Co‐operative cross‐platform courseware development

The UKMCC (UK Mathematics Courseware Consortium) is a Consortium funded under TLTP (Training and Learning Technology Programme) to produce courseware for service mathematics teaching, using the SEFI (Société Européenne pour la Formation des Ingénieurs) syllabus. There are agreed courseware design guidelines and a simple courseware management system which allows cross‐referencing. Courseware is divided into modules, with an author as implementer for each. On any one hardware platform, a variety of authoring languages is possible. Across hardware platforms, the design guidelines ensure that conversion is possible, and will preserve look and feel. We argue here that these arrangements provide a basis for continued co‐operation between authors and future development as the technology changes

Well-posedness for set optimization problems

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Annual Survey of Virginia Law: Workers\u27 Compensation

The Annual Survey last addressed Virginia Workers\u27 Compensation law in 1992. The Virginia Workers\u27 Compensation Commission [the Commission] decides almost 1500 decisions a year and, on average, 300 of these are appealed to the Court of Appeals of Virginia. Consequently, this article discusses only the most significant developments in workers\u27 compensation between January 1993 and June 1995. In doing so, the article attempts to highlight areas of controversy and inconsistency

The Purpose of This Research is to Built a Water Quality Model Which Explains DO-BOD Responsse as the Effect of Organic Loading by Hydrodynamic Behavior, Chemical and Biological Processes in the Stream Which Are Developed Mathematically From Reoxygenation Rate (Ka), Deoxygenation Rate (Kd), Photosynthesis and Respiration, Sediment Oxygen Demand (SOD) That Are Got From Laboratory Analysis and Direct Measuring in the Field. the Research Was Done in Laboratory Using Standard Method and Also Done in Field When Rainy and Dry Season. Parameters That Were Measured Are Water Temperature, PH, BOD, DO, Discharge, Velocity, and Water Depth. Based on the Research, DO-BOD Responsse Observation Has a Same Tendency with the Result of Model. Key Words: Hydrodinamic, Reoxygenation Rate, Decomposition Rate, DO-BOD Responsse

The purpose of this research is to built a water quality model which explains DO-BOD responsse as the effect of organic loading by hydrodynamic behavior, chemical and biological processes in the stream which are developed mathematically from reoxygenation rate (ka), deoxygenation rate (kd), photosynthesis and respiration, sediment oxygen demand (SOD) that are got from laboratory analysis and direct measuring in the field. The research was done in laboratory using standard method and also done in field when rainy and dry season. Parameters that were measured are water temperature, pH, BOD, DO, discharge, velocity, and water depth. Based on the research, DO-BOD responsse observation has a same tendency with the result of model

Potency of Vibrio Isolates for Biocontrol of Vibriosis in Tiger Shrimp (Penaeus Monodon) Larvae

This study was carried out to obtain Vibrio isolates able to function as biocontrol of vibriosis in shrimp hatchery. Thirty one Vibrio isolates were isolated from tiger shrimp larvae and hatchery environments, i.e. Labuan, Pangandaran, and Lampung, Indonesia. Pathogenic V. harveyi MR5339 was obtained from Maros, South-Sulawesi and was made as a rifampicin resistant mutant (RFR) to screen for those 31 Vibrio isolates in in vitro assays and to allow us to monitor their presence in shrimp larvae and larval rearing water. Almost all Vibrio isolates could inhibit the growth of pathogenic V. harveyi MR5339 RFR. SKT-b isolate from Skeletonema was the most effective to inhibit the growth of V. harveyi MR5339 Rf* and significantly reduced larval mortality in pathogen challenge assays. These prospective biocontrol bacteria, at concentration of 10" CFU/ml, did not show pathogenicity to shrimp larvae. SKT-b was Gram negative, short rod-shape, exhibited yellow colonies on TCBS and swarming on SWC-agar media, motile, utilized glucose and sucrose but not lactose: produced extra-cellular protease and amylase, but did not produce chitmase. Partial sequencing of 16S-rRNA gene SKT-b showed SKT-b similarity to Vibrio alginofyticus

The Impact of Atmospheric Fluctuations on Degree-scale Imaging of the Cosmic Microwave Background

Fluctuations in the brightness of the Earth's atmosphere originating from water vapor are an important source of noise for ground-based instruments attempting to measure anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background. This paper presents a model for the atmospheric fluctuations and derives simple expressions to predict the contribution of the atmosphere to experimental measurements. Data from the South Pole and from the Atacama Desert in Chile, two of the driest places on Earth, are used to assess the level of fluctuations at each site.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, appears in The Astrophysical Journa

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor downregulation: a novel mechanism of resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy.

Anti-angiogenic therapies for cancer such as VEGF neutralizing antibody bevacizumab have limited durability. While mechanisms of resistance remain undefined, it is likely that acquired resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy will involve alterations of the tumor microenvironment. We confirmed increased tumor-associated macrophages in bevacizumab-resistant glioblastoma patient specimens and two novel glioblastoma xenograft models of bevacizumab resistance. Microarray analysis suggested downregulated macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) to be the most pertinent mediator of increased macrophages. Bevacizumab-resistant patient glioblastomas and both novel xenograft models of resistance had less MIF than bevacizumab-naive tumors, and harbored more M2/protumoral macrophages that specifically localized to the tumor edge. Xenografts expressing MIF-shRNA grew more rapidly with greater angiogenesis and had macrophages localizing to the tumor edge which were more prevalent and proliferative, and displayed M2 polarization, whereas bevacizumab-resistant xenografts transduced to upregulate MIF exhibited the opposite changes. Bone marrow-derived macrophage were polarized to an M2 phenotype in the presence of condition-media derived from bevacizumab-resistant xenograft-derived cells, while recombinant MIF drove M1 polarization. Media from macrophages exposed to bevacizumab-resistant tumor cell conditioned media increased glioma cell proliferation compared with media from macrophages exposed to bevacizumab-responsive tumor cell media, suggesting that macrophage polarization in bevacizumab-resistant xenografts is the source of their aggressive biology and results from a secreted factor. Two mechanisms of bevacizumab-induced MIF reduction were identified: (1) bevacizumab bound MIF and blocked MIF-induced M1 polarization of macrophages; and (2) VEGF increased glioma MIF production in a VEGFR2-dependent manner, suggesting that bevacizumab-induced VEGF depletion would downregulate MIF. Site-directed biopsies revealed enriched MIF and VEGF at the enhancing edge in bevacizumab-naive patients. This MIF enrichment was lost in bevacizumab-resistant glioblastomas, driving a tumor edge M1-to-M2 transition. Thus, bevacizumab resistance is driven by reduced MIF at the tumor edge causing proliferative expansion of M2 macrophages, which in turn promotes tumor growth

Calculating the transfer function of noise removal by principal component analysis and application to AzTEC observations

Instruments using arrays of many bolometers have become increasingly common in the past decade. The maps produced by such instruments typically include the filtering effects of the instrument as well as those from subsequent steps performed in the reduction of the data. Therefore interpretation of the maps is dependent upon accurately calculating the transfer function of the chosen reduction technique on the signal of interest. Many of these instruments use non-linear and iterative techniques to reduce their data because such methods can offer improved signal-to-noise over those that are purely linear, particularly for signals at scales comparable to that subtended by the array. We discuss a general approach for measuring the transfer function of principal component analysis (PCA) on point sources that are small compared to the spatial extent seen by any single bolometer within the array. The results are applied to previously released AzTEC catalogues of the COSMOS, Lockman Hole, Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Field, GOODS-North and GOODS-South fields. Source flux density and noise estimates increase by roughly +10 per cent for fields observed while AzTEC was installed at the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment and +15-25 per cent while AzTEC was installed at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Detection significance is, on average, unaffected by the revised technique. The revised photometry technique will be used in subsequent AzTEC releases.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure