Herbaceous grafting is a propagation method largely used in solanaceous and cucurbit crops for enhancing their agronomic performances especially under (a)biotic stress conditions. Besides these grafting-mediated benefits, recent advances about microbial networking in the soil/root interface, indicated further grafting potentialities to act as soil environment conditioner by modulating microbial communities in the rhizosphere. By selecting a suitable rootstock, grafting can modify the way of interacting root system with the soil environment regulating the plant ecological functions able to moderate soilborne pathogen populations and to decrease the risk of diseases. Genetic resistance(s) to soilborne pathogen(s), root-mediate recruiting of microbial antagonists and exudation of antifungal molecules in the rhizosphere are some defense mechanisms that grafted plants may upgrade, making the cultivation less prone to the use of synthetic fungicides and therefore more sustainable. In the current review, new perspectives offered by the available literature concerning the potential benefits of grafting, in enhancing soilborne disease resistance through modulation of indigenous suppressive microbial communities are presented and discussed.


From the beginning of the revolt to the time before the founding of Ming Dynasty, in order to win the support of intellectuals , more to seize power, Zhu Yuanzhang intently recruited heroes and kindly treated intellectuals, which was called Ming Zu Valued Scholars. After the founding of Ming Dynasty, Zhu's attitude towards scholars changed silently from valuing to ruling, which was called Ming Zu Reining Scholars. The change showed the formation of a series of intellectual policies.


Field experiment was conducted for three (3) years during the rainy seasons of 2018, 2019 and 2020 to study the productivity of sorghum as influenced by transplanted age and nitrogen rate on striga (Striga hermonthica L. Benth) infestation in Bauchi. The research was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi (10° 22' N and 9°47′ E) in the northern Guinea savanna ecological zone of Nigeria. The treatments consisted of transplanted age; 2, 3, 4 and 5 weeks after emergence in the nursery (WAE) with a control (direct seeded on the field) and five nitrogen levels; 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 kg N/ha). The treatments were factorially combined and laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. In all the three seasons, sorghum seedlings were first raised in the nursery before being transplanted out to the field. Characters measured were plant height, number of leaves, stem girth, leaf area, leaf area index, crop growth rate, net assimilation rate and flag leaf area. Striga vigor was carried out based on visual observation using Striga vigor chart and Striga vigor score classes. Simple correlation between striga vigor and growth characters of sorghum indicated that significant and negative correlations exist.


In the next few lectures we will work with Stochastic Uncertainty, i.e., where the input to your algorithm is drawn from some probability distributions. We will assume that the distributions are known to the algorithm but the exact outcomes/realizations of the random variables are only gradually revealed. The current lecture is about Prophet Inequalities, which are online problems with stochastic inputs. En-route we will learn about the technique of Online Contention Resolution Scheme.


The need for a thorough investigation into how the film induced tourism phenomenon can be maximised upon through stakeholder collaboration was particularly evident from the literature review undertaken. It showed that there was a significant research gap in the successful collaboration of this relatively new phenomenon into a destination's marketing activities. To proceed to the next stage of research, the key tourism and film stakeholders behind the Yorkshire brand were interviewed as the main objective of this research is


This study aims knowledge aspect of interrogative speech of Indonesian language teachers. The objectwas interrogative speechs of Indonesian language teachers. The data was analyzed by content analysis techniques. Based on data analysis reaveals four levels of knowledge aspect in interrogative speech of Indonesian language teachers: level I-Low Order Convergent, level II-High Order Convergent, level III-Low Order Divergent, and level IV-High Order Divergent. The result reaveals that interrogative speech of Indonesian language teachers level I was most frequently used. It's mean, the teachers used many interrogative speech level I or low knowledge aspect in teaching processes.There are three contents of the interrogative speech act of Indonesian teachers in teaching processes: conceptual question, empirical question, and value question. Of the three contents of the question, the most frequently used is conceptual question, because in teaching the teachers ask more about the concept of a particular material.


ABSTRACT A three-semester singing course devised for university acting majors had a three-fold focus: (1) performing songs, (2) basic music theory/sight reading, and (3) basic vocal pedagogy (anatomy, technique, wellness). After 4 years of the course, 59 students who completed at least one semester completed a survey assessing which elements of the curriculum were most useful as preparation for subsequent auditions and performances. Respondents indicated that, while enrolled in the courses, they perceived performing songs to be the most useful element (44.1%), followed by music theory (39.0%) and vocal pedagogy (17.0%). After completing at least one semester, these results inverted, with vocal pedagogy perceived to be most useful (40.7%), followed by music theory (32.2%) and performing songs (27.1%). This trend increased as students were further removed from the course. Therefore, most students initially felt best served by performing songs and, as time progressed, they saw greater value in vocal pedagogy and music theory as preparation for professional pursuits. However, students most often reported that they would increase the amount of performing songs (57.6%) and decrease the amount of vocal pedagogy (50.8%). The article discusses these results in terms of curriculum and future research.


Challenges the position that high and persistent unemployment necessarily leads to the formation of socially excluded groups. Presents evidence drawn from studies of people in former communist countries. Suggests that unemployment, even when high will not lead to exclusion except under three conditions, paid work is concentated within standard (permanent, full time) official jobs, job seekers are arranged in "queues" and that the unemployed are regarded by others, and regard themselves as a group apart. States these conditions do not apply in the countries reviewed and therefore the original assumption needs to be reassessed.


An analysis is made of the Lagrangian and the Eulerian velocity autocorrelations RL(s,t) and RE(s,t) at times s and t for small time lag τ=s−t in isotropic decaying turbulence, and it is shown that under appropriate conditions RE≤RL for small τ in three dimensions, irrespective of the form of the energy spectrum. The behaviors of RE and RL not limited to small τ are studied by direct numerical simulations in two dimensions. The values of RL obtained by the Lagrangian renormalized approximation are found to be in good agreement with the simulations and with the existing data of three‐dimensional simulations and experiments.


Dr Nigel Starck will discuss 'The Art of Obituary Writing' with Canberra Times editor-at-large, Jack Waterford, on Tuesday 9 June, at Manning Clark House, Canberra, 5.30-8pm. Dr Starck is the author of Life After Death: The Art of the Obituary.
Cost $15 MCH members, $20 non-members. Booking should be made in advance at 02 6295 1808.
further information


613 METHODS: Ten healthy, right-arm dominant adults participated in this experiment. All subjects performed cyclic elbow flexion/extension movements in the horizontal plane during unilateral (dominant and non-dominant arms) and bilateral (in-phase and anti-phase) tasks while moving at a frequency of 2.0 Hz. The subjects were required to produce angular displacements that corresponded to effort levels of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 on a modified Borg CR-10 scale. The 20 conditions (four tasks × five effort levels) were tested in random order. Angular position of the elbow joint was measured using motion capture; mean angular displacement (MAD), peak angular velocity (PAV) and peak angular acceleration (PAA) were calculated for each condition. A two-way ANOVA was used to assess the effects of task and effort on MAD, PAV and PAA.


To verify the effect of fresh alfalfa availability on fatty acid profile and oxidative status of rabbit meat. At 50 days of age rabbits (Martini hybrid, n=40) were divided in two homogeneous groups and fed commercial pelleted feed (Control group) and the same diet plus ad libitum fresh alfalfa (Alfalfa group). At 80 days of age rabbits were slaughtered. Lipid content of meat showed significant (P<0.05) differences being higher in Control meat, probably due to the lower pellet consumption observed in this group. The same trend was observed by myristic, palmitoleic, oleic and linoleic acid contents. On the contrary, fresh alfalfa feeding increased (P<0.05) stearic, linolenic, eicosatrienoic, eicosapentaenoic, docosapentaenoic, docosahexaenoic and total polyunsaturated fatty acids. In the Alfalfa group the total monounsaturated fatty acid content was significantly lower (P<0.05) as well as αand γ-tocopherol. Moreover Alfalfa meat showed lower (P<0.05) n-6 contents, n-6/n-3 ratio and trombogenicity index. In conclusion, this specific strategy, accompanied by a good marketing campaign, could improve the economic situation allowing to reach competitive sale price.


(p<0.05). 28 days postbupivacaine injection there was a 18% decrease in CSA in WT mice, however there was no change in CSA of A1 mice (p<0.05). In WT mice 28 days postbupivacaine injection, there was an increase in the proportion of small fibers (<300μm) and a decrease in the proportion of large fibers (>900μm). In A1 transgenic mice 28 days postbupivacaine injection, there were no differences in fiber size distribution. CONCLUSION: Muscle specific overexpression of PGC-1α has been shown to protect muscle from damage. We demonstrate no change in muscle morphology in mice that overexpress PGC-1α in muscle. The altered microenvironment could be due to a shift away from proliferation of myoblasts towards differentiation.


Population development of three Homoptera, Nilaparvata lugens (Stal), Nephotettix virescens (Distant), and Sogatella furcifera (Horvath), and three Lepidoptera, Chilo suppressalis (Walker), Cnaphalocrocis medinalis Guenee, and Nymphula depunctalis Guenee, was studied on traditional 'Peta' and 'Intan' and modern 'IR20', 'IR36', and 'IR50' rice cultivars grown under identical conditions in the greenhouse. There was no consistent relationship between population development and cultivar and we conclude that, contrary to suggestions in the literature, intrinsic properties of modern rice cultivars do not unduly favor development of high populations of insect pests.


URING the last decades, many circuit parameter extraction methods have emerged. In general, there is no closed-form technique to accurately derive the equivalent circuit parameters due to various factors, including the effects of material nonlinearity and eddy currents. Thus, three main techniques have been defined for this purpose: (i) the first uses the flux linkage and current flowing through the winding in order to derive the coil inductance [1], (ii) the second uses energy/current perturbation [2], and (iii) the third is based on sensitivity analysis [3]. On the contrary to the former two techniques, the advantage of the latter is its ability to drive both dynamic resistances and inductances for each winding. The sensitivity analysis was successfully applied in 2D problems to extract both the dynamic and resistance matrices [3]. In this paper, we extend this work to 3D problems and evaluate the accuracy of the sensitivity-based technique compared to analytical and experimental of three distinct examples: a coaxial cable, a parallel wire pair and a two-pole electrical machine.


Students disipline and responsibility in carrying out learning is still very lacking. At this time generally the problem is still with delays when going to school, irresponsible for the tasks that have been given by teachers,many students have difficulty understanding lessons when the teaching and learning process is in progress,and there are students who cannot control their emotiuns which is in self.Good language skills are very influential for these students, many students think that Indonesian does not need to be studied, the reason is that all Indonesians can speak Indonesian, most of the students use Indonesian in a foreign language or slang and by using In this slang, students arbitrarily speak and behave with anyone, especially to the teacher, there are still many students who think that the teacher is like a peer who in the end speaks and behaves impolitely and is not good to hear. The results of this are directed to guadance and counseling teachers at Madrasah Tsanawiyah One Batang Hari, guidance and counseling teachers not only guide students who have problems but guidence and counseling teachers at the school there are organizations that later guidance and counseling teachers evaluate talent interests container on their student. Guidnace and counseling teachers evaluate talent ini interests countained in their students. Guidance and counseling planning at Madrasah Tsanawiyah one Batang Hari continued to be carrin out by guiding the students and providing encouragment and motivation to student to become good students and achivers.The obstacles of guidance and counseling teachers on crrying out plants to improve students dicipline and responsibility that are atructured in the learning process,school that make guidance and counseling teachers a scourage (the teacher who is most feared by all students). Guidance and counseling teachers have not been to control their students by understanding the characteristics of very many students and there are still many students who violate the rules that have been set by the school.The efforts Made by guidance and counseling teachers to overcome the obstacles of student in crrying out dicipline and responsibility,namely by socialisi g the existance of guidnace and counseling in school, getting closed to their students by visiting students homes and looking for student data in order to understand the character prossessed by these student,besides that the guidance and counseling teachers conducts a search for student telent interests in order to find out what talents are prossessed by students at Madrasah Tsanawiyah One Batang hari, by knowing the talents of students, guidance and counseling teachers can develop their identity.the students themselves.
Keyword: The;role;of;guidance;and;counseling;teachers;good;discipline;and;language;skills.


PurposeThis study aimed to identify the quality consumers expect from functional food. This study investigated the quality dimensions and indicators female consumers expect in functional food.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a quantitative approach. Data were collected through a survey using a self-administered questionnaire from 149 women aged 17 years and over in the Greater Jakarta area. Data analysis consists of three stages: exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis-structural equation modeling (CFA-SEM) and consumer expectation value analysis. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Lisrel software were used to assist the analysis.FindingsThe analysis results showed that women expect functional food products to fulfill the aspects of product presentation, product assurance, convenience, health benefits and safety and sensory characteristics. These five aspects are referred to as the expected quality dimensions. Twenty-one indicators can be used to measure the quality of functional food expected by women.Research limitations/implicationsOther researchers can use this study to understand functional food female consumers' behavior. Furthermore, functional food companies can utilize it to measure consumers' expectations of their products' quality and performance.Originality/valueThis research is believed to be the first study to identify the dimensions of functional food quality expected by female consumers. Most existing research on the perceived quality of functional food measures functional food quality based on performance and ignored the differences in expectations between men and women.


Based on the elemental electronegative, bonding electron number and bonded hydrogen atomic number, a new molecular topological index is developed for research on creaturely activity for halogenated aronatic hydrocarbons in this paper. With this, the linear relationship between creaturely activity for halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons and the molecular topological index is obtained. It is concluded that the indexes have good structure selectivity and creaturely activity relativity. It can be extended to predict the creaturely activity of other halogenated arometic hydrocarbons.


The paper considers the effectiveness of CLIL programmes in higher agrarian and technical educational institutions in Ukraine. CLIL courses are compared with ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) courses. Current status of CLIL, ESP and EMI in Ukraine has been analyzed and CLIL ideas implementation strategy has been considered: what is a CLIL course in higher educational institutions, why CLIL, teacher and course materials preparation, requirements for students entering the course, motivation and scaffolding, current difficulties and problems, expected linguistic outcomes and content achievements. The results of the investigation show that CLIL approach proved to be effective, however, there is a lack of teacher training programmes and developed course materials for CLIL teaching in and technical higher educational institutions today.


1. The Stone Age of Mount Carmel; Excavations at the Wady-el-Mughara. Vol. I. By D. A. E. Garrod and D. M. A. Bate. Clarendon Press, 1937. pp. 240, 55 plates, 8 text figures. 42s. 2. Lachish I: The Lachish Letters. By Harry Torczyner, Lankester Harding, Alkin Lewis and J. L. Starkey. Published for the Trustees of the late Sir Henry Wellcome by the Oxford University Press, 1938. pp. 221 (including plates, not numbered separately). 25s. 3. The Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine vol. vii, Sela-Petra the Rock, of Edom and Nabatene. By G. and A. Horsfield. Published for the Government of Palestine by the Oxford University Press, 1938. pp. 42,74 plates, 10 text-figures. 5s. 4. The Annual of the American schools of Oriental Research vol. xv, Excavations in Eastern Palestine II. By Nelson Glueck. pp. 161, 38 plates, 45 text-figures. 5. Preliminary report of the University of Michigan Excavations at Sepphoris Palestine in 1931. By Leroy Waterman. University of Michigan Press, 1937. 2 dollars. The group of books here under review is so varied in subject, that connected discussion is difficult. Apart from the importance of the subjects, however, there is a general interest and connexion in the illustrations they give of the comparatively new approach now being made to Palestinian Archaeology. The inevitably preponderant importance to most people of the association of Palestine with Biblical history has had two effects on the study of its archaeology. In the first place, periods outside that of the Bible have not received much attention, and in the second, it has rather often been the case that distinguished Biblical scholars have undertaken excavations without the supplementary training in field-work which modern archaeological technique now requires. Among the books under review are examples of how this tendency has in recent years been corrected. We see Palestine taking its place as an important connecting link between the great lands of the Near East, and we see how modern methods are now applied to all aspects of field archaeology. There is also unfortunately one example of how modern excavations should not be done.


Introduction. State descriptions of the northern peasant volosts of Russia demonstrate the features and techniques of business writing, typical for the Russian Middle Ages and early modern times. Methods and materials. The article analyzes scribal and census books for several villages of the volost Kurgomen of the Podvinskaya quarter of the Vazhsky district beyond the middle 17th – first half 18 centuries. On the basis of a microanalysis of peasant genealogies, several family clans of peasants living in neighboring villages were identified, the family surnames of the peasants were investigated. Analysis. The development or extinction of peasant clans, and some features of intra-family relations and the dynamics of population displacement at the village / volost level have been traced. The given data confirm the well-known fact that during the censuses, some of the peasants were hiding from the description. The period of Peter I caused heavy damage to the northern villages. The analyzed material shows that only large family clans were able to preserve themselves and their importance in the parish. Results. The results obtained in the article relate not only to the process of folding the branched peasant clans, which played a significant role in the volost and parish, defending, first of all, their own interests, but also the problems of the reliability of state descriptions.


The traditional detailed model of wind farms is unsuitable for large wind farms due to the complexity, long simulation time and high hardware requirements. This paper presents an equivalent model for large wind farms, and the effects of different wind speeds and wake effects are considered. Wind turbine generators (WTGs) with the same wind speed were classified and equivalent models of each part of WTG was established. An equivalent model for WTGs was established for different wind speeds and wake effects based on multimachine equivalence method. The simulation results show that under the same hardware configuration and software step size, the required simulation time of the equivalent wind farm model is reduced significantly with good accuracy.


Woodpole overhead lines (OHL) are by their very nature open to everything the environment can throw at them. From ground level to the conductors the system has to withstand mechanical and biological forces that cause many headaches to OHL designers and supply customers alike-not to mention the emergency repair teams that bear the initial brunt of any major catastrophe. Ground conditions affect foundation capability as well as fungal growth and pole rot. Wind loads affect the pole and conductors as well as any inconveniently planted trees that tend to fall onto the lines. Wind blown debris causes electrical shorts as does conductor clashing. And that is before the 'real' weather such as lightning, freezing rain, ice and wet snow. The design assessment of overhead lines requires the input of the likely loads that a line will suffer. This paper looks at how these mechanical and electrical loads can be determined both from historical data and in light of climate change.


The purpose of this article was to analyze data associated
with advances in wind energy across the United States. While governments,
academia, and the private sector generally know patterns of wind turbine
development (i.e. turbine size and
capacity growing in recent years), there is no known independent, reliable,
and/or updated summary of these variables. Using data collected by the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory and partners, this study used descriptive
statistics to show turbine development and growth patterns from 1981-2019. The newly created United States Wind
Turbine Database (USWTDB) represents the most comprehensive account of
wind turbine information and was updated in January 2020. Variables I am
interested in here are turbine manufacturer, state of project, turbine and
project capacity, and turbine size. Findings provide empirical evidence to
support the common, yet previously unrefined statements that wind turbines are
growing larger in number, size and capacity. This growth is varied over spatial
and temporal scales. I also provide evidence to show patterns of turbine
manufacturing, with GE Wind dominating much of the US wind energy landscape
today. I hope this work provides a timely resource for those interested in a
variety of questions surrounding wind energy development in the United States.
Perhaps more importantly, this analysis will hopefully inspire others to use
what the USWTDB provides and answer larger questions surrounding wind energy
futures.


Background Mature oocytes at the metaphase II status (MII-stage oocytes) played an important role in assisted reproductive technology in non-human primates. Objectives In order to improve the proportion of MII-stage oocytes retrieval, three different superovulation protocols were performed on 24 female cynomolgus monkeys. Methods All the monkeys received once-daily injection of follicle-stimulating hormone (25 international unit [IU]) on day 3 of the menstruation, 3-day intervals, twice daily for 8–12 days until the time of human chorionic gonadotropin (1,500 IU) injection, on the 14–17th day of menstruation collecting oocytes. The difference between protocol I and protocol II was that 0.1 mg the gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist was injected on day 1 of the menstruation, while the difference between personalized superovulation protocol and protocol II was that oocytes could be collected on the 14–17th day of menstrual cycle according to the length of each monkey. Results The total number of oocytes harvested using the personalized superovulation protocol was much higher than that using protocol I (p < 0.05), and the proportion of MII-stage oocytes was significantly greater than that from either superovulation protocol I or II (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01 respectively), while the proportion of immature oocytes at the germinal vesicle was less than that from superovulation protocol I (p < 0.05). Conclusions The personalized superovulation protocol could increase the rate of MII-stage oocytes acquired, and successfully develop into embryos after intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and eventually generated fetus.


The snow-ice storms in the early 2008 plagued eastern and southern China,bringing major losses to social production and people's life,and challenging the Govemment's.emergency management.On the one hand the disaster made it exposed that faced with the disaster,policy-makers were not mindful of potential dangers,that the public were deficient in ability to meet emergencies and that the Government had not an effective emergency managenrent mechanism,but on the other hand the disaster gave us a lot of useful experiences to leam from.For the future,we should step up studies on natural disaster economics,establish and improve the disaster warning mechanism,enhance the emergency reaction capability and earnestly implement the responsibility system to improve emergency management.


An online learning system and a skill evaluation method thereof are provided in which the skill evaluation method thereof includes steps as follows. Providing at least one remote device to log in an online learning platform, quantifying a learning result of the online learning process executed by the remote device on the online learning platform to obtain a professional skill data, quantifying an online community interaction of the remote device on the online learning platform to obtain a soft skill data, and utilizing the professional skill data and the soft skill data. According to the skill evaluation method of this disclosure, not only the professional skill of a learner is analyzed during the online learning process, but also the soft skill of the learner is analyzed from his community interaction with others online. This method provides the learner with self-skill analysis and benefits his future application.


Various techniques may be employed for the excitation and control of micromechanical systems such as electrostatic or thermal transduction. However, most of these techniques require a dedicated driver circuit to provide the voltage or current levels needed for these actuators. On the other hand, the inefficiency of these techniques often necessitates the need for a local energy source. As such, options for remote operation of microactuators remain limited. Herein, we report on the first demonstration of direct optomechanical excitation of microstructures utilizing depletion region actuators. We demonstrate the possibility of using light to modulate the space charge density, and hence, the internal strain across the depletion region of regular p-n junctions. The modulation of strain across the junction can be effectively transformed into mechanical displacements. We show that the amount of force induced in the junction and the mechanical displacements can be controlled by varying the intensity of illumination. The produced strain does not scale when the device dimensions are reduced, making it a suitable actuation technique at nano-scales.


Infestations of seedlings by Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) reduced grain and forage yields of a susceptible grain sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, 'Combine Kafir-60' (CK-60), but did not reduce yields of greenbug-resistant sorghums. Greenbug feeding caused reduced tillering, plant height, and delayed maturity more in susceptible than resistant sorghums, but seed weights were not effected. Reduction in numbers of secondary culms of susceptible CK-60 appeared to be primarily, responsible for Yield losses of surviving plants. Susceptible seedlings need protection from greenbugs to achieve maximum yields. Heterozygous resistant genotypes may approach maximum yield potential without supplemental greenbug control.


This study compared the long-term and short-term relationship between GDP, export and investment during the years 1991-2008. Results show there exist a positive and significant long term relationship between investment and export with gross domestic production at 95% confidence level. But the relationship of investment and export is negative. Analysis of the vector error correction model for GDP indicates an error correction coefficient is negative which due to the high value of the GDP in the short run than long-term equilibrium value. In the short term, impact of investment and exports on GDP are positive. Effect of domestic production on investment is positive, but on export is negative. Key words: Export, Investment, Gross Domestic Production, Co integration, Error Correction.


In the traditional temperature measure system,the output signal that must pass by the handling of enlarging ande A/ D conversion etc.can be sent to the MPU to deal.Hardware electric circuit is designed complicatedly,the cost is higher.But the digital temperature sensor DA18B20 that produced by the DALLAS company can read directly the temperature and send the serial digital signal to the signal chip microcomputer to handle with.Every DS18B20 have an unique ROM code,so one line of the SCM can connect many slices DS18B20.Using the DS18B20 to set up the multy-point temperature can make that the construction of the system is more simple,and the cost is much lower,the dependability is higher.This text introduced the characteristics and work principle of DS18B20 and the hardware and software design of the multy-point temperature measurement system.


Richard E. Payne. A State of Mixture. Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian Political Culture in Late Antiquity . Transformation of the Classical Heritage, vol. 56. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015. ISBN: 9780520286191. 301 pp. $95.00.

A State of Mixture is a rich and complex study of the interweaving of Christian and Zoroastrian communities in late antique Iran. Payne draws on a wealth of sources, most notably East Syrian hagiography, providing a portrait of a "state of mixture" in place of older and misleading views of the two communities as discrete groups at perennial odds with each other. Payne shows how Christians constantly negotiated their position in the Sasanian state, repeatedly testing boundary lines and overlapping their communal identities with those of the Zoroastrian communities amongst whom they lived. State authorities used intercommunal boundaries to reinforce socioreligious and political norms and to foster the integration of Christians into their own, hierarchically organised cosmological project. Examining periods of apparently savage persecution and looking beyond the fervour and outrage of Christian martryological texts, Payne clearly demonstrates the fluidity of the Sasanian state and the deep integration of Christian nobles within its structures, providing a context for efforts by the last major Sasanian king, Khusrau II, to appropriate the traditional role of the Roman emperor as the touchstone for the world's Christians after Iran's victories at the turn of the seventh century.

Payne organises his study into five self-contained chapters that lead the reader chronologically and geographically through the late antique Iranian landscape, from the persecutions of Shapur II …


The brand and customer – based brand equity, which can increase consumer benevolence and encourage them to stay loyal to the brand or service provider, can be an important instrument for corporate competition. The aim of this article is to evaluate practical application of the theoretical model of the interfaces between customer – based brand equity and customer loyalty while carrying out the survey of telecommunication consumers. Lithuanian telecommunication market is currently divided by the three main competitors – Telia Lietuva AB, Tele2 JSC and Bitė Lietuva JSC. The brand Telia has been selected for the analysis. The first phase of the survey was carried out in April–May of 2017, and the second phase – in February–March of 2018. The data obtained allows us to test hypotheses about model's ability to evaluate the competing brands and to compare consumer positions with respect to them at different periods. KEY WORDS: brand, customer – based brand equity, customer loyalty, telecommunication consumers. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/tbb.v79i2.1774


The Couple Boutique is a business entity which is engaged in fashion fashion, was founded in 2007. Items become the mainstay of The Couple Boutique is a dress, skirt, pants and accessories. During this party The Couple Boutique promote their products through print media. This is of course the cost is not small. Thus the required media to promote their products effectively, the right media that is by building a website that can promote such products. This website is designed to display all information related to fashion on the website such as the gallery of The Couple Boutique, our products, guestbooks, and reservation form. Website built using Macromedia Dreamweaver MX as an editor and PHP for the MySQL database to connect to web pages. In this writing are still many shortcomings that still have a view that is simple and well equipped with search engines yet. To enrich the look of this website should be equipped also with animation not only on the home page only.


We are developing and testing interactive computer software, which is designed to measure intellectual development in engineering students as defined by the Perry and reflective judgment models. Four open-ended scenarios have been constructed and piloted with 25 subjects including high school and college students and college faculty. Initial results suggest the software is capable of predicting intellectual development to the precision of the traditional interview technique.


In this work, eight years (2006–2013) of continuous measurements of near-surface ozone (O3) at the WMO/GAW contributing station “Concordia” (DMC, 75°06’S, 123°20’E, 3280 m a.s.l.) are presented, and the role of specific atmospheric processes in affecting O3 variability is investigated. In particular, during the period of highest data coverage (i.e., 2008–2013), O3 enhancement events (OEEs) were systematically observed at DMC, affecting 11.6% of the dataset. As deduced by a statistical selection methodology, the OEEs are affected by a significant interannual variability, both in the average and in the frequency of O3 values. To explain part of this variability, OEEs were analyzed as a function of: (i) total column of O3 and UV-A irradiance variability, (ii) long-range transport of air masses over the Antarctic plateau (by using LAGRANTO), and (iii) occurrence of “deep” stratospheric intrusion events (by using STEFLUX). The overall O3 concentrations are controlled by a day-to-day variability, which indicates the dominating influence of processes occurring at “synoptic” scales rather than “local” processes. Despite previous studies indicated an inverse relationship between OEEs and TCO, we found that the annual frequency of OEEs was higher when TCO values at DMC were higher than usual. The annual occurrence of OEEs at DMC was also related to the total time spent by air masses over the Antarctic plateau before their arrival at DMC, suggesting that the accumulation of photochemically-produced O3 during the transport dominated the local O3 production. Lastly, the influence of “deep” stratospheric intrusion events at DMC was analyzed, and it was observed that this contribution played only a marginal role (the highest frequency observed was 3% of the period, in November).

This latter point, i.e., the frequency and seasonality of stratosphere-to-troposphere (STE) events, and the relative influence of specific transport mechanisms, as well as snow chemistry, are still under debate. These topics will be investigated in the STEAR (Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Exchange in the Antarctic Region) project, starting in 2020 and funded by the Italian Antarctic Research Program (PNRA). In particular, STEAR will provide an assessment of STE events in Antarctica, by using both continuous observations (e.g., O3 and Beryllium-7) at DMC, and modeling outputs. In addition to DMC measurements, simultaneous atmospheric composition datasets will be analyzed at Antarctic coastal observatories, i.e., the Mario Zucchelli (MZS) and Jang Bogo (JBS) stations.


I give a brief account of the emergence in Britain in the late 1960s of a secular religious education (RE), utilizing material from the religions of the world, and refer to its role in multicultural education in the 1970s. Next, I summarize some developments in the history of the uneasy relationship between multicultural and antiracist education up to the early 1990s, when new critical approaches to multicultural education appeared, noting that the political climate in Britain under Conservative Governments prevented any positive influence from these on policy. Since the election of a Labour Government in 1997, two main factors have resulted in the restoration of some multicultural/intercultural education to the curriculum: The first is a response to social disruption nationally and globally. The second is the introduction of citizenship education in the curriculum of English and Welsh schools. In the case of social disruption, in relation to riots in England and to the events of 11 September 2001, in New York and their global consequences, religion has been a key element requiring analysis and response. Policy discussions, in England and Wales and in Europe more widely, are recognizing the importance of the religious dimension to intercultural education. New interpretive and dialogical pedagogies of RE share similar analytic stances towards 'culture' and 'religion' and similar critical and reflexive methodologies to recent approaches to multicultural/intercultural education. Thus, RE, employing these pedagogies, can make a direct contribution to an intercultural education working to promote social cohesion. There are also opportunities for fruitful collaboration between educators in the RE and intercultural fields.


Copper-catalyzed C–H functionalization is becoming a significant area in organic chemistry. Copper is now widely used as a catalyst in organic synthesis as it is inexpensive and not very toxic. Functionalization of C–H bonds to construct wide varieties of organic compounds has received much attention in recent times. This review focuses on the recent advances in Cu-catalyzed C–H functionalization and covers literature from 2018–2020.


The quality of castings in a green sand mould is influenced by its properties such as green compression strength, green shear strength, permeability, etc. Additives play a very important role on green sand mould to enhance specific mould properties. The experimental study aims to investigate the effect of various additives on the green sand mould properties, as a particular combination of additives could yield desired sand properties. The input parameters selected were moisture and additives (Coal dust, Corn flour powder and Tamarind powder) at three different levels. On the basis of Taguchi's L9 Orthogonal Array, experiments were conducted to understand the behavior of sand mould properties namely; green compression strength, dry compression strength and permeability. Analyses of means were calculated for each of the responses produced by different additives. It was found that the permeability of corn flour containing sand mould was highest and the strengths of tamarind powder containing mould were maximum.


In the present study, nanocomposite films made of TiO2 (0.01 wt%) nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymers were prepared via the solution casting technique. The PVA/TiO2 nanocomposite films were irradiated with several doses of gamma-ray, ranging from 10–90 kGy. The unirradiated/irradiated nanocomposite films were investigated using FTIR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), roughness testing, UV–Vis spectroscopy, refractometry, densitometry, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The results were then compared to the pure PVA polymer. FTIR spectra showed a decrease in intensity and a broadening of absorption bands due to interactions between the host PVA polymer atoms/molecules and the TiO2 NPs. SEM showed homogeneous dispersion of the TiO2 NPs in the PVA matrix. Gamma irradiation resulted in more significant morphological alterations and changing the roughness characteristics, the magnitude of which depended on the dose. UV–vis spectra showed the absorption edge significantly changing with increasing gamma doses. The optical energy gap band, Urbach's energy, and the number of carbon clusters of the PVA/TiO2 nanocomposite films before and after gamma radiation were changed in comparison to the pure PVA sample. The refractive index and optical density improved due to the addition of TiO2 and γ-irradiation. The photoluminescence emission results emphasized the PVA/TiO2 film's high sensitivity to γ-rays, especially at high doses, resulting in strong fluorescence peaks due to increased defects in the irradiated films. All in all, the results prove that there are alterations in the PVA polymer after the addition of TiO2 and γ-irradiation, making these films good candidates for a variety of industrial applications, including γ-ray dosimeters.


Syncope is a transient and self-limited loss of consciousness that affects mostly elderly people. Although it is not lethal it can lead to serious injuries and the appearance of severe medical complications. With a high socioeconomic and medical impact, it is highly pertinent to develop personalized health systems that are capable of predicting impending syncope events and avoid major complications. In the later years we have been assisting to a rising interest on wearable monitoring systems and in several devices (e.g. sports watches) the photoplethysmogram (PPG) is already being used due to the easy applicability, cost effectiveness and unobtrusiveness. Thus, the development of an algorithm for syncope prediction that can be integrated on such systems would be of huge interest. In this paper we evaluate an algorithm for syncope prediction based on the analysis of the PPG signal alone and we compare it to our former algorithm based on the joint analysis of the electrocardiogram (ECG) and PPG signals.


The braking system is one of the most important car systems with application in traffic safety. The thermal stress in this system, especially when the brake is intensively used, is affecting the efficiency of the system, its response and therefore the road safety.


Public understanding of the goals of applied biology and conservation is promoted by showcasing charismatic or significant organisms using vernacular names. Conservation activities in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, are prioritising taxa that have high rates of provincial endemism, such as snails, earthworms, millipedes and cicadas. To assist wider public engagement in these activities, an assessment of endemism of the cicadas of KwaZulu-Natal is presented along with a dichotomous, 37-couplet key for the identification of males, based mainly on externally visible morphology and colouration. Standardised English vernacular names coined following a simple naming convention are proposed. Forty-two percent (16 out of 38) of the cicada species known from KwaZulu-Natal are endemic to the province. Photographs of some of the species are included to facilitate their identification. Photographs can be used for identification of various species providing that the diagnostic characters are visible in the photographs. For this purpose, photographs may have to be taken of hand-held individuals. Some of the endemic species are of particular concern for conservation because they are not known to occur in statutory protected areas or are only known from relatively small protected areas. The latter may not be able to ensure the long-term survival of the species. The rate and extent of loss of habitat outside protected areas is likely to be a grave threat to species that are not protected or that are inadequately conserved in statutory protected areas. The standardised vernacular names proposed here provide a tool for communicating provincial conservation plans and concerns with stakeholders in KwaZulu-Natal and for stimulating interest in cicadas amongst land users, environmental impact assessment practitioners, biologists, naturalists and citizen scientists.


Experiment I: The objective of this study was to know variation in some selected agronomic characters of sweet sorghum when planted in several growing seasons. The 17 different sweet sorghum varieties having various maturities, and plant, syrup and sugar types were used in this study which had been carried out for the period of two years from 1968 to 1969 at Industrial Crops Division of Crop Experiment Station in Suwon. These varieties were planted at an interval of 20 days from April 5 to August 25 both in 1968 and 1969. The experimental results could be summarized as follows: 1. As planting was made early, the number of days from sowing to germination was getting prolonged while germination took place early when planted at the later date of which air temperature was relatively higher. However, such a tendency was not observed beyond the planting on August 25. In general, a significant negative correlation was found between the number of days from sowing to germination and the average daily temperature but a positive correlation was found between the former and the total accumulated average temperature during the growth period. 2. The period from sowing to heading was generally shortened as planting was getting delayed. The average varietal difference in number of days from sowing to heading was as much as 30.2 days. All the varieties were grouped into early-, medium and late-maturing groups based upon a difference of 10 days in heading. The average number of days from sowing to heading was 78.54.5 days in the early-maturing varieties, 88.54.5 days in the medium varieties and 98.54.5 days in the late-maturing varieties, respectively. The early-maturing varieties had the shortest period to heading when planted from July 15 to August 5, the medium varieties did when planted before July 15 and the late-maturing varieties did when planted before June 5. 3. The relationship between the sowing date (x) and number of days from sowing to heading could be expressed in an equation of y=a+bx. A highly positive correlation was found between the coefficient of the equation(shortening rate in heading time) and the average number of days from sowing to heading. 4. The number of days from sowing to heading was shortened as the daily average temperature during the growth period was getting higher. Early-maturing varieties had the shortest period to heading at a temperature of 24.2, medium varieties at 23.8 and late-maturing varieties at 22.9, respectively. In other words, the number of days from sowing to heading was shortened rapidly in case that the average temperature for 30 days before heading was 22 to . It prolonged relatively when the temperature was lower than 21. 5. There was a little difference in plant height among varieties. In case of early planting, no noticeable difference in the height was observed. The plant height shortened generally as planting season was delayed. Elongation of plant height was remarkably accelerated as planting was delayed. This tendency was more pronounced in case of early-maturing varieties rather than late-maturing varieties. As a result, the difference in plant height between the maximum and the minimum was greater in late-maturing varieties than in early-maturing varieties. 6. Diameter of the stalk was getting thicker as planted earlier in late-maturing varieties. On the other hand, medium or early-maturing varieties had he thickest diameter when they were planted on April 25. 7. In general, a higher stalk yield was obtained when planted from April 25 to May 15. However, the planting time for the maximum stalk yield varied from one variety to another depending upon maturity of variety. Ear]y-maturing varieties produced the maximum yield when planted about April 25, medium varieties from April 25 to May 15 and late-maturing varieties did when planted from April 5 to May 15 respectively. The yield decreased linearly when they were planted later than the above dates. 8. A varietal difference in Brix % was also observed. The Brix % decreased linearly when the varieties were planted later than May 15. Therefore, a highly negative relationship between planting date(x) and Brix %(y) was detected. 9. The Brix % during 40 to 45 days after leading was the highest at the 1st to the 3rd internodes from the top while it decreased gradually from the 4th internode. It increased again somewhat at the 2nd internode from the ground level. However, it showed a reverse relationship between the Brix % and position of internode before heading. 10. Sugar content in stalk decreased gradually as planting was getting delayed though one variety differed from another. It seemed that sweet sorghum which planted later than June had no value as a sugar crop at all. 11. The Brix % and sugar content in stalk increased from heading and reached the maximum 40 to 45 days after heading. The percentage of purity showed the same tendency as the mentioned characters. Accordingly, a highly positive correlation was observed between. percentage of purity and Brix % or sugar content in stalk. 12. The highest refinable sugar yield was obtained from the planting on April 25 in late-maturing varieties and from that on May 15 in early-maturing varieties. The yield rapidly decreased when planted later than those dates. Such a negative correlation between planting date(x) and refinable sugar yield(y) was highly significant at 1% level. 13. Negative correlations or linear regressions between delayed planting and the number of days from sowing to germination. accumulated temperature during germination period, number of days to heading, accumulated temperature to heading, plant height, stem diameter, stalk weight, Brix %. sugar content, refinable sugar yield or Purity % were obtained. On the other hand, highly positive correlations between the number of days from sowing to heading(x) and Brix %, sugar content, purity %, refinable sugar yield, plant height or stalk yield, between Brix %(x) and purity %, refinable sugar yield or stalk yield, between sugar content(x) and purity% or refinable sugar yield(y), between purity %(x) and refinable sugar yield and between daylength at heading(x) and Brix %. number of days from sowing to heading, sugar content, purity % or refinable sugar yield (y), were found, respectively. Experiment II: The 11 varieties were selected out of the varieties used in Experiment I from ecological and genetic viewpoints. Complete diallel cross were made among them and the heading date, stalk length, stalk yield, Brix %, syrup yield, combining ability and genetic behavior of F plants and their parental varieties were investigated. The results could be summarized as follows: 1. In general, number of days to heading showed a partial dominance over earliness or late maturity or had a mid-value, though there were some specific combinations showing a complete dominance or transgressive segregation in maturity. Some combinations showed relatively high general or specific combining abilities in maturity. Therefore, a 50 to 50 segregation ratio in heading date could be estimated in this study and it might be positive to have a selection in early generation since heritability of the character was relatively high. 2. A vigorous hybrid vigor was observed in stalk length. A complete or partial dominant effect of long stalk was obtained. The general combining ability and specific combining ability of stalk length were generally high. Long and short stalks segregated in a ratio of 50:50 and its heritability was relatively low. 3. Except for several specific combinations, high stalk yield seemed to be partial dominant over the low yield. Some varieties demonstrated relatively high general as well as specific combining abilities. It was assumed that several recessive genes were involved in expression of this character. The interaction among regulating recessive genes was also obtained. Accordingly, the heritability of stalk yield seemed to be rather low. 4. The Brix % of hybrid plants located around mid-parental value though some of them showed much higher or lower percentage. It could be explained by the fact that such behavior might be due to partial dominance of Brix %. The varieties with, relatively higher Brix % were high both in general. and specific combining abilities. Therefore, it could be recommended to use the varieties having higher sugar content in order to develop higher-sugar varieties. 5. The syrup yield seemed to be transgressively segregated or completely dominant over low yield. Hybrid vigor of syrup yield was relatively high. No-consistent relationship between general combining ability and specific combining ability was observed. However, some cases demonstrated that the varieties with relatively higher general combining ability had relatively lower specific combining ability. It was assumed that the frequencies of dominant and recessive alleles were almost same.


A study of mortuary practices in East Yorkshire from the fifth to the late seventh century BC. The author uses all the available evidence, from well-recorded modern excavations to briefly recorded nineteenth century finds. He believes that exploring the variation in burial rites can tell us more about this society than 'trying to reduce the rite to a single homogeneous entity ...until the advent of Christianity brings a new rite'. The book includes a useful chapter on 'The Anglo-Saxon Myth and the Development of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology'.


Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation or exposure to sunlight are well known but poorly understood predisposing factors of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)


Subjective impression of steady-state and intermittent sounds was examined. The component sound of intermittent sounds has 30ms riseand fall-time without steadystate portion and LAmax was 70 dB. The carrier was white noise. The number of component sounds was varied from 5 to 80 in 4800ms total duration of the sound. The steady-state sound with the same duration was also used. The sound levels of the steadystate sounds were 53, 59 and 65 dBA. The loudness and the subjective impression of these sounds were judged using magnitude estimation and semantic differential, respectively, by fourteen German participants. The results showed that the loudness of intermittent sounds was judged louder than that of steady-state sound even if LAeq and LAE values were equal. It was also found that the intermittent sounds were judged more annoying and unpleasant than steady-state sounds. These results suggest that affective impression has an effect even on the judgment of loudness.


Now China is being in the transition to the great scale modern society. To achieve this goal , the gross-root governance in rural China have two main task. The one is getting enough remain of agriculture from countryside, the other is keeping the social order in countryside. Author outlines the long complex history of rural politics, then he points out that at the moment,improving grossroot democracy and strengthening the political participation of the peasants and rural elites in decision making in county and township level will help to realize the good controlling in great scale society. 


The effect of oriented α-Al2O3 platelets on densification and shrinkage behavior of tape-cast α-Al2O3 during solid-state sintering was studied using dilatometric sintering shrinkage experiments and microstructural characterization. Platelet-free alumina samples exhibit isotropic shrinkage with an ∼17% linear final shrinkage. The addition of platelets retards densification, and results in anisotropic shrinkage. Initially during sintering, shrinkage is isotropic for platelet-containing systems; however, it becomes highly anisotropic by inhibition of shrinkage in the platelet orientation direction. In the 10 vol% platelet-containing system, shrinkage was ∼12% in the casting and the transverse directions and ∼20% in the direction perpendicular to the casting plane.


Abstract Cold rolled sheets of a low carbon quenching and partitioning (Q&P) steel grade were subjected to heat treatment cycles, which were designed by dilatometric experiments and optimised with respect to the quenching temperature, partitioning temperature and partitioning time. Characterisation of the retained austenite was carried out by electron backscattered diffraction, whereas the carbides were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry. The mechanical properties were evaluated by tensile testing and linked with retained austenite fractions and carbon contents, determined by X-ray diffraction. Conclusions are drawn concerning the influence of the kinetics of partitioning on the microstructure in terms of optimal austenite fraction in the martensitic matrix, its C content and ensuing mechanical properties.


Thank you very much for reading financial advice and investment decisions a manifesto for change. As you may know, people have search numerous times for their favorite novels like this financial advice and investment decisions a manifesto for change, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some infectious virus inside their computer.


In this paper, the energy value extracted from echo wave through wavelet transform is used as the feature of radar target, and fuzzy neural network is used as the classifier of target identification. The tested results show that the method have high classification ability.


One of the most important functions of National Library of Iran is to develop key Indigenous tools for subject access e.g. thesauri, list of subject headings and adaptations of classification schemes, to enable indigenous peoples to retrieve information and to facilitate education of cataloguing and classification for indigenous students of library and information science in Iran.

 In this paper, indigenous tools of cataloguing and classification have introduced in subject access area. These tools have categorized in two sections: "Subject indexing" and "Classification schemes"; Next, the methodology of developing indigenous means and tools are presented in detail. This may help developing national libraries to come familiar with our innovative methods. The experience of National Library of Iran has shown that this is difficult but possible and useful.


Complex forms of nitrogen are of interest for their potential as high-energy materials, but many all-nitrogen systems lack the stability for practical high-energy applications. Inclusion of carbon atoms in an otherwise all-nitrogen structure can increase stability. Nitrogen cages are known for energetically preferring cylindrical structures with triangular endcaps, but carbon cages prefer the pentagon-hexagon structure of the fullerenes. Previous calculations on N22C2 have shown that carbon inclusion narrows the gap between triangular and fullerene-like structures. In the current study, three isomers of N24 are used as frameworks for carbon substitution. Theoretical calculations are carried out on isomers of N20C4, N18C6, and N16C8, with the goal of determining what level of carbon substitution causes the carbon fullerene-like structures to become energetically preferred.


The design of a distributed power flow system (DPFS) is vital to focus on how to optimally assign the intermittent renewable energy (RE) resources to the unpredictable power loads with the integration of energy storage system (ESS). This is because the renewable energy resources such as solar photovoltaic, fuel cell, and so on are strongly depending on the environmental changes and the power loads are tightly operating according to the unplanned human activities. Thus, it is a highly significant challenge to design the energy storage system efficiently in terms of minimum energy loss and optimum storage capacity before the deployment phase. In this paper, the DPFS that incorporates an optimization approach has been investigated with real experimental dataset of smart home environment by considering two power storages and two home appliances based on human daily activities in both summer and winter seasons. Numerical simulation results reveal that the energy loss and the optimum storage capacity can be reduced greatly in winter when the load shifting algorithm is considered in the presence of power fluctuations from both power generations and power loads.


Tribocorrosion of medical devices causes the electrode potential across the device-solution interface to become more negative. This study provides a theoretical impedance-based understanding of voltage versus time changes that arise. It combines tribocorrosion with the voltage-dependent impedance characteristics of the surface, the relative anodic and cathodic areas and the mechanics and electrochemistry of oxide abrasion. An area-dependent Randle's circuit is used with the tribocorrosion current equation to show the time-dependent voltage change with disruption and repassivation of the oxide. Heredity integrals are used to predict voltage over time for any arbitrary current-time path. Experiments using titanium pin-on-disk fretting corrosion are used to assess the theoretical model and to demonstrate its behavior.


In most of the space systems and space applications, it is not viable to fully seal all external structural enclosures at panel level to maintain a homogenous Faraday cage solution. Hence, it is essential to perform a realistic characterization of the Shielding Effectiveness (SE) of the additional external elements utilized to provide electromagnetic protection. This paper presents, in the frame of the Heinrich Hertz H2Sat mission at OHB, an analysis via different modelling techniques, together with the tests, on various configurations of multilayer insulation (MLI) types which were used for passive thermal control. To conclude, a final correlation exercise of both approaches is carried out, together with a comparison between single and overlapped shields.


This paper reports the novel and efficient one-pot synthesis of highly functionalized polyarylphenols from readily available 1,3-diarylpropan-2-ones and chalcones or cinnamaldehyde derivatives via benzannulation under transition-metal-free and aerobic conditions. This benzannulation proceeds through cascade Michael addition/intramolecular aldol/tautomerization/oxidation. This protocol produces various tetra- and tri-aryl substituted phenols in moderate to good yield. The synthesized compounds exhibited potent antioxidant activities compared to the standard BHT.


Objective To analyse the clinical characteristics,follow up their prognsis and evaluate the treatment of patients with Crohn's disease (CD). Methods The data of patients with CD were collected at Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University from 2002 to 2007. The diagnosis was made according to the consensus recommended by Chinese Society of Gastroenterology. The disease severity,follow-up and prognsis were evaluated according to the consensus. Results Sixty-six CD patients were enrolled in this study. The ratio of males to females was 2.47∶1. Age at diagnosis ranged from 12 to 76 years old,and the mean age was (32±17)years old. The main gastroenterological manifestations were abdominal pain (80.3%),diarrhea (54.6%),fistula formation (31.8%); and the main systemic manifestation was fever (80.3%) and defective nutrition. A total of 60.6% of patients with CD had complications and 34.8% of these patients had more than one complications. Extraintestial manifastation were presented in 7.6% of patients with CD. A total of 86.4% of patients with CD were active state cases and 57.6% were suffered from inflammation of ileum and colon. Abdominal pain (P=0.011),hematochezia (P=0.008),fever (P=0.001),anemia (P=0.020),underweight (P=0.010) and heightening of CRP (P=0.033) were more common in patients who were in active state than those who were in slient state. During their inducing alleviate treatment,33.3% of patients with CD were treated with aminosalicylate alone,36.4% were treated with both aminosalicylate and glucocorticoids,7.6% were treated with aminosalicylate,glucocorticoids and immunosuppressant. After medicine treatment,6.8% of the patients relieved,62.7% turned better,28.8% were ineffective,1.7% died,55.9% recurd. And 21.2% were treated by surgical operation. A total of 42.4% of patients with CD had histroy of surgical operation and 9.1% were carried on more than one surgical operation. Conclusions Active state patients with CD had high rate of complications,low extraintestial manifestatons,rare rate of dysplasia and canceration,and high rates of surgical operation and recurring.


e12598Background: NCCN (National comprehensive cancer network) recommends to consider Oncotype DX testing for patients diagnosed with stage IA breast cancers between 0.5- 1 cm that are hormone receptor positive and HER-2 negative. This study is a retrospective review of patients diagnosed with T1b stage IA breast cancers diagnosed at Cone Health Cancer Center between 2012 and 2017 who had Oncotype DX testing. Methods: Patients with T1b hormone receptor positive and HER-2 negative breast cancer, who had Oncotype DX testing performed were queried from tumor registry from 2012 to 2017. The registry also provided information regarding the grade and whether these patients received chemotherapy. Results: A total of 73 patients with T1b N0 (stage IA ) invasive breast cancers that were ER and PR positive and HER-2 negative between 2012 and 2017, had Oncotype DX test performed. Along these, 12 patients received adjuvant chemotherapy. Among those patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, 9 patients had Oncotype DX ...


Two-dimensional periodic arrays of Pb nanopucks have been grown on Pb quantum islands at around 100 K using electronic superstructures on the island surface as templates. These superstructures originate from interfacial electron scattering. They are seen on the surface of Pb quantum islands grown on incommensurate Pb thin films on a Si(111)-7 ×7 surface. The rhombic unit cell of these superstructures can be divided into two triangles. Pb adatoms prefer to adsorb on the triangle with the face-centered cubic stacking. In an appropriate temperature range, the surface deposited atoms can hop more freely within the unit cell than across the cell boundary. The superstructures can thus serve as templates for the confined nucleation of nanopucks of deposited atoms.


Frames are collections of vectors in a Hilbert space which have reconstruction properties similar to orthonormal bases and applications in areas such as signal and image processing, quantum information theory, quantization, compressed sensing, and phase retrieval. Further desirable properties of frames for robustness in these applications coincide with structures that have appeared independently in other areas of mathematics, such as special matroids, Gel'Fand-Zetlin polytopes, and combinatorial designs. Within the past few years, the desire to understand these structures has led to many new fruitful interactions between frame theory and fields in pure mathematics, such as algebraic and symplectic geometry, discrete geometry, algebraic combinatorics, combinatorial design theory, and algebraic number theory. These connections have led to the solutions of several open problems and are ripe for further exploration. The central goal of our mini-workshop was to attack open problems that were amenable to an interdisciplinary approach combining certain subfields of frame theory, geometry, and combinatorics. Mathematics Subject Classification (2010): 42Cxx, 14Pxx, 05Bxx, 53Dxx. Introduction by the Organisers The mini-workshop Algebraic, Geometric, and Combinatorial Methods in Frame Theory, organised by Emily King (Bremen), Christopher Manon (Lexington), Dustin G. Mixon (Columbus), and Cynthia Vinzant (Raleigh) was attended by 17 researchers from Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania. The mathematical background of the participants was equally broad, with experts in frame 2 Oberwolfach Report 46/2018 theory, harmonic analysis, discrete math, combinatorics, algebraic geometry, and symplectic geometry. The main focus of the mini-workshop was to bring together this diverse group of researchers to make progress on a collection of open problems in harmonic analysis, quantum information theory, and non-linear inverse problems using tools from frame theory, (real algebraic, symplectic, and discrete) geometry, combinatorics, and algebraic number theory. We also explored other connections between frames, geometry, and combinatorics, like frame theoretic configuration spaces, combinatorial designs from frames, and tensor decomposition techniques. The approach was at its very essence interdisciplinary and is driven by numerous recent discoveries and conjectures. As a consequence the mini-workshop was organized in a somewhat non-traditional manner. In the first two days, 4 plenary and two mini-plenary talks were given. The goal of these talks was to introduce the group to problems and techniques in various areas related to frame theory. In addition, each participant, including plenary speakers, was asked to give a 5 minute talk on a topic of their choosing broadly connected to frame theory. At the end of the second day the group met to brainstorm on open problems. The outcome of this session was that the participants divided into into 4 working groups each focusing on a different problem in the area. For the remainder of the week, working group members worked on their problems and the entire miniworkshop met daily to report and provide feedback. The meeting began on Monday with a talk by Emily King (Bremen) who introduced the basics of finite frame theory and some of the connections to real algebraic geometry, algebraic combinatorics, discrete geometry, combinatorial design theory, tensor geometry, symplectic geometry, algebraic number theory. She was followed by Dustin Mixon (Columbus) who presented a tour of open problems in frame theory. Cynthia Vinzant (Raleigh) gave an introduction to real algebraic geometry and its connections to frame theory. Alex Fink (London) then gave an introduction to matroid theory. The first day concluded with a talk by Martin Ehlers (Wien) on t-designs and cubatures. The second day began with a talk by Clayton Shonkwiler (Ft. Collins) who spoke on joint work with Tom Needham on the use of symplectic geometry to study the space of finite unit norm tight frames (FUNTFs). Recent developments in the field have also suggested that tools from symplectic geometry will prove to be quite powerful, and the inclusion of such methods will be one of the key innovations of the mini-workshop. The final talk was by Markus Grassl (Erlangen) who spoke on his joint work with Andrew Scott using numerical techniques to give examples of maximal equiangular tight frames (ETFs). During the second afternoon the workshop met for a brainstorming session where open problems were suggested. At the conclusion of the afternoon session the participants agreed to break up into four subgroups each working on a particular problem. The subgroup consisting of Martin Ehler, Milena Hering, Christopher Manon, Tom Needham and Clayton Shonkwiler worked on symplectic approaches Algebraic, Geometric, and Combinatorial Methods in Frame Theory 3 to the Paulsen problem. The subgroup of Bernhard G. Bodmann, Sabine Burgdorf, Dan Edidin, and Markus Grassl worked on the problem of constructing structured small frames for phase retrieval. The group of Alex Fink, Emily King, Cynthia Vinzant and Shayne Waldron studied the question of when an (equiangular) tight frame can be non-trivially decomposed into a disjoint union of (equiangular) tight frames for their spans. The subgroup of Gary Greaves, Joseph W. Iverson, John Jasper, and Dustin G. Mixon considered the problem of constructing frames over finite fields of order p which "look" like ETFs over the complex numbers. The motivation for passing to finite fields is to facilitate the study of the tough problems surrounding complex ETFs, such as the Fickus conjecture and Zauners conjecture. A write-up of each group's findings to date is included with this report. Acknowledgement: The MFO and the workshop organizers would like to thank the National Science Foundation for supporting the participation of junior researchers in the workshop by the grant DMS-1049268, "US Junior Oberwolfach Fellows". Moreover, the MFO and the workshop organizers would like to thank the Simons Foundation for supporting Shayne Waldron in the "Simons Visiting Professors" program at the MFO. Algebraic, Geometric, and Combinatorial Methods in Frame Theory 5 MiniWorkshop: Algebraic, Geometric, and Combinatorial Methods in Frame Theory


Drug addicts are stigmatised and consecutively discriminated. This has a negative impact on their health. Societal stereotypes still hinder that society recognises addiction as a disease, despite the fact it is classified in ICD-10 and DSM IV-TR. One of the reasons is that addiction as a bio-psycho-social condition is still lacking a proper conceptualisation. According to the psychoanalytical model of Rado (1926) drugs change the Ego functions and the Ego gets under the influence of the Id. This concept is consistent with the newer findings from neuro-sciences and psychology. These findings show that self-control is impaired and that the Ego undergoes "Ego-depletion". These changes vary over time, thus addicts are able to give an informed consent to a treatment, which has to fulfil the conditions of a modern bio-ethic (respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice of distribution). Opioid substitution treatment has proven to be an effective measure in heroin addiction. The constitution of the WHO declares "the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being", the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adds a right for treatment and social support, further specified by the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. From this derives the obligation of the state to take positive steps to realise the right for health. Heroin addicts have thus a right for substitution. The same applies to prisoners according to the resolution of the UN General Assembly 45/111.


Proposals for a Regulation on a Single Market For Digital Services (Digital Services Act) and Regulation on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector (Digital Markets Atc) of 15th of December, 2020 were long-avaited tools, through which, in the field of digital services, a higher degree of legal certainty for the consumer should be ensured and the functional responsibility regime of online platforms should be secured, in direct proportion. Submitted proposals preceded open public consultation of interested stakeholders, including the general public, academics, digital companies and other businesses, associations, civil society public authorities, and trade unions. The need to adopt adequate legislation in line with rapid technological development also stemmed from the fact that the E-commerce Directive was adopted in 2000 and has so far been considered as the main legal framework governing the issue of digital platforms, but it is also necessary to add that the regulation of online platforms has been mainly left to the Member States. As much of the activity has shifted to the online enviroment, digital platforms are playing an increasingly important role in our lives. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relevant provisions of the proposal in the context of competition rules and also in view of the increased use of online platforms due to the global crisis. The content of the article will also contain a brief comparison with the current legal situation with reference to the practical implications that await us with the adoption of the new legislation.


Structure and composition of marble are described and results of stone sculpture decay are given. Detailed description of the following conservation methods. Removal of dust, stabilization of painting remnants, removal of water soluble salts, stengthening, correction of old restorations, glueing, filling, retouching. New materials and methods are described.


Significance Neuronal circuits require eliminating the excess of synaptic connectivity to acquire complete functionality. Here we show that secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), a molecule secreted exclusively by glia, is a trigger for synapse elimination. Acting through a region located in its C-terminal domain, SPARC activates synapse disassembly and formation of retracted axon terminals in cholinergic neurons in vitro. The onset of this cell-autonomous program in the tails of living tadpoles drives a loss of motor innervation, causing transient paralysis. We propose that along with their well-established role in ending the process of synapse elimination by engulfing retracted terminals, glia can also act as a trigger through the release of specific molecules, such as SPARC. Elimination of the excess synaptic contacts established in the early stages of neuronal development is required to refine the function of neuronal circuits. Here we investigate whether secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), a molecule produced by glial cells, is involved in synapse removal. SPARC production peaks when innervation of the rat superior cervical ganglion and the tail of Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles are remodeled. The formation of new cholinergic synapses in autaptic single-cell microcultures is inhibited by SPARC. The effect resides in the C-terminal domain, which is also responsible for triggering a concentration- and time-dependent disassembly of stable cholinergic synapses. The loss of synaptic contacts is associated with the formation of retracted axon terminals containing multivesicular bodies and secondary lysosomes. The biological relevance of in vitro results was supported by injecting the tail of Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles with peptide 4.2, a 20-aa sequence derived from SPARC that mimics full-length protein effects. Swimming was severely impaired at ∼5 h after peptide application, caused by the massive elimination of neuromuscular junctions and pruning of axonal branches. Effects revert by 6 d after injection, as motor innervation reforms. In conclusion, SPARC triggers a cell-autonomous program of synapse elimination in cholinergic neurons that likely occurs when protein production peaks during normal development.


Odor is one of the major nuisances in the environment. In most countries, odor annoyance from livestock production is an increasing problem in the community. In order to reduce the odor inconvenience and establish a good relation between livestock industries and the surrounding communities, many studies on the odor dispersion, such as diffusion simulations and field experiments have been investigated. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been effectively and widely used to study this kind of research. CFD considers both various wind conditions as well as topographical conditions to study aerodynamic phenomenon. Therefore, the ultimate objective of the study was to develop an aerodynamic model to predict qualitatively and quantitatively odor diffusion from livestock. During the first year of this 3-year study, various phenomena and factors of odor diffusion from livestock houses were investigated from field experiments. In the second year, mesh models of mountainous study areas with a 1.8km radius were built with a 5m resolution. Modules for the atmospheric phenomena were also made by user defined functions and linked into a main computing module. The dispersion of odor was predicted by the 3D CFD model and practically agreed to the field measured data. Later, this model will be used to arrange the odor-related conflicts as well as to predict the odor dispersion according to various meteorological conditions.


Cosmogenic 10Be is a promising precipitation index, because its fallout flux in sediments is mainly controlled by wet precipitation after its production in the atmosphere. Here we report on a new study for reconstructing precipitation during the last 130 ka using 10Be measurements from Chinese loess, with multivariable linear regression to remove the geomagnetic field modulation and dust flux dilution effects from the loess 10Be record. The broad similarity between our result and speleothem δ18O indicates that the new precipitation record is robust. It also records an interesting increase in precipitation that occurred during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), exhibiting a similar rainfall amount with that of MIS 5, suggesting that MIS 3 is a special period with strengthened summer Monsoon intensity. By comparison with a stacked marine isotope record and a summer insolation record, our precipitation data clearly show a close correspondence with Northern Hemisphere summer (June, July, and August) solar insolation changes on orbital timescales. During MIS 3, our record follows the insolation differential between 30°N and 30°S, suggesting that rising rainfall changes during MIS 3 are a response to the interhemispheric summer insolation differential forcing.


A 59‐year‐old female presented with gradual diminution of vision in the left eye for 3 months associated with pain and redness. The best‐corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in the right eye was 20/20 and counting fingers close to face in the left eye. The examination of the right eye was unremarkable. The left eye showed a sluggishly reacting pupil, partial posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) and two well‐defined overlapping translucent cysts just below the inferior arcade, the larger one in the retro‐hyaloid space demonstrating the typical undulating movement and the smaller one in the sub retinal space harboring the scolex [Fig. 1]. CT brain showed features suggestive of neuro‐cysticercosis. After obtaining neurologist opinion and initiation of oral steroids, through 25‐gauge pars plana vitrectomy, the retro‐hyaloid space was entered through the area of partial PVD.[1] The cyst capsule was firmly adherent to the hyaloid, which was gently separated using a soft‐tipped cannula when it was still found adherent to the underlying structures. After meticulous dissection, this cyst was found communicating to the sub retinal cyst through the posterior hyaloid [Fig. 2a].[2] Chandelier‐assisted bimanual dissection was then performed to open up the 'hyaloid tunnel' [Fig. 2b] that enveloped its connection to the sub retinal component of the cyst, which was subsequently teased out into the vitreous cavity in toto with passive suction revealing its dumbbell shape [Fig. 2c].[3] It was then removed completely with a high‐speed vitrectomy cutter. The bed of the cyst with surrounding fibrosis was lasered. At one‐week follow up, her BCVA had improved to 20/120 and her retina was attached [Fig. 3]. Anticonvulsant and antiparasitic therapy were initiated.


Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the component-resolved diagnosis using a microarray allergen chip (Immuno Solid-phase Allergen Chip, ImmunoCAP ISAC) and to compare this new diagnostic tool with the established ImmunoCAP methods for allergen-specific IgE detection in allergic rhinitis patients. Methods One hundred sixty-eight allergic rhinitis patients were included in this study. All the patients were diagnosed with allergic rhinitis according to their clinical symptoms, physical examination and a positive skin prick test. We analyzed their specific IgEs for house dust mites (Dermatophagoides farine [DF] and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus [DP]), Alternaria alternata, birch, and mugwort using ImmunoCAP and ImmunoCAP ISAC in the same patient sample. We compared the sensitivity and correlation between the two tests. Results In cases of allergies to DP and DF, the sensitivity of the specific IgE was 80% and that of the allergen microarray was 78.9%. The correlation between the two tests was significant for both DP and DF (P<0.001). For the A. alternata, birch and mugwort allergens, the sensitivity of ImmunoCAP ISAC was slightly lower than that of ImmunoCAP. Conclusion These results suggest that the allergen microarray chip method is a reliable new method to diagnose the components of an allergen in patients with allergic rhinitis sensitive to house dust mites. Further study about the utility of the allergen microarray is needed.


Two studies that examined the role of revenge in rumor transmission and involved working adults as participants are reported. Study 1 used hypothetical scenarios to manipulate organizational treatment of an employee and the believability of a rumor. Participants had higher intention to transmit a harmful rumor when the organization broke job-related promises (i.e., breached the psychological contract) and revenge motivation mediated this relationship. Believability of the rumor had no effect. Study 2 used a field survey methodology and, controlling for social desirability, replicated the results for self- and peer-reported rumor transmission behavior. Study 2 also showed that participants' belief in negative reciprocity norm strengthened the relationship between breach and revenge motivation.


The shortcomings of the existing asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) standard ANSI T1.413 for application with the integrated services digital network (ISDN) are explained. An ADSL system modified by increasing the high-pass cutoff frequency of the splitter to about 140 kHz and, therefore, moving also the pilots, has been simulated under noise conditions and the ISDN requirements of the German subscriber line network. The reach reduction due to ISDN compared with the "plain old telephone service" (POTS) application is shown to he between 10% and 15%. It is proposed to apply ISDN ADSL rather than POTS ADSL.


Objective Introducing the seven exploring strategies for reducing medical errors in American,studying the refer- ence to us to improving the quality of service and reducing medical errors,then researching how to use them.Method Investiga- ted 184 quality directors in 34 hospitals.Examined the perceptions about the importance of these seven strategies,the level of a- doption of these strategies,and the factors that act as barriers.Result Respondents indicated the top three important strategies were (1)developing a partnership with stakeholders,(2)education and training,and (3)cuhural shift.The main factors that act as barriers were the impact of the medium,lack of resources,lack of knowledge,and fear to undertake responsibility.Conclusion Integrating our practices and the foreign experiences,we should use the strategies stepwise to reduce medical errors.


NTMs, Agricultural and Food Trade, and Competitiveness Special Issue of The World Economy (forthcoming). Selected Papers from a European Commission co-funded Project on Assessment the Impacts of Non-tariff Measures on Competitiveness of the EU and Selected Trade Partners. Guest Editors: John Beghin and David Orden. The PDF file has the Table of Contents and teh introduction. Please contact the authors for individual papers. Once the articles are available on line, we will link directly to them.Contents:Overview Key Findings of the NTM-Impact Project David Orden, John Beghin, and Guy Henry The Impact of Regulatory Heterogeneity on Agri-food Trade Niven Winchester, Marie-Luise Rau, Christian Goetz, Bruno Larue, Tsunehiro Otsuki, Karl Shutes, Christine Wieck, Heloisa Lee Burnquist, MaurAcio Jorge Pinto de Souza, and Rosane Nunes de Faria Convergence of US and EU Production Practices under the New FDA Food Safety Modernization Act John Humphrey Case Studies The Trade and Welfare Impacts of Australian Quarantine Policies: The Case of Pigmeat John Beghin and Mark Melatos Potential of Regional and Seasonal Requirements in US Regulation of Fresh Lemon Imports Caesar Cororaton and Everett Peterson Assessment of the Impact of Avian Influenza Related Regulatory Policies on Poultry Meat Trade and Welfare Christine Wieck, Simon Schlueter and Wolfgang Britz Compositional Standards, Import Permits and Market Structure: The Case of Canadian Cheese Imports Marie-HA©lA¨ne Felt, Bruno Larue and Jean-Philippe Gervais Effects of GlobalGAP on Horticultural Exports and Employment in Senegal Liesbeth Colen, Miet Maertens and Jo Swinnen


The "regional security complex" (RSC) framework is used to examine the first phase of the Preah Vihear temple conflict between Thailand and Cambodia in the time period from 1953 to 1962. Analysis by this framework suggests that the said boundary conflict was shaped by constellations of enmity associated with nationalist myths of nationhood, the preferences of the leaders of the two sides dealing with the conflict, and the potential of the spilling over of negative externalities to other states. By taking Indochina as the security complex region and integrating multi-layer RSCs, we suggest that the RSCs produced structural effects, stemming largely from the involvement of the great powers in the 'Cold War' environment, which influenced the strategic calculations on the both sides of the conflict and prevented the dyad from choosing war to deal with the temple conflict.


Abstract Laevifaciesquadrialatagen. et sp. nov. is described from Hainan Province, China based on morphological data. COI data (DNA barcodes) is utilized to confirm the sexual dimorphism occurring in Laevifaciesquadrialatagen. et sp. nov.Melanozosterianitida Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1865, is reported from Guangxi Province, China. A key to the Chinese Polyzosteriinae is provided.


Democratic governance of cultural diversity is one of the more important worries of the majority of European states. A few years ago, this concern existed mainly in central and northern Europe; today, however, it has become a matter of general interest for the whole continent. This is shown through two relevant facts: the European Union declared 2008 as European Year of Intercultural Dialogue and, in a broader context, the Council of Europe published a white paper based on this topic. The aim of this paper is analyse the different approaches to the question of cultural diversity within the Council of Europe, with particular attention to education. Therefore, I have made a historical review of the main documents of this institution – related to this topic – from its foundation to the present day, in order to find the key to the current approach. I have not reviewed such documents from a legal perspective but, rather, made an analysis based on two ideas. Firstly, in view of different ways of managing cultural diversity, I have observed the stance that these texts have maintained in this regard. Secondly, I have tried to investigate the role that education has played in this process.


Determine the efficacy and side effects of low‐frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to treat refractory neocortical epilepsy and study differences in effect between a figure‐8 and round coil type.


Background: Synesthesia is a phenomenon where a stimulus produces consistent extraordinary subjective experiences. A relatively common type of synesthesia involves perception of color when viewing letters (e.g. the letter 'a' always appears as light blue). In this study, we examine whether traits typically regarded as markers of synesthesia can be acquired by simply reading in color. Methodology/Principal Findings: Non-synesthetes were given specially prepared colored books to read. A modified Stroop task was administered before and after reading. A perceptual crowding task was administered after reading. Reading one book (.49,000 words) was sufficient to induce effects regarded as behavioral markers for synesthesia. The results of the Stroop tasks indicate that it is possible to learn letter-color associations through reading in color (F(1, 14) = 5.85, p= .030). Furthermore, Stroop effects correlated with subjective reports about experiencing letters in color (r(13) = 0.51, p= .05). The frequency of viewing letters is related to the level of association as seen by the difference in the Stroop effect size between upperand lower-case letters (t(14) = 2.79, p= .014) and in a subgroup of participants whose Stroop effects increased as they continued to read in color. Readers did not show significant performance advantages on the crowding task compared to controls. Acknowledging the many differences between trainees and synesthetes, results suggest that it may be possible to acquire a subset of synesthetic behavioral traits in adulthood through training. Conclusion/Significance: To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of acquiring letter-color associations through reading in color. Reading in color appears to be a promising avenue in which we may explore the differences and similarities between synesthetes and non-synesthetes. Additionally, reading in color is a plausible method for a long-term 'synesthetic' training program. Citation: Colizoli O, Murre JMJ, Rouw R (2012) Pseudo-Synesthesia through Reading Books with Colored Letters. PLoS ONE 7(6): e39799. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0039799 Editor: Daniel Goldreich, McMaster University, Canada Received October 4, 2011; Accepted May 30, 2012; Published June 27, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Colizoli et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This research was supported by the Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


Abstract: The state of policy capacity within Canada's various levels of government has for some time been the subject of discussion both within the public services themselves and among the academic research community. Drawing on the results of a 2006 survey of deputy and assistant deputy ministers working in Canada's federal, ten provincial and three territorial governments, this article presents assessments made by the most senior leadership. The survey results show that ninety per cent of deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers agree that policy capacity has changed but that the change is not uni-directional. Both improvements and decline in policy capacity were observed, although assessments of decline were somewhat more pronounced. Moreover, improvements in policy capacity were found to be associated with a reduced focus on direct service delivery, a greater concern with long-term planning, and the presence of a political leadership interested in innovation. Conversely, declining policy capacity was found to be linked to centralization of power, the loss of institutional memory, and "churning" within the ranks of the executive leadership. Additionally, level of government was also observed to be linked with change in policy capacity, with provincial deputies reflecting more negatively on policy capacity decline in their government than deputies at other levels.


A ternary inhibitory system contains two terms in its free energy: the interface energy that favors microdomain growth and the longer ranging confinement energy that prevents unlimited spreading. In a parameter regime where two constituents are small in size compared to the third constituent and the longer ranging energy does not dominate, there is a double-bubble-like stable stationary point of the energy functional. The two minority constituents occupy the two bubbles of the double bubble, respectively, and the majority constituent fills the background. A special way of perturbing an exact double bubble leads to a restricted class of perturbed double bubbles that can be described by internal variables which are elements in a Hilbert space. The exact double bubble is nondegenerate in this class and nearby there is a perturbed double bubble that locally minimizes the free energy within the restricted class. This perturbed double bubble satisfies three of the four equations for stationary points of the fre...