Ecologists have recently used integral projection models (IPMs) to study fish and other animals which continue to grow throughout their lives. Such animals cannot shrink, since they have bony skeletons; a mathematical consequence of this is that the kernel of the integral projection operator T is unbounded, and the operator is not compact. To our knowledge, all theoretical work done on IPMs has assumed the operator is compact, and in particular has a bounded kernel. A priori, it is unclear whether these IPMs have an asymptotic growth rate [Formula see text], or a stable-stage distribution [Formula see text]. In the case of a compact operator, these quantities are its spectral radius and the associated eigenvector, respectively. Under biologically reasonable assumptions, we prove that the non-compact operators in these IPMs share some important traits with their compact counterparts the operator T has a unique positive eigenvector [Formula see text] corresponding to its spectral radius [Formula see text], this [Formula see text] is strictly greater than the supremum of the modulus of all other spectral values, and for any nonnegative initial population [Formula see text], there is a [Formula see text] such that [Formula see text].Although childbirth-related posttraumatic stress (CB-PTSD) has received recognition, how sexual assault (SA) history influences obstetrical and traumatic stress outcomes remains unclear. Six hundred eighty-three women provided information about their childbirth and mental health. Obstetric complications and unplanned cesareans were more prevalent among women with SA history. They also had higher rates of probable CB-PTSD and were two times more likely to have premature deliveries than women without SA history. Screening women for history of sexual trauma is warranted to optimize birth outcomes. Traditionally, the superior parietal lobule (SPL) is usually investigated as one region of interest, particularly in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. However, cytoarchitectonic analysis has shown that the SPL has a complex, heterogeneous topology that comprises more than seven sub-regions. Since previous studies have shown how the SPL is significantly involved in different neurological functions-such as visuomotor, cognitive, sensory, higher order, working memory and attention-this study aims to investigate whether these cytoarchitecturally different sub-regions have different functional connectivity to different functional brain networks. This study examined 198 healthy subjects using resting-state fMRI and investigated the functional connectivity of seven sub-regions of the SPL to eight regional functional networks. The findings showed that most of the seven sub-regions were functionally connected to these targeted networks and that there are differences between these sub-regions and their functional connectivity patterns. The most consistent functional connectivity was observed with the visual and attention networks. There were also clear functional differences between Brodmann area (BA) 5 and BA7. BA5, with its three sub-regions, had strong functional connectivity to both the sensorimotor and salience networks. These findings have enhanced our understanding of the functional organisations of the complexity of the SPL and its varied topology and also provide clear evidence of the functional patterns and involvements of the SPL in major brain functions.These findings have enhanced our understanding of the functional organisations of the complexity of the SPL and its varied topology and also provide clear evidence of the functional patterns and involvements of the SPL in major brain functions. Functional suppression of two types of class-C genes caused transformation of pistils and stamens into petaloid organs that exhibit novel phenotypes, which gives a distinct gorgeous impression in the florets of chrysanthemum. The multiple-petal trait is a breeding objective for many horticultural plants. The loss of function of class-C genes causes the multiple-petal trait in several plant species. However, mechanisms involved in the generation of the multiple-petal trait are unknown in Chrysanthemum morifolium (chrysanthemum). Here, we isolated 14 class-C AGAMOUS (AG) genes, which were classified into two types of class-C genes, in chrysanthemum. Seven of these were categorized into CAG type 1 genes (CAG1s) and seven into CAG type 2 genes (CAG2s). Functions of class-C genes were co-suppressed by chimeric repressors and simultaneously knocked-down by RNAi to produce the multiple-petal phenotype in chrysanthemum. The expression of chimeric repressors of CAG1s and CAG2s caused morphological alteration of the kdown of CAG1s and CAG2s expression by RNAi also exhibited a petaloid phenotype as observed in transgenic plants obtained by chimeric repressors. These results showed that CAG1s and CAG2s play important roles in the development of pistils and stamens, and the simultaneous repression of CAG1s and CAG2s resulted in a multiple-petal phenotype in chrysanthemum.Measuring viscoelastic properties of soft tissues becomes a new biomarker in the medical diagnosis field. It can help in early diagnosis and related fields, such as minimally-invasive-surgery (MIS) applications and cell mechanics. The current work presents a tactile sensor for measuring the damping coefficient of the soft tissues. The proposed sensor can be miniaturized easily and used in MIS applications. Besides the proposed sensor, a mathematical model, based on Jacobsen's approach, is built to calculate the damping coefficient of the specimens and the surrounding. These damping sources significantly influence the proposed sensor, such as air damping and hysteretic damping. The sensor system principally depends on a piezoelectric transducer, which is cheap, commonly available, and easily integrated into MEMS. To conceptually prove the sensor feasibility, silicon rubber samples with different stiffnesses have been fabricated and tested by the new sensor. BEZ235 The obtained results prove the newly proposed sensor's capability to differentiate the damping coefficients for soft materials effectively.