F on from Working out percentages: Weight loss and dosage (Eggleton, 2015), this month's Calculation Skills focuses on percentage calculations for renal impairment. Percentages are used in various ways in health care. The concentration of a drug solution may be stated as a percentage (sodium chloride 0.9%, for example). A percentage change in a patient's clinical signs may be important in diagnosis (for example, a percentage weight loss as a non-specific sign of diseases, such as cancer and tuberculosis; or peak flow greater or less than 50% of normal is significant in acute asthma diagnosis and treatment). Percentage statements may also be used in drug dosage calculations. This time the focus is percentage dosage reduction for patients with chronic renal impairment. The term 'percentage' refers to a fraction or ratio where 100 is the denominator. For example, 10% could be written as 10/100. The British National Formulary (Joint Formulary Committee (JFC), 2015) may not always provide specific advice on dosage reduction for patients with renal impairment. A good example of this is metformin, a drug used to treat patients with diabetes, many of whom will have a degree of renal impairment. The BNF gives advice regarding the need to check renal function annually, or twice a year in patients with additional risk factors (JFC, 2015). It states that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that metformin should be avoided if estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is less than 30 ml/minute/1.73 m2 because of the risk of lactic acidosis. However, if eGFR is less than 45 ml/minute/1.73 m2, the advice given is simply to review the dose. The advice in the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) may differ; for Glucophage (electronic Medicines Compendium, 2015), it is recommended that metformin can be used in patients with moderate renal impairment (45– 59 ml/minute/1.73 m2 ) only in the absence of other conditions that may increase the risk of lactic acidosis up to a maximum dose of 500 mg twice a day, and that the Alison Eggleton


The multielement determination of all rare earth elements in human blood serum by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry has been studied, where the blood serum sample was digested with nitric acid and perchloric acid, and then rare earth elements were preconcentrated by using the chelating resin prior to the determination. It was found that the concentrations of rare earth elements in human blood serum were at the ppt (10−12 g/ml) level.


We show that nonlinear harmonic measures on trees lack many desirable proper- ties of set functions encountered in classical analysis. Let F be an averaging operator on Rand !F be the F -harmonic measure on a • -regular forward branching tree. Unless F is the usual average, !F is not a Choquet capacity; union of sets of !F measure zero can have positive !F measure when F is permutation invariant; and there exist sets of full !F measure having \small" dimension. Let A be a monotone operator on R • , then A -harmonic functions on trees need not obey the strong maximum principle unless the ratio of the ellipticity constants is close to 1 .


In this paper, we propose a high-resolution depth sensing method based on structured light. In 3D contour scanning, passive binocular stereo vision is difficult to obtain enough 3D information for objects with inconspicuous surface features. To solve this problem, based on the binocular stereo vision principle and the structured light projection method in active vision, a method of obtaining sparse depth based on random mesh is proposed. Four templates are projected onto the surface of the object, which are random meshes and three templates with phase difference. In addition, the relative phase image is calculated according to the three-step phase-shifting mode. Finally, the depth map calculated in the conventional structured light method. In this paper, we demonstrate the effectiveness algorithm to show that our depth sensing are more accurate and resolution than the existing methods in the experiments.


Several nuclear archaeology techniques have been proposed to determine historic plutonium production in dedicated production reactors. Some of these techniques have been successfully demonstrated, in particular, those using the isotope-ratio method in graphite-moderated production reactors. More recently, similar techniques have also been proposed to monitor plutonium production in operating reactors, which could complement traditional safeguards approaches. These methods rely on sampling materials from the reactor core or specially designed monitor tags that would be inserted into the core, to examine suited isotopic ratios. These would be used to assess the cumulative neutron fluence, quantifying the amount of plutonium produced. However, some production reactors can be used to produce other isotopes than plutonium, such as tritium or other (medical isotopes). If a reactor production mode has been declared to be a tritium production mode, it must be verified that this was the case and that the reactor was not used to produce plutonium instead. In this paper, we examine to which extent nuclear archaeology techniques can be extended to detect different modes of reactor operation such as tritium versus plutonium production.


Late last year Russia's S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (known as RKK) revealed detailed plans for a next generation reusable space orbiter, dubbed the Kliper (Clipper in English). The Kliper could be, in effect, the successor to the U.S space shuttle- perhaps as the vehicle of choice in a joint Russian-European space program. The 13-Ton Kliper will be capable of making 25 flights. It is designed to carry two pilots, four passengers, and up to 700 Kg of cargo.


More than simply a monograph about a literary journal, Lukyanin's book features reminiscences of its former readers, authors, and editors. Already in its first decade of existence, Ural began to print works of renowned Russian writers and translated American and British prose alongside Urals-born authors. Its commercial success peaked in the 1970s, under V. Ocheretin as its editor-in-chief, with tens of thousands of local industrial workers subscribing to the journal for its crime mysteries and its popular satirical and humorous sections. In the early 1980s, the liberal Communist Lukianin started transformation of the journal's agenda, while Urals remained the centre of the region's literary life. The Urals underground writers began to appear in the journal in the late 1980s, although Ural shunned works that were too critical of the Soviet government, unlike its Moscow-based peers, who managed to attract huge numbers of new readers.


Introduction: Menopause is a major transitional period in women's life when menstruation stops and no longer fertile. It exists in various staging systems that can be differentiated in premenopausal, perimenopausal and postmenopausal. However, there are physical and psychological challenges faced at each stage. In Nigeria, women have high prevalence of menopausal symptoms between the 40-60 years. Some of these symptoms that are more common at menopause give rise to high concerns to provide coping strategies for them. The objective is to assess the challenges and coping strategies adopted by menopausal women in Olorunda Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria. Methodology: This is a descriptive cross sectional study, 40-65 years eligible participants were selected using multi-stage sampling method. Three hundred questionnaires were administered, out of which two hundred and seventy were retrieved and analyzed using SPSS with level of P value was set at < 0.05 given response rate of 90%. Results: The mean age of the participants was 56 years + 2.11 S.D. The women in the study population were mostly married (84%) and were majorly Yoruba tribe (99%). Almost all the participants viewed menopause as a natural phenomenon. All the respondents were aware of menopause and have experienced one or more out of the twenty one pre-stated symptomatic challenges among which are vaginal dryness(40.40%), decreased sexual libido(41.1%),decreased sexual response(43.7%), joint pain/stiffness(35.95%). Coping strategies engaged by the participants included herbs (59.6%), exercise (59.6), Religious prayers (54.4%) and self medication (24.1%). Conclusion: Most of the respondents found menopause to be challenging and were able to manage using various coping strategies like the use of self medication, religious prayers and exercise which were found effective. Effective health education and promotion can help menopausal women to cope better with challenges of menopause.


Islamic cosmopolitanism contributes to strengthening the foundation of diversity in the midst of ethnic differences and cultural territorial boundaries in Indonesia. Religious and cultural relations are often seen as triggers for protracted diversity conflicts. This view is built because of the absence of awareness and social harmony inherent in a pluralistic society. This paper expands the study of Islamic cosmopolitanism in Indonesia in building social diversity in a pluralistic society. The research method uses descriptive qualitative. Data collection techniques using interviews, documentation and observation. Meanwhile, data analysis uses flow stages: data reduction, data display, and conclusion verification. This study concludes that the values of Islamic cosmopolitanism in the Muslim community of Plateau Dieng are built from the values of religious awareness and social harmony that are rooted in and become an inherent part of the collective identity of the community. This confirms that the values of Islamic cosmopolitanism can develop and become an inseparable part of the collective identity of a pluralistic society.


A method of measuring the thermal conductivity of materials during transient heating or cooling is proposed based on the continuous recording of the temperature difference between sample surfaces when known heat flux is supplied to one of the sample surfaces by a heater. The analysis of the solution of the heat conduction equation for a measuring system consisting of two platelike samples separated by a heater shows that the transient heating or cooling significantly influences the temperature distribution within the samples. It follows from the theoretical consideration that this effect as well as the effects resulting from heat generation or absorption in the samples during phase transitions can be eliminated by subtracting the results of two measurements conducted with different powers supplied by the heater. The condition for validity of this procedure is the small temperature difference between sample surfaces which can be achieved by the selection of appropriate temperature change rate or sample thickness.


Chiral induction to a C3-symmetric and non-prochiral tris(3-methyl-2-pyridylmethyl)amine was achieved upon coordination to a ruthenium(II) center by forming a stable fac–cis bis-chelate complex selectively and 1H NMR spectroscopy showed that the chirality is maintained even in solution.


The ABC Waters Programme captures the vision that the Public Utilities Board has for Singapore's catchments and waterways – Active, dynamic, full of life and activities, Beautiful, aesthetically pleasing and Clean. A Watershed Manager has been engaged under the ABC Waters Programme to prepare a Masterplan and implement a number of demonstration projects for the Eastern catchment of Singapore. The Eastern catchment, covering an area of 23,750 ha, forms approximately one third of the country of Singapore. The catchment can be divided up into 16 watersheds, flowing to the major waterways of the region. The "C" component of the programme aims to clean catchment runoff and to improve the quality of receiving waters and to facilitate active and passive recreation within and beside waterways and water bodies. The Eastern Catchment Stormwater Quality Management Plan which has been formulated to protect the values that stakeholders place on the catchment, its watersheds and the receiving waters is overviewed. The various values and objectives that were identified and the assessments and modelling that underpin the Plan are outlined and discussed. It is concluded that the Stormwater Quality Management Plan is a key component of the Masterplan for the Eastern watershed which aims to inform the community of the importance and value of keeping water catchments clean as more than two-thirds of Singapore will be water catchments in the long term. Ultimately, it is hoped that the ABC Waters Programme will improve the quality of life for all Singaporeans.


Tissue sampling is becoming a more common diagnosis method in the clinical field because of its diagnosis accuracy; however, some current methods involve at least two medical instruments for cutting and sampling, which makes procedures time consuming, invasive, and expensive. To overcome these imperfections our group has designed a millimeter scale medical device, which can cut and suction tissue samples simultaneously at rotation speeds ranging from 5,000 to 40,000 RPM. The device can be broken into three portions: power, cutting, and sample delivery. The impulse turbine, a major component of the power portion, is used to generate a high-speed rotation to the shaft. With a high rotation speed, the cutting tip of the shaft can cut the tissue with the required torque and cutting force. This project focuses on the structural analysis of the existing device by analytical and experimental methods to draw conclusions that could help in future designs.


The Ferrier rearrangement of a selection of protected glycals was successfully performed using a commercially available H-USY zeolite CBV-720 as catalyst, selected after screening a range of similar catalysts. By incorporating either alcohols, thiophenol, trimethylsilyl azide or allyltrimethylsilane in the reaction it was shown that a range of O-, S-, N- and C-glycosides could be formed. With benzylated glucal and galactal in particular, use of the CBV-720 catalyst led to significantly higher yields of the 2,3-dehydroglycosides than previously reported.


Abstract The magnetooptical Faraday effect is introduced as an experimental method for analysing molecular complexes and their optical anisotropy in highly dissolved binary solutions of liquids. The dependence of Verdet constant, V, on the mole concentration f 2 of o-bromoanisole in benzene and o-bromoanisole in p-xylene is used for calculation of the optical anisotropy δ∗ and the anisotropy of optical polarizability (b∗11-b∗33) of complexes which are present in the solution as a result of molecular interactions in the investigated liquids. Numerical analysis of the values of V, δ∗ and (b∗11-b∗33) are given. Measurements of the magnetooptical Faraday effect have been performed in a pulsed high magnetic field induction up to 20T and Laser beam-λ = 488 nm.


Background Patients present with 'conversion disorder' as a response to the underlying stressful conditions. It is clinically important to evaluate the presence, type, and temporal relation of the stressors resulting in conversion. Further knowing the Socio-demographic and psychological profile of the conversion patient helps in their better management. Aim To study the clinical features and presentations, Socio-demographic characteristics, and underlying psychosocial stressors associated with conversion disorder.Material & Methods Fifty patients admitted to the department of psychiatry, NRI Medical College and Hospital, Vishakhapatnam, India from 1st January 2013 to 31st December, 2014 who fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study were evaluated for socio-demographic characteristics, clinical presentations, and stressors on a semi-structured proforma.Results Majority of the patients with conversion symptoms were children and young adults (74.0%), females (62.0%), students (46.0%), currently married (54.0%) and those living in nuclear families (78.0%) and having rural background (62.0%). Socioeconomic status wise, majority (66.0%) of the patients belonged to middle class. Majority of the patients (92.0%) had a recognizable precipitating factor, of which family-related/marital (36.0%) and education/school-related (18.0%) problems accounted for the major types. Purely motor symptoms were the predominant presentation (84.0%) with unresponsiveness /syncopal attack and pseudo seizure being the commonest.Conclusion Conversion disorders are commonly seen in females, children and young adults, students and in those people belonging to middle class in socioeconomic status and rural areas. Underlying psychosocial stressors could be identifiable in majority of the cases of conversion disorder.


Objective To explore the surgical treatment strategy of parasagittal meningioma invading superior sagittal sinus.Methods The clinical data of 14 patients with parasagittal meningioma invading the superior sagittal sinus from December 2003 to October 2011 in department of neurosurgery were analyzed retrospectively.8 cases were male,6 cases were female,the average age was 49(34-63 years old).9 cases were with intracranial pressure heighten symptoms,3 with epilepsy and 4 with hemiplegia positioning signs.Tumor site were unilateral.14 cases of parasagittal meningioma with the superior sagittal sinus invaded were treated by microsurgical resection.In 11 cases the wall of the tumor invaded superior sagittal sinus was removed and reestablished.In 3 cases the tumor invaded superior sagittal sinus was segmental resected.Results The operation and postoperative recovery of the 14 patients was satisfactory,no deaths.9 patients with intracranial pressure heighten,the postoperative symptoms were disappeared such as headache and vomiting,3 with epilepsy was alleviated,4 with hemiplegia positioning signs,the postoperative signs was significantly improved or returned to normal.All patients were followed up for 6 months to 5 years,1 case had the meningioma recurrence,and cured by reoperation,the rest 13 cases were not found recurrence.Conclusion The microscopically complete resection of the parasagittal meningioma,and segmental resect the tumor invaded superior sagittal sinus or remove and reestablish the wall of the invaded superior sagittal sinus at the same time using microsurgical technique could effectively treat parasagittal meningioma with the superior sagittal sinus invaded and improve outcomes of the patients.


The invention relates to a silicon single-crystal pullup apparatus, comprising a crucible as a reservoir of molten silicon; a heater for heating the crucible; crucible driving means for rotation and/or vertical movement of the crucible; a chamber for accommodating the crucible and the heater; and magnetic field application means for application of a magnetic field to the chamber, disposed outsidethe chamber, wherein the magnetic field application means is provided so as to run along the outer circumferential surface of the chamber and is capable of not only generating an iso-magnetic field diagram approximately concentric with respect to the central axis of the crucible.


For manufactured lighting rooms people began to use the energy saving solid-state lamps which send out the blue spectrum´s rays. Thereby, the real work is devoted to detect the localization of the biogenic amines in the cytostructures of the spleen with mice radiation by the solid-state lighting with the wavelength 470 nm (blue color). In histological research of mouse spleen by the luminescent-histochemical methods were detected biogenic amine in the granular luminescent cells (GLC) of the mantle and marginal areas of the lymphoid nodules, and in the red pulp. Mouse´s blue radiation increase the biogenic amines content in the granular luminescent cells (GLC) of the marginal area and in the macrophages of the red pulp of the spleen and decrease content of catecholamines and hystamine in the GLC of the mantle area. It is found that mice control group, s serotonin index in the GLC of the mantle and marginal areas of the lymphoid nodules was less than unity. But in the GLC of the red pulp it was unity. The index of the blue light radiated mice in all cytostructures was more than unity, that says about serotonin action as the suppressor.


The work presented here is an extension of the old LABIAO (Lecture lABIale Assistée par Ordinateur or Computer-Assisted lips reading) project. Its object was to provide lip readers and, especially deaf and hard of hearing people with an artificial talking head piloted by automatic speech recognition. However, many users need more. They also need the emotional state of the speaker in order to fully understand, thus our aim is to improve the talking head interface. To that purpose, we propose to extract prosodic elements from speech signa lin order to identify the emotion state; an original approach based on the combination of speech recognition, emotion recognition and talking head is


The ocean-wave-height-measurement accuracy and coverage of high-frequency (HF) radars are affected by the echo intensity. Due to the effects of propagation attenuation and the wind-direction spreading function, the same sea area will generate different echo intensities for radars at different locations. Based on this characteristic, a new wave-height-measurement method combining multiple HF radars is proposed in this letter. First, the advantages of the radar network in enhancing the coverage and antiinterference performance of wave-height measurement are analyzed quantitatively. Furthermore, it is found that the signal-to-noise ratio of the second-order echo can be used as weights to fuse the wave heights measured by different radars. A field experiment over 23 days shows that the proposed fusion algorithm effectively improves the radar coverage and the wave-height-measurement accuracy.


Purpose: Cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) is a family of heat-labile cytotoxins produced by several gram-negative mucosa-associated pathogens, including Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. CDT is well known to be capable of inducing growth arrest, morphological alterations, and eventually death in various cells. CDT belongs to a tripartite AB2 toxin (CdtB: the enzymatic A subunit; CdtA and CdtC: the heterodimeric B subunit). Previous studies proposed that CdtA and CdtC together bind to a cell surface receptor and glycolipids act as a receptor for A. actinomycetemcomitans CDT (AaCDT). In this study, recombinant CdtA and CdtC proteins of AaCDT were co-expressed in a bacterial expression system and tested for their affinity for GM1 ganglioside. Methods: The genes for CdtA and CdtC from A. actinomycetemcomitans Y4 were utilized to construct the expression vectors, pRSET-cdtA and pET28a-cdtC. Both CdtA and CdtC proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) and then purified using hexahistidine (His6) tag. The identity of purified protein was confirmed by anti-His6 antibody and monoclonal anti-CdtA antibody. Furthermore, the affinity of recombinant protein to GM1 ganglioside was checked through ELISA. Results: Recombinant CdtA and CdtC proteins were expressed as soluble proteins and reacted to anti-His6 and monoclonal anti-CdtA antibodies. ELISA revealed that purified soluble CdtA-CdtC protein bound to GM1 ganglioside, while CdtA alone did not. Conclusions: Co-expression of CdtA and CdtC proteins enhanced the solubility of the proteins in E. coli, leading to convenient preparation of active CdtA-CdtC, a critical material for the study of AaCDT pathogenesis. (J Korean Acad Periodontol 2009;39:231-237)


ports on the effects of cold on electrolyte concentrations and the degree of hydration in the frog, and extensive work has been done on frog muscle in vitrol. However, no systematic study has been made of the effects of temperature on electrolyte regulation in which many factors such as feeding, hydration, intracellular and extracellular electrolytes, and rates of electrolyte loss were analyzed and correlated. Only by such a study can causal relations be inferred from correlations. Some of the earlier studies used tap water, which contains significant amounts of sodium, and in some the temperature was not closely controlled. Rey (1937; cited in Jorgensen, 1950) found that between 8 C and 0 C weight was inversely


SIR, — Since the withdrawal of products such as the nitroimidazoles (dimetridazole), there has been no medication available in the uk to treat histomonosis (blackhead) in turkeys, caused by Histomonas meleagridis . As a result, there has been a major therapeutic gap, which has caused severe health


Our goal is to optimize regularized image reconstruction methods for emission tomography with respect to the task of detecting small lesions in the reconstructed images. To reflect medical practice realistically, we consider the location of the lesion to be unknown. This location uncertainty significantly complicates the mathematical analysis of model observer performance. We consider model observers whose decisions are based on finding the maximum value of a local test statistic over all possible locations. Khurd and Gindi (SPIE 2004) and Qi and Huesman (SPIE 2004) described analytical approximations of the moments of the local test statistics and used Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the localization performance of such "maximum observers". We propose here an alternative approach, where tail probability approximations developed by Adler (AAP 2000) facilitate analytical evaluation of the detection performance of these observers. We illustrate how these approximations can be used to evaluate the probability of detection (for low probability of false alarm operating points) for the maximum channelized hotelling observer. Using our analyses, one can rank and optimize image reconstruction methods without requiring time-consuming Monte Carlo simulations.


High-level integration of wind energy in power networks has raised the need for flexible units. Gas-fuel generators (GFG) with fast startup/shutdown and high ramp rate capability can provide the required flexibility in the operation of wind energy. However, the operation of GFGs can be affected by the limitations of the fuel transmission system. Demand response programs can decrease the effect of fuel transmission system restrictions in the operation of GFGs and as well as, increase the integration of wind energy into the electricity network. In this work, a scheduling model for electricity and gas networks considering demand response programs is presented. Uncertainties pertain to wind energy and demand response program are addressed in this model. Moreover, power to gas technology is used to prevent wind curtailment. This scheduling model is based on the information gap decision theory (IGDT) that can assess the level of risk pertains to uncertainties. The proposed framework has been simulated on two different networks to represent the effectiveness of the model.


We discuss interaction issues about conflicts and interference between various context information and services in the ubiquitous home environment. Context information conflicts occur when classifying services based on various sensing information. Service interactions are generated when services are applied in different controls simultaneously for the same device. In order to solve the problem, the paper utilizes a context-aware based service mechanism for interaction management.


Various sources of uncertainty have greatly impeded the effectiveness of traditional fisheries management to assure acceptable levels of sustainability of fisheries and species populations. Marine protected areas are receiving increasing consideration and show potential as a means of contributing to the sustainability of populations and guarding against fishery failures. Marine protected areas take advantage of the open population structure that characterizes most exploited benthic marine species by considering the pelagic hspersal of propagules and the patchy distribution of benthic habitat. Because protected areas have only recently been considered for west coast fisheries, because poorly designed reserves may be useless and possibly detrimental, and because optimal design criteria are not yet understood, incorporating the evaluation of empirically derived design criteria into the final implementation of protected area networks (i.e., adaptive management) is the only prudent approach. INTRODUCTION A number of recent articles review the potential value of marine protected areas (PDT 1990; Roberts and Polunin 1991; Rowley 1994; Agardy 1997; Bohnsack 1998; Murray et al., in press) and caveats regarding their design and evaluation (Carr and Reed 1993; Allison et al. 1998; Carr and Raimondi 1998). This paper is designed to (1) explain the ecological basis for the potential roles of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a mechanism contributing to sustainable fisheries; (2) describe how MPAs hffer from the more traditional management strategy of stock assessment, quota forecasting, and catch adjustment; and (3) emphasize the importance of thoughtful design and evaluation. This paper complements the paper by Parrish (also in this symposium section) by summarizing reasons for the rapidly increasing interest in MPAs, along with some caveats regarding their limitations. The increasing interest in marine protected areas as a complement to traditional management strategies stems from many growing concerns. First is the rapid increase in either fishery failures or dramatic declines in many fisheries globally as well as regionally along the west coast of North America. Examples from the west coast include the once very productive abalone fishery throughout southern California, the sea urchin fishery of northern California, and the dramatically declining stocks of lingcod and some rockfish. Simultaneously, fisheries scientists have become keenly aware of the great difficulty in accomplishing, and uncertainty associated with, each of three components of traditional management: stock assessment, forecasting stock size, and catch adjustment. Accurate stock assessment is hindered both by the great and unpredictable natural variability in year class strength and stock size, which is characteristic of most exploited species, and by the logistical difficulties of estimating stock size, catch rates, and population parameters (Ludwig et al. 1993; Clark 1996; Botsford et al. 1997; Lauck et al. 1998). The problem is exacerbated by the usual paucity of resources (financial and human) to make such estimates and the statistical artifacts of fishery-dependent sampling (e.g., in most recreational finfish and most invertebrate fisheries). Moreover, the environment continues to change in new and unpredictable ways. Natural long-term (e.g., decadal) shifts in oceanographic conditions have only recently been recognized by marine ecologists and fisheries biologists (Roemmich and McGowan 1995; Holbrook et al. 1997; Francis et al. 1998; McGowan et al. 1998; Steele 1998). In addition, anthropogenic effects develop or change unpredictably through time; they include new pollutants, global climate change, and new fisheries that can affect the sustainability of existing fisheries (e.g., multispecies fisheries, bycatch, and practices that alter critical habitat of existing fisheries). Another component of uncertainty is the arbitrary or unprehctable behavior of the fishmg industry, consumers, and the political arena of management decisions (e.g., the rapidly developed fishery for live fishes). The ability of managers to adjust catch rates promptly can be further jeopardized by the process of policy decisions that must encompass more than harvest recommendations from fisheries biologists. Taken together, the natural, analytical, and social causes of uncertainty in projecting stock trends and adjusting fishery yields have prompted great concern and a more conservative approach to ensuring sustainability of marine resources (Parma et al. 1998; Shea et al. 1998).


The impact of biomass burning on the concentration of tropospheric trace gases in Timon /Northeast Brazil (5.1S, 42.9W) was investigated in this study. Satellite measurements have shown recently, that biomass burning is the major source of trace gases in the tropics and therefore the single largest pollution source in this region. It effects the local tropospheric photochemistry and possibly also the global photochemistry due to deep convection [Pickering et al. 1996], [Andreae et al. 2001]. Measurements were performed by direct sunlight DOAS (differential optical absorption spectroscopy) in the ultraviolet and visible wavelength range during two measurement campaigns. The first campaign took place at the end of the dry season in November 2004 and the second after the wet season in June 2005. The evaluated NO2 data, with mixing ratios between 0.4 and 1.4 ppb, led to a classification of the measurement site as a rural area. It could be demonstrated that the pollution due to biomass burning enhances the concentration of HCHO in the boundary layer about a factor of 1.4 and the concentration of NO2 more than a factor of 3. This result is confirmed by satellite measurements (ERS-2/Gome and Envisat/SCIAMACHY) [Beirle et al. 2004], [Marbach et al. 2005]. An emission ratio (NOx/HCHO) for biomass burning in Northeast Brazil could be determined under the assumption that both trace gases are enhanced due to biomass burning. This allows to classify the local fires in two categories: burning of tropical forest and burning of agricultural residues [Andreae and Merlet 2001]. This was confirmed by direct observation. Furthermore, the evaluated data can be used for validation of satellite measurements.


A whole-lake enrichment (N + P) experiment was conducted over a three-year period to evaluate the feasibility of boosting benthic productivity in insular Newfoundland lakes. Response of the benthic community to enrichment was monitored by a combination of biomonitoring (artificial substrate) and quantitative dredge sampling in both the enriched lake and two control lakes. -- Observations of benthic abundance through biomonitoring approaches revealed a continuum of positive numerical responses to enrichment. Responses were most rapid in short-lived herbivores such as chironomids, gastropods and sphaeriid clams while longer-lived detritivores (mayflies, amphipods) and predators (flatworms, leeches and dragonflies) demonstrated a slower, more modest numerical response. The benthic macroinvertebrate communities of the study lakes were composed of cosmopolitan species from the North American fauna in relatively low densities. Benthic biomass was dominated by gastropoda and the odonate Cordulia. Secondary production estimates were relatively low when compared to mainland systems. Short-lived herbivores (Amnicola, Phryganea) were observed to have increased secondary production in the enriched pond. Secondary production estimates were similar in the three study ponds for the other macroinvertebrate taxa. Some of these taxa were observed to have increased growth (Cordulia) and/or recruitment (Enallagma) late in the study. This pattern indicates that benthic macroinvertebrate community production was still increasing in the enriched pond.


Abstract : The design and fabrication of injection laser diodes for use in fiber optic communications is discussed with regard to material synthesis, chip configuration, and device assembly in manufacturing environment. The opto-electronic source is based on the GaAs-GaAlAs double heterojunction structure and consists of a parallel array of lasers formed by the application of triple stripe geometry to the surface of the epitaxial wafer. The monolithic triad of discrete lasing elements is mounted in a high frequency package which incorporates a high quality optical window. This report covers progress made during the first quarter of the program and outlines the major steps in the manufacturing sequence of the IL device. (Author)


Abstract The multiscale structures in a Pd82Si18 binary bulk metallic glass before and after deformation were studied using electron microscopies, high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction, and small-angle scattering techniques. The experimental results revealed an enhancement of hierarchical structure heterogeneities on multiple length scales after deformation. Hierarchical multiple shear bands of high number density were observed after bending, introducing complex but periodically distributed residual strain. Pair distribution function analysis revealed that the connectivity of the short-range clusters on the medium-range scale determines the packing density difference between the tension side and the compression side in the sample after bending. In-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction study also revealed a transformation of connection modes among short-range clusters under uniaxial tension and compression, which is consistent with those of triaxial tension/compression parts upon bending in Pd82Si18 glassy alloys. The nanoscale heterogeneities for metallic glasses after deformation observed by small-angle scattering and transmission electron microscopy may be attributed to the nanoscale amorphous phase separation and interacting multiple shear bands enhanced by plastic deformation. Our findings suggested that the enhancement of hierarchical heterogeneous structure on multiple length scales may explain the excellent plasticity of Pd-Si glassy alloys, deepening the understanding of structure-property relation during plastic deformation in metallic glasses.


Seeing that there are a lot of uncertain and fuzzy factors in the deformation control system of excavation, in this paper, the author combined the fuzzy theory with neural network technology, adopted the ordinary non-linear structure as the fuzzy neural network of neural network structure formed of neuron directly, and it is under the degree fuzzy number which inputs and export the information to import the corresponding network. Thus according to fuzzy neural network, displacement prediction model has been set up.


The author examines the recommendations of the Joint Government/Industry Task Force on Builders' Liens, with particular emphasis on the use of a trust obligation to ensure payment. The article also deals with how this trust condition would operate.


We present a review of the current taxonomical status of the genus Paratrochamminoides Soliman,
1972. We recognise five main subgroups of this genus based upon the following modes of coiling:
trochospiral, streptospiral, glomospiral, triloculine or milioline, and thalmannamminiform. Species
that display streptospiral coiling and an interiomarginal aperture are placed in the genus
Conglophragmium Bermudez & Rivero, 1963, whereas the genus Paratrochamminoides is here
understood to encompass all other coiling modes. The morphological characters of 23 named and
unnamed species that we recognise as belonging to Paratrochamminoides and Conglophragmium are
presented in tabular form. Of these, 22 are considered here to be valid species. Emended descriptions
are provided for both genera, and diagnoses are given for each of the species.


The currently-poured concrete pile has many advantages,such as strong adaptability to foundations,easy for controlling of construction quality,high capacity for bearing,small settlement,simple for quality examination,good for operation,that is the rigid-pile-effect can be got as the cost of flexible pile. With the popularization and application of this technique,good economic effect and social effect will be got.


The article proposes a process of introducing a cyclic model in the teaching of sociology courses, which allows students to combine the acquisition of theoretical and practical competences, and the teachers to use the latest sociological data in their own teaching activities are absent in modern scientific discourse. According to the authors, the development of a cyclical model of interaction between the teacher and the student gives an opportunity to open new perspectives in the matter of improving the quality of higher education and integration into the world scientific and educational space.


mination of the zeta potential of planar disk-shaped samples, 1 one also can measure a streaming potential in the vicinity of a rotating porous disk. The streaming potential is remarkably amplified. Based on hydrodynamics originally derived for a rotating filter, 2 a new theory of the streaming potential caused by a rotating porous body was deduced and applied to the experimental data. The large streaming potentials depended on the porosity of the sample; a predicted dependence of the streaming potential on the square of the rotation rate was confirmed and reasonable values of the permeability of the sample was obtained. The magnitude of the zeta potential, however, was too small. The shortcoming was neglect of the sample conductance. The sample provides a channel for leakage of streaming current from the periphery backwards, much like surface conductivity provides a path for streaming current to return without contributing to the streaming potential. 3 Analytical and numerical calculations of the streaming potential near a rotating porous sample of finite thickness revealed that two parameters control the short-circuiting. The first is the ratio of the sample thickness to the sample radius. The second parameter is the ratio of the conductance of the porous layer to the conductance of the electrolyte, analogous to the Dukhin number. Use of this apparatus and theory confers the ability to determine the zeta potential and permeabilities of open-structure porous samples (Darcy coefficient > 10 -10 m 2 ) without the necessity of changing their morphology.


"My father was part of the third cosmonaut class and I dreamed of being a cosmonaut but I did not know exactly how to do that."


An optical disc device can reliably detect a target recording layer of an optical disc having two recording layers. The optical disk apparatus adapted to record information on an optical disk and reproducing information from the optical disc, the first recording layer of the optical disk are sequentially stacked, the second recording layer and the cover layer. From one side of the beam focus moves away from the disc cover layer closer to the direction, and when the signal level of the focus error signal falls below the threshold value exceeds n then the focus error, or when the signal level of the focus error signal falls to the negative focus error threshold after exceeding the threshold value, determining beam focus being close to the recording layer. Then, after the recording layer is detected that the focus of the beam continues to move toward the optical disc, and when the recording layer is not detected again period is detected again, and finally determining the detected recording layer is the first recording layer.


A novel coronavirus was reported in December 2019 as the cause of pneumonia in Wuhan, a city in China's Hubei Province. It spread exponentially, leading to an outbreak throughout China, followed by...


I n academia, true pioneers are often unheralded, if not outright ignored; they take chances with their careers and livelihoods that most would not consider. These pioneers are rarely found in the elite institutions under the bright shining light of renown; more often, they are found far from the fame, systematically plying their craft. Steven A. Peterson was just such a pioneer. As one of the founders of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences (APLS) in the early 1980s, he was a key part of the original steering committee composed of Carol Barner-Barry, Lynton Caldwell, Peter Corning, Fred Kort, Roger Masters, Steven Peterson, Glendon Schubert, Albert Somit, and Thomas Weigele (Stewart & Bucy, 2011). Forty years ago, this group organized its first program for the 1982 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association and published its first issue of this journal, Politics and the Life Sciences, that same year. In subsequent years, Steve was a constant presence, first in building APLS as an organization and biopolitics as a field, and then as a steadying hand transitioning the organization and this journal to the next generation. He was, perhaps most impressively, among the first generation of biopolitical specialists to organize their graduate education around combining biology and politics. Steve's undergraduate education at Bradley University led to a senior honors paper on biology and politics. He subsequently attended SUNYBuffalo's graduate program, creating his own special subfield within the political science program based upon mammalian ethology, primate behavior, genetics, and classic works in biology. His dissertation, which focused on the biological basis of student protest—then a constant and roiling part of American political life—reflected a pragmatic approach to dealing with pressing public policy problems (Peterson, 2011). It was there, at SUNY Buffalo, that Steve met and developed a fruitful research collaboration with his longtime friend, colleague, and fellow APLS founder Al Somit. Among many other notable achievements and initiatives, Steve and Al were the series editors of the long-running Research in Biopolitics edited collections, first for JAI and then for Emerald Press, and they were the stalwart leaders of the similarly focused International Political Science Association Research Committee #12. Together, they gave the field of biopolitics renewed visibility with the 560-page edited volume, the Handbook of Biology and Politics (Peterson & Somit, 2017). Beyond these accomplishments in building the field of biopolitics, Steve's collaborations extended outward to multiple fields and across a diverse array of individuals, as he took on the mentoring role of a highly productive academic. As author or editor ofmore than 25 books and 125 articles, including the pathbreaking Darwinism, Dominance, and Democracy: The Biological Bases of Authoritarianism (Somit & Peterson, 1997), his influence can be seen in the more than 3,272 citations he amassed in a career that spanned over four decades. While many, if not most, academics with such research creativity and productivity would express frustration at not receiving greater credit, Steve was humble and thoughtful throughout his career, recognizing that his first job at Alfred University in upstate New York—a teaching institution where few faculty published—provided an opportunity. Indeed, he stated, "I had the freedom to publish and research in biopolitics without any pressure to shy away. Publishing was enjoyable because I shared ideas within a likeminded network of political scientists... I was even rewarded for involvement in the slowly growing biopolitical community" (Peterson, 2011, pp. 92–93). In many ways, Steve embodied the Midwestern rural American virtues of the town of Kewanee, Illinois, where he grew up. His trademark qualities of being hardworking, humble, and pragmatic are a testament to his service to the field. doi: 10.1017/pls.2022.3 Correspondence: Patrick A. Stewart. Email: email@example.com


This study evaluated the effects of the FiberTomeTM (10, 20, 30 W), conventional Nd:YAG (10, 20, 30 W), and KTP (5, 10, 15 W) surgical laser systems, with respect to pigmented and nonpigmented tissues. The cutting width, cutting depth, and thermal damages were measured on the skin and liver of farmer pigs. The results show that there was no significant difference in the cutting width and depth, for nonpigmented versus pigmented tissues. KTP showed the most significant thermal damage reduction in pigmented tissue; 318 micrometers in nonpigmented vs 94 micrometers in pigmented tissue.


Several problems of synthesis of reflector antennas for a given power pattern are considered. The antenna consists of a cylindrical reflector and radiation source. The problems are solved in the approximation of induced currents. Falling on the reflector, a nonuniform plane wave is supposed to be known in the first problem. The reflector surface is synthesized here. It produces an electromagnetic field with directivity, which is approximate to the given power pattern. The second problem consists in synthesis of the surface of a reflector antenna, where the falling cylindrical wave is formed by a certain excitation source with given directional characteristics. In the third problem, one more degree of freedom is added, i.e. both the shape of the reflector and directivity pattern of the antenna feed (radiation array) are synthesized. The variational statements of the problems are considered. Minimization of the corresponding functionals leads to a solution of the nonlinear integro-differential Euler equations. The methods of solution of the obtained equations are presented. Numerical results of synthesis are considered.


The tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)-aluminium complex is the most important and widely studied as electron transporting and green light emitting material. Alq(3) and Tb(x) Al((1-x)) q(3) have been synthesized (where x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9) and blended films of Alq(3) and Tb(x) Al((1-x)) q(3) with PMMA and PS at different percentage weight (wt%) concentrations (e.g., 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 wt%) have been prepared. The synthesized materials and their blended thin films have been characterized by a photoluminescence (PL) technique; the synthesis and PL characterization are reported in this paper. The synthesized metal complex shows bright emission of green light with blue light excitation (440 nm) and the prepared Tb(x) Al((1-x)) q(3) phosphor may be applicable in blue chip-excited OLEDs for the newly developed wallpaper lighting technology.


A general purpose reversible memory-binding transform (MBT) is developed, which uses a permutation transform technique to bind memory information to a transformed signal alphabet. The algorithm performs well in conjunction with a Huffman coder for both ordered sources, such as pixel intensities, and categorical sources, such as vector quantized codebook indices.


Instability of the electrode/electrolyte interface is the bottleneck in the development of high-voltage lithium ion battery. The improvement in the interface stability is necessary for the commercialization of high-voltage lithium ion battery. The progress in the experimental and theoretical investigations on oxidative decomposition mechanism of electrolytes based on carbonates, new electrolytes and new film-forming additives for high voltage lithium ion battery is reviewed in this paper.


The settlement of Letter of credit is complicated by nature and is subject to the influence of specific lines of business, factors of economy as well as political and legal environment. Different legal agents or juristic actions are bound to affect the settlement. Hence, legal help might be sought and inevitably conflicts over legal application on Letter of credit related matters would be resulted.


The invention discloses an infrared crusty pancake baking device with trays conveyed circularly. A circular channel is arranged on the bottom surface of a circular tunnel kiln, a circular rail corresponding to the circular channel is arranged on a frame under the tunnel kiln, vertical supporting rods are uniformly distributed and fixedly connected on a circular conveying chain corresponding to the circular rail, the supporting rods are fit with the circular channel, the trays are fixedly connected to the supporting rods located in the tunnel kiln, rollers arranged at lower ends of the supporting rods located on the lower portion of the tunnel kiln are fit with the circular rail, electric heating tubes are respectively distributed above and below the trays in the tunnel kiln, transmission vertical shafts with conveying chain wheels are respectively arranged at corners of the circular rail, the conveying chain wheels are fit with the conveying chain, a driven chain wheel is mounted on one of the transmission vertical shafts, and a driving chain wheel drives the driven chain wheel through the chain. The infrared crusty pancake baking device is reasonable in structure and convenient to operate, capable of realizing continuous batch production of crusty pancakes with high production efficiency, has high heating efficiency as the baking temperature of the inside of the tunnel kiln can be adjusted, and further is environment friendly and sanitary.


GaAs/AlGaAs hetero-junction bipolar transistors (HBTs) have attracted much attention because of their high-speed performance. However, long-term operation seriously degrades the device characteristics: Current gain decreases and low-bias-leakage current increases. This degradation has long been an issue in GaAs-based devices operated under minority-carrier injection, like laser diodes. The cause of degradation is thought to be in the carbon (C) -doped base, but this is not yet certain. In this paper degradation of HBTs is described, especially GaAs/AlGaAs HBTs with heavily C-doped base layer. Here, two types of the device degradation are found, i.e., hydrogen (H) -related degradation and C-related degradation. The mechanisms governing the degradation are discussed from the frame work of recombination enhanced defect reaction (REDR) and charge state effect (CSE). To study the H-related defects and C-related defects effect on device degradation, we have chosen rather simple diodes instead of the HBTs, and measured the low-bias-leakage current: Our diode structure is p-GaAs: C (4 × 10 cm-)/n-AlGaAs: Si (2 × 10 cm-). H concentration in the C-doped layers was controlled by intentional H doping during MOVPE growth and by successive thermal annealing. Two states of H were found in the layer: H donors isolated from C (H) in addition to C-H complexes. C-related defects consentration in the C-doped layers was controlled by successive thermal annelaing. The annelaing temperatures were 530, 600, 700, and 750 ̊C, and the duration was 10 min. To degrade the devices, the diodes (80 × 80 μm) were forward-biased at a current density of 0.08 to 1.6 kA/cm for 1 to 1500 h at 200 ̊C. The leakage current of the diodes observed was similar to that of HBTs, which was monitored at a forward bias of 0.7 V at room temperature. First, we measured the dependence of leakage current on injection time for H-related defects. In the samples containing C-H complexes, leakage current increases with injection time. By contrast, in samples having C-H complexes evacuated by thermal annealing, no increase in leakage current is observed even after 1500 h. Diode currents without minority-carrier injection did not change. These results led us to conclude that C-H complexes induce increases in leakage current under minority-carrier injection. We next measured the leakage current dependence of injection current density, as shown in Fig. 1. It is clearly shown that the exponential decay is proportional to J. Thus, leakage current increase is dramatically dependent on injection current density. The J dependence can be explained by assuming that the decomposition of C-H complexes would be accomplished by two electron capturing, i.e., CSE. These results suggest that such defects formed by high-temperature annealing would also induce degradation in the GaAs-based devices under minority-carrier injection. To confirm this, we measured the injection time dependence of leakage current for the diodes annealed at 650 ̊C for 5 min. In this case, the hole concentration in the p-GaAs:C decreased from 7 × 10 to 6 × 10 cm-. We found that the leakage current increases with injection time, as shown in Fig. 2. Moreover, leakage current is proportional to injection current. The diode currents without minority-carrier injection did not change. This is an evidence that REDR occurs. These results lead us to conclude that the defects formed by high-temperature annealing induce the increase in the leakage current under minority-carrier injection. We infer that the current leakage occurs through the recombination centers formed by reactions CAs + Ci (2 Ci) and/or CAs + VAs (VAs CAs).


The changes occurring on the J. T. Curtis Prairie, an artificial prairie in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, were studied by means of four surveys spaced at 5—year intervals. Frequency data from more than 650 meter—square quadrats with known locations were obtained at each survey. Five stands, delimited on the basis of their compositional index (CI) as determined by indicator species, were compared with native prairies having similar CI values by means of species lists and sum frequency of the species. When prairie species only are considered, some artificially established stands are as similar to native stands as native stands is the presence of large numbers of non—prairie species. The artificial stands have much larger species lists and higher sum frequencies than native prairies. The results indicate that the Curtis Prairie is becoming very similar to native prairies in numbers and species of prairie plants, and that the non—prairie species are materially reduced in importance.


Accurate 3-D shape measurement has played an increasingly important role in various diverse industrial applications, such as manufacturing, robot vision etc. To achieve a low cost, compact 3D profiling system, a phase shifting scheme with a single MEMS scanner has been proposed and studied by some international colleagues. In this paper, we establish mathematical model for the 3D profiling system to reconstruct surface contour of the object. A data processing flow chart is designed, and the algorithm is developed correspondingly, in which some means to improve accuracy are also taken into consideration. Then, numerical simulation for the whole work process of the profiling system is performed according to the theoretical model. The simulation results are analyzed in detail to get the optimal parameters. In order to verify the feasibility of the scheme, we build an experimental setup and carry out a series of experiments. The results show that the RMSE is about 6% and the range resolution is about a few millimeters.


especially in the latter sections, but he adheres to a consistent pattern within each national picture: (1) the population problem; (2) agricultural development; and (3) modern industrial growth. The treatment of India seemed the most successful to this reviewer, as the section on Japan is weak in post-WW II development and data from Communist China do not seem reliable to the author. Thompson balances, in each case, the favorable against the unfavorable factors, usually concluding that the latter are predominant except in Burma, Thailand, and a few other areas with unused agricultural potential. The end of Japan's &dquo;windfall&dquo; profits of recent years; Peking's serious need for more food, combined with aggressive intent toward her neighbors; India's failure to reduce population growth; political unrest in Vietnam and Indonesia all these and many other gloomy signs lead the author


In this work an analytical and numerical analysis of the limiting behaviors of a system consisting of a pair of biological neurons was carried out. In this case connection between neurons will occur with a delay. As a neuron model, the FitzHugh-Nagumo model was chosen as a model that can reproduce many dynamic behaviors of a real neuron and, at the same time, is not very complex computationally.


Global value chains (GVC) take strong momentum in the last decade and generate a new configuration of the distribution of global production tasks. It also impacts on international trade and raises questions about bilateral and regional agreements and their relation with the World Trade Organization.Both companies and governments have opportunities and challenges to participate in these GVC, but it is also a strategy that involves risks.


Given a set S of red and blue points on the plane in general position, an island I(S, C) ⊆ S is the intersection of S and a convex region C. We study the problem of finding a maximal island according to certain criterium. For instance, a largest monochromatic island I(S, C) is a maximum cardinality subset of S, such that every point of I(S, C) belongs to the same chromatic class. An O(n)-time and O(n)-space algorithm is proposed to find one such subset. Our approach can be adapted to find monochromatic islands which maximize parameters such as the area, perimeter.


Such an interpretation permits no simplereply to the question of the success or failure of democratic government in modern France. &dquo;The Third Republic,&dquo; says Mr. Thomson, &dquo;is an almost unique example of extremely positive political forces working through a negative instrument. ... If the function of democratic government is to be a mirror or a photographic negative-reflecting or reproducing accurately the conflicts of social and political forces-the Republic worked well enough. If the function of democratic government is something more positive than this; if it be ... to act as a 'hinderer of hindrances' to national prosperity and security, it worked less well.&dquo; It failed to face the challenge of twentieth-century conditions until 1936, when the clock already stood at five 'minutes to twelve. &dquo;In an unstabilized society it provided insufficient corrective of stabilization in government, whilst it tolerated overmuch stabilization in social and economic affairs.&dquo; When he completed his book in January 1946, Mr. Thomson concluded on a cautiously optimistic note; he saw hopeful signs that the Fourth Republic might be able to remedy the defects of its predecessor while preserving its virtues. He also believed that &dquo;the spirit which tolerated a Press that was so often squalid and corrupt, politicians who were shabby and shady, branches of police and administration which were sordid and inefficient, is


The purpose of the study was to identify the concerns of hospitalized terminally ill patients, newly enrolled in a volunteer hospice program and to determine staff nurses', and volunteers' perceptions of the hospice volunteer role. The degree to which patients felt lonely, anxious, depressed, afraid of pain, and understood was determined using quantitative measures. Nurses' and hospice volunteers' perceptions of the volunteer role were assessed through a self-report questionnaire. The results indicated that loneliness and depression are major concerns among terminally ill patients. Anxiety and fear of pain were not reported as significant. Almost half of the patients identified a nurse as the person in hospital who understood best how they felt about being sick and in hospital. The manner in which volunteers used their time with patients seems congruent with the volunteer roles that both they and the nursing staff identified as most important. The findings provide a basis upon which to develop effective hospice programming and evaluation.


SUMMARY A multiplex PCR method was developed to identify simultaneously either single or multiple infections with members of the Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) complex. Several sets of species-specific primers, designed from sequenced genomes of TYLCV from the Mediterranean region (Sicily, Israel and Spain), were tested using plants infected with Egyptian and Tunisian isolates. The results show that this multiplex PCR is rapid, simple and a useful alternative to conventional tools such as PCR-RFLP or PCR-sequencing for typing virus isolates. Furthermore, this approach revealed evidence of recombination among Tunisian TYLCV genomes.


The effect of suspended sediment on the shape of near-bottom velocity profiles has been investigated theoretically and in the laboratory by a number of authors. However, because the resulting expressions for the profile are generally complicated, such effects are often neglected by engineers analysing measured profiles. We present here a criterion for the conditions of flow velocity and sediment grain-size under which it is permissible to neglect the sediment effects. Where it is not, an estimate of the resulting error in the friction velocity is given. A direct method is presented for obtaining the friction velocity (and hence bed shear-stress) from velocity profiles measured under mobile sediment conditions, which takes account of the suspended sediment effects.


The benefits of digitalisation for UK industry are numerous, but is the country ready to invest and position itself as a world-leader?


ISSN: 0141-9870 (Print) 1466-4356 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rers20 The fabric of indigeneity: Ainu identity, gender, and settler colonialism in Japan John Clammer To cite this article: John Clammer (2018) The fabric of indigeneity: Ainu identity, gender, and settler colonialism in Japan, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41:3, 577-578, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2017.1332382 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1332382


This paper aims to analyze, under the perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004), an opinion article on the participation of members of Brazilian soccer team in beer advertisements during the 2010 Soccer WorldCup. Within the context of ideational metafunction, we analyzed the transitivity system, and based on that we investigated the participants included in the discourse and their representations. In relation to the interpersonal metafunction, resources of modality were analyzedin the text. Seen as responsible for systematizing experiential and interpersonal meanings, the thematic structure, by which one performs the textual metafunction, is analyzed by mapping the types of sentence Themes. Key words: Systemic Functional Grammar, language metafunctions,lexicogrammar, opinion article.


Objective To investigate whether inhaled fludarabine has any therapeutic effects upon sendai virus infected mice.Methods 21 ICR mice were randomly divided into group A of controls,group B of mice infected with sendai virus and group C of mice infected with sendai virus and treated by inhaled fludarabine.7 days later,overall conditions,pulmonary pathological changes and signal transduction and activation of transcription 1(STAT1) expressions levels were evaluated.Results Sendai virus attack induced severe pulmonary inflammation and significant STAT1 declination both in protein and mRNA levels(P0.05);fludarabine inhalation also induced significant STAT1 declination(P0.05),but ameliorated sendai virus induced lung inflammation and improved overall conditions.Conclusions Fludarabine inhalation has therapeutic effects upon sendai virus infected mice.The mechanism may be explained by lymphocyte deactivation instead of STAT1 down-regulation.


Triple thin metal-film subwavelength gratings on both sides of a silicon substrate are fabricated for polarizers in the mid-infrared wavelength region of 10-20 μm. Measured TE-wave losses are higher than 30dB for the wavelength range, while the TM-wave losses are lower than 2.0dB in the wavelength range of 16.5-19.5μm.


This article explores patriarchal supremacist content in English secondary school Literature in postcolonial South Africa. In the course of colonization and Bantu Education, South African women, particularly Blacks were excluded in matters of education. They did not only endure racial, sexist, cultural, and other gendered-based atrocities in their societies and homes, they also suffered politically, economically, and intellectually. That made them more apprehensive than white women. For millennia black women, in particular, were treated as nurturers, caregivers and homemakers who were regarded as weak and dependent. Much of what secondary school literature, read in English classes, is written by males and follows a male protagonist. If women texts are involved, women are [were] portrayed differently from males, viewed as less capable or less significant. Although SA democratic constitution (Chapter 2) prescribed that everyone has a right to expression, in which everyone shares human rights, such as equality and freedom; black South African women still experience inequalities and lack of resourcefulness in the academic literary world. While women are the broad targets of myriad inadequacies and appalling atrocities in SA and have tried to raise their plights scholastically through literary writings and movements, they are deprived of chances to share these experiences in the literature that is scholastically acknowledged in secondary school Literature. As a result, this study examined the gender representation in English texts, read in SA secondary school Literature, regarding women representation in English first additional language (EFAL) Literature set-works in post-apartheid South Africa from 2009-2019 using a quantitative approach. Black Feminism Theory, which advocates equal representation of sexes, undergirds this study.


Currently the issues of latency in resource discovery is still being analyzed and verified. This paper offers a comparison of studies and solutions on the latency issues of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the resources discovery. The purpose is to review resources discovery in terms of how latency could be minimize or remove properly with different IoT solution. We compared and reviewed all latency related literature and solution of the IoT, categorizing all 32 research papers and related commercial results in two different comparison tables. Through this, we are able to provide a general view of the categories of latency, main objectives of the research, techniques, finding and solutions. It has also revealed any trends, gaps and opportunities for how the current IoT issues should be tackled when engaging with the IoT latency problems. Finally we hope this review can provides insight result for every IoT latency sources, suggesting suitable and relevance approaches that can be used to ensure a stable IoT resources discovery in future.


Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as an aerial base station is a promising technology to rapidly provide wireless connectivity to ground users. Given UAV's agility and mobility, a key question is how to adapt UAV deployment to the best cater to instantaneous wireless traffic in a territory. In this paper, we propose an adaptive deployment scheme for a UAV-aided communication network, where the UAV adapts its displacement direction and distance to serve randomly moving users' instantaneous traffic in the target cell. In our adaptive scheme, the UAV does not need to learn users' exact locations in real time, but chooses its displacement direction based on a simple majority rule by flying to the spatial sector with the greatest number of users in the cell. To balance the service qualities of the users in different sectors, we further optimize the UAV's displacement distance in the chosen sector to maximize the average throughput and the successful transmission probability, respectively. We prove that the optimal displacement distance for average throughput maximization decreases with the user density: the UAV moves to the center of the chosen sector when the user density is small and the UAV displacement becomes mild when the user density is large. In contrast, the optimal displacement distance for success probability maximization does not necessarily decrease with the user density and further depends on the target signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) threshold. The extensive simulations show that the proposed adaptive deployment scheme outperforms the traditional non-adaptive scheme, especially when the user density is not large.


Background: Lymphoma is considered to be the most common hematopoietic tumor in dogs (83%) having an overall cure rate of less than five percent. Although many chemotherapy protocols have been suggested, doxorubicin based combination protocols are widely associated with long disease free interval and improved duration of survival. Six dogs presented to Madras Veterinary College Teaching Hospital with clinical signs suggestive of lymphoma were taken up for this study. Methods: The dogs were subjected to detailed clinical examination and dermatological examination. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) samples were taken from the lymph nodes in cases of multicentric lymphoma and from cutaneous nodules in cases of cutaneous lymphoma. Tru-cut biopsy and impression smears were collected from the cutaneous nodules. The FNAC and impression smears revealed pleomorphic lymphocytes suggestive of lymphoma. Ultrasonographic examination of all dog revealed the enlargement of mesenteric lymph nodes and spotted appearance of spleen. Treatment with multi-agent chemotherapeutic protocol (University of Wisconsin - Madison, Lymphoma CHOP - 19 protocol) was initiated after confirmative diagnosis. Result: Remissions in clinical signs were noticed within a week of therapy and no evidence of peripheral lymph node enlargement could be appreciated after three weeks of therapy. The diagnostic and management plans were presented and discussed.


This talk summarizes the recent development in the evaluation of the leading order hadronic contributions to the running of the QED fine structure constant α(s), at s = M 2 Z , and to the anomalous magnetic moments of the muon (g − 2)µ. The accuracy of the theoretical prediction of these observables is limited by the uncertainties on the hadronic contributions. Significant improvement has been achieved in a series of new analyses which is presented historically in three steps: (I), use of τ spectral functions in addition to e + e − cross sections, (II), extended use of perturbative QCD and (III), application of QCD sum rule techniques.


Although the present study is mainly focused on the physical theories of comets, its results will be relevant to studies in the history of geology, planetary science, and astrology. On the other hand, those results may initiate new studies about educational practices for physics and astronomy in post-Newtonian Europe, the ways that different parts of Newton's physical, astronomical and cosmological ideas evolved after him, and the influence of cometary studies on the foundation of astrophysics.


The space group of the title crystal is Pnam. The unit cell parameters are: a =17.226(4), b =14.306(7), c =15.074(4); z =4, Dobs=2.03g·cm -3 , D calc =2.063g·cm -3 . The crystal structure was solved by the heavy atom method and refined by the full-matrix least-squares until the final conventional discrepancy factor was reduced to 0.068. The results of the investigation show that the crystal consists of trinuclear Mo cluster anions [Mo 3 (μ 3 -S)(μ 2 -S 2 ) 3 Cl_7] -3 together with planar (C 5 H 7 S 2 ) + monocations, surrounding the cluster anions. In the cluster anion three Mo atoms, forming a nearly equilateral triangle (2.755(1), 2.755(1), 2.743(1)), are bound by a μ 3 -S bridging atom, while each pair of Mo atoms is bridged further by a μ 2 -S 2 ligand. Besides, each Mo atom is coordinated to two terminal Cl atoms, so that the coordination sphere of each Mo atom approaches closely a pentagonal bipyramid. In addition, a single Gl atom, not at all involved in the coordination spheres of the three Mo atoms, is located on top of the three μ 2 -S 2 ligands and bound to a considerable extent to the three S atoms, each belonging to an S 2 ligand. Therefore, the cluster anion as a whole possesses an idealized C 3v symmetry. A simplified quantumchemical treatment has been carried out for the Mo-Mo bonds existing in the cluster anion and the elucidation of the diamagnetism of the cluster compound.


INTRODUCTION: Multichannel measurements of cardiac signals contribute to more detailed knowledge about the cardiac electric Held [4]. Analysis and topographic Pr sentation of this Information can be a valuable tool for nonivasive diagnostics of the heart state [3]. Technology of personal Computers brings new possibilities to cardiac electric field studies. Detailed Information about myocardium activation obtained form the torso surface by mapping techniques can be compared with simulated data where models of heart activation are used in forward and inverse compulations, A personal Computer based flexible measuring and processing System CardioPC was developed to enable the use of mapping techniques in electrophysiological and clinical studies. Its hardware and Software enables recording and processing of heart electrograms or surface ecg signals. Body surface potential mapping, integral mapping or departure integral mapping is possible from a 24-lead system [1] and two 32-lead Systems [3, 5]. Using additional Software, forward Simulation of body surface potential maps (BSPMs) or potentials on an arbitrary surface within the torso is possible using the boundary element method. The myocardium depolarization spreading through the cardiac muscle can be approximated by a multidipole, uniform dipole layer or by multipole model. Estimation of the model parameters from BSPMs by an inverse solution could contribute to the ability of nonivasive localization of cardiac electrical events and identification of the electrical disturbances of the myocardium activation. Multipole equivalent generator is a superposition of multipole sources. The basic problem is to make some transition from multipolar series s an theoretical characteristic to another more physiological representation [3] of the heart excitation process.


Disclosed is a method for electrical contacts for making contact surfaces, wherein a metal is deposited by electroplating method on a copper-based substrate. The metal is deposited together with a readily leachable metal from the spacer material on the substrate, then the spacer material is dissolved out of the metal layer and the remaining porous metal foam impregnated with a lubricant.


The synthesis and characterization of 4,6-benzyliden-2,3-(ferrocene-1,1′-dicarbonyl)-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranoside, 2,3-(ferrocene-1,1′-dicarbonyl)-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranoside and 4,6 : 2,3-bis(ferrocene-1,1′-dicarbonyl)-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranoside are reported. In addition the cytostatic activity of 2,3-(ferrocene-1,1′-dicarbonyl)-O-methyl-α-D-glucopyranoside has been assayed.


Physical measures, which are useful for evaluating small enclosures such as studios and car cabins, are examined. Especially, auditory filtering using Zwicker's loudness model is introduced for calculating the measures. Most current measures used in evaluating the large sound field such as concert halls are based on measured or calculated impulse responses. Instead, the music signals of some genres are used in this study. Using the auditory model, the amount of information can be reduced, even when complicated signals are used as stimuli: the signals are convertible to information in 25‐bark bands. Correspondence of such physical quantities and subjective judgments are considered from the viewpoint of sound‐field similarity. Subjects are asked to judge the similarity of two successive sounds whose frequency characteristics are modified artificially using the equalizer. The analysis results obtained using the auditory filter were compared with the subjective evaluation. Results indicate that analysis using...


Two methods, one algebraic and one geometric, are given to determine the autotopism group of the commutative Dickson semifield, completing a result of Sandler. The collineation stabilizer subgroup of the embedded Ganley unital is exhibited as a semidirect product whose factor groups are semidirect products of abelian groups.


The invention discloses an automotive air purification ceramic ball and relates to the technical field of ceramic manufacture, in particular to a ceramic ball which is capable of emitting negative oxygen ions and far infrared rays. The ceramic ball is characterized by including 30% of hexacyclic stone, 25% of tourmaline, 8 to 11% of zeolite, 6 to 8% of rectorite, 3 to 6% of clay, 6 to 9% of mussite, 5 to 8% of diatomite, 3 to 5% of feldspar and 3 to 7% of quartz. The ceramic ball is a brownish red sphere with fai ranging from 2 to 2.5mm in appearance, has the functions of providing negative oxygen ions to eliminate air pollution and far infrared rays for antibacteria and sterilization, dehumidification and smell removal and maintaining automotive air freshness constantly all day and mainly serves as an automotive cushion and back cushion filler.


The Chinese Communist Party has brought forward a new target of building up a harmonious society.It is a significant task for the whole society to strive for the goal.Dongguan is no exception,definitely.The citizens' favorable humanistic qualities play a very important role in the process,for they are a strong foundation of establishing a harmonious Dongguan.However,judging from the present situation,there is still a long way to go! Therefore,we should take actions according to the fact to explore an approach and method to change the present situation in our practice.Only in this way can we improve the citizens' humanistic qualities for laying a strong foundation of a harmonious Dongguan.


Gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). Of the known receptors for GABA, the pentameric GABAA receptor appears to mediate fast GABA neurotransmission in the CNS. A number of different GABAA receptor subunits have been described to date, including α1-6, β1-3, γ1-2, and δ, with the specific functionality of any one receptor dictated by the combination of subunits. Although much is known about the pattern of GABAA subunit expression across the adult brain, the pattern of such expression during the critical developmental period of adolescence, which is a time of rapid neurobiological, hormonal, and behavioral change, remains largely unknown. GABAA receptor systems play a key role in normal neural, hormonal, and behavioral function, warranting a basic understanding of adolescent-specific alterations in the pattern of subunit expression. The current project focuses on determining the pattern of mRNA expression of GABAA receptor subunits in early adolescent (postnatal day 30) versus adult (postnatal day 65) mice. The prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, midbrain, amygdala and cerebellum were harvested at these two ages; thus far the midbrain has been the focus due to the presence of the ventral tegmental area and its well-known role in motivation, reward and drug addiction. Midbrain tissue was processed for determination of GABAA receptor subunit mRNA expression using RT-PCR. We predict that early adolescence will be associated with a unique pattern of GABAA receptor subunit expression, suggesting an important role for GABAA receptors in the neurobiological, hormonal, and behavioral profile of this developmental period in mice. Preliminary findings indicate an increase in GABAA delta subunit expression in the adult midbrain.


ARTICLE INFO Conveyor systems are commonly used in many industries, including the automotive, agricultural, computer, electronic, food processing, aerospace, pharmaceutical, chemical, bottling and canning, print finishing and packaging. Although a wide variety of materials can be conveyed, some of the most common include food items such as beans and nuts, bottles and cans, automotive components, scrap metal, pills and powders, wood and furniture and grain and animal feed. Many factors are important in the accurate selection of a conveyor system. The aim of this project is to redesign existing gravity roller conveyor system by designing the critical parts (Roller, Shaft, Bearing & Frame), to minimize the overall weight of the assembly and to save considerable amount of material.As the roller conveyors are not generally subjected to complex state of stress they can be designed by providing higher factor of safety it leads to unnecessarily increase in material cost. This can be reduced effectively by separately designing conveyor part and testing whole assembly for mode shape analysis for critical parts. Gravity roller conveyor has to convey 200 kg load, 812 mm above ground. Keywords— Conveyor, Mode shape analysis, Redesign, Reduction Article History Received :18 th November 2015 Received in revised form :


Introduction: Symptoms and signs in women with Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease type 1X (CMT1X) are often milder from those in men, but the available electrophysiologic evidence regarding CMT1X in women has been characterized in some patients as non‐uniform or asymmetric. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed electrodiagnostic findings from 45 women and 31 men with CMT1X. Results: Motor nerve conduction parameters in CMT1X women were less abnormal (P < 0.05), and a wider range of motor conduction velocities (CVs) were seen in women (P < 0.001) compared with men. In women, nerve conduction studies showed lack of conduction block without temporal dispersion. Motor CVs were more frequently in the normal range in women compared with men. There was no significant relationship to age of presentation and motor CV or compound muscle action potential in women. Conclusion: NCS parameters in CMT1X women did not demonstrate features suggestive of an acquired demyelinating neuropathy. Muscle Nerve, 2016 Muscle Nerve 54: –, 2016 Muscle Nerve 54: 728–732, 2016


PROFESSOR Rostow has, recently, advanced a number of propositions such as "stages of economic growth, "take-off', 'selfsustained growth, and 'leading sectors' which are of great significance both for 'growth economics as well as for practical tasks of economic development confronting the underdeveloped countries. These ideas are being widely debated among economists all over the world. It is essential that these ideas be examined in details and subjected to an objective historical empirical testing. Professor Rostow's Approach Prof. Rostow's main complaint and criticism against many of the modern growth economists is that they bypass the central problem of any theory of economic growth, viz., the search for determinants of the level and productivity of investment and for this, he points out, a historical approach is necessary.1 Prof. Rostow, however, in his theory of economic growth by stages2 does not bring the whole span of economic evolution of human society under the purview of his study. He makes the pre-industrial phase as his starting point and characterises the whole period prior to industrial society as "traditional' or 'stagnant.' This seriously reduces the value of his theory as an historical explanation of the process of economic growth, as he covers a shorter span of time for his study starting from the middle of the eighteenth century in England and correspondingly a few decades prior to factory-type transformation in other countries. The history of economic growth would make out a different picture if one studies the world as a whole ; also, if one brings a longer period under study, say, the capitalism from about 1000 A.D. onwards.3


Throughout this paper we put {a} = a [a], eznio = e(a) (where a is real) and e* = exp(z). The terms c, c,, cz ,..., denote positive absolute constants. For n = 1, 2,..., we write 2n ( 1 n = WO>2 s(n) (s(n), s(n) are integers, Mq(n)>l = 11, so that (s(n))'1 (:) and (",")/(s(n))' is squarefree. It is a well-known conjecture that for n > 4, s(n) > 1, (1) i.e., (2,") cannot be squarefree; see 11, p. 711, see also [2]. (If this is true then it can be applied in the group theory.) The goal of this paper is to show that for large n, (1) holds. In fact, we will determine also the asymptotics for the square part of ( p ). THEOREM. If E > 0, n > no(e) then we have exp((c E) n '12) < (s(n))2 < exp((c + s) n l'*) where c= 2'/2 ? ((2& 1)-'/*-(2/q-'/*) &=I (> 0). (2)


Magnetic resonant coupling is more efficient than radiative transfer to transfer power wirelessly over a medium distance. Current implementation of magnetic resonant coupling, however, requires paired source and receiver antennas in exactly matched positions. We present an open-ended resonant coupling system with multiple orthogonal receivers or source antennas to solve the resonant frequency splitting issues that arise in multiple receiver applications and maintain a relative high efficiency. It is shown in the system that power is received by the receiver working around a magnetic resonance frequency, which is in different directions to the source coils. Better transfer efficiencies are observed for orthogonal source coils compared with inductive coupling as well as magnetic resonant coupling with paired single receiver and source antennas.


The present article reports our use of a balloon catheter for dilation of esophageal stricture in three cases of postoperative esophageal anastomotic stricture. Case 1 was a patient with esophageal carcinoma who underwent esophagogastrostomy, followed by postoperative severe anastomotic stricture with axis deviation in which the length of the stricture was long, resulting in dilation by balloon catheter in combination with endoscopic laser incision. Case 2 was a patient with esophageal carcinoma who underwent esophagogastrostomy. A moderate ring-like stricture, in which the length of the stricture was short without axis deviation, occurred postoperatively, resulting in dilation by balloon catheter alone. Case 3 was a patient with carcinoma of the larynx who underwent total laryngectomy, followed by esophageal reconstruction by means of a skinroll. After surgery, anastomotic stricture occurred, resulting in dilation by balloon catheter in combination with mercury bougie. Balloon catheter is safe and easy to insert and has the advantage of facilitating a definite setting in the area of the stricture. However, while it is difficult to bring about satisfactory dilation of severe cicatrricial stricture by balloon catheter alone, its combination with laser incision or other methods seems to yield more effective dilation. For light or moderate stricture, balloon catheter was the first choice and was thought to bring about satisfactory results.


A practical implementation of acoustic reflectometry for determining airway areas in routine clinical use is described. Advances over previous systems include portability, free breathing during measurements, no need to equilibrate with helium/oxygen, and real-time display of airway areas. Validation of the reflectometer with an airway model gave accuracies and reproducibilities (coefficient of variation (CV)) in the range 5-10%. With human volunteers, the within-run CV was typically 10%, and the day-to-day CV was 20%. The effect of breathing pattern on airway areas is demonstrated. In ten normal volunteers, acoustic and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods of assessing pharyngeal and glottal areas were compared. The results (mean+or-SD) for the oropharynx were 1.0+or-0.3 cm2 acoustically and 0.9+or-0.5 cm2 by MRI (p=0.77). The corresponding figures for glottal areas were 1.3+or-0.3 cm2 and 1.1+or-0.4 cm2 (p=0.09).


cohesive gels from hyaluronan and / or hylan cross-linked, their preparation and use. The present invention relates to highly cohesive and resilient feis formed by crosslinking hyaluronan or hylan, salts or derivatives thereof, using divinyl sulfone (DVS) as the crosslinking agent. the invention also refers to fluids containing viscoelaticos alkyl sulfone groups bonded covalently to the polymer backbone formed by monofuncionalizacao crosslinking monomer DVS with hyaluronan and / or hylan. the mechanical properties such as hardness and cohesiveness are specified by the rheological properties of the gels. the invention also relates to methods for preparing such products. they have use in many applications such as injectable and / or implantable devices and as drug delivery systems.


Website design is a crucial element to instantly evoke a customer's interest and communicate the desired message in the clutter of internet sites available. Various research to date indicates that design is most successful when it projects considerable social presence, social presence being the impression that an individual is a part of a communication process. According to Social Presence Theory, the larger the social presence in the medium the better the human connection, and thus the better the communication and understanding. This was tested on an actual web page in the realm of luxury hospitality marketing to see if by using lifestyle images (socially-rich content) as a large part of the design, the potential visitors would find the site more favorable and understand what the website offers. Using travelers of a very similar profile to the company' guests as respondents, and using mixed methods approach, the survey revealed that respondents preferred the image with human presence over the one without, while content analysis and coding indicated that they could more clearly identified what was the website's offering.


Within a theoretical framework drawn from Bourdieu, this article explores the relationship between undergraduate students' experiences of music in higher education and their musical backgrounds and prior music education experiences. More critically, this study aims to discover whether ideologies surrounding musical value impact on the student experience in higher education. A survey of undergraduate students of music (N=60) at a higher education music department in the Republic of Ireland was conducted. Preliminary data suggest that students' musical habitus and cultural capital impact on their experience of music within the field of higher education. Implications of findings from this study suggest a reappraisal of curricula and assessment at secondary level and of musical value and curriculum content in Irish higher education.


A hybrid optical integrator is a recirculating loop that performs oversampling typically for an analog input using the crossgain modulation (XGM) in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The modulated input signal changes the gain of the loop through XGM and thus modifies the loop accumulation. This paper presents hybrid optical integrator for an all-optical analog-to-digital converter based on silicon photonics platform. The device consists of silicon waveguides of dimension 220 × 500 nm (thick × width) and approximately 2,800 μm total loop length, input and output grating couplers for 1550 nm signal, directional couplers, and external components (SOA, optical isolator and band-pass filter). All devices are designed for fabrication on the SOI wafer using E-Beam lithography. A theoretical model for the system is developed and simulated with Lumerical software and Matlab that accounts for critical design parameters such as the loop length, coupling coefficient, and gain in the SOA. The 3-dB couplers were designed and loop length was minimized to reduce the propagation loss through the silicon waveguide and increase the sampling frequency. From the simulation, total loss of silicon photonics device at one round trip is approximately 27 dB. The system is characterized for square waves at Giga- Hertz input frequencies. Simulation results show excellent agreement with the theoretical model of leaky integrator. The operation frequency of the integrator can be increased from MHz up to GHz by replacing fiber cable to silicon waveguide, leading to a free-spectral range of approximately 4.17 GHz.


The ice formation on the leading edge of aircraft wings is a crucial problem for aircraft flight. In this work, an efficient method for the anti/de-icing function based on the development of electro-conductive film heaters is prosed. A green solvent casting process is employed in the experimental procedure adopted for the film preparation. Two kinds of expanded graphite have been used. The different morphological feature of the two expanded graphites affects the heating performance of the films heaters. The film prepared using the nanoparticles with a higher aspect ratio manifests better electrical and heating performance, and therefore the de-icing activation at a lower applied voltage.


Biological studies dealing with molecular data use fresh specimens by preference, but in taxonomy molecular data must sometimes be obtained from herbarium material, particularly for type material or for rare taxa not collected recently. Whereas modern taxonomic studies use genotype data from rather recent samples for confirmation of phenotype-based taxa, the names of such taxa may be based on old type specimens whose genotype has not been investigated. We decided to attempt to sequence old herbarium samples in order to solve some nomenclatural problems in modern taxonomy. DNA degrades gradually over time, so amplifying DNA from old specimens is difficult. Fragmentation is one of the main degradation processes but rather short DNA regions may be successfully PCR-amplified and sequenced even from old material (e.g., Ubaldi et al. 1998). Old and fossil DNA may be well-preserved in materials such as amber (DeSalle et al. 1992; Cano & Borucki 1995), and also sometimes in herbarium specimens (Rogers & Bendich 1985). The oldest successfully sequenced herbarium specimen dates from more than 200 years ago and is from a collection of the vascular plant Phaulopsis talbotii S. Moore (Andreasen et al. 2009). Successful PCR amplification of a 100 year-old specimen of the liverwort Bazzania trilobata (L.) Gray is a record for bryophytes ( Jankowiak et al. 2005). Sequences have also been obtained from very old herbarium samples of some plant pathogens from Stramenopila: May & Ristaino (2004) succeeded with 159 year-old Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, and Telle & Thines (2008) with a 129 year-old oomycete. In lichen-forming fungi herbarium specimens up to 35 years old have been used routinely for successful DNA extraction (Grube et al. 1995). Recently, Sohrabi et al. (2010) successfully sequenced ITS regions from a 75 year-old herbarium specimen of Aspicilia aschabadensis ( J. Steiner) Mereschk., previously the record for old lichen specimens. In our study, we assess PCR amplification and sequencing of ITS regions (rDNA) from herbarium samples of lichens up to 151 years old; a collection from 1859 sequenced in 2010. The 151 year-old, successfully sequenced lichen mycobiont is a record not only for lichen-forming but for all fungi.