Classically, dormant endospores are defined by their resistance properties, particularly their resistance to heat. Much of the heat resistance is due to the large amount of dipicolinic acid (DPA) stored within the spore core. During spore germination, DPA is released and allows for rehydration of the otherwise-dehydrated core. In Bacillus subtilis, 7 proteins are encoded by the spoVA operon and...

1 Introduction English is a stress-timed language displaying phonological vowel reduction: weak vowels, such as schwa (.ə.(, are part of the phonological form of many words in the language (mother .ˈmʌðə., banana .bəˈnɑːnə.(Furthermore , English allows important weakening processes in function words (prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs and conjunctions), in which peripheral vowels are often...

In this chapter we investigate an instance of phonological recursion; more specifically, we investigate iterative rule application in phonological phrases. We will show that edge-marking processes, such as early pitch accent placement, can be applied recursively to phonological phrases that are embedded in larger phonological phrases. Before addressing prosodic recursion, we will demonstrate th...

Broomrapes are plant-parasitic weeds which constitute one of the most difficult-to-control of all biotic constraints that affect crops in Mediterranean, central and eastern Europe, and Asia. Due to their physical and metabolic overlap with the crop, their underground parasitism, their achlorophyllous nature, and hardly destructible seed bank, broomrape weeds are usually not controlled by manage...

Closed-form solutions were developed to optimize kinematics design of a 2-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) planar parallel manipulator. The optimum design based on the workspace was presented. Meanwhile, a global, comprehensive conditioning index was introduced to evaluate the kinematic designs. The optimal parallel manipulator is incorporated into a 5-DOF hybrid machine tool which includes a 2-DOF rot...

BACKGROUND Assessing the clinical effectiveness of measuring grip strength as a prognostic tool in recovering ambulation in bed-confined frail elderly patients. METHODS A prospective study was carried out with 50 elderly inpatients (mean age: 81.6 years old). Manual muscle test was used for checking strength of hip flexor muscles, hip abductor muscles and knee extensor muscles. Grip strength ...

Children with speech difficulties often have delayed phonological awareness development and associated literacy problems. Speech-language pathologists (S-LPs) typically use phonological and articulatory approaches in their treatment of such children. However, it is unclear to what extent phonological awareness training, originally designed to promote literacy skills, might also improve children...