Toxic Potential of Palytoxin

This review briefly describes the origin,chemistry,molecular mechanism of action,pharmacology,toxicology,and ecotoxicology of palytoxin and its analogues. Palytoxin and its analogues are produced by marine dinoflagellates. Palytoxin is also produced by Zoanthids（i.e. Palythoa）,and Cyanobacteria（Trichodesmium）. Palytoxin is a very large,non-proteinaceous molecule with a complex chemical structure having both lipophilic and hydrophilic moieties. Palytoxin is one of the most potent marine toxins with an LD50 of 150 ng/kg body weight in mice exposed intravenously. Pharmacological and electrophysiological studies have demonstrated that palytoxin acts as a hemolysin and alters the function of excitable cells through multiple mechanisms of action. Palytoxin selectively binds to Na＋/K＋-ATPase with a Kd of 20 p M and transforms the pump into a channel permeable to monovalent cations with a single-channel conductance of 10 p S. This mechanism of action could have multiple effects on cells. Evaluation of palytoxin toxicity using various animal models revealed that palytoxin is an extremely potent neurotoxin following an intravenous,intraperitoneal,intramuscular,subcutaneous or intratracheal route of exposure. Palytoxin also causes non-lethal,yet serious toxic effects following dermal or ocular exposure. Most incidents of palytoxin poisoning have manifested after oral intake of contaminated seafood. Poisonings in humans have also been noted after inhalation,cutaneous/systemic exposures with direct contact of aerosolized seawater during Ostreopsis blooms and/or through maintaining aquaria containing Cnidarian zoanthids. Palytoxin has a strong potential for toxicity in humans and animals,and currently this toxin is of great concern worldwide.

Enzymatic Activity of Renal H-K-ATPase in the Outer Medullary Collecting Duct of Transgenic Mice

The H-K-ATPase (HKA), a potassium-dependent proton transporter in the outer medullary collecting duct (OMCD) plays an important role in acid-base homeostasis. The OMCD contains two HKA isoforms;gastric (HKAα1), dominant under normal dietary conditions (ND), and colonic (HKAα2), induced under a K-free diet (KD). The enzymatic activity (EA) of HKA in the OMCD is incompletely understood. The focus of the present study is elucidating the EA of the HKA in HKAα1 and HKAα2 knockout (KO) mice under ND and KD. KO mice were subjected to ND or KD for 10 days. Ten OMCD tubules were extracted, half placed in potassium-free media (Solution 2), half in potassium-containing media (Solution 3). Fluorescence measurements are based on the hydrolysis of ATP to ADP, coupled with the oxidation of NADH. ADP is determined by a decrease in NADH fluorescence. In K presence, NADH fluorescence of HKAα1 KO mice read 13.5 ± 0.7 ppm for ND and 10.3 ± 0.2 ppm for KD, indicating stimulation of the colonic isoform. HKAα2 KO mice averaged 6.8 ± 0.3 ppm for ND and 5.4 ± 0.3 ppm for KD in solution 2 (p p α2 isoform. A significant difference in ATP production in HKAα2 KO mice is likely due to enhanced EA of H-ATPase under potassium depletion.

Potassium Depletion Stimulates Beta-Subunit of Colonic H⁺-K⁺-ATPase in Mice

H+-K+-ATPase (HKA) is composed of two different subunits: an alpha and a beta subunit. Previous studies have shown that in the kidney gastric HKA (HKA alpha 1) predominates under normal dietary conditions while colonic HKA (HKA alpha 2) predominates under potassium depleted conditions [1]. The purpose of the current study was to elucidate the association between the beta and different alpha subunits from stomach, colon and kidney under normal and potassium depleted conditions. Black Swiss mice were fed a potassium-free diet for 2 weeks, beta subunit expression of HKA in stomach mucosae, colon mucosae and renal outer medulla was examined and compared between normal diet and potassium depleted diet. In wild type (WT) mice, the concentrations of the beta subunit under potassium deficient conditions were found significantly increased compared with normal dietary conditions in colon mucosae (8.27 ± 0.73 vs 6.62 ± 0.55 μg/μl, n = 7, p = 0.0416), whereas in cHKA (HKA alpha 2) mice colon mucosae, the concentrations of the beta subunit were statistically the same (5.05 ± 0.31 vs 4.76 ± 0.37 μg/μl, n = 13, p = 0.2833), and the concentration of the beta subunit stayed the same in renal outer medulla and stomach mucosae as well. The data indicate that potassium deficiency results in a significant increase in the levels of HKA beta subunit concentration in the colonic tissue of WT mice. The results indicate that the HKA beta subunit associates with the cHKA (HKA alpha 2) in order to mediate bicarbonate reabsorption under potassium depletion (hypokalemia)

＂Cunning Tactics＂： Indigenous Responses to the Imposition of German Colonial Rule in East Africa

Examinations of the German colonial empire often focus on questions of ideology, metropolitan politics, or seek to address questions related to the ＂special path＂ of German history. All too often, the German invaders are portrayed as omnipotent and intellectually superior to their African allies and opponents. This paper argues for the primacy of ＂events on the ground＂, and instead focuses on the initiative and choices made by local African actors during the protracted conflict between the Germans and the Hehe in German East Africa （modem Tanzania） in the 1890s. During this conflict, African elites sought to maximize their own power, wealth, and prestige by utilizing German resources to their own ends. Overall, this work argues for the centrality of African politics and policy-making during early colonialism.

Generation Y and Online Advertising： Perceptions and Preferences of Social Media Networking Sites （SMNSs）

Because most people consider advertising as an irritant and a distraction and would avoid it, should there be an alternative, advertising agencies strive to utilize the interactive, demassifying, and asynchronous qualities of newer technologies to create an appealing advertisement. The current study investigates whether college students＇ attitudes toward advertising on traditional media are different when online advertising is used, especially on Social Media Networking Sites （SMNSs）. Employing the concept of reciprocity （of replicating offline attitudes online） and the flow theory that relates one＇s concentration on an activity and its impact on other occurrences happening around him/her, 287 college students responded to a questionnaire on their perceptions of online advertising, their preferred SMNS, and the SMNS on which they would consider viewing an advertising message. The results showed that 57.8% of the participants avoid online advertising at all costs, which is similar to their offline perception of advertising. Some 42.2% reported that they may consider viewing online advertising if the attributes of relevance, interest, creativity, and interactivity are present, as in viral advertisement. In addition, among the four SMNSs reviewed--Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Linkedln--a majority of students indicated that Facebook is their preferred site for online advertising because it allows for creativity and they consider those messages credible, especially if their Facebook friends tagged, liked, or shared the advertisement.

Sugar Shenanigans: Curbing the Added Sugar Epidemic in Children and Adolescents

Background: The consumption of added sugar is one of the most dangerous problems regarding the health of society’s youngest generation. Children today consume added sugar at an alarming rate, on average surpassing the daily limit recommended by the American Heart Association. This study aims to educate and empower the child and adolescent population for the purpose of increasing knowledge and improving dietary practices. Methods: An educational program, entitled “Sugar Shenanigans” was delivered to groups of children between the ages of 8 and 13. Data was gathered from pre- and post-tests and “Impact Level Questionnaire” surveys for both participants and parents/guardians of the participants. Data was analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistics. Results: A total of 54 participants met the criteria to be surveyed. Scores displayed an overall mean improvement from 9.89 average correct pretest answers to 12.52 correct posttest answers. Based on a 36-hour dietary recall, participants consumed more fruit and vegetables one-month post-presentation compared to the numbers reported prior to the presentation. According to the “Impact Level Questionnaire” 61% of participants reported a positive or healthy change in their eating habits, and 48% reported being fed healthier foods following the program. Conclusions: An educational program to increase knowledge and promote reduction of the excessive consumption of sugar by participants and their parents/guardians resulted in improved understanding and a change in dietary habits.

ACTN3 and AMPD1 Polymorphism and Genotype Combinations in Bulgarian Athletes Performing Wingate Test

The aim of the study was to investigate ACTN3 （ct-actinin-3） and AMPD1 （adenosine monophosphate deaminase） polymorphism and genotype combinations in Bulgarian athletes competing in various sports and the relation to peak power output. A mixed group of athletes （n = 52） competing at national and international level and a matching genetic control group （n = 109） of volunteers were recruited. Participants were genotyped for ACTN3 and AMPD1 by polymerase chain reaction. There were no significant differences in ACTN3 genotype distribution between athletes performing Wingate test （38% RR, 46% RX, 16% XX） and controls （41.2% RR, 46% RX, 12.8% XX）. AMPD1 distribution was （73% CC, 27% CT, 0% TT） and in controls （73.2% CC, 25% CT, 1.8% TT）. Athletes performing Wingate test showed equal 33% frequency of RR/CC and RX/CC combination, and 12% RX/CT. Significantly higher （P 〈 0.05） peak power output （11.10 W kg1） was found in athletes with RX/CT combination compared to other combinations （range： 8.83-9.71 W kg-1） and in R-power （RR ＋ RX） and C-power （CC ＋ CT） dominant models （9.91 W kgl）. Mean power was higher （P 〈 0.05） in RX/CT combination （8.93 W kg-1） compared to RR/CC （7.75 W kg-1） and RR/CT （7.95 W kgl）. In conclusion, the low frequency of T AMPD1 allele in Bulgarian athletes might indicate that this mutant allele is related to the physical performance. The prevalence of R ACTN3 and C AMPD1 alleles suggests that they could contribute to anaerobic performance. Higher peak power in Wingate test is associated with RX/CT genotype combination and R- and C-power dominant models.

Enriching Middle School Students’Learning Through Digital Storytelling:A Multimodal Analytical Framework

Purpose This study investigates middle school students’learning experiences through digital storytelling,applying a multimodal analytical framework to uncover patterns in digital stories.This study explores how participants engage in pedagogical activities,reflect on their learning experiences,and articulate their voices through digital stories.Design/Approach/Methods Employing qualitative case study methods,we purposefully selected three 12-year-old female students at an urban school in the northern US.Analyses of digital stories and other data sources(interviews,classroom observations,and reflective journals)show that the students were engaged in both teaching and reflection.Findings The findings describe(1)participants and their learning experiences,(2)students’representational and interpersonal constructs as used in their digital stories,and(3)their participation as teachers as well as learners.Originality/Value Our multimodal analytical framework illuminates how students express themselves through digital stories.Our discussion focuses on students’learning,their identity development,the effectiveness of the analytical framework,and pedagogical implications.

United with the Countrymen:Folklore Studies at Peking University,1918-26

Late nineteenth and early twentieth century China faced a grave national crisis resulting from intense foreign pressure and a rigid political system that was incapable of adapting to the challenges of the modern world.China's decline did,however,lead to a wave of nationalism that swept across Chinese society.Set against this backdrop,a new generation of patriotically minded intellectuals,one with relatively broad exposure to Western thinking and academic methods,turned its focus to enlightening the oppressed masses as a means of bringing about national salvation.These intellectuals pursued this forward-looking aim by looking to the past for inspiration.More specifically,they looked to folk culture as a means of connecting with the common people and weaving together a new discourse that promoted national unity.Under these circumstances,a group of professors at Peking University,including Zhou Zuoren,Liu Fu,and Gu Jiegang,began to search for vernacular works in folk culture.This article examines folklore studies at Peking University expanding from folksongs to folk customs and other forms of folk literature.It focuses on early folklorists’activities,folklore organizations,and primary publications.Under the university’s influence,folklore studies appeared in various newspapers and other research institutions in Beijing and Shanghai in rapid succession.

Corruption,state capture,and the effectiveness of anticorruption agency in post-communist Ethiopia

In 2001,Ethiopia established a centralised anti-corruption agency(ACA),the Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission(FEACC),purportedly to be used for curbing the rampant corruption.By the government’s repeated admissions,corruption continues to engulf the country,indicating the failure of the FEACC to curb corruption.Various researchers attribute the FEACC’s failures to curb corruption to a host of reasons.This article follows a different route to show why the FEACC was doomed to fail from the outset.We show that the war against corruption in Ethiopia collapsed mainly because of mischaracterisation of the nature of corruption in the country and how the FEACC was established–a conventional anti-corruption agency for a nonconventional problem of corruption.We deploy some testable hypotheses to explore the scenarios under which an anticorruption agency would be effective.Drawing from the corruption literature of post-communist countries,the article shows that corrupt Ethiopian practices can easily be subsumed under an extreme version of the highest form of corruption known as state capture.The article then moves onto unpacking the systemic and predatory nature of the Ethiopian corruption conundrum and how the FEACC approached in tackling it.Doing so allows us to illustrate the endogenous nature of the country’s corruption patterns and why a traditional ACA is incapable of tackling a state-driven patronage.It also lays out the flawed structures and practices of the FEACC showing why,under a state-crafted corruption conundrum,the FEACC was doomed to fail from the start.The article concludes by illustrating the detrimental effects of using the agency as a political weapon to neutralise the ruling party’s political opponents as well as the failure of the war against corruption.It calls for a different approach in combating the Ethiopian systemic corruption,a governance regime change being one of them.

Modeling the spatiotemporal dynamics of electric power consumption in China' Mainland using saturation-corrected DMSP/OLS nighttime stable light data

Obtaining timely and accurate data on the spatiotemporal dynamics of electric power consumption(EPC)is crucial for the effective utilization of electric power in China.The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System(DMSP/OLS)nighttime stable light(NSL)data have good potential for estimating EPC effectively at large scales.However,saturated lighted pixels contained within the NSL data limit the accuracy of EPC estimation.We developed a new method to correct the saturated lighted pixels,using the SPOT VEGETATION(SPOT/VGT)10-day synthesis product(S10)normalized differ-ence vegetation index(NDVI)data and then modeled the spatiotemporal dynamics of EPC in China' Mainland from 2000 to 2008.The results demon-strated the reliability of our approach with an average Rvalue of 0.93(P<0.001)and an average relative error of-28.92%.EPC in China' Mainland showed an average annual growth rate of 13.46% during the study period from 1198.23 billion kWh in 2000 to 3290.51 billion kWh in 2008.EPC in China' Mainland also showed clear regional variation.Northern coastal China and eastern coastal China consumed 37.61%of the total EPC in China' Mainland,with only 25.96% of the population and 6.11% of the area.

Visa trial of international trade:evidence from support vector machines and neural networks

International trade depends on networking,interaction and in-person meetings which stimulate cross-border travels.The countries are seeking policies to encourage inbound mobility to support bilateral trade,tourism,and foreign direct investments.Some nations have been implementing liberal visa regimes as an important part of facilitating policies in view of security concerns.Turkey has been among the nations introducing liberal visa policies to support trade in the last decade and recorded significant increases in the volumes of exports.In this paper,we employed machine learning methodologies,Support vector machines(SVM)and Neural networks(NN),to investigate the facilitating impact of liberal visa policies on bilateral trade,using the export data from Turkey for the period of 2000–2014.The research disentangled the variables that have the strongest impact on trade utilizing SVM and NN models and exhibited that visa policies have significant impacts on the bilateral trade.More relaxed visa policies are recommended for the countries in the pursuit of increasing exports.

A model of inter-cohort cannibalism and paedomorphosis in Arizona Tiger Salamanders, Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum

Cannibalism is widespread in size-structured populations. If cannibals and victims are in different life stages, dominant cohorts of cannibals can regulate recruitment. Arizona Tiger Salamanders, Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum, exhibit facultative paedomorphosis in which salamander larvae either metamorphose into terrestrial adults or become sexually mature while still in their larval form. Although many salamanders exhibit cannibalism of larvae, the Arizona Tiger Salamander also exhibits cannibalism of young by the aquatic adults. We formulate a differential equations model of this system under the assumption that the terrestrial adults do not impact the system beyond their contribution to the birth of young larvae. We establish non-negativity, boundedness and persistence of the salamander population under certain assumptions. We consider the equilibrium states of the system in the presence or absence of a birth contribution from the terrestrial or metamorph adults. Constant per capita paedomorphosis leads to asymptotically stable equilibria. The per capita paedomorphosis rate of the larvae must be density dependent in order for periodic solutions to exist. Furthermore, the stage transition rate must be sufficiently decreasing in order to guarantee the existence of an unstable equilibrium. Periodic solutions are only possible in the presence of a unique non-trivial unstable equilibrium. Our results conform to previous theory on paedomorphosis which suggests general applicability of our results to similar systems.

Eigenvalues of Elliptic Systems for the Mixed Problem in Perturbations of Lipschitz Domains with Nonhomogeneous Neumann Boundary Conditions

We study eigenvalues of an elliptic operator with mixed boundary conditions on very general decompositions of the boundary.We impose nonhomogeneous conditions on the part of the boundary where the Neumann term lies in a certain Sobolev or Lp space.Our work compares the behavior of and gives a relationship between the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions on the unperturbed and perturbed domains,respectively.

On governance in the long-term vegetation process: How to discover the rules?

Ecological practice is telling us that to identify Nature’s rules,we should look for regularities in the resulting effects.Hidden rules are involved and the effects are manifested by compositional,functional,and structural transitions.This paper’s focus is on two conjectures regarding the governance of specific transition compo-nents,the first supposedly under global co-ordination,and the second under superimposed site specific instability oscillations.The reality of any apparent regularity in these is the sole condition for the regularity’s acceptance as a rule.Reality is testable but in retrospect only,based on time series analyses.Since long pollen spectra supply the evidence,the time period involved is measured in thousands of years.For maximal usefulness,a spectrum should have a long period length,dated horizons intensely sampled at short time steps,and precisely identified taxa.Period length and time step width matter because both may have a masking effect on the regularities.There is,of course,a natural limit for period length,which is set by the age of the pollen bearing sediments.We completed the analysis of 23 spectra using techniques deemed suitable for testing the conjectures.The spectra originated from sites in the Americas where we found suitable spectra in sufficient numbers and in geographic contiguity from the Arctic region to the Antarctic.The presented results have clear indications that the two conjectures identify real rules.The main body of the paper narrates the analyses and provides explanations.Informative materials,too voluminous for inclusion in the paper,are made available on the Internet at URL:www.vegetationdynamics.com linking to“Appen-dices Ta”.

Critical Approaches to Emotions of Non-Native English Speaking Teachers

A growing number of recent studies in applied linguistics focus on teacher emotions in response to several major shifts within the field, expanding the scope of analyses to include the social and affective dimensions of second language education. This paper aims to expand the discussion on the emotions of non-native English speaking teachers(NNESTs) by examining their anxiety from the perspective of sociopolitical and socioeconomic theories. By introducing three theories on emotions developed by Raymond Williams(1977), Pierre Bourdieu(1986), and Sara Ahmed(2015), I demonstrate how their insights on the social construction and circulation of emotions can be applied to NNESTs’ emotional struggles in relation to structural inequalities. Then, I discuss theoretical and practical implications of this perspective on language teaching and teacher education, calling for criticality in the area of teacher emotions.

Maximal number of distinct H-eigenpairs for a two-dimensional real tensor

Based on the generalized characteristic polynomial introduced by J. Canny in Generalized characteristic polynomials [J. Symbolic Comput., 1990, 9（3）： 241-250], it is immediate that for any m-order n-dimensional real tensor, the number of distinct H-eigenvalues is less than or equal to n（m-1）n-1. However, there is no known bounds on the maximal number of distinct H- eigenvectors in general. We prove that for any m ~〉 2, an m-order 2-dimensional tensor sd exists such that d has 2（m - 1） distinct H-eigenpairs. We give examples of 4-order 2-dimensional tensors with six distinct H-eigenvalues as well as six distinct H-eigenvectors. We demonstrate the structure of eigenpairs for a higher order tensor is far more complicated than that of a matrix. Further- more, we introduce a new class of weakly symmetric tensors, called p-symmetric tensors, and show under certain conditions, p-symmetry will effectively reduce the maximal number of distinct H-eigenveetors for a given two-dimensional tensor. Lastly, we provide a complete classification of the H-eigenvectors of a given 4-order 2-dimensional nonnegative p-symmetric tensor. Additionally, we give sufficient conditions which prevent a given 4-order 2-dimensional nonnegative irreducible weakly symmetric tensor from possessing six pairwise distinct H-eigenveetors.

Linear Algebra and Multilinear Algebra

The 2014 International Conference on Tensors, Matrices and Their Applications （TMA 2014） was held at Suzhou University of Science and Technology （USTS）, Suzhou, China, December 17-19, 2014. The academic committee of TMA 2014 is co-chaired by Professors Richard A. Brauldi,

Spectral Theory of Nonnegative Tensors

Higher-order tensors are natural extensions of matrices; matrices are order-2 tensors. However, higher-order tensors represent multilinear maps, which are nonlinear, unlike matrices. The spectral theory of matrices plays a fundamental role in many branches of mathematics as well as a multitude of applied sciences. In contrast to the well robust theory of matrices, the development of the spectral theory for tensors is still at its early stages. In recent years, with the rapid flow of massive data in this digital world, the demand for effective and efficient data-processing and data-managing algorithms finds its way in connection with the spectral theory of tensors. In particular, such key concepts as rank and eigenvalues-eigenveetors of a given tensor are getting more intriguing and challenging to researchers today.