Background: Thirty-one Russian patients with late complement component deficiency (LCCD) who had experienced one to five meningococcal infections were immunized with meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine (A + C + W135 + Y) and were followed for 3–8 years. We investigated the potentially protective killing effect of human neutrophils (PMNL) on serogroup A and W135 meningococci. Methods: Meningococci were incubated in LCCD vaccinee sera in the absence or presence of PMNL, and the number of live bacteria (CFU) was determined by plating onto chocolate agar. Results: When meningococci were incubated in the LCCD sera alone, exponential growth of meningococci occurred despite the presence of meningococcal antibodies. After the addition of PMNL, meningococci were inhibited in their growth or even eliminated. Group A or W135 meningococci were killed effectively by PMNL in 80% of the sera which were collected 1 month to 1 year after vaccination compared to only 40% in the prevaccination LCCD sera (p < 0.05). Three years after vaccination 67% of the LCCD sera were still capable of promoting killing (and even 90% after revaccination). The rate of killing correlated with the concentration of serogroup-specific immunoglobulins. In 83% of the 72 LCCD sera with more than 5 µg/ml anti-group A immunoglobulins the killing of group A meningococci was promoted. By contrast, only 21% of 19 samples with lower specific antibody levels showed a PMNL-mediated meningococcal killing (p < 0.05). The same effect was observed for group W135 meningococci. Conclusion: PMNL kill meningococci during incubation in LCCD serum; this effect increases after vaccination and depends on both specific antibody and complement. Protection by vaccination may therefore be caused by an increased killing capacity of PMNL.


Sociologists are latecomers to the study of war, peace and international security. A genuine sociological viewpoint on the peace movement means studying it as a social movement, its distribution, structure, values and capacity for effecting social change. The thesis here is that it is the broadest and strongest social movement in the present time, the counterpart of the multinational military-industrial complex and non-class based. The strong representation of some groups of the intelligentsia is in part due to an objective decline in their real living conditions. The peace movement as a whole provides the basis for a wide variety of groups struggling for social development and progress.


The active nests of two pairs of Australian Kestrels Falco cenchroides were observed for a total of 132 hours in the 1988 and 1990 breeding seasons at Goulburn , N.S.W. Both nests were in hollows in eucalypts in pastoral land. Courtship, parental behaviour, sex roles and fledging are described. Five young fledged from five eggs in 1988 , and three young fledged from four eggs in 1990. The Kestrels ' breeding diet for both years combined was 2% mice , 19% small birds, 53% reptiles and 26% arthropods by number, mostly small birds (59%) in 1988 and skinks (64%) in 1990. Birds contributed most by biomass in both years (60-87%). Capture of avian prey , and dust - bathing behaviour, are described .


Pests and diseases in plants have been a major challenge factor in the agricultural field. And developing a quick and accurate model could help in detecting pests and diseases in plants. Meanwhile, evolution in deep convolutional neural networks for image classification has rapidly improved the accuracy of object detection, classification and system recognition. However, in this project, deep learning techniques are used in developing a model for diseases and pest detection in plants, and then train and test the model before eventually integrating the model into a mobile application. The goal of this project is to develop a framework that can classify the class of a plant, and detect areas of the plant leaf already affected by diseases, and eventually deploy the framework on a mobile application. In order to find a suitable meta-architecture for the aim of the project, we use the combination of Single Shot MultiBox Detector and MobileNet (SSD MobileNet) where Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD) is the algorithm that takes a single shot to detect multiple objects within an image, and mobilenet is a neural network for recognition and classification. The system is trained using a large dataset containing different classes of both diseased and healthy images of plants from PlantVillage. Final results of the project reveal that our proposed system can recognize and detect various type of pests and diseases that have been trained in the model, with the ability to handle the complexity of a plant's surrounding area.


Although no meetings of the Economic and Social Council were held during the period under review, its subsidiary groups were active. The Council itself was scheduled to open its fifth session at Lake Success on July 19, 1947, to consider an agenda of 39 items. Topics for consideration included the reports of the Economic Commissions for Europe and the Far East, the Fiscal and Economic and Employment Commissions, and the International Children's Emergency Fund, a draft convention on the crime of genocide, negotiations with the World Health Organization and the Universal Postal Union, protection of migrant and immigrant labor, and possible establishment of an economic commission for Latin America. Economic Commission for Europe: The Economic Commission for Europe met in Geneva from May 2 to May 14, and from July 5 to July 16, 1947. At its first session it considered primarily organizational problems, including drawing up rules of procedure, relationship with non-member countries, Allied control authorities, and non-governmental organizations, and the general scope of the Commission's work. The Commission authorized its executive secretary to invite specialized agencies and non-member European nations to participate in its work (with the exception of Franco Spain), and established certain criteria for consultation with non-governmental organizations. It also asked for cooperation by Allied control authorities, although the USSR urged that the question of Germany should be left to the consideration of the Council of Foreign Ministers and Allied Control Council. At both the first and second sessions considerable discussion arose over voting procedure, with the USSR taking the position that certain categories of questions should be decided by a two-thirds vote, while the United States and Luxembourg insisted that decisions must be on a simple majority basis.


Myocardial infarction (MI) remains the leading cause of death in the western world. Although medical advancements have been made in interventional revascularization technologies, a large percentage of patients are not candidates for them due to co-morbidities or lack of local resources. Thus, there remains a need for the development of novel non-invasive strategies to treat MI. Approaches to accelerate revascularization within ischemic tissues through angiogenesis by providing Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) in protein or gene form has been shown to be effective in animal models but not in humans likely due to its short half-life and systemic toxicity. We previously showed that a small peptide (PR1P) we developed stabilizes VEGF in its active dimer state, increases VEGF binding to its receptors and potentiates VEGF activity. Here we show that systemic PR1P treatment targeted, stabilized and upregulated endogenous VEGF within ischemic myocardium following left coronary artery surgery in mice and rats. Targeted VEGF upregulation led to augmentation of heart function at two weeks following surgery. We conclude that PR1P is a potential candidate therapeutic for MI. Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 7 April 2021 doi:10.20944/preprints202104.0219.v1


The trade-off between insertion loss and isolation in RF antenna switches is critical for RF communication systems. Possible improvement through circuit design is limited. The implementation of RF antenna switch using an optimized technology or an innovative device architecture could be the solution to achieve better insertion loss and isolation. The dynamic threshold MOSFET is presented here as one possible solution.


Plentiful theory literatures and research achievements emerge during the course of the development and evolvement of enterprise strategy theory,many strategists hold different viewpoints and strategic theory schools appear,which constitute a complex labyrinth of strategic theory.It will help us understand the labyrinth if we transversely compare the strategic theories from the four dimensions of strategic cognition,i.e.the perspective,the paradigm,the subject and the process.


In order to accurately distinguish the origins bringing about abrupt changes in sensor output,a method is presented for wavelet frequency analysis based on mathematical model.Aimed at measurement and control systems in industrial processes,the relation between frequencies and origins of abrupt changes in sensor output signals are analyzed in detail.The high-low frequency signals are separated using wavelet frequency analysis and the energy of frequency signals is calculated.Based on the energy proportion changes among high-low frequency signals,origins bringing about abrupt changes in sensor output can be estimated.The results through computer simulation for typical control system and experimentation for water supply systems in invariable pressure showed that sensor malfunction in industrial process can be effectively diagnosed using the above-mentioned method.


This paper discusses the validity of a stress intensity factor K for compact tension (CT) specimens of stainless and low-alloy steels by computing J-integral values. In fracture mechanics testing, specimen configurations and loading conditions are strictly regulated to meet the small-scale yielding (SSY) condition and obtain valid data. For some materials, particularly those without an obvious yield point, it is hard to meet the SSY condition. The regulations specified in fracture mechanics test standards are based on experimental results. The theoretical reason for the SSY condition is not necessarily clear and the condition seems conservative.This study focuses on a correlation with the stress intensity factors K and the J-integral values under the SSY condition. J-integral values of CT specimens were analyzed by elasto-plastic finite element analysis. Subsequently, the validity of the stress intensity factor K was checked by comparing K and J–integral values to determine whether CT specimens were under the SSY condition or not. To simplify the comparison, J-integral values were converted to K values, equivalent stress intensity factor KJ values.When K values were low enough to meet the SYY condition of the specimen, they equaled KJ values. Meanwhile, KJ values exceed K values in a high K region, which means the specimen is no longer under a SSY condition. It is possible to determine whether the specimen is under the SSY condition or not by comparing the values of KJ and K. This paper evaluated the validity of K values using the correlative relationship and showed that they were valid to some extent even if loading conditions and specimen configurations were outside the scope of the specification by the test standards. The validity of K values with 0.2% offset strength or flow strength instead of yield stress is also confirmed by this method.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Cratings with the frequency of up to 6000 lines/mm are fabricated using the coherent light source of argon laser with the wavelength of 457.9 nm. The technique of frequency multiplication is developed using a master grating with a standard frequency as the basis and modulating the two symmetrically projected beams to a certain angle. The rotating point source holographic interferometry (RPSHI) system is adopted to obtain large area, high quality gratings without the influence of optical noises.


The thesis puts forward the remake schemes for notional and provincial widening,and makes a positivistic analysis on the provincial section 103 from Taian to Xintai section.


We investigate how initial conditions that existed in East Germany at the end of the socialist regime impact regional development during the turbulent shock transition to a market economic system. Our investigation spans a period of almost 30 years. Both the self-employment rate (an indication of the existence of a pre-socialist entrepreneurial tradition) and the share of the workforce with a tertiary degree have a strong positive effect on regional development. We conclude that knowledge and a tradition of entrepreneurship have long-run positive effects on development in regions that face disruptive shocks. Entrepreneurship and knowledge play a less important role for development across West German regions, where no significant shocks occurred.


In the cost-table approach to logic design, a function is realized as a combination of functions from a table. The objective of the synthesis is to find the least-cost realization, where realization cost is the sum of the costs of the functions used plus the cost of combining them. The costs of cost-table functions are defined by a cost function which represents chip area, speed, power dissipation, or a combination of these factors. It is shown that there is an arbitrarily large set S of cost functions which yield the same cost-table. This implies, for example, that every minimal realization of any function over a cost function in S is independent of the actual cost function used. With any cost function, if the cost of combining functions from a cost-table F is sufficiently large, the realizations behave as if the cost function belonged to S. That is, any minimal realization of a function f, using cost-table F, is one of the minimal realizations of f using F and a cost function in S. The interpretation of these results is that there are not as many distinct cost-tables as originally thought. >


People lack access to justice because the law is complex and expensive to use. Basic mechanisms of market competition can reduce both the complexity and the cost of law while securing law's principal function in society, which is to coordinate a community around a shared understanding of what is and what is not allowed. Creating markets for rules will make for better law and better legal systems by allowing people and organizations to select the rules and dispute-resolution processes that are best for them in a market in which providers of regulation compete on terms of cost and quality. Legal rules require special protection to make sure they deliver a more just, equitable world for all; this protection can be provided through a "superregulator," which licenses providers of law and legal services to sell their services in competitive markets.


Abstract : In 1982, the US Army began its renaissance of the operational level of war with the publication of a revised Field Manual (FM) 100-5, Operations. The rediscovery of this level and the subsequent experimentation with it strained the very limits of the Army's command, control, communications and intelligence (C3I) systems. Virtually all branches of the Army felt the changes brought on by FM 100-5, especially in the areas of firepower, mobility, and protection. Commanders had to view military operations from a broader perspective and act accordingly. The significant impact of the operational level of war has been in organizational changes, new concepts, and dynamic operations. The effect of these changes on C3I are reviewed and assessed in this monograph. The first topic reviewed is the Army's concept of the operational level warfare. Next, the theoretical and doctrinal bases of the Army's C3I systems are examined. Finally, the requirements for C3I at the operational level are presented and conclusions drawn. Keywords: Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence, Leadership, Command, Operational art, Operational level.


Background: Alexithymia refers to a set of cognitive and emotional deficits. Its effect on surgical outcome has been demonstrated but no studies have been published on colorectal cancer patients. Study Design: A series of 60 consecutive colorectal cancer patients were enrolled in a 3-year prospective study on quality of life by using the SF-36 test and Toronto Alexithymia Scale questionnaires. Patients were investigated pre- and postoperatively (before discharge and then 1 and 3 months thereafter). The control group consisted of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis. These two groups were divided into two subsets: high-level alexithymia (HA) and low-level alexithymia (LA). The prevalence of HA was 34% in colorectal patients and 35% in cholelithiasis patients. Results: During the postoperative period, in the colorectal group the SF-36 score was significantly higher in HA than in LA subsets. This result was confirmed in the cholelithiasis group. During follow-up, a progressive reduction of the SF-36 score was observed in both HA populations. Discussion: Results emerging from this investigation demonstrate that surgery significantly improves the quality of life in HA patients. These findings suggest that alexithymia might be advantageous in evaluating the adaptation after surgery in the short follow-up period.


Based on a network model,this paper analyses the impact of the interconnectedness on bank's systemic importance.The model shows that bank with high inter - bank liabilities is easier to cause systemic crisis and more losses.With the 2007 ~2009 annual data of China's banking sector,the paper proposes a method to measure the SIFIs of China The empirical analysis verifies that banks with intensive interconnections are easy to cause systemic crisis and greater losses.To enhance banking supervision,we should not only focus on the size of the financial institutions but pay more attention to their interconnectedness,especially formed through inter -bank liabilities.


The article deals with the features of the German-Finnish cultural cooperation at the interwar period. Special attention is paid to the ideological component of this relationship and to the specifics of German policy in relation to Finland in the second half of the 1930s.


A classification mav be based on either pathological anatomy, topography or aetiology. The author of the report considers the brief classification proposed by Bishop Harman to be suitable, and that it might be adopted as it stands. The committee will feel obliged if their colleagues will address observations and information which they deem useful to the Secr&tariate General, 66, Boulevard Saint Michel, Paris. Professor van Duyse and the members of his committee are to be congratulated upon a notable piece of work.


What would it mean for "the canon of constitutional law" if we were to take seriously "the Constitution outside the courts"? What would happen to the canon if we were to distinguish (as Cass Sunstein and Larry Sager do) between the partial, judicially enforceable Constitution and the Constitution that imposes higher obligations upon legislatures, executives, and citizens generally to pursue constitutional ends or to secure constitutional rights? How would the canon be affected by "taking the Constitution away from the courts," as Mark Tushnet proposes, or by adopting what Sandy Levinson has called a "Protestant" rather than a court-centered "Catholic" approach to the question, who may authoritatively interpret the Constitution? We are co-authors, with Walter Murphy, of a casebook, American Constitutional Interpretation, which conceives the enterprise of constitutional interpretation on the basis of three basic interrogatives: What is the Constitution? Who may authoritatively interpret it? and How ought it to be interpretedt In our treatment of the questions What? and Who? and in our selection of cases and materials bearing on those questions, we commit ourselves to a muscular conception of the Constitution outside


Abstract:SubStance@Work, a peer-reviewed imprint of SubStance, Inc., is a series comprised of born-digital works that integrate non-linear structure and multimedia content in innovative theoretical explorations. New works are previewed in the Journal by their authors.


This paper discusses two issues relating to using 3 small gap insertion devices in series at BL43LXU of SPring-8 to make a uniquely powerful source in the 15-26 keV region of the x-ray spectrum. The issues discussed are (1) damage to the covers of the downstream IDs by radiation from the upstream IDs and (2) proper steering of the electron beam to get the best photon beam properties. After tests in several configurations, including one where an ID was run without an impedance-reducing cover, the damage issue was solved by installing a distributed absorber in the most downstream ID. The steering issues were mostly resolved by the introduction of appropriate corrector magnets and feedback. The paper is written from the viewpoint of an interested beamline scientist impressed with the cooperation of different groups to make a source for new science possible.


Citrobacter infections are often nosocomially acquired, seen in patients with significant underlying diseasesand isolates are commonly drug-resistant.A rare clinical syndrome of haemoptysis with underlyingpneumonia caused by Citrobactor freundii in a immunocompetent young male is presented.


Abstract Recent analyses of the impact of (post)modernity on contemporary expressions of religion have been influential in understanding some of the cultural transformations religious traditions inevitably experience. This article argues, within the context of gender studies (and in particular social theory about 'masculinity'), that many aspects of contemporary Christian liturgy have undergone a significant shift from an emphasis upon bodily communication to an over‐riding regard for the stimulation of the mind of the individual worshipper. Focusing in particular on Roman Catholicism, I discuss how this increasing prioritisation of the mind over the body entails an essentially 'masculine' epistemological model and reflects a deeply embedded cultural assumption within modernity. I explore the nature of such an ideological transformation based upon myths about 'masculinity' and suggest an approach which might prevent it from spiralling into further crisis.


Bolstered by gains in all market segments and strong contributions from newer applications like FTTx and next-generation DVDs, diode-laser market growth remained consistent with its history, gaining 10% in 2007.


Problem statement: Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a mechanism which is used in high-performance telecommunications networks that directs and carries data from one network node to the next with the help of labels. Traffic management is still an issue in MPLS network as it involves high speed internet. Approach: This study proposed a traffic flow analysis of the real time MPLS traffic and segregates the MPLS traffic as three major class based on the outcome of traffic flow analysis. Using the traffic class. This study proposed a reliable transmission methodology which provides traffic free routing in the MPLS networks. Results: The proposed traffic flow analysis based reliable routing model overcomes the network traffic and provides effective routing by offering traffic free path. Conclusion: The proposed traffic flow analysis model outperforms existing routing protocol and offers comparatively negligible packet loss.


We present and analyze an architecture for a logical qubit memory that is tolerant of faults in the processing of silicon double quantum dot (DQD) qubits. A highlight of our analysis is an in-depth consideration of the constraints faced when integrating DQDs with classical control electronics.


This paper analyzes the current situations of the drought management in China,and points out the existent problem. The working mode to cope with drought is being changed,which varies from the passive anti-drought toward actively mitigated drought,it is the development trend of the drought management.To put forward the mode of the drought management the crisis management should be changed into the risk management.The paper mainly introduces the main contents and the ways of the drought risk management.


G. J. Parker, D. L. Buckley, A. Jackson, J. C. Waterton Imaging Science & Biomedical Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, AstraZeneca, Macclesfield, Cheshire, United Kingdom Introduction Measurements of lung perfusion are important for understanding and monitoring conditions such as COPD. Previously we have assessed perfusion parameters in lung tumours. Here we examine the non-tumour-bearing lung using the same analysis techniques to asses the applicability of the adiabatic approximation to the tissue homogeneity model (AATH) in this setting. This model allows estimates of blood flow (F) contrast agent extraction fraction (E), distribution volume (ve), capillary blood volume (vb), and transit time (τ), and capillary permeability surface area product PS. Methods Data were acquired in 3 patients presenting with lung tumours on a Philips Gyroscan NT Intera system at 1.5 Tesla. The DCE-MRI protocol consisted of 3D gradient echo (FFE) acquisitions with a temporal resolution of 4 s. Native tissue T1 was determined using 3 separate acquisitions with 4 averages and flip angles of 2, 10, and 30; TR = 3.5 ms; TE = 0.99 ms. The dynamic acquisition consisted of 100 single average volumes (flip angle 30, TR = 3.5 ms; TE = 0.99 ms). Image matrix for all scans was 128 x 128 in-plane, with 25 slices acquired using over-contiguous slicing. An elliptical k-space window was utilised to maintain a short total acquisition time. The body resonator was used for RF transmission and reception. 0.1 mmol/kg Omniscan (Amersham Health, Amersham, UK) was administered as a bolus using a power injector at a rate of 2 ml/s. To reduce the detrimental effects of motion on the time series analysis we utilise an affine registration scheme with 12 degrees of freedom available in FSL version 1.3 (available at www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl). Significant chest wall and bulk motion was removed with this approach. Custom-built software allowed analysis of the dynamic time series to provide estimates of microvascular parameters. The AATH model was fitted using the simplex method. Fitting starting values for flow (F) and distribution volume (ve) were defined from the output of a simpler kinetic model 5


The paper presents a consideration of the place of leadership and professional development in the context of a professional chamber orchestra. The work of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra is presented as an exploratory case study. The initial study has been developed from discussions with the orchestra's Executive Director and the Artistic Director along with observations of practice. The study has confirmed the initial observations of professional development opportunities and areas for further ongoing development. Reflecting on the development of musicians as professionals through pursuit of their careers has been a driver for the study. The paper addresses the 21st CEPROM International Seminar theme: leadership in the education of the professional musician. It presents a case of leadership in action vis-a-vis (new) creativities for the musician and for career development.


The development of rehabilitation at the present stage is one of the priorities in the field of health and social development. Not only medical organizations, but also other organizations can take part in carrying out medical rehabilitation activities. A prerequisite for the implementation of rehabilitation activities is the availability of a license for medical activity with an indication of medical rehabilitation work. Of great concern is the issue of staffing of medical organizations, especially primary care, by such specialists as a doctor of physical and rehabilitation medicine, a doctor of medical rehabilitation, a medical speech therapist, an ergorehabilitation specialist, etc. In the absence of these specialists in medical organizations, it is impossible to form interdisciplinary rehabilitation teams, and in their absence, the solution of medical rehabilitation issues is questionable.
The article contains an analysis of the current legal framework for medical rehabilitation. The stages of medical rehabilitation in medical organizations are reflected in accordance with the scale of rehabilitation routing. Four groups of medical organizations carrying out medical rehabilitation have been identified. The shortcomings of the current legal framework for medical rehabilitation are indicated, since a comprehensive rehabilitation system is currently being formed in the Russian Federation. For its successful development and implementation in the practical activities of medical organizations and social institutions, a regulatory and legal framework is being developed and improved.
The approved Procedure for the organization of medical rehabilitation will allow to systematize and organize this work at a qualitatively new level.


We develop an innovative Stock-Flow Consistent macroeconometric regional model with five sectors, exploiting economic and financial statistics for Campania, covering the period 1995 – 2018, and propose a methodology to close the financial account of the private sector when financial data are lacking. The model is then used to perform medium term Economic Policy Scenario Analysis. We find that a debt-funded fiscal expansion has permanent positive effects on growth, with an impact multiplier above one and a medium-run multiplier of 0.71. In the case of a balanced-budget rule the same increase in government spending has still positive effects on growth – with a medium-run multiplier of 0.6 – but adverse ones on the private corporate sector.


Abstract Acacia senegal (L.) Willd is an African arid and semi arid zones, leguminous multipurpose tree species belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae, family Fabaceae and subgenus Aculeiferum, highly valued for gum arabic production. Patterns of genetic diversity of this important species in Kenya have not been studied for efficiency of germplasm utilization, conservation and improvement. Four natural populations of A. senegal in Kenya (Bulla Sambul, Kutulo, Wamba and Meisori) were analyzed to estimate genetic variation among and within populations, by use of ISSR (Inter-simple sequence repeat) markers. Using five primers, 17 polymorphic loci were observed, ranging in size from 564bp to 983bp. A high mean total genetic diversity index for the species was observed (H= 0.27). The principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) of the 95 samples from the four populations showed that about 40.75% of the total variation was described by the first two axes with much overlap among populations; hence populations were not defined on the basis of geographic distance. Much of the genetic variation resided within the populations based on the coefficient of gene differentiation (Gst = 0.0573) and Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) (95%). It was therefore recommended that selection for the desired important economic traits for improvement and conservation should emphasize on individual trees within populations rather than among populations, and also ensure a comprehensive coverage of the entire ecological amplitude of the populations.


We present a new approach to the statistics of the cosmic density field and to the mass distribution of high-contrast structures, based on the formalism of Cayley trees. Our approach includes in one random process both fluctuations and interactions of the density perturbations. We connect tree-related quantities, like the partition function or its generating function, to the mass distribution. The Press \& Schechter mass function and the Smoluchowski kinetic equation are naturally recovered as two limiting cases corresponding to independent Gaussian fluctuations, and to aggregation of high-contrast condensations, respectively. Numerical realizations of the complete random process on the tree yield an excess of large-mass objects relative to the Press \& Schechter function. When interactions are fully effective, a power-law distribution with logarithmic slope -2 is generated.


Summary Manic-depressive illness (MDI), also knownas"bipolar affective disorder," isa common anddevastating neuropsychiatric illness. Although pivotal biochemical alterations underlying thedisease are unknown, results offamily, twin, andadoption studies consistently implicate genetic transmission inthepathogenesis ofMDI. Inorder tocarryoutlinkage analysis, we ascertained eight moderately sized pedigrees containing multiple cases ofthedisease. Forafour-allele marker mapping 5cM fromthedisease gene,thepedigree sample has>97% power todetect a dominant allele under genetic homogeneity andhas>73%power under 20%heterogeneity. Todate, theeight pedigrees havebeengenotyped with328polymorphic DNA loci throughout the genome. Whenautosomal dominant inheritance was assumed, 273DNA markers gavelod scores 1(chromosome 5-D5S39, D5S43, andD5S62; chromosome 11-D11S85). Ofthemarkers giving lod scores>1,only D5S62continued toshowevidence forlinkage whentheaffected-pedigree-member method was used. TheD5S62locus maps todistal 5q,aregion containing neurotransmitter-receptor genesfordopamine, norepinephrine, glutamate, andgamma-aminobutyric acid. Although additional workinthis region may be warranted, our linkage results should beinterpreted aspreliminary data, as68unaffected individuals arenot pastthe ageofrisk.


Humanistic care for the poverty-stricken college students in the ideological and political education sets the basis for their healthy development. It is also an objective requirement for cultivating their spirit of inspiration and the sense of gratitude. To realize the humanistic care of that from the perspective of ethics,we must realize its significance,focus on the key points in content,and reflect the substance in strategies.


This preliminary report indicates that, by careful manipulation of metal-zeolite complexes, it is possible to obtain bonding information by spontaneous Raman spectroscopy. The copper-amine was chosen for study because of the extensive EPR and electronic spectroscopic information on these complexes in zeolites. Also, these complexes are active intermediates in the catalytic oxidation of ammonia. It is important to point out that IR spectroscopy of these systems is not very valuable in the low-frequency region, where metal-ligand virations are expected. 17 references, 2 figures.


This article introduces three fairy tales which Petr Potemkin wrote as an emigre: 'Death in a cage' (1923), 'Man made of matches' (1924) and 'Automation, or the miracles that occurred in the Old Prague in 183...' (1926). Taken together, the three tales present an integrated sequence, while each carries the distinct mark of an individual theme. One is a tale of politics, another is erotic, and the third follows the pattern of buffoonery. In addition, included in the notes of this publication is an entirely unknown portion of Potemkin's poetic legacy, as represented by his political verses and cabaret songs.


A novel method for anomaly detection in hyperspectral images is proposed. The method is based on two ideas. First, compared with the surrounding background, objects with anomalies usually appear with small areas and distinct spectral signatures. Second, for both the background and the objects with anomalies, pixels in the same class are usually highly correlated in the spatial domain. In this paper, the pixels with specific area property and distinct spectral signatures are first detected with attribute filtering and a Boolean map-based fusion approach in order to obtain an initial pixel-wise detection result. Then, the initial detection result is refined with edge-preserving filtering to make full use of the spatial correlations among adjacent pixels. Compared with other widely used anomaly detection methods, the experimental results obtained on real hyperspectral data sets including airport, beach, and urban scenes demonstrate that the performance of the proposed method is quite competitive in terms of computing time and detection accuracy.


From the Publisher:
Discussion in the book revolves around getting information from the software and operating systems, not the systems or software itself. Includes timeless information focusing on management, policy, and project issues.


This paper reviewed all-sidedly the study progress in the research for the particular in air, and emphasized on the physical characteristics, the chemical constituent (organic makeup, the gross content of heavy metals and the chemical speciation distribution), the apportionment of their sources, as well as the relationship between human health and air particulates.


In stage III non small cell lung cancer initial tumor size is a neglected prognostic factor. 22 patients with stage III disease have been treated with radio-chemotherapy (cisplatin/vindesine). A significant (p less than 0.001) influence of initial tumor size on local control can be demonstrated. Future treatment strategies should include initial tumor size.


We study the low-lying excitations in 5d transition-metal oxide Sr_2IrO_4 on the localized electron picture. We find that Hund's coupling together with the spin-orbit interaction leads to exchange anisotropy which causes the spin wave gap. Introducing the isospin operators acting on Kramers' doublet in Ir atoms, we derive the effective spin Hamiltonian from a multi-orbital Hubbard model with the t_{2g} orbitals in the square lattice. We introduce the Green's functions including the anomalous type for the boson operators by expanding the spin operators in terms of boson operators in the lowest order of 1/S, and solve the coupled equations of motion for those functions. Two modes are found to emerge with slightly different energies, in contrast to the spin waves in the isotropic Heisenberg model. At the $\Gamma$-point, one mode has the zero excitation energy while another has a finite energy. They have the same excitation energy at the M point, but still have different energies at the X point.


Investigating magnetic materials at realistic conditions with first-principles methods is a challenging task due to the interplay of vibrational and magnetic degrees of freedom. The most difficult contribution to include in simulations is represented by the longitudinal magnetic degrees of freedom [longitudinal spin fluctuation (LSF)] due to their inherent many-body nature; nonetheless, schemes that enable to take into account this effect on a semiclassical level have been proposed and employed in the investigation of magnetic systems. However, assessment of the effect of vibrations on LSF is lacking in the literature. For this reason, in this work we develop a supercell approach within the framework of constrained density functional theory to calculate self-consistently the size of local-environment-dependent magnetic moments in the paramagnetic, high-temperature state in the presence of lattice vibrations and for liquid Fe in different conditions. First, we consider the case of bcc Fe at the Curie temperature and ambient pressure. Then, we perform a similar analysis on bcc Fe at Earth's inner-core conditions, and we find that LSFs stabilize nonzero moments which affect atomic forces and the electronic density of states of the system. Finally, we employ the present scheme on liquid Fe at the melting point at ambient pressure and at Earth's outer-core conditions ($p\ensuremath{\approx}200$ GPa, $T\ensuremath{\approx}6000$ K). In both cases, we obtain local magnetic moments of sizes comparable to the solid-state counterparts.


"QUOTE...UNQUOTE" column in Senio r High English is the "striking point" of the teaching materials.The sayings and epigrams selected in this column are clo sely related to the topic in each unit,they highlight western culture and values,contain profound philosophy;the language of the sayings and epigrams are rich in rhetoric methods and the senten ce structures are compact.The column has its unique teaching values.To teach this column effecti vely,we should employ these strategies:"discussing","researching","tasting","appreciating" and "using".


Knowledge-based intellectual capital into a very important event in the development company to create competitive advantages and improve market performance. Can be said that the intellectual capital-based knowledge has an effect on the company's market performance. This study uses two variables, namely intellectual capital (measured with the physical capital efficiency, human capital efficiency, capital efficiency and Structural) and market performance (measured with the method of Tobin's Q). Methods of data analysis used in this research is regression using 30 samples with four years of researc since 2004 until 2007. Results of this research indicate the existence of a significant positive relationship between intellectual capital with the market performance of companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the fourth year observation. And have a positive relationship between intellectual capital and market performance of companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the future.


control of the switch is known. The Escherichia coli biotin protein ligase, BirA, is a bifunctional protein that functions in biotin homeostasis. In its metabolic role BirA catalyzes post-translational biotin addition to the BCCP subunit of acetyl-CoA carboxylase and as a transcription repressor it homodimerizes and binds to the biotin operator sequence of the biotin biosynthetic operon. In performing its alternative functions BirA utilizes a single surface that is characterized by several loops to form two mutually exclusive protein-protein interactions. Previous results indicate the importance of these loop sequences for the energetics of homodimerization and the rates of association with BCCP. In this work DNaseI footprint titrations were employed to investigate the influence of the two dimerization interactions on the energetics of transcription repression complex assembly and the switch between the two functions. Direct footprint titrations reveal that homodimerization energetics dictate the energetics of repression complex assembly. Inhibition footprint titrations reveal a direct correlation between inhibition of repression complex assembly and the rate of heterodimer association. This correlation firmly establishes kinetics as the controlling factor in regulating the BirA functional switch.


Tourism is one of the world's biggest industry and a key driver for socio-economic progress. In parallel, tourism is associated with environmental impacts and contributes to the climate change through emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from transport and accommodation of tourists. The corresponding industry must urgently respond for elimination of environmental damages and to climate change by mitigating its emissions and by adapting tourism businesses and destinations to the changing climate conditions. The present study aims to promote a methodological approach to estimate the overall environmental impact in areas of considerable tourism activity, applied in Greece, one of the world's most popular tourism destinations. A comparative "environmental damage" analysis is realized for two large-sized hotels and their contribution to environmental burden for numerous impacts is assessed. The approach is based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) principles, leading to a reliable assessment of damage that can be attributed to tourist's transport and accommodation services. The LCA gives the ability to highlight processes and/or flows that have the highest resource consumption and environmental burden for the case under consideration. A questionnaire was designed for the above purposes, and was used as input, among other data, to the overall methodological approach. The hotel manager's gave their feedback via a face-to-face interview. SimaPro 8 software was used and functional unit, boundary selection and LCA limitations where therein defined. The comparative assessment of different tourism activities for two hotels provide important highlights for the trade-offs of environmental damage generated by air transport, road transport and hotels' operational use. Air transport to the tourism destination and back is primarily responsible for the total environmental damage for medium to large-sized hotels in comparison to the other agents of tourism environmental burden. As far as operational use of all hotels is concerned, HVAC systems are the most energy intensive end-users in all cases. The paper provides a rich insight into the multiple environmental impacts that can be attributed to tourism activity and adds up to the low number of respective LCA implementations found in the literature. In addition it provides a basis for strategic governance and policy modelling. Last but not least, the paper highlights the need to identify and assess of the environmental impacts related to the life cycle of tourist products in order to raise the limited awareness of LCA in tourism's drivers.


The call auction is a widely used trading mechanism, especially during the opening and closing periods of financial markets. In this paper, we study a standard call auction problem where orders are submitted according to Poisson processes, with random prices distributed according to a general distribution F, and may be cancelled at any time. We compute the analytical expressions of the distributions of the traded volume, of the lower and upper bounds of the clearing prices, and of the price range of these possible clearing prices of the call auction. Using results from the theory of orders statistics and a theorem on the limit of sequences of random variables with independent random indices, we derive the weak limits of all these distributions. In this setting, traded volume and bounds of the clearing prices are found to be asymptotically normal, while the clearing price range is asymptotically exponential. All the parameters of these distributions are explicitly derived as functions of the parameters of the incoming orders' flows.


The invention relates to the technical field of cosmetics, and particularly relates to an O/W type facial cleanser including olive oil, oleyl alcohol polyoxyethylene ether, glycerin, stearic acid, triethanolamine and Sepigel 501. The finished product is prepared under control of a certain stirring speed. The O/W type facial cleanser not only can be softened by virtue of a body temperature after contacting skin, and is moderate in viscosity and easy to smear, but also can quickly penetrate into pores through the skin surface, and clears out pore dirt; and the O/W type facial cleanser easily wipes carried dirt, and thus the skin feels comfortable and soft and especially has no greasy feeling.


P.J.Allen (1) introduced the notion of a Q-ideal and a construction pro- cess was presented by which one can build the quotient structure of a semiring modulo a Q-ideal. Here we introduce the notion of QM-subsemimodule N of a semimodule M over a semiring R and construct the factor semimodule M/N. It is shown that this notion inherits most of the essential properties of the factor modules over a ring.


families which did not conform to the male breadwinner model. The policy response was a focus on health visiting and clinic services to educate women on purportedly optimal mothering practices, such as breast-instead of bottle-feeding. In Gothenberg the research findings were produced in a different context: social zoning was less clear-cut and female labour force participation was essential to the urban economy. Thus the science led to a different policy outcome, with maternity hospital investment on a far greater scale than in Britain. The case of tuberculosis similarly demonstrates how expert knowledge which challenged dominant power structures was disregarded. In both cities the causal role of poverty and poor housing was overlooked in favour of a strictly microbial understanding, which legitimized surveillance and segregation of TB patients. Again there were different paths, with Gothenberg moving more rapidly to adopt the BCG vaccine. Here Niemi extends Bryder's earlier analysis, arguing that the prior commitment of financial and professional capital to institutional and educative responses explains Britain's later take-up of vaccine therapy. In sum the book makes an important contribution both to science studies and to the history of municipal health care. Two reservations may be entered, however. First, is Niemi comparing like with like? The Birmingham evidence is geared heavily towards the perspective of the public health department and we learn little of the part played by the voluntary sector and Poor Law in the debates discussed. The omission of Dudley Road Hospital (Birmingham's allegedly progressive Poor Law infirmary) is odd, given the argument about contrasting hospital policies. Nor are the claims for the city's lacklustre performance in slum clearance supported by detail from housing department sources. Second, although this study is fiercely critical of several municipal health policies, the fact remains that the period saw a major improvement in population health. Niemi is not concerned to explain this, alluding briefly to McKeown and suggesting that its cause is simply unknowable. Instead she presents statistics of declining TB and infant mortality rates principally to assert the hollowness of civic triumphalism, given that both cities pursued quite different strategies. However, since she does not show conclusively that these health improvements really were occurring independently of policy prescriptions, it remains impossible for the reader to calibrate the value of the 'freedoms' lost and won in the process. Martin Gorsky London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine


Mallada sp.is an important insect predator,which is expected for commercial utilization.Massive preservation for long-distance transportation is a key technique.The influence of low-temperature(T=10℃,RH=75%±5%) refrigeration on the growth and development of lacewing eggs and pupae was studied.The results showed that the developmental duration of eggs by low-temperature refrigeration was significantly(p0.01) shorter than the control's(T=25±1℃,RH=75%±5%,L:D=16:8).And the eggs didn't hatch after being stored for 60 days.Moreover,the hatching rate of stored eggs was significantly lower than the control's.After being stored for 30 days,the hatching rate was only 8.15%,64.52% lower.Compared with the control,the developmental duration of refrigerated pupae was not significantly shorter stored for 5 days but for more than 10 days.For pupae to be stored for 60 days,the development time was 6.09 days shorter than the control's.The emergence rate of refrigerated pupae was significantly lower than the controls.For 60 days,the refrigerated pupae could develop,but the emergence rate was only 23.33%.Overall,the best refrigerated days of eggs were 10 days,while that of pupae were 30 days.And pupa was the better development stage to be stored than that of egg.To use the pupae as the storage stage for massive preservation and long-distance transportation could meet the commercial storage and transport requirements.


We present the case of a 38yearold female who underwent abdominal myomectomy for a symptomatic enlarging uterine mass, radiographically consistent with a leiomyoma. The specimen weighed 432 g and measured 10.3 cm × 9.7 cm × 7.8 cm. The cut surfaces were rubbery and glistening with fleshy tan tissue, without evidence of gross hemorrhage or necrosis. Histologic examination of the specimen was significant for a cellular tumor composed of sheets, nests, and cords of epithelioid cells with roundtooval shaped nuclei, abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, and small nucleoli (Figure 1). Focal mildtomoderate nuclear atypia was noted, with up to two mitotic figures per 10 high power fields, none of which appeared atypical (Figure 2). Foci of degenerative changes were seen, without evidence of coagulative necrosis (Figure 3). The final pathology was consistent with an epithelioid smooth muscle tumor of uncertain malignant potential (STUMP). Epithelioid STUMPs are rare uterine neoplasms which demonstrate morphologic features that exceed the diagnostic criteria for an epithelioid leiomyoma but fail to meet the diagnostic criteria for an epithelioid leiomyosarcoma, defined by the WHO Classification of Female Genital Tumors as having any of the following features: moderatetosevere atypia, tumor cell necrosis, or 1.6 or more mitoses per square millimeter. A newly proposed algorithm, however, defines epithelioid leiomyosarcomas as having at least two of the following features: tumor cell necrosis, moderatetosevere nuclear atypia, or four or more mitoses per 10 high power fields, whereas epithelioid STUMPs have only one and epithelioid leiomyomas have none. All three smooth muscle tumors have a morphology that is at least 50% epithelioid. Because epithelioid leiomyomas, STUMPs, and leiomyosarcomas can present with indistinguishable clinical symptoms and radiographic findings, microscopic analysis is essential to distinguish benign and malignant tumors.


To penetrate and colonize host tissue most pathogenic fungi produce enzymes degrading the cuticle and the plant cell wall. Among these, pectinases and in particular endo-polygalacturonases (PGs), are expressed in the early stages of host infection and contribute to the virulence or the pathogenicity of several phytopathogenic fungi by degrading the pectin component of the cell wall and middle lamella. Pectic enzymes are considered the main factors responsible for the maceration of the pectin rich cell wall of dicotyledonous plants. Recently, the importance of these enzymes has been shown also in the pathogenesis of some Graminaceous, although these plants have a cell wall consisting of small amount of pectin.
Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium verticillioides are two relevant pathogens of cereal species and are know to produce PG activity in liquid culture. The demonstration that the PGs of these fungi are virulence factors might contribute to develop strategies aimed to increase the resistance of host plants to infection by these pathogens. To clarify the importance of these enzymes during pathogenesis, firstly the two endo-PGs secreted in vitro by F. graminearum were purified and characterized. These PGs showed different biochemical properties, like optimum pH and substrate cleavage mechanism. The expression of their encoding genes was analysed also during wheat infection compared to the expression of pectin lyase and xylanase encoding genes: since pectinases genes were expressed earlier than xylanase gene, pectinases, and in particular PGs, might play a role during the early stage of infection.
To establish the importance in pathogenesis of the two purified and characterized F. graminearum PGs, and of F. verticillioides PG, previously characterized (Sella et al., 2004; Raiola et al., in press), their encoding genes were disrupted by targeted homologous recombination. The pathogenicity of each mutant was tested by inoculating host plants. Single F. graminearum mutants maintained the capability to infect wheat plants. However, since the loss of PG activity due to the knock-out of a single pg gene could be compensated by the activity of the remaining PG, a double knock-out mutant should be obtained and tested in infection experiments. Also the F. verticillioides mutant maintained the capability to infect maize plants, but in this case the pg gene disruption caused a reduction of virulence. In particular, the necrotic symptom observed during infection with the wild-type strain might be related to the presence of the PG in the infected tissue.


An appropriate generalization of the unitary parasupersymmetry algebra of BeckersDebergh to arbitrary order is presented in this paper. A special representation for realizing of the even arbitrary order unitary parasupersymmetry algebra of Beckers-Debergh is analyzed by one dimensional shape invariance solvable models, 2D and 3D quantum solvable models obtained from the shape invariance theory as well. In particular in the special representation, it is shown that the isospectrum Hamiltonians consist of the two partner Hamiltonians of the shape invariance theory. firstname.lastname@example.com email@example.com


Purpose Evaluating the optical transmission and geometrical aberrations of an intraocular device, namely, the Small-Incision New Generation Implantable Miniature Telescope (SING IMT™, Samsara Vision), designed to correct age-related macular degeneration. Methods Optical transmission in the spectral range 350-750 nm of the implantable optics was recorded with a fiber-optic spectrometer. Geometrical aberrations were studied by measuring the wavefront of a laser beam after passing through the implantable optics and performing an expansion of the measured wavefront into a Zernike polynomial basis. The study was conducted under in-vitro experimental conditions. A second monofocal intraocular lens (SY60WF, Alcon) was tested and used as reference for assessing the optical quality of the SING IMT™ device. Results Spectroscopy measurements revealed that the SING IMT™ and monofocal IOL element feature UV-rejection and blue-rejection capabilities, respectively. Wavefront concavity indicated that the SING IMT™ behaves as a diverging lens with a focal length of approximately -100 mm; Zernike analysis showed that SING IMT™ has negligible coma, trefoil, astigmatism, and spherical aberrations of any order and along any direction. Conclusions The SING IMT™ exhibited even optical transmission in the whole visible spectrum and curvature capable of magnifying the retinal images without introducing geometrical aberrations, which proves the feasibility of this device as high-quality optical element for imaging. The rigidity of the compound lens of the SING IMT™ prevents mechanically-induced distortions, an issue encountered with polymeric lenses. Translational Relevance Spectrometry and in vitro wavefront analysis provide evidence supporting the new generation miniaturized telescopic intraocular lens as a favorable option to intraocular implant in age-related macular degeneration.


>Experiments were done to investigate the behavior of non-gaseous fission products in nitric-acid-leach process in which the conditions of the leaching and postirradiation heating were varied for the irradiated graphite-base fuel element in which most of the fission products had been introduced into the graphite matrix by fission recoil process. The temperature and time of the postirradiation heating were found to be most effective to drive off the fission products from the graphite. A fast and a slow migration step were observed for the migration of the fission products through the graphite crystal. The former was thought to represent the transfer process of all the fission products that may migrate through the graphite crystal in the temperature region below the heating temperature, and the latter the one of the fission products which may migrate only at the temperature of the postirradiation heating. The migration behavior was independent of the particle size of graphite. (auth)


Health-hazard controls used in lead ore beneficiation operations were surveyed at Saint Joe Minerals Brushy Creek mill, Viburnbum, Missouri in February, 1982. The company used a lead-flotation process and employed 20 workers in the mill. On average, 5000 tons of ore containing 4 to 5% lead were processed daily. Work processes and control technologies were evaluated, and personal and area air samples were collected for lead, carbon disulfide, and cyanide.


Io's potassium cloud exhibits spatial and temporal variations similar to those observed for Io's sodium cloud. Spectra from five apparitions show that the potassium cloud is elongated so that it extends forward from Io's leading, inner hemisphere and makes an angle with Io's orbit of 10-30 deg, slightly less than the angle for the sodium cloud. The potassium cloud is a long-lived phenomenon which undergoes periodic fluctuations in response to solar radiation pressure and the ionizing influence of Jupiter's plasma torus. These give rise to east-west and north-south asymmetry variations similar to those observed for the sodium cloud. Evidence for temporary jets of potassium streaming from Io have also been observed. These similarities with the sodium cloud suggest that both sodium and potassium are ejected from nearly the same regions of Io by the same physical mechanism.


UV absorption spectra of the Lindqvist polyoxometalate [W6O19]2− were predicted by relativistic time‐dependent density functional theory with several combinations of density functional and basis set. Hybrid functionals with frozen‐core Slater basis sets were found to provide the best agreement with experiment while keeping reasonable computational demand. The approach was extended to [W10O32]4− and [PW12O40]3−, suggesting that it can be applied to the polyoxometalates family. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011


This study reports on the longitudinal analysis of a structured after-school arts program for Canadian youth, ages 9 to 15 years, from low-income communities where the relationship of peer social support, family interactions, and psychosocial outcomes is evaluated. Multi-level growth curve analyses suggest an increase in prosocial development with peer social support and a decrease in prosocial development when negative family interactions are present. Comparisons between matched controls, using estimated linear propensity scores, revealed significant improvement in prosocial behaviors for the intervention group. The structured after-school arts program was found to increase prosocial behaviors and bonding with peers for youth from low-income communities.


The CTOD fracture toughness of the through thickness notched specimens was investigated for HT80 quenched and tempered steel weldments. Weibull statistics is applied to interpret the CTOD testing results of heat affected zones and corresponding weld metals. The CTOD scatter characteristics are related to the Weibull shape parameter. The thickness effect and the size effect of coarse grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) are estimated based on the weakest link model. The mean CTOD value decreases with increasing specimen thickness while the lower bound value is unaffected by specimen thickness. The estimated CGHAZ size effect on the mean CTOD fracture toughness agrees with experimental data


The greenhouse can effectively improve the yield per unit area of land, out of season limits the growth of plants, based on this, puts forward a set of intelligent greenhouse automatic control system based on C language design, through the system can be realized in to carry on the accurate control of the greenhouse environment and effectively improve the degree of intelligent greenhouse environment control, increase production of greenhouse cultivation has very important significance.


Objective To investigate the expression of a disintegrin and metalloprotease 17(ADAM17) in colorectal cancer (CRC), and its clinical significance. Methods The expression of ADAM17 was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemical staining. The relationship between ADAM17 and clinico-pathological parameters of CRC was analyzed. Results ADAM17 gene expression was significantly higher in CRC lesions than that in normal colorectal epithelial tissue(0.66±0.14 vs 0.26±0.12,P0.01); the positive rate of ADAM17 protein expression in CRC lesion was 79%, significantly higher than that in normal epithelial tissue(25%). Significant relationship was found between ADAM17 protein expression and the depth of tumor invasion and metastasis (P0.05). No relationship was found between ADAM17 expression and the age, sex, tumor size, nodal status, grade of differentiation, tumor staging, as well as tumor site. Conclusions ADAM17 mRNA was highly expressed in CRC tissue, its overexpression status was closely related with the depth of tumor invasion and metastasis.ADAM17 might serve as a potential new prognostic marker of CRC.


Combinatorial Search and Constraint Programming Combinatorial search is arguably the most fundamental aspect of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some of the most basic research questions in search remain open, the most obvious example being the question P=NP? The research area is extremely active. At the same time, the existing technology of search in AI has become very important commercially, through the area known as Constraint Programming (CP). CP relies on efficient 'propagation' algorithms, deducing derived consequences of current facts. Software packages such as Eclipse from IC-Parc and Solver from ILOG are used widely on problems such as workforce management at BT and BA, resulting in savings of many millions for the companies concerned.


To surmount the fundamental limits of energy density in the current supercapacitor devices, the electrode materials should be capable of storing localized charge while having a high degree of freedom to provide ease of electron/ion flow in/out of the electrodes. Herein, we demonstrated a facile approach to designing CeOx based hierarchical architectures for high-performance energy storage electrodes. The unique CeOx based hierarchical architectures, including nanowires, nanocables, nano-micro biscuits and micro walls, were fabricated by simply manipulating the nitrate ion oxidation rate during electrochemical synthesis. Among all the electrodes, the CeOx nano-micro biscuits demonstrated the most excellent electrochemical performance from undergoing fast faradaic reactions leading to high specific capacitance within short charging time. Furthermore, voltammetric sweep mediated analysis was utilized to quantify the capacitive and intercalation effects in the total stored charge capacity of CeOx nano-micro biscuits. The presence of higher Ce3+ content (as confirmed by XPS studies) in CeOx nano-micro biscuits could be responsible for accelerating faradaic redox reactions (conversion of Ce3+ to Ce4+) in electrolyte solution, which is sufficient for realizing their superior performance over the other nano-microstructures. The present study demonstrates the effectiveness of CeOx as a low-cost and promising candidate for future energy storage/harvesting and integrated nanoelectronic devices.


In this paper, we present a coplanar waveguide series feeding antenna array for millimeter wave applications. It is designed for integration with CMOS transceiver chip using standard printed circuits board technology. The coplanar waveguide fed antenna design is suitable for both, flip-chip and standard wire bonding types of integration. Measured results show that a linear array of four CPW patches exhibits gain of 11.5 dBi and input matching bandwidth of 10%. The presented design leads to complete integration of antenna over the frequency band of interest.


Abstract: There is strong evidence that non‐immune chronic idiopathic neutropenia of adult is a cytokine‐mediated syndrome characterized by (a) neutropenia of varying degree associated with a low number of lineage‐specific CD34+ cells and increased production of inhibitors of hematopoiesis, including transforming growth factor‐β1 and tumor necrosis factor‐α; (b) lymphopenia due to selective loss of primed/memory T‐cells and NK cells; (c) increased splenic volume on ultrasonography in 48.1% of patients; (d) osteopenia and/or osteoporosis in 60.0% of patients; (e) anemia, mostly of the type of anemia of chronic disease, in 15.6% of patients; (f) features of chronic antigenic stimulation, including increased proportion of bone marrow plasma cells, increased serum levels of IgG1 and/or IgA, increased frequency of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, increased frequency of antinuclear antibodies with specific reactivity, and increased serum levels of circulating immune complexes; and (g) increased concentrations of a variety of macrophage‐derived pro‐inflammatory cytokines and chemokines capable of affecting bone metabolism, bone marrow function, and leukocyte trafficking. All these findings are suggestive of the existence of an unrecognized low‐grade chronic inflammatory process which may be involved in the pathogenesis of the disorder. Neutropenia in these patients is probably the result of a combination of at least three factors, reduced neutrophil production in bone marrow, enhanced neutrophil extravasation, and increased sequestration and/or extravasation of neutrophils into the spleen.


The effect of the levering action of the McCoy blade on laryngeal view has been studied by various authors with seemingly contradictory results [1–6]. In some patients, laryngeal view has been reported to improve, while in others it reportedly has worsened when the blade tip was elevated. Several authors have postulated different reasons for these conflicting results including the way the handle is gripped [5, 7]. It has also been argued that objective evaluation of the McCoy blade requires direct laryngoscopy imaging [8, 9]. We recently improved a direct laryngoscopy video system so that it is now optically aligned with the line of sight from the laryngoscopist's dominant eye [10, 11]. Our prior studies confirmed that the larynx is sighted monocularly by both experienced and novice laryngoscopists [12]. Camera alignment with the new sighting system is achieved with a beamsplitting, penta-prism wedge assembly. The laryngoscopist sights the target directly through the back of the prism, and simultaneously the identical image is reflected up to the lens of a miniature video camera. Through video observation of the McCoy blade on approximately 35 patients, we found the variable effect of blade activation can be explained by the effective pivot position of the blade with activation. The position of the blade and articulating tip in the neutral position is shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 2, the pivot point is the mid-blade as the blade is activated. The line of sight arrow is not displaced and the distal structures have been elevated. Laryngeal view improves as the distal structures move upward into the line of sight. In Fig. 3, the pivot point of the blade is now at the distal tip, and the mid-blade and line of sight move downward or more posteriorly from their original position. Cook and Tuckey reported that when the vocal cords were easily seen with a Macintosh blade, activation of the McCoy blade tended to make the view worse [5]. Our imaging studies suggest that worsening of laryngeal view seems to be due to the downward movement of the middle portion of the blade into the line of sight. When laryngeal view improves with blade activation, it is because of the elevating effect of the blade on the base of the tongue and vallecula. If blade activation cannot lift Anaesthesia, 1999, 54, pages 599–620 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


Chemotherapy against Chagas' disease requires design and development of specific and non toxic new compounds. N-methyl, N-alkyl-2-aminoindane derivatives 4, 5, 7 y 8 as potential tripanocidal agents were designed by molecular modification of terbinafine 2, with the aim of assess their cytotoxicity in BHK21 (human kidney) and vero (monkey kidney) cell lines, as well as, their inhibitory growth activity on epimastigote form of T. cruzi in vitro. The compounds were synthesized with excelent yields and characterized by RMN 1 H, IR, mp, elemental analyses and MS. The relative low cytotoxicity showed in normal cell lines by the N-methyl, N-benzyl-2-aminoindane derivative 5 and its 37% inhibitory growth activity in comparison with the control and terbinafine activity, encourage us to continue with the assays and expand them to the amastigote form of T. cruzi.


In the present research work, a novel method of integrating the conventional gas turbine engine with a Wave Rotor (WR) and a Pulse Detonation Combustor (PDC) is proposed to increase the specific work and thermal efficiency of the engine. Two gas turbine engine configurations, viz. (i) Baseline engine topped with a wave rotor and a steady flow combustor (BWRSFC), and (ii) Baseline engine topped with a wave rotor and a pulse detonation combustor (BWRPDC), have been analyzed with and without recuperative systems. In the case of BWRPDC, the principle of quasi-steady expansion of detonation products through a nozzle into the ejector to entrain and eject the bypassed compressed air along with detonation products exhausted from WR, and a steady expansion of remained detonation products of PDC through the WR to provide the required energy transfer to further compress and supply the un-bypassed compressed air to PDC, has been considered. The pressure of the ejected gases from the ejector will be 25% to 35% higher than the air pressure delivered by the compressor of baseline engine and can develop more specific work with enhanced thermal efficiency when expanded in the turbine. A computer code is developed in MATLAB to simulate the engine performance with and without recuperation / regeneration. For thermodynamic calculations, two un-recuperated micro-turbine engines called C-30 and C-60 made by Capstone Turbine Corporation are considered. C2H4/air is taken as the fuel-oxidizer. The variation in specific work, and thermal efficiency with wave rotor pressure ratio has been investigated for C-30 and C-60 engines. Further, a sensitivity analysis of the performance of BWRPDC with a change in the Entrainment Coefficient (EC) of ejector has also been made.


For the peanut combine harvester excavation process resistance, poor soil crushing effect and poor reliability of the problem, the excavation shovel optimization needs improvement. Firstly, a mechanical model of the resistance of the excavation shovel was established to investigate the key factors affecting the degree of resistance of the excavation shovel. Next, the design of the main parameters of the excavation shovel was done to determine the range of values of the main factors affecting the peanut excavation shovel. EDEM software was used to simulate and analyse the excavation process and to explore the influence law of excavation shovel parameters on the resistance. Improvements were made to the excavation shovel, discrete element simulation tests were used to demonstrate that the optimized excavation device had better resistance reduction and soil crushing than the original device. By designing a three-factor, three-level orthogonal simulation test, the best parameters for the excavation shovel were obtained: the shovel surface inclination is 20°, the excavation depth is 131mm, and the shovel surface width is 277mm. Field trials were conducted under the optimal combination of parameters to test the reliability of the improved digging shovel. Compared with the operating effectiveness of the original machine, the result was improved to some extent. It proves that the optimized design of excavating shovel is reasonable and can improve the operation effect of peanut harvester.


Asymmetric constraints have not received sufficient attention in the MPC literature, possibly due to the popularity of ellipsoidal terminal regions, which for asymmetric constraints would give conservative results. The work here adopts low‐complexity polyhedra for which invariance and feasibility under asymmetric constraints can be handled through the use of Farkas' lemma and related results. The paper embeds these results into an MPC law based on a dual mode prediction strategy and proposes algorithms for the systematic design of the polytopic terminal sets. The efficacy of the results is illustrated through application to a coupled tanks system. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We present the construction and measurement details of a strongly tapered helical undulator for the Rubicon Inverse Free Electron Laser (IFEL) experiment. Results of the magnetic field measurements are presented, and these are used to produce simulations of the expected performance of the experiment. Finally, a study of the tolerances on the input parameters of the experiment is presented.


ABSTRACT This article explores how documents play a role in shaping perceptions of children, professionals, and parents during the transition from childcare to kindergarten in Québec. Positioning analysis was used to explore governmentality, documentality, and interobjectivity in the communication agendas and child assessment documents of seven children. Results revealed that communication agendas constructed different images of the ideal child, professional, and parent in childcare and in school. Assessment documents in both settings categorise children as either 'doing well' or 'at-risk', position professionals as experts, and parents as playing a supportive and often passive role with regard to their children's education.


Tunnel Field Effect Transistor (TFET), based on band-to-band tunneling, overcomes the thermal limit (subthreshold slope (S) > 60 mV/decade) of the MOSFETs by filtering the high-energy Fermi tail, thereby allowing a substantial reduction of supply voltage and power consumption. Despite the steep slope behavior, TFETs can suffer from ambipolarity wherein carriers tunnel into the channel at both high positive and negative gate voltages. In this work, we demonstrate the fabrication of InAs/InGaAsSb/GaSb vertical nanowire TFET devices and present experimental data showcasing suppressed ambipolarity and a minimum S = 39 mV/decade at Vds=0.05V. The nanowires were grown using MOVPE where the 100nm long InAs drain was n-doped with TESn followed by a 100nm undoped InAs channel and a 100nm/300nm DEZn doped InGaAsSb/GaSb source. After growth, the InAs was selectively digitally etched using citric acid to reduce the channel diameter from 40nm to 25nm. The electrostatics was improved, compared to our previously reported devices, with a gate stack of ALD bilayer of 1nm/3nm Al2O3/HfO2 (EOT~1nm) followed by 30nm sputtered W. To decrease the ambipolar conduction, a gate-drain underlap of approximately 20nm was used which widens the tunnel barrier at the drain junction. Since the gate length is defined by the bottom spacer thickness in vertical transistors, the underlap provides a shorter gate positioned close to the source-channel junction. Thus the new process scheme has improved the slope and reduced the OFF current by one order of magnitude compared to our previous devices [1]. [1] E. Memisevic et al., IEEE Trans.ElectronDevices,vol.64,4746–4751, 2017. (Less)


With the rapid development of computer networks and video capture technology, resulting in a large number of sports video data, how to effectively and quickly retrieve the part of coaches or athletes need from these data, as a problem to be solved. Video marked its description given according to the video semantic content embodied, on this basis, can achieve efficient video retrieval. To be precise and reliable video capture sports, it is very difficult, and it is a task of great challenging. For the research in this field, both in theory or practical aspects are of great significance. It is based on this fact, the author under the teacher's instructions, for this cutting-edge research made some attempt to achieve a simple sports-based video capture system.


SiC (silicon carbide) device as one of the wide-bandgap power semiconductor devices have a wide range of applications in the fields of high frequency, high voltage and high temperature. However, due to lower gate threshold voltage and higher allowable negative gate threshold voltage, SiC MOSFETs in the phase-leg circuit configuration are more sensitive to the voltage spikes caused by crosstalk during the fast-switching process. To effectively suppress crosstalk and exploit the excellent performance of SiC MOSFETs, this paper analyzes the mechanism of crosstalk for SiC MOSFETs. The state-of-the-art modeling methods of crosstalk for SiC MOSFETs are summarized based on gate resistance, common source inductance, Miller capacitor, body diode reverse recovery, et al. The state-of-the-art suppression methods are classified and evaluated from complexity, feasibility and validity. Finally, an effective passive suppression scheme is proposed for SiC MOSFETs with Kelvin package.


The excretion of sex and gonadotropic hormones was investigated in 18 healthy women 27 patients with mastopathy and in 36 patients with myoma of the uterus. An increase in the level of estrogens was noted at the beginning of the cycle in most of the patients both in those with myoma and with mastopathy. The level of follicle stimulating hormone was simultaneously reduced and that of luteinizing hormone and LTH was raised.(Authors modified)


During rice processing, the over milling process cause a lot of loss of rice grains, the research on the proper processing method of rice is crucially important. In order to study the tribological characteristics of brown rice under friction during rice milling, based on the principle of moderate processing, three kinds of brown rice were used as the research object, and the in-situ observation combined friction and wear tester was used to analyze the friction process of brown rice grains under load, rotate speed, rice temperature, humidity, and other factors. The results show that: The friction coefficient curve of brown rice is divided into three stages; The friction coefficient and the abrasion loss of brown rice increase with the increase of load and speed, and decrease with the increase of humidity and temperature of brown rice.


This article clarifies a perennial problem relating to the concept of 'orality' in Gospels studies and attempts to provide some resolution to that problem. Specifically, Gospels criticism has struggled to conceptualize the relation between the Jesus tradition as it was orally performed and early textual (written) expressions of that tradition. The binary opposition 'literacy/orality' has failed to provide any help in this conceptualization, and this failure is rooted especially in the rather nebulous (yet widespread) concept of 'orality'. New Testament scholarship requires a set of culturally specific models of textuality, including the non-communicative functions of written texts and the non-literate use of written traditions. Before we can develop the necessary models, however, we need to deal with the problems we have created by appealing to 'orality'.


This paper deals with the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development in Navarra in the 1994-2005 period. Our results suggest that economic development is linked to the entrepreneurial activity of existing firms but not to the creation of new ventures. The additional analysis of a sample of new ventures does not allow us to accept the hypothesis that opportunity entrepreneurs contribute to economic development more than necessity entrepreneurs.


In this work we report results of direct comparison of two sets of InGaN/GaN MQW structures grown with and without using of thermocycling (TC) by electroluminescence, photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation study. For both sets of structures luminescence originates from localized centres, but the density of states differs for structures grown with and without TC. Light emitting diodes (LED) grown with use of TC show nearly two times higher efficiency than the structures with the same design grown without TC.


It is difficult to obtain a representative soil sample from fields with areas of very low to very high soil test values. This field exercise was developed to assist agricultural practitioners with understanding common sampling schemes and their limitations with highly variable soils. A 2.8-ha site with high variability in soil test P and K was selected for use at the University of Minnesota's Extension Field School. Instructors provided background site information including previous crops and yields, factors of soil formation, methodology used in obtaining a composite sample, a representative management zone sample, precision grid sample, and a soil survey map. Before the exercise, 36 soil samples were collected on a 30-m grid and analyzed for P, K, and pH. Each grid point was numbered and flagged. Participants were split into groups, assigned a sampling method, and conducted a site evaluation and determined which grid points to include in their sample(s). Each group was limited to choosing eight grid points to collect their sample. Although P deficiency was evident, approximately half of the groups recommended no fertilizer application due to inclusion of high testing areas in their samples. Overall the grid sampling method resulted in the highest fertilizer recommendation for the site. The management zone method recommended the least fertilizer overall but most of it was applied in low testing areas, and the composite method which often contained nonuniform areas within the sample resulted in fertilizer recommendations unrepresentative of the site.


Objective: The study aim is to determine reasons for cancellation of scheduled gynecologic surgeries. Design: This is a retrospective study of 760 patients. Materials and Methods: Predictor variabl...


This overview of commonly encountered brain tumors will concentrate on the three most common neoplasms that occur in adult medicine, e.g., gliomas, metastatic lesions, and meningiomas.


PURPOSE: A structure for supporting a shaft and reduction apparatus are provided to replace a shaft to be replaced by allowing a bearing to be mounted/unmounted in an inter race while the bearing is mounted in a casing. CONSTITUTION: A bearing includes an inner race, an outer-race(50), a rotating unit, and a shaft. A detaching unit mounts/unmounts the shaft of the inner race. The outer-race is supported by a casing(18). The detaching unit mounts/unmounts the shaft in/from the inner race while mounting the bearing in the case.


We describe a pseudo‐3D photoionization code, NEBU_3D and its associated visualization tool, VISNEB_3D, which are able to easily and rapidly treat a wide variety of nebular geometries, by combining models obtained with a 1D photoionization code. We also present a tool, VELNEB_3D, which can be applied to the results of 1D or 3D photoionization codes to generate emission line profiles, position‐velocity maps and 3D maps in any emission line by assuming an arbitrary velocity field. As examples of the capabilities of these new tools, we consider three very different theoretical cases. The first one is a blister HII region, for which we have also constructed a spherical model (the spherical impostor) which has exactly the same Hβ surface brightness distribution as the blister model and the same ionizing star. The second example shows how complex line profiles can be obtained even with a simple expansion law if the nebula is bipolar and the slit slightly off‐center. The third example shows different ways to pro...


Summary The application of OZONE (Oxygen-ozone) in the treatment of cervical and lumbar disc herniation is a therapy widely used in Europe specially in Italy, ours is the first experience in BOLIVIA We studied the clinical effect of oxygen-ozone treatment of disc herniation. Herniated disc is accompanied by mechanical factors and in the last years there is evidence that also exist biochemical or immunological alterations. A method allowing shrinkage of a herniated disc without an open surgical approach has been sought. Experiences on the spontaneous disappearance of disc fragments have demonstrated autoimmune responses with a chronic inflammatory reaction, and radicular pain has been shown to be mostly to release of toxic acids. The present knowledge shows that, pain caused by nerve root compression should be deemed a symptom of multifactor origin in which the neural and perineural inflammatory reaction and its biohumoral mediators play a major role, flanked by venous stasis due to mass effect on the perineural circulation. Nerve compression appears to play and adjuvant role by generating nerve conduction abnormalities due to fibre demyelization with a direct or indirect anoxic ischemic mechanism. As pain is multifactorial, ozone may also have a multifactorial pharmacological effect alleviating disc compression by shrinkage and triggering pro-fibrossing mechanism. Oxygen Ozone was administrated by percutaneous injection into the paravertebral region and/or into the intervertebral disc. We treated in BOLIVIA 120 patients from August 2003 to June 2005 with excellent and good results as success we obtained a rate of the 80- 85%.


This paper presents the findings of a user focused soundscape survey, that took place in a visual task based and a computational task based open-plan office spaces. Aim of this study was to conduct a grounded theory survey which captures individuals' subjective response to the soundscape and creating a conceptual framework in the end. In order to achieve this goal, acoustical environment and sound sources were identified. In-situ measurements of sound levels (LAeq) and simulations, prepared by Odeon Room Acoustics Software 13.10 Combined, were used to explore the acoustical environment of the office spaces. Grounded Theory was used as the main research method to create a conceptual soundscape framework, and to reveal employees perception of the soundscape of their work environment. As part of grounded theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with forty-nine employees from both types of offices. The results showed how the task at hand were affected by the sound environment and employees' characteristics. Sound that were not expected or out of context and those that interfere with the concentration demanding tasks caused a negative interpretation of the soundscape. Due to this, employees' adopted coping methods such as, accepting and habituating, intervening to the sound source, or putting on headphones to isolate themselves from the soundscape. It was discovered during the interviews that employees were concerned with silence as much as they were concerned with the noise. Employees expressed that the sound of keyboard and mouse means that they are working at that moment, there are other people around, and they are not working alone, or not working overtime.


The present study consisted of analyzing the spatial and temporal variability of the rainfall series in the Diarha watershed between 1921 and 2014, using the Nicholson indices, the stationarity tests and the Thiessen polygons method for spatial analysis, to quantify surface water supplies and to determine the impact of this rainfall variability on the hydrology of the basin. The results show that the rainfall series are not stationary. They show breaks between 1965 and 1979 (with 1967 as the year of rupture for 6 of the 10 stations in the basin). From this break-up period (1967) to the present day, average annual rainfall decreased by 10.5%. On a monthly basis, it appears that precipitation decreased significantly for almost every month between the two periods. On a daily basis, the analysis of the daily rainfall fractions reveals a tendency to decrease the average annual rainfall over 40 mm (which are considered to be the heavy rains) from years of rupture. At the spatial scale, the variability of annual precipitation is marked by a translation of isohyets towards the South from the decades 1971-1980 and 1981-1990. During this period, the decline in rainfall resulted in a shift of the isohyets towards the south in the less rainy zone in the north (in the South Sudanian domain); while the latter are tightening in the "strong" precipitation zones which are located in the South (in the Guinean climate domain) and in the Center-east of the basin. On the other hand, a slight trend of rainfall recovery is noted during the decades 1991-2000 and 2001-2010. At the same time, the flows of the Diarha vary from one year to another according to the precipitated water slides on the basin and the ETP. To this must be added the influence of pedology and geology (the river flowing over the Proterozoic and Paleozoic formations of the Birrimian basement), but also of the high topography of the basin, in this case the relief and its slope system. All these factors combine in space and time to allow for high values of basin runoff.


This paper presents extensions of the model free subspace based ℋ∞ control approach. In particular, a fast algorithm for computing a subspace predictor from experimental data is introduced. The paper also describes a fast algorithm for updating the subspace predictor when new experimental data are available. These algorithms can be applied in conjunction with model free subspace based ℋ∞ control in order to create a novel adaptive control law. A defining feature of this control law is that an estimate of achievable performance is maintained throughout the operation of the closed‐loop system. These algorithms are used to demonstrate the closed‐loop control of a flexible structure. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Results are presented of an evaluation of relative macrocellular and in-building wireless signal coverage performance at 700 and 2500 MHz, based on physically-based propagation prediction data and measurements of in-building propagation path loss. Macrocellular area coverage at 700 MHz was found to be 2-3 times larger than that at 2500 MHz. The mean in-building path loss advantage of 700 MHz over 2500 MHz was found to be at best marginally (1 dB) higher than the outdoor advantage at street level. These results indicate that the lower free-space and material penetration losses at 700 MHz are counteracted, to varying but significant degree, by an increased probability of Fresnel zone blockage.


In this paper, the mechanism for the antibacterial activity of a mixture of 3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoic acid (GA) and magnesium oxide (MgO) for Escherichia coli (JCM1649, E coli) is investigated. Antibacterial activity was assayed by the liquid dilution method against E coli. E coli in the logarithmic phase and the culture medium with pepton, yeast extract, NaCl, glucose, and MgSO4 7H2O were used in all experiments. The logarithmic phase culture of E coli (1x10 5 CFU cm -3 ) was added to the culture medium with GA and/or MgO. A Clark-type oxygen electrode with 1.1 cm -3 volume cell was used for the measurements of the oxygen consumption profile of a mixture of GA and MgO. The concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H 2O2) in the mixture was estimated by using porphyrinato-titanium complex. Efficient antibacterial activity was observed on a mixture of 2 mg cm -3 GA and 2 mg cm -3 MgO. The addition of 110 units cm -3 catalase, which is an enzyme of H2O2 decomposition, in a mixture of 2 mg cm -3 GA and 2 mg cm -3 MgO led to the decrease of the antibacterial activity as same as the case of 2 mg cm -3 MgO. Moreover, the production of H2O2 in the mixture was confirmed by the oxygen consumption profile under the addition of 500 units cm -3 catalase. The accumulation of 3-4 mmol dm -3 H2O2 was confirmed in a mixture of 2 mg cm -3 GA and 2 mg cm -3 MgO. The increase in the concentration of H2O2 from 3 mmol dm -3 to 4 mmol dm -3 led to a drastic increase in the antibacterial activity. Based on the results of this study, a possible mechanism for the antibacterial activity of a mixture of GA and MgO is discussed, concerning a synergy effect on the antibacterial action of MgO and that of H2O2.


Since it involves both classifying and Logisticising objects in a scene, object detection is considered one of the most challenging topics in computer vision. While YOLOv6 is an improved version of the original You Only Look Once model, it is also among the most cutting-edge deep neural network (DNN)-based object identification methods available today. DNNs have recently been proven to attain more extraordinary object identification performance than previous approaches. However, even without a strong GPU, YOLOv6 is still exceedingly fast as compared to its previously released versions and can decide the driving course approximately in real-time. Hence, YOLOv6 is suited in applications to certain embedded systems and smartphones as well which have a major underlying constaints of power usage. To improve traffic sign identification in real time, we are using YOLOv6 and an improved Logistic Regresssion (LR) based classifier in this research. The LR classifier here is used to identify traffic sign classes. We have used the Indian Traffic Sign Detection Benchmark Dataset (ITSDBD) is used to train and evaluate the network whose results are then compared with similar systems proposed in the past.


This work describes the conditions in which theory in general, and educational theory in particular, spring up. It assumes a shared perspective in the scientific communities when new paradigms appear. Then it stresses the presence in contemporary education of the dominant theoretical schools the author identifies as pragmatism, materialism, and constructivism. The most important theoretical features of each such school are discussed and, in conclusion, it is asserted that education is at bottom an ethical challenge.


This document presents the final report of the User Satisfaction and Longevity Study undertaken by the Population Council in cooperation with the Ministry of Population Welfare Government of Pakistan in 1997. Funded by the UN Population Fund the study was carried out with a probability sample of 2722 married women of reproductive age in the four provinces of Pakistan involving a 36-month contraceptive history calendar covering the retrospective period from April 1994 to March 1997. It aimed to measure contraceptive users continuation discontinuation and satisfaction of the major temporary methods used in Pakistan. Overall results show that the Pakistani contraception continuation rate in general is quite high and that failure rates are quite low. The low continuation rates for pills and injections reflect serious dissatisfaction with these methods. The levels of withdrawal and condom use represent important real advantages of these methods and positive involvement of husbands and in general should not be discouraged.