The cultivation of garlic in Costa Rica tends to disappear, because this vegetable imports from China and Taiwan and loss of quality and seed vigor, which caused a reduction of planting area in the country. For the research presented in this article garlic grown in the area of Llano Grande, Carthage, belonging to small farmers who sow seed inherited from generation to generation were used. Four disinfection with sodium hypochlorite at different concentrations and exposure times were evaluated, plus four culture media M & S (1962), with different growth regulators. Most survival for establishing in vitro was obtained by washing the cloves with soap and water and then passing them to a solution of Zetaran® and Agri-mycim® 5 g / l each for 45 minutes. A second disinfection with sodium hypochlorite was then performed at 3.5% w / v for 20 minutes in a laminar flow chamber and three washes with sterile double distilled water were conducted. The culture medium provided the best results was Murashige and Skoog (1962) supplemented with 1 mg / L 2-isopentenyladenine (2iP) and 2.5 mg / L indoleacetic acid (IAA). The survival rate of explants hovers around 28.7% and an average of 1.6 shoots per explant was obtained, which is considered a very low rate of sprouting. Titulo: Establishment of an in vitro cultivation of garlic (Allium sativum) protocol in Costa Rica.


By analyzing the interesting patterns of the etch-pits due to the coupled dislocations along a grain boundary in germanium crystals, the direct and quantitative verification of the law of interaction between edge dislocations is obtained.


Cloning domestic cats is useful in comparative medicine programs as it may provide insight into unique disease mechanisms and facilitate investigation of new therapeutic options. It is also believed to be beneficial for the conservation of precious animal models. However, as in many species, low birth rates after nuclear transfer remain a formidable challenge. One potential reason for the low efficiency is poor embryo development following activation of the reconstructed oocytes. The number of methods available to induce a transient increase in the oocytes' cytosolic free calcium level to stimulate development is rather limited. Although strontium has been reported to successfully activate the developmental program of mature mouse and rat oocytes, it was without effect in all other species studied. Here we investigated the effect of strontium on mature cat oocytes. Oocytes collected from the cat ovaries were matured in vitro in Feline Optimized Culture Medium (FOCM) supplemented with 0.6 mm cysteine, 0.1 mm cysteamine, 1 IU mL–1 eCG, 2 IU mL–1 hCG, 25 ng mL–1 epidermal growth factor (EGF) for 24 h. For intracellular calcium measurements, mature oocytes were incubated in the presence of 2 µ m fura-2Am, a calcium indicator dye, and 0.02% pluronic F-127 for 40 min. Individual oocytes were transferred into calcium-free HEPES, and SrCl2 was added to the medium at a final concentration of 20 mm. Changes in the intracellular free calcium levels were then monitored using an InCyt Im2™ fluorescence imaging system (Intracellular Imaging, Cincinnati, OH, USA). Preimplantation embryonic development was also evaluated by incubating the oocytes with 20 mm SrCl2 in calcium-free HEPES medium supplemented with 7.5 µg mL–1 cytochalasin B for 6 h. Control oocytes were activated by two 20-µs-long, 100 kV cm–1 direct current pulses and incubated in the presence of 7.5 µg mL–1 cytochalasin B for 6 h. After activation, the oocytes were cultured in FOCM for 6 days. At the end of the culture period, embryonic development was recorded; the nuclear number of the embryos was also determined after staining with Hoechst 33342. Data were subjected to one-way ANOVA, and differences between treatments were analyzed using the Tukey test. We found that strontium triggered a transient rise in the intracellular free calcium concentration in all oocytes tested (N = 20). Strontium treatment also induced cleavage in 49.7% (92/185) of the oocytes, while 4.9% (9/185) of the activated oocytes developed to the blastocyst stage. In the electroporated group, cleavage frequency was 57.1% (104/182) and blastocyst formation was 8.8% (16/182). Data analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of cleavage frequency and blastocyst formation. This is the first study to demonstrate that strontium can induce cytoplasmic calcium increase in cat oocytes and trigger development up to the blastocyst stage. The results also indicate that SrCl2 may be useful for oocyte activation during cat nuclear transfer. Additional studies are needed to determine whether SrCl2 can trigger development more effectively than current activation techniques.


Valtrex gains new indication as a therapy for genital herpes patients who don't want to transmit their disease to their partners


Bathy LiDAR has over the last ten years seen a dramatic development, in the range of ten times the resolution, dramatically improved hydrographic object detection, operation in higher turbidity waters and complex river environments. There has been a strong increase of the use of the technology globally for applications such as coastal surveys for sea-charts, shoreline erosion monitoring, coastal infrastructure planning, environmental mapping, river surveys for flood risk analysis and mitigation. Leading hydrographic offices have implemented the technology for shallow water surveys in their national coastal mapping programs, and further countries are planning for the doing the same. The latest advancements also include developments of bathy LiDAR for Maritime surveillance applications, where the data must be available in close to real time already in the survey aircraft, to enable immediate analysis and response related to safety at sea and prevention of illegal activities.


PurposeUnderstanding leadership in newly created online social spaces, such Facebook communities, is an important new area of study within leadership research. This study explores an existing leadership model in offline environments by analyzing leadership strategies used by Facebook community leaders.Design/methodology/approachBy using both quantitative and qualitative methods, data were collected through a survey from 94 Facebook community leaders about their leadership strategies.FindingsFindings show that the framework of leadership behavior in offline groups can also be observed in Facebook communities. The content analysis of the open-ended questions reveals new categories reflecting unique leadership strategies in online environments. Leaders that participated in the study focused on strategies of content and team management, provided their groups with relevant content and personal stories to engage their members and strived to lead both offline and online-related social spaces to build a sense of community.Originality/valueThe growing number of Facebook community leaders and their key role in social media communities raise new questions about their position in light of what is already known about traditional leadership. Since social media occupies a central place in almost every aspect in everyday life, understanding the way that leaders manage these online communities is ever more important, and it can lead to an advancement in online communications.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-01-2020-0034.


The effect of feather keratin adsorbing agent on Cr2O2-7 wastewater adsorption were researched.The influencing factors of agent dosage,pH value,reaction time,reaction temperature on the efficiency of chromium removal were studied.The optimal conditions for the wastewater were: in the room temperature,the wastewater pH value between 2~6,1.0 g/L feather keratin adsorbing agent,mixing round 10 min.The adsorption rate can arrive to 92.5%.


The Standard and Poor's 500 Index rose at an annual rate of 20 percent between May 1998 and June 1999. The personal saving rate—defined by the national income and product accounts (NIPA) as the ratio of the difference between disposable personal income derived from current production and personal outlays to disposable personal income—was negative for 10 of these 14 months and averaged negative 0.3 percent. So, many analysts have recently complained that this measure of saving does not accurately reflect the saving behavior of American households because it does not include realized capital gains in the definition of personal income, but does include the tax liabilities of such gains when calculating disposable personal income. Recently, realized capital gains and the taxes paid on capital gains have indeed grown faster than personal income. Between 1959 and 1980, the ratio of realized capital gains to personal income was relatively stable and averaged 1.7 percent. Since 1980, realized capital gains have grown faster than personal income, so that by 1996—the last year for which such detailed information about realized capital gains and the taxes paid on them is available—the ratio was a little over 4 percent. Similarly, the ratio of taxes paid on capital gains to personal income averaged 0.5 percent during the two decades before 1980. The ratio quickly rose between 1980 and 1986 when it peaked at 1.5 percent. Then after falling for several years, it has since started to rise again and stood at 0.9 percent in 1996. The chart shows three different measures of saving that incorporate adjustments for the effects of capital gains on personal saving. The lowest line is the published measure of the personal saving rate. The series immediately above the personal saving rate also adjusts disposable personal income by not subtracting taxes paid on realized capital gains. Although it has some effect on the saving rate, the difference between the two series is not dramatic. The gap was one percentage point in 1996, a small part of the decline in the personal saving rate during the last 10 years. The final series also includes realized capital gains as a component of personal income, and the effect is more dramatic. The difference between the published series and this inclusive series was nearly 4.4 percent in 1996. However, the alternative measures have problems as well. They assume realized capital gains contribute to saving but unrealized capital gains do not. They do not show the overall financial condition of households because the measures do not consider liabilities. To the extent capital gains imply changes in the outlook for future economic conditions, the alternative measures blur the distinction between realized and expected economic activity. There are many measures of saving (e.g., p. 15). Each provides some insight about economic conditions, and each has shortcomings. Therefore, it is important to understand how they are constructed and their uses and limitations.


A broadcast packet is for delivery to all nodes of a network. Algorithms for accomplishing this delivery through a store-and-forward packet switching computer network include (1) transmission of separately addressed packets, (2) multidestination addressing, (3) hot potato forwarding, (4) spanning tree forwarding, and (5) source based forwarding. To this list of algorithms we add (6) reverse path forwarding, a broadcast routing method which exploits routing procedures and data structures already available for packet switching. Reverse path forwarding is a practical algorithm for broadcast routing in store-and-forward packet switching computer networks. The algorithm is described as being practical because it is not optimal according to metrics developed for its analysis in this paper, and also because it can be implemented in existing networks with less complexity than that required for the known alternatives.


The NIOSH list of 10 leading work-related diseases and injuries in the United States includes disorders of reproduction.' Based on the proposed national strategy by NIOSH and the Association of Schools of Public Health for the prevention of disorders of reproduction, it is apparent that surveillance for these disorders-like the epidemiology and toxicology of reproductive disorders-is in an early stage of evolution.2 Because of an increasing awareness of workrelated disorders of reproduction and a perception of risk by the population, a call for action, concerted coordination, and commitment by the public health community are indicated to address these issues. National strategies for surveillance of reproductive disorders are presently fragmentary and poorly coordinated. A need exists to develop, expand, integrate, and link current surveillance activities in the government, private industry, unions, and academia. In addition to developing existing sources of surveillance information, new and creative surveillance systems for reproductive disorders should also be developed. There are two possible types of surveillance: surveillance for work-related disorders of reproduction and surveillance for physical and chemical hazards to reproductive health.2 Disorders of reproduction can be prevented when hazards to reproductive health are controlled. The strategy relies on identifying risks to reproductive health through hazard surveillance.3 When hazard surveillance identifies the source of a problem and controls are instituted, surveillance for work-related disorders of reproduction can document success in eliminating the hazard. Surveillance for work-related disorders of reproduction documents the occurrence of these disorders in working


Abstract Comprehensive education appeared as a progressive form of school organisation characterised by a common, core curriculum that was to be offered to every student independent of their social origins and economic position. Up till now, we can say that comprehensivisation has worked as a school conception, but it has failed to build a schooling system. That is to say, it has worked as a school organisational system, but it has failed as a way of restructuring knowledge, and/or teaching and learning. This articleregards these aspects as complementary branches of the same comprehensive ideals. They need to be revisited in our technological and informational stage of development.


"Provisions on the Takeover of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors" was promulgated in 2006 and modified in 2009 so as to protect the national economic security.It provides the regulation for national security review of foreign investment in China.The lack of substantial and procedural articles in these provisions makes them less transparent and effective."The Notice on Establishing National Security Review System to the Takeover of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors" issued by State Council in 2011 partly resolved the limitations of previous regulations.It is still worthwhile to borrow the rules and regulation applied by Committee on Foreign Investment in United States in order to make Chinese provisions clear and manageable,and it helps to secure our national safety while continuing to attract foreign investment,and to promote the development and reformation of China's economy.


of infection and its pathology. In the case of infection with low-virulence C. albicans, susceptibility and resistance to primary and secondary disseminated infections vary among the different inbred strains of mice. C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice are resistant to primary infection and acquire resistance to reinfection, while C3H/HeJ and CBA/J mice show moderate resistance to primary and secondary infections. In contrast, DBA/2, 129/Sv/Ev, and SJL mice are highly susceptible to primary infection. This genetically determined resistance and susceptibility to infection has been found to correlate with the balance occurring between specific CD4+ Th1 and Th2 responses [5-10]. The predominance of Th1 cell responses leads to resistance and onset of protective immunity, while Th2 responses are associated with disease exacerbation and pathology. Cytokines produced by Th1 cells activate neu


Title of Document: DEFINING AND ASSESSING PARENT EMPOWERMENT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT USING THE NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION SURVEY: A FOCUS ON MARGINALIZED PARENTS Jungnam Kim, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Directed By: Dr. Julia Bryan, Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education Marginalized parents experience multiple and complex challenges in terms of social isolation, exclusion, and powerlessness. This empirical study investigated the effects of parent empowerment on academic outcomes using a large national representative sample and should provide insights about the importance of parent empowerment in education and counseling. Further, the study investigated the effect of the intersectionality of race/ethnicity, home language and income on parent empowerment. This first attempt at analyzing intersectionality in the context of parent empowerment may provide some guidance for future researchers in addressing the complex nature of intersecting identities. This study was a correlational study that used data from the Parent and Family Involvement Survey of the National Household Education Surveys (PFI-NHES: 2007) to investigate the relationship between parent empowerment and academic achievement as measured by parents' reports of students' grade point average(GPA). Using multiple linear regression and logistic regression, the findings of the current study demonstrated that some aspects of parent empowerment were related to children's academic achievement, namely, parents' competence, self-determination, community belonging, and community participation. Interestingly, parents' sense of meaning and consciousness were not related to children's academic achievement. Moreover, intersections of race/ethnicity, home language and income were also related to parent empowerment. The results are significant in that they provide empirical information for school counselors, teachers, administrators and counselors for working with parents. Furthermore, these data may begin to provide support for the conceptual framework of parent empowerment provided this study in order to guide future research and practice. DEFINING AND ASSESSING PARENT EMPOWERMENT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT USING THE NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD EDUCATION SURVEY: A FOCUS ON MARGINALIZED PARENTS


The doctrine of exhaustion belongs, alongside the protection of computer programs, the patentability of genetically altered species and the cross-border injunctions, to the most discussed themes of the past few years in the area of intellectual property rights. The latest Swiss Federal Supreme Court decision in the case Kodak SA vs. Jumbo-Markt AG was the first decision at the highest level of jurisdiction in Switzerland on the doctrine of exhaustion in patent law. The following article focuses on one of the crucial elements, the historical interpretation element, in discussing the Kodak case. The article concludes with an overview of the political impact of the Swiss Supreme Court decision regarding, inter alia, the new Swiss law on medicines.


The purpose of this work was to develop effective methods of protecting fruit crops based on the use of aphid alarm and mite aggregation pheromones. The study was conducted in 2020-2021 on a private farm in the Krasnodar Territory. Laboratory studies were carried out on two types of aphids: Aphis pomi Deg. and Myzus cerasi F. with the use of trans-beta-farnesene where crushed aphids of the tested species served as the source of the alarm pheromone, and insects without treatment were used as a control group. Field tests were carried out on registered trees with aphid colonies up to 10% of shoots in the crown, and mite colonies of 15-23 specimens/ leaf. Significant differences in the types of ethological reactions of apple and cherry aphids to trans-beta-farnesene were observed. In A. pomi, the predominant type was the twitching of the body during the initial period of exposure to the semiochemical. In cherry aphids, only one type of behavioral reaction to the alarm pheromone was noted, namely leaving the feeding site. The results of testing trans-beta-farnesene compositions with preparations based on biorational active substances, Phytoverm CE (2 g/l), and experimental insecticides based on coriander essential oil indicate the prospects of using the aphid alarm pheromone (trans-beta-farnesene) to increase the effectiveness of anti-aphid insecticides. Similar results were obtained in tests of trans-nerolidol, the pheromone used for aggregation of red spider mites in a composition with the Apollo, SC acaricide (500 g/l).


These years,Chinese high education pays attention to the practical teaching.Based on the development requirements of Chinese high education and urban planning specialty,the paper tries to making the optimization study of practical teaching structure,content and measure.It proposes the "Plate Type" system which is compact,implies the interact of the theory and practice,perfects the education content coherent,current,theory and innovation,and makes more practical teaching measures,such as imitation.


Phage 429 DNA cannot be phosphorylated with polynucleotide kinase and [.32P]ATP because of the presence of a viral protein covalently linked to the 5' termini. The 5' ends can, however, be made susceptible to phosphorylation by treatment with alkali and alkaline phosphatase. Restriction fragments Hpa H C and Hpa H F, corres n ing to the right and left ends of 429 DNA, respectively, were labeled at the 5' ends with polynucleotide kinase and [v-32PJATP or at the 3' ends with terminal transferase and [a-32P]ATP or [a-32P]cordycepin 5'-triphosphate. After a secondary cleavage of the labeled fragments, the sequence of the first 150-180 nucleotides at the termini of 429 DNA was determined by the method of Maxam and Gilbert. The ends of 429 DNA are flush, and a six-nucleotides-long inverted terminal repetition was found. The functional implications, of the sequences determined are discussed. The genome of Bacillus subtilis phage 429 is a double-stranded, linear DNA molecule (Mr 11,800,000) (1) that has a protein covalently linked to the two 5' termini (2-5). The protein bound to the DNA is the product of cistron 3, p3 (2), an early protein (Mr 27,000) (6, 7) required for the initiation of 429 DNA replication (8). The DNA of adenoviruses, which also have a protein linked to the 5' termini (9, 10), contains an inverted terminal repetition of 100 nucleotides (11-16). Two observations suggest that such an extensive inverted terminal repetition does not exist in 429 DNA: (i) single-stranded circles were not found after denaturation of the DNA followed by renaturation at low concentrations (A. Talavera, personal communication) and (ii) the degree of melting of the two ends of 429 DNA was different in a partial denaturation map (17). Initiation-of both adenovirus (18-22) and 429 (23, 24) DNA replication occurs at or close to either DNA end, nonsimultaneously, and proceeds by a mechanism of strand displacement. Models for the initiation of adenovirus and 429 DNA replication have been proposed in which a newly synthesized molecule of the terminal protein acts as a primer, providing the 3'-OH group needed for elongation by the DNA polymerase (9, 18, 23, 24). An alternative model for initiation of replication by a linear DNA that cannot form circles or concatemers involves the formation of a hairpin loop at the 3' ends of the DNA, which thus provides the 3'-OH group needed for elongation (25). This model has been ruled out in the case of several types of adenovirus DNAs, because no palindromic sequences consistent with the foldback of the 3' ends have been detected within the 150-200 nucleotides sequenced at the two DNA ends (11, 12) or even within the terminal 3% at the right-hand end (26). We report the sequence of the first 150-180 nucleotides at the ends of 429 DNA and show that (i) 429 DNA termini are flush; (ii) there is a short inverted terminal repetition, sixanucleotides long; and (iii) no sequence consistent with a hairpin model for initiation of replication exists within the first nucleotides sequenced at either DNA end. A preliminary account of some of these findings has been presented (27). MATERIALS AND METHODS Nucleoside Triphosphates and Enzymes. [y-32P]ATP was prepared essentially by the method of Schendel and Wells (28). Five millicuries (1 Ci = 3.7 X 1010 becquerels) of carrier-free 32pi were added for a 0.05-ml reaction volume. [a-32P]ATP (400 Ci/mmol) and [a-32P]dCTP (410 Ci/mmol) were obtained from the Radiochemical Centre (Amersham, England). [a-32P]cordycepin-5'-triphosphate (537 Ci/mmol) was from New England Nuclear. Polynucleotide kinase, Hpa II, HindIII, Taq I, and Hha I were obtained from New England Biolabs; terminal transferase was from Bethesda Research Laboratories (Rockville, MD) or P-L Biochemicals; bacterial alkaline phosphatase was from Worthington; alkaline phosphatase, from calf intestine and DNA polymerase (Klenow fragment) were from Boehringer Mannheim; and fungal proteinase K, chromatographically purified, was from Merck. Preparation of 4,29 DNA and Restriction Fragments. DNA was isolated from the phage 429 delayed-lysis mutant susl4(1242) by treatment with proteinase K as described (29). After phenol extraction, the DNA was precipitated with 2.5 vol of ethanol. DNA restriction fragments were separated by electrophoresis on 3.5% or 5% polyacrylamide gels, 20 X 20 or 40 X 0.2 cm, in 36 mM Tris-phosphate, pH 7.8/1 mM EDTA (30). The electrophoresis was run at room temperature at a constant voltage of 5-7.5 V/cm. The maximum amount of DNA loaded on a gel was 150 ,ug/0.4 cm2. DNA fragments were also separated on 1% agarose analytical horizontal gels, 30 X 12 X 0.4 cm, in 40 mM Tris-acetate, pH 7.8/1 mM EDTA at a constant voltage of 3.33 V/cm. The DNA fragments were located by autoradiography and recovered from the crushed polyacrylamide gel slices by extraction with an excess volume of 50 mM Tris HCl, pH 7.8/2 mM EDTA/0. 15 M NaCl. The DNA was purified by adsorption on a DEAE-cellulose column (0.3-ml bed volume), followed by elution with 1.5 ml of50mM Tris HCl, pH 7.8/2mM EDTA/ 1.5 M NaCl. The DNA was recovered by precipitation with 2.5 vol of ethanol. Alkali Treatment of qb29 DNA and Restriction Fragments. Deproteinized 429 DNA or restriction fragments were treated with 0.1 M NaOH at 37°C for 1.5 hr at a DNA concentration of 15-80 ,ug/ml. To reanneal the DNA, the solution was neutralized by addition of an equal volume of 0.11 M HCl/1 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.8/2 mM EDTA, heated in a bath of boiling water for 7 min, and incubated at 690C for 4 hr in the presence of 0.25 M NaCl. Abbreviation: bp(s), base pair(s). 1446 The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U. S. C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. Biochemistry: Escarmis and Salas Labeling the Ends of 429 DNA Fragments and DNA Sequencing. 429 DNA restriction fragments were labeled at their 5' ends with polynucleotide kinase and [ y-32P]ATP essentially by the procedure of Maxam and Gilbert (31). The DNA was dephosphorylated by digestion for 1 hr at 370C with either bacterial alkaline phosphatase in 50 mM Tris HCl, pH 8 (85 Aug of enzyme/pmol of phosphorylated end) or alkaline phosphatase from calf intestine in 20mM Tris HCl, pH 9.5/0.1 mM EDTA/ 1 mM spermidine (35 tg of enzyme/pmol of phosphorylated end). The bacterial enzyme was removed by phenol extraction. The calf intestine enzyme was inactivated by heating at 690C for 2 hr (32). The labeling reaction with polynucleotide kinase was stopped by freezing and thawing twice, and the DNA was separated from the unreacted ATP by column chromatography on Sephadex G-50. By this procedure, terminal restriction fragments of 429 DNA are labeled only at one 5' end, because the 5' termini of 429 DNA are blocked by protein p3. To label the 5' ends of 429 DNA, protein p3 was removed by treatment with alkali as described, and the product was dephosphorylated with phosphatase. 429 DNA restriction fragments were labeled at their 3' ends with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase and [a-32P]ATP essentially by the Maxam and Gilbert procedure (31, 33). After treatment with NaOH to remove all the AMP residues added except the first one, the DNA was reannealed as described above. Alternatively, 429 DNA restriction fragments were labeled at their 3' ends with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase and [a-32P]cordycepin-5'-triphosphate according to Tu and Cohen (34). Labeling of the terminal Taq I fragments at only the 3' end of the Taq I site was carried out by incubation with DNA polymerase (Klenow fragment) and [a-32P]dCTP at 60C (35). DNA sequencing was done essentially by the Maxam and Gilbert method (31). The slab gels were 400 X 200 or 300 X 0.5-1 mm and had 10-mm slots. Twenty per cent polyacrylamide gels were used for sequencing the first 20 nucleotides, and 8% polyacrylamide gels were used for sequencing the nucleotides that were further from the labeled end. In some experiments, the hydrazine was eliminated by centrifugation through Sephadex G-50 (36). Autoradiography was carried out with Ilford fast tungstate intensifying screens at 70°C, when needed.


Abstract : We present a new lidar method for investigation of the aurorally-modified ionosphere. Resonance nitrogen-ion (N2+ XB) lidar system is capable of making measurements of aurorally-ionized nitrogen in the polar ionosphere up to altitudes of ~300 km. We present a description of the prototype resonance lidar system that is currently being developed at Poker Flat Research Range. We compare the technical features and capabilities of this lidar system to conventional resonance lidar systems that measure atomic metals. Unlike incoherent scatter radar, the lidar measures a specific ionic species as opposed to a total ion profile. We describe how assimilative observational-modelling studies of the auroral E-region that combine measurements made with the lidar system, a radar system (i.e., the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar), and a meridian scanning photometer with a multi-species ionospheric chemistry model will be conducted. We discuss how these observational-modelling studies will yield more accurate estimates of the ionic populations. We discuss how these studies can yield estimates of nitric oxide production while it is being created in the aurora, estimates of the auroral particle energy spectrum, and allow insights into the structure of pulsating aurora.


The invention relates to fields of communication, specially a detecting system and method of optical fiber line fault. The detecting system includes: local equipment, terminal equipment, at least one light delay branching units which are between the local equipment and terminal equipment, test wavelength reflect device which is connected between the light delay branching units and terminal equipment and close to the spur track fiber of the terminal equipment, and test device OTDR of main circuit fiber which is between the light delay branching units and local equipment, said light delay branching units generate different delay time for light signal of different port branching light path, thereinto the length of branching fiber of said light delay branching units and terminal equipment is the same. The detecting method and system of the fiber line fault in this invention can simplify the test method of fiber line fault diagnosis, and decrease the cost of fiber construction.


ABSTRACT Institutional investors, especially public funds, play an important role in governing listed firms as they grow in Chinese stock markets. We classify each fund as "dedicated," "transient," or "mixed," according to the concentration, turnover, and profit sensitivity of their stock holdings. We find that listed firms with more shares held by dedicated funds have a higher disclosure quality, while firms with more shares held by transient funds have a lower disclosure quality. These findings are consistent in different model settings. In addition, dedicated funds improve the disclosure quality of non-state-owned enterprises more than state-owned enterprises. Dedicated funds can benefit from the lower debt-financing cost and higher stock liquidity of firms with better disclosure quality.


Nematode took important role in research of animal development and biology precention and treatment.The advances on molecular biology research of plant and insect nematode were summarized.


Abstract : We have studied ballistic electron transport across metal layers and metal/semiconductor interfaces using a scanning tunneling microscope to inject electrons with a controlled energy into a thin metal film, allows measurements (with spatial resolution approaching lnm) of (1) the local Schottky barrier (SB) height, (2) ballistic mean free paths of energetic electrons (or holes), and (3) transmission probability of hot carriers across the metal/semiconductor interface. The attenuation length of hot electrons (1.5 eV above the Fermi level) in PtSi is measured as approximately 4 nm. We also used BEEM to observe the sharp onset of inelastic scattering mechanisms in Au/Si and PtSi. We observe that the derivative BEEM spectrum of Au/Si (001) n-type is rich with features which may correspond to either M/S interface states or to states in the semiconductor bandgap near the interface. We suggest that these interface scattering processes occur also for other M/S systems. Our experimental BEEM studies indicate that hot electron transport is diffusive in the sense that electrons will scatter elastically many times before an inelastic event will occur. We succeeded in constructing a low temperature (liquid nitrogen temperatures) BEEM head and have taken BEEM spectra of PtSi on P-type Si.


An epidemiological study of longevity in Southern Moravia Czechoslovakia is presented. The data concern the social and health conditions of nonagerians. Factors associated with longevity are analyzed. (summary in ENG FRE RUS) (ANNOTATION)


6 Several potential benefits to the quality and relia bility of delivered power can be attained with the installation of distributed generation units. To ta ke 7 full advantage of these benefits, it is essential t o place optimally sized distributed generation unit s a appropriate locations. Otherwise, their 8 installation could provoke negative effects to powe r quality and system operation. Over the years, var ious powerful optimization tools were 9 developed for optimal integration of distributed ge neration. Therefore, optimization techniques are co ntinuously evolving and have been recently the 10 focus of many new studies. This paper reviews recen t optimization methods applied to solve the problem of placement and sizing of distributed 11 generation units from renewable energy sources base d on a classification of the most recent and highly cited papers. In addition, this paper analyses 12 the environmental, economic, technological, technic al, and regulatory drivers that have led to the gro wing interest on distributed generation 13 integration in combination with an overview about t he challenges to overcome. Finally, it examines all significant methods applying optimization 14 techniques of the integration of distributed genera tion from renewable energy sources. A summary of co mm n heuristic optimization algorithms with 15 Pro-Con lists are discussed in order to raise new p otential tracks of hybrid methods that haven't been xplored yet. 16 17


We have examined the function of a member of the vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein family of proteins (DdVASP) inDictyostelium. Ddvasp null cells lack filopodia, whereas targeting DdVASP to the plasma membrane with a myristoyl tag results in a significant increase in filopodia. The proline-rich domain-Ena/VASP homology 2 structure is required for both actin polymerization activity and filopodia formation.Ddvasp null cells exhibit a chemotaxis defect, which appears to be due to a defect in the ability of the cells to properly adhere to the substratum and to suppress lateral pseudopod extension. We demonstrate that during chemotaxis, the anterior ∼50% of the cell lifts from the substratum and remains elevated for up to 1 min. These defects lead to a significant decrease in chemotaxis efficiency. DdVASP localizes to the leading edge in migrating cells and to the tips of filopodia. In addition, Ddvasp null cells have a defect in particle adhesion but internalize particles normally. Our results provide new insights into the function of DdVASP in controlling the actin cytoskeleton during chemotaxis and filopodia formation.


Abstract Institutions involved in technological issues like the use of nuclear power are confronting a phenomenon familiar to planners: hostile public audiences who read the facts differently from experts. In many situations, frustrated technocrats turn to behavioral decision science for advice about how to deal with "irrational" publics. But whether or not public judgment appears rational depends on which of several rival explanations of judgment bias one embraces. Those perspectives also show that, in the influence that institutions can have on public judgment of issues with uncertain consequences, the line between manipulating public judgment and emancipating it from biases and misperceptions is a fine one. Garnering public acceptance often involves a professional dilemma of choosing between the morally questionable shaping of public preferences and the surrendering of complex choices to public biases. Resolution of that dilemma requires creating new contexts for public judgment, a task that scientists...


1 Center for Endocrine Metabolism and Immune Diseases, Beijing Luhe Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, 2 Beijing Key Laboratory of Diabetes Research and Care, Beijing, China, 3 Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, United States, 4 Department of Surgery, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, United States, 5 Precision Health Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States, 6 Department of Radiology, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States


Predictive algorithms are a critical part of the ubiquitous computing vision, enabling appropriate action on behalf of users. A common class of algorithms, which has seen uptake in ubiquitous computing, is supervised machine learning algorithms. Such algorithms are trained to make predictions based on a set of features (selected at training time). However, features needed at prediction time (such as mobile information that impacts battery life, or information collected from users via experience sampling) may be costly to collect. In addition, both cost and value of a feature may change dynamically based on real-world context (such as battery life or user location) and prediction context (what features are already known, and what their values are). We contribute a framework for dynamically trading off feature cost against prediction quality at prediction time. We demonstrate this work in the context of three prediction tasks: providing prospective tenants estimates for energy costs in potential homes, estimating momentary stress levels from both sensed and user-provided mobile data, and classifying images to facilitate opportunistic device interactions. Our results show that while our approach to cost-sensitive feature selection is up to 45% less costly than competing approaches, error rates are equivalent or better.


We report a very large 2D superlattice domain of hexagonal close-packed monodisperse gold nanoparticles, which is longer than 20 μm and of 8.8 nm superlattice constant in a millimetre-scale monolayer film, fabricated by simple self-assembly of drying water and toluene droplets with 2D nanoparticles at the air–liquid interfaces.


TheConsumer-Server/Logger (CSL)isthefinal component intheCDF DataAcquisition chainbefore datais archived totape. TheCSLbuffers datainseparate datastreams, records file metainformation into adatabase andsends afraction ofevents toonline processors forrealtimemonitoring ofdata quality. Recently, theCSLwasupgraded inordertoincrease the logging capacity to80MB/s.Theupgrade consists ofcommodity servers running Linux. A "Receiver node"distributes datavia Gigabit Ethernet toeight parallel "Logger nodes" connected to external diskarrays viaaFibreChannel network. A redundant design andtheavailability ofinexpensive largecapacity disk arrays provides ahighly available system thatisscalable and easytomaintain. We present adescription oftheCSLupgrade anddiscuss theexperience gained through commissioning to operations.


A statistical model tor giobai optimization is constructed generalizing some properties ofthe Wiener process to the multidimensional case. A new approach, which is similar to the Branch and Bound approach, is proposed to the construction of algorithms based on statistical models. A two dimensional version of the algorithm is implemented, and test results are presented


Abstract: Although it is easy to comprehend why women found more spiritual fulfillment as prophets of Emitai than as prophets of the patriarchal Christian God, it is interesting to observe women claiming to be messengers of Emitai. Baum's book is a religious response to slavery, colonial conquest, world wars, droughts, disease, and social upheavals.


School teachers need organizational commitment so that they can contribute their services, efforts, and energy to the organization. This study aimed to examine the relationship between job satisfaction, emotional intelligence, motivation, and organizational commitment among secondary school teachers in Tambunan District. A total of 175 teachers from four secondary schools were involved in this study. The questionnaire containing 97 items of five Likert scales was used to measure respondents' responses. Statistical methods Pearson correlation, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used. The results showed that a) there was no difference in job satisfaction, emotional intelligence, and gender-based motivation, b) there was no difference in job satisfaction based on the duration of service and there were differences in emotional and motivational intelligence based on service duration and c) there was a significant relationship between job satisfaction, intelligence emotions and motivation with organizational commitment. Based on this finding, teachers need to have high levels of work satisfaction, emotional intelligence, motivation, and commitment to remain in a stable state and thus develop students' potential through effective teaching and learning.


In situ rainfall data plays a vital role in drought assessment. However, adequate in situ data are not available in many parts of the world, and they do not provide the proper spatial coverage for drought assessment. With the advacements in satellite rainfall estimates (SREs), it is possible to monitor droughts in ungauged basins. However, the applications of SREs for drought forecasting are not widely explored due to the inherent uncertainties associated with these products.In this study, we evaluated two long‐term SREs for drought forecasting in the Zayandehrood basin, a critical region in the central plateau of Iran. The performance of two SREs, including Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks‐Climate Data Record (PERSIANN‐CDR), and Multi‐Source Weighted‐Ensemble Precipitation (MSWEP) are compared with observations during 1983–2015. The overall results indicate that utilizing MSWEP data in the forecasting model can slightly overestimate the probability of spring drought based on winter drought (with the highest error of 8.5%). In comparison, the PERSIANN‐CDR underestimated the probabilities (with the lowest error being −44%). The performance of copula models and SREs can vary based on the thresholds for drought severity. For example, the performance of MSWEP datasets for predicting moderate to severe droughts during the Spring season is closer to the predicted values by gauge datasets. It is concluded that the MSWEP may be considered more reliable in drought forecasting than the PERSIANN‐CDR. Our results highlight the potential application of copula‐based forecasting models for seasonal drought forecasting using SREs datasets. Such models can be implemented for global‐scale drought predictions, especially in ungagged basins.


Sulfuric acid leaching method was used to separate magnesium and silicon from low-grade magnesite directly in this paper. The studies indicate that when the reaction time is 2 h, reaction temperature 150 °C, mixture ratio of acid and magnesite 3∶1 (ml∶g), acid concentration 70 %, the extraction rate of Mg is 96.2 %. The acid-leaching residue was detected by XRD and SEM. The main component of residue is SiO2, minute quantity talc phase exists. The residue is cellular, the framework of magnesite particles isn't destroyed.


Fiber-optic hydrophone is a subaqueous sound sensor which is built on optical fiber and optoelectronics.By high sensitivity fiber-optic interferential measurement,a water sound signal is converted to aoptic signal,and sent to the signal processing system to pick-up the sound signal information.The phase generated carrier in signal demodulation of fiber-optic interferential hydrophone is studied and the subaqueous sound detection is conducted using mixed A/D PGC demodulation mode.


As bit rates increase, all order polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensation appears to be the premier way to increase the length of fiber communications. A demand exists for a technology that can perform all-order PMD compensation in existing fiber communication systems. A limitation of current algorithms is their differential group delay (DGD), which must be in the tens of picoseconds for them to be useful for real applications.


We describe two new techniques of preparing liquid crystal samples and discuss their potential for novel research and applications. Very thin polymer composite fibers functionalized by a liquid crystalline core are realized by coaxial electrospinning of a polymer solution surrounding the liquid crystal during the spinning process. The resulting fiber mats exhibit the special properties and responsiveness of the liquid crystal core, e.g. temperature dependent selective reflection when a short-pitch cholesteric is encapsulated. In the second approach an axisymmetric nested capillary microfluidics set-up is used to prepare liquid crystalline shells suspended in an aqueous continuous phase. The spherical geometry of the shell imposes specific defect configurations, the exact result depending on the prevailing liquid crystal phase, the director anchoring conditions at the inner and outer surfaces, and the homogeneity of the shell thickness. With planar director anchoring a variety of defect configurations are possible but for topological reasons the defects must always sum up to a total defect strength of s = +2. Homeotropic anchoring instead gives a defect-free shell, in contrast to a droplet with homeotropic boundary conditions, which must have a defect at its core. By varying the inner and outer fluids as well as the liquid crystal material and temperature, the defect configuration can be tuned in a way that makes the shells interesting e.g. as a versatile colloid crystal building block.


Technical progression in sustainable agriculture requires the need for search more and newer analytical methods in order to reduce time of analysis and to minimize costs routine of tests for the highest accuracy of the result. Infrared (IR) and near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy provides such possibility. The paper presents a method of measuring the basic quality parameters (moisture, content of protein, fat, damage and contamination of raw material) of winter rapeseed for cultivars: Abacus, Bellevue, and Adriana+Catana concoction. Statistically significant differences resulting from various measurement systems between results obtained by means of sieve methods and infrared (IR), were observed. A three-dimensional way of measuring the seed shape used in three dimensional particle size analyzer (AWK 3D) suggests that it is more accurate than the measurement applying two-dimensional method used in the shaker with a set of sieves.


Recent reports of biochemical studies of the nucleolus suggest that it plays a prominent role in the relay of information via R N A from the nucleus to the cytoplasmic ribosomes. Ribosomal R N A is synthesized in chromatin and is subsequently transferred to the nucleolus for final assembly into ribosomes (1, 2). Protein with the same amino acid composition as that of ribosomal protein is also found in the nucleolus, and is thought to combine with newly synthesized ribosomal R N A on, or near, the chromatin and then to be transferred to the nucleolar periphery (2, 3). The synthesis of the methylated bases of transfer R N A is made by the R N A methylase system, localized in the nucleolus


PURPOSE:To evaluate the surgical effects on sagittal maxillary growth in patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate(UCLP).METHODS:A total of 30 nonsyndromic UCLP patients with cleft lip repair were included in this study. 15 of them were with mixed dentition and 15 with permanent dentition.Cephalograms were traced and compared with those UCLP patients who underwent repair of cleft lip and palate(15 cases and 18 cases)as well as normal individuals. The data were statistically analyzed with SPSS11.0 software package for ANOVA.RESULTS:The UCLP patients with cleft lip repair in mixed dentition showed reduce anterior-posterior length of the maxilla,while those with repaired cleft lip and palate showed both short and retruded maxilla.In adult UCLP patients with cleft lip repair in permanent dentition,a retruded maxilla was noted,while those with repaired cleft lip and palate showed both short and retruded maxilla. CONCLUSION:Early surgical repair of the cleft lip and/or palate may have negative effects on maxillary growth.


The importance of technology in education has increased enormously in recent years. As a result of the ongoing developments in ICT both teaching and learning are being transformed. This article starts by giving a brief overview of the main advantages of ICT in teaching a language. It then outlines the milestones in the introduction of ICT in Maltese state schools, which include the distribution of laptops to all teachers, the installation of interactive whiteboards and the introduction of a virtual learning environment that connects all primary and secondary state schools into one virtual network. Then, this article identifies the most popular ICT resources and makes reference to the ones that are more easily accessible by the teachers of Maltese. However, the implementation of ICT in schools has not come about without difficulty. The article discusses the local teachers' concerns related to the introduction and use of ICT in the classroom. Finally, some practical suggestions are put forward with the aim of making the use of ICT in the local educational sector more successful and beneficial in the educational process.


The exploration of cultural heritage through well-designed virtual worlds has met an increase in popularity within the last decade. More and more well-known museums around the globe have started to spend funds in order to build systems with which users can virtually navigate through the museums' exhibits. Technological breakthroughs in graphics design and the use of multimedia content have helped these systems become more attractive and easier to use. However, the vast majority of these systems are solely there to represent content in an appealing way, with users just having the submissive role of requesting information. In this paper, we want to make one step further and present a user-aware system for virtual museums. Users in the proposed system are active users who can express their opinions in many different ways, enabling us to extract user preferences on cultural content. We follow a group-based logic in order to capture the underlying differences in user preferences between the groups. We believe that these findings are beneficial for providing a better user experience and, also, for the museum's administrators who can easily assess user interest about the museum by analyzing their evaluations.


Objective: To establish a useful and stable methodology of 18F-FDG cell binding of ovarian cancer SKOV3.Methods: Several binding conditions were tested.①The cell number was from 5×104 to 5×106 cells/bottle.②The reaction time was from 20 to 120min.③The radioactivity of 18F-FDG was from 1.85 to 29.6KBq.④The glucose concentration was from 0 to 11.1mmol/L.The CPM(B) in cells and CPM(F) in supernatant were measured by the γ detector.The binding efficiency of ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 with 18F-FDG was calculated.Results: ①There was linear regression relationship between 18F-FDG cell binding efficiency of human ovarian cancer SKOV3(y) and the cell number(x1),reaction time(x2),glucose concentration(x3).Regression equation: y=(7.395+5.18E-0.06x1+0.094x2-2.040x3)×100%,F=106.9,P0.05.The P values of partial regression coefficient were less than 0.05.R2c=0.728,P0.05.The Pearson correlation coefficient of cell number,reaction time,glucose concentration with 18F-FDG cell binding efficiency was 0.581、0.179、-0.599 respectively,P0.05.②The basic conditions of 18F-FDG cell binding of ovarian cancer SKOV3: the cell number was 1×106 cells/bottle,the radioactivity of 18F-FDG was 3.7KBq,the glucose concentration was 0mmol/L,the reaction time was 100min.The binding efficiency was(25.45±1.66)%.Conclusions: The methodology of 18F-FDG cell binding of ovarian cancer SKOV3 was established successfully.It contributed to evaluate early the effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on inhibiting ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3.


First the gray image is reconstructed based on wavelet and processed with binary morphology.Then the image edge is strengthened by multi-scale edge detection,and the caption regional is located by projection method.The simulation experiments show that the method can locate caption effectively in the complicated background.


This paper proposes a new algorithm for removal of impulse and random noise in color images, using the concepts of the theory of graphs. The Euclidean Distance is used as the weight of each branch, representing the connection between two pixels in the image graph. The noisy pixels are replaced by appropriate chosen values in order to recover the original image. The proposed method results into good edge and detail preservation, even noise suppression is also achieved.


IN NOVEMBER 1992 public school educators dodged a bullet. During the Presidential campaign the Republicans -- backed by such scholars as Chester Finn, Myron Lieberman, and the team of John Chubb and Terry Moe -- argued articulately that entrepreneurial competition and uninhibited market forces would be the best mechanisms for reforming the American education system. Their position (which is still very much alive) was that, if public school educators found themselves thrust into an environment of creative, competing entrepreneurs, many would learn to provide the high-quality products (i.e., programs) for which parent and student consumers have been clamoring. They argued that those educators who chose not to or were unable to create high-quality programs would be put out of business as a just and logical consequence of their failure to attract enough satisfied customers. Although I am a lifelong supporter of the public schools, I find much merit in these arguments. After all, why should a child or a family be forced to accept substandard educational services if another provider is standing by, willing and able to offer a better service at a better price? Furthermore, I don't doubt that we could build enough incentives and requirements into a public/private school choice plan to ensure the provision and marketing of high-quality educational programs to low-income, handicapped, and minority clients. I, for one, am not convinced that public school educators should have a monopoly on educational services. My colleagues often argue that they (the public school educators) are the ones who know what's best for disadvantaged children. That is a hard position to defend when the evidence is clear that we have consistently failed to deliver a high-caliber, empowering education to the inhabitants of our poorest and most disadvantaged communities. If disadvantaged children and their parents have been given reason to lack faith in our product, they should not be forced to consume it. WHAT'S FAIR IS FAIR However, during the past decade I have not been living in a cocoon. As a reader of the daily news arid a follower of political events, I have noticed that American conservatives (even those of the extreme right wing) are not totally infatuated with the way the international market system is currently operating. It has, in fact, become commonplace to hear complaints about how unfair trade and environmental regulations have interfered with the supposed logic of the invisible hand that underpins the sacred "free enterprise system." For example, former Vice President Dan Quayle, with the full and enthusiastic support of the Administration and the corporate community, created a Competitiveness Council whose primary purpose was to remove regulations that allegedly hindered the competitiveness of many private enterprises. The rhetoric and actions of conservative political and business leaders gave eloquent voice to the view that, when companies find themselves encumbered by inequitable regulatory requirements, they are forced to divert limited human and fiscal resources away from their primary mission: the production of goods and services. Consistent with this view is the argument that the unfair governmental practices of our trading partners have hurt the competitiveness of American companies. It is said, for example, that Asian governments favor one set of producers (their domestic companies) over another group of competitors (American exporters). These governments have been charged with advantaging their home companies by imposing a different set of rules on foreign producers and by establishing requirements that are impossible for foreign competitors to comply with in a cost-effective fashion. I am prepared to assume that both of these "antiregulatory" positions (which have become central to the economic and political platform of the conservative movement) are sound and correct. For the sake of this discussion, I will even concede that regulations that divert critical resources from production to compliance are frequently harmful. …


Microstructure and magnetic properties of hot deformed SmCo5 nanocrystalline magnet prepared from amorphous precursors are investigated. Hot pressed magnet as a precursor of the hot deformed magnet is amorphous. After hot deformation process, the SmCo5 magnet with 85% height reduction exhibits CaCu5 crystal structures and the strong c-axis textures. Moreover, the hot deformed SmCo5 magnet bears magnetic properties of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$H_{\mathrm{ ci}} = 31.4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> kOe, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M_{r} = 6.42$ </tex-math></inline-formula> kG, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(BH)_{\max} = 10.1$ </tex-math></inline-formula> MGOe, and the remanence ratio of the magnet is as high as 0.87 due to the strong c-axis textures. In addition, fracture morphology shows that grains of the hot deformed magnet are plate shaped with an average grain size of 200 nm in thickness and 800 nm in diameter. Furthermore, the grain size of the magnet from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation has a good agreement with the scanning electron microscopy results. The TEM results also show that a lot of Sm-rich Sm-Co precipitate particles with a size less than 50 nm. These precipitate particles could act as pinning sites leading to high coercivity.


In the Canadian public sector, legislation regulates the language of work and service to the public, generating a demand for bilingualism. We examine whether the bilingualism premium is higher in the public than in the private sector. We analyze how earnings from three census years, one before the legislation was strengthened, have evolved, we net out the effects of observables on earnings and we partially address the selection issue.


ABSTRACT The development of a tracheo- or broncho-esophageal fistula (TBF) is a rare but very serious complication of minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) with an incidence of 0.8-3.9% and mortality as high as 57%. We present the case of a 66-year-old male who underwent successful MIE for esophageal adenocarcinoma which was complicated by TBF and significant airway contamination. The patient was re-intubated with a double lumen endotracheal tube and placed emergently on veno-venous (VV) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) due to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This allowed for minimization of peak airway pressures applied to the repaired right mainstem bronchus while maintaining ventilation to the unaffected left lung. The patient rapidly improved following initiation of ECMO and was decannulated three days later; POD 15 from his original esophagectomy. He was extubated the next day and downgraded from the ICU three days later. To our knowledge, this is the first case description of ECMO as a rescue therapy for patients with TBF in the intensive care unit (ICU). The benefits of VV ECMO may derive from the facilitation of ultra-protective mechanical ventilation. Patient with ARDS are frequently ventilated with a protective ventilation strategy: tidal volume 4-8mL/kg ideal body weight and plateau pressures


In many technical applications such as cooling systems used in chemical industry and fuel injection
systems of modern gas turbines, thin liquid films driven by gravity or turbulent gas stream can be found.
Since the thermo-hydrodynamic process in such liquid-gas flow configuration is rather complex, the
transport mechanisms are not well understood. However, numerical simulations or theoretical models
rely on these mechanisms. Experimental investigations are necessary in order to delineate this complex
thermo-hydrodynamic phenomenon and to provide validation data to the theoreticians.
The main objective of this work is to study the hydrodynamics and convective heat transfer in gravity and
gas-driven thin liquid films on uniformly heated walls. To achieve this, an experimental set-up has been
designed and measurements were performed in a flow channel. The liquid film was annularly applied on
a vertically mounted heated tube. In the arranged two-phase flow domain, both fluids were thermally
and hydrodynamically developing. The Reynolds numbers of liquid and gas flows were varied between
80 - 800 and 10000 - 100000, respectively. The wall heat flux was kept constant at 15 W/cm2. The gas velocity
profile in the flow channel was measured with hot-wire anemometry to determine the shear stresses on
the dry wall surface.
The effect of surface topography of the wall was investigated. The hydrodynamics and heat transfer of
gas-driven liquid films was studied on micro-structures heated tubes. The dynamics of the liquid film flow
was recorded by high-speed shadowgraphy technique. Using the high-speed images, the wave amplitudes
and wave frequencies were determined. A high-speed infrared camera was used to qualitatively visualize
the film rupture on micro-structured surfaces. The wall temperature distribution in streamwise direction
was measured using thermocouples embedded inside the heated wall. Correlations for Nusselt number
at unstructured surfaces have been proposed.
This study reveals that the action of shear stress at a thin liquid layer flowing along an unstructured
wall has a remarkable influence on the stability of the liquid-gas interface. Disturbances at the liquid
film surface appear as the shear stress reaches a critical value. Measurements at various axial locations
show that the fluctuations grow in the flow direction. The rate of growth is determined by the gas and
liquid mass flow rates. With the increase in liquid Reynolds number, the liquid free-surface deformation
is suppressed and the temporal film thickness fluctuations in the flow direction either decrease slightly
or remain constant.
A significant enhancement in heat transfer happens when the shear stress at the liquid-gas interface increases.
However, there exists a threshold level of shear stress, only beyond which this is true. This exists
as identified by comparing the experimentally determined heat transfer coefficients with the solutions of the classical Graetz-Nusselt model. Furthermore, the Nusselt numbers are compared with the Nusselt
numbers of laminar, hydrodynamically and thermally developed falling films, falling films which develop
thermally and those which are in the transition regime from laminar to turbulent flow, and with a turbulence
model used from the literature. The comparison shows, that above gas Reynolds numbers larger
than 70000, the heat transfer coefficient is following the trend predicted by the turbulence model.
Micro-structures have significant influence on the waviness of gas-driven liquid films. With increasing
shear stress and liquid mass flow rate, the film waviness increases. Especially micro-structures embossed
with obstacles normal to the flow direction lead to large wave amplitudes and high wave frequencies at
low shear stress compared to the unstructured surface and the surfaces, incorporating structures oriented
parallel to the flow direction. At low liquid mass flow rates and high shear stress, the area of local film
rupture increases. Furthermore, micro-structures significantly enhance the heat transfer compared to the
unstructured surface. Especially micro-structures combined by longitudinal and horizontal geometries
are very effective in heat transfer enhancement at low shear stress and comparably low liquid mass flow
rates.


I have been singularly fortunate in the treatment of this disease, having not lost a case of it in two years, save one that was taken out of my charge on the second day and given over to the tender mercy of a groom. And I have treated a great many, as our locality seems to be a hot-bed for influenza, catarrhal fever, pyogenic fever, or, as it is commonly called, " distemper." Purpura Hemorrhagica is due to a paralysis of the vaso-motor nerves, which govern the circulation in the smaller blood-vessels


This article investigates a process of naturalized dehumanization in Victor Giudice's short story "O arquivo" ("The file"), emphasizing: the narrative strategies; the discursive ethos; the narrative moods and aspects; and the three dimensions of the discourse.

 Keywords: Victor Giudice; narrative strategies; discursive ethos; semiotics and narrative.


Objective To evaluate the efficacy of intrathecally administered monosialoganglioside (GM-1)for treatment of bupivacaine spinal anesthesia-induced neurotoxicity to rat spinal cord.Methods Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats,weighing 280-300 g,in which the intrathecal catheter was successfully inserted into the L3,4 intervertebral space and advanced toward the tail,were randomly divided into 4 groups (n =36 each):sham operation group (group S),GM-1 group,bupivacaine group (group B) and bupivacaine + GM-1 group (group BG).In B and BG groups,the rats received 5% bupivacaine 20 μl via the intrathecal catheter 3 times at 1.5-hour intervals.GM-1 20 μg was injected intrathecally 24 h later once a day for 7 days in BG and GM-1 groups.Before bupivacaine injection and on days 1,3,5,7,14 and 28 after bupivacaine injection (T0-T6),tail flick latency (TFL) was measured,MPE (percentage of maximal possible effect) was calculated,and the locomotor recovery was evaluated using the Basso,Beattie,Bresnahan (BBB) Locomotor Rating Scale.Then six rats were randomly chosen and sacrificed in each group.Spinal cord was removed for histopathologic examination (with light and electronic microscope) and for determination of caspase-3 protein and mRNA expression (by immuno-histochemistry and RTPCR).The pathological changes of the spinal cord were scored.Results Compared with S and GM-1 groups,MPE,pathological scores,and caspase-3 protein and mRNA expression were significantly increased and BBB score was decreased at T1-6 in group B (P < 0.05),and MPE was increased at T1-5 (P < 0.05) and returned to the baseline value at T6 (P > 0.05) and pathological scores,and caspase-3 protein and mRNA expression were significantly increased and BBB score was decreased at T1-6 in group BG (P < 0.05).There were no significant differences in each parameter at each time point between S and GM-1 groups (P > 0.05).Compared with group B,MPE and caspase-3 protein and mRNA expression were significantly decreased at T2-6,pathological scores were decreased at T3-6,and BBB score was increased at T4-6 in group BG (P < 0.05).The pathological changes of spinal cord tissues were obvious at T1-6 in group B and at T1-3 in group BG,but the changes gradually recovered at T4-6 in group BG.Conclusion Intrathecally administered GM-1 has therapeutic effect against bupivacaine spinal anesthesia-induced neurotoxicity to rat spinal cord,and inhibition of neuronal apoptosis in the spinal cord may be involved in the underlying mechanism.

Key words:
G(M1) ganglioside ;  Bupivacaine ;  Neurotoxicity;  Injections, spinal


This article examines the extent of knowledge that automobile dealers have of proportionate allocations to advertising media. It suggests that other factors not directly related to the actual distribution among the media may influence dealers when they are called on to pass judgment on media allocations.


Analysed herein are the indications for primary interventions in patients with atherosclerotic lesions of internal carotid arteries according to the recommendations laid down in the 2017 Guidelines of the European Society for Vascular Surgery.


The ability to concisely define and systematically measure women empowerment is essential for evaluating and monitoring of most government and Non-Governmental empowerment interventions. Although a number of studies have attempted to conceptualise and measure women empowerment, meanings/terminologies and the methodologies to measure and track changes in its levels are not well established. This paper reviews the commonalities among definitions of empowerment and proposes a concise definition and methodology to systematically measure women empowerment. A review of the literature showed that empowerment is multidimensional and women empowered in one dimension may not be necessarily empowered in the other. It was also observed that a considerable number of studies suggest the use of women's agency as an indicator that closely capture women's levels of empowerment. On the other hand, the majority of studies agree that access to and control of resources is a pre-requisite for women's empowerment. Since women need resources and a sense of agency to independently achieve their livelihood outcomes, it was therefore, concluded that both agency and resources (combined) are the best indicators of women's level of empowerment. Considering that women empowerment is multidimensional, this review therefore, proposes the use of principal component analysis (PCA) on women's level of agency and resources to quantitatively generate factor scores (i.e., indicators of each woman's level of empowerment) at each dimension of empowerment (i.e., indicated by each PC).


The behavior of a rubber and two model elastomers at shock and rarefaction waves was studied. The evolution of shock pulses with 0.2 to 6 GPa peak intensity was registered with manganin gauges and laser velocimeter VISAR. A comparison of measured rarefaction front velocities and estimated sound velocities indicate to the solidification of shock compressed rubber. An abrupt decreasing of the resistance to tension of elastomers was observed under tensile stresses of 15 to 30 MPa in the spall conditions.


The liberal explication of a phenomenon of freedom is dominant in a modern political discourse. At the same time, essential influence on conceptualization of category of freedom was carried out by its pre-liberal version which, in particular, has been presented in works of the Neo-roman theorists. This interpretation became a basis of understanding of freedom in classical liberalism for which the tradition of judgment of freedom in a negative context (freedom was mainly peculiar from). In modern liberalism there is a concept of positive freedom (freedom for). Accordingly, freedom phenomenon is analyzed in two interconnected contexts: negative (freedom from) and positive (freedom for). Key words: freedom, liberalism, positive freedom, negative freedom.


Impact on glass fibre reinforced (GFRE) pipes, produced by filament winding, was experimentally and numerically tested. The influence of ring stiffness and impact energy on the residual structural strength was evaluated by testing resistance against implosion due to external hydrostatic pressure. An advanced 3-D finite element (FE) model, based on the combined use of interlaminar and intralaminar damage models, was used for simulating impact events. Puck and Hashin failure theories were used to evaluate the intralaminar damages (fibre failure and matrix cracks). Cohesive theory, by mean of cohesive elements, was used for modelling delamination onset and propagation. Material data for the models were based on commonly measured ply properties. The numerical simulations were able to accurately predict the impact forces and damage development of the experimental impact events. Pipes with high ring stiffness have high resistance to external pressure, but they were found to develop more impact damage and have subsequently less resistance to external pressure when damaged.


This article examines whether the means-tested component of the National School Lunch Program changes beneficiaries' dietary patterns by taking advantage of variation across public school districts in the financing of and demand for lunch and nutrition programs. Using data on fifth grade public elementary school children in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (2003-2004), we find significant increases in weekly rates of consumption amongst fully and partially subsidized children. Our estimates also suggest that the increase was for items known to be a rich source of vitamins and minerals that are essential for children's health and development. The effects are larger for fully subsidized children relative to partially subsidized children, which suggests the nominal price of school lunch is a binding constraint for certain children on the margin of eligibility for the subsidies. To the extent that children from low-income households experience undernourishment with greater frequency, policy discussion focusing exclusively on the link between obesity and program participation is overlooking positive effects on those who are directly subsidized.


This third book in the series covers the "Golden Age" of science, an era when science seemed to be at the forefront of human activity and scientists were making great and exciting advances, both applied and theoretical. The areas covered include: Volta's electric battery (1800); Herschel detects infrared light (1800); Davy invents the safety lamp for miners (1815); the Royal Astronomical Society founded (1820); Faraday's demonstration of the first electric motor (1821); Charles Babbage proposes the first modern computer (1822); Ohm's law (1827); Charles Darwin begins his five year voyage aboard the "Beagle" (1831); Samuel Morse's telegraph (1844); neanderthal skeletons discovered (1856); the "Bessemer Process" (1856); Louis Pasteur develops "pasteurization" (1856); first oil well drilled (1859); Mendel's theory of genes published (1856); Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone (1876); Edison invents the incandescent electric light (1879); through to Madame Curie's isolation of the radioactive elements of radium and plutonium.


Keller, "Moderni Approcci Al Trattamento Dell Ansia Asso ciata Alla Depressione," Rivista Di Psichiatria, vol. 31, No. 1, Jan. 1, 1996, pp. 18-21. Nutt, "Early Action of Nefazodone in Anxiety Associated with Depression." J. Psychopharmacol (Oxford), 1996, 10, Suppl. 1, pp. 18-21. Kuzel, et al., "Treating Comorbid Depression and Anxiety,' Journal of Family Practice, 1996, 43/6, Suppl. (S45-S53). Zajecka, "The Effect of Nefazodone on Comorbid Anxiety Symptoms ASSociated with Depression: Experience in Fam ily Practice and Psychiatric Outpatient Settings," Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, vol. 57, Jan. 1, 1996, pp. 10-14. Fawcett, et al., "Response of Anxiety and Agitation Symp toms During Nefazodone Treatment of Major Depression," Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, vol. 56, No. 6, Jan. 1, 1995, pp. 37-42. Berkow and Fletcher (eds.), Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 1987, Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Labora tories, Rahway, NJ, pp. 1507-1508. Goldberg, "Diagnostic Dilemmas Presented by Patients with Anxiety and Depression," American Journal of Medicine, vol. 98, No. 3, Mar. 1, 1995, pp. 278-284.


The asymptotic distributions of cointegration tests are approximated using the Gamma distribution. The tests considered are for the I(1), the conditional I(1), as well as the I(2) model. Formulae for the parameters of the Gamma distributions are derived from response surfaces. The resulting approximation is flexible, easy to implement and more accurate than the standard tables previously published.


The wavenumber filtering of the Kelvin waves (KWs) is performed by a multivariate projection of the ERA5 data on the horizontal structures of the KWs from linear theory and vertical structure functions (VSFs) spanning the troposphere and stratosphere. The associated equivalent depths are consistent with solutions expected for the bounded atmosphere. The zonal wavenumber spectra of the KW energy and temporal variance are shown to be continuous and red with the rotational kinetic energy being dominant over the divergent kinetic energy at k = 1. Spatial and temporal variance in wavenumber space is analyzed in terms of periods from linear theory. Strongest variability is found in periods of 8-12 days at zonal wavenumber k = 1 and VSFs with a single zero-crossing in the troposphere and a structure resembling upward propagating waves across the tropopause and higher up. Secondary maxima are associated with VSFs that have multiple zero-crossings in the troposphere and small equivalent depths. A comparison of the wavenumber and wavenumber-frequency methods shows a disagreement between frequencies from the Fourier time series and linear theory. A phase-locking experiment, in which the KW phases are replaced by linear theory estimates, demonstrates that power spectra from wavenumber-frequency filtering are largely defined by wave phases.


Pristine WS2 multilayer nanosheets (NSs), which thickness hNS varies from 1 to 12 monolayers (MLs), as well as single- and multi-walled nanotubes (SW and MW NTs) of different chirality, which diameter dNT exceeds 1.9 nm, display photocatalytic suitability to split H2O molecules. Obviously, such a phenomenon can occur since the band gap of these nanostructures corresponds to the energy range of visible light between the red and violet edges of spectrum (1.55 eV < Δεgap < 2.65 eV). For all the studied WS2 NSs and NTs, the levels of the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band must be properly aligned relatively to H2O oxidation and reduction potentials separated by 1.23 eV: εVB < εO2/H2O < εH+/H2 < εCB. The values of Δεgap decrease with growth of hNS and increase with enlargement of dNT. 1 ML nanosheet can be considered as a limit of infinite SW NT thickness growth (dNT→∞), which band gap increases up to ∼2.65 eV. First principles calculations have been performed using the hybrid DFT-HF method (HSE06 Hamiltonian) adapted for 2H WS2 bulk. The highest solar energy conversion efficiency (15-18%) expected at Δεgap = 2.0-2.2 eV (yellow-green range) has been found for 2 ML thick (stoichiometric) WS2 (0001) NS as well as WS2 NTs with diameters 2.7-3.2 nm (irrespectively on morphology and chirality indices n of nanotubes). Moreover, unlike discrete variation of hNS magnitudes, tuning of dNT values provides much higher energy resolution.


Conditions are determined under which a the sum of forecasts of sales in market segments is preferred to a forecast of the whole market and b a forecast of an individual market segment is preferred to a forecast obtained through proration of a forecast of the whole market. The comparisons in a and b are also applied to the problem of forecasting for several time periods into the future.


As triathlon is one of the most difficult individual cyclic sports, the process of preparation for competitions and participation in them demands from a triathlete of huge expenses of time and forces. To begin to be engaged in continuous triathlon heavy physically, it is necessary the powerful incentive premise for a sportsman who has earlier tested himself in swimming, cycling, run or other types. The most widespread internal motives of classes by a new sport on endurance are natural desires of a sportsman to test themselves, to try forces with rivals, to overcome a classical distance of super-marathon and to become an «iron man», to estimate a limit of the psychophysical opportunities at this temporary stage, to define further ways for self-improvement of physical qualities, etc., at last, to ego-trip as the strong personality. It is impossible to be engaged in triathlon, without being a purposeful person possessing high moral and strong-willed qualities [1; 2].


Understanding how development unfolds from fertilization to the formation of an organism with multitudes of specialized cell types and complex morphologies is the central problem in developmental biology. The blueprint for this process is encoded in the DNA—both as transcriptional units and as the cis-regulatory sequences that control them. The information within the DNA sequence must be interpreted by transcription factors that receive inputs from upstream signals and transfer this information downstream to other regulatory genes and to the structural genes whose products serve as the building blocks of the organism. To understand the logic behind this process requires mechanistic insight into the gene regulatory networks that mediate the flow of information from the egg to the embryo. Now that the genomes of numerous organisms have been fully sequenced, and more will soon be completed, our understanding of gene expression is reaching a new phase. Traditionally, studies of gene regulation have involved the mapping of cis-regulatory elements followed by the identification of their associated regulatory factors, one or a few genes at a time. This laborious approach has led to the delineation of regulatory pathways that are largely linear. However, it is apparent that development is governed by extraordinarily complex transcriptional networks more akin to electrical wiring diagrams than to simple pathways from point A to point B. What is emerging is a picture of developmental regulatory circuits involving vast numbers of genes that rely on positive and negative feedback loops, amplification mechanisms, cross-talk, combinatorial interactions, thresholds of signals, and gradients of regulatory factors. Making matters even more complex are the intertwined signaling cascades that are superimposed on this transcriptional circuitry. A comprehensive understanding of the logic of transcriptional networks will require contributions from multiple model systems combined with biochemistry, genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology. New technologies being brought to bear on this problem, such as the ability to efficiently inactivate genes by RNA interference and to perform microarray analyses to monitor alterations in expression of thousands of genes simultaneously, promise to rapidly revolutionize our understanding of developmental control mechanisms. This issue of Developmental Biology focuses on the principles of transcriptional networks as a basis for understanding development. In many respects, mapping out the pathways for gene transcription today is reminiscent of the challenges faced by biochemists decades ago when the metabolic pathways were being delineated. Ultimately, it should be possible to understand development with the same level of precision as a metabolic flow chart. In spite of the daunting complexity of the cis-regulatory networks that serve as the foundation for development, it should also be emphasized that this is only part of the story. Equally complex regulatory mechanisms involving alterations in chromatin configurations, epigenetic events such as DNA methylation, associations of transcriptional activators and repressors that do not directly contact DNA, and posttranslational modifications of the transcriptional machinery impose additional layers of regulation on the types of networks described in these articles. Thus, these networks should be viewed as a beginning not an end to our understanding of the associated developmental programs. We hope they will serve as a platform for thinking about the logic of development and a catalyst for further investigation. Eric N. Olson Editor


This study aims to determine the correlation between self-efficacy and cheating behavior on students at SMA N 3 Bantul. The hypothesis proposed there is a negative relationship between self-efficacy and cheating behavior on the students. Subjects in this study were students in SMA N 3 Bantul. Total subjects were 60 peoples. Research data collection was using Self Efficacy and Cheating Behavior scale. The analytical method used is Pearson Correlation analysis. Based on the research results, obtained correlation coefficient of rxy = -0.393 with significance level of p = 0.001 (p> 0.050), which means there is a significant negative relationship between self-efficacy and cheating behavior. Effective contribution of self efficacy with cheating behavior is 15.5%. adn the rest 84.5% are obtained from other factors.


The use of strongly acidic metal organic acid as a food additive ( "HAMO"). The HAMO the reduction of biological contamination, thus being used to store nutrients. The HAMO was absorbed in nutrients or nutritional substances get prepared nutritional product.


Structural systems often utilize scheduled maintenance to sustain structural reliability throughout the service life or even extend the original design life. However, inspection schedules are often arbitrary, e.g., use equal intervals, which tend to be on the conservative side for new structures and non-conservatively for aging structures. Although many reliability methods are useful for maintenance planning, there is a no generic methodology to conduct risk or reliability-based maintenance optimization (RBMO). The progress in RBMO technology development has been slow partly because there is no integrated methodology and because computationally efficient tools to study and resolve RBMO issues are lacking. This paper presents an integrated, efficient, and versatile RBMO methodology built on a two-stage random simulation framework and features three tightly-integrated efficient methods: (1) a new adaptive reliability-based adaptive meta-modeling (RAM) approach to establish an accurate and fast-running approximate damage tolerance model, (2) an adaptive stratified importance sampling (ASIS) method for computing probability-offailure without inspection and to generate random failure samples, and (3) the recursive probability integration (RPI) method for computing probability-offailure with inspections and repairs. The RBMO methodology has been implemented in a Fast Probability Analyzer software and is demonstrated using a fracture mechanics code with several random variables, a random POD, several repair qualities, and multiple inspections.


Jeju Island has the unique features in terms of region, history, culture, and politics compared to other places in Republic of Korea. The island has also drawn much attention as one of the international travel attractions since it is located in the geographical center of Northeast Asia. Therefore, it is believed to be necessary to make full use of the advantages that Jeju Island has as a test bed for various green transportations and green transportation policies that are currently under development domestically. In addition, it is possible to perform a more effective experiment if various contents of transportation and tourism in the island are utilized. It is also believed to be convenient to promote the results of such experiment and their usefulness to the international community.


Algorithms -the well-calculated, supposedly all-solving encrypted formulas for any computational problem- have come to define our interactions. What we like, what we desire, what we see, and how we even perceive the space: encryptions have come to define how a space is constructed, and destructed. They have to come to order space, and even subvert it. That is, algorithms have come to read and write the world. But before the entanglement of codes within cities, what preceded algorithms? The modern concept of algorithms was analyzed by ancient mathematicians, and was later redefined by social scientists and engineers to sustain a more formal language and to execute efficiently. To that end, algorithms became essential to carry out specific tasks, process information, read data from one source, and provide an output.


The present study documents the vital outcome of COVID-19 lockdown on the lifespan of women in Pakistan. The lockdown has affected the unemployment rate, particularly in the rural region of the country. Passing along the eleven in-depth interviews and one focus group discussion (FGD) conducted in rural parts of the twin cities (Islamabad & Rawalpindi), the survey demonstrated that the ruination of the income level during COVID-19 lockdown has increased partner violence in the country. The information received further revealed that the bread earners of the families are enduring greater levels of stress and anxiety eventually resulting in a substantial growth in intimate partner violence (IPV). © 2021. Journal of International Women's Studies.


Background: Early tissue failure has been reported in the bioprosthetic valve. Method and Results: We reviewed studies written in English on PubMed, and we have reached six case reports indicating early structural dysfunction of the Trifecta valve and some showing leaflet tear in other bioprosthetic valves. Four cases showed leaflet tear within four years after the implantation of the Trifecta. The others include leaflet calcification and pannus formation around the valve. Conclusions: Mid-term durability of the Trifecta is acceptable, but early tissue failure can be recognized. The early tissue failure should be overcome.


The invention discloses an overall-optimization lighting source arranging method which includes the following steps. Firstly, minimum intervals among adjacent light sources are calculated out according to four light source lighting models and based on the minimum intervals , a first light source is located and a step size of variation of light source intervals is determined in a lighting space; secondly, according to the step size, the intervals among adjacent light sources are changed and whether an illuminance value of a lighting spatial point corresponding to each installation interval meets lighting design standards of a building or not is determined. If yes, the scheme is judged to be reasonable and changing the intervals among adjacent light sources continues, whether an arrangement scheme of a next installation interval is reasonable or not is determined and eventually the maximum interval value which meets the lighting design standards of the building is selected as the maximum arrangement scheme. Thirdly, a plane graph of the maximum arrangement scheme is drawn and maximum illuminance, minimum illuminance, illuminance uniformity and needed electric energy of the scheme are calculated out. The overall-optimization lighting source arranging method has the advantages of being little affected by subjective factors and taking both a spatial overall situation and partial lighting conditions into consideration and being accurate in calculation.


Because of their high degree of cross-linking and good adhesion on, for example, light metals such as aluminium and magnesium, even very thin films (just a few micrometers) of nanostructure hybrid lacquers based on organic-inorganic sol-gel materials provide very effective corrosion protection. The lacquers require no chromating pre-treatment and are price-competitive because of the small amounts needed. Actual applications and tests document the performance of these systems.


This paper consists of three parts . In the first part, the reconformation of polyelectrolytes adsorbed on fiber surfaces has been studied by measuring simultaneously the amount of adsorbed polymer and the number of released counterions . It was found that the time for reconformation from an initial, extended conformation to a more flat conformation was of the order of 60 seconds for a high molecular mass polyacrylamide . In the second and third parts, the flocculation of suspensions of microcrystalline cellulose and pulp fibers has been investigated . The results of these flocculation experiments can be related to the conformation and adsorbed amount of the polyelectrolyte . Preferred citation: L. Wågberg, L. Ödberg and G. Glad-Nordmark. Conformation of adsorbed polymers and fl occulation of microcrystalline cellulose and pulp suspensions. In Fundamentals of Papermaking, Trans. of the IXth Fund. Res. Symp. Cambridge, 1989, (C.F. Baker & V. Punton, eds), pp 413–435, FRC, Manchester, 2018. DOI: 10.15376/frc.1989.1.413.


Autoimmune thrombocytopenia (aHIT) is a severe subtype of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) with atypical clinical features caused by highly pathological IgG antibodies ("aHIT antibodies") that activate platelets even in the absence of heparin. The clinical features of aHIT include: the onset or worsening of thrombocytopenia despite stopping heparin ("delayed-onset HIT"), thrombocytopenia persistence despite stopping heparin ("persisting" or "refractory HIT"), or triggered by small amounts of heparin (heparin "flush" HIT), most cases of fondaparinux-induced HIT, and patients with unusually severe HIT (e.g., multi-site or microvascular thrombosis, overt disseminated intravascular coagulation [DIC]). Special treatment approaches are required. For example, unlike classic HIT, heparin cessation does not result in de-escalation of antibody-induced hemostasis activation, and thus high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is indicated to interrupt aHIT-induced platelet activation; therapeutic plasma exchange may be required if high-dose IVIG is ineffective. Also, aHIT patients are at risk for treatment failure with (activated partial thromboplastin time [APTT]-adjusted) direct thrombin inhibitor (DTI) therapy (argatroban, bivalirudin), either because of APTT confounding (where aHIT-associated DIC and resulting APTT prolongation leads to systematic underdosing/interruption of DTI therapy) or because DTI inhibits thrombin-induced protein C activation. Most HIT laboratories do not test for aHIT antibodies, contributing to aHIT under-recognition.


Johnson & Johnson has a problem. For decades, it sold talc baby powder, a product that made Johnson & Johnson a household name and earned the business billions. But as those babies grew up, they started getting cancer. And then they began suing. Last June, twenty-two plaintiffs cemented a $2.12 billion judgment against Johnson & Johnson for cancer caused by its baby powder.1 Another 38,000 cases (and counting) remain in progress, each with the potential for a similar verdict.2 To handle these mass tort liabilities, Johnson & Johnson has followed the lead of many businesses and turned to the bankruptcy courts. But it has done so with a twist. Unlike the businesses that pioneered using bankruptcy for mass torts, Johnson & Johnson is not filing for bankruptcy. Instead, it is dividing itself using an obscure Texas law, moving its assets into one business and its talc liabilities into another, and having the liability-laden business file for bankruptcy.3 This maneuver, known as the "Texas Two-Step," threatens the tort recovery of tens of thousands of talc claimants. The Texas Two-Step is the latest addition to a panoply of aggressive techniques debtors have developed to gain the upper hand against creditors. Other scholars, for example, have identified the use of coercive restructuring support


To the Editor.— The statement by Kulig et al (1982;247:1697) that "In any case Naloxone, along with dextrose, should be administered to all unconscious patients, regardless of suspected cause of coma" should not go unchallenged. Naloxone is a most valuable tool if used in the correct context, but it may well have untoward effects that could become more frequently seen if the advice of Kulig et al is taken at face value. Andree 1 mentioned that naloxone has been implicated in causing ventricular fibrillation in patients suffering from hypertension and acute pulmonary edema. He then described two normotensive patients who died almost certainly as a result of the use of naloxone to reverse the effects of anesthesia. There have been a number of other reports citing the hypertensive effects of naloxone since the original report by Tanaka. 2 Therefore, it would be more prudent to assess the patient's condition most


In this paper, the adaptive control design for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems with non-sector nonlinearities and unknown input gain is investigated. It is observed that in the presence of unknown input gain, the weighted least-squares one-step adaptation in [I. Kanellakopoulos. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 39(11):2362–2365, 1994] is not applicable due to the causality problem. Instead, a novel two-step delayed adaptation approach has been developed by virtue of a virtual regulation error. Rigorous proof is given to ensure the asymptotic stability of the overall closed-loop system. The efficacy of the proposed approach is demonstrated by an illustrative example.