Control of diabetes by diet and natural products is more appropriate and economical in developing countries, hence fruits, vegetables, tea, spices and homeopathic drugs were investigated for their insulin potentiating function in glucose metabolism in rat epididymal fat cells assay. Dried flesh and seed of jamon fruit (Eugenia jambulina), fresh and dried flesh and seed of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), fresh and dried chaunga (Carulina tuberculate) and powdered fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) were extracted with 0.1 N NH OH or boiling water (1:20 w/v). Black, decaffeinated and green tea (Thea sp.) were prepared 4 without milk and with milk. Sugar was not added to the tea. The supernatants of the extracts and the different prepared tea samples were used for insulin potentiation in the rat epididymal fat cells assay. Homeopathic drugs, diabene and diacure were tested for insulin potentiating activity in the above assay. Dried flesh of jamon fruit potentiated insulin 6.7 fold when boiled with water and 6.1 fold when extracted with 0.1N NH OH. 4 Dried jamon seed potentiated insulin 2 and 5 fold when extracted with water and 0.1N NH OH respectively. 4 Insulin potentiating activity was found in the dried seed of bitter ground but not in the fresh and dried flesh portion. Chaunga did not show any insulin potentiating activity. The water extract of fenugreek showed some activity. Black tea potentiated 5.2 fold insulin function in glucose metabolism and this activity was reduced to 3.7 fold with decaffeinating of tea. Green tea potentiated insulin 2 fold in glucose metabolism. Addition of milk to tea inhibited the insulin potentiating function of tea. Both the homeopathic drugs did not show any insulin potentiating activity. The result indicated that both flesh and seed of dried jamon fruit and tea had very good insulin potentiating function. In the light of these data, based on the vitro model of insulin function, the diabetic patients are advised to use both the flesh and seed of jamon fruit and tea without milk and sugar for their diabetic control.


The response of a room at low frequencies is strongly affected by room resonances and strongly depends on the receiver and sound source locations. Helmholtz resonators are well known acoustic elements that can be used to introduce sound absorption in a frequency limited band and are therefore suitable for the low frequency room response optimization. The study is concerned with experimentally testing the effect of different types and numbers of Helmholtz resonators on the low frequency response of a specific room. The reverberation time and other acoustic parameters are being observed in multiple positions. In such a way local and averaged behavior is observed. Measurements are performed by changing many experimental parameters, such as the tunning and the amount of damping of the Helmholtz resonators. In such a way large amount of data is acquired providing insight into the interdependencies of experimental parameters and their importance for the low frequency room response optimization.


Abstract This paper reviews theoretical and methodological advances and issues in lifespan research and discusses how the issues at stake are addressed in an ongoing research project. Summarizing the state of the art, we conclude that next to nothing is known about lifespan changes affecting syntactic or grammaticalizing constructions that goes beyond exploratory or anecdotal evidence. The Mind-Bending Grammars project, which examines the adaptive powers of adult cognition and constraints on these powers, aspires to make headway in this area. In this paper, we introduce some of the major goals of the project and present a new large-scale longitudinal corpus of 50 adults that was established to study grammatical change across the lifespan. Particular attention is paid to the constraints on the adoption of novel grammatical patterns in the aging mind. Taking be going to as a case study, we present evidence that (highly educated) healthy monolingual speakers continue to participate in grammatical innovations across the lifespan.


glo-Saxon reality. Understanding the ways the people created and used everyday objects and symbolic items is helpful in determining the range of meanings of many linguistic signs relating to specific crafts, but also opens perspectives for a more indepth understanding of the crafts and the artefacts employed as metaphors for the society and its values in Anglo-Saxon poetic and documentary records (cf., for instance, Owen-Crocker's interpretation of freoþuwebba 'peaceweaver' in Old English poetry, 184). The collection of essays thus demonstrates that the Anglo-Saxon world was not monolithic, but diverse in many respects, and that interpretations where just one academic discipline is involved sometimes fall short of explaining matters comprehensively. The Material Culture of Daily Living in the Anglo-Saxon World offers a helpful index at the end, and for each chapter a separate "Suggested Reading". Regrettably, however, there are no summary bibliographies: For information on further reading one has to flick through the endnotes, which, unfortunately, do not follow the essays immediately, but are all placed at the end of the volume, as is the "Suggested Reading" for each chapter. Despite these minor shortcomings, however, the volume is a valuable contribution to the interdisciplinary dialogue between archaeology, literary studies and linguistics and will prove useful as a textbook for both specialists and non-specialists. It is, moreover, not only important in terms of matter, but also very appealing through its many images and pleasant layout and presents a sound basis for further research on the topic.


Simple Summary Acquired resistance to immunotherapy is an emerging issue, especially as the indications for immunotherapy expand to many different solid tumor malignancies. This review attempts to summarize the mechanisms and clinical outcomes of acquired resistance in non-small-cell lung cancers and explores future directions for research to understand and address this important question. Abstract Immunotherapy is now the preferred treatment for most lung cancer patients. It is used to treat unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer and is the first-line therapy for non-oncogene-driven advanced/metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer patients (either alone or in combination with chemotherapy). Unfortunately, most patients that respond initially to immunotherapy develop resistance over time, thus limiting the durability of immunotherapy. A better understanding of the mechanisms of acquired resistance is urgently needed to expand the benefit of immunotherapy in lung cancer patients. This review aims to summarize the mechanisms and clinical outcomes of acquired resistance of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies in non-small-cell lung cancer patients.


This is a documentary movie in which starring actor (Morgan) decides to research side effects on his own health secondary to a diet based exclusively on products from a fast food restaurant (specifically McDonald's) for a period of 30 days. At the same time, it analyzes risk factors that can play an important role in the increase of overweight and obesity in American society.


Three nested RT‐PCR assays were developed to permit sensitive typing of enteroviruses directly from clinical samples. These assays amplified short fragments from different genomic regions codifying for three proteins: VP2, VP1, and RNA polymerase. Given that enteroviruses have a high rate of degeneration within target codons among serotypes, the primers used consisted of mixed base and deoxyinosine residues. These techniques detected at 0.03–0.003 TCID50 of prototype Poliovirus 1 and Echovirus 30. They were used to characterize the enteroviral RNA detected in 18 CSF, stool, and throw swab samples and in 8 enterovirus isolates from patients with several syndromes. Phylogenetic analysis in each independent sequenced region grouped the enterovirus into four clusters, enabling genetic classification. A comparative study was performed among the 26 sequences obtained after direct sequencing of products with those available in the nucleotide databases. The efficiency of each assay for enterovirus identification was evaluated by both distance (Clustal) and similarity (M‐NW) indices. Comparative results obtained independently in the three regions showed the highest yield of correlation between nucleotide sequences of all prototype serotypes and the analyzed genotypes in the VP1 region (26/26, 100% Clustal; 22/26, 85% M‐NW). Conversely, the VP2 region failed to identify some of the circulating enteroviruses (17/26, 65% Clustal; 16/26, 62% M‐NW). Using the RNA polymerase region, sequences from samples and isolates were associated with prototype strains whenever these were available (20/21, 95% Clustal; 12/21, 57% M‐NW). These assays were useful for molecular identification of enterovirus directly from samples even when isolation was not possible. J. Med. Virol. 65:138–148, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


An electrical equalizer for fiber communication systems with direct receivers has to cope with various forms of nonlinear distortions arising from dispersion and fiber nonlinearities like self-phase-modulation. A transversal filter structure according to a discrete Volterra series can serve as an equalizer for general fiber communication systems. While a complete volterra series requires a large amount of coefficients, even a filter with a highly reduced number of coefficients can yield superior results compared to a linear equalizer. On the basis of two fiber system examples the equalizer performance and its dependence on the choice of the appropriate filter coefficients is evaluated.


The signature of the 2019 Declaration of Cooperation on advancing the digitization of cultural heritage in Europe shows the important role that the 3D digitization process plays in the safeguard and sustainability of cultural heritage. The digitization also aims at sharing and presenting cultural heritage. However, the processing steps of data acquisition to its presentation requires an interdisciplinary collaboration, where understanding and collaborative work is difficult due to the presence of different expert knowledge involved. This study proposes an end-to-end method from the cultural data acquisition to its presentation thanks to explicit semantics representing the different fields of expert knowledge intervening in this process. This method is composed of three knowledge-based processing steps: (i) a recommendation process of acquisition technology to support cultural data acquisition; (ii) an object recognition process to structure the unstructured acquired data; and (iii) an enrichment process based on Linked Open Data to document cultural objects with further information, such as geospatial, cultural, and historical information. The proposed method was applied in two case studies concerning the watermills of Ephesos terrace house 2 and the first Sacro Monte chapel in Varallo. These application cases show the proposed method's ability to recognize and document digitized cultural objects in different contexts thanks to the semantics.


It is a commonly held belief nowadays that cancer originates in tissue-specific adult stem cells. Most of the tissues in human body have adult stem cells at their base. The difference between embryonic stem cell and adult stem cell is that whereas the former, through a carefully orchestrated cellular program of development genes, can give rise to terminally differentiated cells of all types, the later can repair the terminally differentiated tissue by giving rise to cells of few types specific to the tissue. In a majority of tissues the adult stem cells are relatively quiet, swinging into action only on signals of damage or injury to tissue. One of the exceptions of this is the adult stem cell of intestinal epithelium, which is continuously in action as the differentiated cells of intestinal epithelium are continuously shed into the lumen. The adult stem cells have the property of self-renewal: they can undergo asymmetric cell division to give rise to two distinct daughter cells one of which is the exact copy of mother stem cell and the other is a partially differentiated progenitor cell or progeny, and symmetric cell division to give rise to two identical daughter cells which are exact replicas of mother stem cells. The progenitors further undergo cell division to yield terminally differentiated cells having specific morphologies and functions. The rates of self-renewal, apoptosis and differentiation of adult stem cells and their progenitor cells is very tightly regulated to achieve homeostasis, i.e. steady state where in the number of adult stem cells, progenitor cells and terminally differentiated cells attain a constant value. It has been suggested that cancer results by multiple mutations in adult stem cells and or progenitor cells which disturbs the balance between rates of self-renewal, apoptosis and differentiation leading to unsteady state. Though adult stem cells of different tissues are different from each other, the similarity in their fates and properties both under normal conditions and carcinogenic conditions strongly suggest that there must be a common genesis of all cancers, at least of those organs that have adult stem cell in their lineage. Through this review I investigate the possibility of common genesis of all cancers.


The constantly changing prices of grains such as rice and corn have triggered an increasing number of corn-to-rice projects. This paper takes the progress of the corn-to-rice project in Northeast China as a sample and analyzes the influencing factors of the corn-to-rice project based on binary selection model analysis of the probit method. This study yields the following findings: the relative benefits of rice and corn are the key factors affecting the corn-to-rice project. When the project can improve farmers' income, their willingness to participate increases significantly; the number of farmers' family members providing labor is an important factor affecting the decision of corn-to-rice conversion. Accordingly, when the family labor is abundant, they are more willing to change from corn to rice. Farmers will choose the results that are beneficial to them according to their own conditions, and their choices can bring them greater economic benefits.


Light intensity, temperature, and humidity are key factors affecting photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration. Among these factors, temperature is a crucial parameter to establish an optimal greenhouse climate. Temperature can be controlled by using an appropriate climate screen, which has a considerable impact on crop quantity and quality. The precise measurements of longwave radiative properties of screens are vital to the selection of the most suitable screen for greenhouses so that the desired temperature and a favorable environment can be provided to plants during nighttime. The energy-saving capability of screens can also be calculated by using these properties as inputs in a physical model. Two approaches have been reported so far in the literature for the measurement of these properties, i.e., spectrophotometry and wideband radiometry. In this study, we proposed some modified radiation balance methods for determining the total hemispherical longwave radiative properties of different screens by using wide-band radiometers. The proposed method is applicable to materials having zero porosity, partial opacity, and asymmetric screens with 100% solidity. These materials were not studied previously under natural conditions. The existing and proposed methods were applied and compared, and it was found that the radiometric values obtained from the developed methodology were similar to those previously reported in the literature, whereas the existing method gave unstable results with zero reflectance.


IT is an honour to be with you today and pre¬ sent the annual Royal College Lecture in Medicine. I must confess that our distinguished President's invitation generated mixed reactions in me, but I recalled the late Alan Gregg's advice, "Don't answer until you have passed through the negative phase," and on further reflection decided to accept the challenge. I was then faced with choosing an appropriate subject, and asked our President to allow me the choice of


Abstract A number of areas in the United States and the European Union face water shortages because they need to make some basic changes in their water management. Policy options do exist. Most of the options share the common objective of treating water and water services as an economic good, through regulating private inefficient appropriation of open‐access water resources, and making the demand for water more dependent on users' willingness to pay for it. This article provides an overview of these policy options by illustrating their rationale and possible caveats. We begin by stressing the importance of improving countries' social capital, i.e., institutional arrangements and management rules for allocating water between competitive uses. We then concentrate on economic approaches to improving water management including the establishment of water markets and the privatization of water utilities. Examples are drawn from the experiences and on‐going developments in the United States and the European Union. #This article draws heavily on a chapter entitled "Water Scarcity: Institutional Change, Water Markets and Privatization," in Economic Studies on Food, Agriculture, and the Environment, Maurizio Canavari, Paolo Cuggiati and K. William Easter, Eds., 2002, Kluwer Academic Publishers, NY.


In order to improve the hydrodynamic characteristics of a hydrofoil (NACA0012), this paper investigates an oscillating hydrofoil immersed in seawater (an electrically poorly conducting fluid) with feedback control of electromagnetic force (Lorentz force). This method is used in the iterative process, by forecasting the location of boundary layer separation points and attack angle at the next time step and figuring out the optimal force distribution function based on these parameters, then returns to the current time step and applies the optimal force onto the leeside to control the flow separation. Based on the basic flow governing equations, the flow field structures, lift evolutions and energy consumptions (the input impulse of Lorentz force) have been numerically investigated. Numerical results show that with this control, the flow separation could be fully suppressed. Meanwhile, the lift increases dramatically and oscillation is suppressed successfully. Furthermore, under similar lift improvement and control effects, the feedback control optimal ratio is 72.58%.


In this paper, we consider the natural vibrations of inhomogeneous mechanical systems, i.e., cylindrical bodies located in a deformable viscoelastic medium. The theory and methods for studying the natural vibrations of a cylindrical shell in a viscoelastic medium are constructed. The viscoelastic properties of the medium are taken into account using the hereditary Boltzmann-Walter theory. For the statement of the problem, the general equation of the theory of viscoelasticity in the potentials of displacements in a cylindrical coordinate system is used. An algorithm has been developed to solve the tasks posed on a computer using the Bessel, Hankel, and Mueller and Gauss methods. The considered problems were reduced to finding complex natural frequencies for the system of equations of motion of a cylindrical shell in an infinite viscoelastic medium using radiation conditions. It is shown that the problem has a discrete complex spectrum. The eigen frequencies of oscillations of a low-contrast heterogeneity are found. Revealed that the imaginary part of the eigen frequencies is comparable with the real one, which can lead to aperiodic movements of the systems considered.


The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) was flown in June 1998 on the space shuttle Discovery during flight STS-91 in a 51.7° orbit at altitudes between 320 and 390 km. The major detector elements were a permanent magnet with an analyzing power B*L 2 of 0.14 Tm 2 , a six-layer, double-sided silicon tracker, time-of-flight hodoscopes, a Cerenkov counter and anti-coincidence counters. A total of 2.86 x 10 6 He nuclei were observed in the rigidity range 1 to 140 GeV. No He nuclei were detected at any rigidity. The upper limit on the flux ratio of He to He is 1.1 x 10 -6 . The proton spectrum in the kinetic energy range 0.1 to 200 GeV was measured, and is parameterized by a power law above the geomagnetic cutoff. Below the geomagnetic cutoff, a substantial second spectrum was observed concentrated at equatorial latitudes with a flux of ∼70 m -2 s -1 sr -1 . The lepton spectra in the kinetic energy ranges 0.2 to 40 GeV for electrons and 0.2 to 3 GeV for positrons were measured. Two distinct spectra were observed, a higher energy spectrum and a substantial second spectrum with positrons much more abundant than electrons. Tracing leptons from the second spectra shows that most of these leptons travel for an extended period of time in the geomagnetic field and that the positrons and electrons originate from two complementary geographic regions. Long-lived secondary spectra protons (antiprotons) originate from the same regions as positrons (electrons).


A lossless implementation technique of Motion JPEG2000 (MJP2) integrated with invertible deinterlacing is presented. In previous works, we developed an invertible deinterlacing technique that suppresses the comb-tooth artifacts, which are caused by field interleaving of interlaced videos and affect the quality of scalable intraframe-based coding such as MJP2. We suggested a scenario applying the technique as a prefilter to intraframe-based coding systems. This system suppresses the comb-tooth artifacts, while guaranteeing recovery of the original quality through the inverse process. In this work, we further propose an exact lossless implementation technique by embedding the deinterlacer into MJP2 and modifying header information for appropriate decoding. We demonstrate that the comb-tooth suppression capability can be kept at low bitrates with the standard MJP2 decoder. The experiments also show that the overhead of our proposed method is less than 0.9% compared with the normal field interleaving.


Dear Editor, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is spreading rapidly worldwide. A long-time mask-wearing is essential for the public workers and medical professionals. However, the shortage of mask and facial skin damage for long-time wearing has become increasingly prominent problem. There are several practical tips worthy of reference. First, many medical professionals always complained about the pressure of N95 masks. Long-time wearing N95 can cause deep facial indentation, even lead to skin damage. Tip 1: according to the practical experience of COVID-19 in Chinese setting, some patches may be placed between the pressured skin area and mask to reduce damage and protect the skin, especially the upper side of the mask. The patches coverage needs to be bigger than the scope of compression, and the material of it can be either hydrogel patches, silicone patches, woundplast, or paper towels. These adds-on patches are also capable of preventing goggles from fogging (Figure 1A). Second, the surgical mask always has been moisturized due to the high humidity of the wearer's expired air and splutter, and its internal material frequently stimulated our delicate facial skin. Tip 2: adding a layer of a gasket in the inside of the mask. The gasket should be slightly thick and rectangular shaped, which just covers the mouth and smaller than the mask. To avoid from moving causing damage to mask sealed, the gasket could mount with doublesided foam tape. As long as the gasket is well hygroscopic, air permeability, and skin friendly, the materials of gasket can be paper towels, nonwoven fabrics, gauzes, and so on. Besides, this tip can also prolong the use-time of the mask and prevents the fogging of eyeglasses (Figure 1B). Third, people also complain about the discomfort caused by wearing ear-hook masks, especially the kind made of elastic rubber, which will oppress the contact area of the ear, resulting in ear pain. Tip 3: using any availed string or hairpins to lengthen the ear-hook string, hence reduction of the pressure of ear skin can be reduced (Figure 1C). These tips will help more people to use masks more efficiently and comfortably, especially for medical personals. Some people worry that these practices may affect the effectiveness of PPE, but the tools


To assess the quality of urban storm-water runoff and to evaluate the effectiveness of street sweeping and detention storage for the attenuation of constituent loads and concentrations in storm runoff, data were collected from October 1979 through January 1982 from three catchments in Bellevue, Wash. The two catchments used to evaluate the effects of street sweeping on runoff quality are both single-family residential areas of approximately 100 acres. The third catchment, used to evaluate detention storage, has a total area of 24 acres. A four-lane arterial street takes up about one-fourth of this area. During the study, precipitation on and the resultant discharge from the three catchments were monitored and recorded at 5-minute intervals. Approximately 900 discrete storm-runoff samples were collected from the two residential catchments during 37 individual storms, and about 400 discrete storm-runoff samples were collected from the third catchment during 23 individual storms. Wetand dry-atmospheric-deposition samples were collected for chemical analysis from each catchment. The contents of the atmospheric-deposition samplers were removed on a monthly schedule; however, the schedule was usually modified to provide data on the quality of rainfall during a storm that was sampled for runoff quality, and on the quality of dry deposition before these storms. Detailed basin characteristics data, including physical characteristics and environmental factors, were compiled and tabulated. The water-quality data, in conjunction with discharge and precipitation data, were used to calculate constituent loads in storm runoff and in wetand dry-atmospheric deposition. Rainfall and discharge data were used to calculate hydrologic and climatic variables including rainfall rates, peak discharges, and antecedent conditions. INTRODUCTION From October 1979 through January 1982 the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a study of urban storm-water runoff in Bellevue, Wash. The study, done in cooperation with the City of Bellevue, was part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Urban Runoff Program. The objectives of the study were to: 1. Establish a consistent and accessible data base for typical urban watersheds; 2. Determine the magnitude and frequency of storm-runoff loads of water-quality constituents from three catchments in the city; 3. Develop methods for estimating storm and annual loads of water-quality constituents from unsampled catchments in the study area; and 4. Test the effectiveness of storm-water-quality management alternatives, such as street sweeping and detention storage, for the attenuation of constituent loads carried in storm runoff. To accomplish these objectives, data were collected from three urban catchments in the city of Bellevue. Two of the catchments were used to evaluate the effectiveness of street sweeping in reducing the amount of constituents in storm-water runoff, and the third catchment was used to investigate the effects of runoff detention on the quality of storm runoff. Data collection in the three catchments included the continuous monitoring of precipitation and resultant discharge; the collection of discrete storm-runoff-quality samples during selected storms; the collection of wetand dry-atmospheric-deposition samples for chemical analysis; and the collection of basin-characteristics data to include physical characteristics and environmental factors. The data-collection sites and the types of data collected at each site are listed in table 1 and shown on figure 1. This report presents the basic data collected during the Bellevue urban-runoff project and information derived from the basic data, such as maximum rainfall intensities, peak discharges, and constituent loads in storm runoff. TA BL E 1 . D a ta -c o lle c ti o n si te s w ith s it e id e n ti fi c a ti o n nu m be rs , lo ca tio n s, an d ty pe s o f da ta c o lle ct e d


This article introduces the ADPCM standard and the RLPC coding principle,the encoder decoder block diagram and the work process.CAAC satellite communication network Telephony Earth Station(TES) system carries on compression processing to the transmission voice signal for saving the satellite transponder frequency resources.Its channel unit baseband signal processor carries on CCITT G.721-ADPCM and Hughes company patent technology development RLP C code processing,64 kb/s voice digital signal compression to 32 kb/s,16 kb/s,9.6 kb/s transmission.The realization of voice quality satisfies the general correspondence request by low-bitrate voice signal transmission.


Currentsocial, economical, and political realities, bothlocally andglobally, have beenforcing certain trendsand policies on engineering education. Thesetrendshave intrinsic contradictions uponwhicheducators andpolicy makersneedtoreflect. However, it appearsthatlittle attention ispaidtothese contradictions andtheir consequences. Theobjective hereistodrawtheattention of concerned individuals tothissituation. Forthat purpose, thispapercritically discusses, through examples, some ofthecurrentengineering education trendsand policies thatgained notoriety, notonlyinCanada,butinother countries aswell.


A novel poly(aniline-co-3-aminobenzoic acid)-based magnetic core–shell (PA3ABA@Fe3O4) nanocomposite was successfully synthesized via an in situ copolymerization approach of aniline and 3-aminobenzoic acid in the presence of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles. The products were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of the PA3ABA@Fe3O4 nanocomposite showed a core–shell structure. Magnetic measurements displayed that the PA3ABA@Fe3O4 nanocomposite was super-paramagnetic with a saturation magnetization (Ms) of 37.8 emu g−1. Then, uptake of Pb(II) from an aqueous solution by the products was investigated as a function of pH, adsorption dosage, contact time, and initial concentration of Pb(II) through batch studies. The PA3ABA@Fe3O4 nanocomposite exhibited a higher adsorption percentage (89%) than that found for PA3ABA (80%) during the uptake of Pb(II). The PA3ABA@Fe3O4 nanocomposite adsorbent could be easily separated from an aqueous solution using a magnet and regenerated easily by acid treatment. The experimental data were analyzed using isotherm and kinetic models. The results showed that the interactions between Pb(II) and the PA3ABA@Fe3O4 nanocomposite were in agreement with the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-first-order kinetic model, and the maximum adsorption capacity (Qm) of Pb(II) was found to be 138.31 (mg g−1). Therefore, the PA3ABA@Fe3O4 nanocomposite could be considered as a promising adsorbent for Pb(II) removal from water.


The phase diagram of the two-component system 2-methyl-2-chloropropane ((CH3)3CCl) and 1,1,1-trichloroethane ((CH3)CCl3) has been determined by means of X-ray powder diffraction and thermal analysi...


Twenty four core samples from CRP-1, seven from Quaternary strata (20 43.55 metres below sea floor or mbsf) and seventeen from early Miocene strata (43.55 to 147.69 mbsf), have been analysed for their grain-size distribution using standard sieve and Sedigraph techniques. The results are in good agreement with estimates of texture made as part of the visual core description for the 1:20 core logs for CRP-1 (Cape Roberts Science Team, 1998). Interpretation of the analyses presented here takes into account the likely setting of the site in Quaternary times as it is today, with CRP-1 high on the landward flank of a well-defined submarine ridge rising several hundred metres above basins on either side. In contrast, seismic geometries for strata deposited in early Miocene times indicate a generally planar sea floor dipping gently seaward. Fossils from these strata indicate shallow water depths (<100 m), indicating the possibility that waves and tidal currents may have influenced sea floor sediments. The sediments analysed here are considered in terms of 3 textural facies: diamict, mud (silt and clay) and sand. Most of the Quaternary section but only 30% of the early Miocene section is diamict, a poorly sorted mixture of sand and mud with scattered clasts, indicating little wave or current influence on its texture. Although not definitive, diamict textures and other features suggest that the sediment originated as basal glacial debris but has been subsequently modified by minor winnowing, consistent with the field interpretation of this facies as ice-proximal and distal glaciomarine sediment. Sediments deposited directly from glacier ice appear to be lacking. Mud facies sediments, which comprise only 10% of the Quaternary section but a third of the early Miocene section, were deposited below wave base and largely from suspension, and show features (described elsewhere in this volume) indicative of the influence of both glacial and sediment gravity flow processes. Sand facies sediments have a considerable proportion of mud, normally more than 20%, but a well-sorted fine-very fine sand fraction. In the context of the early Miocene coastal setting we interpret these sediments as shoreface sands close to wave base. The regional tectonic setting (Davey & Brancolini, 1995; Hamilton et al., this volume) and seismic stratigraphy (Brancolini et al., 1995; Henrys et al., this volume) suggest that the physiographic setting for early Miocene sedimentation was rather different from that for Quaternary sedimentation, which was very similar to that of today. Quaternary sediments in CRP-1 have been deposited as a drape only a few tens of metres thick on a submarine topography with considerable relief, ranging from the sea valley immediately east of Cape Roberts (500 metres below sea level or mbsl) to the crest of Roberts Ridge (less than 100 mbsl and just seaward of CRP-1) and out into Erebus Basin (900 mbsl) (Fig. 2). This topography was probably shaped by extensive erosion from thick grounded ice. The Quaternary sediments represent only the more recent fragmentary record of a complex late Neogene glacial and glacimarine history. The early Miocene strata of CRP-1, by contrast, appear in seismic records to be planar and rising gently towards the coast. These strata are now truncated by a deep erosional trough between CRP-1 and Cape Roberts (Figs. 1 & 2). It is reasonable to assume that the strata once continued landward to the coast, as N-S profiles (e.g. NBP9001-94, Hamilton et al., 1997) show only shallow channelling in early Miocene strata, though still possibly from grounded ice. Macrofauna throughout the early Miocene section INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to quantify the grain-size distribution of samples representative of each unit of CRP-1 core, cored in 150 m of water 15 km off Cape Roberts on the south Victoria Land coast (Fig. 1), and make some inferences on their modes of deposition. To assist with this, comparisons are made with modern sea floor sediments from earlier studies in McMurdo Sound (Powell, 1981; Barrett et al., 1983; Barrett, 1989), in nearby Granite Harbour (Macpherson, 1987) and the Ross Sea (Anderson et al., 1980, 1984). The sediment in both Quaternary and early Miocene sections of the core is entirely siliciclastic, apart from the Quaternary carbonate interval from 32 to 34 mbsf. Lithology of clasts from the core (Cape Roberts Science Team, 1998) indicate that the principal source of sediment in the area of CRP-1 has been the early Palaeozoic and older granitic basement, together with the Jurassic Ferrar Dolerite in the Transantarctic Mountains, a short distance to the west. In addition, studies of the sand (Armienti et al., this volume; Smellie, this volume) show that volcanic debris, probably from centres to the south, is a significant component of early Miocene strata above 60 mbsf. Despite these variations in provenance and composition, we believe that the textures of these sediments reflect primarily depositional processes and environment. West Antarctic Rift System WAIS


In this poster, we analyze recent work in the document identifiers reassignment problem. After that, we present a formalization of a simple case of the problem as a PSP (Pattern Sequencing Problem). This may facilitate future work as it opens a new research line to solve the general problem.


Consideration is given to the effect of fibrous fillers on dielectric properties and the role played by the interface in polymer composites. Physical properties of composites can be described in terms of series or parallel coupling or on the basis of structure and composite geometry. Some results obtained on polypropylene composites reinforced with short glass fibers are discussed. Measurement of the dielectric constant, electric conductivity, and polarization shows that product behavior is predominant in short-glass-fiber-reinforced polypropylene.<<ETX>>


A device for identifying an interface protocol of a host and an IC(Integrated Circuit) card including the same are provided to determine an interface protocol of a host by confirming a state of the host through an MFP(Multi Function Port) and automatically use the interface protocol. A contact pad unit(10) is connected to a host(200) through plural contact pads(210). A host interface identifying unit(60) has one or more pull-up resistances and pull-down resistances, and identifies a host interface state for determining an interface protocol of the host by selectively connecting pull-up resistances and pull-down resistances to the contact pad unit. An interface unit(20) includes plural interface protocols, and performs data communication with the host by commonly using one or more contact pads of the plural contact pads in the plural interface protocol. A processor(40) determines a state of the host from the host interface identifying unit, and controls the interface so that an interface capable of communicating with the host can be activated among the plural interface protocols.


Fault diagnosis technology (FDT) is an effective tool to ensure stability and reliable operation in wind turbines. In this paper, a novel fault diagnosis methodology based on a cloud bat algorithm (CBA)-kernel extreme learning machines (KELM) approach for wind turbines is proposed via combination of the multisensor data fusion technique and time-domain analysis. First, the derived method calculates the time-domain indices of raw signals, and the fused time-domain indexes dataset are obtained by the multisensor data fusion. Then, the CBA-based KELM recognition model that can identify fault patterns of a wind turbine gearbox (WTB) is automatically established with the fused dataset. The dataset includes a large number of samples involving 6 fault types under different operational conditions by 5 accelerometers. The effectiveness and feasibility of this proposed method are proved by adopting the datasets originated from the test rig, and it achieves a diagnostic accuracy of 96.25%. Finally, compared with the other peer-to-peer methods, the experimental classification results show that the proposed CBA-KELM technique has the best performances.


Introduction: Discoloration can be caused by intrinsic or extrinsic factors. One of the discoloration treatments is teeth whitening. Teeth whitening process usually uses chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide which can cause side effects, namely gingival irritation. Previous research has found that malic acid in strawberries can whiten teeth. Watermelons contain greater malic acid than strawberries. Objective: To analyze the  effectiveness of 100% watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) extract on teeth whitening. Methods: The study was a laboratory experimental study with a total of 15 anterior post-extraction teeth which were discolored using black tea, divided into 3 groups. Group 1 was immersed in 100% watermelon extract, group 2 was immersed in 10% carbamide peroxide as positive control and group 3 was immersed in sterile aquades as negative control, for 56 hours, measured using a shade guide and spectrophotometer. Data were analyzed using one way Anova. Results: The 100% watermelon extract was effective for teeth whitening. There was a significant difference between 100% watermelon extract compared to negative control (p < 0.05). However, there was also a significant difference between 100% watermelon extract, and 10% carbamide peroxide gel (p = 0.003). Conclusion: The watermelon extract has the ability as teeth whitening agent. However, further study is still needed to explore this result and determine the proper concentration for teeth whitening.


In engineering applications related to video surveillance, the use of monocular omnidirectional cameras would reduce costs and complications associated with infrastructure, installation, synchronization, maintenance and operation of multiple cameras. This makes omnidirectional cameras very useful for transport analysis, a key task of which is to accurately geolocate vehicles and/or pedestrians observed in an ample region. The problem of measuring on the plane was previously solved for monocular central perspective images. However, the problem of determining uncertainties in geolocalization using monocular omnidirectional images, has not been addressed. This problem is not trivial due to the complexity of the image formation models associated with these cameras. The contributions of this work are: (1) The geolocation problem is solved using omnidirectional monocular images through a Bayesian inference approach. (2) The calculation of Bayesian marginalization integrals is simplified through first-order approximations. (3) The accuracy of the estimated positions and uncertainties is shown through Monte Carlo simulations under realistic measurement conditions. (4) The method to geolocate a vehicle's trajectory on a satellite map is applied in an urban setting.


Friendship is an adaptive function of individual maturity to fulfill a number of social, cognitive, and emotional needs. The purpose of this study is to find out the meaning of the quality of student friendship based on the stage of development and gender. The subjects of this study were S1 and S2 students in Yogyakarta with 200 students. The sampling technique used was a non-probability convenience sampling technique. The data collection tool is a closed and open questionnaire, with content analysis as the analysis of the data. The results showed that in the late male adolescent group, individuals felt close to their best friend, in the late adolescent group of women, individuals felt they believed their best friend could be a confidant who was able to provide solutions, in the early adult groups of men understanding and supporting each other as reasons the quality of friendship is broken, and in the early adult groups women confide in and believe as the reason for the quality of friendship. The conclusion is the reason for the quality of friendship based on the stages of development and gender there are differences, but in adolescent and adult women there are similarities.


Received 15 September 2006; Revised 8 December 2006; Accepted 15 December 2006Recommended by Costas FotakisAn overview of the optical coherence tomography (OCT) technique is given. Time domain, spectral and sweep source modalitiesare briefly described, and important physical parameters of the OCT instrument are discussed. Examples of the application ofOCT to diagnosis of various art objects such as oil paintings on canvas (imaging of glaze and varnish layers), porcelain, faience,and parchment are presented. Applications to surface profilometry of painting on canvas are also discussed.Copyright © 2006 Piotr Targowski et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.


The modern Chinese national characteristic historiography is the historiography which thought theme is patriotism.Qing history is the principal part,and unofficial history is the subsidiary part.GUT is the footstone of the modern Chinese national characteristic historiography.The legitimism of the every generation of revisionist history,the archangels of historic biographies and the perspective of history as mirror are the three backbones.As Chinese national characteristic historiography,it not only has the stages of development,but has the characteristic type,form,literature and function.


A PZT (lead zirconate titanate) element including one or more outside surfaces including a layer of encapsulation and metallization material and the method of making the same including at least the steps of providing a wafer of ceramic material including a base and one or more walls defining one or more recesses in the wafer which are filled with an encapsulation material. The encapsulation material is then cured and a layer of metallization is applied to one or more of the outside surfaces of the wafer and encapsulation material. Cuts are then made through the layer of metallization and cured encapsulation material to divide the wafer into a plurality of individual and separate ceramic elements with one or more surfaces including a layer of metallization and encapsulation.


Dysregulation of apoptosis through alterations in the B-cell lymphoma/leukemia 2 (Bcl-2) family of proteins is a hallmark of the pathophysiology of indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs). Th e most common indolent NHL, follicular lymphoma (FL), has a t(14;18) translocation in about 90% of cases, leading to profound overexpression of Bcl-2 due to juxtaposition of BCL-2 with the immunoglobulin heavy chain ( IgH ) promoter. Th e rarer, often more aggressive, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) does not have a BCL-2 translocation, but nonetheless typically expresses high levels of Bcl-2. Why is the Bcl-2 family so fundamental to the pathogenesis of indolent NHL? Th e answer may lie in the fact that the Bcl-2 family governs a fundamental cellular process: the intrinsic pathway of mitochondrial apoptosis. At the heart of the Bcl-2 family are the anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 itself, as well as the related proteins Mcl-1 and Bcl-xL. Th ese anti-apoptotic proteins bind the key pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and Bak, thereby inhibiting their oligimerization and putting the brakes on apoptosis. Activator and sensitizer pro-apoptotic proteins within the Bcl-2 family are known as BH3-only proteins, so named because they contain only the BH3 (Bcl-2 homology 3) domain found in other Bcl-2 family members. Activator BH3-only proteins include Bim and Bid, which directly activate Bax and Bak, and sensitizer BH3-only proteins such as Bad and Noxa that release Bax and Bak from the anti-apoptotic proteins and thereby indirectly promote apoptosis. Th e dynamic balance of pro- versus anti-apoptotic proteins is a key to determining the fate of a cell [1].


Electron correlation effects are often invoked as possible causes of differences between experimental and Hartree–Fock Compton profiles. The shape as well as the magnitude of these differences can be very different, depending on materials. In order to illustrate this, we performed post Hartree–Fock calculations on small LiH and MgO ionic clusters. The subsequent correlation corrections significantly improve Compton profiles and structure factors versus their experimentally determined counterparts. The opposite trends observed at small momenta for experimental deviations to Hartree–Fock Compton profiles of LiH and MgO are then qualitatively explained through an empirical model for a confined two-electron anion. This model further suggests that the confinement of the embedded anion favors the angular correlation mechanism.


The aim of this project is to study the nature of tornadoes with the use of information visualization tools. The emphasis of this project is to study the tornadoes that change directions and their effects. For this report we used a subset of published storm data from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The data set included many types of storms, but we focused upon just the storm data relating to tornadoes. Both Tableau and IBM Many Eyes were used as the information visualization tools to perform graphical analysis of the data. When visualizing the data, we focused on the BEGIN_AZIMUTH and the END_AZIMUTH parameters in the data, which reflect the change of tornado directions. We found that tornadoes do frequently change direction. Tornadoes that probably went straight seemed to have much less in injuries than ones, which probably changed course. We had difficulties using the visualization tools convey any aggregated information regarding directions in general because the direction was not presented as numeric values in NOAA data. During the preparation of visualizations, we found some skills to change and improve the presentation of data.


One of the newest molecular descriptors, the general sum-connectivity index of a graph G is defined as χα(G) = ΣuvϵE(G)(d(u) + d(v))α, where d(u) denotes the degree of vertex u in G and is a real number. The aim of this paper is to determine the trees and the unicyclic graphs with k pendant vertices that maximize the general sum-connectivity index for α ≥ 1,with 2 ≤ k ≤ n for trees and 0 ≤ k ≤ n - 3 for unicyclic graphs.


Based on the analysis of characteristics of joint syllabuses of curriculum,in view of a serise of problems of development of syllabuses of the higher education for self-taught examinations,the author put forward some suggestions on reform of syllabuses writing such as add the sample paper and study of distinctive assessment aim of course.


The microRNAs(miRNAs)are an extensive class of small endogenous noncoding RNAs,with a length of 19~23 nucleofides,which are involved in the regulation of gene expression by pairing with mRNA 3'UTRs(untranslated regions)and subsequent inhibition of translation or mRNA degradation.It is thought that miRNAs play an important role in tissue development,cell differentiation and proliferation,apoptosis,even cancer and hereditary diseases.The purpose of this review is to discuss the progress in research of the role of miRNA in the regulation of gene expression during brain development and the maintenance of brain identity.

Key words:
MicroRNA; Brain


An analytical solution to the problem of the determination of contact stress in planar plastic deformation of ideal rigid-plastic material is obtained in compliance with Coulomb's friction law when using the von Mises yield criteria. The dimensions of slip regions are identified, an improved method of constructing diagrams of contact stresses is elaborated and technological loads are determined. A comparison with known theoretical and experimental data is carried out.


Abstract: I analyze markets in which consumers may misestimate the true value of goods and the government can affect the valuation through public promotion. When entry of firms is not allowed, the government makes consumers overvalue the goods to mitigate welfare loss from underproduction in an oligopolistic market, provided that the promotion cost is sufficiently low. On the contrary, in a free-entry market, no matter how low the promotion cost is, the government may make consumers undervalue them in order not to induce wasteful entries despite the remaining underproduction problem. In addition, my result in a free-entry market suggests that the main finding of Glaeser and Ujhelyi (J Public Econ 94: 247-257, 2010)crucially depends on the barriers to entry and the opposite result may be obtained under free entry.


For several days in January and August 1985, the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, a component of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), was operated in an along-track scanning mode. A survey of radiance measurements taken in this mode is given for five ocean regions: the north and south Atlantic, the Arabian Sea, the western Pacific north of the Equator, and part of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Each overflight contains information about the clear scene and three cloud categories: partly cloudy, mostly cloudy, and overcast. The data presented include the variation of longwave and shortwave radiance in each scene classification as a function of viewing zenity angle during each overflight of one of the five target regions. Several features of interest in the development of anisotropic models are evident, including the azimuthal dependence of shortwave radiance that is an essential feature of shortwave bidirectional models. The data also demonstrate that the scene classification algorithm employed by the ERBE results in scene classifications that are a function of viewing geometry.


The stigmergic swarming of digital media environments with propaganda and personal communication made the self-proclaimed Islamic State (also known as ISIS, IS, ISIL and Daesh) one of the strongest terror groups in the world. This study aims to identify the digital manoeuvre warfare tactics deployed by ISIS to survive the degrading operation initiated by its adversaries. In this paper, we emphasise that the information operations of terror organisations are not limited to a certain application or communication platform. Instead, the emergence of anonymous platforms (e.g., Justpase, Sendvid) and encryption communication applications (e.g., Telegram, WhatsApp) has enabled ISIS's information operations and helped the organisation to maintain its networking structure. This paper examines the role played by anonymous platforms in ISIS' operations from an information-


Inthepaperthere ispresented asetofsignals usedfor modeling disturbances inpowersystem. Suchasetcanbeuseful in testing newalgorithms. Thereisalsogiven adescription ofthe disturbances. Inthesecond partauthors examine theability ofthe wavelet transform approach todetect andextract feature from different disturbances superimposed onpowerline voltage.


Small metal spheres are bombarded by uniform Hg+ ion beams of low energy (125 to 800 ev). Comparison of shadow micrographs of the spheres before and after sputtering makes it possible to determine the influence of the angle of incidence on sputtering yields. Fe, Ta, and Mo showed a pronounced increase in yield at more oblique incidence of the ions while Au, Ag, and Pt showed this effect only slightly.


The FDTD simulation is performed with a system in which the front-surface is a concave lens, the inside of bulk is a zero refractive index medium in which positive and negative refractive index cells are randomly arranged, and a reflector is placed over the back-surface plane. In a zero-index medium, an outgoing wavefront is always parallel to the outgoing-surface, is independent of either the incident wavefront or the shape of the incoming-surface. After waiting for a while after entering pulsed light into this structure, the light reflected from the back-surface is focused at the focal point of the concave lens over the front-surface.


Logistic regression has recently been advanced as a viable procedure for detecting differential item functioning (DIF). One of the advantages of this procedure is the considerable flexibility it offers in the specification of the regression equation. This article describes incorporating two ability estimates into a single regression analysis, with the result that substantially fewer items exhibit DIF. A comparable analysis is conducted using the Mantel-Haenszel with similar results. It is argued that by simultaneously conditioning on two relevant ability estimates, more accurate matching of examinees in the reference and focal groups is obtained, and thus multidimensional item impact is not mistakenly identified as DIF.


Statistical rule is the same with discuss the theory of big granule go to on the surface.but must put up analysis to aim at the material model.So bring forward concept of afoul interspace.


A number of rules of interpretation emerge quite consistently from the jurisprudence of the High Court under the leadership of French CJ. The capacity for different interpretive outcomes, though, remains perennial. Much of the disagreement in interpretation cases is not about rules or even principles. The French High Court has not been divided along "literal" and "purposive" lines. The question it has instead focused on is whether the text is capable of a purposive interpretation – if it is, that interpretation must be adopted. The capability question is a language dilemma. It is resolved not so much by legal rules and principles as by grammatical canons and personal views about the flexibility of language.


Xiuling Yuan Dept. of Power and Machinery Xian Jiaotong University Xi'an, China Dennis L. O'Neal Dept. of Mechanical Engineering Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843·3123 A dynamic and distributed parameter model was developed to analyze a freezer system. Basic conservation equations were used to develop a mathematical model of the freezer, which consisted of models of the condenser, the evaporator, the compressor model and the capillary. Based upon the freezer mathematical model, a computer program was developed to predict changes of pressure, temperature, flow rate, etc., with both time and space. Experiments were conducted on a 400 L capacity freezer to evaluate the accuracy of the simulation model. Results for the system startup pressures, power, and temperature were presented. Experimental Setup A schematic diagram of the experimental setup for these tests is shown in Figure 1. The freezer was located in a conditioned room (designated as the "experimental space" in Figure 1). Measurements were made on a 400 L capacity freezer to evaluate the accuracy of the simulation model. The ambient temperature outside the freezer was set at 25±0.5°C and relative humidity was controlled at less than 90%. The size of the freezer was 1318 mm x 592 mm x 830 mm. The running speed of the compressor was 2880 rpm. Transient startup conditions were at 25°C inside the freezer. When the ambient conditions in the experimental space reached steady state, data were collected at twelve second intervals. During the test, the instantaneous power input into the refrigerator, pressure across the compressor and temperatures of the in·cabinet and out·cabinet were measured. Measurement of Main Parameters The tube wall temperature and the refrigerant temperature inside the tube were measured with calibrated copper· constantan thermocouples. Six to eight thermocouples were mounted in the evaporator and the condenser to obtain the temperature profiles with time and location of the refrigerant. The in~abinet air and ambient temperatures also were measured by the thermocouples. The thermocouples were connected by a digital voltage meter which had a sensitivity of 0.1 !J.V. The sensitivity of the voltage and ampere meters was 0.3 IJ.V and 0.5 IJ.A, respectively. Pressures were measured at the inlet and outlet of the compressor. The instantaneous power to the refrigerator and daily energy consumption were recorded by independent digital watt and watt·hour meters whose accuracy was within± 0.2 %of the reading. Simulated and Tested Results The whole process from start-up to shut·down was simulated on the 400 L freezer. Initial conditions in the simulation model were determined by measured data. The results were compared with the experimental data. Figure 2 presents the predicted curve from the model that shows how the mass flow of the compressor and capillary tube varies with time during the start-up. When the compressor started, the mass flow rate reached its maximum value very quickly. Once the compressor began operation, the refrigerant was transferred from the low pressure to the high pressure side of the system. At the same time, the condenser pressure increased rapidly and the evaporator pressure decreased rapidly (Figures 3 and 4 ). With the increased pressure difference between the high and low pressure sides, the mass flow rate of the compressor increased while that in the capillary tube decreased gradually. The mass flow rate through the compressor equaled that through the capillary tube approximately 150 seconds after start·Up and remained relatively constant after that time. The model appeared to track to the trends in condensing and evaporating pressures well during the first 150 seconds after startup.


In our discussion we will explore how Ksenija Atanasijevic, while writing about the poets and philosophers of ancient Greece, but also about Saint Teresa of Avila and George Sand, expressed her own understanding of the importance of women's scientific and artistic creativity, and also their emancipation. By choice of women she will write about, as well as emphasis on certain qualities of their personalities and their work, and the philosophical concepts she supported, Ksenija Atanasijevic simultaneously created her implicit imaginary philosophical "Iˮ in Portraits of Women. Therefore, the most precise genre definition of Portraits of Women would be fragments of flickering compassion towards the personalities she is describing, and compassion can be defined as a key characteristic of her entire oeuvre and life – empathy was the basis of Ksenija Atanasijevic's ethical philosophy and her social, pacifist and feminist engagement and at the same time it was in her opinion the most important value of human life. With this choice, Ksenija Atanasijevic also anticipated the stance of contemporary feminism on the necessity of creating a female canon for shaping a women's personal and creative identity.Key words: Ksenija Atanasijevic, Portraits of Women, female canon, "autobiographical moment", feminist tradition


Commercial fish meals have been examined for their net protein utilization by rats and have been found to be of poorer nutritive value than laboratory fish preparations, which have a net protein utilization of about 80%. The factors responsible are chiefly the conditions of drying and consequent occurrence of the Maillard reaction. No damage was detectable in the dried product after storing for 3 months at room temperature. It is shown that water as well as sugar and protein, is an essential for the Maillard reaction, and it is suggested that anti-Maillard reagents may offer some hope for the prevention of damage during drying. For rats, methionine is the limiting amino-acid in the damaged meals and might be added with advantage to these products.


With the increase in the use of World Wide Web, corporate industries and enterprises are searching for a new way to reduce the cost of usage, communication and storage. Cloud computing, "on-demand" solution is an internet based computing where information, resources, software and application services are provided on demand. Without any doubt, cloud computing is been adopted by many industries and the prospects seem to be promising as more and more new industries are joining the "on-demand" virtual world. Major industry sectors like Education, Healthcare, Finance and Banking, Hospitality, En- tertainment industry etc. are adapting to the cloud based services. The following paper is focused on the use of cloud in media industry and its advantages in terms of flexibility, cost effectiveness and reliability.


In this article we analyze an epidemic dynamics model (SI) where we assume that there are k susceptible states, that is a node would require multiple contacts before it gets infected. In specific, we provide a theoretical framework for studying diffusion rate in complete graphs and d-regular trees with extensions to dense random graphs. We observe that irrespective of the topology, the diffusion process could be divided into two distinct phases: i) the initial phase, where the diffusion process is slow, followed by ii) the residual phase where the diffusion rate increases manifold. In fact, the initial phase acts as an indicator for the total diffusion time in dense graphs. The most remarkable lesson from this investigation is that such a diffusion process could be controlled and even contained if acted upon within its initial phase.


We examine morphology-separated color–mass diagrams to study the quenching of star formation in ∼100,000 (z ∼ 0) Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and ∼20,000 (z ∼ 1) Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) galaxies. To classify galaxies morphologically, we developed Galaxy Morphology Network (GaMorNet), a convolutional neural network that classifies galaxies according to their bulge-to-total light ratio. GaMorNet does not need a large training set of real data and can be applied to data sets with a range of signal-to-noise ratios and spatial resolutions. GaMorNet's source code as well as the trained models are made public as part of this work. We first trained GaMorNet on simulations of galaxies with a bulge and a disk component and then transfer learned using ∼25% of each data set to achieve misclassification rates of ≲5%. The misclassified sample of galaxies is dominated by small galaxies with low signal-to-noise ratios. Using the GaMorNet classifications, we find that bulge- and disk-dominated galaxies have distinct color–mass diagrams, in agreement with previous studies. For both SDSS and CANDELS galaxies, disk-dominated galaxies peak in the blue cloud, across a broad range of masses, consistent with the slow exhaustion of star-forming gas with no rapid quenching. A small population of red disks is found at high mass (∼14% of disks at z ∼ 0 and 2% of disks at z ∼ 1). In contrast, bulge-dominated galaxies are mostly red, with much smaller numbers down toward the blue cloud, suggesting rapid quenching and fast evolution across the green valley. This inferred difference in quenching mechanism is in agreement with previous studies that used other morphology classification techniques on much smaller samples at z ∼ 0 and z ∼ 1.


Capelin mince was heated and dried and the two functional properties, water holding and soluble protein, were measured as functions of time, temperature, moisture content in the mince, and rate of drying. Heating and drying reduced water holding and soluble protein. Loss of water holding started between 30 and 35°C while soluble protein was first reduced between 40 and 50°C. The effects increased with increasing time and temperature but were almost independent of moisture content in the range 30–70% water. Heat stability increased at low moisture contents. Water holding and soluble protein in dried samples were generally a little higher than in samples which were heat treated at corresponding times and temperatures.


Infective endocarditis of the tricuspid valve is a common complication of injection drug use. However, the relapsed tricuspid valve endocarditis in drug addict after successful self-withdrawal was uncommon, and tricuspid prosthetic endocarditis was seldom described in such patients. A previous drug addict developed a relapsed tricuspid bioprosthetic endocarditis four years after tricuspid valve replacement. He was managed conservatively with antibacterial treatment and recovered favorably. Conservative management of tricuspid prosthetic endocarditis may be preferable in the injection drug users, especially in those with a successful self-withdrawal from drugs.


Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the abundance and composition of soluble organic nitrogen (SON) and its labile components (protein and total free amino acids) in horticultural soils managed by organic (ORG) or conventional (CNV) practices under greenhouse or open field conditions. Protein concentration accounted for a high proportion of the SON fraction in all sampled sites, while free amino acids (FAAs) only constituted a small proportion. The contents of soil SON, protein, total FAAs and nitrate-nitrogen (NO3 −-N) increased in organic soils more than those under conventional practice. Soils cultivated in greenhouse conditions contained greater pools of total soluble nitrogen (TSN) and SON as well as NO3 −-N and ammonium-nitrogen (NH4 +-N) compared to open fields. Seasonal changes also affected the total abundance of SON, protein and FAAs in all the treatments, and the seasonal variation depends on the N form being measured. Electrophoretic patterns of soil proteins in greenhouse soils were clearly different from those in open field soil, but these significant differences were not observed between ORG and CNV soils. The soil amino acid pools were dominated by the same five amino acids, glycine, serine, asparagic acid, threonine and tyrosine, among four treatments. Greenhouse cultivation significantly affected the FAA profiles, while ORG management did not have the same effect. We propose that the management practice (ORG vs. CNV) has an effect on the quality of the SON labile pools, while it plays a lesser role in the SON quality compared to cultivation method (greenhouse vs. open field).


Before the guns of the Civi l War had been stilled, the Protestant mission ary societies had begun the heroic task of educating the freedmen. ' 'Be hind the mists of ruin and rapine waved the calico dresses of women who dared, and after the hoarse mouthings of the field guns rang the rhythm of the alphabet," W. E . B . D u Bois recalled. "Bereaved now of a father, now of a brother, now of more than these," the Yankee teachers sought " a life work in planting the New England schoolhouses among the white and black of the South ." Booker T . Washington predicted that "the part that the Yankee teachers played in the education of the Negroes immediately after the war w i l l make one of the most thrilling parts of the history of this count ry ." (1) James M . McPherson has told the story of missionary education in masterly fashion. Since professional reviewers routinely empha size substance and research methods and rarely evaluate a work in terms of its interest to intelligent readers who are not professional specialists, it has become increasingly difficult to write scholarly books that are genuinely absorbing. A t times McPherson has allowed the weight of evidence to impede the development of his story, but The Abolition ist Legacy is clearly written throughout and parts of it are absolutely fascinating. Based on industrious research in a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, supplemented wi th occasional use of quantative methods, The Abolitionist Legacy also possesses enormous historiographic significance. Most of this essay wi l l focus on the ways in which McPherson's book revises conventional views in American history, but it is wel l to stress at the outset that it is a success as narration as wel l as a tr iumph of historical scholarship. McPherson has a good eye for strik ing quotations and a flair for telling dramatic stories. The Abolitionist Legacy deserves a wide audience among those interested in the history of American education and race relations. A t the beginning of The Abolitionist Legacy McPherson challenges statements such as August Meier's assertion that "since the white aboli-


Objective To detect the alteration of circulating CD34^+ cell level in patients with the first-ever nonlactmar stroke and to investigate the prognostic value of CD34^+ cell level. Methods The level of the circulating CD34^+ cells were examined using flow cytometry in 119 patients with nonlacunar infarction. The patients were divided into group A (higher than average) and group B (lower than average) according to the detected values. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores on admission and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores at 3 months after the onset in the two groups were compared. Results The level of CD34^+ cells in group A was significantly higher than that in group B (0. 048 ± 0. 001 versus 0. 032 ±0. 002, P 〈 0.05), however, there was no significantly difference in NIHSS sores between the two groups. One week after admission, the increased level of CD34^+ cells in group A was significantly higher than that in group B (0. 001± 0. 003 versus -0. 005 ±0. 000, P 〈0.05).Three months after the onset of symptoms, the average mRS score in group A was significantly superior to that in group B (2. 98 ± 1.14 versus 3.25 ± 1.39, P 〈0.05). The level of circulating CD34^+ cells at the initial onset of symptom was negatively correlated with the mRS score at 3 months after stroke (r = -0.48, P 〈0.05). Conclusions The higher level of circulating CD34^+ cells had better prognosis in patients with cerebral infarction. The level of circulating CD34^+ cells may be used as a prognostic indicator in patients with cerebral infarction.

Key words:
leukocytes;  antigens, CD34;  cerebral infarction;  prognosis;  flow cytometry


There are many types of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) which differ in their operational modes (contact mode, sliding mode, etc.), converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. This paper introduces electricity generation from a small low‐temperature differential heat engine capable of utilizing low‐grade thermal energy. The engine is similar to the Gamma‐type Stirling engine and could run on temperature differentials ranging from 90 down to a few degrees Celsius. The work presented here gives technical details of how a small low‐temperature differential heat engine could be integrated with a TENG for electricity generation. Two different schemes were tested for the operation of TENG: one in non‐contact sliding mode and the other in vertical contact‐separation mode. For the temperature difference of 74.4 °C, the former delivered a maximum output voltage of 70 V whereas the latter resulted in 35 V. A maximum combined output voltage of 105 V was obtained capable of charging a 4.7 μF capacitor and discharged through LED lighting. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Since 1990, North Korea's economic situation has drawn the international community's attention and became an important factor to analyze and judge the situation in North Korea, in the Korean Peninsula and even in the whole Northeast Asia. As North Korea's neighbors, Sino-Korean trade and Inter-Korean trade play an important role in North Korea's foreign trade. Based on situation analysis, the great connection and difference between Sino-Korean trade and Inter-Korean trade are given an introduction. Also by exploring reasons for Sino-Korean trade development, we can gather some insights for Inter-Korean trade development.


This installment of the "Professional Development" column features an interview with Lukas Kinigadner, chief executive officer of Anyline.com, founded in 2013 in the beautiful city of Vienna, Austria.


Field experiments were conducted in 2 a in the loess hilly area of west Henan Province. Results showed that the application of chemical regulator "Zhuangfengan" on winter wheat could significantly increase the grain yields by 6.0%~10.8%, in which the effect of foliar spray in the period between regeneration and jointing stages was the most significant. The lodgingresistant features of winter wheat could be obviously strengthened by the application of "Zhuangfengan". Mixing the chemical into seeds before sowing could significantly increase the secondary root number and consequently boost up the rootderived lodgingresistant abilities. The application of "Zhuangfengan" by the different studied methods could significantly reduce the length of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd basic internodes of winter wheat stem by total 4.2~4.6 cm. The barycenter was therefore lowered and the stemderived lodgingresistant abilities were also improved. However, the height of wheat individuals was not influenced by the application of "Zhuangfengan". 


■ Industry overview "To date, the nation's more than 1,800 retail clinics are known for providing affordable, accessible quality care to more than 30 million people across the country," said Tine HansenTurton, executive director of the Convenient Care Association and program moderator. These people would often have had to wait hours, days, or even weeks for a primary care appointment. "The focus of the industry is quality, convenience, and consumer choice," she added. Clinics focus on evidence-based practice and provide care primarily through nurse practitioners (NPs [95%]) and sometimes physician assistants (PAs). The number of clinics continues to grow, with 43 states and the District of Columbia now having clinics. "We know we fi ll a void," Hansen-Turton said. "More than 40% of people who use the clinics do not have a medical home." The growth rate of clinics is highest among


The microservices architecture is one of the first service-based architectural styles that has been introduced, applied in practice, and become popular when the DevOps practices gained momentum in the software industry. Migrating monolithic architectures to cloud-native architectures like microservices brings in many benefits such as flexibility to adapt to the technological changes and independent resource management for different system components. Here, we report our experiences and lessons learned during incremental migration and architectural refactoring of a commercial Mobile Backend as a Service to microservices. We provide a detailed explanation of how we adopted DevOps and its practices, and how these practices facilitated a smooth migration process. Furthermore, we have taken a step towards devising microservices migration patterns by wrapping our experiences in different projects into reusable migration practices.


The development of technology is a key factor in the change in the education system. One important issue in organizing the National Education System is determining what efforts should be made to improve the quality of education. This study aim was to find out what e-learning has been developed in Indonesia. At present, E-learning has been implemented in various schools, universities, institutions and industries. They combined two components: computer technology and computer network to do distance learning. They allowed students to learn through computers in their respective places without attended the classes. Currently it was widely used in Indonesia, especially for secondary schools, namely Edmodo, Schoology, Moodle, Quipper and Ruangguru.


Two techniques using soft lithography and lift-off techniques for the fabrication of polymer microparticles are demonstrated. The techniques involve using microstamping of polymer structures onto a sacrificial layer for release into a water solution. The particles produced using these techniques maintain the micro-geometry of the mold and stamp.


We have developed an educational tool that allows visualization of rebar corrosion with aqueous gel. Various types of rebar corrosion in concrete can be visually observed with the use of this tool, which will enhance students' understanding of the mechanism of rebar corrosion. In this study, we simulated corrosion of rebar in cutting surfaces and bents, and chloride-induced corrosion. The degree of corrosion was evaluated through measurement of pH levels of the gel and half-cell potentials of the rebar. Furthermore, we made a double layer beam model consisting of gel and mortar and measured the half-cell potential on both sides of the model. The practical applicability of the tool was evaluated based on the above.


The presence of fibrin in the joints, raised levels of blood fibrinogen, and an increased total daily fibrinogen turnover are well-known features of rheumatoid arthritis (Takeda, 1967) and inflammatory arthritis. A possible role for fibrin in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis, through its action as an autoimmunogen, was suggested by the production of a chronic inflammatory arthritis in rabbits by heterologous and to a lesser degree autologous fibrin injected intra-articularly into previously sensitized animals (Dumonde and Glynn, 1962). An alternative pathogenic mechanism has been attributed to the chemotactic effect of its derivatives and consequent perpetuation of inflammation by neutrophils (Bluhm, Riddle and Barnhart, 1966). In addition there has been a growing appreciation of the role of both local and disseminated intravascular coagulation as an intermediary mechanism in many disease processes (McKay, 1965). Both intravascular fibrinolysis (Andersen and Winther, 1969) and intra-articular fibrinolysis (Barnhart, Riddle and Bluhm, 1967a) have been previously reported in rheumatoid arthritis. This paper reports on the levels of fibrin degradation products (FDPs) in the serum of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthrosis, and cutaneous vasculitis, and on synovial fluid levels in patients with rheumatoid and osteoarthrotic effusions. Fibrin degradation products which are produced by fibrin and fibrinogen proteolysis (Marder, Shulman, and Carroll, 1969) are sensitive indicators of occult fibrinolysis, being detectable before other evidence of consumption of fibrinogen, platelets, or other coagulation factors is obtained (Das, Allen, Woodfield, and Cash, 1967). The technique for the assay of FDPs is based on a haemagglutination inhibition immunoassay (Merskey, Lalezari, and Johnson, 1969) and is sensitive and highly reproducible, having been used in many recently published reports on FDP levels (Naish, Sevitt, Pitney, and Peters, 1970; Ruckley, Das, Leitch, Donaldson, Copland, Redpath, Scott, and Cash, 1970). The method depends on the


The current NWMO management approach is to consider used CANDU fuel as a waste. Although technically quite feasible, reprocessing of spent CANDU fuel on a commercial scale would lead to prohibitive costs even when considering the revenues from the additional electricity produced with recycled fuel. This is also the case for all the recycle options from reprocessing of spent LWR fuel, but to a much lesser extent. In fact, reprocessing LWR spent fuel and recycling the recovered uranium and plutonium in LWR's or future fast reactors (FBR) may become economical when and if the price of natural uranium reaches a breakeven value. A recent economic study at Harvard concluded that once-through LWR fuel cycles are likely to remain significantly cheaper than recycling for at least the next 50 years, even with substantial growth in nuclear power.


Duplex stainless steels (DSS) are prime candidates for paper and pulp, off shore and mining industries due to their high corrosion fatigue resistance accompanied by good mechanical properties. The aim of the study is to obtain the fatigue data for two DSS steels in a modified TIP 0402-09 type II corrosive environment ("synthetic white water") resembling the "white water" found in the pulp and paper industry. The specimens were manufactured from two types of commercial DSS one hot rolled type and one PM hot isostatically pressed (HIP-ed) type. Axial fatigue testing method at 15 Hz and stress ratio (-1) on a servo-hydraulic testing machine was utilized for determining the fatigue limit and S/N curve.


This article analyzes the disputes around the conception, creation and the first years of work of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (BIRD), better known as the World Bank. For such, it goes back to the early 1940s when the negotiations between the United States and England for the creation of a post-war international monetary and financial architecture began. The work discusses the original propositions of both potencies, the primacy of the United States in the creation of the bank and the way the force correlations inside the USA played an important role in institution's modeling. It also analyzes the bank's trajectory between 1946 an 1960, showing how the North-American foreign policy's injunctions pressed the entity's actions and in which ways the bank inserted itself in the communism containment strategy. Finally, it discusses the economic and political factors that led to the BIRD's enlargement in the second half of the 1950s through the creation of the International Finance Corporation and the International Development Association.


The Ds-controlled allele, bz-m4 Derivative 6856 [bz-m4 068561, is reported to have an altered temporaland tissue-specific pattern of gene expression. We have cloned this allele and have characterized it at the molecular level. The mutation was caused by the insertion of a complex transposon-like structure 36 base pairs downstream from the Bz mRNA cap site. The insert is 6.7kbp long. Ds elements, each approximately 2 kbp in length, are at both ends of the insert. The sequence between the Ds elements is a partial duplication of flanking sequences from the 3' end of the Bz gene. These data suggest that Ds initially inserted near the 3' end of the gene and mobilized adjacent sequences as it transposed. B RONZE (Bz) is the structural gene for UDP glucose 3-O-flavonol glucosyltransferase (UFGT) (EC 126.96.36.199) which is required for the synthesis of the red and purple anthocyanin pigments in maize (LARSON and COE 1977; DOONER and NELSON 1977a). The 0 s (Dissociation) transposable element-induced allele, bz-ml 06856, is unusual because it alters the temporal and tissue-specific expression of the Bz gene product (DOONER and NELSON 1977a; DOONER 1981). In mutant seed, UFGT is detectable 14 days after pollination (DAP), and peaks by 22-26 DAP. In wildtype seeds, UFGT activity does not increase substantially until 26 DAP and reaches its highest level after black layer formation and seed maturation (DOONER and NELSON 1977b). Furthermore, UFGT, which is restricted to the aleurone layer of the wild-type kernels, is preferentially localized in the subaleurone endosperm in bz-ml kernels (DOONER 1981). Presumably these changes in timing and tissue-specificity of Bz expression are due to the insertion of a 0 s transposable element near the 5' end of the gene in bz-ml 06856. The origin of bz-ml 06856 is complex (Figure 1). MCCLINTOCK (1952) observed that a transposable element at one locus would "spread" to adjacent loci. In the maize line she was studying, Ds, in the presence of Ac (Activator), caused chromosome breaks immediately distal to the shrunhen (sh) locus. From this stock, MCCLINTOCK isolated new mutable alleles of the flanking genes, C-I (dominant colorless) or Bz. The original ' Current address: Institut fur Genetik des Universitat zu Koln, FRG. bz-ml allele was isolated in that study (B. MCCLINTOCK, personal communication). This bz-m-4 line was stably recessive for the shrunken (sh) trait. Later MCCLINTOCK demonstrated that recombination between sh and bz in this stock was substantially reduced, indicating that the unstable bz-ml allele arose concommitantly with a deletion of chromosomal material in the interval between these loci (MCCLINTOCK 1965; DOONER 198 1). In the presence of Ac, the original bz-m4 allele formed dicentric chromosomes at a high frequency. In a subsequent generation this bz-ml reverted to a Bz ' * allele (B. MCCLINTOCK, personal communication). This was unstable, indicating that a Ds element was near or at the Bz' allele. Subsequently, again with Ac present, a gamete from a Bz'-m plant, culture #677 1, mutated to an unusual dark bronze, recessive allele which also had a reduced frequency of dicentric formation. This allele was bz-ml 06856. MCCLINTOCK isolated various revertants and changes of state from these several forms of bz-ml. Of the various bz-ml alleles, bz-ml 06856 is known to have an altered temporaland tissue-specific gene expression. However, the regulation of the other alleles has not been investigated. The product of the Sh gene, sucrose synthase (SS), is a major endosperm protein required for full levels of starch biosynthesis in the developing seed phenotypes are designated prime (')alleles. This indicates that the new form * Changes of state and germinal revertants to either purple or bronze of the allele is not necessarily identical, at the molecular level, to its wild-type or mutable progenitor. Genetics 120: 779-790 (November, 1988) 780 A. S. Klein et al.


1 Microwave-Frecuency Bridge (5 mm) Staff M W P Strandberg J G Ingersoll The measurement of the spectrum of oxygen in the 5-mm range has been completed One line has been isolated and the line breadth measured Measurements of the absorption of oxygen and nitrogen mixtures have given some unexpected results, so that a program studying the dependence of the absorption w.th various gas mixtures with intermediate ground state spins is being started


Television hospital dramas are exaggerated, I told myself, as I began my theatre placement. Surely real-life surgery would not have the same highly charged, intimidating atmosphere that I enjoy dipping into on Saturday night television.


The thesis uses MINV platform to implement a social network in the UPPuebla to allow posgraduate students to learn concepts about research methodology.


Patterning technology is entering the nanomaterials era. Breakthrough advances in the basic sciences over the last twenty years are catalyzing novel material and assembly options. In the near future, these options may warrant consideration for fabricating advanced information processing technologies. However, material technology advances alone are not sufficient to induce changes and chemical substitution in manufacturing. In fact, manufacturing technology will change only when no other option exists. Therefore, the concurrent trend in lithographic challenges is noteworthy. Recent revisions of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) indicate that it is becoming increasingly difficult for mainstream lithographic technologies to satisfy projected ITRS dimensional scaling requirements, shown in Table 1.


The Great Gatsby exposes the representative figures' human nature of falseness, indifference and selfishness, under the cult of gold-worship's trend. When the novel makes its character delineation, its words and plots are humorous and vivid. At the same time it uses such writing techniques as the "double field of vision" and the"beauty of blankness",which shows the rich double charm of idea and art.


The optical forces exerted on a slowly moving two-level atom in a standing wave are profoundly modified when the normal decay rates of the atom are altered. The theory presented in this paper shows that the stimulated emission force becomes dominant at a very low laser intensity. Furthermore, it can change sign to provide an additional cooling force instead of a heating force at laser detunings below the atomic resonance. These phenomena can lead to eoquilibrium temperatures below the Doppler limit


Interventional endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract is a rapidly evolving surgical discipline that minimizes the surgical trauma. Yet, complications occur that sometimes are severe. This thesis aims to improve upper gastrointestinal endoscopic therapeutic procedures by addressing aspects of their complications in three randomised clinical trials (paper I-III) and one prospective cohort study (paper IV). In distal oesophageal tumours the palliative placement of stent, against dysphagia, crosses the gastrooesophageal junction, thus possibly causing reflux-induced severe oesophagitis and aspiration. Therefore, in paper I, a multicentre trial was performed with the intention of improving the health-related quality of life (HRQL) by testing an anti-reflux stent after palliative stenting of patients with inoperable distal oesophageal cancer. The 65 patients included were randomised for an anti-reflux stent or a conventional stent. HRQL was measured using validated questionnaires assessing general and oesophageal-specific symptoms and functions (EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-OES18) at baseline, and both one and three months after stenting. No statistically significant differences were found between the two types of stents. Some research has indicated that the antihypertensive angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) losartan might prevent acute pancreatitis. Therefore, in paper II, we conducted a placebo controlled trial that tested whether losartan prevents hyperenzymemia (a marker of acute pancreatitis) as assessed 24 hours after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Among 76 randomised patients, there was no evidence of any preventive effect of losartan on such hyperenzymemia. A significant problem after insertion of nutritional percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is peristomal infection. A standard antibiotic prophylaxis of 1.5 g cefuroxime (Zinacef ® ) given intravenously one hour before PEG insertion is generally recommended. In paper III, to develop and facilitate such prophylaxis, we tested whether antibiotic prophylaxis with 20 ml oral solution sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim (Bactrim ® ) given in the newly inserted PEG catheter could replace the standard treatment. Among 234 randomised patients, 10 and 14 peristomal infections occurred in the sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim and the cefuroxime group, respectively. The intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses both revealed that the sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim strategy was at least as effective as standard antibiotic prophylaxis. The risk factors for peristomal infections and early mortality after PEG insertion are uncertain. In paper IV we therefore conducted a hospital-based prospective cohort study addressing six potential risk factors for infectious complications or 30-day mortality after PEG insertion: age ≥ 65 years, BMI <18.5 kg/m 2 , albumin <30 g/L, Creactive protein (CRP) ≥10 mg/L, indications for PEG, and co-morbidities. After adjustment for potential confounders: advanced age, low albumin and high CRP levels were followed by a statistically significantly increased risk of short-term mortality. Compared to the 2.6% risk of mortality in patients with normal albumin and CRP levels, a combination of low albumin and high CRP rendered a greater than 7-fold increased risk (OR, 7.45; 95% confidence interval, 2.62-21.19) or a mortality rate of 20.5%. In summary, antireflux stents might not be superior to conventional stents in the palliation of dysphagia in patients with distal oesophageal cancer. Losartan does not seem to reduce hyperenzymemia after ERCP. A local solution of 20 ml sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim can probably replace standard antibiotic prophylaxis during PEG insertion. Low albumin and high CRP are markers of increased risk of early mortality after PEG insertion.


The work of Gustave Guillaume (1883-1960) has had an important influence on French linguistics. But his theory of psychomechanics, which views language as systematic and semiotic, is not well known in the English-speaking world. "Language in the Mind" is the first detailed study of Guillaumian linguistics in English. Guillaume sees the word as the link between language as potential and as actual discourse. Meaning is both the representation of the speaker's momentary experience and the determining factor in the the word's use in discourse. Walter Hirtle illustrates Guillaume's general principles with examples drawn from contemporary English grammar and uses comparisons with other approaches, especially cognitive linguistics, to situate Guillaume's distinctive view of language as essentially a mental phenomenon. Hirtle is the former director of the Fonds Gustave Guillaume, an archive of 60,000 manuscript pages of the theorist's work, which is housed at Laval University, the principal centre for the study of psychomechanics.


This paper presents a fully distributed asynchronous clustering protocol for the self-organisation of a wireless sensor network into an infrastructure of well separated cluster heads that supports in-network processing, routing, and deployment. In this protocol, nodes volunteer asynchronously for cluster head duty and use a radio beacon to preemptively recruit members. Limited beacon range is used as the primary parameter for self-organisation. The resulting topology substantially reduces total transmission distance and the expected energy consumed by radio communication. To further extend network lifetime and capability, well separated cluster heads may be easily located and replaced by more powerful devices


Organizations across the world have become reliant on their existing information systems. In the meantime, the unparalleled growth of cloud computing and new big-data technologies have created a need to replace or migrate/convert existing systems to take advantage of the new technology advances. According to the Gartner group, system reuse provides value by deploying existing technology, data, and processes in new circumstances. According to the Gartner CIO survey, based on 1,551 firms, reuse contributes to firm profitability and growth. According to the Gartner Executive Programs Survey, enterprises achieving greater reuse were reaching higher levels of business performance. Companies have significant investments in information systems. At the same time, information technology (IT) is changing rapidly, which forces organizations to make decisions about either developing new systems based on the new technology or upgrading their current systems. However, instead of replacing an old system and divesting of the previous investment, organizations can adapt their old systems to the new technology. The author of the notable book, Information Systems Reengineering, Integration, and Normalization, is Dr. Joseph Shi Piu Fong from the City University of Hong Kong. The author uses the clichéd and timeworn term "re-engineering." This term became popular in the 1980s and has been associated with dozens of meanings, including massive layoffs. Nevertheless, the concept of re-engineering is still very important today. In this book, the term is used with the meaning of redesign. The focus is on redesigning an existing system to make it compatible with newer technologies or standards. One of the author's major objectives is to demonstrate that re-engineering is a better option than redevelopment. Many organizations have developed new systems and discarded their existing systems because their employees lack the expertise and methodologies to successfully