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New marine industries that develop and grow in response to the changing demand for their products have the potential to exert pressure on fragile marine environments. These emerging industries can benefit local communities but equally can have negative environmental and socio-cultural impacts. The development of new and emerging industries, like deep seabed mining (DSM), requires the acceptance and involvement of local communities. Yet, the history of marine exploitation is imbued with conflicts between industries and local communities. This paper presents a DSM case study in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to stimulate debate around the potential for conflict in the pursuit of resource extraction from the deep sea and the social and environmental harm that these extractions can cause. We do so by first presenting a timeline of local and extra-local events and enabling conditions that form the development background for the DSM Solwara 1 project in PNG. We then undertake a media narrative analysis to consider the contribution of aspects of social acceptability to this highly complex and multi-scale conflict. We find that the lack of (or a decrease in) social acceptability contributed to the conflict situation and ultimately the demise of the Solwara 1 project. Extra-locally, the initial development was positively framed around solutions for decarbonisation using new technology. Over time, actions by international NGOs, financial issues related to foreign companies, and asymmetry in the power balance between the Pacific Island nation and global businesses played a role in growing negative perceptions of acceptability. Historical experiences with prior environmental mining disasters, together with sea tenure governance challenges, and a lack of community and stakeholder acceptance also contributed to the demise of the project. Untangling and debating these complex interactions provides context and reasons for the tension between the lack of societal acceptance at a local scale and the perceived need for DSM products in the global North for innovative technologies and decarbonising societies. Better understanding these interactions and tensions can help emerging industries navigate a future blue economy.

1. Human-wildlife cooperation is a type of mutualism in which a human and a wild, free-living, animal actively coordinate their behaviour to achieve a common beneficial outcome. 2. While other cooperative human-animal interactions involving captive coercion or artificial selection (including domestication) have received extensive attention, we lack integrated insights into the ecology and evolution of human-wildlife cooperative interactions. 3. Here, we review and synthesise the function, mechanism, development, and evolution of human-wildlife cooperation. 4. Active cases involve people cooperating with greater honeyguide birds and with two dolphin species, while historical cases involve wolves and orcas. 5. In all cases, a food source located by the animal is made available to both species by a tool-using human, coordinated with cues or signals. 6. The mechanisms mediating the animal behaviours involved are unclear, but they may resemble those underlying intraspecific cooperation and reduced neophobia. 7. The skills required appear to develop at least partially by social learning in both humans and the animal partners. As a result, distinct behavioural variants have emerged in each type of human-wildlife cooperative interaction in both species, and human-wildlife cooperation is embedded within local human cultures. 8. We propose multiple potential origins for these unique cooperative interactions, and highlight how shifts to other interaction types threaten their persistence. 9. Finally, we identify key questions for future research. We advocate an approach that integrates ecological, evolutionary, and anthropological perspectives to advance our understanding of human-wildlife cooperation. In doing so, we will gain new insights into the diversity of our ancestral, current, and future interactions with the natural world., Natalie Uomini was supported by the Max Planck Society and grant #0271 from the Templeton World Charity Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton World Charity Foundation. Mauricio Cantor was supported by the Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. Fábio Daura-Jorge was supported by CAPES (#88887.374128/2019-00), CNPq (#308867/2019-0).

Background: Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 has targeted elimination of preventable child mortality, reduction of neonatal death to less than 12 per 1000 livebirths, and reduction of death of children younger than 5 years to less than 25 per 1000 livebirths, for each country by 2030. To understand current rates, recent trends, and potential trajectories of child mortality for the next decade, we present the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 findings for all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality in children younger than 5 years of age, with multiple scenarios for child mortality in 2030 that include the consideration of potential effects of COVID-19, and a novel framework for quantifying optimal child survival. Methods: We completed all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality analyses from 204 countries and territories for detailed age groups separately, with aggregated mortality probabilities per 1000 livebirths computed for neonatal mortality rate (NMR) and under-5 mortality rate (U5MR). Scenarios for 2030 represent different potential trajectories, notably including potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential impact of improvements preferentially targeting neonatal survival. Optimal child survival metrics were developed by age, sex, and cause of death across all GBD location-years. The first metric is a global optimum and is based on the lowest observed mortality, and the second is a survival potential frontier that is based on stochastic frontier analysis of observed mortality and Healthcare Access and Quality Index. Findings: Global U5MR decreased from 71·2 deaths per 1000 livebirths (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 68·3-74·0) in 2000 to 37·1 (33·2-41·7) in 2019 while global NMR correspondingly declined more slowly from 28·0 deaths per 1000 live births (26·8-29·5) in 2000 to 17·9 (16·3-19·8) in 2019. In 2019, 136 (67%) of 204 countries had a U5MR at or below the SDG 3.2 threshold and 133 (65%) had an NMR at or below the SDG 3.2 threshold, and the reference scenario suggests that by 2030, 154 (75%) of all countries could meet the U5MR targets, and 139 (68%) could meet the NMR targets. Deaths of children younger than 5 years totalled 9·65 million (95% UI 9·05-10·30) in 2000 and 5·05 million (4·27-6·02) in 2019, with the neonatal fraction of these deaths increasing from 39% (3·76 million [95% UI 3·53-4·02]) in 2000 to 48% (2·42 million; 2·06-2·86) in 2019. NMR and U5MR were generally higher in males than in females, although there was no statistically significant difference at the global level. Neonatal disorders remained the leading cause of death in children younger than 5 years in 2019, followed by lower respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, congenital birth defects, and malaria. The global optimum analysis suggests NMR could be reduced to as low as 0·80 (95% UI 0·71-0·86) deaths per 1000 livebirths and U5MR to 1·44 (95% UI 1·27-1·58) deaths per 1000 livebirths, and in 2019, there were as many as 1·87 million (95% UI 1·35-2·58; 37% [95% UI 32-43]) of 5·05 million more deaths of children younger than 5 years than the survival potential frontier. Interpretation: Global child mortality declined by almost half between 2000 and 2019, but progress remains slower in neonates and 65 (32%) of 204 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, are not on track to meet either SDG 3.2 target by 2030. Focused improvements in perinatal and newborn care, continued and expanded delivery of essential interventions such as vaccination and infection prevention, an enhanced focus on equity, continued focus on poverty reduction and education, and investment in strengthening health systems across the development spectrum have the potential to substantially improve U5MR. Given the widespread effects of COVID-19, considerable effort will be required to maintain and accelerate progress. This article was supported by the European Research Council, ERC 848325. Alberto Ortiz was supported by FIS/Fondos FEDER (PI18/01366, PI19/00588, PI19/00815, DTS18/00032, ERA-PerMed-JTC2018 (KIDNEY ATTACK AC18/00064 and PERSTIGAN AC18/00071, ISCIII-RETIC REDinREN RD016/0009). Daniela Ribeiro acknowledges the financial support from the European Union [FEDER funds through COMPETE, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029253). Joan B Soriano acknowledges support from the Centro de Investigación en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Purpose of Review: We summarise the current development of autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) in treating multiple sclerosis (MS) and discuss future directions for the general neurologist, transplant haematologist and oncologist. Recent Findings: AHSCT was initially performed to treat MS over 20 years ago. Over recent years, the evidence base has grown, especially in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), with significant improvements in safety and efficacy through better patient selection, choice of transplant technique and increase in centre experience. Summary: AHSCT is now a treatment option in very carefully selected patients with severe, treatment-resistant RRMS. However, it is important for transplant haematologists and oncologists to work closely with specialist MS neurologists in patient selection, during transplant and in long-term follow-up of patients. Data should be registered into international transplant registries and, ideally, patients should be enrolled on prospective clinical trials in order to build the evidence base and refine transplant techniques.

The issue of international migration has not attracted a comprehensive global attention from media scholars, who mainly focus on migrants’ destination countries and overlook their countries of origin. We sought to obtain a broader understanding of migration news by examining news sources used by journalists in migration-related news from origin and destination countries in South Asia and the Pacific. We utilised the notion of “enterprise journalism” (Hansen 1991, “Source diversity and newspaper enterprise journalism.” Mass Communication and Journalism Quarterly 68 (3): 474–482.) to measure the relative power of sources of information and journalists to shape the news. We quantified different sources of migration news in six countries and examined the patterns of sourcing in what could be categorised as the product of both “routine” and “enterprise” journalism. Our data support the findings of many previous studies in demonstrating that official and elite political sources dominate migration news overall. However, in enterprise news content, the position of migrant sources is significantly enhanced in South Asia, which indicates a willingness of journalists from this region to present the lived experiences of migrants in global deliberations on migration issues.

This paper is a study on Corona virus and its effects on human beings in particular and how it has become a global pandemic. The reason for the world’s pandemic, Corona virus is an RNA virus found extensively in mammals including humans. It is found that the most human corona virus infections cause from mild symptoms to severe respiratory problems and lead to death. In the recent past the world has faced two great epidemics caused by two different beta-corona viruses and they were named as SARS-CoV (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus) and (MERS-CoV Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus). Despite these viruses had high infectivity, had less mortality rate. As it is known, these types of viruses, in general, cause a mild illness and considerably affect children and young adults. As the whole world is facing a pandemic situation today, carrying out research on finding vaccine to kill the virus is a need of the time. It is obvious that to understand the fighting measurements, in other words readiness of the nation in handling the situation, the local risk assessments are considered to be one of the key factors in comprehending COVID-19. It is pathetic to know that this virus spreads rapidly everywhere and considering this fast outbreak, the global wide readiness, building capacity and mutual collaborations among countries are the most important needs in order to control the outbreak.

We examined whether a general processing factor emerges when using response times for cognitive processing tasks and whether such a factor is valid across three different cultural groups (Chinese, Canadian, and Greek). Three hundred twenty university students from Canada (n = 115), China (n = 110), and Cyprus (n = 95) were assessed on an adaptation of the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (D-N CAS; Naglieri & Das, 1997). Three alternative models were contrasted: a distinct abilities processing speed model (Model 1) that is dictated by the latent four cognitive factors of planning, attention, simultaneous and successive (PASS) processing, a unitary ability processing speed model (Model 2) that is dictated by the response time nature of all measures, and a bifactor model (Model 3) which included the latent scores of Models 1 and 2 and served as the full model. Results of structural equation modeling showed that (a) the model representing processing speed as a collection of four cognitive processes rather than a unitary processing speed factor was the most parsimonious, and (b) the loadings of the obtained factors were invariant across the three cultural groups. These findings enhance our understanding of the nature of speed of processing across diverse cultures and suggest that even when cognitive processes (i.e., PASS) are operationalized with response time measures, the processing component dominates speed.

Introduction: Displaced distal radius fractures are very common injuries and present regularly to all orthopaedic surgeons. Several documented treatment modalities for these fractures have been described with a recent trend for internal fixation with volar plating. However, the literature suggests that there is still no consensus as to the best treatment of these injuries. Distal radius fractures are among the most common bone fractures all over the world. Close reduction and fixation by percutaneous pinning is a less invasive method comparing with other open surgeries. There is still a dearth of prospective randomized trials in this area. Before the advent of volar locking plates the randomized trials for surgical interventions for distal radius fractures show some evidence to support the use of external fixation or percutaneous pinning however their precise role and methods are not established and whether this will produce consistently better long-term outcome is also not clear. Aim & Objective: To compare percutaneous pinning versus volar locking plate in treatment of distal radius fractures in adults in term of: fracture union, post operative pain, functunal outcome, post operative complication (stiffness, CRPS). Materials and Methods: It is Randomised Controlled Trial Study. All Adults Patients aged 16 and above with displaced distal radius fractures fpresented to the Emergency department and out Patient Department of Orthopaedics at BPKIHS from August 2010 to September 2012 were included in the study. Results: 60 patients with fracture distal end of radius who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study, out of which 30 were randamized into group A, treated by closed reduction and percutaneous fixation supplemented by cast and 30 in group B, treated by volar locking plate. The study showed mean age of incidence to be 39.22+- 14.49 years in age group ranging from 16-65 years. In our study we found that the injuries were result of high energy trauma with RTA constituting the commonest mode of injury (75%) followed by fall from height (15%) and play ground injuries (10%). Males constituted the majority of the study population(67%). Age, sex, mode of injury, type of fracture, interval to surgery duration and associated co-morbidities were equally distributed between the two groups showing success of randamization. There was a highly significant diference in the operative ime and blood loss between two groups, illustating that percutaneous fixation is much shorter procedure with mean operative time of 30 mins compared to 60mins of ORIF with volar locking plate and has less blood loss being 5-10ml to 145ml of ORIF with volar plating. Conclusion: ORIF with volar locking plating provide better radilogical outcomes with more stable fixation thus lesser degree of loss of reduction in comparation to percutaneous pinning. It also had better ROM at wrist initially however this difference is not significant in later months. Volar locking plate is more expensive with more operative time and blood loss as compared to pinning.

Recently, solar energy is growing as a power source for potential alternative to meet the global demand. Unlike other energy sources such as coal, nuclear, gas and oil, their prices are not only stable, they prevent the harmful side-effects on the environment, being one of the best sources of clean energy (solar energy). This article presents an analysis of the transformation of the static system for the treatment of solar energy using photovoltaic modules. It is designed to generate energy for future generations to be more useful from different parts of the photovoltaic energy conversion system, such as a DC-DC converter, current inverter, maximum power tracking algorithm (MPPT), filter, the stability of a system, etc. The above result will be useful in the improvement of efficiency in photovoltaics structures.

The culturally deprived child is described as one who cannot benefit from the educational opportunity that a society may grant for the development of the individual's potentiality to the fullest extent, and an inability to exploit the opportunities for employment that society may provide. It is suggested that sensory deprivation studies on animals cannot be appropriately replicated in the life patterns of disadvantaged children. Not all children who grow up in a disadvantaged environment suffer becauseof it; indeed some of them get to be as brilliant as the children from advantageous backgrounds. A threshold hypothesis is advanced at this point: if we recognize a threshold for intellectual capacity, children above this threshold are hardly affected by the usual disadvantageous conditions, whereas children below this threshold are affected strongly by these conditions. Efforts at stimulating early environment can thus be beneficial only for those who are below the threshold. Some strategies for remedial education are also discussed., Journal of Educational Thought / Revue de la Pensée Educative, Vol 5 No 2 (1971)

The artemisinin-based combination therapy artemether-lumefantrine is commonly used in pregnant malaria patients. However, the effect of pregnancyrelated changes on exposure is unclear, and pregnancy has been associated with decreased efficacy in previous studies. This study aimed to characterize the population pharmacokinetics of artemether, its active metabolite dihydroartemisinin, and lumefantrine in 22 Rwandese pregnant women in their second (n = 11) or third (n = 11) trimester with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. These patients were enrolled from Rwamagana district hospital and received the standard fixed oral dose combination of 80 mg of artemether and 480 mg of lumefantrine twice daily for 3 days. Venous plasma concentrations were quantified for all three analytes using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectroscopy, and data were analyzed using nonlinear mixed-effects modeling. Lumefantrine pharmacokinetics was described by a flexible but highly variable absorption, with a mean absorption time of 4.04 h, followed by a biphasic disposition model. The median area under the concentration-time curve from 0 h to infinity (AUC0-∞) for lumefantrine was 641 h mg/liter. Model-based simulations indicated that 11.7% of the study population did not attain the target day 7 plasma concentration (280 ng/ml), a threshold associated with increased risk of recrudescence. The pharmacokinetics of artemether was time dependent, and the autoinduction of its clearance was described using an enzyme turnover model. The turnover half-life was predicted to be 30.4 h. The typical oral clearance, which started at 467 liters/h, increased 1.43-fold at the end of treatment. Simulations suggested that lumefantrine pharmacokinetic target attainment appeared to be reassuring in Rwandese pregnant women, particularly compared to target attainment in Southeast Asia. Larger cohorts will be required to confirm this finding.

Arenes containing conformationally flexible long alkyl chains have been successfully functionalized at the meta-position. Good to excellent meta selectivity is achieved for systems with up to 20 atoms between the target C-H bond and the coordinating heteroatom of the directing group. The palladium-catalyzed functionalization reactions include alkylation, cyanation, olefination, and acetoxylation. The meta selectivity is exclusively governed by the design of flexible pyrimidine-based scaffolds.

Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) are the first species to have been domesticated, and unlike other domesticated species, they have developed a special bonding with their owners. The ability to respond to human gestures and language is a key factor in the socio-cognitive abilities of dogs that have made them our best friend. Free-ranging dogs provide an excellent model system for understanding the dog domestication process. In India, free-ranging dogs occupy every possible human habitation, and interact with humans regularly. They scavenge among garbage, beg for food from humans, give birth in dens close to human habitations, and establish social bonds with people. However, there is ample dog-human conflict on the streets, leading to morbidity and mortality. Hence the ability to assess an unfamiliar human before establishing physical contact could be adaptive for dogs especially in the urban environment. We tested a total of 103 adult free-ranging dogs to investigate their response to immediate and long-term food and social rewards. The dogs were provided a choice of obtaining a food reward either from the hand or the ground. The dogs avoided making physical contact with the unfamiliar human. While immediate rewards were not effective in changing this response, the long-term test showed a strong effect of the social reward on the response of dogs. Our results revealed that dogs tend to build trust based on affection, and not food rewards. This study provides significant insights into nuances of the dynamics that could have paved the path to dog domestication.

© 2017 The Authors. Natural killer (NK) cells perform immunosurveillance of virally infected and transformed cells, and their activation depends on the balance between signaling by inhibitory and activating receptors. Cytokine receptor signaling can synergize with activating receptor signaling to induce NK cell activation. We investigated the interplay between the signaling pathways stimulated by the cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2) and the activating receptor NKG2D in immature (CD56bright) and mature (CD56dim) subsets of human primary NK cells using mass cytometry experiments and in silico modeling. Our analysis revealed that IL-2 changed the abundances of several key proteins, including NKG2D and the phosphatase CD45. Furthermore, we found differences in correlations between protein abundances, which were associated with the maturation state of the NK cells. The mass cytometry measurements also revealed that the signaling kinetics of key protein abundances induced by NKG2D stimulation depended on the maturation state and the pretreatment condition of the NK cells. Our in silico model, which described the multidimensional data with coupled first-order reactions, predicted that the increase in CD45 abundance was a major enhancer of NKG2Dmediated activation in IL-2-treated CD56brightNK cells but not in IL-2-treated CD56dim NK cells. This dependence on CD45 was verified by measurement of CD107a mobilization to the NK cell surface (a marker of activation). Our mathematical framework can be used to glean mechanisms underlying synergistic signaling pathways in other activated immune cells.

Background: Middle-lobe predominant bronchiectasis affecting the right middle-lobe and/or lingula (RMLP) is classically described in asthenic, elderly females with skeletal abnormalities or associated nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the frequency and clinical characteristics of patients with an RMLP phenotype in a cohort of newly diagnosed bronchiectasis patients and determine associations with disease severity. Methods: A retrospective observational cross-sectional cohort study of consecutive bronchiectasis patients in our institution was performed. Data were collected on baseline variables, microbiology status, lung function, and radiology according to the modified Bhalla score. Disease severity was assessed using bronchiectasis severity index (BSI) and FACED severity scores. Results: Of 81 patients (mean age [SD] 62.6 [12.4], females 55 [67.9%], BMI 26.9 [5.7%]), 20 (24.7%) had RMLP disease. These patients were significantly younger, female, and with lower BMIs than patients with the classical bronchiectasis phenotype (p = 0.03, 0.01, and p p = 0.01 and p = 0.03), and higher baseline forced expiratory volume (p = 0.04) were noted. A higher incidence of NTM at diagnosis was demonstrated (p = 0.01). BSI and FACED severity scores in RMLP patients were significantly lower than their counterparts (both p < 0.001). Conclusions: The RMLP phenotype is associated with younger patients than classically described in the literature. An increased rate of NTM infection in this phenotype was noted, particularly in females, but much lower than previously described. Lung function and disease severity scores in this patient group are relatively normal, suggesting a milder phenotype in patients with this form of the disease.

p53 and its major E3 ligase Mdm2 are both ubiquitinated and targeted to the proteasome for degradation. Despite the importance of this in regulating the p53 pathway, little is known about the mechanisms of proteasomal recognition of ubiquitinated p53 and Mdm2. In this study, we show that knockdown of the proteasomal ubiquitin receptor S5a/PSMD4/Rpn10 inhibits p53 protein degradation and results in the accumulation of ubiquitinated p53. Overexpression of a dominant-negative deletion of S5a lacking its ubiquitin-interacting motifs (UIM)s, but which can be incorporated into the proteasome, also causes the stabilization of p53. Furthermore, small-interferring RNA (siRNA) rescue experiments confirm that the UIMs of S5a are required for the maintenance of low p53 levels. These observations indicate that S5a participates in the recognition of ubiquitinated p53 by the proteasome. In contrast, targeting S5a has no effect on the rate of degradation of Mdm2, indicating that proteasomal recognition of Mdm2 can be mediated by an S5a-independent pathway. S5a knockdown results in an increase in the transcriptional activity of p53. The selective stabilization of p53 and not Mdm2 provides a mechanism for p53 activation. Depletion of S5a causes a p53-dependent decrease in cell proliferation, demonstrating that p53 can have a dominant role in the response to targeting S5a. This study provides evidence for alternative pathways of proteasomal recognition of p53 and Mdm2. Differences in recognition by the proteasome could provide a means to modulate the relative stability of p53 and Mdm2 in response to cellular signals. In addition, they could be exploited for p53-activating therapies. This work shows that the degradation of proteins by the proteasome can be selectively dependent on S5a in human cells, and that this selectivity can extend to an E3 ubiquitin ligase and its substrate.

The relationship between school inputs and educational outcomes is critical for educational policy. Das, Dercon, Habyarimana, and Krishnan recognize that households will respond optimally to changes in school inputs and study how such responses affect the link between school inputs and cognitive achievement. To incorporate the forward-looking behavior of households, the authors present a household optimization model relating household resources and cognitive achievement to school inputs. In this framework, if household and school inputs are technical substitutes in the production function for cognitive achievement, the impact of unanticipated inputs is larger than that of anticipated inputs. The authors test the predictions of the model for nonsalary cash grants to schools using a unique data set from Zambia. They find that household educational expenditures and school cash grants are substitutes with a coefficient of elasticity between -0.35 and -0.52. Consistent with the optimization model, anticipated funds have no impact on cognitive achievement, but unanticipated funds lead to significant improvements in learning. This methodology has important implications for educational research and policy. This paper--a product of Public Services, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the role of governments in improving the delivery of basic services.

In the age of unprecedented movement of people, many migrants end up in the industrialized countries but originate from all over the world. A fuller picture of migration journalism thus warrants examining news from both the ‘source’ and ‘receiving’ countries of migration. However, most of the studies undertaken in this particular area deal with the issues from the perspectives of North America and Europe (i.e., ‘receiving’ countries), an approach which is inconsistent with the broad goal of comparative studies. The current study examines migration news from both the source and receiving countries. Given that South Asia and the Pacific are two regions that tend to be overlooked in the comparative studies literature, we studied the coverage of migration issues in six prominent English-language newspapers from six countries of these regions (Australia, Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) over a four-month period in 2014. Our study utilized an exploratory frame analysis to determine whether, in line with several earlier studies, issues of migration are depicted as a crisis to be managed in the receiving countries. Moreover, we examined the emphasis attached to the subject matter by the source countries’ media. The findings suggest that the media frames in receiving countries are more diverse than expected. While newspapers in some countries follow the previously found crisis frame, others highlight the economic benefits of migration. Similarly, in the source countries, the frames are varied. Most newspapers portray migration as a problem to be solved, but some do focus on protecting the interests of the migrants.

Illegal migration into Assam from Bangladesh has been posing a serious security threat to the identity of Assamese people. It adversely affects the social, economic and political environment of Assam, creating law and order problems where immigrants are present in large number. The flow of immigrants started during the rule of British and continued tills today due to the pull and push factors. The deportation of illegal migrants become difficult due to the lack of strong law and political will, as illegal migrants are used as a vote bank by different political parties. The data provided in the study indicates that if necessary steps are not taken immediately, Assam, the elder sister of North-East India would lose its identity from the map of India very soon. The illegal migration is one of the major reasons for social and ethnic violence in Assam. Therefore it is high time that India takes stringent measures against the illegal migrants who have become a real threat to the security of the country. To meet the problem, a few suggestions are forwarded in this paper.

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. This thesis, which takes the form of a comparative study of journalistic practices in Australia and Bangladesh, examines the news coverage of river systems and climate change in four leading daily newspapers (i.e., The Australian/The Sydney Morning Herald [Australia] and the Prothom Alo /The Daily Star [Bangladesh]) during 2008 and 2009. It identifies and explicates similarities and differences in the selection of news topics and news sources, attribution of responsibility for environmental wrongdoing, and scrutiny of source statements by journalists in the two countries. Environmental debate, which is of great significance to journalism, is particularly important for Australia and Bangladesh as these countries, although located in different geographical and socio-political spaces, are currently encountering serious challenges to their ecologies, albeit the problems for each are widely varied. While a shortage of surface water and rising temperatures make Australia an environmentally vulnerable continent, the potential threat of sea level rise due to global warming, along with recurring massive floods put Bangladesh at the forefront of environmental challenge (Saul et al., 2012; Wahlquist, 2008; Douglas et al., 2001; Nicholls et al., 1999). The study’s findings reveal that in the newspaper articles in Australia, the local issue of river systems and global issue of climate change were strongly linked at both the policy and scientific levels, whereas in the content in Bangladesh these two issues were seldom related. Experts in Australia and bureaucrats in Bangladesh, as authoritative agents, were the most consistently nominated groups asked to discuss and explain issues relating to the two countries’ river systems (the Murray-Darling and the Ganges-Brahmaputra). However, in the case of the climate change news, politicians were the most frequently cited sources in both countries’ content. The study further reveals that newspapers in the two countries selected particular topics and framed sources so as to conform to the respective papers’ positions on fundamental environmental questions. The newspapers under scrutiny used similar sources to validate totally different policy positions vis-à-vis river issues and climate change. As well, this study has made advancement in methodological terms by opening up the issue of journalistic practice to more intensive scrutiny—especially in comparative journalism—because it shows that journalistic professional practices in Western context may be as partial and tendentious as those in non-Western context.

ON COMMON FIXED POINTS OF HEMICONTRACTIVE MAPPINGS

The paper provides (1) a teacher-administered rating instrument for inattention without confounding the rating with hyperactivity and conduct disorder, and (2) evidence that the ratings correlate with the scores obtained from cognitive tests of attention. In Study I, the first objective was to investigate the construct validity and the inter-rater reliability of the Attention Checklist (ACL) by factor analysing the teacher ratings of 110 Grade 4 children, obtained by using the ACL. The second objective was to investigate the predictive validity of the ACL by examining the relationship between the scores obtained for the participants from teachers' ratings using the ACL and the scores obtained by participants in the lab-type attention tests. The results of factor analysis showed that a single factor labelled ‘inattention’ underlies the 12 items in the ACL. Examining the differences in performance on attention tests, the ‘low attention’ children as rated by the teachers on the ACL scored lower than the ‘high attention’ children on the objective tests of attention. These findings were replicated in Study II, which was conducted to test further the construct validity and predictive validity of the ACL. This time, only those two tests (Auditory Attention and Visual Attention) that had shown relatively poor discrimination between the high and low attention groups in Study I were, again, administered to another cohort of 97 Grade 4 children, as it was our intention to further challenge the reliability of the ACL. Overall, the results of both studies suggest that comprehensive assessment of attention skills should include both ACL and objective measures of selective attention. 17 1 15 32 Cited By :3

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Newly developed “correctors” such as lumacaftor (VX-809) that improve CFTR maturation and trafficking and “potentiators” such as ivacaftor (VX-770) that enhance channel activity may provide important advances in CF therapy. Although VX-770 has demonstrated substantial clinical efficacy in the small subset of patients with a mutation (G551D) that affects only channel activity, a single compound is not sufficient to treat patients with the more common CFTR mutation, ΔF508. Thus, patients with ΔF508 will likely require treatment with both correctors and potentiators to achieve clinical benefit. However, whereas the effectiveness of acute treatment with this drug combination has been demonstrated in vitro, the impact of chronic therapy has not been established. In studies of human primary airway epithelial cells, we found that both acute and chronic treatment with VX-770 improved CFTR function in cells with the G551D mutation, consistent with clinical studies. In contrast, chronic VX-770 administration caused a dose-dependent reversal of VX-809-mediated CFTR correction in ΔF508 homozygous cultures. This result reflected the destabilization of corrected ΔF508 CFTR by VX-770, dramatically increasing its turnover rate. Chronic VX-770 treatment also reduced mature wild-type CFTR levels and function. These findings demonstrate that chronic treatment with CFTR potentiators and correctors may have unexpected effects that cannot be predicted from short-term studies. Combining of these drugs to maximize rescue of ΔF508 CFTR may require changes in dosing and/or development of new potentiator compounds that do not interfere with CFTR stability.

Identifying Important Identifiers Each of us has millions of sequence variations in our genomes. Signatures of purifying or negative selection should help identify which of those variations is functionally important. Khurana et al. ( 1235587 ) used sequence polymorphisms from 1092 humans across 14 populations to identify patterns of selection, especially in noncoding regulatory regions. Noncoding regions under very strong negative selection included binding sites of some chromatin and general transcription factors (TFs) and core motifs of some important TF families. Positive selection in TF binding sites tended to occur in network hub promoters. Many recurrent somatic cancer variants occurred in noncoding regulatory regions and thus might indicate mutations that drive cancer.

Interpreting variants, especially noncoding ones, in the increasing number of personal genomes is challenging. We used patterns of polymorphisms in functionally annotated regions in 1092 humans to identify deleterious variants; then we experimentally validated candidates. We analyzed both coding and noncoding regions, with the former corroborating the latter. We found regions particularly sensitive to mutations ("ultrasensitive") and variants that are disruptive because of mechanistic effects on transcription-factor binding (that is, "motif-breakers"). We also found variants in regions with higher network centrality tend to be deleterious. Insertions and deletions followed a similar pattern to single-nucleotide variants, with some notable exceptions (e.g., certain deletions and enhancers). On the basis of these patterns, we developed a computational tool (FunSeq), whose application to ~90 cancer genomes reveals nearly a hundred candidate noncoding drivers.

XMRV, or xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus, is a novel gammaretrovirus originally identified in studies that analyzed tissue from prostate cancer patients in 2006 and blood from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in 2009. Howev

Design of a fuzzy rule based classifier is proposed. The performance of the classifier for multispectral satellite image classification is improved using Dempster- Shafer theory of evidence that exploits information of the neighboring pixels. The classifiers are tested rigorously with two known images and their performance are found to be better than the results available in the literature. We also demonstrate the improvement of performance while using D-S theory along with fuzzy rule based classifiers over the basic fuzzy rule based classifiers for all the test cases., 5 pages, International Conference on Advances in Pattern Recognition 2003 (ICAPR03)

In the present study, the structural validity of the dutch version of the psychopathy checklist: youth version (in dutch: psychopathie checklist: jeugd versie; pcl:yv; de ruiter, kuin, de vries, & das, 2002) was examined in adolescent offenders by means of confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) and item response theory (irt). The pcl:yv item ratings for 269 adolescent males, either admitted to a dutch juvenile treatment institution or psychologically evaluated upon request of the court, were used to test the fit of different factor models presumed to represent the structure of psychopathy as measured by the pcl-r in adults. The study provides support for a good absolute and relative fit for the 3-factor model, but not for the 4-factor model. Results from irt analyses demonstrate the highest discriminative value for the affective items in the dutch adolescent sample. The present findings demonstrate poor discriminative power and age influence on item functioning for most antisocial items of the fourth factor.

26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 1691-1693, For high efficiency industrial silicon solar cells, Cu based contacts are very promising, in order to reduce shadow losses, series resistance losses, and to improve the contact resistance to the emitter. In this perspective laser ablation is a fast and cost-effective technique to open the SiNx anti-reflection-coating (ARC). In this paper we study the laser ablation damage to the emitter by SEM and optical microscopy, and SunsVoc characterization. Finally we compare the solar cells performance of Ti/Cu contacting schemes using (1) line contact ablation (2) point contact ablation with a reference process (3) where wet etching is used to structure the SiNx ARC layer.

26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 1129-1131, Blister-free Al2O3-based surface passivation stacks for p-type Si passivated emitter and rear cells (PERCs) are developed. Measuring the blistering area and effective surface recombination velocity, it is shown that using (i) an Al2O3 layer ≤ 10 nm and (ii) out-gassing this Al2O3 film above 600 °C prior to capping is necessary. These blister-free Al2O3-based stacks are implemented as rear surface passivation for p-type Si PERC: 148.25 cm2 screen-printed cells with an average efficiency of 19.0 % have been made. There is an obvious gain in open circuit voltage of 5 mV compared to SiOx passivated PERC, thanks to enhanced rear surface passivation.

26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 2180-2183, In this paper, we investigate laser ablation of stacks used for back side passivation of PERC and PERL solar cells. The objective of this work is to define laser conditions for a complete and damage-free ablation process of two stacks: the standard SiO2/SiNx PERC passivation stack and AlOx/SiNx layers. For this, we have developed a characterization procedure based on optical microscopy and photoluminescence allowing us to find optimal laser parameters for a soft ablation process. Ablation of SiO2/SiNx and AlOx/SiNx stacks have been performed with UV lasers with either ns or ps pulse lengths. Once the optimal laser ablation parameters have been found, PERC cells have been processed with different laser conditions. The comparison of the PERC cell performances confirms that the optimal laser conditions for the ablation process gives better cell performances. This work allowed us to determine optimal laser parameters for ablation of backs side passivation stacks of PERC cells. This almost damage-free laser process is promising for its implementation in PERL cell processing.

A 17 years old boy presented clinically with typical lesions of pustular posriasis. Although his pus culture from the pocket of pus did not reveal any organism, his blood culture reports showed growth of Diplococci pneumoniae, which was sensitive to gentamycin. The patient was completely cured of the lesion after gentamycin therapy.

25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition / 5th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 6-10 September 2010, Valencia, Spain; 3715-3721, Cost reduction, expressed commonly as a unit cost/Wp on the level of solar cells, PV modules and systems, is the overarching theme of the major part of worldwide activities in the field of photovoltaics. Obviously, this is the condition sine qua non to be met for reaching economical viability of solar photovoltaic energy. We already outlined [1] earlier that a number of nanotechnologies developed for advanced Si-based nanoscale CMOS transistors might also be very useful for the race toward crystalline Si solar cells with higher efficiency and lower cost. The focus on this cost parameter might, however, obscure the growing need to add more functionality to the PV system if photovoltaic energy is to play an important role in the electricity generation scenarios of the future [2]. In the view of the authors much of this added functionality could be integrated at the module or even within the module by using a number of microscale and nanoscale technologies. This added functionality on PV-module level might in first instance aim at an increase of energy yield by adding electronic components allowing to minimize the effect of shadowing losses by allowing a certain degree of reconfigurability of the PV module. Eventually, this might also reach out further by integrating the DC–AC inverter with the module (allowing to reduce DC losses) and in the end even other components integrating control and interaction functions with the electricity grid. In this paper we describe the philosophy behind the concept of the ‘‘Smart PV module’’ as well as two crucial technologies to realize this concept: the embedding technology for cells and components in the so-called U-module and the development of a low-cost technology for reliable high-power components based on GaN-on-Si, enabling the high-frequency switching transistors in the DC–DC or DC–AC converters or the low-loss switches in a ‘‘reconfigurable’’ U module. Besides the well-spread conviction that nanotechnological aspects will lead to advances in terms of solar cell performance and lower cell costs, the message which we would like to convey is the fact that the development of miniaturized components using advances in micro- and nanotechnology are also very likely to affect the development of the ‘‘smart PV module’’ concept, providing ground for the statement ‘‘linking nanoscale to gigawatts.’’

International audience

International audience

The microstructures and mechanical properties of Ti45Al55 alloys were investigated in terms of the melt convection state during solidification. The samples were subjected to conventional induction melting as well as enhanced melt stirring by application of an external magnetic field using a specially designed floating zone arrangement. The stirred samples showed a significant improvement of the plastic deformability (16.9 %) up to 1137 MPa stress. A strong morphology change from dendritic to spherical shape geometry and an increased properitectic phase fraction was observed after stirring. The possible reasons were explained as result of spherical growth under forced convection, rather than a consequence of fragmentation of dendrite arms. An increase in the semi-coherent interfaces between g/a2 interfaces and the lack of orientation anisotropy of the spherical shape (g+a2) colonies in the stirred sample may contribute to the higher deformability of the stirred samples. Reduced Vickers hardness values of the g-matrix and increased hardness of the (g+a2) lamellar structure in the stirred samples is attributed to redistribution of oxygen and reduced interlamellar g/a2 spacing.

The lifetime of the 3163 keV, 7/2$^-$ isomeric state in $^{35}Cl$ that decays by a stretched M2 transition to the $3/2^+$ ground state, has been re-measured using the Doppler Shift Attenuation Method, by gating on the 1185 keV transition which directly feeds this state. This eliminates the uncertainties in the measurement arising from the direct feedings from the continuum. A mean life of 0.6$^{+0.5}_{-0.2}$ ps has been obtained from the present work. This is considerably smaller than the adopted value 45.3(6) ps. Implication of this major reduction in the lifetime has been pointed out., To be published in the Proc. of International Workshop on Nuclear Structure Physics at the Extremes: New Directions (NUSPE 05), 21-24 March, 2005, Shimla India