Insight into biological pathways, identification of new targets and appropriate biomarkers are the prerequisites for drug discovery & development.
 This PhD thesis addresses the role of fundamental research in drug discovery in age-related Alzheimer's disease (AD), and a cancer-related target,
 the cell cycle. The large economic impact of AD, exponentially increasing in the ageing societies of industrialised countries strongly urges for discovery and development of drugs and therapy-related tools. As a consequence, the interest for retinoids based on their confirmed involvement in the regulation
 of disease-related genes in neurodegenerative ailments including AD has been revived, even though details of their molecular modes of action remain
 to be elucidated.
 The first project described in this PhD thesis focuses on the regulation of alpha-, beta-, and gamma-secretases mediated by all-trans-retinoic acid
 (ATRA), the main metabolite of retinoids. Our findings support the hypothesis that ATRA is capable of regulating secretases in the anti-amyloidogenic
 sense at the levels of transcription, translation, and activation. Apart from increased alpha-secretase activity, we show a complex chain of regulatory events, resulting in impaired beta-secretase trafficking and its membranal localisation due to protein kinase C (PKC) activation by ATRA,
 resulting in enhanced secretion of soluble APPalpha. ATRA also affected activity, transcription and localisation of Presenilin 1, the functional core of
 the gamma-secretase, but had no effect on Presenilin 2. The experiments were performed in three neuronal and non-neuronal cell lines of human and murine origin, which allowed us to determine general mechanisms and cell line-specific differences in the ATRA-mediated regulation of secretases.
 Although control of gene expression by retinoids occurs mainly via genomic regulation of target genes, anti-amyloidogenic effects of retinoids have been attributed to their PKC-stimulating ability and subsequent activation of alpha-secretases only. Therefore, contribution of genomic and non-genomic control mechanisms to the regulation of BACE1, the main beta-secretase, by ATRA was examined in the second project. Our findings corroborated the role of PKC stimulation in the down-regulation of BACE1 at the transcriptional and translational levels, resulting in
 decrease of Abeta42 in the human embryonic kidney HEK 293 cell line. ATRA induced DNA-binding activity of its receptors RARbeta-RXR, and showed PKC-
 dependent activation of the transcription factors NFkB and AP-1, as revealed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). We show disruption of a
 PKC-modulated decrease of BACE1 mRNA and Abeta levels, when NFkB or AP-1 activity was blocked by BAY11-7082, NFkB inhibitor, or by the transfection of inhibitory DNA-oligonucleotides. For the first time PKC-signalling induced by retinoids could be linked to the transcriptional control of BACE1 regulation. The last project described in this PhD studied the role of ADAM17 in the the cell cycle. ADAM17 is gaining attention in the field of clinical research as a potential outcome biomarker in breast cancer and adenocarcinoma. However, a possible implication of ADAM17 in the cell cycle has not been investigated, since its role in cancer is usually considered in the context of epidermal growth factor receptor signalling.
 First, through a combination of mass spectrometry and biochemical methods, we identified alpha- and beta-tubulins as binding partners of ADAM17. This interaction was confirmed bidirectionally in the murine neuroblastoma N2a cell line, and the ADAM17 fragments involved in tubulin-binding were
 identified. Additionally, we showed co-localisation of ADAM17 and tubulins in the spindle of mitotic cells. Furthermore, we were able to show a cell
 cycle-dependent regulation of ADAM17 by over-expression of either full length or mature ADAM17 versions in N2a cell line and observed significantly increased invasiveness due to over-expression of mature ADAM17 form. Still, biological significance of the interaction between ADAM17 and tubulins remains to be discovered.
 Altogether, these studies examined existing theories, raised new hypothesis, and contributed to the identification of new targets and a clearer understanding of fundamental mechanisms.


Sir, In the literature, the treatment of an arterial steal syndrome in patients with dialysis fistula has been described to mainly concentrate on decreased or abolished blood flow through the arteriovenous shunt, or bypassing the fistula w1–4x. An important cause of the steal phenomenon in a limb distal to a dialysis fistula is, however, distal artery occlusive disease, reducing limb perfusion to a critical level. In our opinion, awareness of this is important as endovascular treatment of a distal arterial lesion could make surgical intervention unnecessary, thereby preventing morbidity and fistula loss. The two following cases are examples of this. Case 1. The first patient is a 78-year-old male who developed ischaemic rest pain in his right hand after a brachio-cephalic fistula was formed. A duplex scan showed a 60–80% stenosis (peak systolic velocity ratio 3.0) in the brachial artery, just distal to the arteriovenous anastomosis. At angiography the peripheral arteries could only be visualized with the fistula being occluded by external compression, but it confirmed the presence of a diaphragm-like stenosis of the brachial artery, distal to the anastomosis (Figure 1). The venous limb of the fistula was punctured and after pressure measurements were taken across the stenosis, sequential angioplasty to 3 mm, and then 5 mm was performed through a 5 French sheath. The runoff improved substantially and clinically the patient experienced resolution of the ischaemic symptoms. Case 2. The second patient is a 59-year-old male who had a left-sided 6 mm PTFE brachio-basilic arteriovenous shunt formed. One month after the procedure he started complaining of pain in the left hand at rest and developed patches of necrosis on the index and middle finger. An angiogram demonstrated shunting through the fistula with no demon-strable distal arterial flow. On fistula compression, an occlu-sion of the brachial artery above the elbow was revealed. A guidewire was readily passed through the occluding Fig. 1. Angiography showing presence of a diaphragm-like stenosis of the brachial artery.


In this work, we present binding energies of acetic acid on the (110), (100), and (011) surfaces of rutile TiO2 calculated with the two density functional theory (DFT) exchange-correlation functionals PBE and PBEsol. It is shown that the binding energies can be influenced, in this case slightly reduced for all three surfaces, via preadsorption of hydrogen. Additionally, we tested the performance of the density-functional based tight-binding (DFTB) method applied to these adsorbate systems. Analysis of the electronic density of states shows that DFTB provides qualitatively comparable results to DFT calculations as long as the Fermi energy level remains within the band gap.


Studies have shown that aortic calcification is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, aortic calcium assessment can be performed on standard cardiac calcium scoring Computed Tomography scans, which may help to avoid additional imaging studies. In this paper, we present an entropy-based, narrow band restricted, iterative method for segmentation of the ascending aorta in non-contrast CT images, as a step towards aortic calcification detection and pericardial fat quantitation. First, an estimate of the aorta center and radius is obtained by applying dynamic programming in Hough space. In the second step, these estimates serve to reduce the aorta boundary search area to within a narrow band, and the contour is updated iteratively using dynamic programming methods. Our algorithm is able to overcome the limitations of previous approaches in characterizing (i) the boundary edge features and (ii) non-circular shape at aortic root. The results from the proposed method compare favorably with the manually traced aorta boundaries and outperform other approaches in terms of boundary distance and volume overlap.


Provenance analysis of the Mesozoic deposits in the Jiyang depression is based on sandstone and conglomerate contents,stable and unstable mineral contents and trace element distribution patterns.The principal source of the detritus lay to the northwest and southeast.The inner uplifts may provide only part of the detritus to the basin.The alluvial fan-braided stream-braided delta depositional system occurs in the northwest;the alluvial fan-meandering stream(alluvial plain)-delta depositional system appears in the southeast,and the lake depositional system is observed in the central part of the basin.The development of the Mesozoic basin is characterized by large basin,shallow lake,gentle slope and shallow-water delta.


The physics of the strongly interacting Hubbard chain (with $t/U\ensuremath{\ll}1$) at finite temperatures undergoes a crossover to a spin-incoherent regime when the temperature is very small relative to the Fermi energy, but larger than the characteristic spin energy scale. This crossover can be understood by means of Ogata and Shiba's factorized wave function, where charge and spin are totally decoupled, and assuming that the charge remains in the ground state, while the spin is thermally excited and at an effective ``spin temperature.'' We use the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method to calculate the dynamical contributions of the spin, to reconstruct the single-particle spectral function of the electrons. The crossover is characterized by a redistribution of spectral weight both in frequency and momentum, with an apparent shift by ${k}_{F}$ of the minimum of the dispersion.


In view of the deficiency of national forest cities in the exploration of spatial pattern and influencing factors, this paper adopted the methods of nearest neighbor analysis, kernel density analysis and unbalanced index calculation to analyze the spatial agglomeration pattern and spatial differentiation pattern of national forest cities. The factors affecting the selection and distribution of national forest cities were investigated by using the geographic detector and GWR model. The research results show that: 1 National forest cities show a spatial aggregation pattern of "east and west sparse, gradient change", whose distribution is closely related to the climatic area; 2 The number of national garden cities, forest coverage rate, urbanization rate and local general budget income are four factors that have significant influence on the selection and distribution of national forest cities; 3 The four significant influencing factors all have different degrees of spatial non-stationarity, and their two-factor and nonlinear enhancement effects can be generated after two interactions, among which the enhancement effect is the most obvious when the local general budget income interacts with other factors.


Phase pure titanium diboride (TiB2) powder of 100-200 nm was synthesized from TiO2 and B2O3 using a molten-salt-assisted magnesiothermic reduction technique. The effects of salt type, Mg amount, reaction temperature, and TiO2 raw materials on the synthesis process were examined and the relevant reaction mechanisms discussed. Among the three chloride salts (NaCl, KCl, and MgCl2), MgCl2 showed the best accelerating-effect. To synthesize phase pure TiB2, 20 mol% excessive Mg had to be used to compensate for the evaporation loss of Mg. Particle shape and size of raw material TiO2 showed little effect on the formation of TiB2 and its shape and size, suggesting that relatively cheaper and coarser TiO2 raw materials could be used for low-temperature synthesis of TiB2 fine particles. The "dissolution-precipitation" mechanism governed the overall molten salt synthesis process.


Two-factor experiment was designed to examine from lipid metabolism, proinflammatory eicosanoids, and lipid peroxidation for investigating the effects of dietary oils and zinc levels of cardiovascular system of broilers. One hundred sixty 1-d-old male broilers were divided into 4 groups with 8 replicates of 5 birds fed one of the diets containing either corn oil or fish oil with one of 2 levels (75mg/kg, 150mg/kg) of zinc. Fish oil significantly decreased the levels of serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, low density lipoproteincholesterol of broilers, decreased the contents of plasma prostaglandin E2, thromboxane B2, and phospholipase A2 in broilers when compared with corn oil. Zn level did not alter lipid metabolism, but significantly affected eicosanoid synthesis and lipid peroxidation of broilers. Zinc at 150mg/kg significantly decreased the contents of plasma prostaglandin E2, malondialdehyde, and phospholipase A2 in broilers when compared to zinc at 75mg/Kg. There were significant interactions between oil sources and zinc levels on production of serum triglyceride, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, plasma 6-ketoprostaglandin F1α, phospholipase A2 and malondialdehyde. In conclusion, fish oil improved lipid profiles, reduced proinflammatory eicosanoid contents by inhibiting phospholipase A2 production in broilers; while zinc reduced the contents of plasma malondialdehyde, phospholipase A2, and then decreased the concentration of prostaglandin E2 of broilers.


The purpose of this study is to complement the existing body of knowledge on the root system of tropical plants and their contribution to slope stability. For this reason, four trees of Acacia mangium selected as randomly in rainforest along East-West Highway, Malaysia. Root area ratio (RAR) and tensile strength (Tr) data were collected and analyzed. RAR data were measured with the whole root system and Tr were measured by individual roots. The results showed that there is a power law equation between root diameter and Tr, with an average of 44.11 Mpa (in average root diameter of 0.9mm). There was a wide variation in the RAR in relation to soil depth. Generally, RAR reduced with the increasing soil depth. Similarly, additional cohesion by plant roots conducted by Tr and RAR. In conclusion, in order to assess soil reinforcement by vegetation roots, root distribution and tensile strength data with soil depth in different vegetation and sites is necessary.


Under conditions of innate immune system activation (i.e., inflammation), the functions of specific cytochrome P450 enzymes, other drug metabolizing enzymes (DMEs), and drug transporters (DTs) are altered in the liver, small intestine, lung, kidney, and central nervous system (CNS). Many of these effects are primarily manifest at the transcriptional/RNA level, leading to corresponding changes in protein levels and function. This not only leads to altered drug and xenobiotic toxicity and action in diseased humans, but also has importance for disease therapy with biologic drugs that target inflammatory mediators or their receptors. Major roles for proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNFα) are inferred from the abilities of these agents to affect DMEs and DTs in cultured cells and in vivo, but the in vivo contributions of cytokines to regulation of these proteins in different inflammatory disease states is still poorly understood.

Keywords:

inflammation;
infection;
cytokines;
toll-like receptors;
biologics


This study examines the achievement of different types of students in learning chemistry at Engineering college level. In this study, the investigator applied Experimental Research as a method to describe and interpret what will exist in the future. A achievement test for the assessment of learning chemistry among Engineering college I year students was prepared with a sample of 30 students. The achievement test consists of 54 items. The achievement test was used for the achievement test. The male and female students have an average level of achievement in learning chemistry. The rural and urban students have an average level of achievement in learning chemistry. The male and female students do not differ significantly in their achievement in learning chemistry. The rural and urban students do not differ significantly in their achievement score in


This study aimed to address the procedure, effectiveness, and problems in the implementation of learning model for Building Engineering Apprenticeship Training Programme. This study was carried out through survey method and experiment. The data were collected using questionnaire, test, and assessment sheet. The collected data were examined through description, t-test, and covariance analysis. The results of the study showed that (1) the model's procedure covered preparation course, readiness assessment, assignment distribution, handing over students to apprenticeship instructors, task completion, assisting, field assessment, report writing, and follow-up examination, (2) the Learning Community model could significantly improve students' active learning, but not improve students' hard skills and soft skills, and (3) the problems emerging in the implementation of the model were (1) students' difficulties in finding apprenticeship places and qualified instructors, and asking for relevant tasks, (2) teachers'...


Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in schools are predominantly heterocentric. Consequently, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning young people have reported feeling excluded. This exclusion results in feelings of being "different" and "other," which in turn leads to further disengagement in the sex education classroom, contributing to poor sexual health literacy, greater risk of abusive relationships, and higher rates of sexually transmitted infections. A rapid review was undertaken to identify the impact of non-inclusive sex education. The review makes recommendations for policy and practice, which includes the provision of training courses to school teaching staff with an emphasis on inclusive RSE, appropriate online resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people, as well as offering 1:1 emotional health support for LGBTQ young people as they begin to question their sexual orientation.


Current development of copper electroplating additives has led to the development of suppressors that not only allow for proper bottom-up fill but also that wet the surface properly for defect-free entry of the copper-seeded wafer into the plating bath. The current work analyzes the adsorption and desorption characteristics of a common block copolymer wetting agent using an electrochemical flow-through cell. Adsorption characteristics are similar to that of polyethylene glycol (PEG) during electroplating, where the adsorption process becomes a strong function of polymer bulk concentration under 200 ppm and where increasing applied potential or current causes the surface suppression of the polymer to decrease. Desorption experiments showed similar results to PEG as well, where a two-stage desorption is seen when the applied potential or current becomes large enough. Computation fluid dynamic modeling of the flow-through cell allowed for the determination of the saturated surface coverage at -0.1 V vs Ag/AgCl, which was 0.041 μg/cm 2 . Additionally, the adsorption rate constant was modeled to be 6.02, 2.045, and 1.22 X 10 5 m 3 /kmol s for applied potentials of -0.1, -0.15, and -0.2 V vs Ag/AgCl, assuming a constant saturated surface coverage of 0.041 μg/cm 2 .


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical sheet which has remarkably high optical functions in convergence, diffusion, normal refraction, etc., and to provide a back light unit which is obtained by using the optical sheet and has improved quality including high frontal luminance, uniform brightness, optimized angle of view, thin profile, etc. SOLUTION: The optical sheet 1 is equipped, on the surface, with a micro lens array 3 composed of a plurality of micro lenses 4. These micro lenses 4 are shaped partly in an ellipsoid 5 with the major axis 6 facing the normal line. It is desirable that the micro lenses 4 have a height ratio (H/R L ) ≥3/4 and ≤1, flat ratio (R L /R S ) ≥1.05 and ≤1.7, major axis radius (R L ) ≥10 μm and ≤1,000 μm, filling factor ≥40%, and surface roughness (Ra) ≤10 μm, and that the material constituting the micro lens array 3 has a refractive index ≥1.3 and ≤1.8. COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI


Ghazan-Khanik complex is a small mafic-ultramafic intrusive body with Permian age at the extremity of NW of the Sanandaj-Sirjan zone, has intruded into the Precambrian metamorphic rocks. Field studies, geochemistry mineral compositions and assemblages of them demonstrate this complex has four lithological zones. The lower zone of non-layered gabbro is the fine-grain gabbronoritic component and non-mineralized. The second zone include of nonapatite ultramafic, clinopyroxenite, verlite and minor amounts of dunite with high proportion of Fe-Ti oxide (25-30%). The pure Fe-Ti oxide mineralization (with highly 90%) occurred as silllike cumulates parts within this ultramafic zone. The third zone consists of layered gabbro, which is occurred Fe-Ti oxide mineralization (0.5-5%) only in the apatite-rich mafic parts. The upper zone includes the anorthosite and pegmatite gabbro with 0-2% Fe-Ti oxide. Based on this studies for establishment of rich Fe-Ti oxide layers, two processes are involved; (1) enrichment in residual melts which is derived from basaltic parental magma and (2) injection of Fe-Ti oxide immiscible melts into mafic-ultramafic crystallizing mass.


Protoplasts wereenzymically isolated fromsuspension cultured cells of Nicodana glutnoss L.andaspects oftransport selectivity andkinetics werestudied. Inthepresence ofCa2O, transport wasselective forK+ (8Rb) overNa+.36CI- transport wasinhibited byBr-orI-butnotby H2PO4-. Te kinetic dataforshort term(30minutes) K+influx overthe rangeof0.05to100milmlar KCIwerecomplex butsimilar tothose observed inother plant tissues. Incontrast, thekinetic dataforCl-and H232P04- overthesameconcentration range weredifferent fromthose observed forK+,andcould beaccounted forbyasingle isotherm inthe range of0.05 to4miHimolar andbyanalmost linear increase ininflux rate above 4millimolar. Thekinetic dataforCl-transport into intact cultured cells wereidentical incharacter tothose observed forisolated protoplasts. Theresults support theviewthat enzymic removal ofthecell wail produced nosignificant alteration inthetransport properties oftheprotoplast. Inthepreceding paper(7), we showedthatitisfeasible touse protoplasts isolated fromcultured tobacco cellstostudy iontransport.Transport ofK+(6Rb), 36CF-, andH232P04- intoisolated tobacco protoplasts was tightly coupled toenergyproduction by aerobic respiration. Influx ofthese ionsresponded tochanges in pHortosubstances suchasCa21 orfusicoccin, inasimilar manner ashasbeenreported forintact plant cellsandtissues. Therewas no indication thatthetransport properties oftheprotoplast was significantly altered byenzymic removal ofthecell wall. Inthis paperwe characterize further thetransport properties of isolated tobacco protoplasts byconsidering aspects oftheselectivityandkinetics oftransport inthese cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS CellCulture andProtoplast Isolation. Experiments were conducted withprotoplasts isolated fromcultured cellsofNicotiana glutinosa L.asdescribed intheaccompanying paper(7). Briefly, cells weremixedwith1%(w/v) Cellulysin and0.2%Macerase in 0.7M mannitol andincubated for4hrtodigest thecellwalland release theprotoplast. Theprotoplasts were filtered, andthen collected andwashedbyrepeated centrifugation in0.7 M mannitol. Thefinal protoplast pellet (2-3mlpacked volumefrom20gfresh weight ofcultured cells) was suspended in5 volumes of0.7M mannitol.


Methacrylic acid 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl ester (DMAM)several synthetic methods such as alcoholacid direct esterification,acyl chloride esterification,ester exchange and high temperature pyrogenation methods are introduced,and the advantages and disadvantages of these methods are discussed.Among these methods,ester exchange is the most common method in industry preparation because of its merits in abundant material and great recovery.The application of DMAM in latex,plastic,fiber,petroleum additive,surface active agent,medicine production,water disposal,papar making,and dope are summarized.


The diffusive and adsorptive properties of the Martian regolith influence the exchange of volatiles between the atmosphere and subsurface. Our quantitative knowledge of these properties is extremely poor -introducing substantial uncertainties in efforts to model long-term evolution of ground ice and diurnal, seasonal, and climatic cycles of CO2 and H20. This situation should significantly improve upon arrival of the 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander in 2002. In support of the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) enterprise, the 2001 mission will include a suite of instruments to characterize the nature of the Martian environment and assess whether it contains hazards that may threaten future human exploration. A major element of this effort is the Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA) payload, which consists an optical microscopy system incorporating electrostatic, magnetic, and scratch-hardness materials testing palets, an atomic force microscope with imaging capabilities comparable to an SEM, a wet chemistry laboratory with four independent test cells, an electrometer on the robotic arm, material test patches, a camera also mounted on the arm, and a soil scoop for excavating down to about 50 cm into the soil. Although conceived to address the needs of HEDS, MECA payload is a sophisticated soil science laboratory that should provide a wealth of new data relevant to the volatile transport and storage properties of the regolith. Additional information os contained in the original.


Based on damage mechanics theory,a mechanical model for rock blasting is established considering of the rock heterogeneity,in which rock blasting is considered as two consecutive stages,i.e.the dynamic stage caused by the stress wave and the static stage caused by explosion gas pressure.The cracks evolution of two-hole blasting under different in-situ stress conditions is numerically simulated.The numerical results indicate that: ① the initiation of cracks is induced by the blasting stress wave,while the explosion gas pressure can lead to the further propagation of cracks;② the cracks evolution is closely related to the in-situ stress conditions,and the cracks propagation direction coincides with the maximum compressive principal stress;③ the cracks radius and cracks area decrease with the increasing of depth and in-situ stress,which implies the suppression of in-situ stress on blasting fracturing.


Aims: To characterize the shale samples from Agbada formation and to develop an inhibitive water-based mud for the shale types. Study Design: Experimental. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Petroleum, University of Port Harcourt Rivers State, Agbada Formation Niger-Delta Region, between March 2011 and August 2012.
Methodology: This study includes the determination of shale properties such as mineralogy, cation exchange capacity, native moisture content and total organic carbon content of the shale samples collected from two wells in Agbada Field. It also involves the establishment of an adsorption isotherm for the shale and the modeling of these isotherms using the Guggenheim, Anderson and Deboer model. Results: Based on the results of the dispersion and swelling tests, 3% Bentonite + 1% Potassium Chloride (KCl) were selected as the promising fluid. Well A exhibited the Type II isotherm which is common to most shale while Well B showed the Type V isotherm. Adsorption isotherm model predictions were in agreement with experimental observations. The samples from the wells exhibited dispersion after testing with deionized water. For Well A and B, 3% Bentonite + 1% Potassium Chloride (KCl) inhibits and yielded higher shale percent recovery values from dispersion tests. Conclusion: It was observed from adsorption isotherm models that the total organic carbon content is not a significant factor in the adsorptive and dispersive behaviors exhibited by the shale samples.


Introduction: The burden of disease attributable to environmental risks has received worldwide attention, as shown by reports of the increasing number of premature deaths and disability adjusted life years (DALY) linked to ambient air pollution [1,2]. Air pollution is responsible for 6.8% of total DALY and 11.2% of deaths from all causes worldwide, and for 1.9% of total DALY and 3.6% of the deaths from all causes in Portugal [3]. Concerning major causes of death in the country, in 2016 the burden of diseases attributable to air pollution was 8.7% for ischemic heart disease, 6.6% for stroke, 6% for lung cancer and 15.3% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Realizing how much disease and ill health can be prevented by reducing or eliminating environmental risk factors is important, but designing public health policies and interventions at the national and regional level in Portugal requires the knowledge of the specific environment-health interaction concerning air pollution. This work aims at shedding light on that specific interaction in Portugal, in the period 2010 – 2015. Materials and methods: Data for the main causes of death - diseases of the circulatory and digestive system, respiratory tract and malignant tumors - and levels of environmental exposures to main air pollutants - particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) - collected in 46 municipalities in Portugal in 2010 - 2015, were retrieved from Portuguese databases [4,5]. General linear models (GLM) were used to analyze time variations and differences between regions for the environmental exposures and for mortality rates. Backward regression models (BRM) were used to assess the relationship between levels of air pollution and mortality from main causes. Results: GLM results show a downward tendency for the air concentration of PM10, NO2 and O3, with different patterns in urban, suburban and rural region. Concomitantly, mortality from main causes has remained fairly constant, except for diseases of the respiratory tract, which has increased, and is higher in the rural areas. Additionally, BRM identified significant associations between rates of mortality from diabetes, diseases of the circulatory system and malignant tumors, with PM10 and NO2 air concentrations. The model provides a rough estimate of 15 deaths from main causes that could have been avoided per 10000 inhabitants with a 10µg/m3 reduction of the atmospheric level of PM10 and NO2. Discussion and conclusions: significant relationship between mortality rate by main causes and atmospheric concentrations of relevant pollutants has been suggested, providing an estimate of how many lives could be spared by tangible reduction of pollution level.


Recently the commissioning APOGEE observations of the Galactic bulge reported that a significant fraction of stars (∼10%) are in a cold (σV ≈ 30 km s−1) high velocity peak (Galactocentric radial velocity ≈200 km s−1). These stars are speculated to reflect the stellar orbits in the Galactic bar. In this study, we use two N-body models of a Milky Way-like disk galaxy with different bar strengths to critically examine this possibility. The general trends of the Galactocentric radial velocity distribution in observations and simulations are similar, but neither our models nor the BRAVA data reveal a statistically significant cold high velocity peak. A Monte Carlo test further suggests that it is possible for a spurious high velocity peak to appear if there are only a limited number of stars observed. Thus, the reported cold high velocity peak, even if it is real, is unlikely due to stars on the bar-supporting orbits. Our models do predict an excess of stars with high radial velocity, but not in a distinct peak. In the distance–velocity diagram, the high velocity particles in different fields exist at a similar distance ∼8.5 ± 1 kpc away from the Sun. This result may be explained by geometric intersections between the line-of-sight and the particle orbits; high velocity stars naturally exist approximately at the tangent point, without constituting a distinct peak. We further demonstrate that even without the presence of a bar structure, particle motions in an axisymmetric disk can also exhibit an excess of high velocity stars.


Nanofiltration (NF) membranes have been used for different applications in water treatment. In this work, we studied two facile surficial adhesive functionalization processes using polydopamine (pD...


There is provided a method of detecting biomolecules using a capacitive touch screen receiving a touch with a conductor as an input signal to perform an output on a display screen, and more particularly to a method of detecting target biomolecules by applying biomolecules having electrical conductivity to a touch panel and detecting a change in capacitance of a surface of a touch panel generated according to the concentration of the biomolecules. A method of detecting biomolecule according to the present invention uses a capacitive touch screen capable of being cheaply manufactured on a large scale, such that the method may have advantages such as cheap cost and a short analysis time and simply detect biomolecules in a personal terminal such as a smart phone, a tablet PC, and the like, on which a capacitive touch screen is mounted, as compared to the existing method requiring an expensive exclusive analysis apparatus based on absorbance or fluorescence having a large volume, a skilled experimental technique such as electrophoresis, or a long analysis time to thereby be performed only in an experimental room equipped with specialists and equipment.


Objectives This study aimed to examined the frequency of physiological intracranial calcifications (PICs) in paediatric population using computed tomography (CT). Methods The brain CT scans of consecutive patients (age range: 0–15 years) who had visited Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman, from January 2017 to December 2020 were retrospectively assessed for the presence of PICs. The presence of calcifications was identified using 3 mm-thick axial images and coronal and sagittal reformats. Results A total of 460 patients were examined, with a mean age of 6.54 ± 4.94 years. The frequency of PIC in boys and girls was 35.1% and 35.4%, respectively. PICs were most common in choroid plexus, observed in 35.2% (age range: 0.4–15 years, median: 12 years) of subjects, followed by the pineal gland in 21.1% (age range: 0.5–15 years, median: 12 years) and the habenular nucleus in 13.0% of subjects (age range: 2.9–15 years; median: 12 years). PICs were less common in falx cerebri, observed in 5.9% (age range: 2.8–15 years; median: 13 years) of subjects, and tentorium cerebelli, observed in 3.0% (age range: 7–15 years, median: 14 years) of subjects. PICs increased significantly with increase in age (P <0.001). Conclusion Choroid plexus is the most frequent site of calcification. Choroid plexus and pineal gland calcifications may be present in infants younger than one year. Recognising PICs is clinically important for radiologists as they can be mistaken for haemorrhage or pathological entities such as neoplasms or metabolic diseases.


The reported research considered the applicability of a dual process framework to stereotype change. Three experiments manipulated task involvement, source credibility, and message quality and measured stereotype change. Under conditions of high involvement, stereotype change was effected only by message cues. In low-involvement conditions, there was an additive effect of source and message cues. This credibility effect was due to an enhancement of the impact of stereotype-disconfirming information when presented by a highly credible source. These findings show differential processing of stereotype-disconfirming information under hig4 and low involvement, consistent with the dual process approach. Processing time, recall, and thought listing also showed differential processing of the counter stereotypical message under high-and low-involvement conditions. Results are discussed in terms of the models of persuasion, and implications for traditional stereotype change research are considered.


Abstract Ocular calcification is a biological mineralization. It is also a well-known human ophthalmic disease but is a complex process because the pathophysiology of calcium deposition in ocular tissues depends on site-specific factors. Calcified deposits in the eyes are asymptomatic lesions; a serious consequence of ocular plaques is the potential partial or total loss of vision in the affected eye. Therefore, a better understanding of the exact compositional components and origin of calcified plaques in different eye tissues is necessary and merits exploration. The present review article includes information on different diagnostic or analytical techniques to examine human ocular calcification collected and compiled from 2005 to 2013, together with data on the application of vibrational spectroscopy in ophthalmology studies from 1990 onwards. This overview of ocular calcification is mainly focused on two aspects: the pathogenesis and mechanism of calcification in different ocular tissues and biomedical applications of vibrational spectroscopy to spectral biodiagnosis of eye tissues. A summary of the in vitro, in situ, and in vivo spectral information that is expected to assist physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of patients or satisfy patients of the clinical competence of the diagnosis is provided.


The present invention discloses a method for configuring a network processor and a network processor. The network processors, each processing unit includes a matching stage unit, the operation unit, the control unit and the delay circuit, the K-level control unit in the processing unit for: receiving the first K- K of the first-stage processing unit after the current dependency level 1 to the processing unit transmits a first packet and the first packet, obtains the dependence of K final stage processing unit of the second packet buffer; according to the first packet the current final dependencies and dependencies of the first K stages of the second buffer processing unit determine the first message packet a final dependency; ultimately the dependency provided according to the first packet K-stage delay circuit of the processing unit. The present invention can dynamically adjust the processing unit current dependency levels, increase the flexibility of the network processor pipeline configuration.


This paper introduces a novel blind frequency offset estimator for signaling using cross Quadrature Amplitude Modulated constellations. The estimator is based on the tentative frequency offset compensation of nonlinearly transformed received signal samples and on their accumulation in different angular windows. When the compensation perfectly removes the frequency offset, the measurements are suitably clustered and their accumulation, that we call the "Constellation Phase Signature" (CPS), is a peaked function of the window orientation. Hence, the frequency offset estimator is obtained by adjusting the compensation so that the peakness of the sample CPS is maximized. The performance of the estimator has been evaluated by numerical simulations. Comparison of the CPS based estimator with a selected existing estimator shows that it performs well for medium to high values of SNR.


Interleukin 4 (IL‐4) is a product of activated T cells and mast cells with effects on immunologic and hematopoietic processes. We now report that IL‐4 inhibits the formation of osteoclasts from murine bone marrow cells cocultured with stromal cells. Numerous (3,000–4,000 cells/2 cm2) tartrate‐resistant acid‐phosphatase‐positive multinucleated cells with the capacity to generate cAMP in response to salmon calcitonin (ED50 = 10−10 M) developed within 10–12 days of culture. IL‐4 (ID50 = 10 U/ml) inhibited osteoclast generation in doses similar to those that induce proliferation of IL‐4‐responsive T cells. Additionally, the rat antimurine IL‐4 monoclonal antibody 11B11 antagonizes the IL‐4‐inhibitory effect on osteoclast formation. These results suggest that IL‐4 impedes agonist‐induced in vitro bone resorption by inhibiting osteoclastogenesis.


Paying higher salaries is often believed to enhance worker effort, leading workers to work harder to avoid getting fired. However, workers may also respond to higher salaries by focusing on tasks that most directly affect getting fired (as opposed to those that contribute most to productivity). We explore these issues by analyzing the relationship between the level of compensation and time use for US state legislators. Using data on time use and legislator salaries, we show that higher salary is associated with legislators spending more time on fundraising. In contrast, higher salary is also associated with less time spent on legislative activities and has no clear relation to time spent on constituent services. Subgroup analysis broadly supports our interpretation of the data.


Poisson processes are commonly used models for describing discrete arrival phenomena arising, for example, in photon-limited scenarios in low-light and infrared imaging, astronomy, and nuclear medicine applications. In this context, several recent efforts have evaluated Poisson denoising methods that utilize contemporary sparse modeling and dictionary learning techniques designed to exploit and leverage (local) shared structure in the images being estimated. This paper establishes a theoretical foundation for such procedures. Specifically, we formulate sparse and structured dictionary-based Poisson denoising methods as constrained maximum likelihood estimation strategies, and establish performance bounds for their mean-square estimation error using the framework of complexity penalized maximum likelihood analyses.


A novel approach for recovering from errors during automated assembly in typical mating operations is presented. It is based on automated error detection w.r.t. a predefined process model, followed by choosing a recovery strategy from an optimized repository. The latter comprises successful strategies that were recorded from human demonstration during a large scale user study. This paper shows how to enhance the process model with additional data, how to record new strategies in case where no suitable strategy is found, how to optimize a set of strategies, and how to select the most appropriate recovering strategy. A particular focus is the fusion of various human demonstrations in order to optimize them. The added value of the new approach is demonstrated by an experimental validation.


Vulnerability disclosure is an area of public policy that has been subject to considerable debate, particularly between proponents of full and instant disclosure, and those of limited or no disclosure. This paper is an attempt to empirically test the impact of vulnerability information disclosure and availability of patches on attackers' tendency to exploit vulnerabilities on one hand and on the vendors' tendency to release patches on the other. Our results suggest that while vendors are quick to respond to instant disclosure, vulnerability disclosure also increases the frequency of attacks. However, the frequency of attacks decreases over time. We also find that open source vendors patch more quickly than closed source vendors and that large vendors are more responsive.


OBJECTIVES
Indications for the use of stents are evolving and their optimal place in therapy remains to be defined. The objective was to compare the 1-year clinical and economic outcomes of percutaneous transluminal coronary agioplasty (PTCA) with and without the use of stents.

METHODS
This retrospective database analysis was conducted using data from 60 US academic medical centers in 1996 and 1997. Outcomes of interest included in-hospital mortality (both on sentinel and readmission visits), readmission rates, revascularization procedures, length of stay, and the cost of sentinel and readmission hospitalization.

RESULTS
A total of 27,020 patients either did (n = 13,254) or did not (n = 13,766) receive coronary stents in conjunction with PTCA. The median cost of hospitalization for the stent group was about dollar 1,409 higher (mean, dollar 1,200) than the no-stent group and the length of stay was similar (4.3 days vs. 4.5 days, respectively, P = .2628). Mortality rates on readmission (0.9% stent vs. 0.8% no-stent, P = NS) did not differ. However, patients in the stent group had better mortality rates compared to the no-stent group during the sentinel visit (1.7% vs. 2.7%, P < .001). Stent use was not associated with a significantly lower risk of a revascularization procedure on readmission to the same institution (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.87-1.04, P = .28).

CONCLUSIONS
Stents were associated with a 1% decrease of inpatient mortality during the sentinel visit without impacting length of stay or readmission rates. This advantage was associated with a dollar 1,409 higher median cost of hospitalization in the stent group.


We design a new footprint detection program for implementing a biological database and for footprint recognition in order to support biosecurity especially for environmental surveillance. For this programl design, we propose a footprint detection and a feature extraction solution to solve several main issues such as incomplete, fading, missing, sliding, overlapped, or asymmetrical footprints. Extracted footprint images and features are used to develop a new online footprint database for better productivity, reliability, portability and source management for environmental surveillance studies (e.g. invasive species eradication programs).


The present study has the purpose of understanding the interpretation of what should be considered
a police emergency in the view of the civilian telephone operators of the 190 of the dispatchers of
police vehicles of the Operations Center of the Military Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro. In the
interpretation of 190 telephone operators, a call should only be classified as emergency police
occurrence when a fact is occurring at the moment, whether a criminal action or not, and offers an
immediate risk to people's lives, their property or public tranquility. For the CECOPOM dispatcher,
a police event would be generated within the same criteria as the 190 telephone operators along
with a selective application of the law in a discretionary manner, ie mediating disputes, sending
dispatchers of police vehicles only the occurrences that could not be resolved through telephone
service.


Abstract The arid region of Rajasthan has been classified into unique agro-ecological sub-regions, zones, and sub-zones (indicated by their code number in this abstract) for which sustainable land use has been suggested based on the potentials and constraints. 2.1, 2.2 and 3.1 sub-zones need dune stabilization, silvopastural farming, and kharif cultivation in interdunes; khadin water harvesting system, as well as solar farming. 4.1 and 4.2 sub-zones need rainfed cropping under conserved moisture, agroforestry and limited irrigation, cultivation of low water requiring crops, such as mustard, cumin in rabi. In 4.3 sub-zone under conserved moisture and winter rainfall pulses and mustard are suggested. In 5.1 and 5.2 sub-zones kharif season crops and wheat, mustard, cumin, and condiments irrigated with brackish groundwater by adopting gypsum treatment are suggested. In the canal command area, the micro-irrigation system is doing well in the sandy plain and dune complex area, but in the Ned area irrigation needs to be restricted/avoided. In 5.3 and 5.4 sub-zones, rainfed irrigated crops and fruit cultivation is suggested. In 6.1 sub-zone dune stabilization is suggested; 6.2 and 6.3 sub-zones require erosion control and irrigation water management for the cultivation of cotton, paddy, groundnut, sugarcane, and kinnow.


The present invention discloses an oral solid preparation containing ambroxol hydrochloride and salbutamol active components. It is formed from ambroxol hydrochloride, salbutamol and auxiliary material according to a certain mixing ratio. Said oral solid preparation has the obvious synergistic action for remitting the symptoms of dyspnea, etc. due to respiratory tract obstruction diseases of bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis and pulmonary emphysema, etc.


The article presents the results of a French-Bulgarian study of the professional competencies of the teachers. The authors analyse only one aspect of these competences, namely their conceptions on the development and education of pupils. The article looks for the answer to the question which psychological and pedagogical theories can explain the teachers' perceptions of professional competence, trained in two different educational philosophies and systems. It reaches conclusions that confidence in the professional knowledge, skills and competencies of Bulgarian teachers are more independent in comparison with the perceptions of their French colleagues.


In most programming languages a called method is executed synchronously, i.e. in the thread of execution from which it is invoked. If the method needs a long time to completion, e.g. because it is loading data over the internet, the calling thread is blocked until the method has finished. When this is not desired, it is possible to start a "worker thread" and invoke the method from there. In most programming environments this requires many lines of code, especially if care is taken to avoid the overhead that may be caused by creating many threads. AMI solves this problem in that it augments a potentially long- running ("synchronous") object method with an "asynchronous" variant that returns immediately, along with additional methods that make it easy to receive notification of completion, or to wait for completion at a later time. This paper focuses on asynchronous method invocation in two popular languages Join java and C# .


"Dr. Cryer has been the model of a superb clinical investigator in diabetes," says James R. Gavin III, MD, PhD, president of the American Diabetes Association. "The clinical investigator, more often than not, is responsible for pulling together a cohesive series of observations that help to illuminate a complex biological response or mechanism," says Dr. Gavin, "and the clinical investigator will have contributed a body of work that is consistent with the complexity of the clinical problem."


The paper classifies and analyzes how frequently HUT journals'(Social Science Edition) are being quoted and then comes up with some proposals as to setting up the journal's columns and improving the quality of the selected manuscripts.


The vibration signal of rotating machinery fault is a periodic impact signal and the fault characteristics appear periodically. The shift invariant K-SVD algorithm can solve this problem effectively and is thus suitable for fault feature extraction of rotating machinery. With the over-complete dictionary learned by the training samples, including thedifferent classes, shift invariant sparse feature for the training as well as test samples can be formed through sparse codes and employed as the input of classifier. A support vector machine (SVM) with optimized parameters has been extensively used in intelligent diagnosis of machinery fault. Hence, in this study, a novel fault diagnosis method of rolling bearings using shift invariant sparse feature and optimized SVM is proposed. Firstly, dictionary learning by shift invariant K-SVD algorithm is conducted. Then, shift invariant sparse feature is constructed with the learned over-complete dictionary. Finally, optimized SVM is employed for classification of the shift invariant sparse feature corresponding to different classes, hence, bearing fault diagnosis is achieved. With regard to the optimized SVM, three methods including grid search, generic algorithm (GA), and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are respectively carried out. The experiment results show that the shift invariant sparse feature using shift invariant K-SVD can effectively distinguish the bearing vibration signals corresponding to different running states. Moreover, optimized SVM can significantly improve the diagnosis precision.


The mechanisms for removal of synthetic sebum constituents squalene, cholesterol, triolein and oleic acid from polyester (PET) fabric substrate in an aqueous solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were studied by applying a pseudo-phase retention equation to the migration of a soil in a liquid chromatography column in which the fabric serves as the stationary phase and an aqueous micellar solution of SDS serves as the mobile phase. The retention volume of the four fatty soils on PET fabric was measured as a function of the SDS concentration in the mobile phase. The changes in standard free energy of soil transfer from water onto the fabric substrate (-∆G°sw), from water into micelles (-∆G°mw) and from fabric substrate into the micelles (-∆G°ms) were calculated from the partition coefficient data determined chromatographically at various concentrations of micellar mobile phases. The -∆G°sw for the re-deposition of fatty soil onto the PET substrate increased in the following order: cholesterol<oleic acid<squalene< triolein. The -∆G°mw for solubilization of the soil from water (non-micellar solution) into SDS micelles increased in the following order: oleic acid <cholesterol<squalene< triolein. The -∆G°ms for removal of the soil from the PET substrate into SDS micelles decreased in the following order: cholesterol> squalene> triolein. These thermodynamic parameters suggest that removal of fatty soils from PET fabric is dependent on the tendencies of the soils to redeposit onto the fabric and to solubilize into SDS micelles.


The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the existing studies on the relationship between merger and acquisition with firm's financial performance by using corporate governance as a moderator and address the need for similar analysis by analyzing merger and acquisition with firm's performance in both developed and developing economies. The existing studies that measure the relationship between merger and acquisitions with performance in both developed and developing economies are found to be inconclusive and inconsistent in nature because of contradictory results in their findings. As a result of inconsistency and contradiction in previous literature, this study propose the need by introduce the corporate governance as a moderator between merger and acquisitions with firm's performance. KeywordsBoard of Directors, Corporate Governance, Firm performance, Merger & Acquisition.


Global climate change triggered the heavy and extreme rainfall in forms of intensity, pattern, duration, amount, and frequency. This condition strongly influences the occurrence of soil erosion, especially in the humid tropic region. The purpose of this research is to analyse the soil erosion rate under pineapple cultivation in Central Lampung, Indonesia. The results show rainfall erosivity using Bols equation is around 2109-3211 metric ton/h/ha. Soil erodibility is ranging 0.007-0.080 was categorized low to very low due to the amount of sand and silt is too low. The Slope also categorized low around 1-4%. The crop factor value is around 0.01-1. The rate of erosion in pineapple was 2016 is 1.51 ton/ha/year until 15 ton/ha/year; that value is under standard permissible erosion (18.5-25 ton/ha/year).


A photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell was made by a conventional three-electrode system. The working electrode was an as-prepared PbS/ITO/glass composite by a chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The as-deposited films were characterized for structural, morphological, compositional and PEC properties. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies reveal that the films are polycrystalline in nature with cubic phases. The surface morphology was determined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements. The film shows p-type conduction mechanism. The PEC cell, with PbS/ITO/glass as a photo cathode and Na2SO4 (0.10 M) solution as an electrolyte, was constructed and investigated for various cell parameters.


Objectives Bariatric surgery is the most clinically effective treatment for people with severe and complex obesity, however, the psychosocial outcomes are less clear. Follow-up care after bariatric surgery is known to be important, but limited guidance exists on what this should entail, particularly related to psychological and social well-being. Patients' perspectives are valuable to inform the design of follow-up care. This study investigated patients' experiences of life after bariatric surgery including important aspects of follow-up care, in the long term. Design A qualitative study using semistructured individual interviews. A constant comparative approach was used to code data and identify themes and overarching concepts. Setting Bariatric surgery units of two publicly funded hospitals in the South of England. Participants Seventeen adults (10 women) who underwent a primary operation for obesity (mean time since surgery 3.11 years, range 4 months to 9 years), including Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, adjustable gastric band and sleeve gastrectomy, agreed to participate in the interviews. Results Experiences of adapting to life following surgery were characterised by the concepts of 'normality' and 'ambivalence', while experiences of 'abandonment' and 'isolation' dominated participants' experiences of follow-up care. Patients highlighted the need for more flexible, longer-term follow-up care that addresses social and psychological difficulties postsurgery and integrates peer support. Conclusions This research highlights unmet patient need for more accessible and holistic follow-up care that addresses the long-term multidimensional impact of bariatric surgery. Future research should investigate effective and acceptable follow-up care packages for patients undergoing bariatric surgery.


This paper deals with the Hadhrami diaspora in Singapore as a case study of how in contemporary events the Hadhrami diaspora has helped sustain the relationship with the motherland. What makes the study of Singapore Hadhramis interesting is that this is a community that has been in Singapore for over two centuries The other interesting aspect is that most families have migrated to Singapore via Indonesia and to a large extent consider themselves as Arab Jawa/Arab Indon.  They have maintained close ties with Indonesia; in a sense Indonesia is the second motherland. The other element is that most migrated to Singapore with wealth made elsewhere; mainly from Indonesia. The fourth element is Singapore is a rich and developed country and most of the community do not harbour thoughts of returning to motherland but at same time are not severing ties. The last and most interesting element is that the majority of Singapore Hadhramis do not speak Arabic and have never visited Hadramaut. All these elements could have contributed to the Singapore Hadhrami community not maintain links with motherland. However strong bonds exist and continue. The pioneers, understandably, never forgot their motherland. They created numerous wakafs for Hadramaut.


The Stanford Biophysics Program is an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental training program leading to the Ph.D. Degree in biophysics. The program centers on understanding biological function in terms of physical and chemical principles. The Program comprises faculty from 16 departments in the Schools of Humanities and Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory. Research in the Program involves two overlapping branches of biophysics: the application of physical and chemical principles and methods to solving biological problems, and the development of new methods.


Redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) females at different stages of vitellogenesis were sampled to investigate variations in soluble protein, lipid and water content and in the amino acid and fatty acid composition of the hepatopancreas and ovaries. During vitellogenesis, the changes in the content of soluble proteins and lipids in the hepatopancreas and ovaries were dependent on both diet and the reserves from the hepatopancreas. However, in comparison to the ovary, the fluctuation of the amino acid composition in the hepatopancreas suggested that the protein resources mobilized from this organ was compensating for those gained from feeding. Changes in the fatty acid composition of the hepatopancreas showed limited compensatory function as for the quick accumulation of lipids in the ovaries. The proportional amounts of saturated fatty acids/mono-unsaturated fatty acids/poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and the predominant fatty acids in both tissues indicated that the mobilization and utilization of fatty acids in freshwater species are different from that in marine species. Based on the redclaw's feeding habits, the commercial pellets used in this study may not be optimal, and a diet with less PUFA may suffice for its vitellogenesis and reduce the feeding costs.


According to the development trend of agriculture high-efficiency water use in north arid continential river irrigation district in 21 century,the paper carried out the integration and demonstration research and explored agricultural high-efficiency water use technique and it's development mode in the regions.By grouped and integral the new technique of agricultural high-efficiency water use suitble to arid continential river irrigation district,the article put forward the schemes of water resources rational allocation and optimization regulation,the structural design of anti-heave and seepage-prevention canal,field water saving irrigation technique and corresponding irrigation district management technique,formed the agricultural high-efficiency water use comprehensive technique model in the district.


Personality traits are increasingly being incorporated in systems to provide a personalized experience to the user. Current work focusing on identifying the relationship between personality and beh ...


Background: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease with no well-known cause. The search for simple laboratory indicators is essential to assess the disease activity of the SLE. Currently, the Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) and Platelet Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR) are widely used as markers of the


The purpose of this note is to present a Newmark type of influence chart to estimate the instantaneous excess pore pressure in deep, homogeneous soils due to surface vertical loads of any arbitrary but finite shape. It is concluded that assumption of Boussinesq type distribution for instantaneous excess pore pressure could result in gross overestimation of consolidation settlement. The analysis has particular reference to flexible loaded finite areas, such as liquid storage steel tanks. A chart is developed to assess the instantaneous excess pore pressure below flexible loaded areas of arbitrary shape.


The Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) project will extract 120‐GeV protons from the FNAL Main Injector in 8.56‐μsec spills of 4 × 1013 protons every 1.9 sec. We have designed secondary emission monitor (SEM) detectors to measure beam profile and halo along the proton beam transport line. The SEMs are Ti foils 5 μm in thickness segmented in either 1‐mm or 0.5‐mm pitch strips, resulting in beam loss ∼5 × 10−6. We discuss aspects of the mechanical design, calculations of expected beam heating, and results of a beam test at the 8‐GeV transport line to MiniBoone at FNAL.


ideas, this is what most of us take for granted and forget that PSOnline www.apsanet.org 565 This content downloaded from 18.104.22.168 on Tue, 13 Dec 2016 04:36:07 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms not everybody is in the same boat. I really feel that I, we, have a certain responsibility not to forget and to help whenever and wherever possible. Although not all students achieve the expectations set out for them in this project, their struggle in the early stages are to move beyond their own biographies and overcome feelings of inadequacy and disinterest. Most students engage their work along these lines; some of them of course do not. Gradually, the process begins to show results. As many students find they are up to the challenge, they begin working in a collaborative spirit. They find the time to meet and begin to create a social product. One student claimed: This (project) is all about a group working together towards making a difference in the community, and creating a new program at the college. What makes it more gratifying is that without the other-students and immigrants-our goals would not have been achieved. By the project's end, the first student's fears had been replaced by a sense of wonder that the project really did make a difference in the lives of community residents. I never saw so many smiles on people's faces. I didn't feel uncomfortable or timid at all at that point to answer any questions they had.... I even got a chance to speak a little Portuguese with somebody in their 50s who was there with his sister to bring their 82 year old mother to fill out her application. He must have shaken my hand and said thank you about 50 times. Similarly, the second student's initial fear turned to "an adrenaline rush" as all the plans became real. I was not expecting to see what I saw when I opened those doors. The room looked fantastic. It was exactly as envisioned on the classroom board. The tables were set up just as imagined, there were posters, signs, and flags. I was in a state of disbelief..,. unaware of our potential. I just did not give us enough credit.... By 9:30, people were arriving, adrenaline was rushing, excitement was building. All our months of hard work and commitment finally realized. Let the Games begin. Discussion and Conclusion CSL is designed to challenge quiescent students and citizens to become stakeholders in their own communities. To be successful, it must also address the causes of such quiescence and anomie. CSL is meant to overcome three weaknesses of traditional pedagogy that combine to produce an apathetic citizenry: 1) Academic disciplines have become increasingly isolated in this century with the development of the modern research university and the corresponding development of discrete areas of specialization; 2) "Rigor" within higher education has progressively come to mean isolated specialization within a discipline, and 3) Pedagogical rigor has come to mean those techniques that support this isolation. The concept-centered basis of traditional classroom instruction alone is inadequate to provide education for the well-prepared citizen. Through symbolic presentations, students learn methods of collecting information, but not methods of processing and critically evaluating that information in a real-time setting (Aronowitz and Giroux 1985). While professors present information and evoke responses to questions, the merits and shortcomings of different social science perspectives are not carefully tested, nor are the teacher's own interpretations of specific knowledge (Gimenez 1989, 185). As professors lead the class, students primarily receive information, take notes, memorize facts, and prepare for exams. In this situation, "the professor is empowered to speak and to act while the student is constrained to listen, to take notes, and to accept. The result . . . victimizes students by denying their competence and undermining their sense of subjective agency, ultimately reproducing classrooms and cultures of silence" (Wright 1989, 194). Such factors hardly contribute a training ground for proactive citizenship. Rather, they reinforce higher education's increasing isolation from the real world. As the ever-prescient Alexis de Tocqueville warned, "in disengaging the classroom from realworld settings, schools ... fail to do their job and democracy ... fail(s) to secure the responsible citizens it needs to flourish" (quoted in Barber 1997). Tocqueville hits the mark. According to a recent Times-Mirror poll (1990), young citizens "know less ... about news and public affairs than any other generation of Americans in the past fifty years." Moreover, only a third of Americans trust the government to do the right thing, according to a 1998 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for the Public and the Press. A recent Carnegie Foundation report claims, "If there is a crisis in education in the United States today, it is less that test scores have declined than it is that we have failed to provide the education for citizenship that is still the most important responsibility of the nation's schools and colleges" (Newman 1985, 3:1). If Jurgen Habermas is correct in claiming that "the institutions of constitutional freedom are only worth as much as a population makes of them" (quoted in Calhoun 1992, 7), then America's democratic institutions are endangered by too narrow a focus on passive legal-status citizenship. Harkavy and Puckett give voice to this concern as it relates to the role of higher education, writing "Colleges and universities can no longer afford the luxury of being inward looking, relatively selfcontained and unconcerned about producing useful knowledge 'for the betterment of humanity.' Nor can they operate with such a threadbare moral purpose" (1992, 32). Under such conditions, a crucial opportunity is lost to provide skills and direction for a multi-faceted and active role for prospective citizens in the civic marketplace (Dewey 1916; Coleman 1977). CSL provides just such a process of active learning for citizenship that prepares young adults for lives of active participation. Such CSL projects as C-Day are not without their problems. Some students com566 PS September 1998 This content downloaded from 18.104.22.168 on Tue, 13 Dec 2016 04:36:07 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms plain about "free riders" in their midst and that the process was too messy, inefficient, and lacking in direction. A couple of students contended that CBO's were not serious about collaborating with college students. Others found it difficult to take the time from traditional school work and jobs. Involvement in the project does not mean that all the students come to value becoming fully proactive citizens. CSL is not meant to indoctrinate students to favor immigration. It encourages critical inquiry about the nuances of immigration and citizenship--why it is, for example, that a nation of immigrants has always been ambivalent about immigration? It also provides tools for enhancing tolerance, engaging people from different cultures, problem solving, reflection, and critical inquiry. Even opponents of immigration recognize they will benefit from the skills they gained while participating in CSL, and, given the opportunity, they say they would do it again.


The electronic structures of glycine have been calculated for the dipolar-ion form and the neutral form by means of the CNDO method. The relative stability of both the dipolar-ion form and the neutral form in the gas state was reproduced by our calculation. The geometry of the glycine was also reproduced by the CNDO method, indicating the validity of our calculation. In addition, the relative stability of the two tautomeric forms of glycine was proved to be independent of its geometrical modifications. The experimental fact that the dipolar-ion form is more stable than the neutral form in an aqueous solution was well explained by the calculation of the interaction energy between the solute and the solvent.


As broadcasting is the process that a node sends a packet to all nodes in the network. it is basic process used for discovering of a routes to a node and disseminating of control information message in Mobile Ad hoc NETwork (MANET). In this paper, we propose dynamically adjusted probabilistic mechanism based on distance ratio and node density for broadcasting in MANETs. The distance ratio can be calculated as the ratio of the radio strength length to the distance from sender of a node, and node density can be get from 1-hop nodes of neighbours. A mobile node receiving broadcast packets determines the probability of rebroadcasting considering distance ratio and node density of itself. Rebroadcast probability will be set as low value to a node which is located in nearby area of sender and has high 1-hop node density, So it reduces packets transmission caused by the early die-out of rebroadcast packets. Compared with the simple flooding and fixed probabilistic flooding by simulation, our approach shows better performances results. Proposed algorithm can reduce the rebroadcast packet delivery more than 30% without scanting reachability, where as it shows up to 96% reachability compared with flooding.


The current oscillations of a copper electrode in trichloroacetic acid solutions were studied in this paper. The Cu/CCl3COOH System is a new electrochemical oscillator showing rich dynamic behaviour on two controllable parameters: the trichloroacetic acid concentration (c(Cl3COOH)) and the imposed potential (E). Phase trajectories were reconstructed from time series using time delay methods in order that the complex oscillations could be analyzed. Five kinds of oscillations. periodic and quasipefiodic. mixed-mode. aperiodic. small amplitude and chaotic current oscillations, were observed. The EDS (energy dispersive spectroscopy) technique was used to analyze the elemental composition of the film formed on the surface of the copper electrode after the current oscillations.


Traffic signal system retiming and optimization ranks as one of the most cost-effective urban transportation improvement actions, increasing mobility, reducing fuel consumption, and improving environmental quality. The extent of benefits realized from traffic signal retiming depends on various factors including the quality of existing timing plans, street network configuration, and traffic patterns. For example, the Traffic Light Synchronization Program in Texas reduced delay by 24.6 percent, lowered travel time by 14 percent, and demonstrated a benefit-to-cost ration of 62:1. Signal retiming projects in several U.S. and Canadian cities have been shown to reduce fuel consumption by 2 to 9 percent and emissions by 1 to 6 percent. For optimal performance, traffic signal timing plans need to be updated at least every three to five years, and possibly more frequently depending on growth and changes in traffic patterns. The cost of retiming a signal is approximately $3,000. Based on the estimated 272,000 traffic signals in the United States and assuming that a fourth of these signals are retimed every year, the annual costs of signal retiming is roughly $200 million.


Bistort Rhizoma (BR) is consumed as a traditional medicinal herb in China, but there reports on its bioactive components are scarce. In the present study, a fingerprinting analysis was built in 35 batches of BR from various sources, and five major compounds, the content of total phenols (TP) as well as total extractable tannins (TET) were measured. The antioxidant properties were examined by three methods, and then the correlation coefficients between antioxidant activity and content of BR properties were evaluated. The results showed that the content of TP was significantly correlated with the herbal antioxidant activity (R2 = 0.5501 in the DPPH assay; R2 = 0.6387 in the ABTS assay and R2 = 0.6722 in the FRAP assay) but the five major components are not, TET also partly influenced the herbal efficiency. In conclusion, the properties responsible for the antioxidant activity of BR are phenols, and the active constituents may be some trace phenols in BR, which need further study to unravel the truly active compounds.


Support for system security construction as shown provides support for security systems used in construction and seeking to avoid and mitigate the fall vacuum objects or operators, support is easy to assemble and disassemble as well as offering easy and safe assembly of the safety systems, has a vertical section attached at its lower end to a horizontal support comprises two parallel horizontal sections joined together on the vertical section are arranged at least two shaped profiles "U" superiorly open and parallel to each other at a distance that is equal to the distance between crossbeams or steps of a security system may additionally have clamps arranged so aligned that support system Jib networks.


Plants can defend themselves against herbivorous insects before the larvae hatch from eggs and start feeding. One of these preventive defence strategies is to produce plant volatiles, in response to egg deposition, which attract egg parasitoids that subsequently kill the herbivore eggs. Here, we studied whether egg deposition by Pieris brassicae L. (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) induces Brussels sprouts plants to produce cues that attract or arrest Trichogramma brassicae Bezdeko (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae). Olfactometer bioassays revealed that odours from plants with eggs did not attract or arrest parasitoids. However, contact bioassays showed that T. brassicae females were arrested on egg‐free leaf squares excised from leaves with 72 h‐old egg masses, which are highly suitable for parasitisation. We tested the hypothesis that this arresting activity is due to scales and chemicals deposited by the butterflies during oviposition and which are thus present on the leaf surface in the vicinity of the eggs. Indeed, leaf squares excised from egg‐free leaves, but contaminated with butterfly deposits, arrested the wasps when the squares were tested 1 day after contamination. However, squares from egg‐free leaves with 72 h‐old butterfly deposits had no arresting activity. Thus, we exclude that the arresting activity of the leaf area near 72 h‐old egg masses was elicited by cues from scales and other butterfly deposits. We suggest that egg deposition of P. brassicae induces a change in the leaf surface chemicals in leaves with egg masses. A systemic induction extending to an egg‐free leaf neighbouring an egg‐carrying leaf could not be detected. Our data suggest that a local, oviposition‐induced change of leaf surface chemicals arrests T. brassicae in the vicinity of host eggs.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Our goals were to validate stone comminution with an investigative clinical burst wave lithotripsy (BWL) system and to evaluate the use of ultrasonic propulsion to move t...


If λ − σf ′(K) < 0, then ∂ ∂σ β(σ,K) < 0, as in the baseline model. In contrast, if λ −σf ′(K) > 0, then ∂ ∂σ β(σ,K) > 0. This is interpretable: if re-allocating resources from productive to unproductive use greatly increases volatility, then a matching reduction must be made in productive cash flow volatility. Incentives are used to push the other way – to encourage more volatility in the productive assets. However, it is also the case that stronger incentives are used to produce less efficient risk taking. Recall from Section 3 that μ(σ) is hump shaped, and μ(σ) σ is decreasing in the relevant region. If βσ > 0, then stronger incentives and high volatility are associated with a lower return-to-risk ratio. Similarly, if βσ > 0 everywhere, then the arguments in Section 3.3 are sufficient to show that σ ≤ σ. In this case, the principal always reduces project level risk to reduce the volatility of the agent's continuation utility. The structure of the implementation is unchanged, with different values of {φ, θ}, as long as {β,Σ} is invertible as in Proposition 4.


ynecologic conditions are common in women with HIV. HIV-positive (HIV+) women are significantly more likely than noninfected women to have prevalent and incident gynecologic disorders, but they are not more likely to develop conditions, such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), related to risk-taking. In a study conducted by Minkoff et al of 262 HIV-infected women, serial assessment revealed that 46.9% of the women had at least 1 incident gynecologic condition. A separate study of women treated in an inpatient AIDS service reported that, although only 9% of the women were admitted for primary gynecologic diagnoses, on evaluation 83% were found to have a coexisting gynecologic disease. Gynecologic conditions most commonly seen in HIV+ women include menstrual disorders, genital ulcer disease, abnormal vaginal discharge, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, and lower genital tract dysplasia and neoplasia. Gynecologic Care and Concerns in the HIV-Positive Woman


other sectors LICs are interested in and committed to. The study on low-income countries' (LICs) views of the proposed Global Fund for Social Protection (GFSP) sought to contribute to discussions on the operational dimensions of the fund, adding to existing knowledge on the available financial and administrative options. Findings from this study point us to several broad areas of interest, including the political economy, systems and structures, technical and financial capacity to implement, and accountability.


The rapid growth of business process is affected by technology development at the time. Mortal approach or Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others reflects the age-old social need for human to communicate and connect with one another, which is a relatively new form of information technology development. It has a potential to bring revolution or huge changes at this time and for the future, a development which has to be noticed by the business owners so they can keep growing in this rapidly changing of business situation. With the rise use of it, entrepreneurs can now target their markets using online social networks. The purpose of doing this research is to evaluate the impact of mortal approach which is brand awareness, brand engagement and viral marketing to the success of entrepreneurs in Malaysia. A descriptive research will be conducted by distribute 100 numbers of questionnaires to the entrepreneurs in Malaysia who use mortal approach as a method of promoting their products, while data collected was analyzed quantitatively. This study is just focus on one of the mortal approach; Facebook. The respondent in this study are entrepreneurs that use Facebook as their platform of marketing strategy and they already success in their business. As the conclusion, the researcher investigated the impact of the mortal approach in facilitating the success of entrepreneurs.


The author bases his book on postgraduate lectures on the development of certain ideas in microbiology. Thus, each chapter deals with one topic, rather than a chronological sequence as is the usual way of presenting the history of a subject. The order of presentation is difficult to understand and seems to be quite arbitary. Some historical order should have been preserved here, so that the section on serology and immunology founded in the nineteenth century preceded those on chemotherapy, antibiotics, and bacterial genetics, which are products of the twentieth. There are chapters on virology and protozoology, with a note on mycology, but each is inadequate. A brief account of how microbiology has developed as a discipline and its influence on surgery (no mention of Lister in the index), public health and, industry would have been equally pertinent. Each chapter has a short list ofimportant papers or books representing primary and secondary sources, but they are not keyed to the text. Although it is ofinterest to have the main parts ofmicrobiology dealtwith separately, there is not sufficient cross-linking and the reader does not achieve an overview of advancement. It would seem that each chapter represents a lecture, but with little reference in it to those preceding and those ensuing. Moreover there are a number of factual errors, especially in the material dealing with the early period (Hooke's microscope did not reach x 300-x 500, p. 13) and distortions (Lister the elder is dismissed in three words, p. 15, and his name is not indexed, whereas he was of considerable importance in the history of microscopy). As a book for teacher-guided students this book may have a role, but those dealing with the history of microbiology already available seem to be quite adequate. The author has had lengthy experience with the problems of the use and abuse of mercury as seen in occupational medical practice, and is thus an ideal person to trace, as he does, the story of mercury from the earliest times to the present. He deals with it in medicine, science, and technology, and especially in the last two decades when increasing attention has been given to environmental pollution. Part I is concemed with the occurrence of mercury, the technology of it, its early history, its early chemistry, and with its use in instruments. These are the physical aspects of the metal; and the second section surveys its pharmacology, …


The aim of this paper is to present, in an unitary way, some special types of fuzzy relations: affine fuzzy relations, linear fuzzy relations, convex fuzzy relations, M-convex fuzzy relations. All these fuzzy relations are characterized and we established the inclusions between these classes of fuzzy relations. c


Today, the area of open sands in Kalmykia is 126.2 thousand hectares according to the data of deciphering satellite images. Desertification creates many socio-economic and demographic problems not only in the areas of desertification, but also on adjacent lands. The ecological ties of desert and semi-desert territories are very fragile, and therefore it is so important to expand the area of the forest fund, fix moving sands, create protective forest stands on degraded pastures. All this will make it possible to produce competitive agricultural products, based on natural fodder land, which means that it will solve food and environmental safety issues in a short time. The arrangement of ordinary protection from reeds prevents the seedlings from entering the sand after planting and promotes the accumulation and preservation of moisture in the root habitat for the period of the beginning of vegetation and rooting. All this ultimately led to an increase in the survival rate of the juzgun and its better development.


A visual graphic called Spiral Strip is presented consisting of color-coded segments arranged in a spiral. The width and length of each individual segment can be different, which can be used to convey additional information (besides the color coding). Although the primary motivation for developing the new graphic was related to climatic data, it can also be used with other types of data. Several examples based on climatic, population-size, and historical data are used to show the graphic's visual appearance and main properties. The examples also demonstrate how the meaning of the graphic can be easy to grasp and intuitively understood by a casual observer. An easy-to-use Python code package for drawing the Spiral Strips was published in a public repository.


Abstract Several studies have highlighted the benefits of nature for human well-being. Nevertheless, the incorporation of nature as an operative resource in social support processes of vulnerable groups such as domestic violence victims is not a common practice. The complexity and prevalence of domestic violence result in a growing need for innovative intervention modalities that can contribute to provide more effective support for victims. Project CarryOn—Ecosystem services and their role in domestic violence victims' support processes was developed to address that need as a nature-based holistic program that allowed participants to benefit from direct contact with natural environments. The effectiveness of this program in promoting the participants' well-being was assessed through a mixed-methods approach, which included self-report quantitative measures (e.g., life quality, psychological adjustment, and self-esteem) and qualitative measures (e.g., women's perception of their program participation). The...


Among the parameters, plant height, bulb yield and bulb length were found to show high broad sense heritability. Bulb yield per hectare and number of green leaves per plant had high broad sense heritability estimates with high genetic gain. Correlation coefficient and path coefficient analysis in onion indicated that bulb yield had highly positive significant correlation with bulb length and bulb diameter. Bulb diameter also had positive significant association with plant height, fresh weight/bulb and bulb length. The path analysis revealed that plant height, bulb length and bulb diameter are the major components of bulb yield in onion.


THE VALUE OF HYPNOTICS The value of all medication for sleep has been called into question. Although current research is adding to our knowledge of what happens to the brain, the circulation and the endocrine system during sleep, we are ignorant of how much sleep is needed and what processes need to go on during sleep. There is evidence (Oswald 1973) that hypnotics interfere with the physiological features of normal sleep and that their effects on the performance of skilled tasks persist during the following day and possibly for several days. It has been shown that some patients who take a hypnotic at night are abnormally restless in the early hours of the following morning and that nocturnal restlessness is common for many nights after stopping sleeping tablets after more than a few days of regular use. This restlessness may convince patients, and doctors, that medication should be restarted and is a major factor in perpetuating the use of hypnotics.


In numerous applications of signal processing, communications and biomedical we are faced with the necessity to remove noise and distortion from the signals. Adaptive filter is one of the most important areas in digital signal processing to remove background noise and distortion. In this work an attempt is to be made to de-noise an ECG signal, with the help of adaptive NLMS algorithm, implemented on TMS320C6713 DSP processor in real-time environment. A SIMULINK model is created and linked to TI TMS320C6713 digital signal processor through embedded target for TI C6000 SIMULINK toolbox and REAL-TIME workshop to perform hardware adaptive noise cancellation. A clean (amplified) ECG signal with 1000 samples, of amplitude 260mV and frequency of 35 Hz, generated through two lead configurations, sampled at a frequency of 1.5 kHz is taken as a clean signal. The system is tested for three level of noise and shows a great level of improvement in Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).


The root bark of Shyonaka ( Oroxylum indicum Linn. ), family Bignoniaceae is one of the commonly used drug in Ayurveda. Because of its sign ifican t therapeutic activity like anti - inflammatory , analgesic etc its demand is increasing day by day. Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (API) advocates that stem bark can be used in case of non - availability of the root bark. Considering these points, an a ttempt has been made to study on both root and stem bark of Shyonaka ( Oroxylum indicum Linn. ) pharmacognostically and physicochemically to evaluate whether both are having same physicochemical properties. The result shows that r oot and stem bark of Shyona ka proved to have similar pharmacognostical and chemical qualities.


Most unsymmetric quadrilateral elements have demonstrated a high tolerance to mesh distortion in pure bending problems involving coarse meshes. However, they have difficulty achieving acceptable results in shearing‐dominated problems, and the element's performance is affected by the degree of mesh distortion. In this paper, two 8‐node quadrilateral elements are developed by introducing two different incompatible modes into the unsymmetric formulation. The unsymmetric framework with two different sets of interpolation functions for displacement fields provides the basis for the immunity property. The incompatible displacement mode and the enhanced assumed strain guarantee the completeness of the displacement field interpolation polynomials, and the satisfaction of L2$$ {L}_2 $$ ‐orthogonality condition ensures the accuracy of the simulations. The resulting elements, respectively, denoted as UQ10 and UQ10/E4, can provide exact solutions for both pure and linear bending problems and exhibit excellent insensitivity in shear‐dominated tests. Furthermore, they are invariant, rapidly converging, and free of various locking problems.


ABSTRACT We investigated the role of the constitutive nitric oxide (NO) in the expression of interferon (IFN) genes in mouse peritoneal macrophages (PM). The treatment of PM withl-arginine-N G-amine (AA), a potent inhibitor of NO-producing enzymes, resulted in a marked accumulation of IFN-α4 mRNA and, to a minor extent, of IFN-β mRNA. In contrast, the expression of IFN-γ mRNA, as well as tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6 mRNA, was not affected. Furthermore, a remarkable increase in the expression of the IFN regulating factor 1 (IRF-1), but not of IRF-2, mRNA was detected in AA-treated PM. To investigate whether the AA-induced activation of the IFN system correlates with the production and antiviral activity of IFN, the extent of encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) replication was monitored in AA-treated PM with respect to control cultures. AA treatment strongly inhibited, in a dose-dependent manner, EMCV yields in PM. Likewise, similar results were obtained by the addition of the NO-scavenger carboxyphenyl-tetramethylimidazoline-oxyl-oxide. In addition, inhibition of NO synthesis byN G-mono-methyl-l-arginine in PM strongly decreased virus replication in coculture of PM and EMCV-infected L929 cells, whereas no antiviral effect was observed in L929 cells alone. Moreover, the AA-mediated antiviral activity was abrogated in the presence of antibody to IFN-α/β, whereas antibody to IFN-γ was completely ineffective. Taken together, these results indicate that low levels of NO, constitutively released by resting PM, negatively regulate the expression and activity of IFN-α/β in PM. We suggest that NO acts as a homeostatic agent in the regulation of IFN pathway expression in macrophages.


The design, manufacturing and testing of a prototype flapping-wing mechanism for a Bio-Inspired Micro Air Vehicle (BMAV) is described. The design process is guided by the following initial performance requirements and size parameters of the BMAV, which are set for a hypothetical surveillance mission: it shall hover in place, it shall record and transmit live video wirelessly and it shall have no dimension greater than 150mm in length. A mathematical model of the flapping wing kinematics is developed and coupled with a modified aerodynamics model to guide the design process through quantitative estimates of the forces, torques, work and power required in flapping-wing hovering flight. It is assumed that the wing oscillatory flapping is harmonic, which is observed in many flapping-wing vertebrates and invertebrates. The stroke plane is aligned with the horizontal plane in the current design. Also, the planform of the flapping-wing and its straight leading-edge enable precise rotation of the wing tip relative to the wing root. The wing resultant aerodynamic force, wing average lift coefficient, torque at the root of the wing and the total power required per flapping cycle are calculated. A prototype of the proposed wing and flapping mechanism is designed and constructed using commercial off-the-shelf components to validate the mathematical model. The design of the prototype wing is optimized to achieve an average lift coefficient of 1.8. The chosen wing skin material is polyurethane coated nylon fabric. The leadingedge spar was designed to permit the attachment of skins of various sizes. To achieve a relatively constant angle of attack of 23 degrees, a planetary gear train is designed and mounted between the wing's root rib and pivot point. Brushless motors have been chosen to power the flapping mechanism given their advantages over brushed motors. The flapping-wing mechanism has successfully been constructed, and its functionality has been validated. The current stage of the study focuses on testing its aerodynamic performance using an in-house designed and constructed BMAV test stand, which is described and discussed in this paper.


As the main method of high efficiency machining Ni-based superalloy, high-speed cutting can not but intensify the cutting-tool wear. So, it is very necessary to find the rule of cutting-tool wear in high-speed cutting superalloy, especially, the effect of cutting-tool wear on the cutting force, cutting temperature and surface roughness of machined workpiece. In this paper, the PCDTiAlN cemented carbide insert is used in the experiment, the value of cutting-tool wear and the corresponding cutting force, cutting temperature and surface roughness of machined workpiece is measured. It indicates that the cutting force, cutting temperature and surface roughness of machined workpiece is changed corresponding the cutting-tool wear changes, and cutting-tool is serious, for example, the crater wear expands quickly; the boundary wear is obvious.


The authors discuss integration aspects of CIM (computer-integrated manufacturing) systems with many communicating enterprises, units, and users. Communicating nodes are modeled as nested enterprise objects. An enterprise object consists of an active agent, applications, and other enterprise objects. The distributed hypermedia paradigm is used as a framework for integration, and the consequent generic message structure is discussed. The features of an extended form concept and a pilot implementation of the model are discussed.<<ETX>>


The advanced characteristics of the RADARSAT-2 SAR satellite are briefly described and the main features of the Science and Operational Applications Research for RADARSAT-2 Program (SOAR) are outlined. Two case studies are then taken into account, which have been developed in the framework of SOAR project 1488, a vine observing experiment and a flooding monitoring one.