The positive results of the recently published MIRACLE (Multicenter InSync Randomized Clinical Evaluation) study present the electrophysiologist with a powerful new device therapy and greatly expand the existing pool of patients referred for device implantation. This new patient population is also more complex, and, at each stage of their care, will require much more time, thought, and skill. These stages include the preimplant evaluation, the implantation procedure, and the chronic follow-up evaluations. In addition, given the availability of a market-released product in the form a resynchronization device alone and a resynchronization device coupled with an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD), the temptation to expand the indications for resynchronization therapy to patients not yet studied in wellcontrolled clinical trials will be enormous. These potential patient groups include those with heart failure who have implanted pacemakers or ICDs and have right ventricular pacing-induced left bundle branch block. Other groups include those without heart failure, but with left ventricular dysfunction with or without bundle branch block who are otherwise indicated for a right ventricular pacemaker or ICD.


their policy environment and the roles played by both the state and private sector. Finally, he presents a balanced assessment of the potential of industrial policy for specific high technology industries. A recurring theme, and also one of the particular strengths of Okimoto's work, is his genuine attempt and apparent success to deal effectively with the &dquo;politics&dquo; of high technology industrial policy, particularly at the bureaucratic, domestic, and to some degree, at the international level. It is precisely here where Okimoto's capable analysis distinguishes itself from much of the other findings available on the subject. Okimoto also demonstrates why and how functional change over time has greatly affected the political and economic environment in which industrial policy must operate. For example, he contends that the motivational basis for MITI's high-technology industrial policy is quite complex and goes well beyond concerns for industrial efficiency, structural coherence and effectiveness. Okimoto argues that industrial policy for high technology clearly must be seen in its political dimension as a lever of I~IITI's power vis-a-vis rival ministries, the LDP, and the private sector. Still more important perhaps is Okimoto's observation that industrial policy cannot be easily discarded, even in a mature Japanese economy, because industrial policy plays such a central role in Japan's political economy as a means for consensus building and communication between the government and business. Throughout the volume Okimoto engages frequently in comparison, which is commendable. Okimoto makes a plausible argument that Japan's industrial policy instruments for high technology are not different from those in other AICs, where,Japan really differs is in the industrial policy environment, i.e. regime characteristics. Okimoto is most effective in USA-Japan comparisons. Several of Okimoto's observations comparing Japan with Advanced Industrial Countries of Europe are lacking much of the profound insights and the systematic approach he masters for Japan and the United States, and as such, many comparisons are somewhat lacking explanatory power. This shortcoming may be led back to the general conceptual difficulty surrounding &dquo;industrial policy&dquo;, and also the perennial difficulty of functional equivalence in cross-national comparison. This may serve as a reminder that industrial policy remains an imperfectly defined concept around which an entire literature has been growing. These caveats notwithstanding, Okimoto has produced yet another solid study of


In this article the authors hold that the bilingual teaching in the education of law can help to train the compound talents with the knowledge of both law and English. After proposing some strategies and methods for teaching law in English, the authors point out some problems and further discuss the possible solutions.


Knee osteoarthritis could be a very disabling disease due to the symptoms it produces, characterized by pain, insecurity and functional loss. It is a degenerative disease which prevalence has increased in the last decades tightly related to the increment of the population's life expectancy, phenomenon occurring in the developed countries with a high life level and also occurring in our country because of the development of our health system. There are several surgical techniques to correct deformation and to relieve pain. They go through correcting osteotomies to arthroplasties, all of them aimed, firstly to pain relieving and also to correcting deformations. The last ones need more rehabilitation time and are more expensive. This work is devoted to presenting two patients operated with the new technique of Dr. Yin-Ze Zhang, from the Department of Orthopedic Surgery of the Third Hospital of the Medical University of Hebei, in Shijiazhuang, China, with which, through an osteotomy, the internal compartment is decompressed and the bone tension in the external one is finished due to the peroneal excision. Its aims are acting upon the pain, improving function and gait as a benefit of this minimal action procedure on the articular parts and achieving the faster incorporation of the patient to his social life; this is the theme the main author of this article is going to develop for obtaining the doctorate in sciences.


The development of many high bit-rate multimedia applications has emphasized the demand for service differentiation or prioritization techniques to ensure end-user quality-of-service (QoS) necessities. This paper focuses on utilizing different detection schemes in spectral-amplitude coding optical code-division multiple-access (SAC-OCDMA) systems to support `triple-play' services (voice, video, and data) with diverse QoS requirements. The used subtraction detection techniques are complementary, AND, as well as modified-AND. Modified double-weight (MDW) codes are used as the signature codes for SAC-OCDMA systems. The simulation results show that modified-AND subtraction detection demonstrates better performance over other detection approaches.


The utility model discloses a glass medium packaged microspur type electrical connector provided with a cable. According to the packaging method adopted in the microspur type electrical connector, the medium between the outer conductor and the inner conductor is changed, and a glass medium is used in hermetic packaging. The technology of the utility model can be widely used in various connectors, and has important significance to improve the environmental resistance performance of connectors.


Interleukin-l 2 (IL-12) is a novel cytokine that enhances numerous functional activities of human T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. The present studies were undertaken to characterize some of the early signaling events following IL-12 stimulation of mitogen-activated normal T cells. In these cells, IL-l2 induces rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins of 21, 44, and 5 4 kD. However, IL-12 does not induce tyrosine phosphorylation in normal resting T cells. In conjunction with increased tyrosine phosphorylation of several substrates, IL-l2 stimulation resulted in increased in vitro kinase activity of immunoprecipitated tyrosine


The study explores the relationship between working capital and profitability using data collected from the financial statements of 17 food and beverage companies listed on HOSE and HNX from 2008 to 2017. The three models used in this research are Pooled Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed Effects Model (FEM), Random Effects Model (REM). The results of the model tests show that REM is the most suitable. To enhance the reliability and efficiency of the model, we conduct robustness tests. The findings indicate the presence of heteroskedasticity in the model. Therefore, the adjusted REM with the GLS method is used to handle this issue. The results of the regression analysis reveal that when the average collection period increases, gross operating profit (GOP) decreases and return on assets (ROA) increases; the average payment period has a negative influence on ROA; cash conversion cycle has a negative influence on GOP and when the inventory period increases, ROA and GOP decrease.


First, we should like to summarize our neurophysiological investigations on the retina and the visual cortex in the cat which are relevant to the problems of amblyopia and then to discuss a hypothesis which is slightly different from that currently accepted. There are two aspects to amblyopia: one is a reduction of visual acuity of the fovea and the other is a disturbance of binocular vision. Our concern here is particularly with the first aspect, i.e. a reduction of visual acuity of the fovea in strabismus and related conditions. Visual acuity is known to be closely associated with the density distribution of cone receptors throughout the retina. As the upper graph in Fig. I (overleaf) shows (redrawn from Steinberg, Reid, and Lacy, I 973), the cone density is highest at the fovea and becomes sharply reduced towards the periphery of the retina for both human and cat, although the actual numbers of neurones differ considerably between the human and the cat. The lower graph of Fig. I (redrawn from the original work of Stone, I965) shows the density and size distribution of the retinal ganglion cells in the cat retina. The ganglion cells are closely packed, being 6,ooo cells/mm.2 at the area centralis, the equivalent point in the cat retina to the fovea of the human retina, but fall off sharply to 500 cells/mm.2 within 5O from the area centralis. Naturally the higher the density, the smaller the diameter of the cell. The cells in or near the area centralis are small, 8 pu in diameter, but the peripheral cells are as large as 25 jI in diameter. do the properties of small central cells and large peripheral cells


Police brutality in Kenya is as old as the country itself. From the time the country acquired independence, police reforms continues to be among the agendas of every regime that has ruled over Kenya. A trip down the memory lane reveals the colossus wreckage the Kenyan police have left behind and continue to leave behind in the 'line of duty'. Whether it is suppressing lawful demonstrations or strikes with brute force or killing innocent persons or even suspected criminals in the course of their work, the Kenyan police continue to outdo themselves with each passing year. Sometimes trying to understand the mindset of these police officers in the line of duty may only be possible if one was to engage in explication or something close to that because what they do and are capable of doing defies human logic.

In a bid to curb the aforementioned brutality, the governments down the years have purported to come up with some sort of police accountability mechanisms, mainly in the form of creating oversight authorities to maintain an eagle's eye over the actions of the officers and ensure they are brought to justice when they slip. One such agency is the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) which has been in existence for the last 9 Years. Despite all the fanfare and hope surrounding its formation, IPOA remains unsurprisingly unsuccessful in its bid to ensure police accountability in Kenya. Since its inception and despite the thousands of cases and complaints of police brutality in the country, the agency has barely secured double digit convictions. Meanwhile, cases of police brutality continue to pile up.

It is because of the existence of the facts above that this paper seeks to take a comparative look at some of the more successful mechanisms of ensuring police accountability around the world. In doing so, the paper shall be making a case for the adoption of the same in Kenya in a bid to ensure that for once since independence, we can stand back as a country and make a collective proclamation that indeed, we are on the road to redemption with regards to the issue of police brutality.


Aiming at the status and problems of the city traffic safety management of China,as well as the character of road traffic in China,an evaluation indexes system is advanced for the city traffic safety continuable developing,which consists of 13 values coming from following four parts,including safety policy for road traffic,circumstance of road traffic safety,management of road traffic safety and control levels of road traffic accident.In addition,an evaluation model based on the BP artificial network is designed.Combining with evaluation example,the calculation method is analyzed.The results show that the method is effective for the evaluation of road traffic safety.


Describes the development of Ethiopianism, and illustrates its ideological and thematic content and manifestations, especially focusing on Jamaica, while also referring to the US and South Africa. First, the author outlines the content of Ethiopianism, describing how it is pro-black, contests white hegemony, colonialism, poverty and oppression, looks at Africa, and points at black people's redemption. Therefore the Bible is reread, Africa (Ethiopia) the holy land, and God considered black. He discusses Ethiopianism's early origins in the slavery period, and how it could take political as well as non-political, mental forms. Author points at the 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion as the vital link in developing Ethiopianism in Jamaica, and then describes 3 groups/movements embodying the movement: the influence of the preacher Bedward and his teachings against black oppression, Marcus Garvey's teachings and activities for black progress, and the first Rastafarians between 1930 and 1938, who were in part influenced by Bedward and Garvey.


AIM: To study intra-ocular distribution and pharmacokinetics of musk eye drops in the rabbit eyes.METHODS: After administration,twenty seven rabbits were euthanatized and taken eye in 0.083 h,0.167 h,0.5 h,1 h,2.0 h,4.0 h,8.0 h and 12 h,and then isolated aqueous humor,vitreous body,further cornea and ciliary margin of iris from rabbits'eyes.The intraocular concentrations of muscone were measured by GC after topical instillation with 10% musk solution in rabbits.The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated with 3p97 program.RESULTS: Results showed that the peak concentrations(max) of muscone in various ocular tissues were (107.52 ±67.07),(2.15 ±1.49),(0.034 ±0.007 6),(2.87 ±1.50) and(0.013 ±0.004 5)μg/g or μg/mLin lacrimal fluid,cornea,aqueous humor,iris and vitreous body;Its half-Life(T1/2) was(8.08 ± 3.08),(2.87± 2.24),(3.37 ± 0.68),(4.69 ± 1.32) and(8.37 ± 2.70) h,respectively.AUC(0→T) of various tissues was (114.57 ±37.41),(11.57 ±7.16),(0.18 ±0.056),(2.86 ±0.42) and(0.079 ±0.017)μg/(h.g) or(μg/h.mL),respectively.CONCLUSION: The results indicate that musk in eye drop has a good permeability and high concentration in various intraocular tissues of rabbit after ocular instillation.


Stepless speed regulation of double-housing planer is realized by G-M system or V-M system all the time before.This paper applies vector converter technology to driving system of the double-housing planer,and the old system is reformed.The new system will have good qualities of both G-M system and V-M system and the advantage of both direct motor and squirrel-cage motor,moreover,it can save energy and work more efficient.


We thank Dr. W. L. Nutting, Department of Entomology, University of Arizona, Tucson, for giving us these specimens, Dr. D. Pfister, Farlow Herbarium, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for loaning the type of Cordycepioideus bisporus, and Dr. R. T. Hanlin, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens, for helpful information. Dr. Albert Bell, Hope College, Holland, Michigan, provided the Latin diagnosis.


This paper presents early-delivery atomic broadcast protocols for systems in which processors are subject to arbitrary failures, but have access to a message authentication facility. Informally, atomic broadcast requires that all the non-faulty processors deliver the same set of messages in the, same order. Atomic broadcast has no solution in asynchronous systems. If it did, the agreement on message delivery order could be used to contradict the impossibility of fault-tolerant agreement in an asynchronous system [FLP85] [DDS87], Thus, we only consider synchronous systems. However, we avoid the traditional "round" model of synchronous computation, as many issues can be hidden in the implicit synchronization of that model. Furthermore, unlike [BJ87] and others, and in the spirit of Lamport's technique [Lam84], we use time explicitly in our protocols.


Cancer cell genomic instability correlates with proinflammatory IL6 and IL8 production, VEGF, as well as regulatory T cells and is associated with primary resistance to immunotherapy and antiangiogenics in patients with advanced mesothelioma.


In order to find out the spatial-temporal variation of the proportion of six crop straws(rice,wheat,maize,oil rape,cotton and soybean) used as household fuel,direct open burning and its influencing factors in different periods(1990-1995,1996-2000,2001-2005 and 2006-2008),the questionnaire survey during the above four study periods in 47 counties of Jiangsu Province was carried out.Logistic regression model,including the ratio of farmers taking job in cities,age structure of family population going in for agriculture,family incomes,kitchen power consumption,the ratio of crop straw used as domestic fuel and acreage of six crops factors,was set up to discuss the influencing factors of farmers' willing to chose direct burning crop straw in fields.Results showed that the mean proportion of straw used as household fuel in Jiangsu Province during the above four research periods were 62.81%,59.76%,27.55% and 24.13%,respectively,and the mean proportion of straw open burning in fields were 21.16%,23.93%,53.29% and 47.87%,respectively.They had an opposite tendency and the obvious change appeared in the second and third research periods.The mean proportion of crop straw used as household fuel decreased obviously in the third research period(2001-2005) compared with the previous periods,while the mean proportion of straw open burning increased significantly.There was regional disparity for crop straw using in northern(including Huaian,Suqian,Lianyungang,Xuzhou and Yancheng),central and southern parts(including Nantong,Yangzhou,Taizhou,Zhenjiang,Wuxi and Suzhou) of Jiangsu Province.The proportion of crop straw used as household fuel(54.22%) in the northern part was higher than the central and southern parts(34.68%),while the ratio of crop straw open burning(29.60%) was lower than the central and southern parts(42.37%).Further analysis indicated that the positive linear relationships(P0.01) between the proportion of crop straw open burning and the four factors,such as the ratio of farmers taking job in cities,age of farmers,family income and kitchen power consumption.Logistic regression model established declared that four factors had a significant effect on the farmers' willingness to choose crop straw open burning in fields,and the degree of influence followed the order of the ratio of farmers taking job in cities acreage family incomes the ratio of crop straw used as household fuel.


Nicholas de Cusa is a key figure in Renaissance aesthetic and philosophic thinking, and unveiled its fundamental tendencies in his metaphysics. He anticipates some of the characteristics of the modern era, but without completely rejecting medieval intellectualism and universalism. The philosophical conception of Nicholas de Cusa intrinsically includes profound aesthetic reflection. The German cardinal demonstrates great interest in the problems of mimesis, creation, visual perception and variety. A fundamental characteristic of his approach is the use of metaphors related to the plastic arts, the optical sciences and mathematics. The aesthetics of Nicholas de Cusa and the artistic practice and theory of the Renaissance are two components of a common paradigm, and while the objecti- ves of mystic theology and art are different, the means to reach their ends can be similar and mutually enlightening.


Since the identity policies of the post-Yugoslav states have been creating
 tensions domestically and internationally in the last two decades, the aim
 of this paper is to study and explain the causes that encourage antagonisms.
 We start from the assumption that these causes are related to models of
 identity policy and memory culture mediated by transnational media. This is
 because the essence of collective identity is in the consciousness of
 belonging, which should not be an obstacle to coexistence and good
 neighborly relations, as long as that consciousness does not imply the
 negation of the identity system of social groups living in the state. Thus
 we come to the policy of pluralization of identity as a public policy
 pursued by the state policy of cultural memory as a ?social and cultural
 framework? of identity policy. In the absence of pluralization, culture is
 located on the scene of a struggle between different models of identity
 policies fueled by a densely intertwined network of transnational media.
 Their influence on public opinion formation comes from the realm of
 countercultural transculturalism and neoliberal globalism.


The article, based on the publications of Kyiv newspapers about the Uman district of the Kyiv province, highlights the situation of the peasantry in the last quarter of the XIX ‒ early XX centuries. The provincial Press wrote that a few decades after the agrarian reform of 1861, the land issue worsened, which led to further impoverishment of the majority of the peasantry. Having received personal freedom and the right to buy land, the vast majority of rural workers suffered from lack of land and could not use the services of a peasant bank to buy land. The Press published materials about the complicated system of peasant earnings, insidious traps of conditions for hiring peasants to perform field work in the farms of landlords, which were prepared by economists and tenants to attract cheap workers and enslave the peasants. Reports were also published that despite the ban on physical punishment of rural workers, landlords arranged lynching and punished for economic offenses. In the provincial press, publications were also found that a fairly small part of the peasantry took advantage of the opportunity and bought the land. The most important reasons for this were the lack of funds among the vast majority of peasants and the unwillingness of landlords to sell land, for which the owners resorted to raising the price of land plots. The pages of Kyiv newspapers reflect the public outcry regarding the situation of a fairly large category of the population ‒ quit-rent peasants. The capitalization of land and the legal uncertainty in the Imperial legislation of their state, which was based on customary law, made this category of the population particularly dependent on the will of landowners. A government attempt to legally resolve this issue in 1886 was unsuccessful, as it was delayed for a long time. The intentions of the authorities and the hopes of landless peasants to partially solve the problem of «land famine» by resettling landless and low-land peasants also turned out to be illusory. Thus, the article, based on publications in the provincial press about the events in the Uman district, shows that the situation of the peasantry in the late XIX ‒ early XX centuries remained difficult.


The invention discloses a video encoding system and a video encoding method. The video encoding system comprises a control unit, a sequence parameter set encoding unit, an image parameter set encoding unit and a stripe encoding unit, wherein the control unit is configured to obtain encoding parameters from the outside and starts one corresponding encoding unit of the sequence parameter set encoding unit, the image parameter set encoding unit and the stripe encoding unit to encode the obtained encoding parameters according to the parameter type of the obtained encoding parameters; the sequence parameter set encoding unit is configured to encode the sequence parameter set data units obtained by the control unit from the outside; the image parameter set encoding unit is configured to encode the image parameter set data units obtained by the control unit from the outside; and the stripe encoding unit is configured to encode the stripe data units obtained by the control unit from the outside.


Membrane separation technologies played an important part in environmental analysis. The separation technology of membrane separation, filter membrane separation, penetration separation membrane, dialysia, electrodialysis, liquid membrane separation which were applied in testing such indexes as negative and positive ions, metal elements, organic substances and bio-toxin of water, soil, air and biological samples were introduced systematically in this paper.


A high frequency converter with maximum 150A/2.5kW output is designed and evaluated in this paper. This converter consists of three parallel PSFB modules. The main components for each module are designed. Small signal model for single module is established and a digital peak current mode control is designed and implemented. Finally, a 2.5kW prototype with up to 150A output current is built. The experimental results demonstrate well performance of the prototype and confirm of the validity the design.


More than 2 decades after the initial concept of chimeric antigen receptor T (CART) cell was described, incremental improvements in molecular biology, virology, Tcell immunology, and manufacturing process led to regulatory approval of the first CART cell product for the treatment of Bcell malignancies. Here, we detail the unique translational pathway of CART cell therapy, highlighting challenges and facilitators of its translation that may be applicable to future cell and gene therapies in development.


This paper proposes to apply neural network ensembles to unemployment early -warning systems modeling in order to overcome effectively some difficult problems,such as small samples,high dimensions,nonlinearity,noisy data.BP neural networks are utilized as individual forecasters to evaluate unemployment rates,and two ensemble methods,Bagging and Ada-Boost, are used to combine forecasting results of many individual neural networks to obtain better forecasting effectiveness.Experimental results based on social and economic investigation data from Guangdong province show that Bagging produced better effectiveness on forecasting unemployment rates than both AdaBoost and the best individual neural network.


Industrial wastewater often contains chromium which has raised concerns towards hexavalent chromium as it is carcinogenic to animals as well as it can also cause genetic material alterations, kidney and liver damage, etc. Hence, there are many remedial methods which have been researched for removal of Cr(VI). Out of all the methods, this article talks more about activated carbon and nano material adsorbents used for the removal of hexavalent chromium. The capacity of various adsorbents are investigated for the removal of Cr(VI). The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models, which are in common use for describing sorption equilibrium for wastewater- treatment applications, are discussed. Apart from this, the adsorption dosage and capacity of disparate adsorbents are discussed with their kinetic and thermodynamic study. This review also includes the equilibrium time at which the maximum adsorption is achieved and optimum pH values for the maximum adsorption.


We prove that there exist periodic orbits on almost all compact regular energy
levels of a Hamiltonian function defined on a twisted cotangent bundle over
the two-sphere. As a corollary, given any Riemannian two-sphere and a magnetic
field on it, there exists a closed magnetic geodesic for almost all
kinetic energy levels.


The hardiness of 25 varieties or species of apricot was assayed by electrolyte leakage cooperated well with logistic equation. The result show that the hardiness of low temperature of shoot-tissue, pink buds, full flowers and young fruits was: -28.5℃~-40℃,-7.0℃~-10.9℃, -3.0℃~-6.9℃ and -1.1℃~2.2℃, respectively.There were significantly positive relationships in the hardiness among shoots pink buds,full flower and young fruit. The order of hardlness was shootsflowersyoung fruits,the order of hardiness within organ of a flower was:petalstamenpistil.


Abstract : The U.S. Army conducts counterintelligence and law enforcement operations consistent with the laws and procedural statutes that govern these same operations in the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Yet the Army has assigned these investigative responsibilities to two separate and distinct organizations, thereby creating an organizational anomaly within the national strategic framework. Because law enforcement and American strategic counterintelligence activities serve as the principal means by which the nation protects its citizens and ensures national security abroad, it is important to acknowledge this anomaly and understand its ramifications. Effective collaboration between law enforcement and counterintelligence forces has been and will continue to be critical to national interests. This thesis explores the effectiveness of the Army's strategic organization for counterintelligence as overlaid on the theoretical and practical underpinnings of strategic Army intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement. By incorporating this research with interview results, the author is able to examine whether or not an intelligence organization is the most effective organizational construct for the prosecution of the Army's strategic, domestic counterintelligence mission. The thesis concludes with a broad examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the Army counterintelligence socio-technical system in a modern context.


As economists are increasingly working across disciplines, they are assessing alternative mathematical formulations to more closely align with the results from these disciplines. Two of the most widely used functional forms in quantitative economic analysis are the constant-elasticity-of-substitution (CES) and constant-elasticity-of-transformation (CET) functions. However, neither functional form preserves volume additivity, which may be a desirable feature in a number of contexts including labor and land allocation, energy systems, etc. This paper explores two alternatives to the ubiquitous CES and CET formulations, which have many of the same characteristics in terms of ease of implementation, but also preserve volume additivity. It illustrates some of the properties of the so-called additive forms of the CES and CET and assesses the impacts of switching to the additive CET in the context of land-use allocation in the Envisage model.


Andaman and Nicobar Islands support a significant proportion of India's herpetofauna. We conducted surveys for herpetofauna in the Nicobar Islands during 2008-2009. The Malayan Wolfsnake Lycodon subcinctus was recorded from Nicobar Islands for the first time. We also recorded Tiwari's Wolfsnake Lycodon tiwarii from Car Nicobar Island for the first time since the original description. A large Colubrid Snake (Coelognathus sp.) of unknown identity was recorded from Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve. These new records point to the inadequacy of surveys in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which may harbor several more unknown species.


Chemosensitivity of Herbivorous Fish, Proceedings of 8th International Symposium on Olfaction & Taste, Aug. 23-26, 1983. Yoshii et al., "Gustatory Responses of Eal Palatine Receptors to Amino Acids and Carboxylic Acids' J. Gen. Physiol., vol. 74, pp. 301-317 (1979). Uhazt et al., "Schistosoma Mansuni Identification of Chemicals that Attract its Snail Vector Biomphalaria Glabrata" Science, vol. 201, pp. 924-926 (1978). Holland, "Chemosensory Orientation to Food by a Hawaiian Goatfish' J. Chem. Ecol., vol. 4, pp. 173-186 (1978). Kiyohara et al., Gustatory Responses in the Puffer-II, 4,693,897 Sep. 15, 1987 11 Patent Number:


This thesis deals with a study of As50Se50 chalcogenide glass thin films properties and possibilities of their structuring using electron beam lithography. Thin films were prepared by vacuum thermal evaporation method. Changes of the structure, optical parameters and chemical resistance in dependence on the exposure to polychromatic electromagnetic radiation and electron beam of these thin films, were studied.


Background: ASPECTS on baseline imaging is a known predictor of outcome in acute stroke. Change on serial ASPECTS after revascularization at 24 hrs may provide an early biomarker of therapeutic suc...


In this paper, a unique edge detection technique which computes edges of different images using the concept of Center of Mass with Canny Edge Detector is presented. The proposed method can be used as framework for running multi-scale edge detectors for different images in image processing. Here the edge detection by COM with Canny edge detector is compared with COM technique.


Over the past 10 years, we have developed at University Paris-Sud a first year course on geometrical optics centered on experimentation. In contrast with the traditional top-down learning structure usually applied at university, in which practical sessions are often a mere verification of the laws taught during preceding lectures, this course promotes 'active learning' and focuses on experiments made by the students. Interaction among students and self questioning is strongly encouraged and practicing comes first, before any theoretical knowledge. Through a series of concrete examples, the present paper describes the philosophy underlying the teaching in this course. We demonstrate that not only geometrical optics can be taught through experiments, but also that it can serve as a useful introduction to experimental physics. Feedback over the last 10 years shows that our approach succeeds in helping students to learn better and acquire motivation and autonomy. This approach can easily be applied to other fields of physics.


Cross sections for inelastic scattering of electrons from hydrogen and deuterium were measured for incident energies from 4.5 to 18 GeV, at scattering angles of 18 deg , 26 deg , and 34 deg , and covering a range of squared four- momentum transfers up to 20 (GeV/c)/sup 2/. Neutron cross sections were extractcd from the deuterium data using an impulse approximation. Comparisons with the proton measurements show significant differences between the neutron and proton cross sections. (auth)


Objective:To investigate the developmental characteristics of connexin 43 (Cx43) expression in rat myocardium.Methods:The expression of Cx43 in fetus and in rats of postnatal 1 d,5 d,10 d,25 d was deter- mined by immunohistochemistry and image analysis.Results:(1) The Cx43 immunolabelling of fetus rat myocar- dium had a punctate distribution in cytoplasm and over the entire surface of the myocardium,and few located at intercalated disk.(2) The expression of Cx43 in postnatal rat myocardium was similar to that in fetus myocardi- um.On the 25th day,the granule of Cx43 gathered gradually to the intercalated disk,most of which gathered within the transversely orientated intercalated disk besides and few distributed over the entire surface of rat myo- cardium.(3) The distributed density of Cx43 of ventricular myocytes in fetus was different from that of the post- natal (fetus>postnatal 1 d>5 d>10 d>25 d).Conclusion:The Cx43 is confined to the site of the intercalated disk during heart development.The distributed density of Cx43 decreases gradually.


0 The article in our November issue by Arch M. Cantrall, of West Virginia, entitled "Law Schools and the Layman: Is Legal Education Doing Its Job?" apparently aroused great interest among our readers. This article in rebuttal is one of several full-length articles and many letters commenting on Mr. Cantrall's views. Dean McClain is well qualified to speak on the subject, having eighteen in legal education.


Measles is a single-stranded RNA virus that is spread by aerosolized droplets and is highly transmissible. It causes a spectrum of disease ranging from mild in the well-nourished to severe in the malnourished or immunosuppressed: mortality is 3–10% in Africa. At around 10–14 days after infection, the viral prodrome typically consists of runny nose and fever, sometimes also diarrhoea or convulsions; signs include mild conjunctivitis, red mucosae, and (on the buccal mucosa) Koplik's spots. After 14–18 days a morbilliform rash first appears on the forehead and neck, then spreads to involve the trunk and finally the limbs. Other manifestations include severe conjunctivitis (especially in those who are vitamin A deficient), pneumonitis and enteritis (which may cause profuse diarrhoea).


The public e-procurement service pursues two values, that is, transparency and efficiency. The public e-procurement has been used as a means of innovation in public procurement. This is why establishing the e-procurement system helps to attain the goal of government innovation (the reinforcement of transparency and efficiency). However many governments would forget to hold their ground that e-procurement system pursues what values are. So, the government has brought in the e-procurement system but the government reform might be elusive during the growth of e-procurement system. While the value of transparency and efficiency is contradiction to each other in the eprocurement services, the e-procurement services are needed to maintain the optimal level of two values. If the e-procurement services are placed emphasis on the transparency, the convenience of eprocurement services may decrease. Conversely, if the e-procurement services are placed emphasis on the efficiency, the importance of any communication with customers (the people) may decrease. Therefore, keeping the balance between transparency and efficiency in eprocurement services is meaningful and come near to true reform in the public procurement. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the eprocurement services of countries (Korea, USA, EU, and etc.) in terms of the transparency and efficiency. To do that, the evaluation indicator that measured the transparency and efficiency of e-procurement services is developed exploratory and is applied to the e-procurement service evaluation of countries according to the transparency and efficiency. * Mi Jung Lee, Ph.D., is a principal researcher, Department of Research for e-Procurement Policy, Korean Institute of Procurement (KIP). Her research interests are in public procurement policy, e-procurement and e-government. Principal Researcher, KIP, firstname.lastname@example.com. Sun Joong Lee, Ph.D., is a senior researcher, SIT(Seoul Institute for Transparency). His research interests are in the e-government, government trust and anticorruption. Senior Researcher, SIT, firstname.lastname@example.com


This paper reports on the dynamic characteristics of a MEMS electrostatic harvester employing interdigitated gap-closing topology. Devices are fabricated using SOIMUMPS technology and are characterized with and without biasing voltages for a broad range of excitation accelerations. At low vibration amplitudes the presence of a dc bias causes the resonant frequency peak to shift to lower frequencies with increasing bias. At higher vibration amplitudes the dynamic response of the devices exhibits the behavior of a Duffing oscillator with spring softening due to nonlinear stiffness attributed to the effect of electrostatic forces. Specifically, the devices exhibit sweep direction hysteresis with jump phenomena due to the multivaluedness of the response curve. Amplitude sweeps at constant frequency and varying bias voltage also show jump phenomena, highlighting how slight differences in operating conditions dramatically affect device performance. Spring hardening effects are reported for devices contaminated with dust particles. The paper also discusses SOIMUMPS limitations, the importance of reducing off-axis vibration during testing, characterization methods, and the effect of grounding on parasitic capacitance.


In recent years, there is a noticeable rapid development of high-technologies. High tech companies show the high level of innovation performance, using advanced management models, implementing the up-to-date technologies each of technological and managerial. The comparative analysis of high tech industry in Russia and South Korea is based on the evaluation of the high technology development level, interpretation of the reasons of those positions, establishment of success criteria. As a result of criteria analysis the recommendations are made, based on the advantage/disadvantage concept.


Laser radar can simultaneously produce the range image and the intensity image, and it can directly collect rich information of target. Compared with the other sensors, such as infrared or radar, laser radar can enhance the recognition rate and the precision of target aimed point. When laser radar vertically detects the objects on the plane ground, the correlation filters with in-plane rotation invariance are usually used to solving the problem of the target recognition. Traditional correlation filters are still improved on the aspect of recognition rate. In the paper, through deducing the relationship between support vector machine (SVM) and correlation principle in the signal processing, a new correlation filter, named linear SVM correlation filter (LSCF) that has the properties of SVM, is proposed. The real images of laser radar are used as the training and testing samples. The experiments state that the filter has good recognition attributes, such as stable correlation output and high recognition rate. LSCF is suitable to be the recognition algorithm of the imaging laser radar.


This paper attempts to analyse and examine the imperative of transferable skills through an examination of the graduate student context in a world-wide setting. Beginning with the author's observations and experience with developments in Australia, the paper goes on to identify some general factors from sample schemes in the UK and USA, and demonstrates the need for the attainment of such skills to be both prioritised and made transparent in order to meet the global needs of education in the new millennium.


Provided while suppressing the surge voltage caused by the electric power conversion device as a whole power conversion device using the wiring inductance and the destruction of the semiconductor element can be reduced. The power module (100) includes a power module body portion (100a), the power module body portion (100a) comprising: P-side conductive plate (3), which are spaced from the power module body portion (100a); a first side 1N a conductive plate (4a) and a 2N-side conductive plate (4B); P-side of the semiconductor element (5), which is arranged on the surface of the P-side conductive plate (3); N-side of the semiconductor element (6), which is arranged in the 1N side conductive plate (4a) and electrically connected to the P-side upper surface of the semiconductor element (5); and a capacitor (13), for suppressing surge voltage, is arranged inside the power module to the main body portion (100a) in connected to the P-side conductive plate (3) and 2N-side conductive plate (4b) between the P-side of the semiconductor element (5) and the N-side of the semiconductor element (6).


Toya Caldera and Usu Volcano UNESCO Global Geopark is a volcanic geopark located in Hokkaido in northern Japan. We can find a lot of hidden tales "Geo-Stories", associated with the activity of the living Earth when we focus on the different aspects of local industry, people's livelihood, and the natural habitats of living things in our geopark. In 2014, Toya-Usu global geopark produced the picture book Toya-Usu Global Geopark Storybook "1 DAY on top of 110,000 YEARS" in order to comprehend the relationship between the worlds above and under the ground world. It is edited to include easy-to-understand text and illustrations to reach local people of all ages. And we produced "The Geopark Story-Big-size-book ", "The Geopark Adventure Cards", "The Geopark Tote Bag", and "The Geopark Product Story Cards (six products)" in 2015. We are promoting our geopark in a broad range by using these products based on the world view of the picture book and hopefully we can let all the residents know our "Geo-Stories". Moreover, 14 kinds of Geopark Product Story Cards published in 2017. Taken together with 6 cards published in 2015, a total 20 kinds of Story Cards of agricultural and fishery products we have. We are using the story cards as special gift for customer of product market or an enclosed message card of a product delivery package. The story cards have been helping to improve a commercial value of local products. We introduce the lineup of the cards and telling the way how we overcame a failure we faced during the publication process.


This paper presents and discusses trends in nose shock overpressure generated by two conceptual Mach 2.0 configurations. One configuration was designed for high aerodynamic efficiency, while the other was designed to produce a low boom, shaped-overpressure signature. Aerodynamic lift, sonic boom minimization, and Mach-sliced/area-rule codes were used to analyze and compute the sonic boom characteristics of both configurations with respect to cruise Mach number, weight, and altitude. The influence of these parameters on the overpressure and the overpressure trends are discussed and conclusions are given.


Safety in sports and physical activity is an important pre-requisite for maintenance of a healthy physically active lifestyle, as well as continuing participation in sports. For this reason, prevention, reduction, and control of sports injuries are important goals, not only for clinicians and researchers but also for society as a whole. In 1992, van Mechelen et al. (5) postulated that measures to prevent sports injuries do not stand by themselves; they form part of what they called the sequence of prevention. Over the past decade, the sequence of prevention has been adopted widely in sports injury research and arguably is the most extensively used theoretical framework in our field of research. There is no doubt that its use in sports injury research has led to a wide array of preventive measures for various injuries within different sports. arisen effect of set-ting. As stated by Finch research outcomes that are adopted by athletes, coaches, and ac-tually will prevent injuries. The question then is, ''how do we make sure research outcomes are adopted and effectively used by stakeholders?''


We calculate the conductance through rings with few sites $L$ described by the $t-J$ model, threaded by a magnetic flux $\Phi$ and weakly coupled to conducting leads at two arbitrary sites. The model can describe a circular array of quantum dots with large charging energy $U$ in comparison with the nearest-neighbor hopping $t$. We determine analytically the particular values of $\Phi$ for which a depression of the transmittance is expected as a consequence of spin-charge separation. We show numerically that the equilibrium conductance at zero temperature is depressed at those particular values of $\Phi $ for most systems, in particular at half filling, which might be easier to realize experimentally.


The World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA) launched a statement today urging us to 'bring awareness of planetary health to all family doctors.'[2] The declaration stresses that, as Family Doctors are 'consistently ranked as one of the most trusted sources of information,' we have the 'unique capacity to understand and communicate the shifting landscape of planetary health challenges [2].' We should safeguard health and the environment. Primary care is at the forefront of addressing the health inequities under increasing threat from planetary change. It is a culturally complex world. Yes, we should think at planet level. It would be good to see more research on how to introduce a greater worldwide awareness into Primary Care education. Concepts, such as social accountability, are knocking at the door of our curricula, championed by the young [3]; but are struggling to get in. Yet migration is bringing the world to our doorstep. Global is now, in reality, local. Our immediate environments are equally culturally complex. We need only examine our patient and professional interactions to recognise how the undercurrent of cultural awareness impacts on them. Our personal inbuilt understanding, or lack of, can introduce prejudices and biases with unintended consequences. As educators, we almost certainly need better personal acknowledgement of how we, our trainees and our patients experience and interpret our local worlds before launching onto a world platform. Current world politics, I believe, emphasises how important it is we do this. Two research papers in this issue illustrate cultural complexity at a personal and professional level. Stone et al., in Australia, examine early career trainee consultations with patients with mental health issues. They highlight a need for more training on managing crosscultural contexts in lower economic areas. The findings are intriguing. Trainees seemed more 'at sea' with complex mental health problems yet referred less to their trainers for help than for other problems. Jane Roberts in her insightful commentary concludes that 'medical education needs to foster a sense of one's own unconscious biases and cultural blind spots, as an individual practitioner and as part of the dyad: "Dr and Patient" or 'Trainer and Trainee'. At a professional level, Bartelink et al. in the Netherlands look at the complexities of 'brokering' between academic researchers and their clinical colleagues in primary and elderly care. They reveal barriers and facilitators. In primary care, hidden tensions between academics and clinicians, also identified by medical students in a UK report [4], may be another cultural blind spot to address. Another may be, as Bartlett et al. suggest in their pilot on integrated longitudinal clerkships in rural Scotland, the cultural divide between primary and secondary care. We need to understand this to ensure medical students can follow patients to bridge a seemingly complex cultural divide within health-care systems. Unless we examine our own cultural beliefs and prejudices, it may be difficult to move forward at the planetary level. We need to understand what our own ears and minds hear and then move beyond this to hear, understand and embrace the views of others at a local global level. This then opens a broader understanding of accountability to society at a planetary level.


This book introduces fundamental techniques for computing semantic representations for fragments of natural language and performing inference with the result. The prinary tools used are first-order logic and lambda calculus. All the techniques introduced are implemented in Prolog. The book also shown how to use theorem provers and model builders in parallel to deal with natrual language inference.


The classification of different storage time of fresh goat milk at ambient temperature and refrigerated temperature was detected by an electronic nose. The volatile composition emanating from the goat milk was sampled by PEN3 systems,and the response values of PEN3 were obtained. The data was analyzed using PCA(principal component analysis)and LDA(linear discrimination analysis),the combination of a Levenberg - Marquardt algorithm and BP neural network(LM - BP),the combination of a genetic algorithm and BP neural network(GANN)and 4 layer BP neural network. The results showed that electronic nose was able to classify fresh goat milk during 1 ~ 6d storing at ambient temperature and refrigerated temperature by PCA and LDA,however LDA showed variation trend of volatile composition clearly which had a great agreement with acidity of the samples. Better prediction values were obtained by 4 layer BP neural network than GANN and LM - BP.


The energy conservation falls the depletion platoon is refers takes the measure which in the technology feasible,in the economy reasonable as well as the environment and the society may withstand,reduces produces from the energy to expends each link the loss and the waste,reduces the consumption level,more reasonable,uses the energy effectively.This article circulated the economical angle of view to reduce a row of question to Qinghai's energy conservation to conduct the research,in analyzed Qinghai to conserve energy reduces a row of present situation in the foundation,conserved energy to Qinghai reduces a row of necessity and the pressing has carried on the analysis,and proposed the corresponding way and the policy.


Objective To improve the teaching quality and teaching effect on toxicology through a series of teaching practice and reform measures of toxicological experiment.Methods Considering from the common problems and weak points in the process of toxicological experiment teaching,we adopted a comprehensive experimental teaching mode which the undergraduates majored in preventive medicine and the teachers of toxicological experiment could be interactive.Furthermore,we evaluated experimental teaching practice and reform effect on toxicology,and then improved it.Results The students' interests in learning toxicology had been somewhat raised,the students' scientific creative thinking was cultivated,and the students' experimental operating ability,independent thinking ability,observation ability,the capabilities of collecting and processing experimental data and experimental report writing had been improved.Conclusions The comprehensive experimental teaching mode on toxicology has been affirmed by the students.Not only our teaching quality has been correspondingly improved,but also we have attained a certain effect with teaching.


The Impenetrable Forest in southwest Uganda has for a long time deserved its name, and still does to a great extent. It lies atop a block of high ground which is divided into a series of steep, knife-edged ridges and deep, narrow valleys. It had been difficult of access, and not until 1957 was a road built through it, starting from the Ishasha River in the north and working along one of the ridges in a southeasterly direction toward Kabale. Up to that time the forest was almost unknown ornithologically. Chapin (1932, p. 156) referred to the Impenetrable when he said, "On the eastern edge of the Rutshuru Plain there is also a lowland forest which extends up into the mountains, and there takes on a montane aspect." His writings, however, indicated that he spent hardly any time in this forest and collected very little. A few forest species taken by Jackson in Kigezi probably came from the edges of the Impenetrable, but the first ornithologist to penetrate it was probably John Williams, who made a brief trip through it in 1958. He discovered


reasons why the story remained in vogue for two centuries. It seems, however, that the author deliberately avoids a methodological discussion. Instead, he gives information and clues to evoke curiosity, avoiding going into great detail, and offers the reader the liberty to further investigate. Wood refers to previous scholarship about the relationship of the story to the official Safavid historiography and the differences in various versions of the story. Moreover, he discusses the pictorial programmes of the illustrated versions and suggests the relationship of the pictorial programme to the manuscripts' patronage. Although he reveals the outcomes of this earlier research, he believes that the issues leave room for more studies. Wood's brief preface contains no information about the codicological features of the manuscript. It is clear that the author did not have access to the manuscript preserved in the private collection of Montaẓer-Ṣāḥeb, and his focus is apparently on the story and not on the particularities of the manuscript. Yet, exploring the features mentioned in the preface of the Persian version could provide clues to the patronage and position of the story in the mind of its patron. The story was written by the one copyist, ebn-e Moḥammad Jaʿfar Ḥasan al-Musavi, as a section of the miscellany comprising the adventures of Shāh Esmā iʿl and as two parts of the first volume of Khwānd-e Mir's history, Ḥabib al-Siyar for Mirzā Ebrāhim valad-e Mirzā Maʿṣum (Montaẓer-Ṣāḥeb, ʿĀlamārā-ye Shāh Esmāʿil, p. 20). Nevertheless, the preface provides a convincing summary of the story's characteristics, the importance of the genre as an unmined resource about religious beliefs and cultural standards of the common people, and the story's potential for further investigation. Wood describes aspects of the story that were transmitted orally in the popular narrative, including the repeated verbal formulae for changing the scenes of the narrative, stock phrases, and popular idioms and proverbs. Like the Persian version, all historical characters and events are described in the footnotes. Moreover, in the cases of vague or illegible words, Wood's translation provides the opportunity to compare the word with two other versions of the story: one kept in the Chester Beatty Library, and the Shokri edition of the story, ʿĀlamārā-ye Ṣafavi, preserved in the Majles-e Shorā-ye Eslāmi library. Wood spots the different intonations used in the story and keeps the changes from popular to formal language, which retains the spirit of the story. His work is an important contribution to scholarship that draws attention to the role of popular tradition in understanding the history and culture of the country as well as to its intersections with official records. The fluent translation of the text will definitely bring the story within easier reach of scholars across disciplines of Iranian studies.


The first bridge constructed with hybrid-composite beams was completed three months ahead of schedule on the High Road Bridge over Long Run Creek in Lockport Township, Illinois. It replaced a bridge that was graded deficient and functionally obsolete. The author describes the composition of hybrid-composite beams (HCB), tension reinforcement, and the specifics of the High Road Bridge. HCBs weigh considerably less than traditional concrete or steel beams, allowing all six to be shipped by one truck instead of six using competing methods. A much lighter crane was required than would have been for precast concrete beams.It also took much less time to set the beams. In addition, the HCBs are expected to last longer than traditional materials.


In this paper, we propose an extended TB-tree, called ETB-tree, which can improve the performance of an existing TB-tree proposed for indexing the trajectories of moving objects in Location-Based Service(LBS). The proposed ETB-tree directly accesses the preceding node by maintaining a direct table, called D-Table which contains the page number in disk and memory pointers pointing the leaf node with the first and last lines segment of moving objects. It can improve the insertion performance by quick searching the preceding node of a moving object and retrieval performance owing to accessing directly the corresponding trajectories In disk for the trajectory-based query. In addition, the ETB-tree provides consistency of a tree by reflecting a newly inserted line segment to the tree both in memory and disk. The experimental results show that the proposed indexing technique gains better performance than other traditional ones with respect to the insertion and retrieval of a trajectory query.


The invention discloses a tailor-made needle cylinder and a medical blood drawing robot capable of automatically replacing a needle. A thruster in a lower needle adjusting bracket of the tail end of an operation arm of an existing blood drawing robot is removed, a needle replacing mechanism, a needle pushing mechanism and a blood drawing needle separating mechanism are added in the lower needle adjusting bracket, and the tailor-made needle cylinder is arranged on the improved robot, so that the improved blood drawing robot can automatically complete the needle replacing for blood drawing and needle separating processes through the above structures, thereby greatly reducing the labor capacity, achieving the automation process of robot blood drawing; the needle is taken out conveniently, thereby effectively avoiding the problem that people are scratched easily when the needle is taken out or installed, and the tailor-made needle cylinder has great economic and practical value.


Objective To investigate the clinical effects of total hip arthroplasty (THA) for bony ankylosis in patients with ankylosing spondylitis and the significance of postoperative rehabilitation. Meth-ods From October 1998 to May 2007, 28 patients (46 hips) suffered from ankylosing spondylitis with hip bony ankylosis underwent THA. There were 27 males, 1 female, with the mean age of 38.9 years (range 22 to 58 years). Posterior lateral hip incision was performed in 34 hips, and modified anterior lateral combined with lateral hip incision in 12 hips. Forty hips applied cementless THA and 6 hips applied mixed THA. Har-ris scores, VAS scores and total hip range of motion in all patients were compared pre-and postoperatively to evaluate the clinical effects. Results All patients were followed up from 10 months to 64 months, with the mean time of 38.2 months. No paralysis, decubitus, and lung infection were found. Joint dislocation hap-pened in 1 case 2 weeks after operation, and was cured with close reduction. Heterotopic bone formation with Brooker Ⅰ was found in 6 hips and Brooker Ⅱ in 2 hips. Harris score increased from 28.3±10.3 preop-eratively to 82.7±7.6 postoperatively. VAS score changed from 3.5±1.4 preoperatively to 3.8±1.8 postopera-tively, and no significance was found. The hip movement range increased from 15.6°±9.3° preoperatively to 133.7°±17.6° postoperatively. Bony ankylosis in all patients disappeared and the hip function improved sig-nificantly after operation. Conclusion THA is the optimal method to treat the ankylosing spondylitis with hip bony ankylosis. Early rehabilitation is necessary to improve hip function.

Key words:
Spondylitis, ankylosing;  Arthroplasty, replacement, hip;  Ankylosis


This brief epilogue picks up where the author's fieldwork leaves off. It tells the story of the end of the Maitreya Project iteration, MP 2.0, whose pre-life was detailed in the book. It then updates the reader about the next iterations of the statue, and how plans have proceeded since the revival of the project.


In a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial, 243 frail older adults received a single dose of vitamin D or placebo tablets and 10 weeks of high-intensity home-based quadriceps muscle resistance exercise or frequency-matched visits. Outcome measures were physical health at 3 months and falls over 6 months. Neither vitamin D supplementation nor high-intensity exercise improved rehabilitation outcomes in this population. There was no effect of vitamin D on physical performance, and the exercises increased the risk of musculoskeletal injury.


As a new two-dimensional material, MXene has attracted extensive attention because of its unique structure and electrochemical properties. MXene-based self-supporting films have been widely studied due to their flexibility, light weight and lack of need for adhesives and conductive agents. In the present work, we used facile ultrasonic and annealing methods to fabricate MnO 2 /MXene–Ti 3 C 2 T x foam hybrids for lithium storage. In the hybrid material, MnO 2 nanoparticles expand the MXene lamellar spacing, provide tunnels for lithium ion shuttling and accelerate the transport speed of lithium ions, thus improving the rate performance of the electrode materials. The existence of the MXene nanosheets can release the internal stress due to the volume expansion of MnO 2 during charging/discharging, reduce the electrode resistivity and improve the cycling stability of materials. The initial discharge capacity can reach 1203 mA h g (cid:2) 1 and the capacity can be maintained at about 600 mA h g (cid:2) 1 after 200 cycles. Moreover, the capacity of the electrode attenuates less at a large current and the capacity is about 350 mA h g (cid:2) 1 at 5 A g (cid:2) 1 . Al to selectively etch. We can see that the characteristic peaks of the crystal planes except that of (002) basically disappear after etching, which demonstrates that the aluminum atoms are selectively etched away, which results in the disappearance of the diffraction peaks of the crystal plane perpendicular to the (002) crystal plane. After the etching is completed, the relative intensity of the characteristic peak of the (002) crystal plane increases, indicating that the prepared MXene material is of good quality; after the etching is completed, the peak of the (002) crystal plane shifts to the left, layer spacing is enlarged.


We used the culture-independent method of high-throughput pyrosequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene amplicons to analyze the diversity of bacteria associated with the leaf and berry surfaces of 'Chardonnay' grape in a vineyard close to harvest. Combined, more than half of all bacterial sequences were classified as Proteobacteria. Other well-represented phyla were the Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria. The most abundantly represented genera were Sphingomonas, Hymenobacter, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Skermanella, Leuconostoc, Massilia, Methylobacterium, Cellvibrio, and Curtobacterium. Together, these top 10 genera accounted for almost one-third of all sequences. We observed differences in the composition of bacterial communities between leaves and berries. Members of the genera Sphingomonas, Hymenobacter and Methylobacterium were abundant on foliage, whereas Achromobacter, Flavobacterium and Cellvibrio were typical for the fruit. Moreover, certain Pseudomonas species appeared to associate exclusively with leaf surfaces, while others were found more frequently on berries. Unanticipated was the discovery of a novel Proteobacterium that dominated the bacterial community on berry surfaces. Our results form the basis for future investigations into the relationship between the structure of microbial communities on grape leaves and berries and the ecosystem (dis)services that these communities provide to grape growers at different pre- and post-harvest stages of production.


The reconfiguration debate has dominated the NHS over the summer with Conservative leader David Cameron promising a 'bare knuckle fight' over district general hospitals under threat from service closure. With the focus clearly on the need for service change, it is timely for the College to restate its policy on the provision of trauma care. We are calling for a critical examination of those centres currently providing trauma care and a national plan for the identification of major specialist trauma centres to provide the best care to injured patients.


Thank you very much for reading cities with slums from informal settlement eradication to a right to the city in africa. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have look numerous times for their chosen novels like this cities with slums from informal settlement eradication to a right to the city in africa, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some infectious virus inside their desktop computer.


Method involves transfer of powder vertically, from top to bottom, through transferring apparatus, and downstream from inlet pipe (1) to cased well. During transfer of powder, inside of apparatus, including inside of lower end of inlet pipe, is kept is mild depression so as to ensure good ventilation, avoid accumulation of powder within apparatus, or escape to outside. An Independent claim is also included for the transferring apparatus for powdery product.


A technique for automatic determination of the states of the cardiovascular system based on recorded ECG signals based on artificial neural networks is proposed. To achieve this, an artificial neural network must be trained to classify signals into various possible states of the body. Therefore, heart rate variability (HRV) parameters are extracted from ECG signals and used as input functions for the neural network. The structure of the classifier, the architecture of the neural network and the method for obtaining the necessary parameters in the learning process are presented. Finally, the effectiveness of the qualification process is checked and the proposed classifier is evaluated.


The optical response of spherical nanoparticles was studied based on the quasi-static approximation of classical electrodynamics. The simple Drude model was used to calculate the complex dielectric function of the metal. We investigated the behavior of the absorption cross-section spectra of metallic spherical core–shell (including dielectric-metal and metal-dielectric) nanoparticles numerically. We found that the number of resonance peaks in the absorption cross-section spectra depends on the number of metal-dielectric interfaces of the nanostructure, as predicted by plasmonic hybridization theory. Furthermore, the absorption cross-section spectra can be precisely controlled by changing the thickness of the shell and the dielectric constant of the medium.


Objective To develop a method for early diagnosis of acute rejection and the significance of ELISPOT in donor evaluation.Methods All ventral heterotopic cardiac transplantation models were divided into three groups as rejection group,treated group and isograft group.Mean survival time(MST)and pathological changes were measured.With ELISPOT assay,IFN-γ-secreting lymphocytes were detected and counted.Results MST of heart allogrsfts in rejection and treated group were(7.80±0.77)d,(14.80±1.01)d,respectively. The survival time of grafts in isograft group was all more than 28 d.The difference among three groups was obvi- ous.The number of infiltrating cells in rejection group was much more than the other groups as well as the extent of pathological changes.The numbers of donor-specific IFN-γ-secreting lymphocytes in three groups were(416±19),(44±8),(7±2)/2×10~5,respectively,which had negative correlation with MST and positive correlation with pathological changes.Conclusion The detection of donor-specific IFN-γ-secreting lymphocytes with ELIS- POT assay may be a useful indicator for early diagnosis of acute rejection.This assay has enough sensitivity and specificity for pre-transplant donor evaluation.


High contrast grating fabrication was attempted in two material systems. Amorphous Si andGaP layerswere patterned by ebeam lithography and etched by ICP-RIE etching. Procedures, results, and discussion of remaining work is presented below. The a-Si material was deposited by PECVD directly onto a SiO2 slide while GaP was deposited via MOCVD onto Si. The layer was wafer-bonded onto a SiO2 slide using SU-8 and the Si etched away by XeF2. Process development of this lift-off procedure and more detailed results are described in Hal Emmer's thesis. A Leica Microsystems EBPG-5000+ was used for electron beam lithography and a Oxford Instruments System 100 ICP 380 for ICP-RIE etching.


Lipoprotein transports lipids in circulation and is primary driver/modulator of athero- sclerosis. Highly dynamics of lipoprotein conformations are crucial to lipid transport along the cholesterol transport pathway, where high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low- density lipoprotein (LDL) and cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) are major players in lipid digestion & transport and the plasma cholesterol metabolism. This chapter cov- ered how do HDL, LDL and CETP induce the metabolisms during cholesterol transport, and summarized recent process in the spatial information of the three lipoproteins, espe- cially the elevations of plasma HDL and LDL, and shine a light on the assembly processes of lipoprotein particles and the substrates dynamics exchanges, for an in-depth under- standing on the correlation between various lipoprotein classes and cardiovascular risk.


Objective To explore the comparison of abdominal ultrasound and transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound in diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy. Methods 103 pregnant women who were by routine diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy were randomized to transabdominal ultrasound group(53 cases) and transvaginal ultrasound group(50 cases) from May 2013 to May 2014, the effect of early diagnosis of the two methods were compared. Results In the detecting of unruptured ectopic pregnancy and ruptured ectopic pregnancy,the detection rate of abdominal ultrasound were 37.04% and 30.77%,the detection rate of transvaginal were 73.08% and79.17%,P 0.05;In the detection rate of mass, false intrauterine gestational sac, yolk sac, fetal and germ,vaginal detection were higher than abdominal detection,P0.05. Conclusion Compared with abdominal doppler ultrasound, transvaginal ultrasound detection has a good effect, have the advantage in detection rate.


The method of communication in a network, comprising the present invention relates to: a) preparing the secondary station comprising at least a message data field contains the data to the allocated transmission resources to the primary station, the resource comprising a plurality of resource blocks, and b) If the size of the allocated resource is larger than the required size of the message, the secondary station dividing the allocated resource into a first portion and a second portion, each portion comprising at least one resource block, c) the secondary station to the first portion resource transmitting the message to the primary station, d) the secondary station preventing the second portion of resources to be transferred.


Background: Pregnancy is accompanied with numerous physiological changes that present oral health consequences. Oral disease during pregnancy has been linked to pre- eclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm birth, low birth weight and stillbirths. Despite evidence-based recommendations regarding the need for dental treatment and counselling of pregnant women, many dentists retain misconceptions regarding dental care during pregnancy and are reluctant in providing necessary dental preventive and curative services. Aim: To assess the beliefs and practices of Lebanese dentists with respect to the dental care of pregnant women. Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were answered by a sample of 195 dentists. Dentists' knowledge of oral disorders associated with pregnancy in addition to their practices with respect to the administration of radiographs and prescriptions of medications were assessed. Chi-square tests were used to test the association between selected demographic variables and pregnancy-related knowledge outcomes. Results: Fifty-two percent of dentists believed anesthesia was risky for pregnant women and only 55% would take a radiograph when necessary. Only 56% recognized gingivitis as a consequence of pregnancy and 76% recognized the presence of gingival bleeding as a symptom. The majority prescribes analgesics, specifically acetaminophens (90.3%), 73.5% prescribe antibiotics and only 9.2% are willing to prescribe an anti-inflammatory drug. Female dentists (p=0.05) and dentists with greater years of experience (p=0.04) were more aware of the risk of gingival bleeding during pregnancy. Those holding degrees from Lebanese universities were more aware of the association between gingivitis and pregnancy (p=0.03). Conclusion: The knowledge and practices of Lebanese dentists with respect to pregnant women are suboptimal. There is a need to re-assess the dental curriculum and consider the incorporation of training and re-training courses into continuing dental education programs.


An information processing device, an information processing method, a recording medium, and a program capable of recording a user operation history in a small capacity. A state transition detection section (52) of a CPU (21) detects transition of the content state. A metric value setting section (53) of the CPU (21) sets a reference value as a metric value. A metric value conversion section (54) of the CPU (21) converts the transition of the content state detected by the state transition detection section (52) into a metric value. A content operation history database section (61) of an HDD (26) accumulates and records the metric values converted by the metric value conversion section (54). The present invention can be applied to a hard disc recorder.


N-octanoyl—2-methylpiperidine (OMPPD) a novel amide type extractant for the extraction of U (VI) from aqueous nitric acid medium, was studied for γ-ray irradiation effect. The effects of radiation dose, concentration of nitric acid and diluent on the distribution ratio for the extraction of U (VI) were studied. It is found that OMPPD has better radiation stability compared with Tributyl phosphate (TBP).


Cardiac fibrosis is causally linked to heart failure pathogenesis and adverse clinical outcomes. However, the precise fibroblast populations that drive fibrosis in the human heart and the mechanisms that govern their emergence remain incompletely defined. Here, we performed Cellular Indexing of Transcriptomes and Epitomes by sequencing (CITE-seq) in 22 explanted human hearts from healthy donors, acute myocardial infarction (MI), and chronic ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy patients. We identified a fibroblast trajectory marked by fibroblast activator protein (FAP) and periostin (POSTN) expression that was independent of myofibroblasts, peaked early after MI, remained elevated in chronic heart failure, and displayed a transcriptional signature consistent with fibrotic activity. We assessed the applicability of cardiac fibrosis models and demonstrated that mouse MI, angiotensin II/phenylephrine infusion, and pressure overload models were superior compared to cultured human heart and dermal fibroblasts in recapitulating cardiac fibroblast diversity including pathogenic cell states. Ligand-receptor analysis and spatial transcriptomics predicted interactions between macrophages, T cells, and fibroblasts within spatially defined niches. CCR2+ monocyte and macrophage states were the dominant source of ligands targeting fibroblasts. Inhibition of IL-1β signaling to cardiac fibroblasts was sufficient to suppress fibrosis, emergence, and maturation of FAP+POSTN+ fibroblasts. Herein, we identify a human fibroblast trajectory marked by FAP and POSTN expression that is associated with cardiac fibrosis and identify macrophage-fibroblast crosstalk mediated by IL-1β signaling as a key regulator of pathologic fibroblast differentiation and fibrosis.


The kinetics of the growth of Al2O3 whiskers by the reaction of Al with a trace amount of H2O in an H2 atmosphere were studied. The activation energy in the region of constant growth rate was ∼77 kcal mol−1. This activation energy value, in the light of thermodynamic calculations and other theoretical considerations, suggests that the rate-determining step in the growth of these whiskers is the dissociation of H2O molecules on the surface of Al2O3.


This paper develops a model to analyze the welfare effect of immigration on the outcome of a majority vote among natives on both the composition of public spending and the quota of unskilled immigration. Public spending can be of two types, spending on rival goods (social transfers) and nonrival goods (public goods). I provide a theoretical framework that is consistent with the perception of the welfare effect of immigration at the individual level, which posits that welfare-dependent natives are more averse to immigration, and with macro-level evidence that countries with more generous welfare policies exhibit less restrictive views on immigration, in line with the compensation hypothesis. In particular, I derive the following equilibrium conditions : I find that an equilibrium with positive immigration is possible under some conditions on the size of the unskilled native majority and the level of redistribution in the host country, when social transfers are high enough with respect to low-skill natives labour income. I also provide some empirical support for the predictions of the model in OECD countries. JEL Classification: H41, H53, J61, D72


Location monitoring is a common problem for many mobile robotic applications covering various domains, such as industrial automation, manipulation in difficult areas, rescue operations, environment exploration and monitoring, smart environments and buildings, robotic home appliances, space exploration and probing. A key aspect of localization is inter-robot distance measurement. In this chapter we consider the problem of autonomous, collaborative distance measurement in mobile robotic systems, under the following set of design and functional constraints: a. indoor operation, b. independence of fixed landmarks, c. robustness and accuracy, d. energy efficiency, e. low cost and complexity. This work significantly extends and updates the results previously published in (Micea et al., 2010). We present and discuss some of the most relevant state of the art techniques for robot distance estimation. Next, we introduce a framework for collaborative inter-robot distance measurement along with a procedure for accurate robotic alignment. The proposed alignment algorithm is based on evaluating and comparing the strength of ultrasonic signals at different angles, processing (filtering) the measured data and ensuring a good synchronization during the process. Further on, we present the CTOF (Combined Time-ofFlight) method for distance measurement, which brings significant improvements to the classical TOF technique, and we show how this new technique meets the above specified design constraints. Some of the most interesting test and evaluation results are presented and discussed. The experimental data show how the distance estimation accuracy can be increased by applying the Kalman filter algorithm on repetitive measurements. The final remarks and the reference list conclude this chapter.


Effect of alkali metal K on the hydrogasification of lignite was studied in a pressurized fixed-bed reactor,and the effects of temperature,pressure and catalyst loading on the reactivity of hydrogasification of lignite coal were examined.The experimental results show that the alkali metal K has a superior catalysis on the hydrogasification of lignite,and the carbon conversion of hydrogasification and the methane content in gaseous products can be up to 95% and 89%,respectively.The gasification reactivity can be enhanced obviously by increasing temperature,pressure and catalyst loading,and the catalyst loading saturation level is about 15%.The surface morphology and pore structure of coal samples with different catalyst loadings have been analyzed using scanning electron microscope(SEM) and gas adsorption/desorption analysis,which indicates that the specific surface areas and total pore volume decrease initially,and then increase with the increasing of catalyst loading.


Multi-segment (diversified) firms have a natural advantage over singlesegment (focused) firms with respect to voluntary disclosure policy. Since aggregate disclosures by focused firms are at a finer level of detail than those of diversified firms, the latter have greater ability to react to focused firm information and therefore have a competitive advantage. I provide evidence that focused firms are less likely to provide earnings forecasts, which is consistent with higher proprietary costs of disclosure. However, tests using additional measures of voluntary disclosures (forecast lead time, specificity, and error) are inconclusive. Robustness tests addressing regulatory changes, sample selection biases, and endogenous firm decisions of disclosure and diversification offer additional insights into the literature on voluntary disclosure. ∗Monk is a Ph.D. Candidate from Tulane University and can be reached via e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com.


Objective: To evaluate the relation between cerebral tissue oxygenation index (TOI), measured with spatially resolved spectroscopy (SRS), and the different oxygenation parameters. To evaluate the relation between a new parameter named fractional tissue oxygen extraction (FTOE) and the cerebral fractional oxygen extraction (FOE). Methods: Six newborn piglets were measured at 33, 35, and 37°C and in hypocapnia. Mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), haemoglobin (Hb), peripheral oxygen saturation (SaO2) and PaCO2 were measured at each step. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured by injection of coloured microspheres into the left atrium. Jugular bulb oxygen saturation (JVS), cerebral arterial and venous oxygen content (CaO2 and CvO2) and FOE were calculated. TOI of the brain was calculated and FTOE was introduced as (SaO2 – TOI)/SaO2. The correlation was calculated with an ANCOVA test. Results: There was a positive correlation (R = 0.4 and p = 0.011) between TOI and JVS. No correlation was found with CBF, MABP or Hb. There was a positive correlation between PaCO2 and cerebral TOI (R = 0.24 and p = 0.03). FTOE correlated well with FOE (R = 0.4 and p = 0.016) and there was a negative correlation between FTOE and PaCO2 (R = 0.24, p = 0.03). Conclusion: The measurement of TOI and FTOE by SRS correlated well with the cerebral venous saturation and FOE, respectively.


The principle of the traveling wave direct energy converter is introduced. The mechanism is understood as a combination of the traveling wave tube and the linear accelerator. Hardware of the traveling wave direct energy converter is also introduced. It becomes obvious that the applied engineering and materials are conventional. The traveling wave direct energy converter is studied numerically. Self-excitation in a transmission circuit has been verified and optimized geometry is obtained with one-dimensional calculations. For a case of ARTEMIS, 69.8 % of overall conversion efficiency was obtained. Experiments on traveling wave direct converter have been carried out. Self-excitation of a traveling wave has been observed. As conclusions, a traveling wave direct energy converter appears promising to apply to an open magnetic system with D- 3 He fusion fuels.


The utility model relates to an irregular array-hole high-concentration photovoltaic steel mesh with a location function and belongs to the technical field of solar photovoltaic power generation. The irregular array-hole high-concentration photovoltaic steel mesh comprises a frame, a stainless steel sheet, irregular array holes and location holes. The stainless steel sheet is fixed on the frame. Irregularly-arranged array holes of the same size and the location holes are carved on the stainless steel sheet. After solder paste on the irregular array holes are melted by heating, a concentrating photovoltaic battery piece is tightly adhered to the area by the melted solder paste. The location holes can be used to position the concentrating photovoltaic battery piece more accurately. Thus, yield rate of the product is raised. Meanwhile, production and processing can be carried out more rapidly, and production efficiency is raised.


Received: 8 February 2020 Accepted: 19 May 2020 In order to fully promote the industrial coordination development in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province and form a development structure with rational spatial patterns and optimized allocation of various industries, this study uses the market potential model based on the new economic geography to, quantitatively analyse the market potential and spatial pattern of Beijing, Tianjin and various cities in Hebei Province from 2012 to 2019, obtains the dominant industries of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province. Then, the study adopts the industrial location quotient model to perform empirical study on the industrial conditions of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province and explore the location and routing problem of industrial transfer for Beijing from the perspectives of possibility and feasibility by taking into account the development objectives and positioning of the urban agglomeration in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province. The following conclusions are obtained: 1) The spatial pattern of the regional market potential of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province centres on Beijing and Tianjin, and the market potential gradually decreases from inside to outside. There are three tiers: Beijing and Tianjin have the greatest market potentials; followed by Langfang, Tangshan, Baoding, Cangzhou and Shijiazhuang, and Qinhuangdao, Handan, Xingtai, Hengshui, Chengde and Zhangjiakou have the lowest market potentials. 2) The market shares of Langfang, Tangshan, Baoding, Cangzhou, Chengde and Zhangjiakou are mainly from Beijing and Tianjin and have the closest connections with these two cities. 3) The market potential gaps between Hebei and Beijing and Tianjin are on an increasing trend. Therefore, to achieve coordinated development in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province, Beijing and Tianjin must give full play to their radiating and driving roles and selectively shift some of the industries to Hebei Province.


The analysis of the use of facilities of mechanization is resulted for sorting out of the blasted buildings from the action of technogenic failures. The constructions of mnogocelevogo rabochogo equipment are developed for the different types of build machines. For every type of mnogocelevogo equipment the scientifically grounded calculations of determination of their basic parameters are developed depending on the main index of equipment and terms of work.


Purpose: This study attempted to identify the influence of long-term care hospital nurses' nursing professionalism and knowledge of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on nursing intentions for COVID-19 patients.Methods: Data were collected from nurses who had worked for at least 6 months at long-term care hospitals with more than 100 beds located in North Gyeongsang Province from July 15 to 31, 2021. In total, 207 questionnaires were analyzed using the t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression with SPSS for Windows version 25.0.Results: Among the sub-factors constituting nursing professionalism, self-concept of the profession (r=.22, p=.001) and professionalism of nursing (r=.23, p=.001) were correlated with nursing intention for COVID-19 patients, whereas there no correlation was found between knowledge of COVID-19 and nursing intention for COVID-19 patients. In addition, among the sub-factors of nursing professionalism, the only factor influencing nursing intention for COVID-19 patients was professionalism of nursing, which could explain approximately 6.0% of variance in nursing intention for COVID-19 patients (β=.58, p=.049).Conclusion: It is important to strengthen professionalism of nursing among various aspects of nursing professionalism in order to improve long-term care hospital nurses' nursing intention for COVID-19 patients.


An empirical model, predicting the spread of airborne radioactive particles after they are released inside a building, has been developed. The basis for this model is a composite of data for dispersion of airborne activity recorded during 12 case incidents. These incidents occurred at the Savannah River Plant (SRP) during approximately 90 plant-years of experience with the chemical and metallurgical processing of purified neptunium and plutonium. The model illustrates that the multiple-air-zone concept, used in the designs of many nuclear facilities, can be an efficient safety feature to limit the spread of airborne activity from a release. This study also provides some insight into an apparently anomalous behavior of airborne particulates, namely, their migration against the prevailing flow of ventilation air. 2 references, 12 figures, 4 tables.


Recently, a novel hybrid image alignment method for
2D images was presented, which is based on
configural matching of automatically extracted,
scale-invariant salient region features. The approach
combines advantageous aspects of both feature and
intensity based methods. This work proposes an
extension of the algorithm to 3D. Its applicability
is discussed on both mono- and multi-modality medical
3D images for change detection, tumor localization or
time based intra person studies. We describe how
results of the rigid body alignment approach can be
incorporated into a subsequent non-linear
registration. Besides the practical work, the work
presents an overview of current research in the field
of rigid and non-rigid hybrid image alignment methods
and existing patents. The following problems are
discussed: an overview of hybrid image alignment
methods, the implementation of the salient region
based matching method for 3D images, a statistical
optimization framework that is suitable for the
salient region based 3D image matching, and
possibilities for an integration of a non-linear
alignment method.


d 0SKf conven^en^ manual of zoology yet published, and will, we y l not, supersede tlie works of Milne-Edwards, Gervais, and an der Hoeven in our schools. Conceived in a thoroughly philoPhical spirit and written in an elegant style, it will serve as a sis tor future instruction of a far more accurate character to that ich we ourselves received in our younger days, when we, peradure, had nothing more exact to refer to than Dallas's ' Animal asn P311' ?r Swainson's useful but eccentric works. This book,


In order to better understand the budget of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere it is necessary to develop a global high precision understanding of the carbon dioxide column. In order to uncover the 'missing sink' that is responsible for the large discrepancies in the budget as we presently understand it calculation has indicated that measurement accuracy on the order of 1 ppm is necessary. Because typical column average CO2 has now reached 380 ppm this represents a precision on the order of .25% for these column measurements. No species has ever been measured from space at such a precision. In recognition of the importance of understanding the CO2 budget in order to evaluate its impact on global warming the National Research Council in its decadal survey report to NASA recommended planning for a laser based total CO2 mapping mission in the near future. The extreme measurement accuracy requirements on this mission places very strong requirements on the laser system used for the measurement. This work presents an analysis of the characteristics necessary in a laser system used to make this measurement. Consideration is given to the temperature dependence, pressure broadening, and pressure shift of the CO2 lines themselves and how these impact the laser system characteristics Several systems for meeting these requirements that are under investigation at various institutions in the US as well as Europe will be discussed.


If communication is a process of creating shared understanding- why has discourse around eradicating female genital mutilation had little to no impact in the past 15 years? Although FGM may have moved up the political agenda with more media coverage, girls around the world continue to be subjected to this dangerous practice. What is the common thread? And how can eradication be tackled more effectively? This book sets out a basis to consider FGM through the personal account of a circumcised woman, in addition to the lens of cultural identity politics. By considering how people reproduce concepts of 'identity' via history and cultural practices, it is possible to determine why FGM continues to thrive in spite of legal and social policy encouraging eradication. I suggest a fresh approach using modern marketing and communication techniques to devise an eradication narrative that effectively engages across audiences including 'men' as key players and influencers within the socio economic power structure that drives this medieval practice.


Introduction. Consolidation of banks is their attempt to adapt to radical changes in the external environment. To characterize the processes of consolidation of banks and identify their features, it is necessary to explore motivational theories that justify the goals and effectiveness of integration processes in the banking sector.

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the conceptual nature and features of motivational theories of bank consolidation for their systematization.

Methods. Methods of induction, deduction, formalization were used in the research process. Methods of abstract-logical and systematic analysis are used to substantiate theories of bank consolidation. Methods of analytical and logical generalizations are used to identify the evolutionary features of the studied theories of bank consolidation.

Results. Conceptual approaches to the explanation of integration processes in the banking sector are substantiated: VBM-theories, agency theories and theories of conditionality of decisions, which are taken as the basis for typology of motivational theories of bank consolidation. It is emphasized that the synergetic theory provides the most universal tools for explaining the motives for bank consolidation.

Perspectives. Further research will be aimed at deepening the study of synergetic theory and motivational theories of conditionality of decisions of consolidation processes in the banking sector.


The objective of the paper is to compare the capacity of various market risk measurement models to take into account some empirical properties of financial asset returns. Through an empirical study, we show that financial markets have some empirical characteristics known as "stylized facts" that conventional market risk measurements are unable to reproduce. We propose Value-at-Risk (VaR) measures of market risk, based on dynamic modeling of portfolio volatility and correlations between asset classes, using two risk measurement approaches: the univariate risk measurement approach and the multivariate risk measurement approach. We first describe how to estimate the parameters of these models and then test their quality predictive using backtesting procedures. The results obtained show a great ability of the different risk measurement models to capture the stylized facts characterizing financial markets. Multivariate VaR models integrating correlations dynamic outperform the univariate VaR measures.


If a child has inexplicable somatic symptoms that fit those of panic disorder, consultation with a child psychiatrist is imperative.