This study of properly or strictly convex real projective manifolds introduces notions of parabolic, horosphere and cusp. Results include a Margulis lemma and in the strictly convex case a thick-thin decomposition. Finite volume cusps are shown to be projectively equivalent to cusps of hyperbolic manifolds. This is proved using a characterisation of ellipsoids in projective space. Except in dimension 3, there are only finitely many topological types of strictly convex manifolds with bounded volume. In dimension 4 and higher, the diameter of a closed strictly convex manifold is at most 9 times the diameter of the thick part. There is an algebraic characterization of strict convexity in terms of relative hyperbolicity. Surfaces are ubiquitous throughout mathematics; in good measure because of the geometry of Riemann surfaces. Similarly, Thurston's insights into the geometry of 3–manifolds have led to many developments in diverse areas. This paper develops the bridge between real projective geometry and low dimensional topology. Real projective geometry is a rich subject with many connections. In recent years it has been combined with topology in the study of projective structures on manifolds. Classically it provides a unifying framework as it contains the three constant curvature geometries as subgeometries. In dimension 3 it contains the eight Thurston geometries (up to a subgroup of index 2 in the case of product geometries) and there are paths of projective structures that correspond to transitions between different Thurston geometries on a fixed manifold. Moreover, there is a link between real projective deformations and complex hyperbolic deformations of a real hyperbolic orbifold (see [22]). Projective geometry therefore offers a general and versatile viewpoint for the study of 3–manifolds. Another window to projective geometry: The symmetric space SL(n,R)/SO(n) is isomorphic to the group of projective automorphisms of the convex set in projective space obtained from the open cone of positive definite quadratic forms in n variables. This set is properly convex: its closure is a compact convex set, which is disjoint from some projective hyperplane. The boundary of the closure has a rich structure as it consists of semi-definite forms and, when n = 3, contains a dense set of flat 2-discs; each corresponding to a family of semi-definite forms of rank 2 which may be identified with a copy of the hyperbolic plane. From a geometrical point of view there is a crucial distinction between strictly convex domains, which contain no straight line segment in the boundary, and the more general class of properly convex domains. The former behave like manifolds of negative sectional curvature and the latter like arbitrary symmetric spaces. However, projective manifolds are more general: Kapovich [34] has shown that there are closed strictly convex 4–manifolds which do not admit a hyperbolic structure. The Hilbert metric is a complete Finsler metric on a properly convex set Ω. This is the hyperbolic metric in the Klein model when Ω is a round ball. A simplex with the Hilbert metric is isometric to a normed vector space, and appears in a natural geometry on the Lie algebra sln. A singular version of this metric arises in the study of certain limits of projective structures. The Hilbert metric has a Hausdorff measure and hence a notion of finite volume. Cooper is supported in part by NSF grant DMS–0706887. Long is supported in part by NSF grant DMS–1005659. Tillmann is supported in part by ARC grant DP1095760.


This evening (6 May 2016), Julia Mulligan was re-elected as Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire. The aggregate stage one count for North ...


This paper is intended to cover some major issues in the sphere of non-formal education in Russia and its validation. The ratio of "formal" and "non-formal learning" is the main aspect of solving the problems of the advanced development of public education systems. It is illuminated that the official education systems are slowly adjusting to socio-economic development, their own conservatism as well as the inertia of societies contributes to this fact. Modern society has already had the opportunity to make sure that non-formal education is stronger, as the formal education system is not able to reverse the result of non-formal human socialization. The aim of this paper is to present the relevance of this topic for Russia, as the creation of efficient model of non-formal validation will meet the needs of people of different ages, especially adults, to implement the so-called lifelong learning in life. The paper reviews international leading literature in this subject focusing on its practical application and including the results of Russian participation in international VALERU project.


Based on Raquel de Queiroz's novel Memorial de Maria Moura, this article intends to analyze the image of the Brazilian woman in this book, regarding its position in the patriarchal family and in Brazilian society at large. The several intrigues, which, responding to particular ways of developing social and politic relationships in Brazil, constitutes the novel, will be presented paradigmatically as a mirror of Brazilian society of those times. The conceptions concerning the fights and the issues in the story in Memorial de Maria Moura will be the connected to the various attributes which Brazilian sociological and anthropological literature has given to the Brazilian woman of those times.


TENDENCIES OF DEVELOPMENT IN CHEERLEADING IN RUSSIA Z.S. Kuleshova, postgraduate Moscow state academy of physical culture, Moscow Key words: cheerleading, staginess, rules and practice of refereeing, difficulty, system of deductions. The purpose of the present research was improvement of the educational-process of athletes and refereeing competitions in cheerling as a kind of sport. Methods and organization of the research. The studies were carried out using a number of methods: 1. analysis of specialized literature on cheerleading and related sports; 2. review (questionnaire, interview); 3. videoanalysis of teams performance; 4. methods of mathematical statistics. The research was organized and its results were introduction, mostly, in Moscow cheerleading federation. The questionaire was carried out both on the trainters extra-mural courses and courses for referees and trainers. The researchers interviewed trainers, jury and team members of the Moscow club Assol. 7 member of the constant jury, 13 cheerleading trainers and 24 athletes were interviewed in the research devoted to the problems of refereeing. The research resulted in the following conclusions: 1. As far as trainers and referees (100%) and athletes (96%) consider that the introduction of acrobatics to the cheerleading program does not result in decrease of artistic level of compositions it is assumed that the introduction of acrobatics is useful, promoting more sports direction of the programs. 2. In the respondents opinion, the matter of objectivization of refereeing is acute. One of the ways of objectivization of refereeing is the system of regulation of deductions for made motor faults and defects of compositions. Both trainers (77% and 62% correspondingly) and athletes (75 and 75%) and referees (75 and 60%) consider it efficient and assume that it will promote increase objectivity of refereeing. Consequently, in the questioned trainers (100%), athletes (83%) and referees (86%) opinion, the rules of refereeing are to be changed with the changes of difficulty of the programs in the cheerleading practice.


Cities are the main regions of fossil energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Analysis of characteristics of the CO2 emissions from fossil energy consumption in typical cities, and clarification of the dynamics and critical influencing factors of the CO2 emissions in different cities could provide important scientific basis for CO2 mitigation action in urban areas. With the IPCC recommended methods and China⁃specific emission parameters, the CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion were estimated in 11 typical cities from 2006 to 2015. Based on the emission characters and economic development, the 11


This paper presents the results of joint research between PSA, ECP and LAA. This research was carried out to link various behavioural parameters (wheel angle, driver attitude,...) with drowsiness at the wheel. An experimental car has been equipped with several sensors; chosen sensors characterize the main contact regions between the car and the driver, without causing any constraint or discomfort for the driver. To find effective correlations between behavioural signals and the onset of driver's drowsiness at the wheel, experimental tests were conducted, in a first step, in static condition, with six drivers, who were submitted to simulated driving conditions. During each test, driver's physiological signals (EEG and EOG) and above-mentioned behavioural signals were simultaneously recorded. The initial results have proved it is possible to predict the onset of driver's drowsiness, through the use of multiple sensors. Other tests, involving more drivers in more realistic driving conditions, are still necessary in order to exhibit a general and reliable device. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 869205.


This paper describes an effective filtering algorithm which employs a priori information of SPECT lesion detectability potential for the filtering of degraded projection image prior to backprojection. For a given set of physical conditions, the authors determined m minimum detectable lesion sizes (MDLSs) from SPECT lesion detectability contrast-detail curves, uniformly-choosing m lesion contrasts between 0.0 and 1.0. Related to the authors' previous work, an optimal estimate of given projection image was attempted as a weighted combination of the subimages from the m optimal filters whose design is focused on maximizing the local S/N ratios of the determined MDLS-lesions, and the weighting on each subimage was controlled by the difference between the subimage and a maximum-resolution-recovered projection image. The results of the authors' simulation study showed the adaptive effect of this algorithm and its good performance in effectively reducing image noise and preserving/enhancing lesion structures.


By taking into consideration the trouble of waterdrawing pressure pipe's slip joint which has existed since the hydropower station commenced operation,this paper analyses the cause of water-leakage,handling procedure and reform scheme,removes the hidden peril which affects the station's safe operation and boosts the reliadility of the generator units.


: Biomineralization is an important biological process of organisms to produce organic-inorganic composites with hierarchical structures, where the biological matrix plays a predominant role in the regulation of nucleation, orientation, growth, and self-assembly of inorganic materials. According to the principle of biomineralization, bionic organic-inorganic composites with well-defined structure and excellent properties can be thus synthesized under a biomatrix-mediated process. Intriguingly, it is now possible to obtain new functionalized organisms by means of biomimetic mineralization through synergistic integration of structure and function of both materials and organisms, which has become an emerging direction. This review first introduces the basic theory and phenomenon of biological mineralization in nature. Then, by introducing the structure and function of biological minerals, we propose the concept of biomimetic construction of new functional life, and systematically introduce the methods involving the construction of new material-organisms hybrid. On this basis, such biomineralization-based engineering strategy provides a new way to produce materials-organisms hybrids as new life forms, and shows immense potentials in environmental protection, energy, medicine and other fields. Finally, the limitations and problems existing in this field are discussed, and promising prospects of intelligent construction of materials-organisms hybrids are also presented. We believe the biomineralization-based engineering of organisms can promote the continuous fusion of disciplinary boundaries and bioinorganic


Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of ear point bloodletting plus pricking-cupping bloodletting in treating acne vulgaris.Method Eighty patients with acne vulgaris were randomly allocated to treatment and control groups,40 cases each.The treatment group received ear point bloodletting plus pricking-cupping bloodletting and the control group took medicines orally.The clinical therapeutic effects were compared between the two groups.Results After four weeks of treatment,the total efficacy rate was 95.0% in the treatment group and 77.5% in the control group.There was a statistically significant difference in the total efficacy rate between the two groups(P0.05),indicating that the total efficacy rate was higher in the treatment group than in the control group.Conclusion Ear point bloodletting plus pricking-cupping bloodletting has a reliable therapeutic effect on acne vulgaris.


The common thread running through all the contributions to this Special Issue is a challenge to the idea that Mostar is only comprehensible in terms of its deep-rooted ethnonational division. For all these authors, the emphasis on this central division is reductionist. It fails to grasp the complexity of urban life in the city and obscures much of what goes in the spaces of everyday life, in urban encounters, and in the many alternative ways of representing the city at grassroots level. The contributors argue that the simplified view of a polarized Mostar is propagated by local political and cultural elites, academics and international agencies in ways which have helped sustain the political stasis that has characterized the city since the Dayton Accords. Accordingly, the authors seek to uncover practices which problematize the central ethno-national division and which perhaps might encourage new forms of urban politics and conflict transformation. I should declare an interest here at the outset. As a contributor to the comparative literature on ethno-nationally divided cities, I am potentially vulnerable to the criticism of over-stressing the totalizing role of ethno-national conflict in shaping cities like Belfast, Jerusalem, Nicosia, Mostar and Beirut. Within this literature, even if it is no longer subject to organized political violence, Mostar is often presented in almost iconic terms as embodying a frozen conflict characterized by intractable ethno-national division. This Special Issue marks a refreshing challenge to those who exaggerate the primacy and permanence of this division. Indeed, it provides many glimpses of resistances and alternatives to Mostar's 'landscape of political and social impasse' (Carabelli) while pointing the way to a more hopeful and inclusive future. The articles offer welcome 'bottom up' perspectives in opposition to the 'top-down' views of ruling elites, international agencies or academics. The Mostar presented in this Special Issue is processual rather than fixed or permanent; it appears as a city of complex cross-cutting divisions, of everyday encounters, youthful grassroots activism, and of constructive nostalgia which recalls the better times of a shared and more tolerant pre-war city. Mostar's frozen post-war landscape of rigid ethno-national division is 'unfrozen' by asking how the notion of division is enacted, performed and embodied in the urban landscape (Laketa). One way of characterizing these authors is to suggest that they are attempting to 'see like a city' rather than to 'see like a state'. William Magnusson (2011) has sought to develop the distinction between the politics of urbanism and the politics of the state. This distinction depends on differentiating between states and cities as social phenomena.


&NA; The fingertip is an extremely intricate area of digital sensibility that plays an important role in fine perception and hand function. Thus, sensate fingertip reconstruction is essential to the recovery of most hand functions. The authors used two methods of direct‐flow homodigital neurovascular island flap coverage to reconstruct distal finger amputations—namely, the triangularadvancement flap technique and the step‐advancement flap method. The authors present their experience with these two variations of direct‐flow homodigital neurovascular island flaps and their use in reconstructing 18 fingertips and 7 proximal amputation stumps. They did not observe flap failure, and they achieved stable, well‐vascularized, appropriate‐thickness skin coverage with good sensory properties in all patients. However, they found that the triangular‐advancement flap technique was easier to plan and perform than the step‐advancement method. Borman H, Maral T, Tancer M. Fingertip reconstruction using two variations of direct‐flow homodigital neurovascular island flaps. Ann Plast Surg 2000;45:24‐30


Sospeter Muhongo, a Tanzanian, is a Full Professor of Geology at the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and an Honorary Professor of Geology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of London and an Honorary Research Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. He is a fellow of eight highly learned professional societies. He was the founding Regional Director of the ICSU Regional Office for Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. Prof Muhongo was the President (1995-2001) of the Geological Society of Africa and Chair (2007- 2010) of Science Programme Committee (SPC) of the UN-proclaimed International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE). He is the Vice President of the Commission of the Geological Map of the World (CGMW). Prof. Muhongo is the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of African Earth Sciences (Elsevier), Associate Editor of Precambrian Research (Elsevier) and a member of several editorial boards of science bulletins.


Introduction: The goal of this work is to restore data from the Hayabusa spacecraft that is currently available in the Planetary Data System (PDS) Small Bodies Node. The archived Itokawa AMICA (Asteroid Multi-Band Imaging Camera) images are not radiometrically calibrated and photometrically corrected (corrected from the effect of varying viewing geometry). Therefore, this PDS dataset is not directly usable for analysis of the reflectance of Itokawa's surface. For processing images from AMICA and spectra from the NIRS (Near-InfraRed Spectrometer) instrument we used the Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers (ISIS) system version 3. Our main objective is to process the AMICA mutliband and NIRS (point spectrometer) data to create global mosaics, perform photometric modeling on the calibrated data, apply photometric corrections, and extract mineralogical parameters. The end results of this effort will be the creation of pyroxene chemistry and olivine/pyroxene ratio maps of Itokawa using combined NIRS and AMICA map products. All the products/maps from this work will be archived in the PDS. All newly implemented ISIS3 applications and map projections from this work will be distributed via ISIS3 public releases. AMICA images: The processing of clear and color images starts with the ingestion of the images in ISIS3 using the application amica2isis and the attachments of the right SPICE kernels using spiceinit to get geometric, pointing and trajectory information. Then, the AMICA start time needs to be updated due to a discrepancy between the start times in the label of the PDS label and the start times retrieved by StereoPhotoClinometry (SPC) modeling and stored in resulting SUMFILEs. The AMICA start times were known to have a 12 second uncertainty where some have been corrected by Gaskell and retained in the SUMFILEs. S/C trajectory and AMICA pointing: We implemented a new ISIS3 application called sumspice that can update s/c trajectory and pointing information. This application was developed to apply ephemeris pointing and spacecraft position data to individual images using SUMFILEs, a byproduct of digital elevation modeling (DEM) processes. It has been designed to also apply timing corrections contained within the SUMFILEs to image observation start times. We discovered this discrepancy when evaluating geometric alignment with the Itokawa DEM. This issue was resolved with additional functionality added to sumspice to apply the start times in the Gaskell SUMFILEs to each image and is a selectable user option in the application. Testing of this application as applied to AMICA images of Itokawa shows very good alignment after application of timing, pointing and spacecraft position updates. It did, however, reveal a very slight scale difference. This has been tracked to the AMICA camera distortion model. The model as documented in the instrument manuscript was initially added to the ISIS camera model. It appears there was no distortion model applied during SPC modeling work. Therefore, we have removed the distortion parameter from the ISIS AMICA camera model.


This kind of milk powder substitute is using soybean, rice, wheat as main raw materials, adopting fixed trypsin to treat soybean protein for making it inversion protein predigesting; starch contained in rice and wheat is treated with amylase to transform it into starch sugar predigesting which composition is mainly malt sugar and glucose. Said predigestion protein, predigested rice powder and flour are mixed in the right proportion and adding appropriate other components, the milk powder substitute is produced for children food, its digestibility is better than that milk powder substitute made by other process.


In order to control atmosphere pollution, the method of cleaning smoke with cooperation of gas-water corona discharge effect has been put forward according to the reaction mechanism of gas-water interface corona discharge. Based on the new idea of De-SO2, De-NOX and dust removal simultaneously, the model and its system was designed and De-SO2 experiment was carried out. Experimental results showed that the efficiency of desulphurization is 99% when the corona discharge voltage is 5kV, the flux of smoke is 1.85m3/h, and the flux of flowing water is 3L/min.


Success in reading the yellow book requires a teacher's strategy / efforts carried out by the asatidz / teacher council. This study has the aim of knowing the teacher's efforts in improving the ability to read the yellow book. This type of research is a qualitative research that collects data using interview and documentation methods. Based on the theory, the results of observations and interviews can be concluded 1. The teacher's efforts in improving the ability to read the yellow book are the teacher providing daily nahwu material, increasing class hours, using the sorogan method, giving mufrodat (vocabulary) doing questions and answers during madrasah, getting used to reading the mabadiul fiqhiyah book, accuracy in reading the yellow book, understanding in exploring the contents of the yellow book reading, and the ability to express the contents of the yellow book reading. 2. supporting factors and inhibiting the ability to read the yellow book. The teacher gives motivation to read often, uses an interesting learning process, and has low interest.


Objective:To investigate the changes in the posterior corneal surface topography after LASIK and the factors that influence the results.Methods:This study comprised 41 eyes of middle and high myopia(2 patients) that had undergone LASIK. Diopter and radius of curvature of posterior corneal surface were measured by Orbscan before operation, and at 3rd day, 3rd month post operatiion. Eyes were divided into two groups(3mm area and 5mm area) according to the optical diameter of cornea.Results:Significant difference in posterior corneal surface topography existed between pre operation and post operation(P0.05) in corneal center and peripheral(P0.05). There is significant difference in 3 months and 3 days post operation in 3mm area(P0.05). The change in radius of curvature of posterior corneal surface was correlated with corneal thickness after LASIK(r=-0.6,P0.05), but irrelevant to IOP. The change of posterior corneal surface topography was more significant in the corneal thickness less than 350μm(P0.01).Conclusion:LASIK can decrease the radius of curvature of the posterior corneal surface. The corneal thickness after LASIK is a major contributing factor.


PURPOSE
To determine whether previously shown photodynamic (PD)-induced inhibition of specific photoreceptor outer segment (POS) phagocytosis by ARPE-19 cells is associated with reductions in receptor proteins mediating POS phagocytosis, and if PD treatment with merocyanine-540 (MC-540) produces additional effects leading to its inhibition of nonspecific phagocytosis.

METHODS
ARPE-19 cells preloaded with MC-540 or rose bengal (RB) were sublethally irradiated with green light. Phagocytosis of POS was measured by flow cytometry and POS receptor proteins (Mer tyrosine kinase receptor [MerTK] and integrin subunits αv and β5) and β-actin were quantified by Western blotting at 0.5 and 24 hours after irradiation, with comparison to samples from nonsensitized control cultures. The intact integrin heterodimer αvβ5 was quantified by immunoprecipitation followed by blotting. The distribution of N-cadherin, ZO-1, and F-actin was visualized by fluorescence microscopy.

RESULTS
Mild PD stress mediated by both photosensitizers that elicits no significant morphologic changes produces transient and recoverable reductions in MerTK. The individual αv and β5 integrin subunits are also reduced but only partially recover. However, there is sufficient recovery to support full recovery of the functional heterodimer. Light stress mediated by MC-540 also reduced levels of actin, which is known to participate in the internalization of particles regardless of type.

CONCLUSIONS
After PD treatment POS receptor protein abundance and phagocytosis show a coincident in time reduction then recovery suggesting that diminution in receptor proteins contributes to the phagocytic defect. The additional inhibition of nonspecific phagocytosis by MC-540-mediated stress may result from more widespread effects on cytosolic proteins. The data imply that phagocytosis receptors in RPE cells are sensitive to oxidative modification, raising the possibility that chronic oxidative stress in situ may reduce the efficiency of the RPE's role in photoreceptor turnover, thereby contributing to retinal degenerations.


The interplay between structural properties and charge transfer in self-assembled quantum ring (QR) chains grown by molecular beam epitaxy on top of an InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) superlattice template is analyzed and characterized. The QDs and QRs are vertically stacked and laterally coupled as well as aligned within each layer due to the strain field distributions that governs the ordering. The strong interdot coupling influences the carrier transfer both along as well as between chains in the ring layer and dot template structures. A qualitative contrast between different dynamic models has been developed. By combining temperature and excitation intensity effects, the tuning of the photoluminescence gain for either the QR or the QD mode is attained. The information obtained here about relaxation parameters, energy scheme, interlayer and interdot coupling resulting in creation of 1D structures is very important for the usage of such specific QR–QD systems for applied purposes such as lasing, detection, and energy-harvesting technology of future solar panels.


A novel process of roasting high-iron bauxite using ammonium bisulfate was proposed to overcome the defects of traditional process, such as high power consumption and low extraction rates. First, the thermodynamics in decomposition process of high-iron gibbsitic bauxite resource in Guangxi was analyzed. Then, various parameters including ammonium bisulfate addition, roasting temperature and roasting time were investigated. The product was also characterized by XRD. The results show that extraction rates of over 93% and 95% respectively for aluminum and iron are obtained after roasting at 450 ℃ for 60 min and mass ratio of ammonium bisulfate to bauxite being 3.5:1. The phase of alumina-containing compounds is always NH4Al(SO4)2 in product.(NH4)3Fe(SO4)3 is produced as intermediate products, and it is replaced by NH4Fe(SO4)2 finally. The process is proved to be significant with the advantages of high extracting rates and low temperature.


This paper studies the propagation properties of Hermitian-Gaussian(H-G) beams passing through the hard-edged diaphragm with Gaussian distribution.The approximate analytical propagation equation is derived by means of expansion of the hard-edged diaphragm function into a finite sum of complex Gaussian functions.Numerical calculation examples are given for the intensity of Hermitian-Gaussian beams through a thin lens.


engineering Skeletal tiSSueS WitH Stem cellS cultureD onto natural origin ScaffolDS in moDulateD environmentS manuela e. gomes graduated in metallurgical and materials engineering, University of Porto, Portugal in 2007, obtained the MSc in Polymer Engineering, Univ. of Minho in 2001 and the PhD in collaboration with the Rice University (USA) in 2005. In 2005 she was awarded with a Pos-doc fellowship of the FCT (Portuguese Science Foundation). Currently, and as from July 2007, she is Invited assistant professor of the mIT-portugal program. furthermore, she is a board member of the doctoral Program on Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells of the University of Minho. She also supports the lecturing on biomaterials, tissue engineering and stem cells to biomedical engineering students of the Univ. of Minho. Recently she was awarded with an FCT Career Development Grant from the FCT, which will enable her promotion to invited Associate Professor in the fall of 2013. Manuela E. Gomes is an active member of several International Scientific Manuela E. Gomes, Ph.D. Principal Investigator/Invited Associate Professor Department of Polymer Engineering, University of Minho, Caldas das Taipas, Guimarães, PT Website: www.3bs.uminho.pt/users/megomes Designing successful tissue engineered substitutes involves a challenging and continuous effort to balance the interplay of the scaffold with the stem cells and the culturing environment. The scaffold design requirements evolved significantly with the growing knowledge in this field that has evidenced the importance of developing stimulating scaffolds, with forms/composition tailored to specific applications, enabling to maximize interactions with cells and/or tissues. We have developed and studied several scaffolds based on natural origin polymers, in particular 3D fiber mesh scaffolds based on starch-polycaprolactone blends (SPCL), which have been used in different approaches for the regeneration of skeletal tissues, involving the culturing of stem cells from different sources, in some cases under dynamic culturing environments. The outcomes of these studies highlight the influence of the scaffold structure and of the cell-source specific behavior and differentiation stage on the resulting in vitro and in vivo functionality of tissue engineered constructs. These findings trigger our growing interest on in vitro biomechanically-stimulating culture environments that can be achieved modulating the scaffold architecture and composition and the stem cells. Thus, upgraded scaffold designs inspired in fiber meshes structures and/or incorporating additional biochemical (such as growth factors provided in platelets lysates) or physical (e.g. magnetism) features, are being developed to create skeletal tissue substitutes with enhanced functionality, addressing specific tissue requirements. This work was mainly funded through EC (FP7) and FCT projects (Portuguese Science Foundation)/ MIT-Portugal program. AdvAnces in Tissue regenerATion 2013 16 program abStract nanoScale SurfaceS anD PePtiDe gelS for tiSSue engineering aPPlicationS Julie gough is a reader in biomaterials and Tissue engineering, in the School of Materials, University of Manchester. Julie has a BSc in cell and immunobiology, MSc in toxicology and PhD in osteoblast responses to biomaterials and has been at the University of Manchester as a PI for 10 years. Julie has gained over £3m funding from research councils, charities, (EPSRC, BBSRC, Leverhulme Trust), and industry, and has published over 60 research papers. Julie's expertise is in cellular responses to biomaterials and tissue engineering scaffolds, focusing on mechanically responsive connective tissues including cartilage, bone, skin, skeletal muscle and intervertebral disc using a range of materials including hydrogels, polymers, ceramics and metal alloys. one of her main areas of research is in the development and biological characterisation of hydrogels including nanofibrous self-assembling peptide systems in collaboration with Alberto Saiani, Aline Miller, and magneticallyand thermallyresponsive vesicle assemblies in collaboration with Simon Webb. Julie Gough, Ph.D. Reader in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering School of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Website: http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/j.gough/ Cells are known to respond to their physical environment both at the microand nanoscale. This has been evident for decades since the first research on contact guidance. We are investigating how cells respond to their nanofibrous surroundings via two main themes: 1. Cell responses to cellulose nanowhiskers (CNWs). 2. Cell responses to nanofibrous self-assembled peptide hydrogels. We have found that the CNWs (approximately 5-10nm height) are the smallest features to cause contact guidance in skeletal muscle cells and mesenchymal stem cells. Using a variety of cells types we are determining both the nanofibrous effect as well as the gel stiffness effect provided by the self-assembled hydrogels. Hopefully this will provide valuable information regarding mimiciking the extracellular matrix for tissue engineering. AdvAnces in Tissue regenerATion 2013 program 17 abStract Stem cellS for carDiac rePair Marie-José Goumans, PhD is professor at the department of Molecular Cell Biology at the Leiden UMC. She did her PhD in cardiovascular development at the Hubrecht Laboratory, investigating the role of TGFβ in cardiovascular development, followed by postdoctoral training at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer research in Uppsala, Sweden and the Netherlands Cancer Institute where she made important contributions on how TGFβ affects endothelial cell behaviour. In 2003, marie Jose was appointed assistant professor at the dept of cardiology, Utrecht UMC, where she initiate studies on cardiac progenitor cells. In 2004, she was awarded a prestigious NWO VIDI grant to unravel the role of cardiac progenitor cells in heart regeneration. In 2008, Dr Goumans moved to Leiden UMC and continued her studies on cardiac progenitor cell biology, in particular the role of the TGFb superfamily. In 2009, she became a member of the Young Academy of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science. From February 2012, she was appointed professor of molecular cardiovascular cell biology at the university of Leiden. Marie-José Goumans, Ph.D. Professor of Molecular Cardiovascular Cell Biology Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, NL Website: https://www.lumc.nl/con/1050/40835/901290026182537 Myocardial infarction (MI), blockage of a coronary artery, leads to deprivation of oxygen in a part of the heart muscle, and irreversible loss of cardiomyocytes. Since cardiomyocytes are unable to proliferate sufficiently, the damaged contractile tissue is replaced by a rigid scar, thereby diminishing the pump function of the heart. This will further attenuate cardiac contractility and ultimately result in heart failure. novel approaches to ameliorate or even reverse the progression of heart failure, include the use of progenitor or stem cells with the ability to differentiate into new cardiac tissue. We and others have shown that multipotent cardiac stem/progenitor cells reside in the heart that can differentiate into cardiac myocytes, smooth muscle cells, and vascular endothelial cells after transplantation into the injured myocardium, but due to the low retention of cells, this strategy has thus far had limited impact on cardiac function. endogenous regeneration of the mammalian neonatal heart, and the discovery that it may still persist in adulthood sparked hope for novel cardioregenerative therapies. In this talk, I will give an overview of the current options to restore the contractile force of the heart: the different stem cell sources as therapeutic agents in cardiac repair as well as more novel approaches like the activation of endogenous cell populations, the use of paracrine factors and their use in preclinical and clinical studies to repair the injured myocardium. AdvAnces in Tissue regenerATion 2013 18 program abStract enDotHelial cell Differentiation anD SPecification Karen K. Hirschi, PhD is a tenured Professor at Yale University, and a member of the Yale Cardiovascular research Center, as well as the Yale stem Cell Center. A primary interest of the Hirschi laboratory is to understand, at the cellular and molecular level, the events leading to blood vessel formation. They are interested in elucidating regulators of endothelial cell commitment, differentiation and specialization, as well as modulators of endothelial cell proliferation during blood vessel formation. They use the mouse model system to study vascular development in vivo (transgenesis), in situ (embryo culture) and in vitro (primary cell and co-culture systems). Information derived from the murine embryo model system is used to modulate the commitment of pluripotent human stem cells (hES and iPS cells) toward vascular cell fates, and to understand the distinct molecular mechanisms that govern the differentiation of human endothelial cells. Insights gained from these cell and developmental studies are applied to the genesis and optimization of clinically relevant strategies to promote endogenous vascular regeneration in vivo and to produce vascular and blood cells ex vivo, as part of multi-disciplinary projects designed to translate mechanisms of tissue morphogenesis into strategies to repair damaged and diseased tissues. Karen Hirschi, Ph.D. Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) Yale Cardiovascular Research Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA Website: http://medicine.yale.edu/intmed/cardio/ycvrc/facultylabs/k-hirschi.aspx The vasculature is a ubiquitously distributed organ system that nourishes almost all tissues of the body. Thus, the growth, repair and regeneration of all tissues require the formation and/or remodeling of blood vessels. similarly, the survival and o


Recently we have found a couple of errors in our paper entitled An extension problem and trace Hardy inequality for the sub-Laplacian on $H$-type groups, Int. Math. Res. Not. IMRN (2020), no. 14, 4238–4294. They concern Propositions 3.12–3.13, and Theorem 1.5, Corollary 1.6 and Remark 4.10. The purpose of this corrigendum is to point out the errors and supply necessary modifications where it is applicable.


Both the theoretical basis and computational approach for extending the capabilities of a spectral line broadening code are presented. Following standard line broadening theory, the effects of an external magnetic field are incorporated into the atomic Hamiltonian and plasma average. In the presence of an external magnetic field the atomic Hamiltonian angular properties are altered — atomic energy levels are perturbed and the spectral emission line is polarized. The magnetic field introduces a preferential axis that changes the plasma average. These extensions have been incorporated into a new spectral line broadening code that is applied to several problems of importance to the understanding of tokamak edge plasmas. Applications fall into two broad categories: 1) determination of local plasma properties from distinct line shape features; and 2) consideration of global plasma phenomenon, such as radiation transport. Observable features of the Zeeman effect make Hα a good magnetic field diagnostic. Hβ does...


The utility model discloses a safety fireworks setting-off device, which comprises a barrel (1). A body of the barrel (1) is cylindrical or cubic; the upper end of the barrel (1) is open; a distance between the lateral wall of the barrel (1) and a built-in fireworks barrel (2); and a lead hole (3) is arranged on the lateral wall on the lower portion of the barrel (1). Accordingly, the safety fireworks setting-off device can avoid serial explosion and rebound explosion after a single firework explodes when fireworks inside the device are set off, thereby ensuring safety of people setting off the fireworks and spectators. Simultaneously, the lead hole is arranged on the lateral wall on the lower portion of the barrel to facilitate setting off the fireworks. The safety fireworks setting-off device has the advantages of simple structural design, easy manufacturing and processing, convenient use, high safety and reusability.


Previous calculations of radiation loss from an HE11-mode propagating on a fibre with a sinusoidally perturbed core boundary are valid only for radiation directions sufficiently near 0° or 90° to the fibre axis. This letter presents a solution valid for all angles and also shows that radiation maxima are clearly associated with leaky-mode resonances.


Cloud services have occupied a huge niche in today's IT world, however there are still some reasons why it is necessary to stop using remote data storage in some cases. In particular, one of such reasons is lack of confidence to cloud service provider. This article describes a way of interaction with the cloud storage where it is possible to conceal information stored in files and protect metadata of these files: size, quantity, etc. The main purpose of this paper is the implementation of such tool which can process files as easy as file-based encryption and has the same working speed.


Since published in 1983,the diesel engine approval test standard adopting UIC standard by equation has been playing an important role in research,development,manufacture,operation,test and approval of diesel engine.Personal opinions are expressed in terms of the content change of standard's three versions,problems met in implementing the standard and how to understand the standard.


The excellent wavelength tuning properties of InP-based quantum dash layer structures were used to realise ultra-wide gain bandwidth lasers (>250 nm) for 1.55 /spl mu/m telecom applications and high performance long-wavelength 1.9 /spl mu/m lasers for gas sensing applications.


Introduction: The premature rupture of membranes constitutes a great problem of health in the obstetric patient that bears to severe complications for the mother like for the fetus. Objective: To determine the association of the high levels of the hormone gonadotropin chorionic fraction b, in vaginal fluids for the diagnosis of premature rupture of membranes. Material and methods: It is a cohort of prospective, transverse and comparative type. Sixty patients were included distributed in 2 groups, one formed by 30 patients with pregnancy of the third trimester and diagnostic clinical of probable RPM. The group 2 included 30 pregnant without RPM. For the obtaining of the sample a vaginal mirror was placed, you proceeded to irrigate the bottom of later vaginal sack with 5 mL of normal saline and later on the content was aspired with a syringe of 5 mL, you deposits the sample in a tube of stopper rehearsal and it was centrifuged to 3,000 revolutions per minute. To the sobrenadance is determined in quantitative form the hGC-b using the automated system of quimioluminiscence. The results were expressed in mUI/mL. Analysis dares of the exact of Fisher's to evaluate the association force. Results: You reports an exact test of Fisher's with a p < highly significant 0.00001, sensibility of 70%, specificity of 83%, value positive predictive of 80% and value negative predictive of 73%, reason of momios of 11.6 and relative risk of 3. Conclusions: A fort association exists among the elevation of the levels of the hGC-b in vaginal fluids for the diagnosis of rupture of membranes.


Although coherent phase-shift keying (CPSK) is an efficient means of transmitting digital signals over carrier systems, it has not enjoyed widespread use at microwave and millimeter wavelengths because of the difficulty of recovering an accurate reference carrier for coherent detection. In this paper, a system is described which requires only a narrow-band phase-locked-oscillator filter for reference carrier recovery. This is accomplished by block-coding and decoding the pulse sequence at the terminals; the recovery of a baseband timing wave is also facilitated by the coding process. It is also shown that: (i) for an arbitrary random input sequence, accurate carrier recovery cannot be achieved with just a narrow-band filter, (ii) for the system described, any input pulse sequence is acceptable, and (iii) there is a maximum error in the phase of the recovered reference carrier which can be controlled by choosing the number of pulses in the coding block and the bandwidth of the recovery filter.


The over-stoichiometric Li 1 + x CoO 2 (x = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3) cathode materials were synthesized from an aqueous solution of lithium nitrate (LiNO 3 ) as an excess lithium precursor and their effects on the electrochemical properties of all-solid-state lithium batteries employing Li 2 S-P 2 S 5 glass-ceramics solid electrolytes are investigated. A combination of X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy reveals that the excess lithium forms a residual Li 2 CO 3 layer on the surface of as-prepared Li 1 + x CoO 2 particles during the synthesis process. While regarded as an impurity phase in lithium battery systems using liquid electrolytes due to its detrimental effects on electrochemical performance, the Li 2 CO 3 formed on the surface of the over-stoichiometric Li 1 + x CoO 2 powders is identified in all-solid-state lithium battery systems using sulfide solid electrolytes to act as an effective coating material to suppress the interfacial side reactions despite its low ionic and electronic conductivity.©TheAuthor(s) The electrochemical properties of all Li 1 + x CoO 2 powders in ASS- LIB using Li 2 S-P 2 S 5 glass-ceramics electrolytes were evaluated by constructing laboratory-scale ASS cells assembled in a CR2032-type coin cell. The composite cathodes as a working electrode were prepared by mixing 39 wt% Li 1 + x CoO 2 , 59 wt% 78Li 2 S · 22P 2 S 5 glass- ceramics electrolytes, and 2 wt% Super P carbon. The 78Li 2 S · 22P 2 S 5 glass-ceramics used as the solid electrolyte was synthesized by high- energymechanicalmillingandsubsequentheat-treatment. 22 Thestart-ing materials of reagent-grade Li 2 S (99.9% purity, Alfa Aesar) and P 2 S 5 (99% purity, Sigma-Aldrich) were mixed thoroughly in the ap- propriate molar ratios, and then mechanical milling was performed at 520 rpm for 20 h using a high-energy planetary ball mill (Pulverisette 7, Fritsch). The glass-ceramics was prepared from the milled glass by heat-treatment at 230 ◦ C for 3 h in a dry Ar atmosphere. The all-solid-state cells were prepared by sequentially stacking and pressing the composite cathode, solid electrolyte powder, and the indium foil at 290 MPa into a 16-mm-diameter pellet. All cells were charged and discharged in galvanostatic mode at room temperature using a charge-discharge measurement device (TOSCAT-3100, Toyo system). The charge-discharge performance was evaluated under a constant current density of 0.05 C (7.25 mA g − 1 ) and at cut off voltages of 1.9 and 3.68 V (vs. Li-In). The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy mea- surements of the cells were performed in the frequency range between 0.3 MHz and 0.01 Hz using an impedance analyzer (Solartron 1260) after charging to 3.68 V at 0.05 C.


In this paper a novel structure of metamaterial is proposed in order to miniaturize a rectangular microstrip patch antenna. The metamaterial is composed of two nested split octagons which are located on a 10 mmx10 mm Rogers RT/duroid 5880 with 0.7874 mm thickness and dielectric constant of 2.2. A 3X5 array of such metamaterials is placed on the patch antenna substrate. By using this metamaterial in the antenna structure, the dimension of this proposed antenna is reduced compared to a simple microstrip patch antenna. Simulation results for return loss and radiation pattern of both proposed and conventional antenna are shown and compared. I. Introduction The basic geometry of a microstrip patch antenna(MPA) consists of a metallic patch printed on a grounded substrate. Three commonly used feeding methods are coaxial feed, stripline feed, and aperture- coupled feed. The patch antenna idea was first proposed in the early 1950s, but it was not until the late 1970s that this type of antenna attracted serious attention of the antenna community. The microstrip patch antenna offers the advantages of low profile, conformability to a shaped surface, ease of fabrication, and compatibility with integrated circuit technology, but the basic geometry suffers from narrow bandwidth. Metamaterials are artificial structures, and their electromagnetic properties dont exist in nature. Employing metamaterials in microstrip antenna substrate will result in the improvement of the antenna parameters like bandwidth, gain, efficiency, etc. Additionally, it is possible to miniaturize the antenna as much as desired with these structures, without dealing with surface waves problems. To date, many different techniques have been proposed, based on the use of metamaterials. Applications of double negative (DNG) and single negative (SNG) metamaterials have been widely studied by some research groups in miniaturization of subwavelength cavities, waveguides , and antennas. (6)This project present the possibility of miniaturization of a rectangular microstrip patch antenna by using a novel structure of metamaterial, which is placed on the substrate(1). With the advent and popularity of many wireless services, a quandary has arisen in the antenna community about how to develop small antennas that can satisfy the performance requirements for these systems as well as be aesthetically pleasing to the user. It is interesting to note that the latter point is not insignificant. As with the computer industry, mobile communications is very much a customer-driven market and thus the user requests, although technically with little merit, must be addressed. Ideally, an antenna that is unobtrusive and low cost, and can be located within thecasing of the handset would ensure the compactness of the handset terminal and therefore please the users. Microstrip antennas would appear to be possible candidates because of several attractive features, including their low profile, light weight, and ease of fabrication. Unfortunately, most present-day mobile communication systems are in the lower microwave region of the spectrum (less than 3 GHz) where these antennas in their conventional form are too large for wireless communication handsets. Several approaches have been reported to effectively reduce the size of the printed conductor of a microstrip patch antenna,here a new concept,that is the presence of metamaterial is used.(2) In this paper, we present the possibility of miniaturization of a rectangular microstrip patch antenna by using a novel structure of metamaterial, which is placed on the substrate.(3) First of all, designed a conventional rectangular patch antenna and analysed it. Then the resonance structure of the metamaterial is investigated and analyzed. Then the antenna structure at the presence of this metamaterial in the substrate is investigated and the return loss and radiation pattern of the proposed antenna is compared with the conventional patch antenna with the same dimension.(10)


It should be noted, that today the world scientific community try to find new ways of economic development, which are aimed at refusing to absolutize economic growth at the expense of solving social and ecological problems and ensuring the vital requirements of future generations. In this regard, the authors have proposed a methodological technique, that allows to systematize the factors of investment attractiveness of the business environment of the region, which are considered in terms of implementing the goals of sustainable development and increasing innovative activity. At the same time, we consider it necessary to emphasize, that the use of the obtained research results will allow, in our opinion, to significantly advance both in theoretical and practical terms in solving the development and implementation of reasonable interim measures to advance the region towards achieving sustainable development goals.


The aim of this paper is to refine, integrate and apply the methodology of OntoClean. Three aspects are taken into account; two of them concern main ideas of OntoClean, the third one is a study of a particular important application. The first section deals with the topic of identity: formal constraints on identity criteria, compatibility and identity among identity criteria. The second section deals with rigidity, dependence and existence. The final section investigates how meta-property criteria can be applied to the notion of artifact.


This paper explores the current state andfutureprospects ofhistorical archaeology in Australia andtakes as its starting points issues raised in Graham Connah's 1998 paper 'Pattern and purpose in historical archaeology'. Connah presents a rather narrow version of historical archaeology as a fading 'scholarly discipline' anchoredin academia. His assertion that 'a discipline consists very largely ofits body ofpublished material'fails to recognise the growing contribution ofotherforms ofpublic archaeology in Australia in the late twentieth century. We show that recent developments - the dialogue emerging between history and archaeology, the new publications and other media, interestfrom the wider community and recent academic appointments in the discipline - provide a counter-viewpointandcausefor optimism. In revisiting Connah 's main issues from these perspectives, some ofthe real problems and challengesfacing the discipline and the profession are also explored. As we peek from behind our piles ofconsultant reports, across the threshold ofa new millenium, we see historical archaeology in Australia has at last become 'historical' through a new engagement with history, and has begun to deliver worthwhile and meaningful knowledge to an eager and interested community. Some of the work appearing now is at last answering Graham Connah's clarion call that historical archaeology, rather than merely focusing on the' collection ofdata' , ought to be about 'increasing... our understanding of the human past' through 'problem-oriented research'. 1 The emergence of innovative, more integrated and cross-disciplinary approaches has meant that Brian Egloff's doubts over the usefulness of 'yet another heap of artefacts' may be allayed, for small things are indeed being 'focused upon matters that concern Australians'.z In short, the discipline is not facing a crisis. On the contrary, it is entering a most exciting and fruitful phase. While commendable in its concern and urgent fluency, Connah's most recent paper provides a rather narrow viewpoint of the current state of historical archaeology.3 His perspective, we contend, looks backward, seeing a fading 'scholarly discipline' anchored solely in academia. His assertion that 'a discipline consists very largely of its body of published material' fails to recognise the growing contribution of other forms of public archaeology in Australia in the late twentieth century.4 The associated contention that 'unless [historical archaeology] can properly establish itself in university education it seems unlikely to achieve wide acceptance by the tax-paying public at large' ignores the reality of public participation and interest in private sector archaeological projects and the demand for delivery of 'archaeology' to interested tax payers in an accessible form. Recent developments - the dialogue emerging between history and archaeology, the new publications and other media which have either appeared or are about to appear, interest from the wider community and recent academic appointments in the discipline - provide a counter-viewpoint and cause for optimism. We would like to revisit Connah's main issues, from the perspective of current approaches and work in historical archaeology. Some of the real problems and challenges facing the discipline and the profession can then also be explored.


.................................................................................................................................. 96 UNDERSTANDING YOUNG ADULT'S MEANING MAKING IN ADJUSTING TO DIABETES MANAGEMENT BEHAVIOUR: MULTI-METHODS APPROACH............ 97 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 97 Materials and methods ........................................................................................................... 101 Research design.................................................................................................................. 101 Research setting ................................................................................................................. 102 Ethical considerations......................................................................................................... 102


Wind turbines are of the most promising devices to cut down carbon emissions. However, some phenomena that adversely affect their performance are inevitable. The aim of the present paper is to investigate flow separation prevention exploiting leading edge (LE) single dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator (SDBD-PA) on an airfoil belonging to a section of a locally developed wind turbine. The numerical results of the surface pressure distribution over the airfoil were compared with the experimental measurements carried out by the authors on the same blade section, and good agreement was found between numerical and experimental data for both plasma-OFF and plasma-ON cases. An in-depth parametric numerical investigation was then carried out to provide a better understanding of the flow behavior affected by the activation of PA over the same airfoil at post stall angle of attacks (AOAs). According to the results, the frequency and voltage of actuation, AOA, and free stream velocity are shown to have strong impacts on separation delay and actuation effectiveness. In Reynolds number of 2.85 × 105, the maximum PA effectiveness takes place at 21° which is approximately 312%, 307%, and 256% corresponding to the PA location of LE, 0.02 chord, and 0.15 chord, respectively. Also, maximum velocity of the domain is increased three times of the free stream velocity on average for three investigated Reynolds numbers at the frequency and voltage of 12 kHz and 12 kV, respectively. Furthermore, the size of the wake area noticeably contracts due to the presence of the SDBD-PA. The results clearly indicate that the lift and drag coefficients as well as the lift-to-drag ratio fit a linear variation pattern with the frequency of actuation. The variation rate of the aforementioned parameters becomes steeper as the peak voltage of actuation increases. Highly nonlinear aerodynamic responses and significant interactions were demonstrated between the investigated parameters.


What is JA group? JA is an organization that conducts bus iness ac t iv i t i e s based on the participation and collective efforts of its members. Number of farmers is 4.94 million and that of resident members is 4.38 million. We collectively purchase the materials necessary for agricultural production and collectively market agricultural products. A wide range of business enterprises is also involved, such as those that provide members with products necessary for daily life; credit services, savings accounts and loans; and mutual insurance services that cover life, real estate, and car insurance. 106 prefectural-level federations and central unions as well as the 18 nationallevel federations ensure that these business enterprises at 757 local-level JAs are conducted effi ciently. The entire JA organization is known as the JA Group and encompasses three levels. In the marketing and supply businesses, the unification of prefectural-level JA federations and ZEN-NOH continues to advance as part of the reorganization of JA federations. Currently, there are 35 ZEN-NOH prefectural headquaters around the country.


.................................................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research questions ............................................................................................................ 3 1.3 Purpose Statement ............................................................................................................. 4 1.4 Outline of the study ........................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2 -Literature review .................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Groundwater level dynamics and controlling factors ........................................................ 5 2.1.1 Effects of topography and geology on groundwater dynamics ......................................... 5 2.1.2 Effects of hydrological cycle on groundwater dynamics .................................................. 6 2.1.3 Effects of human induced factors on groundwater dynamics ........................................... 8 2.2 Exploration of methods from previous studies .................................................................. 9 2.2.1 Physically-based models ................................................................................................. 10 2.2.2 Time series and spectral analysis .................................................................................... 10 2.2.3 Data mining ..................................................................................................................... 11


Lionfish (Pterois volitans) is an invasive species originating from Indo-Pacific Sea. The rapid growth and the absence of natural predators cause Lionfish to breed rapidly and reduce the native fish populations by up to 80%. Therefore, the study of the Lionfish must be intensified to obtain the usefulness of these animals. Studies that have stated that the extract of poison lionfish spines has the potential to become an anticancer agent for cervical cancer. The aim of the present work is to Investigation the Anticancer activity of Pterois volitans from Indonesia to human cervical carcinoma cell (HeLa cell). Crude venom (CV) that is resulted from the extraction process by sonicating of fresh venomous Pterois volitans as a sample was used. The PLA 2 sample of crude venom was heated on (50, 55, 60, 65, 70) °C for 30 min and purified by (20, 40, 60, 80) % ammonium sulfate. The concentration and purity are analyzed using Lowry method, Marinette's, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and ...


Article history: Received 18 June 2013 Accepted after revision 26 November 2013 Available online 20 December 2013 Presented by Philippe G. Ciarlet We present some Poincaré-type inequalities for quadratic matrix fields with applications e.g. in gradient plasticity or fluid dynamics. In particular, applications to the pseudostress– velocity formulation of the stationary Stokes problem and to infinitesimal gradient plasticity are discussed. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of Académie des sciences. r é s u m é On présente quelques inégalités de type Poincaré pour les champs de matrices quadratiques, avec des applications, par exemple, en plasticité avec gradients ou en dynamique des fluides. En particulier, on discute des applications pour la formulation en vitesse de pseudo-tension du problème stationnaire de Stokes et pour la plasticité infinitésimale avec gradients. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of Académie des sciences. 1. Results: dev–Div–sym–Curl estimates Let Ω ⊂ R3 be a bounded domain with Lipschitz boundary ∂Ω . Moreover, let Γ = ∅ be a relatively open subset of ∂Ω . The usual L2-Sobolev spaces for the gradient, rotation and divergence with homogeneous scalar, tangential resp. normal trace on Γ will be denoted by H1 Γ (Ω), HΓ (curl,Ω), HΓ (div,Ω), respectively. A matrix-valued function T : Ω → R3×3 belongs to the Sobolev space HΓ (Curl,Ω) resp. HΓ (Div,Ω), if its rows are elements of HΓ (curl,Ω) resp. HΓ (div,Ω), and the differential operators Curl and Div act row-wise as curl and div. Moreover, we will frequently use the standard matrix operations sym T = 2 (T + T ), skew T = 2 (T − T ) and dev T = T − tr T /3 · id, where id denotes the identity matrix. The standard L2-norms and scalar products for scalar, vectoror matrix-valued functions are denoted by | · | and 〈·,·〉, respectively. The following three inequalities hold: Theorem 1.1. There exists a constant c > 0 such that for all T ∈ HΓ (Curl,Ω) the estimate c|T | |dev sym T | + |Curl T | holds true. Hence, on HΓ (Curl,Ω) the right-hand side of this inequality defines a norm equivalent to the H(Curl,Ω)-norm, i.e., E-mail addresses: email@example.com (S. Bauer), firstname.lastname@example.com (P. Neff), firstname.lastname@example.com (D. Pauly), firstname.lastname@example.com (G. Starke). 1631-073X/$ – see front matter © 2013 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of Académie des sciences. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crma.2013.11.017 164 S. Bauer et al. / C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 352 (2014) 163–166 |T | + |Curl T | ∼= |dev sym T | + |Curl T |. See also our papers [13–17]. Proof. The proof follows in close lines the paper [15] and relies on three essential tools, namely the Maxwell estimate (a Poincaré-type estimate for curl and div), the Helmholtz decomposition and Korn's first inequality. The only change is to prove a stronger version of Korn's first inequality, namely: ∀v ∈ H1 Γ (Ω), c|∇v| |dev sym ∇v|, (1) which finishes the proof. Inequality (1) is proved by controlling the kernel of dev sym∇ on H1 Γ (Ω) and using a stronger version of Korn's second inequality, established in [7] and with a different proof in [11]. For details, see [2]. For a proof of (1) in W 1,q(Ω), Ω ⊂R2, 1 < q < ∞ with full boundary condition, see also [9]. Theorem 1.2. There exists a constant c > 0 such that for all T ∈ HΓ (Div,Ω) the estimate c |T | |dev T | + |Div T | holds true. Hence, on HΓ (Div,Ω) the right-hand side of this inequality defines a norm equivalent to the H(Div,Ω)-norm, i.e., |T | + |Div T | ∼= |dev T | + |Div T |. Proof. Let Γ̃ := ∂Ω \ Γ be the complement of Γ . Following [21], we first prove: ∃c > 0, ∀ f ∈ L2(Ω), ∃v ∈ H1 Γ̃ (Ω), div v = f , |v| + |∇v| c| f |. Then, we utilize the idea of [1, Lemma 3.1] and obtain with some v ∈ H1 Γ̃ (Ω) solving div v = tr T : | tr T |2 = 〈tr T ,div v〉 = 〈tr T , tr∇v〉 = 〈tr T · id,∇v〉 = 3〈T ,∇v〉 − 3〈dev T ,∇v〉 = −3〈Div T , v〉 − 3〈dev T ,∇v〉 c(|dev T | + |Div T |)| tr T |, (2) which completes the proof, since it is sufficient to estimate tr T . Corollary 1.3. There exists a constant c > 0 such that for all T ∈ HΓ (Curl,Ω) the estimate c |T | |dev sym T | + |dev Curl T | holds true. Again, on HΓ (Curl,Ω) the right-hand side of this inequality defines a norm equivalent to the H(Curl,Ω)-norm, i.e., |T | + |Curl T | ∼= |dev sym T | + |dev Curl T |. Proof. Since S := Curl T ∈ HΓ (Div,Ω) with Div S = 0 the assertion follows by a combination of Theorem 1.1 and Theorem 1.2. 2. Application to the pseudostress–velocity formulation of the stationary Stokes problem Let us study the following first-order system formulation of the stationary Stokes equations: For some given vector field f in L2(Ω), find a scalar function p ∈ L2(Ω), a vector-valued function u ∈ H1 Γ (Ω) and a matrix-valued function σ ∈ HΓ̃ (Div,Ω), such that the system: σ − μ sym ∇u + p · id = 0, Divσ = f , div u = 0 holds in Ω . Such a formulation is of interest from a numerical viewpoint if accurate stress approximations in appropriate finite-element spaces are desired. This system is equivalent to: devσ − μ sym ∇u = 0, Divσ = f , where the pressure p has been eliminated and can be computed afterwards as p = − trσ/3. For this first-order system, a least-squares formulation based on minimizing the quadratic functional: (u,σ ) → |devσ − μ sym ∇u|2 + |Divσ − f |2 with respect to (u, σ ) ∈ H1 Γ (Ω) × HΓ̃ (Div,Ω) was studied in [4, Section 3.2]. The well-posedness of this least squares problem is shown based on a coercivity result of the form: S. Bauer et al. / C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 352 (2014) 163–166 165 |devσ − μ sym ∇u|2 + |Divσ |2 c(|Divσ |2 + |σ |2 + |∇u|2 + |u|2) = c|u|2H1(Ω) + |σ |H(Div,Ω) ) (3) to hold with a constant c > 0 for all (u, σ ) ∈ H1 Γ (Ω) × HΓ̃ (Div,Ω). In order to obtain (3) and since the H1(Ω)-norm of u is controlled by | sym∇u| using Korn's first and Poincaré's inequalities, σ , more precisely trσ , needs to be controlled by the first-order system, i.e., the result of Theorem 1.2 is required. The inequality (3) is then proved in a way similar to the ellipticity proof in [5, Theorem 3.1] using: 〈devσ , sym ∇u〉 = 〈sym devσ ,∇u〉 = 〈 symσ − 1 3 trσ · id,∇u 〉 = 〈σ ,∇u〉 − 〈skewσ ,∇u〉 − 1 3 〈trσ ,div u〉 = −〈Divσ , u〉 − 〈skewσ ,∇u〉 − 1 3 〈trσ ,div u〉 and | skewσ | = ∣∣skew(devσ − μ sym ∇u)∣∣ |devσ − μ sym ∇u|, μ|div u| = ∣∣tr(devσ − μ sym ∇u)∣∣ √3|devσ − μ sym ∇u|. In [5], a result similar to Theorem 1.2 has been obtained indirectly by examination of the incompressible limit of a first-order system linear elasticity formulation. A widely used result in the literature on mixed methods is for the inequality of Theorem 1.2 to hold for all σ ∈ H(Div Ω) which satisfy 〈trσ ,1〉 = 0. This result dates back to [1], see also [3, Section IV.3] and is useful in the mixed framework where the boundary conditions on the normal stress are only treated weakly. Such mixed approaches have been analyzed recently for the stationary Stokes problem in [6] and [10]. 3. Application to infinitesimal gradient plasticity Phenomenological plasticity models are intended to describe the irreversible deformation behavior of metals. There exists a wide variety of models. Here we focus on rate-dependent or rate-independent models with kinematic hardening. The system of equations consists of a balance of a linear momentum coupled with a local nonlinear evolution equation in each space point for the plastic variable. In many new applications, the size of the considered specimen is so small that size effects need to be taken into account. Instead of a local evolution problem, we have to consider a nonlinear evolution problem where the right-hand side contains certain combinations of second partial derivatives of the plastic distortion. In more detail, let our domain Ω denote the set of material points of the solid body. By Te we denote a positive number (time of existence). Unknown in our small strain formulation are the displacement u : Ω ×[0, Te) →R3 of the material point x at time t and the not necessarily symmetric infinitesimal plastic distortion P : Ω × [0, Te) → sl(3). The model equations of the problem are: −Divσ = b, Σ lin = Σ lin e + Σ lin sh + Σ lin curl, Σ lin e = σ , σ = 2μ(sym(∇u − P )) + λ tr∇u · id, Σ lin sh = −dev sym P , ∂t P ∈ g ( x,Σ lin ) , Σ lin curl = −Curl Curl P , which must be satisfied in Ω × [0, Te). Here, Σ lin is the infinitesimal Eshelby stress tensor driving the evolution of the plastic distortion P . The initial and boundary conditions are P (x,0) = P0(x) ∈ sl(3) for all x ∈ Ω and ν × P = 0, u = 0 on ∂Ω × [0, Te), respectively, where ν denotes the outer unit normal on the boundary ∂Ω . For the model we require that the nonlinear constitutive mapping g is monotone. Given are the volume force b and the initial datum P0. It is easy to see that the corresponding free energy of the system is: E(u, P ) = μ∣∣sym(∇u − P )∣∣2 + λ 2 | tr ∇u|2 + 1 2 |dev sym P |2 + 1 2 |Curl P |2. The appearance of |Curl P |2 instead of the full gradient |∇ P |2 is dictated by dislocation mechanics, the appearance of |dev sym P |2 instead of |P |2 is dictated by the invariance of the model under superposition of infinitesimal rotations. Here, coercivity is obtained by using Theorem 1.1. Model equations similar to the above problem have been considered, e.g., in [19,20,8,18,12]. 166 S. Bauer et al. / C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 352 (2014) 163–166


When an image is enhanced using the traditional Laplacian enhancement model, the enhancement effect is evident but the overshoot phenomenon occurs simultaneously as the neighborhood and weight increase. To solve the contradiction between edge preservation and noise suppression during the image enhancement process, this study proposed an improved partial differential equation image enhancement algorithm. The algorithm combined the neighborhood features of digital images, mined the relationship between the local variance and the detail information of images, and classified the image noise and detail information with local variance. On this basis, the periodic change features of the trigonometric function were used to construct anisotropic diffusion coefficients, the numerical solution method of the partial differential equation was used to calculate the numerical solution of the proposed algorithm, and simulation experiment was implemented to analyze the influence of the algorithm model parameters on enhancement effect. Lastly, the anisotropic enhancement algorithm proposed in this study was validated through comparison with the traditional Laplace algorithm. Results indicate that tangential direction parameter and the number of iterations exert influence on the image enhancement effects. That is, when tangential direction parameter is set as 0.5 and the iterative operation is conducted 5 times, the algorithm smoothens the noise and enhances the image details. When the proposed algorithm is used to process low-contrast industrial image, the signal-to-noise ratio of the enhanced image is increased by 8 db and the mean squared error is reduced by 55% compared with the enhancement effect of the traditional Laplace enhancement method. In terms of subjective visual effect, the noise of the enhanced image is filtered, whereas detailed information (e.g., numerous weak edges) is reserved. Hence, subjective and objective evaluations reflected that the proposed algorithm can effectively enhance image details and avoid over-enhancement. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is of favorable adaptability and certain reference value to low-contrast image enhancement.


Weibel in 1959 under considerations of a collisionless non-neutral cylindrical plasma column studied a linear pinch confinement equilibrium. As reported here, due to non-linearity of the ordinary differential equations obtained for the electrostatic and magnetostatic fields is possible to demonstrate that the confining features previously obtained are extremely dependent on the initial conditions, and the arrangement of two parameters (β - the ratio between ion and electron mass; M/KT - ratio between relativistic rest energy associated with the pair electron-ion and thermal energy kT ) related to the plasma column characteristics. We investigated in this paper the plasma column behavior (confining or non-confining) under modifications of that set of parameters. We detected a set of parameters values that imposes a confining configuration with an electronic skin effect on the plasma column, not yet reported or discussed in the literature.


Abstract In this paper, we are concerned with quasilinear equations of Kirchhoff type, and prove the existence of ground state signed solutions and sign-changing solutions by using the Nehari method.


ABSTRACT Kumar, Deepak, Dhama, Kuldeep, Khare, V.M., Sharma, M.C.and Kumar,Satish (2011). Infectious bursal disease virus mobilizes theapoptotic machinery to invade chicken embryo fibroblasts. Indian J. Vet. Pathol., 35 (1): 91-94. Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) primarily affects bursa of young birds. An in-vitro study was conducted in Chicken EmbryoFibroblast (CEF) cells. Seventy percent confluent CEF cells were infected with IBDV Im+ strain. Significant increase in apoptotic cellswas observed in CEF cells 24-h-pi with IBDV Im+ strain and thereafter as revealed by TUNEL assay. Down regulation of Caspase 8 at 1h pi with IBDV 1m+ strain evidence the inhibition of Fas mediated pathway in early phase of infection indicating blocking of ap optosiswhich is a common strategy employed by viruses to evade host defense mechanisms that limits virus replication by killing infected cells.After wards upregulation of caspase 8 in mid to later stages of virus life cycle indicated Fas mediated pathway is responsible for apoptoticcell death. Caspase 8 and Caspase 3 which upregulated in response to IBDV infection in CEF cells indicating that the apoptosis inducedby IBDV is caspase dependent.


! Current nutritional recommendations for pa− tients having a malignancy tend to take into ac− count that the metabolism of energy−yielding substrates is lipid−based, and that glucose utili− zation is severely impaired. Fat should thus be the preferred energy substrate. However, in order to determine which types of fat are either advisa− ble or should be avoided, it is necessary to con− sider data from nutrient pharmacology. In the present review article, the effects of short−chain as well as saturated long−chain fatty acids on tu− mor growth are outlined. Short−chain fatty acids, in particular butyrate, interfere with tumor growth by both inhibiting proliferation and pro− moting cell differentiation and also apoptosis. In addition, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis are reduced. These effects were consistently ob− served not only in many tumor cell lines, but also in vivo. They are mediated by an altered ex− pression of regulatory proteins and caspases and are probably due to an inhibition of histone dea− cetylation. Since the half−life of butyrate is only about 6 minutes, tributyrin (glycerol tributyrate) may be used instead. Furthermore, butyrate be− comes available from the bacterial fermentation of dietary fiber, e.g. of pectin in the gut. Saturated long−chain fatty acids, especially palmitate and stearate also decrease the proliferation rate of malignant cells and induce apoptosis, thus retarding tumor growth. An inhibition of both glycolysis and fatty acid synthesis in malignan− cies may be the predominant mechanisms of the− se effects. Saturated long−chain fatty acids such as palmitate and stearate are found particularly in milk, butter and several other dietary fats.


The 493bp fragment of Callipyge gene of 113 individuals was amplified by PCR,of which 35 were from Boer goat,38 were from Nanjiang brown goat and 40 were from Chengde polled goat.There was a variation of C184T discovered by sequencing.Molecular genetic diversity of Callipyge gene with restriction endomuclease Fok I was studied by PCR-RFLP.The polymorphism was existed in Boer goat and Nanjiang brown goat.There were 3 genotypes,which was CC,CT and TT,respectively.The frequency of genotypes was 0.6571,0.3143 and 0.0286 respectively in Boer goat.The frequency of genotypes was 0.8947,0.1053 and 0.0000 respectively in Nanjiang brown goat.However,there is all CC genotype in Nanjiang brown goat.It suggested that there was a relationship of the variation of C184T to the trait of Callipyge in goat.


The invention provides a particle ray treatment apparatus which can enable multiple patients to receive treatment through simultaneous irradiation of particle rays in multiple treatment rooms. The particle ray treatment apparatus comprises: breathing guiding devices (22) for guiding breathing based on target breathing waveforms (WIb); switching devices (32) for switching the tracks of particle beams; and irradiation devices (21) synchronously controlling irradiation with the target breathing waveforms (WIb). Controllers (4) synchronously control the breathing guiding devices (22) and switching devices of the multiple treatment rooms (6). The controllers (4) adjust the period and the phase of the target breathing waveform (WIb) of the breathing guiding device (22) of each treatment room (6), enable irradiation time (TI) synchronizing with the target breathing waveform (WIb) of each treatment room (6) not to be overlapped, and also controls the switching devices (32) so as to switch the tracks of the particle beams according to the respective irradiation time (TI) of each treatment room (6).


I would like to see interviews and selection for higher-grade nursing posts done by an independent authority whose members are from nursing but from different ethnic backgrounds. Management would be represented but would have no say except on qualifications and experience. Such selection criteria would be impartial and 'transparent'.


News content extends well beyond the scope of a single medium: video, audio, text, interactive experiences, and social sharing all contribute to an individual's understanding and experience of content. While some content that exists across media can supplement other forms, such as an interactive feature accompanying a text-based article, other content might replicate information and therefore be redundant to a consumer. This paper introduces Newstream, a novel approach to navigating news-based content across a variety of media sources. Building off of prior work, neXtream, Newstream can craft specialized experiences that both facilitate common dialogs within social networks and allow users to dynamically move across various mediums, controlling levels of depth based on interest while avoiding repetition. Newstream integrates multiple devices and networks to maintain unified back-end knowledge about each user.


There are a number of areas within the manuscript that refer to XCO2 correctly in ppm, but then also refer to this quantity as both a concentration and/or a mixing ratio in various places within the text. The unit of ppm is a mole fraction and does not include a volume quantity, so please be cautious and consistent with the unit of XCO2 (ppm) throughout the manuscript. Thanks for this comment. We indeed have not been too consistent in the use of the term column averaged dry air mole fractions (DMF). We updated the manuscript accordingly.


In the field of sports analysis, combining sports action recognition with sports events and analyzing the athletes' sports situation in the video can provide athletes with auxiliary training, find their strengths and weaknesses, optimize the training system and promote their growth. Aiming at the low accuracy of sports video action recognition method, this paper applies the Deep Learning (DL) technology in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to sports action recognition, constructs the functional architecture of sports application system, and conducts comparative experiments on standard sports video action data sets to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm from the recognition accuracy and response time respectively. The test results show that the proposed method is superior to the traditional motion recognition model in accuracy and efficiency.


As part of a comprehensive program to enhance juvenile fish passage at McNary Lock and Dam to improve the survival of downstream migrating juvenile salmonids, the Walla Walla District is performing an investigation to develop benefits and costs for different alternatives for a permanent installation of a surface passage route at McNary Dam on the Columbia River. The desirable result will be development of a permanent installation that provides the greatest opportunity for improving downstream migration with fewer impacts on power generation, total dissolved gas levels, upstream migrants, navigation system, and the ability to pass flood flows. The surface bypass technology being implemented on the lower Snake River projects is to draw water from the surface using an elevated spillway crest located in a spillway bay. Utilizing a conventional spillway bay has inherit problems of using a spillway and stilling basin that were designed for efficiently passing a high volume of water and dissipating the associated energy. A promising alternative is a centerdam surface bypass (CSB) concept that utilizes an existing non-overflow section of the dam located between the powerhouse and the spillway. The purpose of this paper is to present the opportunities and benefits from developing a flume specific for fish passage that also has the potential of improving the overall objectives for operating McNary Dam. The primary, unique feature is to supply water under the high flow jet that is moving at a high velocity as it enters the tailrace. The feature almost eliminates the undesirable flow entrainment, high-shear zone, and re-circulating eddies in the tailrace that is typical of a high flow bypass.


Earnings for Oil and Gas Journal's group of 22 large US oil companies advanced sharply last year, increasing 70.9% from 1992. Group profits totaled $16.1 billion, with the gain stemming largely from lack of one time charges that depressed earnings in 1992. Adoption of new accounting rules associated with future postretirement costs caused the 1992 charges. US exploration and production earnings were mixed, tied in part to oil and gas production volumes. Higher gas prices and production helped boost earnings for a number of companies. But the earnings improvement from gas was offset by reduced oil production and prices. Results from non-U.S. E and P also were mixed. Average worldwide crude oil export prices were down from year earlier levels. However, for some companies this was offset by higher production levels and lower exploration costs. Earnings from refining and marketing were improved from 1992 levels, particularly for non-US operations. Lower feedstock costs, especially in the fourth quarter, helped boost earnings in this sector. Refining earnings gains also flowed from lower costs due to restructuring and an accompanying improvement in operating efficiency. The paper discusses world trends, operations and prices, US exploration and production, non-US E and P, US and non-USmore » refining and marketing, petrochemicals, and the forecast for future demand.« less


The present study was aimed to determine the natural background level, threshold values and evaluate the pollution status of some heavy metals and total hydrocarbon contents in soils of the Niger Delta region, NDR, (Nigeria). In order to achieve this, thirty two composite soil samples were collected and investigated for pH, EC, OC, grain size, THC, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, V and Zn. Analytical results show that the average concentration of total hydrocarbon contents (THC) exceeded the limit in soils for crude oil processing areas in Nigeria. The concentrations of Cd and Co in all the soils samples were higher than reported values for world soils. The average concentrations of Fe and Pb were higher than the background values. However, the concentrations of Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, V and Zn in the soils were less than the average value for world soils. This suggests that these elements were naturally present at low concentrations. Contamination risk assessment based on the index of geoaccumulation (I-geo) values for all the samples corresponded to practically uncontaminated with the exception of THC (uncontaminated to moderately contaminated) and Cd (moderately contaminated). In addition, the pollution index (PI) values of the soil samples were low (PI 1) in some locations reflected high concentrations of Cd, Cu and THC. The results suggests that the main source of elements in soils of the Niger delta is parent material, whereas increase in industrialization, especially, due to oil and gas related activities poses a significant impact on the distribution of some of these elements. Keywords Heavy metals, Contamination, Soil, Niger Delta, Nigeria


This paper based on square drag force law and 1950 aerial bomb drag force law,according to the simulant characteristic of pilot bombing,Newton second movement law and geometry,the simulant arithmetic of bomb's air drag force acceleration is presented,then this paper mostly discusses the relation of speed function with bomb speed and air drag force acceleration,drag force coefficient with Mach number.They designed this software programme and debugging for a pilot bombing simulator of bombing plane,which is based on the simulant arithmetic.The application in practice show that this arithmetic has characteristics of high calculation precision and exact bombing.


In order to characterize the Repeating-division typecracking pattern which is often observed in the brittle coating on a ductile substrate under equi-biaxial tension, the bulge tests were carried out on steel disks with WC-Co coating which was deposited by high-velocity flame spraying. Moreover, an elastic-plastic analysis was applied to the division process of coating to derive the relation among crack interval, tensile stress and strain of substrate at the division, coating and substrate thickness, strength of coating, interfacial strength between coating and substrate, and material's constants. The characteristics of the division process calculated from the analytical equation agree semi-quantitatively well with the experimental results that the crack interval decreases with increasing tensile stress and increases with increasing coating thickness.


The launch of the EMS, far from being the result of deep economic thinking, was the somewhat unexpected outcome of political initiative. The rather casual economic debate that took place at the time is appraised by examining some problems that were at the centre of the negotiations in 1978. Some economic and technical arguments used in the debate were either correct, but missing the political point, or irrelevant. On the other hand, when the EMS belatedly started in March 1979, much of the political glamour had gone. Ten years of EMS have witnessed a subtler and more interesting form of interaction between politics and economics. JEL Codes: D72, F55, N14 Keywords: European Monetary Union, euro, political economy


The present invention provides a power system for a vehicle of open circuit voltage detection method, comprising the steps of: when the vehicle runs normally, acquiring a first voltage and a first current discharge across the splitter module, wherein, when the vehicle runs normally, the discharge module does not work; collected after a first voltage and a first current, the discharge current through the discharge current of the module of the power splitter and the system was held constant and satisfies a predetermined ratio between the first current; discharge module when the power reaches a pre-discharge system after the set time, a second current collecting discharge end of the module and a second voltage splitter; according to a first voltage, a first current, a second open-circuit voltage and the second voltage current of the power system. The power system for a vehicle of the present invention, embodiments of an open circuit voltage detection method for open-circuit voltage obtained is accurate and reliable. The present invention also provides a vehicle powertrain and vehicle.


Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a heterodimeric polypeptide growth factor composed of a kringle-containing α-chain and a serine protease-like β-chain and is ligand for the c-met proto-oncogene product of the receptor-type tyrosine kinase. Although HGF was originally identified, purified, and molecularly cloned as a potent mitogen for mature hepatocytes, this factor has pleiotropic functions, depending on differences in target cells and tissues, and stages of development. HGF enhances the proliferation of various types of cells (mitogen), inhibits proliferation of carcinoma cells, enhances motility of epithelial cells (motogen), and induces organized epithelial tissue-like structure (epithelial morphogen). Because of these unique biological activities, and the preferential expression in mesenchymal or stromal cells, HGF is considered to be a soluble mediator of morphogenic epithelial-mesenchymal interactions during embryogenesis, organogenesis, and tissue regeneration. HGF influences neural induction and anterior-posterior axis formation during embryogenesis. On the basis of a rapid and marked induction of HGF expression after specific injuries in the liver, kidney, or lung, and the remarkable stimulation of organ regeneration by injection of recombinant HGF in experimental animals, HGF is considered to function as an organotrophic factor in the regeneration of various organs and tissues, as well as the long-sought hepatotropic factor. In addition to HGF, identified and unidentified molecules of the HGF family and regulatory molecules for their expressions may play important roles in the self-defensive systems responsible for tissue regeneration and tissue homeostasis.


HIV-1 protease has been identified as a significant target enzyme in AIDS research. While numerous peptide-derived inhibitors have been described, the identification of a nonpeptide inhibitor remains an important goal. Using an HIV-1 protease mass screening technique, 4-hydroxy-3-(3-phenoxypropyl)-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one (1) was identified as a nonpeptide competitive inhibitor of the enzyme. Employing a Monte Carlo-based docking procedure, the coumarin was docked in the active site of the enzyme, revealing a binding mode that was later confirmed by the X-ray crystal analysis. Several analogs were prepared to test the binding interactions and improve the overall binding affinity. The most active compound in the study was 4,7-dihydroxy-3-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)butyl]-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one (31).


Thank you for reading the mask the unicorn and the messiah a study in solar eclipse symbolism. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their favorite novels like this the mask the unicorn and the messiah a study in solar eclipse symbolism, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they cope with some infectious virus inside their desktop computer.


Consideration is given to the equations for the r.m.s. fluctuations of noise power, when the noise is random, is stationary and follows a Gaussian amplitude distribution. The results are briefly compared with published measurements, most of which show much larger fluctuations, both for white noise and 1/f noise.


In this work, we designed and implemented an Arduino-based experiment to study one-dimensional uniform linear motion. The position of a small vehicle running at a constant velocity in one dimension, is measured using an ultrasonic sensor. A Bluetooth module connected to an Arduino board is paired with a smartphone, where data are acquired and position vs time curves of the vehicle are plotted on the smartphone's screen. Students can share the experimental data via their smartphones and study uniform linear motion through guided experiments. The educational experience of the classroom implementation of the project is also presented. The results show that pairing an Arduino-based sensor with an android device, improves students' comprehension of motion, enhances their motivation and cultivates positive attitude and anticipation for the forthcoming science lessons.


The rumble strips have proven to provide a good protection against the run-off-the-road type of accidents. However, installing them on the local and community roads has raised many concerns among the cyclists. The cyclists occasionally cross over the rumble strip patterns in order to avoid obstacles or debris on the road shoulders or pass a slower moving rider. The majority of the reported concerns are those regarding the ride comfort and controllability of a bicycle traversing the rumble strip patterns. The ride discomfort and controllability of a bicycle traveling on the rumble strips are experimentally investigated by considering a comprehensive test matrix involving: (1) the conventional and suspended bicycles; (2) different rumble strip patterns and traversing speeds; (3) oblique angle of approach to rumble strip; (4) multiple trials and (5) seven test subjects. The objective assessment of the ride comfort on the rumble strip patterns is carried out by measuring the acceleration responses of the bicycle frame at the handle bar and the seat post while the controllability of the bicycle is assessed in terms of the measured yaw oscillations of the handle bar. The cyclist's sensation of the rumble strip patterns is further investigated through subjective measurements where the riders rated each test based on different criteria involving the ride comfort and controllability


Resistance to erythrosin B was induced by feeding successive generations of adult house flies with increasing molar concentrations of the dye before a light exposure period. After 32 generations of selection pressure, a 48-fold level of resistance was recorded. Upon removal of selection pressure after 20 generations, the level of resistance remained nearly constant. This constancy suggests that resistance to erythrosin B is relatively stable. Reciprocal crosses show that erythrosm B resistance is inherited as a codominant character and that sex linkage is not involved.


The treaty with Egypt in the 21st year of Ramesses II marks a profound change in Hittite policy, inaugurating, as it did, a period of lasting friendship between the two countries. The initiative seems to have come from the Hittite king,1 and it has long been evident that the rise to power of Assyria constitutes a plausible motive.2 The object here will be to advance this view beyond the status of an informed guess.