.................................................................................................................................................. 7 Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................... 8 1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 12 1.1 Major depressive disorder: Clinical characteristics and classification systems .......................... 12 1.1.1 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) ............................................ 13 1.1.2 International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) ...... 13 1.1.3 Research domain criteria (RDoC) ......................................................................................... 14 1.2 The functional neuroanatomy of depression .............................................................................. 15 1.3 Treatment options for MDD: Monoamines and beyond ............................................................ 16 1.3.1 Monoaminergic hypothesis of depression ........................................................................... 16 1.3.2 The corticosteroid receptor hypothesis of depression ........................................................ 18 1.3.3 The neuronal plasticity hypothesis of depression ................................................................ 20 1.4 Animal models of depression ...................................................................................................... 30 1.4.1 Models of acute stress ......................................................................................................... 30 1.4.2 Hormones of the HPA-axis ................................................................................................... 31 1.4.3 Models of chronic stress....................................................................................................... 32 1.5 Biomarkers in MDD research....................................................................................................... 33 2.0 Thesis project aims and objectives .................................................................................................. 34 3.0 Materials and Methods ................................................................................................................... 35 3.1 Chemicals and consumables ....................................................................................................... 35 3.2 Buffers and solutions ................................................................................................................... 37 3.3 Software and equipment ............................................................................................................. 39 3.4 Animals and ketamine treatment ............................................................................................... 39 3.5 Forced swim test (FST) ................................................................................................................ 40 3.6 Isolation of blood plasma ............................................................................................................ 40 3.7 Isolation of cytoplasmic (CF) and membrane-associated (MF) proteins .................................... 40 3.8 Protein concentration determination with the Bradford assay .................................................. 41


The 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) is able to make full use of the spatial 3D context information of lung nodules. In this paper, a novel 3D CNN is proposed to classify lung nodule. To make the feature map towards the most informative components of an input, spatial attention and channel attention are integrated with the 3D CNN backbone. To combine global and local information, a multiple granularity architecture is designed. We conduct a binary classification (benign and malignant) on two computed tomography (CT) datasets (public Lung Image Database Consortium and Image Database Resource Initiative database (LIDC-IDRI) and private LIDC-TX dataset). It achieves a sensitivity of 0.962, specificity of 0.942 and error rate of 0.048 on LIDC-IDRI database. For the private LIDC-TX dataset, sensitivity, specificity and error rate are 0.718, 0.627 and 0.327, respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method get a promising result compared with existing lung nodule classification methods.


Although environmental impacts on the biodiversity and species composition of lakes have been studied in great detail at local and regional scales, unraveling the big picture of how lake communities respond to environmental variation across large spatial scales has received less attention. We performed a comprehensive analysis to assess how the phytoplankton community composition varies among >1,000 lakes across the conterminous United States of America. Our results show that lake-to-lake similarity in species composition was low even at the local scale, and slightly decreased with geographical distance. Analysis of the compositional data by Dirichlet regression revealed that the geographical variation in phytoplankton community composition was best explained by total phosphorus, water temperature, pH, and lake size. High total phosphorus concentrations were associated with high relative abundances of cyanobacteria and euglenophytes at the expense of other phytoplankton groups. High lake temperatures stimulated cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, desmids and euglenophytes, whereas cryptophytes, golden algae and diatoms were relatively more abundant in colder lakes. Low lake pH correlated with high dissolved CO2 concentrations, which may explain why it benefitted phytoplankton groups with inefficient carbon concentrating mechanisms such as golden algae and euglenophytes. Conversely, the relative abundance of cyanobacteria showed a pronounced increase with lake pH. Large lakes showed higher relative abundances of cyanobacteria and diatoms, whereas small lakes showed higher relative abundances of chlorophytes, desmids, dinoflagellates and euglenophytes. Biodiversity increased with lake temperature, but decreased at high total phosphorus concentrations and pH. The key environmental variables identified by our study (high phosphorus loads, warm temperature, low pH) are associated with anthropogenic pressures such as eutrophication, global warming and rising atmospheric CO2 concentration. Hence, our results provide a comprehensive illustration of the major impact of these anthropogenic pressures on the biodiversity and taxonomic composition of lake phytoplankton communities.


The present report describes the fertility status of a Mehsana buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) bull with a novel cytogenetic finding; an XXY chromosome complement with translocation between the two X chromosomes (2n=50) reported by Patel and his group during 2006. The bull was phonotypical normal with normal reproductive behavior at the time of maturity. A study on semen quality revealed that the bull is azoospermic as evident by absence of spermatozoa in a number of ejaculates, confirming the chromosomally derived male infertility of the buffalo bull.


Abstract : The purpose of the present work is to develop an on-line optical image shearing method together with and electronic camera and storage system to study surface deformation, voids, cracks and other flaws in material media in a nondestructive manner. It is intended that the initial work is to be divided into two parts. The first part of this investigation is to set up an all optical system in which and object under observation is illuminated normally by a coherent source of light (Helium Neon Laser) and is imaged with an image shearing technique in which a small angle prism (approx. 1 degree) covering only one half of a lens system. The second part of the initial work is to replace the optical camera with and electronic imaging system with relevant hard and software to provide an on-line study of strain gradients in materials under stress.


We describe in this paper how we mixed 3D information, i.e., a DSM (Digital Surface Model), for segmentation tasks in airport environments. The segmentation output classes were set to asphalt, concrete, and building classes because these are informative for distinguishing airport functionality. DSM is very informative for extracting buildings because airports are usually located on flat fields; however, high resolution DSMs are not provided for free. Therefore, we gathered adequate numbers of very-high-resolution satellite images and generated DSMs through stereo processing by ourselves. At the same time, we trained a modified U-NET for the initial segmentation. By leveraging the results of the segmentation, we identified ground pixels, i.e., asphalt or concrete, and calculated the ground height. Then, we applied an adaptive threshold algorithm to the DSMs by using the ground height and extracted building masks. Finally, we concatenated probability maps from the modified U-NET and building masks that represented the building class with a high precision in the flat airport fields. Consequently, we obtained better performance than the initial segmentation results, especially in the case of the building class. In experiments, we confirmed that the modified U-NET could detect asphalt and concrete with a high precision and that it was possible to identify ground pixels and extract building masks. The performance of our approach was improved by 20%, especially in detecting the building class. For future work, we will improve the quality of stereo processing and combine size specific detectors to achieve more accurate detection.


heartened dependants upon a society which they cannot enter. The will to live becomes weak in these circumstances and the natives die out. Unfortunately for the aboriginal, our society has no generally accepted sanctions. Our professed sanctions are often verbal ideas which are contradicted in ordinary conduct and conversation. The native recognizes the authority of the police, the station managers and the missionaries. These people have no common system of beliefs, nor do they agree in their exposition of social standards. Experience of townships exposes the aboriginal to more inconsistencies. The native blackfellow is faced with extraordinary difficulties in any attempt which he may make to become adapted to the conditions of our society. For natives who still live under their natural conditions the outstanding necessities are that the authority of the old men should be maintained as far as possible and that their territory should not be invaded' by representatives of gold-mining, pastoral or 'other industries. In such contact as is necessary our primary endeavour should be to help them to maintain themselves as a self-supporting society. Scholastic and theological instruction can well be deferred until a nomadic life is no longer possible. For natives who have become detribalized there is a strong need to encourage occupations such as fishing or pastoral work, whereby they may retain or regain their self-respect and their will to live.


Antihistamines are often used for treating allergic rhinitis. However, many older antihistamines cause sedative side effects. The sedative effects of antihistamines on car‐driving have been investigated. This has not been investigated for levocetirizine, a new‐generation antihistamine, in Asian populations, and so we evaluated its sedative effects in healthy Japanese subjects.


Summary Interpreting Granger causality as economic causality implies that the underlying VAR model is a structural economic model. This is wrong in the case of simultaneity, and causal conclusions can be misleading. Nevertheless, the empirical relevance of this problem still needs to be determined. Therefore, the magnitude and stability of possible errors are analysed in a simulation study. It is shown that economic misinterpretations of tests of Granger causality can occur with probability one for realistic parameter values. Thus, policy conclusions from Granger causality tests can be wrong with probability one if simultaneity occurs. Furthermore, the power of the test can be rather low even with a sample size of T = 50.


Symptoms of dry eye are relatively prevalent in the population. However, current clinical tests for dry eye are relatively non-specific, poorly repeatable. and show only a weak association with symptoms. The dearth of information about general ocular surface symptoms and knowledge of their daily fluctuations in the population further limits our understanding of dry eye symptoms. This study characterized symptoms of ocular irritation from a large multi-centered survey of patients in optometric practices in the United States and Canada.


The production status of Special Compound for polyethylene pipe at home were analyzed;and the developing trend of our special polyethelene pipe material used in China according to the present marketing requirement and developing in the future 5~10 years was put forward.The problems existed in the development of Special Compound for pipe at home were pointed out,and some suggestions on the development were made based on former analysis.


Abstract Wireless networks experience deficient transmission bandwidth and varying conditions in radio-link. Various technologies are combined to accomplish high data rate and quality of communication. This article describes the features of the proposed system based on 802.16 standard and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) with synergy of other advanced technologies. The system enables dynamic subcarriers allocation to users. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) per subcarriers is separately calculated for each user from the preambles. The resources are then allotted to users based on resource allocation algorithm (RAA) and required Quality of Service (QoS), defined for each type of data traffic. The proposed method performs adaptive modulation and coding with frequency hopping (FH). The results are compared to the existing RAA and subcarrier permutations. They show a more equitable allocation of available bandwidth among the users and greater system transmission capacity at lower bit error rate (BER).


In recent decades, we can observe in the Russian language a spread of a word ofitsioz. It appears in dictionaries, but its real use does not correspond to the lexicographic description. Analysis of contexts of the words ofitsioz permits us to determine its semantic variants: 1) UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS: a) 'official circles', b) 'formal sector', c) 'official science', d) 'official information', e) 'official conduct', f) 'serious information', g) 'serious talks'; 2) COUNTABLE NOUN: h) 'official publication', i) 'representative of official circles, official science', j) 'official manufacturer or representative'. The word ofitsioz has a broad meaning which is specified in speech. Its general subject information implies 'something formal, official'; non-subject information includes three components: a) evaluative, b) functional, c) social. The word word in question refers to the sublanguage, which can be called "non-official". In synchrony, the noun ofitsioz is the basis of derivational family (antiofitsioz, kontrofitsioz, superofitsioz, and others, altogether 30 units). Rus. ofitsioz and its derivatives come from Lat. officiosus, Fr. officieux. The first word of the family to appear is the adjective ofitsioznyy (before the end of 1860). The noun ofitsioz can be found in use since the beginning of XXth century. In the "Soviet lexicography" ofitsioz and ofitsioznyy receive an ideological interpretation and are flagged as litterary ("ink-horn"). Since 1990 some dictionaries record the changes, but the description is clearly behind the development of the family and word meaning. The noun ofitsioz and its derivatives are actually used as synonyms of word combinations, including the adjective official, e. g., official style, official information, official science, etc. Hence, ofitsioz becomes expressive synonym with ofitsialnost, i. e., it is getting the opposite of its original significance, and it becomes an expressive self-antonym (through enantiosemia). The speech use of other components of the family, derived structurally and semantically from the keyword, is non-normative, whereas the prescriptive uses of the words hardly occur in modern Russian speech.


In this study, we propose a multi‐GPU‐based 8KVR stitching system that operates in real time on both local and cloud machine environments. The proposed system first obtains multiple 4 K video inputs, decodes them, and generates a stitched 8KVR video stream in real time. The generated 8KVR video stream can be downloaded and rendered omnidirectionally in player apps on smartphones, tablets, and head‐mounted displays. To speed up processing, we adopt group‐of‐pictures‐based distributed decoding/encoding and buffering with the NV12 format, along with multi‐GPU‐based parallel processing. Furthermore, we develop several algorithms such as equirectangular projection‐based color correction, real‐time CG overlay, and object motion‐based seam estimation and correction, to improve the stitching quality. From experiments in both local and cloud machine environments, we confirm the feasibility of the proposed 8KVR stitching system with stitching speed of up to 83.7 fps for six‐channel and 62.7 fps for eight‐channel inputs. In addition, in an 8KVR live streaming test on the 5G MEC/cloud, the proposed system achieves stable performances with 8 K@30 fps in both indoor and outdoor environments, even during motion.


With the rising demand of underground construction, intelligent tunneling techniques have been increasingly studied to improve the safety and efficiency of construction. The self-positioning technology of tunneling machines is the cornerstone of intelligent tunneling, which is particularly challenging due to the extreme environments of the underground tunnels. In this article, a novel robust and real-time six degrees of freedom (6-DoF) pose estimation strategy is proposed for tunneling machines based on the computer vision and deep learning methods. A monocular camera is attached to the tunneling machine, and employed to capture the images of the artificial feature object that is set far behind the tunneling machine. A novel multiscale variational autoencoder aided convolutional neural network (MSVAE-CNN) model is developed to estimate the current absolute 6-DoF pose of the tunneling machine in an end-to-end manner using a single monocular image, in which the multitask variational learning scheme is able to enhance the generalization and robustness of the model and the multiscale structure can improve the learning ability of the neural network. In our numerical experiments, a motion capture system is utilized to assist the acquisition of training dataset. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed MSVAE-CNN based pose estimation method.


TMC125‐C227, an exploratory phase II, randomized, controlled, open‐label trial, compared the efficacy and safety of TMC125 (etravirine) with an investigator‐selected protease inhibitor (PI) in nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)‐resistant, protease inhibitor‐naïve, HIV‐1‐infected patients.


The unprecedented development of wireless communications has led to a steady increase in the number of electromagnetic field generators. Thus, the environment has reached an unseen network of electromagnetic energy-carrying waves. In this paper, we present the results of a study to estimate the EMF-UHF propagation attenuation from the outside environment to the interior, to see if it is possible to place flat antennas on a glazed surface in order to capture and recover EMF energy. Furthermore, a stand composed of two groups of rectifier antennas whose performance was evaluated under real ambient / external environment conditions has been built. Thus, it was possible to experimentally verify the concepts of energy harvesting and energy scavenging, the capture and recovery of micro-energy produced by the presence of EMF-UHF with low power density in the environment.


A series of REBa2Cu3Oy (RE123)/Ag bulk superconductors with multi-RE elements at the RE site, were prepared by top-seeded melt growth. By employing the differential thermal analysis, we carefully adjusted the peritectic decomposition temperature (Tp) by changing the ratio of the two RE123 compositions to meet the requirements of the cold-seeding process. The superconducting properties, Tc, Jc and the flux trapping performance were evaluated after achieving the growth of the single grains. The microstructure was also observed. A relatively low growth temperature range depressed the LRE-Ba substitution, which was effective to suppress the probable RE211 coarsening. By employing ZrO2 chemical doping, the flux pinning property was further improved under both zero-field and in-field, and the Jc was enhanced without reducing Tc.


Species distribution models (SDMs) can be useful for different conservation purposes. We discuss the importance of fitting spatial scale and using current records and relevant predictors aiming conservation. We choose jaguar (Panthera onca) as a target species and Brazil and Atlantic Forest biome as study areas. We tested two different extents (continent and biome) and resolutions (~4 Km and ~1 Km) in Maxent with 186 records and 11 predictors (bioclimatic, elevation, land-use and landscape structure). All models presented satisfactory AUC values (>0.70) and low omission errors (<23%). SDMs were scale-sensitive as the use of reduced extent implied in significant gains to model performance generating more constrained and real predictive distribution maps. Continental-scale models performed poorly in predicting potential current jaguar distribution, but they reached the historic distribution. Specificity increased significantly from coarse to finer-scale models due to the reduction of overprediction. The variability of environmental space (E-space) differed for most of climatic variables between continental and biome-scale and the representation of the E-space by predictors differed significantly (t = 2.42, g.l.= 9, P < 0.05). Refining spatial scale, incorporating landscape variables and improving the quality of biological data are essential for improving model prediction for conservation purposes.


Fuzzy Autocatalytic Set (FACS) of Fuzzy Graph of Type-3 incorporates the concept of fuzzy, graph and autocatalytic set. It was initially defined and used in the modeling of a clinical waste incineration process which has produced more accurate results than using crisp graph. As it is a newly developed theory, FACS seems to have great potentials in generating new mathematical theory. This paper employs Markov chain to the evaluation of steady state of an incineration process. Novel definition of transition probability matrix of FACS is presented. Steady state vector of Markov chain for incineration process is determined and graph of convergence of its norm difference is presented. This study led to some relation of Markov process and Perron-Frobenius Theorem.


A code protection scheme for controlling access to a memory area in an integrated circuit comprising a processor having an instruction pipeline, comprising a plurality of processing stages. A first processing stage receives one or more command / e. A second processing stage receives from the first processing stage address information that identifies a protected memory area of the memory, and protection information for the identified protected memory area. The protection information indicates a protective state that is assigned to each protected memory area. the second stage of processing determined based on the command type of the received command and associated with a particular protected memory area protection information whether to enable access to the particular protected memory area by the processor or other external host computer or to be locked.


Since the 21st century a free-form building has been noticeably constructed. Now the definition "the monumental architecture is a free-form one." has come to be established. As a free-form building became a landmark of the city and a factor rising a value of the building all around the world, it is currently required to consider a more efficient design process. Therefore this research aims to learn approaches of the lasting free-form design process by considering the design process of Dongdaemun Design Plaza(DDP) designed by 'Zaha Hadid' that is a typical free-form building of Korea and the correlation between the design in the conceptual stage and the BIM(Building Information Modeling) design in practical stage.


The present invention relates to a document file recovering apparatus capable of recovering a file by determining whether a file format according to a compound document file and a compressed file is damaged and a method thereof. The apparatus according to the present invention determines at least one file of the compound document file and the compressed file based on a file signature and recovers each of the compound document file and the compressed file based on a determination result. Accordingly, the present invention can check and recover damage by decoding a stream of the compound document file which is encoded.


An evaluation of management in Nigeria with focus on Yauri Local Government Area of Kebbi State was carried out. The study made use of ASTER data of 2017 with spatial resolution of 30m, topographical map at a scale of 1:50,000, monthly rainfall data for 35 covering the study area and soil map at a scale of 1:50,000. Thematic maps for soil, rainfall and elevation were produced converted to raster data in GIS environment. Each data set in a single map was given weight by pair-wise comparison; reclassification of each map was done based on the weights generated from the pair-wise comparison of each dataset. The weights generated revealed that rainfall with 46 as its weight has the greatest influence on flood occurrences in the study area. Elevation accounted for weights of 24, slope accounted for 12 while drainage density, soil and LULC accounted for 10, 8 and 3 respectively. The settlements of Gumbi, Yauri, Unguwa Damisa, Zamare and Jijima that make up the study area lie along the zone of very high flood vulnerable land. Among the causes of flooding, excess rainfall and coastal location of the various settlements are responsible for flooding. Besides, the relief of the study area is such that encourage flooding as all the settlements are situated along the river course. The predominant coping and adapting strategies adopted to check flooding in the study area are temporary relocation and the raising of the floor of their houses among others.


The item of furniture according to the invention has at least one moving element and an operating system for adjusting the moving element, wherein the operating system comprises at least a linear actuator, a voltage source and a manual control means, wherein the voltage source and the manual control means are electrically connected to the linear actuator and the linear actuator has a diagnosis system having at least one LED indicator for indicating the functioning of the three components. The user, but at the latest the repair service, can use the diagnosis system to determine in a simple manner which of the three components is defective, so that only the defective component has to be replaced in a targeted manner. Any repair costs incurred can be considerably reduced in this way. The user or a repair service can then also replace one of the three components without problems.


Abstract: Types of Personality, Teaching Techniques, and English Listening Skill. This study investigated the effect of types of personality and teaching techniques on English listening skill. This experimental study involved 70 students under investigation, which were determined randomly through multistage random sampling technique. The results of the research indicate that there is an interaction effect between the teaching techniques and types of personality on the English listening skill; there is no significant difference in the listening skill between the group of students who learn using the game technique and those who learn using the song technique; the listening skill of students having extrovert personality is better than those having introvert personality; the listening skill of students having extrovert personality who learn using the game technique is lower than those who learn using the song technique; and the listening skill of students having introvert personality who learn using the game technique is higher than those who learn using the song technique. Keywords: types of personality, teaching technique, listening skill


The Field of TQM Total quality Management seeks to have all the functions in an organization integrated. IT has been a favorite subject of research specially in the areas of Service and production. The studies aimed at addressing the topic of continual improvement in the sphere of TQM and its applications. Different researchers had their individual approaches and their researches concluded differently. With this paper we attempt to do a comparative analysis of the research work done by various people in the areas of TQM, its aims, principles, models and applications.


This paper describes the approximation of discrete data using splines. The approximation method is adapted from the Chebyshev approximation. The procedures to find a set of extreme points for incoming discrete data are proposed. Several algorithms using cubic spline and Lagrange polynomial are proposed to diffrentiate the results due to the number of iteration, total number of the set of extreme points and error generated. The results show that the error generated decreases as the total number of extreme points increase. Six extreme points can represent one hundred of points and the generated error can be decreased. However, the algorithm presented uses more number of extreme points and will cause an increase in the total number of iterations.


The objectives of this work were to: •To identify the hydro-mechanical and mechanical engine systems which will benefit most from the introduction of diagnostic and prognostic capabilities. •To build diagnostic and prognostic capabilities for these components with the constraint of no additional sensor. •To provide recommendations on potential maintenance and operations gains.


By contacting the aromatic polyfunctional carbodiimide at a temperature of carboxylate and 15 ° C. to 90 ° C., a method of polymerizing the aromatic polyfunctional carbodiimide. .BACKGROUND


The invention provides a semiconductor device capable of measuring time more accurately and having time measuring functions. The semiconductor device 1 includes: an oscillator 28; a semiconductor chip 30 that includes an oscillation circuit 61 connected to the oscillator, a timer circuit 63 that generates a timing signal of a frequency according to a oscillation frequency of the oscillation circuit, and a frequency correction section 60 that corrects a frequency of the timing signal based on temperature data; and a temperature sensing device 27 that detects a peripheral temperature, that supplies the detected temperature as temperature data to the frequency correction section 60. A capacitor 28 or the temperature sensing device 27 is installed on a first main surface (25A) of a punching cushion (26A), and the semiconductor chip 30 is installed on a second main surface (25B)opposite to the first main surface (25A).


The book I have chosen for my present paper is a sort of Jātaka or Avadāna entitled the " Hien-yü-Ching," which Mr. Nanjio has restored into Sanskrit as " Damamūkasūtra" , or " Tales of the Wise Man and the Fool." It will at once remind one of the Tibetan work " mDsans-blun " (generally called Dsan-lun), that is, "Der Weise und der Thor," published by I. J. Schmidt, and afterwards by Schiefner, for this is a popular work and is read by almost every student of Tibetan. The Chinese version was by Hui-hsio , Wei-teh , and others, written during their stay in Karakhodjo, a.d. 445 . There are, however, two texts both assigned to the same translators, one coming down through the Korean Buddhists and the other through the Chinese. It is said in the earliest catalogue in existence (a.d. 520) that the original text was obtained by the translators in Khoten (Kustana, ) and translated by them in the Temple Tien-an-shi, Karakhodjo . As to the Tibetan text we were first informed of its existence by Csoma de Cörösi in the " Asiatic Researches," vol. xx, 1836, and seven years later we were furnished with the text by the Russian savants mentioned above.


Opioids provide powerful analgesia but also efficacy-limiting adverse effects, including severe nausea, vomiting, and respiratory depression, by activating l-opioid receptors. Preclinical models suggest that differential activation of signaling pathways downstream of these receptors dissociates analgesia from adverse effects; however, this has not yet translated to a treatment with an improved therapeutic index. Thirty healthy men received single intravenous injections of the biased ligand TRV130 (1.5, 3, or 4.5 mg), placebo, or morphine (10 mg) in a randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Primary objectives were to measure safety and tolerability (adverse events, vital signs, electrocardiography, clinical laboratory values), and analgesia (cold pain test) versus placebo. Other measures included respiratory drive (minute volume after induced hypercapnia), subjective drug effects, and pharmacokinetics. Compared to morphine, TRV130 (3, 4.5 mg) elicited higher peak analgesia (105, 116 seconds latency vs 75 seconds for morphine, P < .02), with faster onset and similar duration of action. More subjects doubled latency or achieved maximum latency (180 seconds) with TRV130 (3, 4.5 mg). Respiratory drive reduction was greater after morphine than any TRV130 dose ( 15.9 for morphine versus 7.3, 7.6, and 9.4 h * L/ min, P < .05). More subjects experienced severe nausea after morphine (n = 7) than TRV130 1.5 or 3 mg (n = 0, 1), but not 4.5 mg (n = 9). TRV130 was generally well tolerated, and exposure was dose proportional. Thus, in this study, TRV130 produced greater analgesia than morphine at doses with less reduction in respiratory drive and less severe nausea. This demonstrates early clinical translation of ligand bias as an important new concept in receptor-targeted pharmacotherapy. 2014 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


OBJECTIVE: The stereotactic breast biopsy is an invasive procedure that is performed to study subclinical lesions in the breast with we suspected malignancy ...


Absfrur- Previously, we proposed n+-p+ double-gate SO1 MOSFET's, which have n+ polysilicon for the back gate and p+ polysilicon for the front gate to adjust a threshold voltage, and demonstrated high speed operation. In this parer, we establish analytical models for this device. This transistor has two threshold voltages related to n+ and p+ polysilicon gates: Vthl and Vth2, respectively. Vthl is a function of the gate oxide thickness tox and SO1 thickness tsi and is about 0.25 V when tox/tsi = 5, while Vth2 is insensitive to tox and tsi and is about 1 V. We also derive models for conduction charge and drain current and verified their validity by numerical analysis. Furthermore, we establish a scaling theory unique to the device, and show how to design the device parameters with decreasing a gate length. We show numerically that we can design sub 0.1 pm gate length devices with an appropriate threshold voltage and an ideal subthreshold swing. We also show that our theory agrees well with experimental data.


The article is devoted to the study of the representations of poverty and wealth at the stage of the primary economic socialization. It is shown that the development of the representations of poverty and wealth at different age stages is uneven. The content of the representations of poverty has a greater variability than the representations of wealth. The way children and teenagers understand poverty as a negative phenomenon indicate social relevance of poverty. The social and psychological factors of the development of poverty and wealth representations


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of good management and well-disciplined workforce in convenience store operations as well as improve organizational performance using the 5S method. This study would be beneficial to convenience stores in Japan considering that it addresses some of the major issues involved in the maintenance of employee productivity. Specific objectives of the study were: determination ofshitsuke's importance in employee behavior; and examination of the effects ofshitsukeon the performance of convenience stores.Design/methodology/approachFor this study, three convenience stores in Tokyo, Japan with a total of 23 respondent employees were selected as subjects. A qualitative research method was used, and the responses obtained before and after the 5S implementation were compared.FindingsThe results showed the following:shitsuke(discipline) was significantly important in maintaining store cleanliness, especially for toilets; the steps for undertaking a planned change to improveshitsukeinvolved developing a shared outlook for the business and reaching an agreement on basic processes; and enforcement of 5S and development of effective managers were deemed necessary.Originality/valueThe results of this research would provide substantial insights into various human resource management practices necessary to enhance work culture and organizational performance. In addition, this study may also be applicable to other small and medium business enterprises.


Objective
This study aimed to characterize microorganisms responsible for accumulation of ethyl carbamate precursor citrulline in fermented grains during Luzhou-flavor spirits fermentation process, to provide theoretical basis for clarifying mechanisms of ethyl carbamate formation.

Methods
High-throughput strain screening approach was used to isolate strains with high arginine utilization and high citrulline accumulation capability. Essential genes that comprise the arginine deiminase pathway of these isolates were verified and a modified Chinese liquor fermentation process was conducted by adding these strains.

Results
A total of 20 strains with high arginine utilizing ability were obtained. Among them, Lactococcus garvieae LD3, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens BG5, Pediococcus acidilactici PH7 and Staphylococcus pasteuri SH11 exhibited high efficacy to produce citrulline from arginine. These strains could also increase citrulline in fermented grains.

Conclusion
The accumulation of citrulline in fermented grains was confirmed to be corresponding to arginine utilization by Lactococcus garvieae, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Pediococcus acidilactici and Staphylococcus pasteuri through the arginine deiminase pathway.


The signal of a ground penetrating radar is a non stationary random one. In this paper, an introduction to wavelet transform and multi resolution analysis is presented. three common data compression methods based on wavelet transform for spectral information are descrbied. The data of a ground penetrating radar data compessed by the Daubechies compactly supported orthogonal wavelet and the orthogonal cubic B splines wavelet are compared. The results show that the orthogonal cubic B splines wavelet can get high effectiveness and can achieve a lange data compression ratio.


The frequency of the use of licit drugs have highlighted factors like religiosity, working conditions, studies, influence of friends or relatives, psychosocial factors as conflicts with parents, negative feelings and loneliness with the use of alcohol and tobacco. This is a study based on research conducted in the field, on the licit drugs use by young people in the city of Sao Paulo, emphasizing the use of alcohol and tobacco, held in the months of March to May 2013. We analyzed the use of alcohol and tobacco by young people, adults and subgroups at greatest risk, to submit the form which interferes in the style of life of the individual and of his family. Meet the consequences that could entail, check the toxic effects that cause to the individual, the risks to Public Health in general. It was observed that the majority of users are teenagers between 18 and 24 years old, of those surveyed females predominated in tobacco use. The drugs most consumed by teenagers from 13 to 15 years old (43%) is the cigarette and from 15 to 18 years old (41%) alcohol.90% of respondents use licit drugs, 42% started using out of curiosity, 75% with friends when using for the first time. The damage by the use of the cigarette evinced: 52% morning cough, 37% nervousness and other factors, 62% reported to have tried to quit smoking, 75% of users reported not having tobacco intention to quit smoking, 56% of respondents live with smokers. The damage caused by the use of alcohol reported: a small proportion of respondents related losses of memory and learning under effect of alcohol, behavioral and emotional changes, 60% of respondents are children of parents who consume alcohol, a given alarming is that 44% of respondents take a ride with friends who made use of the alcohol. It was noted in the study that the greatest risks are for young people 18 to 24 years old and that women are the most consuming licit drugs. Being so, the assistance of public and private networks is necessary for the dissemination of harm caused by these licit drugs, thus contributing to promote the reduction of these fees that are currently very high.


Harsh winters and hazards such as blizzards are synonymous with the northern Great Plains of the United States. Studying these events is difficult; the juxtaposition of cold temperatures and high winds makes microphysical observations of both blowing and falling snow challenging. Historically, these observations have been provided by costly hydrometeor imagers that have been deployed for field campaigns or at select observation sites. This has slowed the development and validation of microphysics parameterizations and remote-sensing retrievals of various properties. If cheaper, more mobile instrumentation can be developed, this progress can be accelerated. Further, lowering price barriers can make deployment of instrumentation feasible for education and outreach purposes.The Blowing Snow Observations at the University of North Dakota: Education through Research (BLOWN-UNDER) Campaign took place during the winter of 2019-2020 to investigate strategies for obtaining microphysical measurements in the harsh North Dakota winter. Student led, the project blended education, outreach, and scientific objectives. While a variety of in-situ and remote-sensing instruments were deployed for the campaign, the most novel aspect of the project was the development and deployment of OSCRE, the Open Snowflake Camera for Research and Education. Images from this instrument were combined with winter weather educational modules to describe properties of snow to the public, K-12 students, and members of indigenous communities through a tribal outreach program. Along with an educational deployment of a Doppler on Wheels mobile radar, nearly 1000 individuals were reached during the project.


The use of old metallurgical processes is accompanied by releasing process gas into the atmosphere because its subsequent processing is not possible. New technological processes using oxygen flash smelter make it possible to obtain a sufficient concentration of sulfur oxide in process gases for sulfuric acid commercial production. A necessary element of the new type of power plants is heat recovery boilers that generate steam that can be used to generate electricity, which will increase the economic efficiency of oxygen flash smelter plants. The article shows that it is practically impossible to use steam turbines to generate electricity from this steam, and the use of steam-piston engines is proposed.


Citation: Dr. Mohamed Gamal Elghobaier. "Review of Intraoperative Methods to Enhance Visualization During Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK)". EC Ophthalmology SI.02 (2020): 01-03. Abstract Introduction: Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) has replaced penetrating Keratoplasty (PKP) in many cases, when the pathology was found to involve only the corneal endothelium. Since it has been first described by Melles in 2006, it offered a great advance in the field of lamellar Keratoplasty. DMEK is associated with lower rate of complications particularly rejection as well as faster visual recovery and almost ideal refractive results. The surgery itself although might be considered as a simple procedure, it is associated with a learning curve and some difficulties. One of the most obvious difficulties is poor visualization during graft manipulation, which is not uncommon mainly due to corneal edema and intraoperative hyphema. Methods: A review of the literature was done using PUBMED and Google Scholar during the period from January 2012 till January 2020. Results: Causes of poor visualization during DMEK was mentioned as described by authors, and methods to overcome this obstacle were mentioned as well. These methods ranged from using expensive tools such as using intraoperative optical coherence tomography (iOCT) to using simpler optical hand held slit beam or even using the retroillumination of the surgical microscope to enhance red reflex. This variety of options described by senior surgeons made it easier for the younger surgeons particularly in their early cases to deal with complex cases with more confidence. Conclusion: DMEK has been considered the gold standard for treatment of a large sector of corneal endothelial pathologies. Poor visualization during the procedure has been solved by many optical and chemical methods to get the best surgical outcomes.


Exploiting the geometrical interpretation of the Haar transform as a rotation of the coordinate system by an angle (pi) /4, a new Haar-like transform is proposed which rotates the co-ordinate system by an angle which depends on the data. This data dependent transform gives better compression ratios for both signals and images than the Haar transform.


This paper discusses issues and findings from the ESRC funded research project 'Rethinking Child Protection Strategy' led by Dr Lauren Devine and Mr Stephen Parker. The development of 'child protection' legislation from the implementation of the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004 is evaluated together with related policy and the statutory guidance document 'Working Together to Safeguard Children'. Problems with the framework as laid out in the statutory guidance are evident from examination of referral and assessment trend data. The use of Public Inquiries and Serious Case Reviews to inform policy, coupled with the use of risk assessment contribute to an unrealistic expectation that child abuse is analogous to disease that can be eradicated by adopting policies appropriate to the eradication of an epidemic. The policy of mixing requests to Children's Services Departments for support services with reports of suspected significant harm causes serious problems. Using a single Continuous Assessment is an inadequate and insufficiently considered response to the statutory duty on local authorities to provide services and investigate suspected child abuse. A separate response with appropriate safeguards, controls and remedies is indicated. Re-thinking child protection as a process of public law requiring a more stringent balance between state powers and private remedies would increase protection for children, families and for professionals.


Abstract Objectives To test the hypothesis that certain individual, environmental and lifestyle factors are positively associated with beneficial health investment behaviours and oral/periodontal health among adolescents. Methods Five hundred and six randomly selected 19-year old subjects living in two different areas (Fyrbodal and Skaraborg) in the county council of Västra Götaland, Sweden participated in a clinical examination and answered questionnaires covering psycho-social and health behavioural issues. Two oral-health models were estimated with gingivitis score as an objective and self-perceived oral health as a subjective indicator. Three health- investment behaviour models were designed with indicators directly related to oral health and two with indicators related to general health as well. The explanatory variables included gender, upper secondary education programme, native country, living area, general self-efficacy and parents' education level. Results In the objective oral-health model, theoretical studies and living in the Skaraborg area were both positively associated with a lower gingivitis score. For the subjective oral-health indicator, none of the explanatory variables showed statistical significance. In the investment-behaviour model with 'tooth-brushing ≥ 2 times daily' as a health indicator, female gender and theoretical studies showed statistically significant associations. With the indicators 'no/few missed dental appointments', 'no tobacco use' and 'weekly exercise', theoretical studies were statistically significant and positively associated. In the investment model with 'perceived oral health care attention' as an indicator, a high score of general self-efficacy was significantly associated with the feeling of taking good care of the teeth. Conclusions Individual, environmental and lifestyle factors are associated with young individuals' oral health investment behaviours and gingival health conditions.


Purpose – Understanding how and why people travel, decide and select a specific place, and what they expect from their destination to meet their actual needs is also a highly important topic. The goal of this article is to investigate the elements that influence Serbian visitors' decision to visit Croatia (Cratian coastline) as a destination. The most important characteristics, components, and types of tourism destinations are analysed. The definition of consumer behavior is explained, as well as the idiosyncrasies of the decision-making process. The most important internal and environmental elements that influence tourist decision-making are summarized. An examination of the cultural, societal, and personal psychological aspects that influence decision-making of Serbian tourists to travel to Croatian cost with different attributes like see, cultural and natural attractions, image, price, human resources is done. Methodology – As a result, the decision-making process is extremely difficult, particularly when determining which factors are more significant than others. The Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) method, which has a strong mathematical foundation, could be used to find a good solution to this problem. The Analytical-hierarchy process (AHP) is a systematic way to solving complicated problems that leverages hierarchical structures by generating priorities for various options decided by decision makers. AHP can aid tourism decision-making by examining a large number of decision factors (e.g., factors influencing destination choice, motives for visiting a place, hotel site selection, tourist indicators) and measuring the relevance of each component impacting the decision. The questionnaire used for this manuscript was taken from the paper Blešić et al. (2018). The questionnaire consist of five factors that include 22 items. Findings – Destination amenities, tourism infrastructure, cultural attractions, human resources, price, environmental features are the importnant attributes for choosing Croatian coast as tourism destination. Contribution – this study makes a valuable contribution by highlighting tourists' motives for visiting coastline destinations in Croatia. Finally, understanding the motivations and preferences of tourists is critical to realizing the full potential of tourism. Consumer behavior research is crucial for tourism sector stakeholders because it can provide important insights into who the tourist is and how stakeholders (travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, food producers, cultural organizations, and so on) can target and develop markets successfully. This research will help researchers better understand what inspires Serbian tourists to visit a Croatian coastal location. The findings will indicate the most common travel motivations that lead Serbian travelers to choose Croatia as their vacation location.


We are on the verge of a new computing paradigm that is now widely known as "mobile" or "nomadic" computing. The communication capabilities of high performance portable computers is advancing at a rapid rate with the availability of powerful wireless communication interfaces. In this paper, we present research issues in mobile computing and survey approaches that address these issues.


. The Monster Lie algebra m is a quotient of the physical space of the vertex algebra V = V (cid:92) ⊗ V 1 , 1 , where V (cid:92) is the Moonshine module of Frenkel, Lepowsky, and Meurman, and V 1 , 1 is the vertex algebra corresponding to the rank 2 even unimodular lattice II 1 , 1 . It is known that m has gl 2 -subalgebras generated by both real and imaginary root vectors and that the Monster simple group M acts trivially on the gl 2 -subalgebra corresponding to the unique real simple root. We construct elements of V that project under the quotient map to the Serre-Chevalley generators of families of gl 2 -subalgebras corresponding to the imaginary simple roots (1 , n ) of m for 0 < n < 100. We prove the existence of primary vectors in V (cid:92) of each homogeneous weight n and, for 0 < n < 100, we show that there exist primary vectors that can be used to construct the elements in V corresponding to the generators of our gl 2 -subalgebras. We show that the action of M on V (cid:92) induces an action on the Serre-Chevalley generators of the aforementioned subalgebras. We conjecture that this M -action is non-trivial.


Kalibaru Manis Village is one of the villages that become Robusta coffee producers. Robusta coffee productivity in Kalibaru Manis Village is classified as low that is 1.12 Tons/Ha. Coffee produced by Kalibaru Manis Village has poor quality because the post-harvest activities that have not been following the standards Poor productivity and coffee bean quality cause the income obtained by the farmers to become low. Moreover, the income obtained by robusta coffee farmers in Kalibaru Manis Village is uncertain in each year. This uncertain income is caused by the increase of production cost and the decrease of the coffee selling price. This research aimed to find out: (1) financial feasibility of robusta coffee farming, and (2) sensitivity of robusta coffee. The area determination method used purposive method. The research methods used were descriptive method and analytic method. Sample retrieval method was done by Simple Random Sampling method. Data collection method was done by interview, observation, and documentation. Data analysis was used using financial feasibility analysis and sensitivity analysis. The research results with the interest rate level of 7% showed that : 1) Robusta coffee farming in Kalibaru Manis Village was feasible to cultivate. 2) Robusta coffee farming in Kalibaru Manis Village was not sensitive toward the changes in the production cost and robusta coffee selling price.


Abstract By assuming an ideal two-component mixture of (Mg,Fe)SiO3 perovskite (MgPv) and (Mg,Fe)O magnesiowüstite (Mw), and by using a thermoelastic model for mantle minerals developed previously, we can reproduce the PREM values of density and velocities vP and vS of compressional and shear waves of the lower mantle within ±0.12%, ±0.28%, and ±0.56% except for the transition layers at the both boundaries. The molar fractions and atomic fractions of iron for MgPv and Mw were adjusted to reproduce the PREM values of r, vP, and vS above the point of z = 871 km (which is slightly inside the lower mantle) under constant-entropy condition. This depth avoids the boundary effect. The adiabatic bulk and shear moduli of the mixture are calculated by the Hashin-Shtrikman method for MgPv and Mw and then arithmetically averaged. The temperature profile was calculated assuming that the lower mantle is adiabatic and T(670 km) = 1873 K. The temperature at the top of D'' becomes 2444 K. Being added the temperature increment of 840 K over D'' (z = 2741-2891 km) estimated by Stacey and Loper (1983) to our value, the temperature at the core-mantle boundary (CMB) becomes 3284 K in agreement with T(CMB) of 3300 ± 500 °C by Brown and McQueen. The molar ratios of Fe/(Mg + Fe) and (Mg + Fe)/Si become 0.12 and 2.10. The calculated thermal expansivity, a, of the mixture under lower mantle conditions is in agreement with a of the lower mantle calculated directly from PEM data by Brown and Shankland, and Anderson. For the addition of 5 mol% of CaSiO3 perovskite to our model, the essential feature of the result is unchanged and the wt% of SiO2, MgO, FeO, and CaO become 40.7, 44.6, 11.0, and 3.7


Device-to-Device (D2D) underlaying communication system may be the solution to increase system data rate and reduce the workload of eNodeB. This communication system shares the same resources to two types of user, the cellular users and D2D pair. However, by using same resources, D2D underlaying communication system will increase the interference level among users. To overcome this problem, a good allocation algorithm is needed to allocate Resource Blocks (RB) which used by Cellular User Equipment (CUE) and D2D simultaneously. This work assumes all CUEs will use the RB first. The D2D pairs RB allocation take place after all CUEs get the resource. A modified Joint-Greedy algorithm is proposed to improve D2D pairs RB allocation process. The algorithm consist of two main phase. In the first phase, all D2D pairs will choose the best RB on the system, that being used by the CUE, and take that RB as a candidates. In the second phase, the eNodeB (eNB) will decides which of these candidates that will be allocated to D2D pair by searching the minimum impact of each CUE. From the simulation process, system with underlaying D2D communication can increase the system spectral efficiency system by 30%. Modified Joint-Greedy algorithm allocates can improve spectral efficiency of the system by 3.059% compared with mean-greedy allocation algorithm and 4.33% compared with a conventional greedy algorithm.


A light emitting device and a manufacturing method. The light emitting device (10) comprises a light-transmitting substrate (13) and the light emitting surface preparation of the substrate (13) and having a metal layer of irregularly arranged nanoparticle structure (14), wherein the light-transmitting substrate (13) is made of Y2O3: Eu transparent ceramics (13). By providing a metal layer having a nanoparticle structure irregularly arranged on the light emitting substrate, and the interface between the cathode-ray emitting plasma-forming surface of the substrate, greatly improving the emission efficiency.


Abstract:This article explores how film configured its relationship to poetry to help facilitate film's artistic and technological legitimacy as an emergent medium in the early twentieth century. During the silent era, industry journals regularly affiliated film with poetry in order to depict film as an outgrowth or even the most fully realized version of the poetic arts. On-screen, however, film sought to disaffiliate itself from poetry. Using Edwin S. Porter's The Night before Christmas (1905) and D. W. Griffith's The Unchanging Sea (1910) and Enoch Arden (1911) as examples, I show how filmmakers used poetry intertitles not only to depict film as superior to poetry but also to negotiate silent film's relationship to print and sound.


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Observation of the lysis phenomenon of human erythrocyte at the single cell level under a mini electrophoresis apparatus was studied. The lysis-inducing reagent (hydrogen peroxide in saline) was introduced to the uptake ferrous red blood cells at the end tip of the rectangular capillary by electroosmotic flow, generating hydroxyl free radical (Fen ton reaction). Red blood cell exposed to hydroxyl free radical underwent progressive lysis, determined by observation through a microscope-CCD camera recording system. The erythrocyte lysis time of several single red blood cells varied between 450 sec and 510 sec. Distinct lysis behavior was delineated by monitoring the apparent light density of each single erythrocyte through time. The time dependence apparent light density curve of single red blood cell was used to assess the lysis phenomenon. It was found that the rate of red blood cell alteration dramatically increased after some initial period leading to eventually complete lysis. The half-lives of the initial step and the second step were estimated as kinetic parameters. The proposed technique stabilized the lysis mechanism by minimizing the depletion effect of the enveloped solvent layer of red blood cell. Moreover, electric field strength provided more homogeneity of the enveloped solvent layer and enabled the erythrocyte to maintain at the observed position.


A numerical study is performed to investigate the stress concentration phenomenon in a piled embankment during high-speed train passage. In the numerical simulation, the loading of a moving train is first represented in the model as a series of time-varying equivalent concentrated forces vertically acting on the ballast surface, and the explicit finite element method (FEM) is then used to analyze the ballast-embankment-ground system subjected to the equivalent forces. The study shows that owing to the very high stiffness of the piles relative to the soft soil, a majority of the wave energy, which is generated by the passage of wheel axles, is concentrated to the improving piles and transferred down to the stiff soil stratum. By this stress concentration phenomenon, the soft soil surrounding the piles is subjected to less stress, and thus preventing undesirable dynamic effects that could be induced in the soft soil.


Twenty-eight newborn infants, 7 stillborns, and 21 children from 4 to 15 years of age were examined for gamma activity in a low background, high sensitivity total-body counting facility. The latter group all contained traces of Zr/sup 95/--Nb/sup 95/, Ru/sup 103,106/, and Cs/sup 137/ in addition to the norm al K/sup 40/. The greatest concentration of Cs/sup 137/ observed was 0.8 x 10/sup -10/ C/kg body weight, or about 4% of the natural K/sup 40/ activity. Burdens of the other gamma -emitting radioisotope were less. Newborns contnined no activity other than K/sup 40/ detectable in 45 min counting time. Four of the 7 stillborns, each counted for 10 hr, showed K/sup 40/ and traces of Zr/sup 95/, Nb/sup 95/, and Ru/sup 103,106/. The Zr/sup 95/: Nb/sup 95/ ratios w ere lower in the infants than in their placentas suggesting placental discrimination against Zr/sup 95/. The Cs/sup 137/; K/sup 40/ ratios were lower in infants than in children or adults. Twenty-four infant thyroid glands obtained at autopsy contained no detectable radioiodine (less than 0.3 x 10/sup -10/ C). (auth)


Abstract: In this paper the theory of speech acts is applied for a structural reconstruction of medical diagnostic consultations. The reconstruction provides the conceptual model for a research prototype of a consultation tool which is expected to play a mediating role between the participants in the professional diagnostic discourse. Preliminary results of the design will be outlined.


Despite recent reports of relatively high rates (16–37%) of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients receiving the combination of intravenous piperacillin‐tazobactam (PTZ) and vancomycin, data are limited evaluating the impact of PTZ infusion strategy on the occurrence of nephrotoxicity. The objective of this study was to compare the rates of nephrotoxicity in patients receiving vancomycin in combination with PTZ administered as an extended infusion (EI) versus a standard infusion (SI).


Part 1 Liberalism and ethics: the good and the right the socialization of ethics the metanormative solution. Part 2 The foundations of liberalism: neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics rights, ethics and liberalism. Part 3 Analyses and objections: the challenge of liberal communitarianism the challenge of conservative communitarianism. Part 4 Conclusion.


This research aims to learn how much potential the development of Kalaodi Agrotourism region in Tidore Archipelago is. The research conducted in Kalaodi Agrotourism region, Tidore Archipelago. The purposes of this research are (1) discovering the potential of Kalaodi Agrotourism region in Tidore Archipelago (2) finding strategies to developing Kalaodi Agrotourism region in Tidore Archipelago. Data collection is gathered by field survey, study literature and obtaining information from respected instances, and using qualitative approach. The data analyzed by using qualitative descriptive analysis to discover the potential of Kalaodi Agrotourism while SWOT analysis is used to find development strategies of Kalaodi Agrotourism in Tidore Archipelago. The development strategies of Kalaodi Agrotourism are using agricultures potential provided in Kalaodi subdistrict which is increasing the quality of agriculture's product, improving the human resource capability in agriculture sector so the people of Kalaodi can developing their own agrotourism, optimizing accessibility, conserving the attractions of local cultures of Kalaodi as the major appeal for tourists to come, as well as requesting government's action to involve the society in improving Kalaodi Agrotourism.


"… there is little known about the initial phases of the process (of entrepreneurship). The conception, birth and early development of new ventures are very much an uncharted territory". (Reynolds and White,


In order to solve the problem of relay protection failure for induction motor, we put forward the method of stator winding small fault detecting based on wavelet transform. The experimental results show that the high frequency distortion information caused by small fault in induction-motor can be effectively detected, and faulted phase and non-faulted phase can be distinguished with the method.


As perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are sensitive to moisture, they cannot be prepared in the open air, which increases manufacturing costs. To address this issue, bifunctional dimethyldichlorosilane (DMDCS) is employed as both an additive and capping layer to passivate the grain boundaries and surfaces of MAPbI3 perovskite films, thus inhibiting water erosion. Accordingly, the preparation of highly efficient PSCs in an air atmosphere is realized. Herein, the passivation mechanism of DMDCS on the perovskite film and the interface is analyzed by investigating photoexcited carrier mobility and ultrafast transient adsorption spectroscopy (TAS). An improvement of charge‐carrier diffusion, featuring an enhanced lifetime from 7.62 to 11.22 ps by the precursor doping, is exhibited in the results of TAS. The charge‐carrier extraction at the interface is also greatly promoted, with the decreased decay time from 0.29 to 0.16 ns by surface passivation, consistent with the carrier mobility via space charge‐limited current. Finally, the modified devices achieve an exceptional efficiency of 20.69%, and demonstrate long‐term environmental stability, maintaining more than 80% of the initial efficiency after 1000 h in ambient at a relative humidity of 40% without encapsulation.


Blockchain like Bitcoin and Ethereum suffer from scalability issues. Sharding is one of the most promising and leading solutions to scale blockchain. The basic idea behind sharding is to divide the blockchain network into multiple committees, where each processing a separate set of transactions, rather than the entire network processes all transactions. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic approach to analyze the security of sharding-based blockchain protocols. Based on this approach, we investigate the threat of Sybil attacks in these protocols. The key contribution of our paper is a tractable probabilistic approach to accurately compute the failure probability that at least one committee fails and ultimately compute the probability of a successful attack. To show the effectiveness of our approach, we conduct a numerical and comparative analysis of the proposed approach with existing approaches.


We investigated potassium exchange equilibria in 20 calcareous soils from Iraq. Soils were varied in their CEC and miner-alogical composition. The percentage of CaCO3 in these soils ranged from 10 to 29. The mean (Ca) (CO3) ion activity product (IAP) was found to be 5.89 x 10−8 (pIAP = 7.23) with the standard deviation of 0.391 x 10−8. The experimental data on EKR and KAR exhibited a constant Gapon exchange selectivity coefficient (KG) for EKR values less than 0.11, provided corrections for ion-pairing and complex formations have been made. However, the agreement between the data and the Temkin equation was closer than that of Gapon equation. The plot of KG versus pIAP did not reveal a definite relationship between these quantities.


Durable properties of oil–water separation materials are challenging issue during the development from laboratory to practical application. Herein, twill woven stainless‐steel mesh is modified through oxidation and conversion steps, and applied for oil–water separation. The modified mesh displays excellent superhydrophilic property with water contact angle ≈0° and underwater oil contact angle up to 159°. Oil–water separation performance is evaluated using a series of oil–water mixtures. The results demonstrate that oil–water mixtures can be separated under gravity with oil rejection >99% and water permeate fluxes in the range of 40–60 k L m−2 h−1. Moreover, the modified mesh shows long‐term durability, excellent chemical corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance, and fouling resistance. It can maintain stable oil rejection and water flux even after 100 cycles separation for machine oil–water mixture, or after 300 days immersion in artificial seawater, or after 15 days immersion in corrosion acidic or alkaline solutions. Furthermore, the modified mesh exhibit impressive abrasion resistance that keep oil rejection >99% after 80 m abrasion under 1000 g. These excellent performances of the modified mesh are further explained from the special texture of twill woven stainless‐steel mesh and the formed water film due to its superhydrophilicity.


We examine the basic hypothesis that the market for managerial talent rewards managers from firms with superior stock price performance. We identify a set of outside CEO hires in a set of large publicly traded firms and investigate the stock price performance of the prior employers of these executives. Using 5-year buy-and-hold returns as our basic performance measure, we find that the prior employers of our sample executives did, on average, exhibit superior performance compared to a variety of benchmarks. A conditional logit analysis confirms that superior firm performance increases the likelihood that an executive will get an outside CEO job. Our results are most pronounced for executives who jump immediately from their prior employer to the new employer (raids) and for executives who were more highly ranked at their prior employer. We also examine compensation contracts and find that executives are typically awarded large initial hiring grants composed of stock options, restricted stock, and cash signing bonuses. These grants are highly correlated with the value of the unvested option and restricted stock position the executive leaves behind at his old employer. The evidence also suggests that these grants are positively related to prior firm performance, even after controlling for the forfeited position at the prior employer. We interpret our findings as providing substantial support for the basic hypothesis that superior stock price performance enhances an executive's external labor market opportunities. In our view this is an interesting and important finding, as it supports the basic assumption underlying a large class of models concerning executive decision making and contracting in the presence of career concerns.


The benefits of Hospital real-time location systems (RTLSs) have been characterized as increasing efficiency and reducing operational costs. We developed iPhone applications for an indoor RTLS with Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and evaluated the system in our laboratory rooms instead of on actual hospital wards. The applications were installed in peripherals as tags on iPhone5s, centrals as access points (5th-generation iPod touch pads or iPhone5s) placed in rooms in a concrete building, and a monitor as a server on an iPhone5. The centrals and monitor were connected on a wireless LAN. Each peripheral communicates with a central by BLE, and the centrals communicate with the monitor by sockets on TCP/IP. While individuals with iPhone5s moved around in the building, the "access events" were captured in a few ten- second units at about 10 m from a central. The monitor showed the access events with the peripheral identifier and location, and interactively returned messages to the peripheral. A RTLS was simply created with only iPhone applications using Bluetooth low energy without RFID tags. This system may effectively be used as an indoor RTLS, patient tracking, and calling system.


The article tells about the epidemiological aspects of acute otitis media among the children and adult population in the world, questions related to the disease etiology and the basic principles of antimicrobial therapy today.


In 1975, the FCC established the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule prohibiting common ownership of a daily newspaper and a full-power broadcast station that serve the same city. Unpopular among owners of media conglomerates since its inception, the rule has remained at the heart of the contentious debate over media ownership consolidation. More than three years after its failed attempt to justify modification in Prometheus Radio v. FCC, the FCC has again voted to change the rule. This article reviews the Report & Order, assessing the Commission's central arguments used to justify its position and posits that these arguments are largely unsubstantiated. The Commission clings to contestable assertions and stakeholder comments, while ignoring extensive empirical data that refute each claim. The lack of empirical evidence presented to justify such a major (and unpopular) decision suggests that the FCC might have been motivated by a neo-liberal agenda and/or influenced by the corporate media lobby.


This paper describes the implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive Department-based training and support program for casual tutors and laboratory demonstrators at the University of Melbourne. The program provides a structured approach to help casual staff develop an understanding of what is involved in high quality teaching and student learning, which can be applied in a computer science and software engineering context. The program involves a number of different phases, including: training sessions, self assessment, peer observation, academic staff member observations, and quality of teaching surveys. We discuss the strengths and limitations of the program, the implications for the Department and identify future directions.


Sulfur dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are commonly determined by the West-Gaeke and electro-conductivity methods. As a part of the United States-Japan Cooperative Air Pollution Measurement Studies, parallel sampling with a 24-hr bubbler, a 1-hr bubbler, and an electroconductivity instrument was conducted in Kawasaki, Japan, between Jan. 12 and Mar. 25 and between Aug. 19 and Sept. 30, 1966. These time periods were chosen because of the seasonal variation in the air pollution levels. Fair agreement was obtained between the 24-hr sample values and the daily mean values of the 24 hourly samples analyzed by the West-Gaeke method. Sulfur dioxide concentrations determined by the electroconductivity method were greater than those determined by the West-Gaeke method, particularly in the winter season. Relationships between the sulfur dioxide concentrations determined by these two methods are discussed.


This paper presents an iterative blind source separation method using second order statistics (SOS) and natural gradient technique. The SOS of observed data is shown to be sufficient for separating mutually uncorrelated sources provided that the considered temporal coherence vectors of the sources are pairwise linearly independent. By applying the natural gradient, an iterative algorithm is derived that has a number of attractive properties including its simplicity and `easy' generalization to adaptive or convolutive schemes. Asymptotic performance analysis of the proposed method is performed. Several numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and to validate the theoretical expression of the asymptotic performance index.


When threatened by pathogenic organisms or neoplastic disease, the mam-malian host responds with a complex repertoire of metabolic alterations (1-3). During acute infection, accelerated protein and lipid catabolism are often observed , as are fever, hypoglycemia, and shock. In chronic neoplastic or infectious disease states, unabated depletion of energy stores may lead to cachexia, and ultimately, to the demise of the host. These processes appear to be governed by the immune system, which, in part, exerts its influence over other somatic tissues through the action of various cytokines. Recently (4), we reported the isolation of cachectin, a murine macrophage hormone capable of suppressing the expression of anabolic enzymes in adipo-cytes, thus preventing the uptake and storage of triglyceride. Subsequently, cachectin was shown (5) to be identical to tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a monokine known for its ability to selectively lyse malignantly transformed cells (6-8). Although this latter property has been the most studied, we have suggested that the biological function of this monokine is far broader. Cachectin/TNF is secreted in large quantities by endotoxin-induced macrophages, or macrophage-derived cells (4, 9). Upon interaction with a specific plasma membrane receptor on the adipocyte (4), it is capable of altering cellular metabolism by selectively suppressing the expression of mRNA encoding specific anabolic proteins (10). Cachectin/TNF has been implicated both as the primary mediator of shock in the setting of gram-negative septicemia (1 1), and as the agent responsible for cachexia in chronic infectious disease states (12). Thus, it seems that cachectin plays a major role in the mammalian inflammatory response. As such, it is functionally related to several other inflammatory cytokines, including the inter-ferons (IFN), interleukins (IL), and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factors. Inflammation depends, in part, upon regional production of proteolytic enzymes that participate in the destruction and remodelling of tissues. It has


The present invention relates to a sonotrode with a wheel-shaped portion with a wheel axle and a diameter d, the two substantially circular major surfaces and one that major surfaces connecting, cylindrical sealing surface substantially to the width b. To indicate a corresponding sonotrode, wherein the triangle frequency is distinctly different from the main frequency, the invention proposes that at least one main surface has a non-central thickened portion, which is not arranged in a sectional view perpendicular to the main surface a on the wheel axle, comprises convex portion.


This paper aims to enhance the operation of Egyptian Natural Gas Transmission Networks. The Egyptian government categorized the industries that consume natural gas into different sectors. Each industrial sector has its own gas price. Our objective is to get the maximum revenue gained through the optimal gas distribution between these different sectors. A computer program was developed using Matlab Genetic Algorithm approach for solving the obtained nonlinear problem. This study aims to find the maximum profit from the gas distribution of the existing steady state gas grid. All Required demands, sources capacities and pressure limitations are constraints of the objective function. The obtained gas grid analysis data are compared and verified with SYNERGI software [1]. The results show the higher profit which can be gained by enhancing Egyptian gas grid. The obtained results confirm that increasing gas delivery amounts does not necessarily mean higher economic benefits. It is found also that the gained profit affected by several operation parameters. It was concluded that source gas price and pressure values of gas feeder directly affect the economic benefits.


Reflection of laser light from a diffuse surface exhibits a complex interference pattern known as laser speckle. Measurement of the reflected intensity from remote targets, common to `hard-target' differential absorption lidar, requires consideration of the statistical properties of the reflected light. We have explored the effects of laser speckle on the noise statistics for CO2 DIAL. For an ensemble of independent speckle patterns it is predicted that the variance for the measured intensity is inversely proportional to the number of speckle measured. We have used a rotating drum target to obtain a large number of independent speckle and have measured the predicted decrease in the variance after correlations due to system drifts were removed. Measurements have been made using both circular and linear polarized light. These measurements show a slight improvement in return signal statistics when circular polarization is used. We have conducted experiments at close range to isolate speckle phenomena from other phenomena, such as atmospheric turbulence and platform motion thus allowing us to gain a greater understanding of speckle issues. We have also studied how to remove correlation in the data caused by albedo inhomogenuties producing a more statistically independent ensemble of speckle patterns. We find that some types of correlation are difficult to remove from the data.


Background: Corticosteroids are widely used to treat children with inflammatory bowel disease although the response is variable, side‐effects are common, and many patients develop a partial or complete steroid resistance. The mechanism underlying these phenomena are unclear. Corticosteroids mediate some of their actions through lipocortin‐l, and the inductic of autoantibodies to lipocortin has been proposed as a possible mechanism by which steroid efficacy is suboptimal in vivo.


The effects of halothane (0.45 and 0.9 mM, equivalent to 0.7 and 1.5 vol%, respectively) and isoflurane (0.56 and 1.23 mM, equivalent to 0.9 and 2.0 vol%) on slowly inactivating Na+ current were examined by whole-cell voltage-clamp techniques. This approach allows evaluation of the role of anesthetic inhibition of inward Na+ current on the action potentials of canine Purkinje fibers isolated from the false tendons. Cells were super-fused with Tyrode's solution containing nifedipine and Ni2+ to block Ca2+ channel currents and internally dialyzed with Cs+ to block outward K+ currents. Veratridine (0.5 μM) was used throughout the experiments to enhance the slow Na+ current. Na+ current was elicited by depolarizing pulses from a holding potential of −100 mV to stepwise (10 mV increments) more positive membrane potentials and measured at 200 ms after initiation of the voltage pulse before, during, and after exposure to anesthetics. Slowly inactivating Na+ current showed threshold activation at −80 mV and peak activation around −55 to −40 mV. This current was abolished by 5 μM tetrodotoxin, showing the characteristic feature of Na+ channel current. Halothane and isoflurane depressed the amplitude of slowly inactivating Na+ current in a concentration-dependent manner and did not shift the current-voltage relationship for slow Na+ current activation. There was no significant difference between the sensitivities of slow Na+ current to halothane or isoflurane at equianesthetic concentrations. Inhibition of slow inward Na+ current may contribute to the marked decrease of action potential duration produced by volatile anesthetics in false tendon Purkinje fibers but does not account for the larger decreases of duration produced by isoflurane than halothane. This anesthetic action may facilitate reexcitation of Purkinje fibers by abbreviating repolarization and have an antiarrhythmic influence on after-depolarization-related arrhythmias during repolarization of the Purkinje fiber action potential.


In this paper, concepts of \(\alpha T_{i},\) \((i=0,1,2,3,4)\) sets are introduced in \(\alpha\)-order preserving spaces and their characteristic properties are studied. They consist a new complete system of separation axiom, which is proved to be a good extension of both classical and soft theories. The purpose of this work is to define soft \(\alpha\)-separation axioms and derive some of their characterizations. Further their relationships with the existing spaces are studied.


Direct N-methylation of 3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine, 4-methoxyphenethylamine, tyramine, and 3-methoxytryamine, by refluxing each compound with a mixture of formaldehyde and formic acid in the presence of dimethylformamide, to the corresponding N-dimtthyl derivative in 45-86% yield is reported. The synthesis of macromerine from normetanephrine by a two-step methyl- ation, using diazomethane and formaldehyde-formic acid mixture, is also reported.


The study of geographic names includes the comprehension of many aspects directily associated with geographic space, such as: anthropic occupation, natural elements of landscape, cultural identity, disputes for areas control, among others. The toponyms give identity to the space and reveal defined relations on it, they have been used on diversity historic moments as strategy for many objectives of group responsible for naming such spaces. On this approach, the present study search to make a analysis of the geographic names of the city of Cabo Frio-RJ to establish and to sediment their historic-geographical structure, besides to evaluate their cultural origin. Thus, this paper pretends to realize correlations of the distribution of the names with the pattern of anthropic occupation that is observed in the area. Moreover, the organization of the analyzed toponyms for future entering on Geo-Database of Geographic Names of State of Rio de Janeiro, that is a wide collection of information under construction by the Laboratory of Cartography of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, is also a objective. The city of Cabo Frio is localized on Rio de Janeiro state coast and, currently, stands to be one of the most important touristic pole of the state. In contrast, the choice of this city is justified by the important role of the area in Brazilian history, it received the first portuguese trading post in Brazil, in 1503. For this research, maps and cartographic documents of the XVIII, XIX and XX centuries were analyzed. The results pointed to a historical stability of the geographic names, don't existing significant modifications on them, beyond the prevalence of the names of portuguese origins, that reflects the supremacy of lusitanian spatial occupation in the region and the political legitimation conquered by the group. On this way, it is verified that the toponyms are important cartographic registers which express many local characteristics, extremely significant to the Geography.


With the rapid development of electronic technology, household devices have been developed to automatically sense environmental changes by automatic sensing system. Smart home, the trend of future lifestyle, has been payed specially attention both in academia and industry. Smart home system covers the electronic technology, network technology and control technology based on the network connection with the terminal equipments. These terminal equipments will be related to the household life within the visible interphone, home security, home appliance control, remote monitoring, remote medical diagnosis, nursing system, online education system, home audio system and other subsystems. Our research introduces the middleware technology and cross-platform communication paradigm into classic smart home system to enhance the feasibility, which optimizes the traditional communication protocol and simplifies the deployment procedures.


The aim of this Final Report is to know the influence of beauty class towards purchasing decisions of Wardah cosmetics. The data was collected by using questionnaires with 169 samples collegian of Business Administration Department, State Polytehcnic of Sriwijaya who had joined a beauty class as respondent and library research. Data analysis technique which was used Pearson correlation coefficient and determination coefficient to know how much the influence of beauty class towards purchasing decisions of Wardah cosmetics. The results that was gotten were correlation coefficient value was 0,51 and determination coefficient value was 26,01%. So, the influence of beauty class toward purchasing decisions of Wardah cosmetics was only 26,01% and 73,99% were influenced by another factor who wasn't researched. Therefore, the coorperation not only used a beauty class for increased sales, but must use another promotion which can give a contribution towards purchasing desicions of Wardah cosmetics.


ALTHOUGH theoretically the arsphenamine preparations employed in the treatment of syphilis are known chemical compounds, it has long been recognised that slight variations in manufacturing procedure result in products of varying quality in respect both of toxicity and therapeutic potency. Because of the first of these it has long been customary in various countries to subject each batch of an arsphenamine preparation to such tests as will guard against the sale to the public of products of undue toxicity, but much less attention appears to have been paid to the question of tests of therapeutic potency, though the importance of such tests was revealed shortly after the War in reports by Schamberg, Kolmer and Raiziss,' by Dale and White, with Burn, Durham, Marchal and Mills 2 and by Voegtlin and Miller.3 In the experiments of Schamberg, Kolmer and Raiziss, which were primarily to compare the therapeutic potency of arsphenamine with that of neoarsphenamine, it was shown that, under the trypanocidal test in rats, the minimum trypanocidal dose varied with different makes of arsphenamine from o-oio to o0o30 gm. per kgm. of body weight, and that of neoarsphenamine from 0-020 to 0o040. The authors found that the trypanocidal test afforded results closely similar to those which had been obtained by Castelli4 in experimental spirochaetal infections (S. obermayeri, hen spirillosis, rabbit syphilis). Voegtlin and Miller, employing the trypanocidal test, found that, while arsphenamine from different manufacturers was fairly uniform in parasiticidal power, neoarsphenamine showed great variations. The investigation by Dale and White was stimulated by the observation of certain


Effects of different temperatures and ozone treatments on quality of tomato fruits during storage were investigated in the present study.Results indicated that total soluble solids, titratable acids and vitamin C contents in tomato fruits could be effectively maintained during storage at(12.0 ± 1.0) ℃ combined with 200 mg/m3 ozone treatment for 0.5 h at a 3-day interval.Moreover, increase rate of relative conductivity for tomato fruits was attenuated, and respiration intensity and decay rate of tomato fruits were significantly reduced.Furthermore, the firmness of tomato fruits was also effectively maintained.Therefore, the optimal ozone treatments combined with appropriate temperature provided an excellent fresh-keeping effect on tomato fruits during storage.


Digital fingerprinting is a method for protecting multimedia content from illegal redistribution and identified the colluders.In copy protection, a content seller embeds a unique identity as a watermark into the content before it is sold to a buyer. When an illegal copy is found, the seller can identify illegal users by extracting the fingerprint. In this  proposing an anonymous fingerprinting  based on a homomorphic additive encryption scheme, it present a construction of anti-collision codes created using BIBD(Balanced incomplete block design) codes technique and dither technique which makes use of LFSR (linear feedback shift register) are used for improving the high robustness and Security.


This article reviews the development of public libraries in Bolivia. It starts going through the consecutive laws enacted by the State in order to promote th...


Searching for information on the web is regarded as a complex problem-solving activity involving a range of cognitive and affective processes. Anxiety is a key affective factor. In this article, we describe the construction and initial validation stages of the Information Retrieval on the Web Anxiety Rate (IROWAR) scale. The final structure of this inventory was validated with a sample of 183 English-speaking Internet users. Reliability analyses indicated that the factors were internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha: 0.92). When we checked divergent validity, we found negative correlations with both self-efficacy and positive attitude towards the Internet. There were no effects of either sex or age on the total IROWAR score, but the Internet search anxiety sum score decreased with the length of use. This scale will be useful in several domains, including research on the determinants of web anxiety, individuals' experience of web anxiety and ways of supporting them and Internet learning.


As to kitchen safety, the flameout protection of gas stove is an important barrier. Based on the deep studies of traditional methods of thermocouple flameout protection and analyzing the temperature curve of the gas stove, the paper not only presents a new approach on flameout protection based on temperature rate, but also lucubrates in related technology. We do the experiments with the relevant hardware and software system to verify the feasibility of the approach. The experimental results shows that the intelligent measuring and controlling technical scheme and related approach presented by the paper are correct and feasible. The experimental system works smoothly and reliably, responded promptly, and is competent for the task.


A virtual account management method and device. The method comprises: detecting whether the length of time during which a virtual account is not logged into reaches preset takeover duration (S101); and if yes, performing a specified management operation on the virtual account, wherein the specified management operation is oriented to a takeover user (S102). By means of the method and device, when the length of time during which a virtual account is not logged into reaches preset takeover duration, a specified management operation oriented to a takeover user can be performed on the virtual account; the takeover user is specified by a valid user of the virtual account, so that the assets in the virtual account of the valid user can be transferred to the takeover user in unexpected circumstances where the valid user cannot retrieve the password or the valid user dies, thereby avoiding financial loss of the valid user.


SIR, — We would like to report the isolation of Actinobacillus porcitonsillarum from the lungs of pigs in Spain. [Gottschalk and others (2003)][1] described a new, non-pathogenic bacterial species A porcitonsillarum colonising the nasal cavities and tonsils in domestic pigs in Canada. Remarkable


We report the results of picosecond and slower time scale transient absorption and emission measurements on a series of ruthenium(II) and ruthenium(III) octaethylporphyrins (Ru(OEP)(L1)(L2». The ruthenium(II) porphyrins are of three types. First are the carbonyl complexes in which Ll = CO and L2 = EtOH, pyridine (py), or I-methylimidazole (1-\1elm), which all exhibit similar spectral and kinetic behavior. The lowest excited states of these molecules are assigned as the ring 3T(7l',7l'*) in agreement with previous work on similar complexes. The 3T(7l',1I'*) state has a lifetime of ~75 J.lS at room temperature in degassed solution, as measured by decay of phosphorescence emission at 657 nm or relaxation of absorption changes induced by a lOons laser flash. Absorption difference spectra obtained upon excitation with a 35-ps flash do not decay over a 6-ns time scale, in agreement with the slower measurements. The spectra exhibit bleaching in the ground-state bands and the appearance of two new transient absorption peaks (log E ~3.7) near 720 and 815 nm; these features are consistent with the assignment of the transient as a metalloporphyrin (11'.11'*) triplet. The lQ(7l',lI'*) lifetimes in these carbonyl complexes appear to be 50 ps and >5 ns. These components are tentatively assigned to relaxation of the ring IQ(7l',lI'*) and 3T(1I',1I'*) excited states. The triplet decay may proceed via ring (7l') -- (metal d .. + NO(1!'*)) CT states predicted to be in the proper energy range from previous theoretical work. Finally, excited Ru lll - (OEP)(P-n-Bu3)(Br) decays completely in !>35 ps, possibly via a (7l',d~) ring-to-metal CT excited state. Our results are discussed in terms of recent absorption and emission measurements and calculations on d6 metalloporphyrins and are compared to previous picosecond measurements on analogous osmium(II) porphyrins.