In the United States, the electoral system for determining the president is controversial and sometimes confusing to voters keeping track of election outcomes. Instead of directly counting votes to decide the winner of a presidential election, individual states send a representative number of electors to the Electoral College, and they are trusted to cast their collective vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in their state. Forty-eight states and Washington, DC, employ the winner-takes-all method, each awarding its electors as a single bloc. Maine and Nebraska select one elector within each congressional district by popular vote and the remaining two electors by the aggregate, statewide popular vote. Due to this all-or-nothing outcome, the winner of the popular vote will not always be the candidate who wins the most electoral votes—such as in the 2000 election. There are numerous critics of the current system who point out how its weaknesses are exacerbated by the naturally uneven spread of the country's population across the 50 states and that every state—no matter how sparsely populated—is guaranteed to have at least three electoral votes out of the total 538. Two of the votes correspond to two congressional senators that represent each state, independent of the state population. Under the current rules, the value of a vote differs from state to state. A large state such as California has an immense effect on the national election, but, compared to a sparsely populated state such as Alaska, is grossly under-represented in the U.S. senate, where all senators have an equal vote. Arnold Barnett and Edward Kaplan, in their 2007 CHANCE article, "A Cure for the Electoral College?" called the Electoral College "the funhouse mirror of American politics" and suggested a weighted voting system that would mitigate the problem caused by the present winner-take-all rule.


The main role of wireless sensor networks (WSN) is to collect sensor environmental data from monitored area. Due to faults or malicious nodes, sensor data collected or reported might be wrong. Hence it is important to detect the presence of wrong sensor readings and misleading reports [18]. In this paper, we present a formal model using Time Petri Net to formally evaluate a proposed solution for detecting wormhole attack in CL-MAC, a cross-layer MAC protocol developed at MAC layer for energy efficient and low latency in WSN [3] [7]. Lunching wormhole attack in CL-MAC can cause the protocol invalid in some scenarios. Wormhole attack in CL-MAC is discussed, and a formal approach based on Time Petri Net (TPN) to detect wormhole attack is presented. TiNA (Time Net Analyzer) TPN tool is used to highlight the formal properties of the proposed solution. The obtained analytical results show that the secured version of CL-MAC can effectively detect and avoid wormhole attack, and make more sensor nodes perform a valid behavior.


We report on the youngest known patient with a pulmonary carcinoid, a rare tumor in children. We review the management of and prognosis for this tumor. Diagnosis can be delayed because of low clinical suspicion and the many ways in which these tumors can present. Treatment is surgical and geared towards complete resection while sparing healthy lung parenchyma. Prognosis is generally good, but careful long‐term follow‐up is needed for potential recurrences or associated tumors. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2003; 35:318–322. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Probiotics is beneficial to human body.It contains physiologically activated bacteria or death cells(including metabolic products and cell composition),Along with further investigations,a great many limitations exsting in live microbials are found while inactivated probiotics have more advantages.There are plenty of inactivation methods including hot deactivation,γ-ray deactivation,UV deactivation and acid deactivation.Combining recent results of researches on inactivate probiotics,we drew the conclusion that inactivate probiotics are effective in strengthering immunity increasing antitumor ability,inhibiting pathogenic microorganisms,absorbing harmful substance,relieving allergic symptoms,adjusting intestinal bacteria group,preventing tooth decay,reducing serum cholesterol etc.Now inactivate probiotics have been widely used in food,medicine and public health,feed and many other fields.


In 1838 McGill College planned its Chemical Apparatus room; it could have been one small step for science but unfortunately the room was never built. The first science subject taught at McGill was meteorology, introduced in 1833 and entrenched when Smallwood built his observatory in 1846. In 1843 there was an expectation that the Arts Faculty would replace the Medical Faculty in teaching chemistry to medical students, but this did not occur. Nevertheless, Chemistry earned a high profile when in 1846 Thomas Christie won the Chemistry Prize in Medicine.


A quandle is an algebraic system which excels at describing limited symmetries of a space. We introduce the concept of Schl\"{a}fli quandles which are defined relating to chosen rotational symmetries of regular tessellations. On the other hand, quandles have a good chemistry with knot theory. Associated with a knot we have its knot quandle. We show that the knot quandle of the $m$-twist-spun trefoil is a central extension of the Schl\"{a}fli quandle related to the regular tessellation $\{ 3, m \}$ in the sense of the Schl\"{a}fli symbol if $m \geq 3$.


The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model (GCM) is used to study the possible implications of past and future climate change on global lightning frequencies. Two climate change experiments were conducted: one for a 2×CO 2 climate (representing a 4.2°C global warming) and one for a 2% decrease in the solar constant (representing a 5.9°C global cooling). The results suggest a 30% increase in global lightning activity for the warmer climate and a 24% decrease in global lightning activity for the colder climate. This implies an approximate 5-6% change in global lightning frequencies for every 1°C global warming/cooling


A method of operating a coordinate positioning apparatus comprises an articulated head, said head having at least one hinge axis of rotation. Said method comprising in any suitable order: at least one interchangeable module is loaded into the task articulating head; and at least one counterweight interchangeable task module loaded to the hinge head. The at least one interchangeable task module counterweight articulating the head of at least partially surrounding the at least one task module by weight of said at least one axis.


Capsule Birds preferred stands with a particular density of trees, perhaps to avoid predation, and they selected aspects sheltered from prevailing winds. Aim To describe the nesting habitat and tree selection by crossbills in a restricted pinewood habitat in Scotland. Methods Scots Pines used by nesting crossbills were described and compared with randomly selected pines. Nest aspect was related to wind strength and direction. Results The crossbills selected trees at a density of 50–60 trees/ha. Such stands may be sufficiently dense to provide cover, yet occur at a low enough density to minimize being visited by potential arboreal predators, such as Red Squirrels and Pine Martens. Crossbills tended to nest on lateral branches on the northeast side of crowns. Tree crown development was not asymmetric, so the birds may choose the northeast side to shelter from the prevailing southerly to westerly winds. Conclusion Stands of pines at a low density need to be maintained for the benefit of crossbills.


South African companies are generally labour intensive, especially confectionery companies specialising in handmade products. Labour resources are not effectively and efficiently utilised because of inappropriate facility layout and lack of Lean, JIT and OPT principles, in some cases. This study highlights how a facility layout can be improved for a confectionery company so as to improve labour utilisation. Optimised Production Techniques (OPT), Lean and other production management methods are used to improve the facility layout by improving product flow and eliminating common waste that occur in manufacturing plants. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, time studies, observations on the facility floor, interviews with Subject Matter Experts (SME), production managers, shop-floor personnel and historic data in company reports were used to generate the information required in measuring the labour utilisation for an existing facility. A labour performance standard is identified and evaluations are made with respect to the degree of this performance standard. Line balancing is applied on product line(s) contributing most to revenue in alignment with marketing strategies. Using a Western Cape Province confectionery company as a case study, the current facility layout and its labour utilisation are compared to an improved-alternative plant layout. Line balancing alternatives are modelled with discreet event simulation software to effectively evaluate them, and present recommendations.


Changes of the contents of Leu-enkephalin like and Met-enkephalin like immunoreactive substance (LEK ir and MEK ir) in the rat's brain were studied after the rats were injected the cobrotoxin(NT)for 7 days; the effects of NT on the contractions of guinea pig ileum and mouse vas deferens induced by electrical stimulation were also investigated in order to explore the analgesic mechanism of NT, 35 rats were divided into a control group and a NT group. The rats were im normal saline and NT, respectively, for 7 days. The contents of MEK ir and LEK ir in the hypo-thalamus, striatum, midbrain+tha-lamus, hippocampus and hindbrain were measured by radioimmunoassay. The result showed that the contents of both MEK ir and LEK ir in the hypothalamus and midbrain + thala-mus of NT group were significantly higher (p0.05) than control group, no obvious changes of those contents were noted in the hippocampus and hindbrain of NT group. Both contractions of guinea pig ileum andmouse vas deferens were markedly suppressed by morphine in low concentration. Such effects were not interfered by NT, but could be completely antagonized by naloxone.These results suggested that NT did not directly interact with morphine receptors; but the analgesic mechanism of NT might be involved with the endogenous opioid pepti-dergic systems in central nervous system.


Migraine is a highly prevalent disorder (15.1% worldwide), afflicting up to 3 times more females in the middle ages than men. In most subjects, migraine attacks are sporadic; however, some individuals experience a gradual increase in frequency over time, and up to 1‐2% develop chronic migraine. Although migraine has been known for centuries, the mechanisms still largely remain unknown; two principal sites of origin are still in play: (i) intracranial vasculature and (ii) the origin in central regions such as hypothalamus, with both being suggested to activate the trigeminal vascular system. We share here our views on the pathophysiology of migraine and suggest that it starts in the CNS and involves the brainstem and finally the trigeminovascular system to complete the attacks. The recently developed monoclonal antibodies toward the neuropeptide calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP) and its receptor provide key support for this line of events and are supported by preclinical experiments. The purpose of this review is to discuss our neuroscience perspective on migraine pathophysiology and putatively to serve as stimulus for future in‐depth studies.


Dry granular flows are an important paradigm for a large number of problems, from industrial applications to geophysical events. Most of the research published has
studied inclined granular flows over bumpy and at rigid base, while only few of them have been focused on fully developed steady flows over an erodible beds. This kind of flows are important to understand the dynamics of complex phenomena such as dense snow-avalanches and landslides, whose rheology is still ambiguous and not well defined. In this thesis, we focus on the following three aspects: (1) dynamics of uniform flows over loose bed, where the condition of uniformity and steadiness has accurately checked, (2) the influence of collisional parameters on the behavior of the flow, (3) the side-wall effect. Experimental investigations were carried out in laboratory through imaging techniques and direct methods to analyze the stresses exerted by the flow. The thesis contributes with accurate measurements of the mean velocity, solid concentration, and granular temperature pro files obtained along the depth and the free surface of the flow. Considerations have been derived in comparison to the existing data, pointing out the importance of collisional parameters and the conditions for uniform and steady flows. Experimental evaluation of the stresses was carried out at the side-walls of the channelized granular flows by the means of new device developed in the laboratory and tested for different con figurations of the flow.


An object of the present invention, haze is good, long-term less bleeding even after storage, optical film deformation failure of film raw such as horseback failure or convex failure does not occur, a method of manufacturing an optical film, it a polarizing plate using, and to provide a liquid crystal display device using the polarizing plate. The following general formula (1) compound polymer compound derived from the represented by was accomplished by an optical film characterized in that it contains at least one. [Formula 1] Wherein, R Provided that at least one of the groups represented by R ]


This article presents an overview of the general characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of international adjudication, including arbitration and judicial settlement. The article first questions whether adjudication is necessary for effective legal order, noting that: (1) even in national legal systems most disputes are settled, if at all, in other ways than by formal court decision; (2) national legal systems may, in any case, not be an appropriate model for the international legal order; and (3) the character of international tribunals is, in any event, very different from that of national legal systems.The article then suggests some advantages and disadvantages of international adjudication as compared with other dispute-settlement techniques. Some possible advantages of adjudication are that it is (1) positive; (2) impartial; (3) principled; (4) authoritative; (5) impersonal; (6) serious; (7) orderly; (8) may reduce tensions and buy time; (9) precedential and may help develop law; (10) system reinforcing. Some possible disadvantages of adjudication are that it: (1) involves the chance of losing; (2) is unpredictable; (3) may not be impartial; (4) involves imposed settlement; (5) may involve illusory or superficial settlement; (6) is adversarial and potentially escalating; (7) may freeze the dispute and the parties' options; (8) is inflexible; (9) is conservative; (10) may be inconvenient and costly; (11) may be too precedential; (12) may be ineffective; and (13) may be used for propaganda or harassment purposes.The article concludes with a discussion of some advantages and disadvantages of adjudication by a permanent court in contrast to ad hoc arbitrators, of the role of international adjudication in international governance, and of U.S. policy concerning the role of the International Court of Justice and other international adjudicatory tribunals, suggesting reasons why the U.S. should support the Court and a strengthened role for international adjudication.This article is reprinted in M.E. O'Connell, INTERNATIONAL DISPUTE SETTLEMENT (Ashgate/Dartmouth 2003), Chpt. I (Library of Essays in International Law). A companion article by the author in "an Overview of International Dispute Settlement" appears in the Emory Journal of International Dispute Settlement, Vol. 1, No.1, (Fall 1986), pp. 1-32.


With the global impact of Covid-19, the year 2020 has been transformative for all the Education, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Information Technology and other commercial working sectors. Education sector has also been affected in terms of teaching-learning practices, assessment and evaluation aspects. Many traditional pedagogies have been altered and teaching-learning processes have been made flexible keeping in mind the students' convenience. It requires the physical presence of both teacher and student, with some elements of student control over time, place, path, or pace. While students still attend "brick-and mortar" schools with a teacher present, face-to-face classroom practices are combined with computer-mediated activities regarding content and delivery. Blended learning has been found an effective approach to deliver best teaching practices and utilize maximum potential of students. It is an innovative approach which embraces the advantages of both traditional classroom teaching and ICT supported learning including online and offline learning. The purpose of the research is to explore the possibilities of effective implementation of blended learning in primary school education. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on primary school teachers. The responses were analyzed through thematic content analysis. The blended learning practices have been found very effective to use in teaching and also to enhance students' interests and curiosity in learning the subject. Teachers posited that the online and offline – both teaching practices in a balanced way, are essential if the curriculum is well designed, keeping in mind the available resources and limitations.


Our national defense education has a long history.And modern defense education plays a successive role for traditional national defense education developing into contemporary national defense education.From the perspective of the national defense education towards ordinary people,this paper analyzes the development of national defense education from the traditional pattern to the modern;concludes the significant experiences;indicates the inspiration of modern national defense education towards contemporary national defense education.


Many journeys in urban environments are short and could be conveniently carried out on foot or by bike. However, a lot of people use public transport or cars for short journeys and this places pressure on urban transport infrastructures. Motivating people to change their transport habits is a wicked problem and challenging to address. We outline our current approach that involves a long term study of Fitbit users to identify the 'bright spots': the factors that enable some people to successfully change their transportation habits in the long term.


In taking a review of the present state of chemistry;—of the numerous compounds that have been discovered within a very limited period, and of which many have as yet been but partially or imperfectly examined;—of the results, often discordant, which analysts have obtained;—and of the opposite theoretic views which are prevalent,—it is difficult to avoid suspecting the propriety of opinions that have been thought to rest on the sure basis of correct observation, or doubting the accuracy of analyses conducted by chemists of the highest reputation. The era of brilliant discovery in chemistry appears to have terminated for the present. The time is arrived for reviewing our stock of information, and submitting the principal facts and fundamental doctrines of the science to the severest scrutiny. The activity of chemists should now, I conceive, be especially employed, not so much in searching for new compounds or new elements, as in examining those already discovered; in ascertaining with the greatest possible care the exact ratio in which the elements of compounds are united; in correcting the erroneous statements to which inaccurate observation has given rise; and exposing the fallacy of opinions which partial experience or false facts have produced. Considerable as is the labour and difficulty of such researches, they will eventually prove of great importance to chemical science by supplying correct materials for reasoning; and will sometimes, even in the most familiar parts of analytical chemistry, lead to the detection of errors that had escaped notice, and which vitiate many analyses previously regarded without suspicion. An instance of this kind I shall have occasion to notice in the present communication. The foregoing reflections have been more immediately elicited by circumstances connected with Dr. Thomson's "First Principles of Chemistry." The celebrated author of that work has attempted to ascertain the equivalents of all elementary substances; and as the result of his labours, has inferred the truth of an ingenious conjecture, suggested some years ago by Dr. Prout, that the weights of the atoms of bodies are simple multiples of the atomic weight of hydrogen. (Annals of Philosophy, vol. vi. p. 321.) This hypothesis is of so much importance if true, and may give rise to so much error if false, that its accuracy cannot too soon be put to the test of a minute experimental inquiry. The only chemists who to my knowledge have objected on experimental grounds to Dr. Thomson's support of this hypothesis, are Dr. Ure and Berzelius; but unfortunately both these gentlemen have written on the subject with such acrimony, and assumed a tone so unusual in scientific controversy, as in a great degree to have destroyed that confidence which their well-founded reputation for sagacity and skill would otherwise inspire. The uncertainty in which this question is still involved, has induced me to investigate it; and the essay which the Royal Society do me the honour to hear this evening, may be viewed as the commencement of a series of essays designed for the elucidation of the same subject. As I shall have occasion on individual points to differ repeatedly from Dr. Thomson, I embrace this opportunity to declare, that in considering his statements with the freedom required for eliciting truth, I bear towards him no other personal feelings than those of kindness for civility received at his hands, and of respect for a man who has devoted his life zealously and successfully to the promotion of science.


Computer programs are increasingly capable of grouping together expressions of a discourse that denote the same entity. We regard the evaluation of this capacity as the comparison between a system's response and the one expected by the evaluators. We outline a theoretical framework for reference (§ 1) and another one for evaluation (§ 2), then analyze three existing quality measures (§ 3.2– 3.4), one of which was used in the MUC evaluation campaign. We propose mainly two new measures, one based on the notion of core equivalence class (§ 3.5), and the other based on information theory (§ 3.6), both showing better theoretical coherence than the previous ones. We also examine two alternatives, the exclusive core classes (§ 3.5.4) and the distributional measure (§ 3.7). In addition, we study a series of generalizations to the main problem (§ 4), and provide the results of all measures on several texts ( 5). Language-related tasks often require a certain degree of language understanding. Following a commonsense conception, understanding a linguistic message will be equated here with: (1) understanding what entities the message talks about; (2) understanding what the message says about these entities (their properties, relations, etc.) Our main goal is to estimate the capacity of a computer program to "understand references", that is, to keep track of the various entities that a linguistic message is about. We will first describe a broad framework for this phenomenon, and situate the problem of coreference within it. 1. A FRAMEWORK FOR REFERENCE USE


Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of transparent lens phacoemulsification extraction combined with Bigbag intraocular lens implantation for treatment of high myopia.Design Retrospective case series.Participants 36 eyes of 20 patients aged 40~65 years with high myopia.Methods Intraocular lens refraction was calculated with IOL-Master.Transparent lens phacoemulsification extraction combined with posterior chamber Bigbag intraocular lens implantation was performed on all eyes.The postoperative visual acuity,refraction and complications were recorded.Main Outcome Measures Visual acuity,refraction,and posterior capsular crease.Results The preoperative uncorrected visual acuity of all eyes was less than 0.3.The preoperative best corrected visual acuity was better than 0.6 in 5 eyes(13.9%).The uncorrected visual acuity was better than 0.6 in 10 eyes(27.8%) 3 days after surgery.The best corrected visual acuity was better than 0.6 in 21 eyes(58.3%) 1 month after surgery and in 20 eyes(55.6%) 3 months after surgery.The mean refraction was(-0.58±0.68)D(from +1.50 to-2.00 D) 1 month after surgery,and(-0.58±0.64)D(from +1.50 to-2.00 D) 3 months after surgery,which was not statistically different between 1 month and 3 months(P=1.000).During these operations,only one eye's posterior capsular was broken and an anterior vitrectomy was performed on this eye.There was no other complications occurred in follow-up time.All eyes had no posterior capsular creases.Bigbag IOL was fixed perfectly.Slight after-cataract was found in 3 eyes(8.3%) 3 months after surgery,which didn't advance until 6 months after surgery.Conclusions Transparent lens phacoemulsification extraction combined with Bigbag intraocular lens implantation is an effective and safe method for high myopia in aged people.Bigbag IOL can support the posterior capsule membrane by its special design.


Magnetic hyperthermia generated by functionalized bone cement is a promising approach to treat postosteocarcinoma cancer regeneration. However, it is crucial to minimize the magnetic field intensity using localized high‐caloric‐generating nanoparticles to avoid the potential hazards of electromagnetic field exposure to living organisms. Herein, in situ hydrothermally synthesized CoFe2O4 (CoFe) nanoparticles and boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS)–supported CoFe complexes (BNCoFe) are incorporated into polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) cement to prepare a composite implant with high‐intensity magnetic–thermal performance and safety. The results show that the CoFe nanoparticles (size = ~70 nm) anchored on BNNS surfaces exhibit a maximum magnetic–thermal ablation temperature of ~42°C within 50 s under an alternating magnetic field of 400 KHz (field frequency) and 30 Oe (field intensity) in vitro. Furthermore, the incorporation of BNNSs into the PMMA matrix notably increases the thermal conductivity of PMMA from 0.07 to 0.25 W mK−1 and improves its mechanical properties (compressive strength increases from 74.0 ± 1.6 to 81.0 ± 1.0 MPa), which is attributed to the crystalline structure of BNNSs in the PMMA matrix. Inductively coupled plasma analysis shows a considerably reduced Co2+ ion release from PMMA/BNCoFe, indicating its potential as a safe implantation material for hyperthermia treatment.


Photocatalytic water-splitting for hydrogen generation by sunlight provides a new route to address energy and environmental problems. In recent years, tremendous efforts have been devoted to designing highly efficient water-splitting photocatalysts (PCs). Adequate light absorption, effective photogenerated carrier separation, and sufficiently large overpotentials for water redox are crucial in achieving high solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency. These parameters thus strongly influence the design of novel photocatalytic materials. Two-dimensional (2D) PCs have flourished because of their large specific surface area ratio, short carrier migration distance compared to bulk PCs, enormous design flexibility via van der Waals heterostructure (HS) engineering and many other unique capabilities that meet the criteria for high-efficiency STH conversion. In this review, we summarize the recent developments of 2D materials and HSs for water-splitting applications from a theoretical perspective. Specifically, we first discuss a number of 2D materials and HSs employed for water-splitting. We review various strategies of material design to modulate and enhance the photocatalytic performance via improving light harvesting and carrier separation, such as the introduction of defects and dopants, and the application of strain, external electric field, rotation angles and ferroelectric switching. We then discuss the methods to evaluate hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction and STH efficiency. Finally, the opportunities and challenges of designing 2D materials and HSs for water-splitting are presented.


Recent publications have described the problem of testing for the "significance" of large sample (empirical) matrix eigenvalues in the presence of modest variation of underlying true eigenvalues. This modest variation often can be ascribed to endemic dependence in one matrix dimension (e.g., rows), whereas the null hypothesis concerns the other dimension (columns). The need for such testing frequently arises in genomics, time‐series analysis, and a variety of other fields. However, the tools available for testing are underdeveloped, with statistical properties that may be sensitive to the true eigenvalues. The purpose of this note is to point the reader to this emerging literature and to suggest that the tool of cyclic shift permutation may be well‐suited to the problem.


Fifteen weanling male West African Dwarf (WAD) goats (8-9 months old), of average initial live weight, 10.52 ± 0.87 kg were used to evaluate the effects of dietary cobalt supplements on feed intake, nitrogen retention and body weight gain while on low quality Panicum maximum hay (10.62 % CP) based diet. Three goat treatment groups offered oral supplement of 0, 1.0 or 2.0 mg/head/day elemental cobalt as cobalt chloride were compared. Goats on supplementary cobalt diets (mg/head/day) of 1.0 and 2.0 demonstrated enhanced (P 0.05) elevated in goats receiving cobalt supplements. The WAD goats obviously benefited from oral cobalt supplementation of the Panicum maximum hay which resulted in improved body weight gain by the goats.


Many readers of Being and Time have noticed that when Heidegger distinguishes between temporality and what philosophers call "time," he evokes Bergson's name along with Aristotle's. Yet the importance of Bergson's role in Being and Time is rarely acknowledged. It is tempting to conclude from the way Heidegger dismisses Bergson in a footnote near the end of division two that he was only interested in preventing his readers from confusing his view of time with Bergson's. The evidence from Heidegger's early works suggests otherwise. A survey of his treatments of time prior to the publication of Being and Time in 1927 reveals a sustained engagement with Bergson's thinking. With reference to the lecture courses and essays from this period, I aim to show, first, that not only did Heidegger consider Bergson a pivotal thinker with respect to time, but he also followed Bergson's footsteps in thinking about time in several crucial ways; and second, that his treatment of Bergson displays an ambivalence stemming from concerns about Bergson's understanding of life. Because Heidegger never lectured or wrote at length about Bergson, my case depends on evidence gathered from a variety of sources, some in which Bergson is mentioned by name and others in which he is not. By surveying the path leading to Heidegger's dismissal of Bergson, I hope to shed more light on Bergson's appearances in Being and Time and the role he plays in that work and in the early development of Heidegger's thinking about temporality. Heidegger's initial remarks in Being and Time about Bergson are brief but provocative. In the prologue, Heidegger sets his sights on "the interpretation of time [Zeit] as the possible horizon for any understanding whatsoever of being" (BT xxix/1). He fleshes this out somewhat in the introduction,


The growth rate of thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) and thymic cysts was investigated to determine whether they can be differentiated and clinico‐radiological predictors of interval growth was identified.


Filariasis is still a public health problem in Indonesia especially in rural areas. In South Sumatra Province, 186 patients with chronic filariasis were reported in 2009 and 130 of them came from Banyuasin District. In Muara Padang SubDistrict, there were 7 patients with chronic filariasis and 1 of them lived in Muara Padang Village. A finger blood survey has never been conducted in Muara Padang Village since elimination program started in 2002. The aim of the study was to evaluate epidemiology of filariasis malayi in the Muara Padang Village. This was a descriptive study using cross sectional design. Data were collected from finger blood survey, blood tests for reservoir host (cats), stage 3 of filarial larvae (L3) in mosquito and microfilaria periodicity examination. From 520 finger blood samples collected from the inhabitants, microfilaria was not observed. However, 1 subject was found to have elephantiasis caused by filariasis malayi as indicated by swelling leg below the knee. Moreover, 1 subject showed descending lymphangitis symptoms accompanied by fever, headache and weakness even though in blood examination microfilaria was not found. Among 17 samples collected from cats, microfilaria of Brugia malayi was not observed. However, animal filarial i.e. Dirofilaria repens was observed in 11 samples collected. Among 701 mosquitoes dissection and examination, L3 was not found. Due to the fact that the microfilaria was not observed in all samples, microfilaria periodicity examination was not conducted. In conclusion, microfilaria of B. malayi was not observed in Muara Padang Village. However, microfilaria of D. repens was observed in cats.


The aim of this note is to show possible consequences of the principle of stationary action formulated for nonconservative sys� tems. As an example, linear models of vibratory system with damping and with one and two degrees of freedom are considered. This kind of models are frequently used to describe road and rail vehicles. There are vibrations induced by road profile. The appropriate action func� tional is proposed with the Lagrangian density containing: the kinetic and potential energies as well as dissipative one. Possible variations of generalized coordinates are introduced together with a noncommutative rule between operations of taking variations of the coordinates and their time derivatives. The stationarity of the action functional leads to the EulerLagrange equations.


Stabilization of interface states of ZnO/ZnMgO bilayer's interface by ultraviolet ozone (UVO)-treatment offered low-leakage current and improved stability in colloidal quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QD-LEDs), which consequently led to enhanced efficiency roll-off characteristics. The modified electron injection/transport properties of the ZnO/ZnMgO bilayer by UVO-treatment was analyzed by electron-only device measurements. We further analyze surface modification effect by the variation of the relative oxygen peaks using the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. As a result, the modified interface led to significant enhancement in the roll-off characteristics in QD-LEDs; the peak external quantum efficiency of the UVO-treated QD-LED remains above its 50% up to 5 times higher luminance compared to that of the QD-LED without UVO-treatment.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to verify the impact of financial news on corporate credit risk. Web crawler technology is used to obtain the financial news text from Sina Financial News. The text mining technology is utilized to quantify the financial news text. The quantified financial news text combined with financial indicators is used to build the Logistic regression model. The assessment results show that the risk early warning accuracy of the Logistic regression model incorporating both the quantified financial news text and financial indicators is higher than the Logistic regression model only with pure financial indicators.


Explosive action of cylindrical charge was studied in an anisotropic rock massif which contain cracks or system of parallel fissures. Sound wave theory was used for qualitative pattern of seismic wave distribution around blasting. Results show changing of seismic waves from round to elliptical shape during distribution through rock massif with cracks.


The old order changeth indeed, yielding place to the new. This is apparent everywhere. We see it in new social attitudes, in new industrial techniques, in the emergence of new geographical entities...


The concentration and transport of faecal pellets (FPs) produced by blackfly (Diptera: Simuliidae) larvae were estimated in a large, free-flowing river in the north of Sweden during 1997-1999. FPs were abundant from May through August and FP loads in transport peaked at 429 t dry mass d(-1) at a site in the lower part of the river in 1997. Daily transport at the same site, averaged over each study period (16 Jun.-18 Sep. 1997, 6 Apr.-10 Sep. 1998, and 21 Apr.-5 Aug. 1999). was estimated to be 93.7 t dry mass (3.7 t carbon), 47.5 t dry mass (1.9 t carbon and) and 69.2 t dry mass (2.7 t carbon), respectively. On a large scale, there was a downstream trend of increasing FP concentration and, during periods with greater discharge, sedimentation was reduced so that more material was exported from the river. Samples from six sites in a regulated river (into which our focal river flows) parallel to six sites in the unregulated tributary showed considerably lower FP concentrations in the regulated river, presumably because of much smaller blackfly populations as a consequence of habitat loss through damming. A survey of two other large, unregulated rivers in northern Sweden confirmed that these also carry large amounts of FPs. We conclude that the transformation of small suspended food particles into considerably larger FPs by huge populations of filter-feeding blackfly larvae is a major process in large northern rivers.


Successive approximation register Analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC) with a passive noise-shaping modulator is an appropriate choice to increase the ENOB and save power consumption compared with conventional SAR ADC. This paper proposed a third-order noise-shaping SAR ADC with high speed switches in modulators to complete the charge sharing for reducing the time cost of noise shaping process in one sampling cycle and used a foreground calibration to calibrate the value of the capacitors in DAC array. The whole ADC can realize 12.11-Bit ENOB in 8MHz bandwidth (BW).


- The study entails an isolation of Bacterial endophyte from plant growing around a crude oil sludge dam. Based on morphological characterisation, gram reactions and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, the isolate was identified as Basillus sefensis Strain CS4. Following the tests on the abiotic effects as well as the initial concentration of perylene on growth and degradation efficiency of the strain, a total degradation percentage of 89 % was observed from the initial concentration of 30 mg/l for one week. Analysis of the degradation products of perylene using GC-MS/MS, indicated a shift from the previously degradation product of other bacterial endophytes showing that the strain provided a new pathway for PAH degradation. In order to evaluate the influence of a polycyclic hydrocarbon transforming ability of the bacterial strain on the phytoremediation of petroleum aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), B. safensis was inoculated into Chromolaena odorata plants. The plants were grown for 16 weeks with or without PAH (500 mg/kg soil in each 1L pot) in non-sterile peat medium. Plants inoculated with the strain Ros-1 were much tolerant towards the phytotoxic effects of PAH, in terms of biomass index, leaves and stem dry weight. Although the presence of plants acted as the main effective treatment responsible for PAH dissipation (55–71%), the inoculum with the strain leads to the highest PAH removal (up to 82%). Uninoculated plant control in the contaminated soil was susceptible to the phytotoxicity of the contaminants in the parameters tested. The study therefore presented the strain as a suitable plant endophyte for enhanced phytotreatment of PAH.


This species was described by Garrett (1925) from a single female taken at Cranbrook, B. C. The description of the male was added by Johannsen (1926) from specimens (1 ♂, 2 ♀ ) collected in Yellowstone Park. The life-cycle is now completed from material taken in S. E. Alaska in 1926.


Evidence is presented here for a cellular network that courses through all layers of meninges, the vasculature of both the brain and meninges, and extends into the brain parenchyma. Confocal mapping of calcium‐binding protein S100β immunoreactivity (S100β‐ir) and of the intermediate filament vimentin‐ir through serial sections of the meningeal‐intact adult rat brain revealed this network. In all tissues examined, S100β‐ir and vimentin‐ir were primarily colocalized, and were found in cells with elongated processes through which these cells contacted one another to form a network. The location of labeling and the morphology of the cells labeled were consistent with the possibility that this network consists of fibroblasts in the meninges and the walls of large blood vessels, of pericytes at the level of capillaries, and of ependymocytes and a population of astrocytes in the brain parenchyma. At many sites along the borders of the brain parenchyma itself and of the brain blood vessels, it was possible to detect S100β‐ir and vimentin‐ir cell processes that cross the basal laminae. This suggested the probable means by which the S100β‐ir cells of the extraparenchymal tissues anatomically contact the cells that express the same markers in the brain. Privileged anatomical relationships of the S100β/vimentin network with the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) astrocytes further suggested that, together, they form the structural basis for a general meningeo‐glial network. This organization challenges the current model of brain architecture, calls for a reconsideration of the role of meninges and vascular tissues, and appears to reflect the existence of hitherto unsuspected systems of communication. J. Comp. Neurol. 420:445–465, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A transient method to analyze blade forced response under stator-rotor wake influence is proposed in dealing with asymmetric aerodynamic load. The vibration response of the blades is calculated in the fluid-structure coupled manner for the asymmetric vane spacing. Four different types of modification are adopted in the investigation. The reduction effect on the vibration stress due to the asymmetric vane spacing is examined by comparing the response characteristics of frequency and amplitude. Though the asymmetric vane spacing does not much affect the performance of the turbine, the results show that the proper asymmetric vane spacing can decrease the levels of the excitation force at specific frequencies to control the downstream blade forced response. The stress amplitude at the vane passing frequency is decreased by 51% in the most desirable modification in the study. After investigating the vibration characteristics of the blades under the wake excitation from upstream, the mechanism of the vibration reduction due to the asymmetric vane spacing is analyzed.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


The geographic extents of 27 species of Chaetognatha in the Pacific have been inferred from analyses of 2,900 plankton samples taken at more than 900 stations. Two species of chaetognaths-Sagitta elegans and S. maxima-are found in the Pacific only in the Subarctic Water Mass. Four species-Sagitta enjlata, S. hexaptera, S. pacifica, and Pterosagitta draco-occur in the Pacific Equatorial and Central Water Masses. Seven species-Sagitta robusta, S. regularis, S. ferox, Krohnitta paci$ca, Sagitta bedoti, S. negEecta, and S. pulchra-occur in the Equatorial and Western Central Water Masses. The latter three species appear to be disjunct equatorial species that are absent from the central equatorial Pacific. Sagitta pseudoserratodentata occupies the North Pacific Central Water Mass. S. californica, essentially a warm-water cosmopolite, is very rare in the Equatorial Water Mass. The Peru and California Currents are inhabited by Sagitta friderici. A close relative, S. crassa, lives in the coastal waters of Japan. Sagitta minima, Sagitta species (serratodentata group), Sagitta decipiens, S. lyra, and Krohnitta subtilis, species which have their maximum abundance at about 200 meters (somewhat deeper than all of the preceding), appear to be limited in the north at about 45" N. Lat. Sagitta planctonis, S. macrocephala, and Eukrohnia fowleri, living primarily at depths of 500 meters and greater, have been taken in the present study as far north as 55" N. Lat., both in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. The very deep living species, Heterokrohnia mirabilis, was taken at a single station in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific. The sharpest chaetognath boundary yet found in the Pacific occurs in the Eastern Pacific at 18" to 20" N. Lat. and is associated with pronounced temperature, oxygen, and probably salinity gradients. Species distributions analogous to those of the Chaetognatha are found in the euphausiids, copepods, and dinoflagellates among other groups of organisms.


A novel polymeric membrane ISE based on S, S`- bis(2-aminophenyl)oxalate (H2L) as new ionophores and sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTBP) as an anionic excluder in the plasticized PVC membranes for determination of copper (II) is described. The electrode exhibits a slope of 29.5 mV per decade in a linear range 8 × 10-5- 8 × 10-3 M for Cu2+ ion, with detection limit of 4 × 10-5 M. Sensor can be used in pH range of 4-8. The potentiometric selectivity coefficient value ( ) as determinated by fixed interference method indicate excellent selectivity for Cu2+ ions over interfering cations. Influence of, different component ratio, and different plasticizer were study for obtaining a sensor with optimal response characteristic for determination of copper(II) in water sample in wide pH range.


Spatio-temporal variations in the water quality of the Chao Phraya River, Thailand, were examined, on average-yearly basis, between 1999 and 2008, from 32 surface water stations from the river origin to the delta. Five water quality parameters viz., DO, BOD, TCB, FCB, NH3-N and water temperature were used in the analysis. Analysis was performed by using the Self Organizing Maps. Four distinct spatially approached clusters were classified, according to the similarity of water quality parameters, while temporal variations of most of the surface water stations were not obviously observed. The worst water quality condition was at the stations near the river delta and highly related to anthropogenic stresses. Result from the correspondence analysis showed that, except for the cluster of the worst water quality, the stations of the remaining three clusters were overlapped. There was no statistical difference in water temperature among clusters but the expected effects from climate change should be a precautionary focus since the will eventually affect the water quality.


Machining process efficiency can be improved by optimization the control parameters. This requires identifying and determining the value of critical process control parameters that lead to desired response ensuring a lower cost of manufacturing. A Laser can produce a coherent, convergent and monochromatic beam of electromagnetic radiation. Laser machining is thermal energy based non-contact type advance machining. The objective of the research work is to study the effect of Laser cutting parameters (Laser power, Gas pressure, Cutting speed, Laser pulse frequency, Nozzle tip distance) on the cut quality parameters (surface roughness, kerf width, Heat affected zone) at the problem associated with cutting of Aluminium5052 Alloy. The orthogonal array has been used for performing the experiments. An artificial neural network (ANN) method to optimize response parameters.


In this paper the pattern of intensity transmitted due to interference in a cold collisionless magnetized moving plasma slab is investigated. The direction of the external magnetic field is normal to the plasma surface and the plasma slab moves across relative to the magnetic field. By taking into account relativistic considerations, the effects of the plasma density, the thickness of the plasma slab and the speed of motion on [A27] the bandwidth, the finesse factor and visibility are simulated. These investigations for S-polarized and P-polarized electromagnetic beams have been done separately.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the interest rate pass-through among the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) emerging markets. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews a general literature on interest rates pass-through by applying a cointegration and asymmetric mean adjustment lag (MAL) error correction methodology (ECM). Findings – A symmetric adjustment is found in Russia, China and South Africa's deposit rate, while an asymmetric adjustment is found in Brazil and India's deposit rate adjustments. The presence of a customer reaction theory is found in Brazil, India, China and South Africa's deposit rate adjustments, while a collusive pricing arrangement is found in Russia. From the lending rate adjustment, a collusive pricing arrangement was found in Brazil, China and South Africa, while a customer reaction theory was found in India and Russia. Research limitations/implications – The sample period used in the study covers a period starting from the...


Theodore bonded during the years of his coemperorship with a close circle of companions. He called them his "friends," using a range of Greek words. 1 A scrutiny of this microcommunity at the court reveals aspects of his daily life and sheds light on the formation of his character, while exhibiting the network of individuals around him. Examining his companions at court also provides the background necessary to make sense of his confrontation with the top tier of the aristocracy and leads to a clearer understanding of his political and moral philosophy. The crown prince came to view friendship as a fundamental human value and a pervasive sociopolitical phenomenon. His interest culminated in a treatise on the role of friendship in society that he addressed to his long-term companion George Mouzalon. This special work represents the only articulation in Byzantium of a coherent theory of friendship, yet it is something of a conundrum. His investigation of friendship is as much theoretical as personal. A look at the profiles of his friends and foes illuminates both his promotion of what he called "friendship" and the political positions that he took as a reigning emperor.


Using kinetic spectroscopy under strictly homogeneous pyrolysis at temperatures above 800 K, tetrafluoroethylene is shown to convert directly into a 1,2-biradical, the extinction of the latter being estimated to be 2 x 106 cm2 mol–1 at 250 nm. The significance of the biradical is ascertained in the cyclodimerization mechanism and rate constants for elementary reactions are estimated.


The major component of the left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is the pump and the pulsatile pump can generate the pulsatile flow which is similar to the circulation human body. In this research work, the control method of the piston movement for a linearly moving piston pump has been developed. The pump owned 24-sets coils outside the tube and a piston inlaid with a permanent magnet was inside. An induced magnetic field was interact to the magnet and generated repulsive or attractive force to drive the piston when the current was applied to the coil. Some simulation of the magnetic field distribution with different numbers of coils carrying the different direction current has been done. To verify the simulation and the real situation of the piston moving, the Hall Effect sensors were used to sense the piston. The sensing signals showed the piston moved smoothly and controllable in the air under attractive force. However, the combination of repulsive or attractive forces was needed when the water was pumped in a simple channel by it. The flow rate was about 5.5 liters per minute when the pump was connected to the blood circulation simulation machine provided by Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. The developed control signals was successful to drive the linearly moving piston pump and achieve the minimum required flow rate for a LVAD.


Recent linkage studies located genes responsible for the low voltage EEG, benign neonatal convulsions and for the Fanconi anaemia to the vicinity of the VNTR marker CMM6 (D20S19). Physical mapping experiments using pulsefield electrophoresis in the distal part of chromosome 20q were chosen as a first step towards cloning of these genes. The observed pattern of shared fragments lead to the locus order 'tel-IP20K09-RMR6-CMM6-MS214-cen', which differs from previously reported genetic linkage maps. The physical intervals between these probes are markedly shorter compared with the genetic distances. Clusters of rare cutter sites around CMM6 point to at least four closely related CpG islands.


Progress in economy leads to increases in society's energy requirement. Fossil fuel is the major source of fulfilling energy requirements. Biodiesel is an alternative for liquid fossil fuel. In this study, biodiesel was produced from lipid obtained from vegetable waste using oleaginous yeast. The pretreated waste hydrolysate was used for the growth of oleaginous yeast, Lipomyces starkeyi which was able to yield a biomass concentration of 20 g/L. Obtained biomass was transesterified directly in the presence of Nanocatalysts calcium hydroxide and Aluminum oxide. The transesterification process was optimized by RSM software. The optimum ratio of Methanol to lipid was obtained as 6:1and catalyst concentration of 0.5%. Optimum temperature for biodiesel production was obtained as 60oC. Maximum amount of biodiesel obtained as 8g/L which is worked out to be 40 % of the biomass used in this process. The oxidative stability of the obtained biodiesel was found out to be 1.84 years using biodiesel rancimat. Hence optimisation of process has yielded highly stable oil from microbial biomass grown from waste organic solids. The results of this study concluded that biodiesel can be obtained from biomass containing lipid by direct transesterification.


n in natural gas. The concentration of radon in natural gas accounted for less tha n I编of its effective dose contributing to indoor air pollution in Beijing households. Conclusion Compared to traditional fuels, gases are deemed as clean ones, and natural gas is shown to be clea n er than the other two gases.


In this paper the characteristic impedance for coaxial lines with a rectangular inner and outer conductor, concentric, eccentric and with rotated structure, has been obtained by using the Equivalent Electrodes Method (EEM). Our results have been compared with those reported in the literature, obtained by other analytical and numerical methods, and those obtained by using the COMSOL Multiphysics software package and a very good agreement with those results has been found. Streszczenie. W artykule przedstawiono obliczenia impedancji charakterystycznej linii koncentrycznej z prostokątnym przewodnikiem usytuowanym centrycznie i ekscentrycznie. Obliczenia wykonano z wykorzystaniem metody ekwiwalentnych elektrod EEM. (Obliczenia impedancji charakterystycznej linii koncentrycznej z ekscentrycznym przewodem prostokątnym)


By using a patient-centered, physician-led model of care, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Michigan lowers recidivism and healthcare costs.


In recent years, the substantial progress in agricultural technology induces the agriculture production increasing. While there are more agricultural products that could be consumed, but even more consumers worried about the agriculture products safety problems were occurred by overused and misused the pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizer. In 2013, a total of 20,720 tonnes of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides applied in Taiwan farmland, thus, the agriculture chemical residues problem on marketable vegetables and fruit causes the consumers no longer believe in Taiwan agriculture. Since 2003, Taiwan's government began to promote Taiwan Good Agriculture Practice (TGAP) and the traceable TGAP system. For most of the Taiwan's agriculture products, TGAP provides the complete specifications about the planting management system and the solid regulations of the agriculture chemicals; however, the traceability system for showing whether the farmers strict comply with TGAP or not, it is dysfunctional. To investigate the problem of dysfunctional traceable TGAP system, the overly complex input interface and high certification fees are damaging the farmer's willingness to use the traceable TGAP system. Furthermore, the incomplete traceable information about the agriculture product has reduced the consumers' willingness to use the system. Thus, we have developed "Worthwhile and Reliable - Traceable Agriculture System" for Taiwanese small farmers in this study, which will provide the more friendly input interface for the farmers and more reliable information for the consumers by taking pictures with GPS positioning and timing functions under TGAP requirements and regulations.


Folk narrative studies in the United States developed, through the search for "motifs" and "tale types," to a formalism under the influence of Vladimir Propp. Then turning to descriptive ethnography, folklorists developed an attention to performance. Inevitably, the rise of public presentation led to questions of ideology and advocacy. A study of the ideological saturation of creole narratives raises the question whether the regularities whereby borrowed materials are remodeled might constitute a creole narrative grammar.


The cubic vector nonlinear Schrodinger equation with an external trigonometric potential models a quasi-one-dimensional multi-component Bose–Einstein condensate trapped in a standing light wave. We construct families of exact stationary solutions for the more general case of an elliptic function potential. Some of these solutions degenerate to zero as the effect of the external potential disappears, whereas others limit to solutions of the free vector nonlinear Schrodinger equation. The stability of these solutions is examined both analytically and numerically. The stability results depend on the nature of the atomic interactions not only within the components but also between components. As in the scalar case (one component) with repulsive interaction, all linearly stable solutions are deformations of the ground state of the linear Schrodinger equation. Unlike the scalar case with attractive interaction, no solutions are found to be stable if there is any attractive interaction present.


The protease of the Xiayi Mafen sea urchin(Strongylocentrotus intermedius)was measured in the range of length of 3~5 cm by means of spectrophotometer.There were two kinds of protease in intestine of Xiayi Mafen sea urchin.The suitable pH value were 2.0,8.6 respectively;the suitable temperatures were 50?40℃ respectively.


Central Stadium: Global Approval Yarygin Sports Palace Competitions Competition for an Office and Hotel Complex Cultural and Entertainment Center in the Circle of Bridgehead Road Junction, Krasnoyarsk


This paper reflects the goals and objectives of the fundamental scientific research project "Young Scientists 2016" at the Scientific Research Fund of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. The aim of this research is to analyze and map the cultural industries in Plovdiv. The intention is the resources of cultural industries to be researched using empirical data and then based on this research to be ranged and mapped.  Furthermore, the research team is looking for a new model and tool-set for appraisal of the cultural industries. The methods employed are based on success indicators borrowed from economics and statistics.


The storage and management of information has always been a challenge for software engineering, new programing approaches had to be found, parallel processing and then distributed computing programing models were developed, and new programing frameworks were developed to assist software developers. This is where Hadoop framework, an open source implementation of MapReduce programing model, that also takes advantage of a distributed file system, takes its lead, but in the meantime, since its presentation, there were evolutions to the MapReduce and new programing models that were introduced by Spark and Storm frameworks, that show promising results.


A major quality problem faced by tea packaging units is control of weight variation in the tea packets. When the weight variation in tea packets is high, it is likely that buyers get under weight packets in some segments of the market and over weight packets in some other segments. Although an average consumer may not notice the difference, packet weight below certain limit may require the company to pay a substantial amount as fine to the government regulating agencies that conduct such audits. At the same time over weight packets constitute an additional loss to the company. Although control charts are well suited to help control such weight variation, their successful implementation at the machine requires a user-friendly approach for the operators who need to maintain it on a daily basis. This paper discusses one such application where using X-sum control chart, out-of control situations are reduced from over 66% to about 4%.


Large set of orthogonal arrays (LOA) were introduced by D. R. Stinson, and it is also used to construct multimagic squares recently. In this paper, multimagic squares based on strong double LOA are further investigated. It is proved that there exists an MS$(q^{2t-1},t)$ for any prime power $q\geq 2t-1$ with $t\geq3$, which provided a new family of multimagic squares.


Energies of cis and trans isomers of a series of octahedral cobalt(iii) complexes with salen type Schiff bases have been estimated by DFT calculations.


Broadly speaking, the objective in cardiac image segmentation is to delineate the outer and inner walls of the heart to segment out either the entire or parts of the organ boundaries. This paper will focus on MR images as they are the most widely used in cardiac segmentation -- as a result of the accurate morphological information and better soft tissue contrast they provide. This cardiac segmentation information is very useful as it eases physical measurements that provides useful metrics for cardiac diagnosis such as infracted volumes, ventricular volumes, ejection fraction, myocardial mass, cardiac movement, and the like. But, this task is difficult due to the intensity and texture similarities amongst the different cardiac and background structures on top of some noisy artifacts present in MR images. Thus far, various researchers have proposed different techniques to solve some of the pressing issues. This seminar paper presents an overview of representative medical image segmentation techniques. The paper also highlights preferred approaches for segmentation of the four cardiac chambers: the left ventricle (LV), right ventricle (RV), left atrium (LA) and right atrium (RA), on short axis image planes.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate what is the most important characteristic that leads to effective teaching in the general education schools in Oman, as perceived by the students.Design/methodology/approach – Methodologically, this research is a survey in nature, using questionnaires for data collection. The sample size consists of 2,628 students from the General Education Schools in most of the regions in Oman. To ensure the reliability and construct validity, this research has applied the principal component analysis (PCA) to determine whether the relevant items have been accordingly loaded on their respective construct. For data analysis, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) or the measurement model was employed to determine the indictors and factors as well as the predictor that can positively lead to effective teaching and teachers.Findings – In terms of the findings, this research discovered that, the "community relationships" factor is the most important factor that leads to ...


The transverse relaxation times have been measured for the solvent protons in methanol solutions of Mn2+, Cu2+, Fe2+, and Fe3+. From the temperature dependence of the relaxation times the rates and activation parameters have been determined for the exchange of solvent molecules between the first coordination sphere of the metal ion and the bulk solvent. The kinetic parameters k1 (seconds−1 at 25°C), ΔH† (kilocalories), and ΔS† (entropy units) are 3.7 × 105, 6.2, and − 12 for Mn2+; 108, 10, and 13 for Cu2+; 5.0 × 104, 12.0, and 3 for Fe2+; and 5.1 × 103, 10.1, and − 8 for Fe3+. A coordination number of 6 was assumed in making the calculations. For all of the divalent ions the OH and CH3 protons exchanged at the same rate. For the divalent metal‐ion complexes the contact shifts were measured and discussed in terms of the electron delocalization mechanisms.


Nowadays, not all the patient can be hospitalized because of the COVID-19 pandemics. So, the self-quarantine for the patient with the various diseases will be the given solution by the hospital. It would make the hospital needs a system that can monitor the activity and the position of the patient from a distance. Nowadays, mobile phone is equipped by the sensor that can detect the user movement. Not only the user's position, but also the user's activity. In this paper, it will be developed an activity and position monitoring system for the self-quarantine patient that can be used in their home. The mobile activity monitoring can be achieved by activity recognition using classification method. For the needs of performance testing, we evaluate some classification method for activity recognition to compare the among classification method for the activity recognition. Some tested classification methods are Naïve Bayes, KNN, KStar and TreeJ48. Furthermore, we tested the impact of sliding windows per N samples taken to the accuracy of the activity recognition. We choose the best N sample that could give the best accuracy for activity recognition. The system not only monitor the patient's activity, but also the patient's position. The position monitoring can be achieved using Google Maps API. The result is Naive bayes has the accuracy of 81.25%, KNN has the accuracy of 78.125%, KStar has the accuracy of 78.125% and TreeJ48 has the accuracy of 75%. The N sample that could give the best accuracy is 6 with the accuracy of 90.15%.


We introduce a new type of liquid cell for in-situ electron microscopy based upon entrapment of a liquid film between layers of graphene. We employ this cell to achieve high-resolution imaging of colloidal platinum nanocrystal growth. The ability to directly image and resolve critical steps at atomic resolution provides new insights into nanocrystal coalescence and reshaping during growth.


Family planning in Korea during the last 2 decades is reviewed. In recognition of the fact that gains made in improving Koreas standard of living were being offset by concurrent gains in population growth the national government included family planning in its 1962-1966 5 year-plan. As a consequence prohibiting regulations were repealed domestic production of contraceptives was encouraged a family planning advisory committee was established and about $336000 was appropriated for 1962 to initiate the program. 366 family planning workers were trained in 1962 and 2 were assigned to each family planning clinic of the nations 183 county health centers. A nationwide information program was also carried out. The efforts of 2 university family planning research teams are described along with the activities of the Two Children Club the Korean Institute for Family Planning the Korean Association for Voluntary Sterilization and the In-Country Technical Assistance Mission for the Family Planning Program in Korea. The national demographic goal was to reduce the growth rate to 25 20 15 and 13/1000 by the end of each 5-year development planning period (1966 1971 1976 and 1981. To achieve such a goal targets for family planning practice rates were set. The government program was directed primarily at the rural population and poor urban population. In 1964 1473 female family planning workers were recruited and 1 was assigned to each township. Family planning workers issue coupons to those couples motivated to obtain free supplies at nearby clinics or health centers hospitals or designated private practitioners. By 1968 the cumulative total achievement of family planning services delivered by the national program were approximately 4350000 IUD insertions 2000000 couple years protection (CYP) by oral contraceptives (OCs) 250000 CYP by condom 850000 sterilizations and 100000 cases of menstrual regulation. The estimated number of births averted is about 2 million. Korea has spent about U.S. $100 million for the family planning program. According to the 1978 Knowledge Attitude Practice (KAP) survey 21% of eligible couples were currently practicing contraception on their own while 28% were using government services. The tremendous increase of sterilization in the last 2 years is another encouraging sign of improvement in the programs use-effectiveness. The programs strong points and problem areas are identified.


BACKGROUND
Th2-cytokines, such as interleukins-4 and -13 (IL-4, IL-13), have been identified as alternative stimuli of monocytes/macrophages. We have recently profiled the gene-expression pattern of IL-4-treated human peripheral monocytes and found that 15-lipoxygenase-1 (15-LOX1) and monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) are among the five most strongly upregulated gene products in IL-4-treated cells. Transfection of monocytic cells (U937) with 15-LOX1 also induced MAO-A expression. These data suggested that 15-LOX1 products might play a role in the IL4-induced signaling cascade leading to expression of MAO-A in human monocytes.

MATERIAL/METHODS
To test this hypothesis we incubated wild-type and 15-LOX1-transfected U937 cells with different concentrations of either IL-4 or 15-LOX-products [13S-H(p)ODE, 15S-H(p)ETE] and quantified the expression of 15-LOX1, MAO-A, and MAO-B by activity assays and real-time RT-PCR.

RESULTS
Wild-type U937 cells express neither MAO-A nor MAO-B, but after three days of IL4 treatment, MAO-A mRNA was detected. A similar isoform-specific expression of MAO-A mRNA was observed when U937 cells were transfected with 15-LOX1 or when the cells were incubated with primary 15-LOX1 products (hydroperoxy fatty acids) or H2O2. In contrast, the corresponding hydroxy fatty acids were ineffective.

CONCLUSIONS
These data indicate that increased intracellular peroxide concentrations (oxidative stress) induce MAO-A expression in monocytes/macrophages, which normally do not express the enzyme. Our findings also suggest that IL-4-induced upregulation of MAO-A expression in human peripheral monocytes may proceed via 15-LOX1-dependent and 15-LOX1-independent pathways. The biological role of MAO-A expression for monocyte function is discussed.


During recent years considerable research and development work have been done on high-strength, durable adhesives for use in bonding metals. Much of this is also applicable for gluing wood to metal. The woodworking adhesives, such as animal, vegetable, casein, urea resin, phenol resin, and resorcinol resin, have not been found entirely suitable for this purpose. They usually are not elastic enough to distribute the stresses encountered in service when two dissimilar materials, such as wood and metal, are bonded together. Also, they generally do not adhere well to the surfaces of metals. Therefore, more elastic materials, such as vinyl resins and natural and synthetic rubbers, have been used in combination with such thermosetting resins as phenol-formaldehyde to produce adhesive formulations that have the proper elasticity and adhere well to both wood and metals.


Objective To observe the effect of Xiao-Yu-Hua-Tan-Yin on hepatic apoptosis and caspase3 in nonalcoholic fatty liver rats(NAFLD).MethodsThe nonalcoholic fatty liver rat model was fed by high fat forage,and Dongbaogantai was treated as control group.Flow cytometry(FCM) was used to detect the hepatic apoptosis and expression of caspase3,and optical microscope was used to observe the degree of hepatic steatosis.ResultsLiver cells showed medium or serious steatosis by optical microscope,and a few hepatic necrosis.The rate of cell apoptosis and expression of caspase3 detected by FCM in the model group was significantly increased(P0.01).Compared with the model group,liver fat cell denaturizing was improved,and the rate of cell apoptosis and expression of caspase3 was significantly decreased in each treatment group(P0.01).ConclusionXiao-Yu-Hua-Tan-Fang can inhibit hepatic apoptosis inhibiting by the expression of caspase3,and protect nonalcoholic fatty liver.


Engine test shops, besides checking engine performances, are also producing power that could be recovered and used as process heat or fed to the public power system. To be feasible, the energy recovered must be available when needed and in a usable form. Calculations made on the energy balance of diesel engines during proof testing revealed the most significant energy waste is at the dynamometer. The characteristics and needs of each plant must dictate whether the energy is used as hot water or is converted to electricity, the choice determining which type of dynamometer is used. Potential savings and capital investment costs are estimated and found to justify placing major priority on energy recovery systems in test facilities. (DCK)


A Ka-band receiver front end module is designed and implemented by using MMIC chipset fabricated with GaAs pHEMT process. The MMIC chipset include a millimeter-wave monolithic low noise amplifier, a sub-harmonic mixer and a distributed amplifier designed with OMMIC ED02AH and WIN PP15–20 processes. A substrate integrated waveguides (SIW) filter is also designed to reject image signals of receiver. The measured conversion gain is more than 15dB at the frequency range from 35.3 to 37GHz. This receiver works at LO frequency of 17.5GHz and IF frequency from 0.5 to 1.5GHz.


The finite element analysis is frequently used to prediet dynamic responses of complex structures. Since the predicted responses often differ from experimentally measured ones, updating of the finite element models is performed to make the finite element results agree with the measured ones. Among several model updating methods, one is to use FRF(frequency response funetion) data without a modal analysis. This paper investigates characteristics of the model updating method in order to improve the method. The investigation is focused on hOw to obtain FRfs for unmeasured rotational displacements and how to consider damping. For the investigation simulated data and experimental data for a cantilever beam are used.


Firstly,in angel of history,important meaning of third plenary session of the sixteenth central committee is expounded.I think that we must study?propagandize and execute its spirit in angel of enclosing an aim of "setting up three idea" and "accelerating two building" for Jiangxi meteorology enterprise.Secondly,I originally suggest jiangxi meteorological spirit of "manage sky for people,chase excellent" and think that it is central spirit level of building of meteorological culture,and overall expoud that it is enormous system.It is should emphasized on building and valued on creating.Finally,issue discussed in meeting is given detail answer.


•  Voltage‐gated H+ channels help to compensate for the pH and voltage disturbances generated by production of reactive oxygen species. •  In this study, we investigated how changes in the intracellular pH levels control H+ channel activity in macrophage‐lineage cells, osteoclasts and microglia. •  An increase in intracellular pH decreased the numbers of H+ channels available at the plasma membrane through facilitation of dynamin‐dependent endocytic internalization. •  This inhibitory regulation mechanism for H+ channels is novel. •  The results help us to understand better the significance of the intracellular pH levels in membrane dynamics and H+ channel availability, which, in turn, may modulate natural immunity.


On Friday 9th September 2011, IDS-TILDA* launched its first major report on the lives of people with intellectual disability aged 40 years and over in Ireland as part the study's 2nd International Research Conference, which was held in Trinity College Dublin. The report draws on findings from in-depth interviews with over 700 people with intellectual disability from across Ireland, providing the first comprehensive picture of people's lives across a range of key areas including: health, social, psychological, economic and environmental circumstances. The study is being led by Prof Mary McCarron, and funded by the Health Research Board and Department of Health and Children.The report is available at the following link:Growing Older with an Intellectual Disability in Ireland 2011 (PDF 6.3MB)Presentations from the launch are also available here


Precision crop management is by definition a multi-objective decision-making process that must incorporate a diversity of data, opinion, preference and objective. This paper details an approach to decision making that allows users to express individual or corporate values and preferences; highlights the degree of imprecision associated with each input; highlights the degree of imprecision associated with each alternative; facilitates structuring of the decision process; reduces several levels of complex information into a single chart; allows examination of trade-o(cid:128) between alternatives and interests; and forces examination of inter-relationships between interest. The addition of using remote sensing data provides an e(cid:129)cient method to describe spatial variability in terms that can be related to a crop model, making the decision-making approach feasible for precision farming applications. The crop model provides information that can be used by the decision model, and the remote sensing data is used to fine tune the calibration of the crop model, maximizing the accuracy of its results. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


The rapid development of information and communication
technology (ICT) affects all sectors of human activity,
including education. E-learning has become an integral part of
private and public universities in last ten years. Foreign
universities are trying to keep up with the times and so they
are publishing first studies with the use of social networking
in education, as it is a place where students spend most of
their time.


The complete series of chlorinated and methylated derivatives of ammonia have been prepared in the pure state and studied by Hei ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. The nonmethyl derivatives were also studied using NeI radiation. Assignments are made on the basis of observed substitution effects, and the spectra are compared with the analogous phosphorus compounds. The first band in all the spectra (arising from ionization of the nitrogen lone pair), shows interesting trends both in position and in bandwidth.


Monoclinic vanadium dioxides VO2(M) are prototype materials for interpreting correlation effects in solids. Moreover, VO2(M) undergoes a fully reversible metal–insulator phase transition between monoclinic VO2(M) and rutile vanadium dioxide VO2(R) (Supporting Information S1) with the benefits of huge temperature-induced changes in resistivity and selective optical switching, and has thus attracted great interest in the industrial and scientific communities for construction of intelligent devices such as temperature sensors and energy-efficient smart windows. 3] For more than 50 years after Morin s discovery, solid-state reactions were regarded as the exclusive synthetic route to VO2(M). [5,6]


The dynamic change of the nutrients content of Miben pumpkin after flowering 10~50 d was studied,such as amylase,β-carotene,amino acid,Vitamin C,protein,global sugar,reductive sugar and minerals etc.The result showed:The contents of amylase?β-carotene,amino acid,protein,global sugar and reductive sugar increased but the increased extent of each component at the different stage was different;The content of Vitamin C decreased but it increased a little at the end of growth and development;The change of minerals content is complicated;There was some relativity among the content of some nutrients.


Nowadays, the demand for medium temperature utilization of solar energy is becoming wide, not only in the field of building energy, but also in some industrial fields. While, the application of parabolic trough collector in the field of medium temperature requires to meet appropriate concentration ratio, compact construction and low initial cost. In this study, we proposed an optical design for small and medium sized parabolic trough collector. During the experiment, the Monte Carlo ray tracing method (MCRT) was used to calculate the peak optical efficiency of the collector, and the annual average optical efficiency of the DaXing District of Beijing was calculated by System Advisor Model (SAM). Finally, by comparing with mature products, the calculation results show that our design is feasible.


This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of Distributed Generator Interface Transformer (DGIT) configuration on Temporary Over Voltage (TOV) on the healthy phases in a distribution feeder during an unsymmetrical fault. Three common types of transformer configurations are investigated both analytically and using EMTDC/PSCAD. Subsequently, an in-depth study of the effectiveness of grounding transformer in reducing the TOVs for both rotating machine based DG and inverter based DG has been performed. All these studies have been performed on study systems with realistic system data. The results of studies presented in this paper are expected to be helpful for utilities in assessing the impact of integration of distributed generators in their system and avoiding scenarios of high TOVs.


This paper presents a gear precision forging method which combined the synchronous gear and the mainbody into one part.The design of the forging, the process scheme and the analysis of keyproblem are introduced.


The invention discloses a method for producing alkane by catalytically cracking naphtha. The naphtha is catalytically cracked to obtain a crack reaction product in the existence of a first catalyst, a second catalyst and a sodium chloride aqueous solution with a mass fraction of 3 to 7 percent. Compared with the prior art, the method has the following advantages: (1) a mesoporous/microporous composite molecular sieve is used as a catalyst, so that the stability of the molecular sieve is improved, an acidic center of the molecular sieve is provided, the catalytic efficiency is improved, and the alkane yield is increased; and (2) the catalytic cracking method is low in reaction temperature and less in energy consumption.


This thesis seeks to identify and find ways to employ the existing assets of the poly-centrism in the region which could enhance resilience and life quality and contribute towards broader sustainability goals. This is done through analysis of the five study cases of the most characteristic living environments and distribution of economic potential in the region. As a result, strategic guidelines for regional development are introduced. Further work consist of application of the strategy to aforementioned five study cases in order to investigate the actual potential of the proposed strategy. Design for one study case is carried out in detail to show possible and desirable outcomes of the strategic planning and to illustrate the effect of the governance of such project. Reflection summarises the thesis (research, strategy and design) and discusses the feasibility of the proposed strategy in the current planning context in Lithuania. Lastly if explains the contribution of the thesis to the existing body of knowledge.


To determine whether blood pressure (BP) variability is increased in hypertensive patients with Binswanger's disease (BD), we studied two samples of consecutive treated hypertensive patients: (1) 11 with BD (mean age 71.3 ± 5.2 years); (2) 16 with lacunar infarction (mean age 65.2 ± 8.3 years) without cognitive impairment. An averaged baseline office BP was obtained for 3 consecutive weeks. Ambulatory BP monitoring was then carried out to obtain the averaged mean systolic (SBP) and diastolic BP, and BP variability was defined as the standard deviation of consecutive BP values. Results: Diurnal SBP variability was significantly increased in the BD group (p = 0.04). However, with the analysis of covariance for age and baseline office BP, the difference was no longer significant (p = 0.17 and p = 0.09, respectively). We conclude that increased BP variability in BD patients is probably due to older age and increased baseline office BP. Increased BP variability may be a risk factor for small-vessel disease, but not for cognitive impairment.


Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks are autonomous and decentralized wireless frameworks. MANETs include mobile nodes that are allowed to move in the network. The load balancing is one of the fields in mobile ad hoc networks that need to be focused upon to improve the performance of the network. If the same path is over utilized for a period, its bandwidth can get used or the energy of the nodes might be drained. This would result in the loss of the data, if data transmission is continued over the same path. This paper takes load balancing of the network into consideration. The load has been monitored by taking into consideration the available bandwidth and packet delivery ratio of the current path, which is being used for data transmission. If the load exceeds the new path is used for packets transmission. The performance of the network was analyzed based on four parameters namely packet delivery ratio, throughput, routing overhead and remaining energy in the network.


This paper aims to examine the views of Ahmad Syafii Maarif on the position of women in politics according to Islamic teachings. The data were collected from his two books 'Islam dalam Bingkai Keindonesiaan dan Kemanusiaan: Sebuah Refleksi Sejarah' revised edition and 'Titik-Titik Kisar di Perjalananku: Autobiografi Ahmad Syafii Maarif'. The findings show that his family background and education have formed his concern to the position of women in family, society, and politics as well as women's rights according to Islamic teachings. In Islam, the position of women and men are equal. Women have the same rights to be political leaders as men. In politics, women are entitled to become leaders on the conditions that (1) they have excellent abilities; (2) moral, which is pious and upholding justice; (3) (preferably) over 40 years of age; and (4) obtaining husband's permission.


It is well known that a query is an approximate representation of the user's information needs since it does not provide a sufficient specification of the attended results. Numerous studies addressed this issue using techniques for better eliciting either document or query representations. More recent studies investigated the use of search context to better understand the user intent, driven by the query, in order to deliver personalized information results. In this article, we propose a personalized information retrieval model that leverages the information relevance by its usefulness to both the query and the user's profile, expressed by his main topics of interest. The model is based on the influence diagram formalism which is an extension of Bayesian networks dedicated to decision problems. This graphical model offers an intuitive way to represent, in the same framework, all the basic information (terms, documents, user interests) surrounding the user's information need and also, quantify their mutual influence on the relevance estimation. Experimental results demonstrate that our model was successful at eliciting user queries according to dynamic changes of the user interests.


One makes use of g-cut segment to prove that the polyomino system G is 2-resonant if and only if every pair of disjoint boundary squares of G are resonant.


This article presents an active damping matching control strategy to optimize the output power of linear generators in energy harvesting applications. The method adjusts the magnitude of the current command responsible for active power set-point. The proposed approach combines a simple model-based feed-forward term with a slow but accurate correction based on the response of output power to a low-frequency modulation in set-point current magnitude. The correction is derived from the phase of output power oscillations and used to adjust the power set-point to achieve active-load matching conditions. In order to remove the low-frequency oscillations in the power at steady state, the method automatically stops the current amplitude modulation when maximum output power is reached. In addition, the proposed control incorporates an overstroke protection, which increases the active current component thereby reducing the stroke rapidly to a safe limit. The overall control principle is validated experimentally.


Background: While traditional intraoperative fluoroscopy protection relies on thyroid shields and aprons, recent data suggest that the surgeon's eyes and hands receive more exposure than previously appreciated. Using a distal radial fracture surgery model, we examined (1) radiation exposure to the eyes, thyroid, chest, groin, and hands of a surgeon mannequin; (2) the degree to which shielding equipment can decrease exposure; and (3) how exposure varies with fluoroscopy unit size.


Summary New orthopteran Crinoedischia lapeyriei sp. nov. is described and illustrated from the Middle Permian (Guadalupian) of Lodève Basin in southern France. The new species is separated from the Lower Permian (Artinskian) Crinoedischia species by differences in wing venation pattern such as long ScP with anterior branches, RA with prominent distal branches, and MA ending with three branches. The significance and parallels of entomofaunas between Salagou and Wellington formations (Lodève, Elmo, Midco) are briefly discussed.


Increasing the energy efficiency in electric distribution networks is equivalent with making available for the distribution companies of an additional quantity of electricity resulted by reducing the energy losses. Even if the European Union took into account a series of energy efficiency measures policy in the past 10 years for loss reduction and CO2 amounts, an integrated framework to accelerate the use of transformers energy efficient still does not exist. The aim of the paper is to analyse different strategies for replacement of aging transformers which can be profitable for the Distribution Networks Operators (DNOs) from viewpoint of saving energy and can contribute to fulfil the European energy policy targets. The strategies refer to identifying the over loaded and under loaded transformers and replacing them with properly sized transformers having higher energy performance standards. The analyses carried out on a sample of 51 transformers showed an annual cost reduction of energy losses up to 63%.


OBJECTIVE—To evaluate whether treatment with insulin is advantageous compared with oral antidiabetes agents in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes with severe hyperglycemia after short-term intensive insulin therapy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients with severe hyperglycemia were hospitalized and treated with intensive insulin injections for 10–14 days. The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed after intensive insulin treatment. After discharge, the patients were randomized to receive either insulin injections or oral antidiabetes drugs (OADs) for further management. The OGTT was repeated 6 months later, and β-cell function and insulin sensitivity were evaluated again. These subjects were continually followed up for another 6 months to evaluate their long-term glycemic control. RESULTS—At the 6th month of the study, the A1C level was significantly lower in the insulin group than in the OAD group (6.33 ± 0.70% vs. 7.50 ± 1.50%; P = 0.002). During the follow-up visit, the A1C level was still better in the insulin group (6.78 ± 1.21% vs. 7.84 ± 1.74%; P = 0.009). All parameters regarding β-cell function measured in the OGTT were improved significantly in both groups after 6 months of treatment. Compared with the OAD group, the homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function index, insulin area under the curve, and insulinogenic index were better in the insulin group. CONCLUSIONS—A 6-month course of insulin therapy, compared with OAD treatment, could more effectively achieve adequate glycemic control and significant improvement of β-cell function in new-onset type 2 diabetic patients with severe hyperglycemia.


General neuronal marker PGP 9.5 and neuropeptide immunoreactivity was investigated by quantitative and semi-quantitative methods in involved skin in ten patients with nodular prurigo and in seven normal control biopsies. PGP 9.5 counts for the nodular prurigo subjects were statistically significantly higher than those for the normal control group (p < 0.05). The highest PGP 9.5 counts were seen in nodular prurigo patients with the longest histories. All ten nodular prurigo biopsies had increased calcitonin gene-related peptide in comparison to the control; substance P was increased in four out of ten, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide was minimally increased in three out of ten, but neuropeptide Y did not show any difference from the controls


Seven years ago, the Academy sponsored two conferences which may be considered the precursors of this one. These were "Axenic Culture of Invertebrate Metazoa: A Goa1,"l and "Germ-Free Vertebrates: Present Status."2 At the time of those conferences, there was little mention of instrumentation, which at that time was devoted mainly to the physical characteristics of the extant apparatus largely in the glassware stage of development. However, the researches on germfree vertebrate life had been aided by many years of work on the design and mechanical development of isolators. In the interim, there has been considerable development in culture methods for germ-free organisms and animal^;^.^ there have also been many developments in technology, particularly in electronic instrumentation. The exhibits at the larger technical meeting^,^ the listings of instruments and apparatus in many technical journals, and the advertisements of such apparatus play a useful role in bringing to the scientific community an awareness of newly developed instrumentation.6 This paper is designed to be largely conceptual in nature and to stimulate thinking about the development of defined media control systems that approximate, as closely as possible, those which exist within a host animal. To anyone outside the field of this conference, it seems that the development of axenic culture methods has been accompanied by a development in nomenclature and semantics which has paralleled, if not exceeded, the growth of the field. However, the methods which I shall discuss, insofar as they represent basic modern technology, are equally applicable to axenic, holidic, monobiotic, polybiotic, gnotobiotic, or any other culture or biological systems capable of being controlled externally.


The safety and welfare of companion animals such as dogs has become a large challenge in the last few years. To assess the well-being of a dog, it is very important for human beings to understand the activity pattern of the dog, and its emotional behavior. A wearable, sensor-based system is suitable for such ends, as it will be able to monitor the dogs in real-time. However, the question remains unanswered as to what kind of data should be used to detect the activity patterns and emotional patterns, as does another: what should be the location of the sensors for the collection of data and how should we automate the system? Yet these questions remain unanswered, because to date, there is no such system that can address the above-mentioned concerns. The main purpose of this study was (1) to develop a system that can detect the activities and emotions based on the accelerometer and gyroscope signals and (2) to automate the system with robust machine learning techniques for implementing it for real-time situations. Therefore, we propose a system which is based on the data collected from 10 dogs, including nine breeds of various sizes and ages, and both genders. We used machine learning classification techniques for automating the detection and evaluation process. The ground truth fetched for the evaluation process was carried out by taking video recording data in frame per second and the wearable sensors data were collected in parallel with the video recordings. Evaluation of the system was performed using an ANN (artificial neural network), random forest, SVM (support vector machine), KNN (k nearest neighbors), and a naïve Bayes classifier. The robustness of our system was evaluated by taking independent training and validation sets. We achieved an accuracy of 96.58% while detecting the activity and 92.87% while detecting emotional behavior, respectively. This system will help the owners of dogs to track their behavior and emotions in real-life situations for various breeds in different scenarios.


The influence of the addition of mineral admixtures on the leaching behavior of Sr~(2+) and Cs~+ in cement solidified forms containing simulated high salt and alkali-loaded low and intermediate level radioactive liquid waste was investigated.The results show that the addition of both slag and fly-ash can reduce the leach rate of Sr~(2+),while the addition of zeolite and attapulgite can reduce the leach rate of Cs~+ obviously. The cumulative leach rate of Cs~+ in the solidified form with cement:slag:fly-ash:zeolite: attapulgite in the ratio of 4:2:2:1:1 is 15.2%of that in Portland Cement after leaching for 42 d. Furthermore,the addition of slag,fly-ash,zeolite,and attapulgite facilitates modified the solidification of dissoluble salts.The leach rates of Sr~(2+) and Cs~+ in the above mineral admixtures-modified Portland cement solidified forms can satisfy the requirements of GB14569.1 -2011.