerged fermentation.With spore yield as indicator,the test was divided into three phases.Firstly,based on the results of single factor experiments,the optimum carbon source,nitrogen source and metallic ion and their concentrations were screened and the optimal values of single factors were obtained;secondly,quadratic regression orthogonal rotation composite design was used to optimize the medium further and got the model;then,verification tests were carried out to verify the model.The results showed that the optimal culture medium were(per liter):lactose 21.57 g,combined nitrogen source 2.6 g(ratio of peptone to ammonium sulphate was 1∶3),MnSO4 0.21 g,K2HPO4 1.5 g,MgSO4.7H2O 1.2 g;cultured with the optimal medium,the spore number of Bacillus mucilaginous reached 3.44×10 9 cfu/mL;the ratio of actual spore yield to predicted value was 0.977,indicated that the model was reliable.The results could provide references for the producing of Bacillus mucilaginous.


Learning to adapt one's writing strategies to new communities of practice has long attracted attention from the broader writing research community. Today, researchers and practitioners from a variety of related fields overwhelmingly acknowledge that knowledge about just discoursal forms and specialized genres is insufficient to become a proficient writer in one's field (Beaufort 1999; Ivanic 1998; Prior 1998; Swales 2004; Schriver 2011; Tardy 2009). Writers are also learning about how different forms of communication display their community's practices, "creating cognitive structures and relational networks among people through shared content (using words, pictures, sounds or symbols)" (Schriver 2012: 277). Clearly such knowledge can only be acquired through prolonged participation (Lave & Wenger 1991) in the specific milieu in which it exists (Artemeva 2005, 2009; Dressen-Hammouda 2013a; Freedman & Medway 1994; Spack 1997; Spilka 1993; Winsor 2003).
Moreover, what makes a writer 'expert' does not consist of "a set of neatly isolated and easily teachable skills [but rather] a dynamic and mutually constitutive constellation of forces and processes that enable (and sometimes disable) the development of expertise" (Schriver 2012: 284). However, many studies today continue to focus on 'surface-level' analyses of the construction of expertise, limited to describing either what is explicit in discourse/text or to describing the context alongside the text, where context is treated as though it were "talk around text" (Lillis 2008). Such studies, while seeming to 'get at' social context, in truth remain on the outside of meaning, failing to bridge the gap between text and context by not examining more closely "how discourse and text index social structure" (Starfield 2011: 176, Lillis 2008), social identity and practice.
Situated at the crossroads of several overlapping fields – EAP, ESP, rhetorical genre analysis, L2 writing research, writing for the professions and intercultural communication – the research presented builds on previous work on how a community of practice's indexicality is created, learned and maintained (Dressen-Hammouda 2008, 2013a, 2013b). Indexes, as markers of group belonging (Bucholtz & Hall 2005), reveal social identity and indicate one's level of participation ('expertise') in that social group. Indexes in writing emerge as one's legitimate participation increases.
The current study examines the emergence of writing expertise in information designers, via mastery of their profession's system of indexicality. On one hand, the indexes operating in information design practice will be explored through in-depth interviews with 4 professional information designers. On the other, an ethnography of learning will examine how students acquire relevant indexicality in the context of a bilingual, Information Design master's program located at a mid-size university in France. Data collected over a four-year period include two-year reflection journals, the effects of 'Protocol-assisted audience modeling' (Schriver 1997), in-depth interviews with students and their company mentors, in- situ observations, and written artifacts (university and workplace writings). In addition, the students enrolled in the program, largely native French speakers, must truly learn to be 'writers across borders' given the international and intercultural nature of their future work, posing additional challenges to the construction of their professional identity. Preliminary investigations confirm the difficulties involved in learning to anticipate the mental representations and expectations of their various audiences.


In this work we evaluate the impact of digitally altered images on the performance of artificial neural networks. We explore factors that negatively affect the ability of an image classification model to produce consistent and accurate results. A model's ability to classify is negatively influenced by alterations to images as a result of digital abnormalities or changes in the physical environment. The focus of this paper is to discover and replicate scenarios that modify the appearance of an image and evaluate them on state-of-the-art machine learning models. Our contributions present various training techniques that enhance a model's ability to generalize and improve robustness against these alterations.


This paper introduces briefly the characteristics and software environment of LabVIEW and gives a way on how to realize virtual instruments and libraries, how to realize a construction model of virtual instilments, and how to realize a virtual signal double line oscillograph on the screen. The virtual instruments develops all makes into the web page form, which can carry the usage up and down on the net , thus carrying out the net to share up the resources and providing a viable path to the modern long distant teaching.


A plastic lens used in a lens module group comprises a central area used for transmitting light and a surrounding part surrounded the central area; wherein the surrounding part formed by shading material is used for shading light. As the light can only pass through the central area of the plastic lens but not the surrounding part of the plastic part, an aperture film is saved in the lens module group; moreover, the shape of the surrounding part can be designed based on demands, and the surrounding part can also be used as a spacing ring. Therefore, the plastic lens can reduce the quantity of optical elements in the lens module group and lower the cost of the lens module group. In addition, the invention further provides a method for manufacturing the plastic lens.


January 1997. Mom and Dad have flown to San Francisco so that Dad can consult with an ALS expert. At the University of Washington Medical Center Dad had consulted with two neurologists and had a complete workup. He wasn't an open-and-shut case of ALS but the diagnosis pointed to that condition. This San Francisco specialist also hesitates to call Dad's case ALS, and he is baffled why an old man has contracted this disease. He offers no clear diagnosis or answers but recommends Dad try an experimental gamma globulin treatment back in Seattle, to rule out the possibility of a different but treatable condition. On the phone Mom tells me, 'This treatment has only a 10% chance of success for Dad, according to this doctor.' Are they grasping at straws? Medical knowledge is so advanced and so rudimentary. Months pass and I don't see Dad, as neither the folks nor my family travel back and forth in winter. April 1997. After returning home from a spring road trip through Arizona and California, Dad checked in at the Overlake Medical Center for an eight-hour, IVdrip. His isometric tests before and after the gamma globulin treatment showed no change. The treatment ruled out this other neurological condition, but Dad started failing more quickly, the slope of his graph line steepening. He felt sleepy all the time, his appetite disappeared and his waistline receded, his mouth dried, and he breathed shallowly. Mom didn't share these symptoms with me at the time. One of the Seattle specialists who saw him again said, 'Neurologically, you have changed hardly at all since I first saw you eighteen months ago.' The new lung x-rays showed little change yet his shallow respirations sounded through the house. I almost heard his quiet panting in Montana. He changed before Mom's eyes, limping further into the chasm between the measured and the actual. On the phone he said, 'I've hit a low patch, son,' his voice tinged with resignation. I knew Dad less steady on his feet than one of our old Douglas firs would never cut, split, and stack wood again.


The main objective of this study is to examine and measure how much influence the factors that affect the effectiveness of tax audits in Indonesia. The study was conducted with a quantitative approach using multiple regression models. Tax auditor as a party directly involved in the tax audit is a relevant research subject. Cluster sampling technique was used to determine samples. In cluster sampling, the population is divided into clusters based on criteria such as target and realization of work unit acceptance, realization of extra effort and achievement of audit coverage ratio (ACR), so as to represent conditions in the population. The data were successfully collected from 166 tax auditors. The study shows that top management support, taxpayer attitudes and use of taxation information system have significant influence on tax audit effectiveness,while tax regulation and quality of tax audit have no significant influence on tax audit effectiveness.


Colonization, enslavement, and institutionalized oppression have disrupted the relationship between the educational experiences of Black students and the fate of African/Black communities. Research has shown that Africana studies has demonstrated the capacity to realign the education of Black students in higher education, leading to the advancement of communities of African descent. This analysis aims to present Africana studies catalytic consciousness theory as a framework for determining the effects of taking Africana studies classes on students who self-identify as being of African descent on college and university campuses—particularly at institutions where they are underrepresented. The main elements of the effects of Africana studies are illustrated through the lens of the Dagara cosmic wheel and its elements: fire, water, earth, mineral/stone, and nature/vegetation.


Insisting on principle of one China and keeping nations territorial integrity is the centre of eight propositions of Jiang Zemin and is also the central task of Party and Nation to the work of Taiwan.Fully understanding and dispelling historial emotional knot of compatriots in Taiwan is one of major forces to promote motherlands unification.


The present investigation was carried out to study the Effect of crop residues, green manuring and gypsum on carbon sequestration in soils of purna valley. The study revealed that the treatment gypsum application 2.5 t ha is significantly increase the production of cotton and improves mean weight diameter of soil, decreased soil salinity, soil sodicity of soil. The treatment of dhaincha and sunhemp in situ green manuring is significantly increase the productivity of cotton in salt affected soil and besides improves the physical properties bulk density and mean weight diameter of soil, decreased soil salinity, soil sodicity, free calcium carbonate of soil and increase the SMBC, SMBN, DHA, CO2 evolution, organic carbon, available nutrients and CEC of soil. Therefore from the It is concluded that the yield of cotton under gypsum was higher in comparison to organic amendments. However, the yield of cotton under dhaincha and green gram in situ green manuring was at par with gypsum indicating green manures have equal potential to improve yield of crops in sodic soils besides improving soil properties, helping soil reclamation.


The invariant differential cross section of inclusive ω ( 782 ) meson production at midrapidity ( | y | < 0 . 5) in pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV was measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC over a transverse momentum range of 2 < p T < 17 GeV / c . The ω meson was reconstructed via its ω → π + π − π 0 decay channel. The measured ω production cross section is compared to various calculations: PYTHIA 8.2 Monash 2013 describes the data, while PYTHIA 8.2 Tune 4C overestimates the data by about 50%. A recent NLO calculation, which includes a model describing the fragmentation of the whole vector-meson nonet, describes the data within uncertainties below 6 GeV / c , while it overestimates the data by up to 50% for higher p T . The ω / π 0 ratio is in agreement with previous measurements at lower collision energies and the PYTHIA calculations. In addition, the measurement is compatible with transverse mass scaling within the measured p T range and the ratio is constant with C ω / π 0 = 0 . 67 ± 0 . 03 (stat) ± 0 . 04 (sys) above a transverse momentum of 2 . 5 GeV / c .


Thank you very much for downloading philosophy of geometry from riemann to poincare. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their chosen books like this philosophy of geometry from riemann to poincare, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some infectious bugs inside their laptop.


This paper argues that all of the standard theories about the divisions of space and time can benefit from, and may need to rely on, parsimony considerations. More specifically, whether spacetime is discrete, gunky or pointy, there are wildly unparsimonious rivals to standard accounts that need to be resisted by proponents of those accounts, and only parsimony considerations offer a natural way of doing that resisting. Furthermore, quantitative parsimony considerations appear to be needed in many of these cases. When scientists evaluate scientific theories, they often have to rely on many criteria besides whether the relevant theories are consistent with the evidence so far. For one thing, it is harder than it looks to have evidence flatly contradict hypotheses, especially when we remember how easy it is to chalk recalcitrant results up to noise, or experimental error, or bias, or as-yet-undiscovered factors, and the fact that our theories often only have probabilistic connections to data. For another, it is relatively easy to come up with different theories that agree on any given body of data, though many will look like mere philosophers' tricks rather than serious scientific rivals. Finally, we need theories to help tell us about tricky cases that we have not observed so far: and when we are setting up experiments or observations we are not already sure about, we want to put extra effort into testing plausible theories of the new phenomena, rather than doing undirected data collection. But this suggests that we want criteria of plausibility that help choose between theories that have not already been ruled out by the evidence we already have. Scientists do seem to use criteria such as simplicity, coherence with theories in other areas, inductive considerations, valuing explanatory hypotheses, and so on. Call criteria of theory choice like these "theoretical virtues". 1


A simple and low-cost and highly calibrated probe sonication method was used to prepare bismuth oxide nanoparticles (Bi2O3 NPs). The formation of a well-crystalline sample at the end of the product has been further calcined at 600°C for 2 hrs. The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns of the NPs substantiated the monoclinic structure (space group P21/c), and the average crystallite size was found to be 60 nm, which was also confirmed by transmission electron microscopic (TEM) studies. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images depicted highly porous Bi2O3 NPs with little agglomeration. Utilizing diffused reflectance spectra (DRS) data, the energy bandgap (

 E

 g

 ) value of 3.3 eV was deduced for Bi2O3 NPs, and their semiconductor behavior has been confirmed. Two dyes, methylene blue (MB) and acid green (AG) were utilized for degradation studies using Bi2O3 NPs under UV light irradiation (from 0 to 120 min). The photocatalytic degradation was found to be maximum for MB (93.45%) and AR (97.80%) dyes. Cyclic voltammetric (CV) and sensor studies using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were performed. The specific capacitance value of 25.5 Fg-1 was deduced from the cyclic voltammograms of the Bi2O3 electrode in 0.1 N HCl with a scan rate of 10 to 50 mV/s. From the obtained EIS data, the Bi2O3 electrode showed pseudocapacitive characteristics. The prepared electrodes also exhibited high sensitivity towards the detection of ascorbic acid and lead. Hence, sonochemically synthesized Bi2O3 NPs are possibly hopeful for excellent photocatalytic and electrochemical sensing of biomolecules.


We report here preliminary results of our investigation of the effects of intra and intermolecular hydrogen bonding upon hydrogen bonding upon the conformation and photochemical behavior of the isomeric N-methyl-3-(2-pyridyl)propenamides (E- and Z-) in solution and in the solid state.


Multifunctional capacitors can efficiently integrate multiple functionalities into a single material to further down-scale state-of-the-art integrated circuits, which are urgently needed in new electronic devices. Here, an all-inorganic flexible capacitor based on Pb0.91La0.09 (Zr0.65Ti0.35)0.9775O3 (PLZT 9/65/35) relaxor ferroelectric thick film (1 μm) was successfully fabricated on LaNiO3/F-Mica substrate for application in electrostatic energy storage and electrocaloric refrigeration simultaneously. The flexible PLZT 9/65/35 thick film presents a desirable breakdown field of 1998 kV/cm, accompanied by a superior recoverable energy density (Wrec) of 40.2 J/cm3. Meanwhile, the thick film exhibits excellent stability of energy-storage performance, including a broad operating temperature (30-180 oC), reduplicative charge-discharge cycles (1 × 107 cycles) and mechanical bending cycles (2000 times). Moreover, a large reversible adiabatic temperature change (ΔT) of 18.0 oC, companied by an excellent electrocaloric strength of 22.4 K cm/V and refrigerant capacity (RC) of 11.2 J/cm3, is obtained at 80 oC in the flexible PLZT 9/65/35 thick film under the moderate applied electric field of 850 kV/cm. All of these results shed light on that flexible PLZT 9/65/35 thick film capacitor open up a route to practical applications in micro-energy-storage system and on-chip thermal refrigeration of advanced electronics.


This paper summarizes the participation of the L3i laboratory of the University of La Rochelle in the TREC Incident Streams 2021. This track aimed at identifying critical information present in social media by categorizing and prioritizing tweets in a disaster situation to assist emergency service operators. For both classifying tweets by information type and ranking tweets by criticality, we proposed a multitask and multilabel learning approach based on representing the tweet text and the event types with pre-trained language models, and by highlighting entities and hashtags. We also experimented with a bag of words representation and classical machine learning methods for the prioritization task. We conclude that, because our multitask approach can take advantage of both tasks, it achieved the best performance in comparison with different proposed ensembles. Our submissions obtained top performance for the prioritization task and surpassed the median performance for the information type classification task.


This article points out the demands for information services from a university library under the network environment ,and expounds the measures of how to carry out information services in a university library.


[1] Team of Geomaterials and Environment, Laboratory of Applied Geosciences, University Ibn Tofail, Faculty of Sciences, Po Box 133, 14000, Kenitra, Morocco. [2] Team of physics and nuclear techniques, Laboratory of Physics of Matter and Radiation, University Ibn Tofail, Faculty of Sciences, Po Box 133, 14000, Kenitra, Morocco. [3] Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Glassy and crystalline materials, University Ibn Tofail, Faculty of Sciences, Kenitra, Morocco. [4] Laboratory of biotechnology and preservation of natural resource , Faculty of Science, University of Mohammed BEN ABDELLAH,Po Box 30000, FES, Morocco.


Limited clinical benefit of exogenous stem cell therapy has renewed interest in strategies to enhance endogenous cell recruitment after myocardial infarction (MI). Nuclear imaging of stem cell trafficking has been restricted to exogenous stem cells, and may be compromised by low cell retention and continuous expression of reporter genes. We evaluated the feasibility of transplanting reporter gene-labeled endogenous bone marrow under an inducible promoter as a platform for imaging endogenous cell recruitment in MI. Sodium iodide symporter (NIS) was cloned into a lentiviral vector under constitutive (c-NIS) or doxycycline-inducible (i-NIS) promoter. Hematopoetic stem cells (HSCs) were transduced with c-NIS, i-NIS, or a null lentivirus. C57Bl/6 mice (n=57) underwent bone marrow ablation by irradiation and bone marrow was replaced with transduced HSCs (5x105). After 8 weeks, mice underwent coronary artery ligation. Doxycycline (dox) was provided to a subset of i-NIS mice 4d before surgery. Serial SPECT imaging demonstrated increased radioiodine uptake in the perfusion defect of c-NIS compared to NIS-null mice (TBR infarct: MI+3d, 3.0±0.3 v 1.6±0.1 p<0.001; MI+7d, 3.1±0.9 v 1.4±0.3 p<0.01), and comparable uptake in i-NIS transplanted mice. Infarct-to-remote-myocardium radioiodine uptake ratio was 6.5±0.2% higher in c-NIS versus NIS null (p<0.05). Dox-induced i-NIS mice exhibited increased radioiodine uptake in whole myocardium compared to non-induced i-NIS at 1d post-MI (TBR: 2.0±0.3 v 1.6±0.3, p=0.04). This difference dissipated at 7d (TBR 1.5±0.5 v 1.3±0.1, p=0.27). Multi-isotope autoradiography confirmed the presence of radioiodine within the infarct region, associated with histologic markers of inflammation. Bone marrow transplant with NIS reporter gene-labeled HSCs enabled tracking of cell homing post-MI. The inducible construct has the advantage for delivery and/or monitoring of a therapeutic agent with exquisite temporal control.


Thymol and carvacrol in Thymus vulgaris L. Due to the increasing prevalence of resistance to antibiotics, the resorting to treatment with traditional methods is increasing, such as use of herbal remedies with antibacterial effect (Kon and Rai, 2012; Shabnum and Wagay, 2011). Genus Thymus contains about 300-400 species, many of which are used in folk medicine. The most commonly used Thymus genus is Thymus vulgaris (Hajimehdipoor, Shekarchi, Khanavi, et al., 2010; Zeković, Lepojević, Markov, 2002). Thymus (Thymus vulgaris L., Lamiaceae) is an aromatic and medicinal plant used in the production of phytopharmaceutical preparations as a preservative and as an aromatic component (Hajimehdipoor, Shekarchi, Khanavi, et al, 2010; Grigore, Paraschiv, Colceru-Mihul et al, 2010). Most commonly they are prepared as water extracts (infusum and decoct), as well as tinctures, which are used in respiratory infections. Water extracts can also be used externally, locally, for the treatment of rheumatic and skin diseases (Fachini-Queiroz, Kummer, Estevao-Silva, et al., 2012; Zeković, 2000; Zeković, Lepojević, Markov, 2002). In official medicine, thyme is used as a general remedy for colds, flu, fever, cough and bronchitis such as: Bulletin of the Chemists and Technologists of Bosnia and Herzegovina


Abstract Two Hydrophilid species (water beetles) are described as new to the Turkish fauna: Anacaena lutescens (Stephens, 1829) and Cercyon littoralis (Gyllenhal, 1808). Both were found at high altitiudes in the Black Sea region. The descriptions are supported by scanning electron microscope photographs.


This study investigated the grinding force in rotational atherectomy, a clinical procedure that uses a high-speed grinding wheel to remove hardened, calcified plaque inside the human arteries. The grinding force, wheel motion, and ground surface were measured based on a ring-shape bovine bone surrogate for the calcified plaque. At 135,000, 155,000, and 175,000 rpm wheel rotational speed, the grinding forces were 1.84, 1.92, and 2.22 N and the wheel orbital speeds were 6060, 6840, and 7800 rpm, respectively. The grinding wheel was observed to bounce on the wall of the bone surrogate, leaving discrete grinding marks. Based on this observation, we modeled the grinding force in two components: impact and cutting forces. The impact force between the grinding wheel and the bone surrogate was calculated by the Hertz contact model. A multigrain smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) model was established to simulate the cutting force. The grinding wheel model was built according to the wheel surface topography scanned by a laser confocal microscope. The workpiece was modeled by kinematic-geometrical cutting. The simulation predicted a cutting force of 41, 51, and 99 mN at the three investigated wheel rotational speeds. The resultant grinding forces, combining the impact and cutting forces modeled by the Hertz contact and SPH simulation, matched with the experimental measurements with relative errors less than 10%.


The new technologies that are CMOS sensors and most recent FPGA platform like the Xilinx Virtex-II family allow the realization of totally digital active video sensors. On the other hand, the digital visual interface (hereinafter DVI) specification provides a high-speed digital connection for visual data (T.M.D.S). These various technologies led us define a frame grabber -- processing -- display system based on three components: a CMOS sensor PB-MV13 of Photobit, a FPGA platform Virtex-II from Xilinx and a T.M.D.S transmitter SiI 160 of Silicon Image. An advantage of this realization is the suppression of the various analogue-digital conversion stages generally used to digitize and restore the video stream. The reconfiguration of the FPGA platform is another advantage, which does not limit processing to a particular purpose and simplify the conception. Besides, an important constraint of this realization is the frame definition 1280 x 1024 (SXGA) and the rate of 60 images per second with a pixel frequency of 108 MHz.


We need to worry. The population is ageing, which will put all sorts of pressure on medical and social services. Census projections tells us that the numbers of people aged over 65 years are increasing much more quickly than the numbers of teenagers. With that comes multiple incurable chronic diseases and multiple medications. More people need more help in their daily lives as they get older. As a higher proportion of the population is aged over 65 years, this puts pressure on health and social care. Our health systems will need to have the capacity and expertise to deliver care to increasing numbers of people with dementia as well as with heart disease and arthritis, …


China's manufacturing has the problem of generally low capacity utilization at present, and the use of environmental regulation policy to force enterprises to adjust production and investment to enhance production capacity utilization has important significance. But the existing studies have ignored the transmission mechanism of environmental regulation policy on production capacity utilization and the heterogeneity effect, so it is difficult to put forward targeted and differentiated countermeasures. This paper mainly studies the effect of environmental regulation on production capacity utilization in manufacturing and the specific conduction mechanism, and deeply investigates the heterogeneity effect of environmental regulation on production capacity utilization. Then it tests the heterogeneity of the conduction mechanism. It comes to the results as follows:firstly, environmental regulation plays a significant promotion role in production capacity utilization through following cost effect and innovation compensation effect, and environmental regulation has a positive effect on production capacity utilization mainly through eliminating the production capacity which does not meet the environmental standards and has the limited effect on the increase in production capacity utilization through strengthening the technology innovation to create new market demands; secondly, the increase in the proportion of state-owned enterprises and small-sized enterprises weakens the promotion role of environmental regulation in production capacity utilization, the increase in the proportion of private enterprises and large and medium-sized enterprises promotes the positive effects of environmental regulation on production capacity utilization, the promotion role of environmental regulation in production capacity utilization in the partially heavy pollution industries is stronger, and the following cost effect and innovation compensation effect of environmental regulation are also different under the different property rights, enterprise scale and pollution intensity. The conclusions have enlightenment significance to how to use hard constraints of environmental protection to resolve the excess production capacity and to the reduction in ineffective and low-end supply and the promotion of innovation development strategy in the context of the supply-side structural reform.


Support verb constructions (SVC), are verb-noun complexes which play a role in many natural language processing (NLP) tasks, such as Machine Translation (MT). They can be paraphrased with a full verb, preserving its meaning, improving at the same time the MT raw output. In this paper, we discuss the creation of linguistic resources namely a set of dictionaries and rules that can identify and paraphrase Italian SVCs. We propose a paraphrasing computational method that is based on open-source tools and data such as NooJ linguistic environment and OpenLogos MT system. We focus on pre-processing the data that will be machine translated, but our methodology can also be applied in other fields in NLP. Our results show that linguistic knowledge constitutes a 95.5% precision rate in identifying SVC and an 88.8% precision rate in paraphrasing SVCs into full verbs.


draw equal attention to structural constraints and individual agency, and to acknowledge pleasure in bodily performance. The authors also seek to complicate gender by pulling together the disparate theoretical trajectories of poststructuralism, postcolonialism, psychoanalysis, and queer theory. Nonetheless, there was room for further arguments. For example, the discussion of environmental justice would have benefited from a brief discussion on the digital gender divide that entrenches inequality in the Global South. The examination of global media and celebrity could have been supplemented by touching on the paradoxical relations between consumption and empowerment in postfeminist media culture in the North. Overall, the authors have achieved the primary purpose of this book by thoughtfully delivering a world perspective on gender. With an exceptional balance between intellectual depth and readability, this new edition offers important insights into the complexity and diversity of gender. This book is suitable for students who desire a precise yet comprehensive introduction as well as researchers who look for an overview of gender knowledges.


Numerous treatment of gemstones has been going on for hundreds of years for enhancing color and clarity of gems devoid of these attributes. Whereas previous practices included fraudulent or otherwise processes to achieve the color enhancement, the ionizing radiation has proven to be a reliable and reproducible technique. Three types of irradiation processes include exposure to gamma radiation, electron beam irradiation and the nuclear power plants. Electron Beam Irradiation of Gemstone is a technique in which a gemstone is exposed to highly ionizing radiation electron beam to knock off electrons to generate color centers culminating in introduction of deeper colors. The color centers may be stable or unstable. Below 9MeV, normally no radioactivity is introduced in the exposed gems. A study was conducted at Electron Beam Irradiation Centre (Alurtron) for gemstone color enhancement by using different kind of precious gemstones obtained from Pakistan. The study shows that EB irradiation not only enhances the...


Abstract The economically important marine bivalve mollusc, Mercenaria mercenaria, (commonly called a northern quahog or hard clam), has endured considerable mortalities caused by a thraustochytrid pathogen called Quahog Parasite X (QPX). Data on the percent prevalence of QPX infections were compiled from published reports along with our data to describe the epizootiology of QPX disease. QPX infections occurred in clams collected from both cultured beds and wild populations, but a higher percentage of QPX cases (76.5%) were from cultured clam beds. In addition, samples from cultured beds had a significantly higher prevalence (29.2 ± 27.2%) of QPX infections compared with samples from wild populations (9.6 ± 9.6%). The highest prevalence of QPX infections occurred in clams from samples with an intermediate size range (shell lengths 20–55 mm). QPX infections occurred in both male and female clams, but infection prevalence does not appear to be correlated with sex or sex ratios. The geographical range of QPX-related clam mortalities was Atlantic Canada to the Eastern Shore of Virginia, USA. Only marginally significant differences were detected between the prevalence of QPX at different locations. There were no latitudinal gradients in QPX prevalence or frequencies, suggesting local factors were important in determining its distribution. Although QPX infections occurred throughout the year, no seasonal trends in the prevalence or frequencies of QPX were discernable. This summary of information available on QPX disease highlights the need for more thorough data collection regarding factors believed to be associated with its presence and severity in hard clams.


The presence of new media such as gadgets became a staple of digital society, namely the generation that grew up in the 20th century. One of the dmpak produced by digitalization is the tradition of phubbing, which is the condition of society that prioritizes gadgets over friends around. Phubbing occurs because users are unable to utilize technology wisely as a result of feeling bored and conversations that are no longer interesting. The research method used is qualitative with a type of phenomenology. The results showed that phubbing one of the behaviors that are contrary to social norms that exist in public life one of them is mutual respect between each other and communication. The attitude of dependence on gadgets makes the digital community in Suryawangi become an introverted human being to his own world.


The evolution of infrared imaging technology has always followed, from a distance, the evolution of the technology in the visible waveband with ever increasing resolutions and decreasing pixel pitch. With such evolution the cameras in the visible are smaller than ever and display high quality imaging. Nowadays the size of the pixels in the infrared is generally much larger than its counterpart in the visible. However, the ratio of the size of the pixel to the wavelength is much smaller in the infrared than in the visible with the consequence that the gain on the pixel size could be limited considering today's rules of design. In the infrared, the recent advent of large 1024 x 768 pixel focal plane arrays based on 17 um pixel for the 8 to 12 um waveband raises development challenges. Nevertheless, it was recently shown that sampling a scene at a frequency higher than the one corresponding to the pixel pitch is an efficient way of increasing the resolution of an image for given pixel size and FPA dimensions. Following this strategy a 2048 x 1536 pixel imager with integrated microscan was developed based on an uncooled bolometer FPA. Due to its very small 8.5 um efficient pixel pitch the imager offers very high resolution and large field-of-view (FOV) using a short 50 mm focal length. Furthermore, since the size of the FPA is maintained at a reasonable size and the pixel pitch is very small the optics is compact and lightweight and the level of aberrations at the larger angles of the FOV is kept to a minimum offering excellent imaging quality. Such a platform could thus be used for very compact surveillance system and remote sensing instrumentation. This paper reviews the optics developed to perform the microscanned acquisition, the acquisition electronics and presents examples of high-resolution imaging. Finally, comparison of imaging with and without microscan is provided illustrating the usefulness of the microscan system despite the fact that the efficient pixel pitch is very close to the lower limit of the 8 to 12 um infrared waveband.


Research increasingly shows great apes surpassing other nonhuman primates in their mentality, achieving abilities traditionally considered uniquely human. Importantly, the cognitive capacities that distinguish them include rudimentary symbolic processes, in the sense of processes that operate on the basis of mental images rather than direct sensory-motor phenomena. Although this view does not represent consensus among experts (e.g., Tomasello & Call 1997), many well-respected researchers now accept this interpretation of the empirical evidence (e.g., Byrne 1995; Langer & Killen 1998; Parker & McKinney 1999; Parker, Mitchell & Boccia 1994; Parker, Mitchell & Miles 1999; Russon, Bard & Parker 1996; Savage-Rumbaugh, Shanker & Taylor 1998; Whiten & Byrne 1991; Wrangham et al. 1994). If great apes are capable of symbolic cognitive processes, views of symbolism as having evolved within the human lineage are incorrect. Implications for understanding cognitive evolution within the primates are complex and important. First, neither the landmark significance of symbolism to cognition nor its importance in understanding the evolution of higher primate cognition is diminished by this revision. What is altered is timing. Symbolic cognition shifts from an achievement of the human lineage to a foundation for it. Second, reconstructions of the conditions leading to the evolution of symbolic processes remain important, but existing reconstructions lose much of their weight because they focus on conditions linked with the divergence of the human lineage. If symbolic processes are the joint province of humans and great apes, ancestral large hominoids are their probable evolutionary source. At this vastly different point in time and probably in space, a very different set of conditions likely affected them. Finally, what is unique to the human mind must be reevaluated. This volume aims to reconstruct the evolutionary origins of great ape intelligence. This is not the first such reconstruction; over half a dozen have been developed over the last 25 years, primarily by scholars of cognition (e.g., Byrne 1997; Byrne & Whiten 1988; Parker & Gibson 1977, 1979; Parker 1996; Povinelli & Cant 1995; Russon 1998). While their expertise on issues of cognition is undisputed, their navigation and rendition of evidence and debate in the other key areas can be less sound. Many extant reconstructions, for instance, rely on outdated or flawed views of modern great ape anatomical or behavioral adaptations, sociality, ecology, or ancestry (for discussion, see Byrne 1997, 2000; Russon 1998). Reconsidering the evolutionary origins of great ape intelligence is well worth undertaking at this time. The accumulation of empirical evidence is generating better models of cognitive processes in living great apes. The body of knowledge on the behavioral, anatomical, social, and ecological traits of living great apes is affording increasingly reliable identification of potentially conservative traits. A recent upsurge of interest in hominoid evolution occasioned by significant fossil finds and increasingly sophisticated molecular taxonomic methods enormously improves the prospects for honing in on the critical pieces of the ancestral hominoid picture that concern cognition. To orient our attempt, this first chapter revisits existing reconstructions of cognitive evolution that implicate the great apes. Aims are to highlight why and where evolutionary reconstructions of great ape cognition are in need of revision, the factors potentially at play, and our approach to developing a new reconstruction.


The brain‐specific protein p42IP4, also called centaurin‐α1, specifically binds phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5‐trisphosphate [PtdIns(3,4,5)P3] and inositol 1,3,4,5‐tetrakisphosphate [Ins(1,3,4,5)P4]. Here, we investigate the interaction of p42IP4/centaurin‐α1 with nardilysin (NRDc), a member of the M16 family of zinc metalloendopeptidases. Members of this peptidase family exhibit enzymatic activity and also act as receptors for other proteins. We found that p42IP4/centaurin‐α1 binds specifically to NRDc from rat brain. We further detected that centaurin‐α2, a protein that is highly homologuous to p42IP4/centaurin‐α1 and expressed ubiquitously, also binds to NRDc. In vivo interaction was demonstrated by co‐immunoprecipitation of p42IP4/centaurin‐α1 with NRDc from rat brain. The acidic domain of NRDc (NRDc‐AD), which does not participate in catalysis, is sufficient for the protein interaction with p42IP4. Interestingly, preincubation of p42IP4 with its cognate ligands d‐Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 and the lipid diC8PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 negatively modulates the interaction between the two proteins. d‐Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 and diC8PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 suppress the interaction with virtually identical concentration dependencies. This inhibition is highly ligand specific. The enantiomer l‐Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 is not effective. Similarly, the phosphoinositides diC8PtdIns(3,4)P2, diC8PtdIns(3,5)P2 and diC8PtdIns(4,5)P2 all have no influence on the interaction. Further experiments revealed that endogenous p42IP4 from rat brain binds to glutathione‐S‐transferase (GST)‐NRDc‐AD. The proteins dissociate from each other when incubated with d‐Ins(1,3,4,5)P4, but not with inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3]. In summary, we demonstrate that p42IP4 binds to NRDc via the NRDc‐AD, and that this interaction is controlled by the cognate cellular ligands of p42IP4/centaurin‐α1. Thus, specific ligands of p42IP4 can modulate the recruitment of proteins, which are docked to p42IP4, to specific cellular compartments.


We are living in an invisible "rains" of cosmic showers which are originated in the upper atmosphere from nuclear reactions between air molecules and the energetic protons and other particles from outer space. These showers consist of different particle species (electrons, muons, protons, photons, etc.) with different energies and moving in different directions. To be able to detect these showering particles near the Earth's surface itself is a challenging and very important scientific endeavor. Even more important is the measurement of these surviving particles on a very large-scale on the surface of the Earth and the study of the correlation between cosmic muon particle flux and its effects on our environment, weather, electronics etc. The results from this measurement will also have profound implications on the fundamental theory of nuclear and particle physics and on astrophysics via searching for super-relativistic cosmic ray event which is impossible to create via laboratory particle accelerators. As equally important, with this research project, we are initiating a pilot outreach program at Georgia State University (GSU) to promote advanced science research activities in middle and high schools in our state to inspire students to get higher education in science. The initial measurement will be performed in the metro Atlanta area. A set of fifteen muon monitoring stations will be built at GSU and installed at selected public schools. The further development of this project is to build and install about 200 networked muon monitoring stations within three to four years across the state of Georgia. The main focus of this proposal is to develop small and cost effective cosmic muon monitoring stations in the nuclear physics laboratory at GSU. Each of these stations will be equipped with GPS chips for recording the muon particle signals with their position and arriving timing information via communicating with GSP satellites.


The image compression apparatus and method are disclosed. The apparatus picture element classifying unit for classifying the input image as a mask component, the foreground component and background component; By compression coding the mask component supplied from the component image classification unit, the mask encoding unit for outputting a mask component data; By compression encoding the foreground components supplied from the component image classification unit, the foreground encoding section for outputting a foreground component data; By dividing the background components supplied from the image component classification section into a plurality of regions (segment), and compression coding a sampling rate according to the change of each area as, compression coded background component data, the partition information and sampling rate information background encoder for outputting; And characterized by including a mask component data, the foreground component data, component data background, and segment information collected by the sampling rate information output bit stream and outputs a bit stream portion. According to the present invention, by the compression encoding of the foreground component or the background component of the components constituting the image, for a plurality of regions constituting the foreground component or the background component, by assigning a degree of narrowing of the color information it is adaptively compressed and coded, It can achieve high compression efficiency.


Understanding millimeter wave (mmWave) vehicular channels is crucial for the application of mmWave technologies in vehicle-to-anything settings. However, as of yet, few attempts of low-complexity approximation of such channels exist. Prior results have shown that such channels are often composed of clustered multipath components, and this work builds on those results. We present an approach to project a measured mmWave channel into subbands. Sufficiently narrow subbands do not resolve the cluster structures and are efficiently approximated as sparse channels. We thereby render sparse tapped delay line model fits possible. In this contribution, we optimize sparse fits in subbands, and then combine all fits to approximate the full band. We evaluate this approach using vehicular mmWave channel measurements, and demonstrate that subband fitting results in efficient leveraging of sparse structures of mmWave channel data.


This study examines the effects of gainsharing under seniority-based pay systems on employee attitudes in Korea. It is hypothesized that gainsharing, which emphasizes performance, employee participation, and cooperation enhances employee perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice, and that this, in turn, produces positive employee attitudes. The participants were a sample of individuals from five firms that combined seniority-based pay and gainsharing incentives and five comparable firms that used only seniority-based pay. The results supported the partial mediation model whereby distributive and interactional justice partially mediated the effects of gainsharing on employee attitudes, but procedural justice did not. The practical implications of this international compensation research include careful consideration of the integration of gainsharing with the total rewards mix in an organization. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the gymnastic learning model, which makes students more active during learning to improve students rolling skills. This type of research is an experiment with a pre and post-test design. 34 people with an average age of 15 years, consisting of 16 men and 18 women, participated in this study. Subjects were divided into two groups the experimental and control groups. They were taking research subjects using a purposive sampling technique. The control group carried out an independent study according to the instructions from the teacher, while the experimental group was treated with a play learning model according to the treatment program that had been made in each lesson. The forward roll skill test instrument uses a forward roll skill test sheet which contains a forward roll assessment indicator, which consists of 10 assessment indicators, starting from the initial phase, the primary phase, and the final phase for the forward roll movement. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS application with the Paired t-test method. This study's results reported a significant difference in the experimental group (p<0.05) compared to the control group. Each group has an average difference so that the learning model applied can improve forward-rolling skills in gymnastic materials.


Gifted children have an over excitability (superstimulatibility) development in the growing aspect of growth. The purpose of this study is to obtain a picture of the development of gifted children from five aspects of development namely: cognitive, motor, social, emotional, language and moral ethics. Thus, the unique things of the five developmental aspects of the gifted children will be known. Using descriptive method of qualitative approach, this research explores the development data of four gifted participants through observation, interview and documentation. Subjects studied in this study were four boys who were in grade 6 elementary school acceleration class. In this article it is shown that each subject has his/her own uniqueness in the five aspects of development. There are standing out and unique things found in the development of the subjects such as the development of aspects of language that precede chronological age, and so forth. Gifted children develop in extremely sensitive (extreme) conditions in some areas and are unique in every aspect of their developments. Keywords— Development, uniqueness, gifted children.


This paper describes a distributed optical fibre sensor for detecting water or high humidity. The presence of water causes a hydrophilic material to swell and, via a braiding mechanism, produces microbend losses in the fibre. The distributed measurement of these losses is carried out using an OTDR. Hydrogels are a range of hydrophilic macro-molecular polymers which swell when absorbing water, but do not dissolve in aqueous media. The swelling action is readily converted to a mechanical response in the form of force, pressure or bending moment. The water sensor (see Figure 1) uses this force to locally deform an optical fibre introducing microbends and thereby alter the attenuation characteristics.


Wheat (Triticum aestivum and T. durum L.) is one of the most important cereal crop worldwide and is used to produce various end use products like chapati, bread, biscuits, pasta etc. Due to its food and industrial importance there is need for the improvement of wheat crop to market suitable for different traits. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker can be effectively used for identification and differentiation of the cultivars. PCR amplification of genomic DNA of 12 wheat cultivars using 17 RAPD primers generated 1656 scorable bands with an average of 97.41 bands per primer in which OPF-15 generated highest number of scorable bands. Total 213 loci were observed, out of that 143 were found polymorphic. Primer OPA-18 showed highest (14) polymorphic loci. Polymorphism percentage in all primers ranged from 33.33% (OPE-01) to 100% (OPE-10). Dendrogram produced by pooled RAPD data showed cultivars of T. aestivum and T. durum into two separate clusters. RAPD amplification produced 31 aestivum and durum species specific bands, these bands can be further explored to develop more specific markers like SCARs for identification of wheat species.


Abstract The aim of the present work was to estimate genetic variability in Chianina (CH), Marchigiana (MC) and Romagnola (RO) breeds using pedigree information. Different approaches based on probability of identity-by-descent (effective population size through an increase in inbreeding Ne) or probability of gene origin (total number of founders f, effective number of founders fe, ancestors fa and founder genomes fg) were used. Reference populations were defined using female animals born between 1996 and 2000 where both parents are known. Generation intervals were 5.35, 4.93 and 5.15 years for CH, MC and RO, respectively. The total number of founders were 7092, 11947, 3928, for CH, MC and RO, respectively. Complete generation equivalent showed the relative high quality of pedigree information: 5.66 for CH, 4.54 for MC and 4.95 for RO. For CH, MC and RO, respectively, a fe value of 152.1, 70.9 and 89.8, a fa value of 73.6, 48.0 and 59.5 and a fg value of 39.5, 25.0 and 38.5, were calculated. When inbreeding was used effective population sizes were 138, 122 and 124 for CH, MC and RO, respectively. Parameters derived from the probabilities of gene origin were variable among the investigated breeds and the results for MC demonstrate the need to pay specific attention to breeding strategies.


The nineteenth-century experiences of yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans and Norfolk present historical parallels for how those cities, and others, are experiencing existential threats from climate change and sea level rise in the twenty-first century. In particular, the nineteenth-century "sanitary reform" movement can be interpreted as a model for challenges facing twenty-first-century "climate resilience" initiatives, including denialism and political obfuscation of scientific debates as well as tensions between short-term profit and the cost of long-term infrastructure investments and between individualism and communitarianism. The history of sanitary reform suggests that, at least in the United States, climate resilience initiatives will advance largely on a regional basis through extended local debates around these and other challenges until resilient infrastructure and practices are taken for granted, much as sanitary waterworks and sewers are today.


We show for a finite sequence of exchangeable random variables that the locations of the maximum and minimum are independent from every symmetric event. In particular they are uniformly distributed on the grid without the diagonal. Moreover, for an infinite sequence we show that the extrema and their locations are asymptotically independent. Here, in contrast to the classical approach we do not use affine-linear transformations. Moreover it is shown how the new transformations can be used in extreme value statistics.


of appraisal. By far and away the best chapter is the third one, which systematically reviews the existing literature (both academic and grey) on ex ante vs. ex post cost estimates. Part 2 comprises 11 case studies, which cover different media (air, water, waste), policy sectors (agriculture, electricity generation) and policy problems (ozone depletion and nitrate pollution). Around half deal with the UK and the rest present pan-EU perspectives. A number of themes resonate through these chapters. The first is the role of future technological innovation as a significant source of uncertainty: if innovation is more than was originally expected, ex post costs tend to be significantly lower than those estimated ex ante, and vice versa. Other sources of uncertainty include the actions of regulators (perhaps downplaying costs to secure policy adoption), strategic behaviour by regulatees (how economical are they with the truth?) and implementing officials (do they under or over-enforce?). Part 3 summarises the main findings and draws some policy recommendations. The broad conclusion of the book is that ex ante costs are commonly (but not uniformly) overestimated relative to those ex post. Given that this gap is, they claim, 'here to stay' (p. 230), a great deal of effort is devoted in chapter 16 to minimising it where possible, through improved methodologies of cost estimation (through the collection of better data, the derivation of more realistic counterfactuals and pilot studies) and the creation of simple administrative 'rules of thumb'. I suspect that this is the part of the book that will really prick the imagination of readers of Environmental Politics. Particularly intriguing is the editors' finding that reliable ex post analyses are still very rare in Europe. So too is their claim that to impose a generalised correction factor on all industry cost estimates would be unwarranted because the bias is not predictable enough (p. 245). Although it is primarily a work of environmental economics and is therefore biased towards the more methodological aspects, there is lots of good material in this book for students of environmental policy and politics to build into their theories and empirical stories.