Self-purification capacity of a river is a significant indicator for the river health and it is in great importance in polluted water. Tanjero River lies southwest of Sulaimani city formed by linking two streams (Qiliasan and Kani-Ban streams) along its path the sewage of wastewater is discharged into the river that causes serious pollution and threatens the quality of water. Samples of water were taken from six stations (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 and S6) along the Tanjero river. The data obtained from sample locations include velocity, depth, river discharge, water temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO) and BOD. The De-oxygenation coefficient (k1) and re-oxygenation coefficient (K2) are then used to estimate the deficit value of predicted oxygen using the Streeter Phelps equation. The maximum de-oxygenation rate (K1) and reaeration (K2) rate (8.259541 day−1) and (15.22917day−1) were recorded in site (4) respectively. The fair ratio (f) or self-purification factor, for the Tanjero river was determined. The maximum fair ratio (f) value of (2.219) was recorded at site (2). The average fair ratio (f) was found to be (1.507) which classifies the river into large streams of low to normal velocities. This study revealed that using Streeter-Phelps method the natural self-purification occurred along the river as a result of continuous increasing of DO value and decreasing BOD value.


Nowadays, construction industry is on a boom. Almost everywhere one can find some kind of construction work in progress. At every construction site bricks are required. For normal wall construction bricks are must have. Bricks are of vital import ance in construction. To provide bricks in time at the construction site and that too without damage is still a challenge in India. But manually handling these bricks cause workers to suffer from back injury and long-term pain if regularly lifting/carrying heavy or awkward objects. So, the palletizing and mechanization of the bricks is suggested so as to reduce the human injury and to inc rease the productivity and profitability.


One of the most severe winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) diseases is Fusarium head blight (FHB). It is believed that selection for resistance to FHB is better in high disease pressure environments, for which various methods of artificial inoculation are used. The standard spray method of artificial inoculation is believed to be technically demanding and labour intensive. Therefore, scattering Fusarium-infected maize stalks onto trial plots after wheat emergence is suggested as a suitable alternative. The aim of this study was to compare the mean values and heritability of the visual rating index (VRI) and the percentage of Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK) between the two abovementioned methods of artificial inoculation and natural infection, and to determine the phenotypic correlations between the three methods for the studied traits. The achieved levels of VRI and FDK were comparable for the two methods of artificial inoculation and considerably lower under natural conditions. Heritability for VRI ranged over four years from 0.68 to 0.91 for the spray method, from 0.73 to 0.95 for the infected maize stalks, and from 0.26 to 0.65 for natural infection, whereas for FDK it ranged from 0.56 to 0.85, 0.38 to 0.83, and 0.11 to 0.44 for the three inoculation methods, respectively. The strong positive correlation between the two applied methods of artificial inoculation for studied traits suggests that scattering infected maize stalks could serve as a reliable supplement for the technically and labor-intensive spray method of artificial inoculation.


For ordinary degraded images, there have been many effective methods to correct them, one of which is the histogram equalization. But if histogram equalization or local histogram equalization approach is applied directly on foggy images in traffic, a special class of degraded images, it will lead some distortion. The degraded model based on scene depth estimation is an effective algorithm for this situation. However, the scene depth estimation is a difficult task and its computational complexity is high. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for foggy image restoration in traffic, which is based on histogram equalization. The useful information in low brightness area is preserved and the histogram of the sky area is translated and narrowed down. The enhancement area of useful information is enlarged and its computational complexity is low compared with the degraded model. KeywordsImage Enhancement; Image Restoration; Information Preservation; Foggy Image


: Abstract The number of users is increasing rapidly with the transmission of voice over IP; therefore, it is indispensable to provide fast transmission without delay and jitter, which severely affect voice quality. This paper examines the performance of two transport layer protocols: SCTP and TCP in transmission of voice packets. Generally, when packets arrive at destination then these packets are affected by jitter, therefore, researchers apply different algorithms on them in the buffer to minimize jitter. In this paper, the Chunk-based Jitter Management (CJM) algorithm is applied on packets in the buffer. The paper presents two topologies to analyze the performance of TCP and SCTP in case of delay and jitter. The functionality of these protocols is simulated and tested in NS2. The results show a good increase in throughput and delay and jitter minimization.


An improved paralleled active power filter(APF) is presented in this paper. Harmonics current is detected by ip-iq algorithmbased on instantaneous reactive power theory. PWM signal of inverter is generated by instantaneous value comparison. A directed method isemployed to obtain voltage of direct current side, which is adjusted by a PI adjustor. At last , the SIMULINK tools in the software ofMATLAB is used to build the model of the paralleled active power filter system, and simulation results shows it is practical.


This study intends to surveyrequirements for port and logistics supply chain management with RFID {Radio Frequency IDentification)technology. Port and logistics supply chain management has become a critical issue due to the necessity of efficiency, visibility, trace-ability, etc. Since the introduction of RFID technology, its performance, reliability, validity, and safety have been a concern in most industries. Particularly, in port and logistics supply chain management, RFID has the potential to track the movement of containers and to provide in-transit visibility toward customers. In thispaper we consider some critical issues related to port and logistics supply chain management, which previously adopted RFID technology. In order to successfully design and adopt RFID technology and utilize it as optimally as is possible in the port and logistics industry, it is necessary to understand the potential of shipping companies and their requirements in adopting RFID technology in port and logistics.


In the previous unit, you have studied about history and processes of remote sensing and electromagnetic energy and its properties. You have also studied about the models of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). Now you know that EMR is the basis of remote sensing and most of the remote sensing sensors use Sun's energy (radiation) for collecting information about objects on the Earth's surface. Sensors record the radiation coming from the Sun after interacting with the atmosphere and the Earth's surface. Particles and gases in the atmosphere can affect the incoming light or radiation. The radiation reaching the remote sensor is modified significantly because of the processes taking place in the atmosphere and the Earth's surface. This unit discusses in detail about how these radiations interact in the atmosphere and at the Earth's surface. An account of the important terminologies used in remote sensing is also given.


The electronic and magnetic properties of Co-doped tris-8-hydroxyquinoline aluminum (Alq3) are studied by first-principles calculations. Our results indicate that the local magnetic moments in doped Alq3 originate from the localized d states of Co atom. Electron transfer takes place from Co atom to Alq3 molecule, which is mainly localized on the quinolate ligand, resulting in formation of bound magnetic polarons. The indirect ferromagnetic exchange interaction between two bound magnetic polarons antialigning with the same magnetic ion promotes the collective magnetism found in recent experiments.


The EU Medical Device Regulation 2017/745, in force since May 26th 2021, defines new rules for medical device (MD) certification and post-market surveillance (PMS). For high-risk implantable MD, in the certification process notified bodies are obliged to consult clinical Expert Panels (EP) that could decide to proceed for an extensive review of the supporting clinical data provided by the manufacturer, also in view of sentinel signals, such as significantly increased rate of reported serious incidents for a specific MD groups.

 1) To develop an ICT tool to automatically collect and display in an aggregated way the accessible curated regulatory information on MD alerts and recalls to capture possible trends in reported incidents that could be used both for scientific analysis and as information source to EP. 2) To conduct a pilot feasibility study on the Italian data, characterized already by the same European Medical Device Nomenclature (EMDN), organized in a multi-level hierarchical tree code to define a MD, as it will be used in Europe.

 Web scraping was used to retrieve data of 7622 safety notices (SN) from 2009 to 2021 from the Italian Ministry of Health website. The EMDN code was missing in 68% of cases: to retrieve it, the MD best match was searched within a separate public list of about 1.5M MD on the Italian market containing the EMDN code, using Natural Language Processing techniques and pairwise entity resolution with Cosine similarity to identify similar manufacturers and MD. The performance of this approach was tested on the 2440 SN for which the EMDN code was available as gold standard. A mash up was then performed to integrate data, and to present it to the final user through a graphical interface.

 The implemented entity resolution method was able to correctly assign the correct manufacturer to the MD in each SN in 99% of the cases. Moreover, the correct EMDN code at level 1 (22 categories available) was assigned in 2382 SN (97.62%), at level 2 (146 anatomical or functional groups available) in 2366 SN (96.97%), at level 3 (multiple types available) in 2304 SN (94.45%). The developed interface (Figure 1) allows querying the database by manufactures, devices, type of SN (1a), and selecting the EMDN nomenclature up to the fourth level (1b). As a result, the relevant information is shown, including trends over the selected period and the link to the SN on the original website (2).

 The proposed approach was able to cope with the uncompleteness of the publicly available data in the SN, thus allowing proper matching of MD with its EMDN code up to level 3 with very good performance. In this way, grouping of SN relevant to a specific MD category/group/type could be used as possible sentinel for increased rates in reported serious incidents in high-risk MD. Extension of this approach to aggregate SN from other EU nations could result in an effective support tool in PMS.

 Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – EU funding. Main funding source(s): EU Horizon 2020 - Project CORE-MD


The use of plasmonic gold nanoparticles (AuNP) that have been actively targeted to a specific tumour region is a highly active area of research for both drug delivery and hypothermia applications. One application is providing in situ cavitation nuclei for enhancing high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation. When the nanoparticles are simultaneously exposed to HIFU and pulsed laser illumination, microscopic vapour bubbles form providing a controllable way to nucleate cavitation. Using an EGFR-expressing head and neck xenograft model, the biodistribution of targeted and untargeted AuNPs were examined using multispectral, whole body photoacoustic imaging, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis following systemic or intratumoral injections. Systemic delivery showed negligible concentration of AuNRs in the tumour; however, intratumoral injection increased its concentration, but remained in the tumour at high concentration for the first 48hrs. Evaluation of ablation performance was undertaken using the same tumour model. An intratumoural injection of untargeted particles, with single 10 s continuous wave HIFU exposures for peak positive/negative pressures of 2.4/2.0 MPa, with simultaneous illumination of 1064 nm pulsed laser light with a surface energy density of 70 mJ/cm2. Post treatment tumour volume was monitored using high frequency ultrasound imaging and calliper measurements, to evaluate exposure efficacy.


Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated as a key signaling molecule involved in a wide spectrum of plant developmental and stress responses. Here, we found that NO also played important role in seed oil content and fatty acid composition. RNAi silencing Arabidopsis thaliana S-nitrosoglutathione reductase 1 (GSNOR1) gene led to higher NO content and up to 5.3% reduction of seed oil content. In contrast, nitrate reductase double mutant nia1nia2 led to an increase of seed oil content by 2.6%, compared to the wild type plant. Moreover, the levels of palmitic acid (C16:0), linoleic acid (C18:2) and linolenic acid (C18:3) were higher, whereas the levels of stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1) and arachidonic acid (C20:1) decreased in the seeds of GSNOR1 RNAi lines. The effects of NO on seed oil content and fatty acid composition were also demonstrated with rapeseed embryos cultured in vitro with NO donor Sodium Nitroprusside (SNP) and NO inhibitor NG-Nitro-L-arginine Methyl Ester (L-NAME). Similar results with that of Arabidopsis were obtained. Compared to non-treated embryo control, the oil contents were decreased by 1.95% and 4.69% in 10µM and 20µM SNP-treated embryos and increased by 1.66% and 2.43% in 200µM and 400µM L-NAME-treated embryos respectively. The relative quantities of C16:0, C18:2 and C18:3 were significantly higher, whereas C18:1 level decreased markedly in rapeseed embryos treated with SNP. Proteomics and transcriptome analysis revealed that three S-nitrosated proteins (PKp2, LACS4, and SSI2) and some key genes involved in oil synthesis were differentially regulated in SNP treated embryos, suggesting that NO regulated seed oil content and fatty acid composition. The seed oil content increase in Arabidopsis and rapeseed was further obtained by spraying L-NAME directly on developing siliques. These results suggested that regulating NO level could be a novel approach to increase seed oil content in oil crops during cultivation in addition to marker-assisted selection breeding and genetically modified breeding.


We are developing a micromachined vacuum pump for portable analytical instruments that is comprised of a mechanical roughing pump integrated with a micro-machined ion pump. The focus of this paper is on the development of the roughing pump. We have fabricated two generations of micromachined displacement vacuum pumps to explore various design options. Through optimization of design and operation, we can now report a pump that achieves 164 torr absolute pressure, which is to our knowledge the lowest measured pressure in a micro-machined vacuum pump operated from atmospheric pressure.


We measured the music preference opinions of 2,262 listeners for examples of art musk, traditional jazz, and rock. Our subjects were enrolled in Grades 1 through college, and we also tested adults who were not college students. Participants ranged in age from 6 to 91 years. We found that music preference means for the different styles were comparatively similar across grade levels, and when style subtest scores were pooled to make a general index of music preference, a characteristic pattern of responding across grade levels emerged. Listeners in Grade 1 had a high level of preference, but preference levels then declined to a low point at Grade 6. From that point, preference steadily rose into the high school years, reaching its highest point at college level. Preference declined again for our adult group, which included a good representation of senior citizens. However, adult preference was higher than that of any other grade levels except Grade 1 and college.


Synucleins, as a family of small proteins enriched in presynaptic element in CNS, share a secondary structure feature of periodicity of amphipathic α helix with 11 amino acid residues throughout the N terminus. The physiological function of synucleins is unknown, but large quantities of research suggest that synucleins may be implicated in synaptic genesis and plasticity. Also, the relations of synuleins to many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons as well as to the invasion of breast cancer have been gaining attention of researchers.


Subungual exostosis is a benign bone‐ and cartilage‐forming tumor known to harbor a pathognomonic t(X;6)(q22;q13‐14). Using global gene expression analysis and quantitative real‐time PCR, we could show that this translocation results in increased expression of the IRS4 gene, presumably due to disruption and/or exchange of regulatory sequences with the translocation partner, the COL12A1 gene. A corresponding deregulation at the protein level could be demonstrated in primary cell cultures using a combination of fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunostaining. As the t(X;6) usually is the sole cytogenetic aberration in subungual exostosis, the deregulated expression of IRS4 is likely to be pathogenetically essential. The exact role of IRS4 is still poorly investigated, but IRS proteins are known to act as mediators of signaling from receptors, such as the insulin and insulin‐like growth factor 1 receptors, and thus have an important effect on cell growth and survival.


Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is a vital and the most essential spice as well as vegetable crop in Bangladesh. Nowadays, the productivity of chilli is being decrease due to attack of insect pests. For the purpose of study on the abundance and damage severity, randomize 10 plants were selected from the experimental field. Besides, a field investigation was conducted at the field laboratory of Department of Entomology, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, Bangladesh in a randomized block design (RCBD) with a plot size of 1m2 with each treatment replicated three times in order to know the feasibility of four IPM based modules against major insect pests of chilli during Rabi season, 2020-2021 where Chilli variety BARI Morich-03 was used as an experimental crop. Results revealed that aphid exhibited the highest number of population (312.89/plant) and it caused damage maximum (36.57%) too which was followed by 264.36, 206.42, 186.95/plant and 32.16%, 23.45%, 19.88% in thrips, mites and jassid, respectively. The rank of incidence and damage was aphid>thrips>mites>jassid. On the contrary, for controlling the insect pests of chilli, of different IPM based modules, M-2 module was found the most promising in reducing the population of aphids (22.47/plant), thrips (53.18/plant), mites (62.45/plant), jassid (54.12/plant) and fruit borer (3.19/plant), where were obtained the greater plant height (72.35cm), highest number of branches (31.02/plant) & green fruits (404.13/plant) per plant, maximum weight of 1000 seed (4.03g) and better yield (8.42 t/ha). Furthermore, the highest benefit cost ratio (BCR) (1:1.56) was recorded by M-2 modules followed by M-4 (1:1.44), M-1 (1:1.12) and M-3 (1:1.09), respectively. Thus, the overall order of effectiveness of various IPM based modules was M-2>M-4>M-1>M-3. From the result, it also may be concluded that the cumulative insect pests per plant was strong as well as negatively correlated with the yield (t/ha) i.e. yield was increased due to decrease of cumulative insect pests per plant in chilli production. Therefore, M-2 can be used to reduction of major insect pests of chilli, environment safely and increased yield of chilli.


Thank you very much for your review. We improved the paper following your comments and hope that we solved all open issues with these updates. Your comments certainly helped us to improve the paper. Please find below detailed answers for each comment with explanations of the corresponding changes in the revised version of the paper. We included your original comments in blue color and quotation marks. The updated version of the manuscript can be found in our separate comment AC C5550.


Summary form only given. In conclusion, we have demonstrated a fast wavelength tuning of a liquid crystal fiber Fabry Perot tunable filter (LC-FFP-TF) with a finesse of 166 and a total insertion loss of 4.1 dB.


This investigation evaluated the importance of frequent responding in computer-based programmed instruction. Instructional computer programs that taught the use of an authoring language were administered to 155 undergraduate college students. One group experienced frequent (dense) situations requiring them to supply key components of the subject taught. A second group experienced half as many response requirements, and a third ''passive'' group simply tapped any key to progress. To control for time in contact with presentations, individuals in a fourth group were yoked to the members of the highdensity requirement group. Statistically significant differences on both posttest and application performances indicated that students who experienced the high density of overt response contingencies scored the best and the passive group score the worst. The yoked control revealed that time on task alone could not account for the superior performance of students in the high-density group. Results suggest that inclusion of a high rate of constructed-response contingencies within instructional computer programs increases performance. DESCRIPTORS: programmed instruction, computer-based instruction, interaction, constructed response, contingency


The effectiveness of ways to protect corporate rights, including members of a limited liability company (LLC), and developing a catalog of these ways is one of the key problems for the theory of Corporate Law. The law-enforcement practice of economic courts dealing with corporate disputes, the number of which has increased significantly in recent years, is an important factor in ensuring the protection of property rights, creating favorable conditions for investment activity in the country, and stable functioning of the corporate sector of the economy. The article draws attention to the fact that at the moment the decisions of the Supreme Court are dominated by the position that a comprehensive list of ways to protect a member of an LLC who believes that his right or legal interest is violated by changes in the composition of members or the distribution of shares of members of the company is contained in Art. 17 of the Law of Ukraine "On State Registration of Legal Entities, Individual – Entrepreneurs and Public Organizations". On the basis of the analysis of the current practice of the Supreme Court, controversial issues of the court's application of the norms of Part 5 of Article 17 of this Law (in particular, in cases where the participant of the LLC has not fulfilled his obligation regarding property participation in the authorized capital of the company). It is argued that when considering corporate disputes, the principle of proportionality should be applied: the reduction of a participant's share in the authorized capital of an LLC is not a violation of his corporate rights, if such a participant has not made an additional contribution to the company's authorized capital in accordance with the decision of the general meeting to increase the amount of authorized capital. Attention is drawn to the fact that part 5 of Art. 17 of the Law of Ukraine "On State Registration of Legal Entities, Individuals Entrepreneurs and Public Organizations" does not establish as such methods of protecting the rights and interests of participants in disputes about the size of shares in the authorized capital or the composition of members of a limited liability company. For the purposes of Part 5 of Art. 17 of this Law, a court decision of the relevant content is considered as an alternative to the decision of the general meeting of participants. In the court decision, as a document on the basis of which relevant registration actions are carried out, the size of shares in the authorized capital, the size of the authorized capital must be specified as the factual circumstances of the real property participation of the participants in the authorized capital of the company established by the court. The court can protect the right of the participant in the way chosen by the plaintiff, while the lawsuit claims to determine the size of the authorized capital of the LLC and the size of the shares of the participants in the company can be considered by the court as a derivative together with the main claim that protects the violated right (invalidation of the decision of the general meeting of participants, etc.).


SoftWear Automation provides a solution to brands and retailers running out of lower cost foreign sourcing markets and a desire to bring production closer to their customers.


AIM: To make an inquiry into the
probable risk factors for sporadic acute hepatitis E(HE), A casecontrol study was conducted.
METHODS: Twenty HE patients were selected as cases,and 117 hospitalized patients without
hepatic disease were selected as controls. RESULTS: A univariate analysis showed the
history of hepatitis A contact (OR=12.67), ingestion of contaminated foods (OR=5.47) and
injection(OR=7.34) were the risk factors for HE. Applying logistic regression analysis, we
found the history of hepatitis A contact Author (OR=7.33), injection (OR=9.12) and ingestion
of contaminated food (OR=4.72) were also the risk factors for HE. CONCLUSION: Besides
nonparenteral exposure such as contact of daily life,parenteral exposure, such as injection is
also main risk factor for sporadic acute HE and should not be ignored.


Many peer-to-peer networks are used to share different types of files. These files could be damaged, contain false content or even include malware. To be able to choose the right peers, the requesting peer needs to assess the trustworthiness of the requested peer. Embedded trust algorithms enable the requesting peers to perform this assessment without the continuous involvement of human users. Requesting peers can then autonomously calculate the trustworthiness of the other peers before deciding to download. In this paper we show that current trust algorithms suffer from different shortcomings. Based on these results, we designed a new hybrid trust algorithm. We offer a step-by-step description of its working and present and analyse the results of a series of simulation tests.


A discussion of how 'unwitting' racism is especially complicated in health care because of the ways in which intense emotions and disease and illness can shape racism.


Grouted connections are defined as the system used to join steel rebars available in precast components by means of grouting the splice sleeve and steel rebars together. The bond between the infill material and the steel bar is the key factor that governs the capacity and the performance of the connection. This study was carried out to investigate the parameters that affect the bond-slip relations in the connection. The variables in this study were the pitch distance of the spiral and reinforcement bar diameter. Altogether, 21 specimens were prepared in which 3 of them were the control specimens. Each splice sleeve utilized a spiral surrounding the main bars and 4Y10 steel splice bars which were welded to the inner surface of the spiral. All the grout filled splices were tested under increasing tensile loading. The experiments examined the bond stress-slip behaviour as well as the failure mode of the splices. The results indicate that by using the spiral without the vertical bars could not increase the bond capacity of the splices significantly. The results also showed that by reducing the bar diameter and the pitch distance of the spiral led to a higher bond strength. The highest bond stress was observed in the specimen with the lowest pitch distance and smaller bar diameter.


The article is the result of a research developed with managers, collegiate members and teachers of a school of the state school network of the Municipality of Capitao de Campos-PI. The research comprises a case study with a qualitative approach, with themes related to the School Council and for participation as a guiding principle of Democratic Management. Its development was based on the ideas and conceptions of Paro (2016), Luck (2009), Libâneo (2001) and Marques (1990). The general objective of the research is to understand the role of the school council in the practices of democratic management, with the specific objective of reflecting on concepts attributed to democratic management; analyze in the interviewees' speeches characteristic aspects of democratic management and identify principles and dimensions of this management model. Regarding the problem, it seeks to respond, as the participation in the development of activities, contributes to effective democratic management in school? The technical procedures for data collection were bibliographic research and interview, regarding the analysis, was performed through categorization. As a result of the research, it was found that the active participation of professionals and the school community in the development of activities contributes significantly to the democratic management model being effective, either by influence in decision making, or by the direct action of the school council It was also concluded that the effectiveness of this management model is a mechanism that allows developing activities aimed at the full development of the student, professionals and society in general. Key-words: democratic management; school board; participation.


The primary goal of this study is to examine an alternative treatment (AT) for hyperlipidemia in a primary prevention population by comparing it to established therapy with simvastatin (S). This st...


A formula is presented for calculating `infinite-slit' smeared small-angle X-ray scattering curves for concentrically coated spheres of uniform electron densities ρ1 and ρ2.


The demand for housing has increased significantly during last decade all over the world. It is felt particularly in countries where population growth rate is high and the economy is developing fast. For instance, India is turning to urbanizing at a pace that is higher than the world average. Its cities today are unable to cope with increasing population. In India there is a housing shortfall of nearly 18.7 million homes. This demand cannot be met with conventional method of construction technology. The aim of study is to compare conventional method of construction with prefabricated method of construction. A literature survey was carried out in order to analyze the comparison between the conventional buildings with prefabricated buildings in India and various site visits were carried out conducted to obtain various data to investigate the current situation of residential accommodation in India. In order to compare the cost of conventional method and prefabricated method of construction, a block of single storey to block of G+7 storey building is considered. Prefabricated building is a better, viable and workable technology. Cost of prefabrication is more but have low maintenance cost. Prefabrication with mechanized building systems, with its adaptability and quality consciousness, provides speedy, costs efficient and sustainable solution.


Objective: To evaluate the association between lactation intensity and maternal weight loss at 2 months after gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) delivery.


The paper presents a design of vehicle safety distance warning system. This system can measure distance between in front of vehicle (obstacle) and driving car and the system can calculate the safety distance of the driving car. And then a novel algorithm is proposed for to calculate the distance between driving cars is enough or not. If the driver doesn't keep the safety braking distance with front of car (obstacle), it will warn driver to slow down the speed of car to avoid collision accident in the dangerous condition. The results of the experiment also presented to guarantee the function is work.


A curvillinear regression resulted when the Feulgen-DNA test scores were plotted against the average concentration of leucocytes. Application of a logarithmic transformation to the average test dat...


The dramatic increase in online commerce over the past decade has raised concern over the perceived fairness of complaint handling methods in this venue. The study described in this article uses justice theory to determine whether respondents who sought complaint resolution online were satisfied in the same manner as respondents who used conventional complaint mechanisms. In this study of consumers residing in several different countries, authentic complaint experiences were analyzed. The authors found that both online and offline complaining consumers experienced justice (in general) in the complaint process. Procedural justice emerged as the dominant justice dimension, but new insight was gained with respect to how interactional justice was manifested in distinctly different ways for both online and offline complaining consumers. Some online consumers seek the anonymity that technology affords while a significant portion of the offline consumers seek the transparency and openness that many of the conventional complaint mechanisms offer (e.g. face-to-face and phone). Contrary to some other studies investigating justice perceptions and complaining behavior, distributive justice did not emerge as a top theme.


The mechanical properties of kerogen macerals are considered an important influencing factor for the fracture behavior of organic matter-rich shales and coals, and hence fracture permeability that directly controls the producibility of unconventional resources such as shale gas or coal bed methane. We investigated the mechanical properties of macerals (liptinite, vitrinite, inertinite) in 12 Carboniferous coals from the Ukrainian Donets Basin, covering a maturity range from 0.62 to 1.47 %Rr (vitrinite reflectance). Nanoindentation tests were conducted as the inherent inhomogeneity of coals with differing maceral and mineral proportions requires characterization at the micro-/nanoscale. Maceralspecific material parameters such as hardness (H) and reduced elastic modulus (Er), as well as the dominating deformation type (plastic vs. elastic) estimated from the shape of the individual loaddeformation curves, were correlated with coal rank and parameters related to the depositional setting (e.g. ash yield).


Based on basic ant colony algorithm and by using multiple clutches ant colony synergetic algorithm,an optimal layout of branch line in medium voltage distribution network from a global perspective was proposed.Firstly,each load nod was regarded as the starting crawling node of each nest ant and the street nodes that compose of trunk lines were regarded as the final nodes,and each ant crawled according to the path-selection rules;secondly,in the updating strategy of pheromone issue,the ants from different nests shared the legacy pheromone along the path,which reflected the synergy between the ants and ensures the global optimality of routing result;finally,through example analysis a global optimal routing result was obtained,and the algorithm had the better convergence.Thus the feasibility of the proposed algorithm is verified.


Abstract Three treatments were tested with four replications at RCBD, namely cassava monoculture, corn twice under cassava intercropping, and corn with corn monoculture where the second corn was planted 5 days after harvested. Planting distance of cassava in monoculture was 100x100 cm, and in intercropping was 200x50 cm, by which corn was planted in 50x30 cm, 1 seed per hole. All plots received dairy cattle manure 5 t ha-1. Fertilizer applied for cassava was Urea 100 kg ha−1, Ponska 200 kg ha−1 and KCl 100 kg ha−1 split into two applications two weeks after cassava planting, then when first of corn was harvested. Corn fertilization was Ponska 150 kg ha−1 + Urea 100 kg ha−1 every 3 months and split into two applications: 1 week and 4 weeks after corn was planted. Cassava and twice corn fertilization was Urea 300 kg ha−1 + Phonska 400 kg ha−1 + KCl 100 kg ha−1. Results showed that cassava monoculture can be improved by inserting of twice corn in between rows. Under sole cropping cassava, the B/C ratio was the highest 1.61, however with incorporating twice of corn the B/C ratio was 1.58. Intercropping cassava and twice of corn resulted in the Land Equivalent Ratio 2.146. By intercropping cassava with corn twice at the end of dry season, there was an opportunity to find corn biomass for dairy cattle. Under intercropping, cassava was able to produce 21.5 t ha−1 of fresh roots, while first and second of corn produced fresh biomass of 34 t ha−1 and 28 t ha−1 respectively.


The physics of superconductors is beautiful, intricate and full of mysteries and surprises. In the basic theory, quantum mechanics is essential, and even then the theory is incapable of accurate quantitative predictions. In this article, we shall deal only with electric-power applications, and leave aside both the atomic theory and electronics applications, such as Josephson junctions.


For repairing connection-tube sockets of the boiler drum in a power plant,heat treatment temperature field under welding repair and postweld heat treatment technology were investigated through both finite element calculation and in situ measurement.The results indicate that there are temperature difference around drum circumference,longitudinal and wall thickness direction respectively.Drum structural characterization and heat treatment process are main factors influencing temperature field.Moreover,the hanger′s temperature exceeds 400 ℃ under air natural convection.The methods of controlling drum temperature difference and hanger′s temperature are applied successfully in repair engineering,which include dividing several areas to control temperature around drum circumference,set holding temperature stage both at 300 and 400 ℃,forced cooling hangers to suitable temperature by compressed air,and so on.


A splitting method is modified so as to cover arbitrary electric field magnitudes, which substantially expands the domain of applicability of the method.


The jamming to the airborne early warning radar is one of the main tasks of the ground-to-air radar jamming system.That several jammers are deployed to jam radars at same time could get better effect.The model and simulation of several jammers is conducted to jam radars,and the equation is conduced that an airborne early warning radar is jammed by several jammers.And moreover,the influence of radar detecting capability is simulated under the different circumstance of several jamming systems.At last a better scheme is achieved for deploying jamming force based on the analysis of simulation and corresponding chart.


Vulvar/vaginal human papillomavirus (HPV) infections may precede cervical infections, and certain low-risk types may display vaginal tropism. We evaluated whether incident infections in young women display site-specific preferences by HPV risk group or phylogenetic species. Although incident infections were more likely to be detected in the vulva/vagina than in the cervix (odds ratio, 4.38 [95% confidence interval, 2.51-7.63]), the majority were first detected at both sites. Low- or undetermined-risk types were more likely than high-risk types to be first detected in the vulva/vagina (P = .03). Site-by-species differences were not statistically significant. Our results suggest that low- or undetermined-risk HPV types preferentially infect vaginal epithelium.


This article discusses the aetiology of both simple and complex post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSDs) in terms of attachment theory, and points out the similarities between the diagnosis of complex PTSD and of borderline personality disorder. Case vignettes illustrate an outline of the assessment and treatment of the psychobiological symptoms of PTSD informed by attachment research.


Wireless body area networks (WBANs) have become more commonplace, including in healthcare settings. For example, in a healthcare WBAN deployment, body sensor units (BSUs) are used to sense and collect health-related and medical-related information prior to sending relevant information to the server for analysis that can subsequently inform treatment plan. Given the sensitivity of both data-at-rest and data-in-transit, data authentication is fundamental to the success of such systems. However, BSUs are generally resource constrained and, hence, conventional cryptographic algorithms are not practical. Therefore, in this article, we propose an efficient certificateless online/offline signature scheme and design a lightweight data authentication protocol for WBANs. We then evaluate the security and performance of our proposed scheme, where the security analysis demonstrates that the proposed scheme satisfies existential unforgeability under the random oracle model. Findings from the performance evaluation also demonstrate that our scheme incurs very low computational cost during the signing operations. In comparison to several other competing approaches, our proposed scheme achieves a significant reduction in computational cost (up to 89%) for the offline signer and supports batch verification to reduce the verifier's execution time. In addition, we also show that the signature size of our proposed scheme is similar to those of the conventional signature schemes.


AU Monocerotis is a well studied interacting binary star and a member of a group called Double Periodic Variables, whose principal characteristic is the existence of a long photometric cycle lasting on average about 33 times the orbital period. We made use of spectra covering from 2008 to 2015 to construct Hα Doppler maps. We found higher activity in the accretion disk during the low state of the system, similar to that found in HD 170582.


The value of computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis and management of a wide variety of facial lesions has been amply demonstrated. While a number of studies have focused on CT anatomy of the paranasal sinuses, nose, and nasopharynx, none has concentrated on the mandible. Although the mandible is difficult to image because of its complex, curving surfaces and the presence of artifact-producing amalgam fillings or restorations, CT of the mandible can nevertheless be highly informative in selected cases. This pictorial essay depicts normal gross and CT anatomy of the mandible and presents a series of cases that illustrate the utility of CT in examining mandibular lesions.


We describe a new technique for graph layout subject to constraints. Compared to previous techniques the proposed method is much faster and scalable to much larger graphs. For a graph with n nodes, m edges and c constraints it computes incremental layout in time O(n log n+m+c) per iteration. Also, it supports a much more powerful class of constraint: inequalities or equalities over the Euclidean distance between nodes. We demonstrate the power of this technique by application to a number of diagramming conventions which previous constrained graph layout methods could not support. Further, the constraint‐satisfaction method—inspired by recent work in position‐based dynamics—is far simpler to implement than previous methods.


A large number of South Africa's elephants can be found on small wildlife reserves. The large nutritional demands and destructive foraging behavior of elephants can threaten rare species of vegetation. If conservation management is to protect threatened species of vegetation, knowing how long elephants will stay in one area of a reserve as well as which area they will move to next could be useful. The goal of this study was to train a recurrent neural network to predict an elephant herd's next position in the Pongola Game Reserve. Accurate predictions would provide a useful tool in assessing future impact of elephant populations on different areas of the reserve. Particle swarm optimization (PSO), PSO initialized backpropagation (PSO-BP) and PSO initialized backpropagation through time (PSO-BPTT) algorithms are used to adapt the recurrent neural network's weights. The effectiveness of PSO, PSO-BP and PSO-BPTT for training a recurrent neural network for elephant migration prediction is compared and PSO-BPTT produces the most accurate predictions at the expense of more computational cost.


Objective To determine if heteropolymer containing mouse monoclonal antibodies to CR1 cross-linked with mouse monoclonal anti-HBsAg (antigen-based heteropolymers, AHP) by goat anti-mouse antibodies can bind corresponding HBsAg on erythrocyte CR1 and promote the antigen clearance from the circulation, and to investigate the clearance mechanism. Methods AHP was constructed by cross-linking mouse anti-HBsAg to mouse monoclonal antibodies to erythrocytes CR1 with goat anti-mouse monoclonal antibodies. Four tubes containing 500μl blood from hepatitis B patients were mixed with 500μl AHP. After incubation for 2 min, 5 min, 10 min and 30 min at room temperature (25℃), the samples were centrifuged, the supernatant isolated and assayed for HBsAg and HBV binding activity. As control groups, monoclonal antibody of CR1 was substituted with mouse anti-human CD2, and HP was replaced by PBS. The quantity of HBsAg and HBV bound to erythrocytes were assayed by RIA and fluorescence quantitative PCR(FQ-PCR). The changes of the number of CR1 expressed on erythrocytes was assayed. Results 95% of HBsAg and 51% of HBV specificially bound to human erythrocytes via the complexes from plasma in five minutes. The number of CR1 expressed on erythrocytes lost in this process, erythrocytes hemolysis was not found. Conclusion HP cross-linked with biotin-streptavidin replaced by second antibody can quickly bind plasma antigen on erythrocytes, and facilitate the clearance of antigen.


Reflectance Imaging Spectroscopy (RIS) is a hyperspectral imaging technique used for investigating the molecular composition of materials. It can help identify pigments used in a painting, which are relevant information for art conservation and history. For every scanned pixel, a reflectance spectrum is obtained and domain experts look for pure representative spectra, called endmembers, which could indicate the presence of particular pigments. However, the identification of endmembers can be a lengthy process, which requires domain experts to manually select pixels and visually inspect multiple spectra in order to find accurate endmembers that belong to the historical context of an investigated painting. We propose an integrated interactive visual-analysis workflow, that combines dimensionality reduction and linked visualizations to identify and inspect endmembers. Here, we present initial results, obtained in collaboration with domain experts.


The amount of valuable data pertaining to users, such as digital documents, images, and various other important files, has grown exceedingly and needs to be backed up safely. The two most widely used existing backup solutions are the removable devices and the online storage. Problems can arise in the external device backups, for example it takes a long time to burn and copy data files which can result in frequent data loss. Online storage proved to be a better option, but when a large amount of data is to be stored, these third party services become costly. In this paper, a back-up file system is designed, which allows users to store files on their extra disk space. Black-Box is safe for users to back-up their important and secret data. Traditional redundancy schemes focus on storage capacity and computation. However, the proposed Black-Box approach is supported by redundancy mechanisms which include replication and erasure coding.


One of the key challenges to producing high-quality software is to identify and to understand the software requirements. In the requirements acquisition, one of the crucial parts is the stakeholder identification. This paper reports a systematic review of empirical studies concerning the usefulness of stakeholder identification methods in requirements software, and the subsequential empirical evidence gathered from those studies. The paper findings are presented from two points of view: firstly, the impact of stakeholder identification on software requirements quality, and secondly, practices developed to carry out this task. Also, the present paper aims to describe the studies analyzed uniformly and show their contributions in this field.


Two of the petroglyphs at the Elliott Site on the east bank of Grand Lake Stream, Maine, seem to indicate who the inhabitants were during the post plague years. The author believes these two glyphs were drawn by an evangelistic member of the Midewiwin Society for the benefit of his fellow Ojibwas and marshals evidence in support. With the exception of three other glyphs drawn on the rocks at this site, there is no attempt to describe or interpret the remaining ones. The use of symbols next to several of the glyphs described in this article was startling to find in Maine. The author thinks these symbols are Kekeewin writing used by Algonkian people from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River, according to Schoolcraft, used by Ojibwas for teaching purposes (Schoolcraft, 1856:119–120) and possibly for communication. A gap in Maine Indian history will have been filled, if the argument proves convincing.


The current study aims to investigate students' perceptions of decision-making styles carried out in Punjab. All the students from the education department/institute of the government universities were the population of the study. For this purpose, seven universities which offer B.Ed. (Hons.) the program was selected randomly, and students (last semesters) were the study participants. The data was collected through a survey questionnaire. The instrument's reliability was 0.72. Results show that students have different perceptions regarding the styles carried by them. Most of the students are carried avoidant decision-making styles. At the same time, dependent decision-making styles were considered to be the least. Furthermore, a significant difference was not found between female and male students' perceptions of styles. It is recommended that universities offer courses to improve/develop effective skills because improved education assists students in making the right decisions at the right time in various realms of life and deciding on a better future.


A new description of Zeliszkella torrubiae and Dalmanitina (Eodalmanitina) macrophthalma from the Armorican massif of northwestern France is based largely upon material from the Calymene shale.


ABT- 719 and A- 170568,two compounds of 2-pyridone antibacterial agents,have potent antimicrobial activity and low toxicity,and may be improved to two potent drugs of combatting the resistance to quinolones. In this article,the two candidates'chemical structure,mechanism of action and pharmacological properties were reviewed.


A real-time web-cast system for classes in the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) style is presented. The teacher starts up our server application software to keep capturing the screens and the voices. The student PCs will be organized in the shape of a binary tree in the following steps. Each student lets his browser connect to the teacher's PC with its FQDN or IP address. The first comer becomes the root that receives screen images and voices directly from the teacher's PC by the WebSocket protocol. Two browsers newly coming in become child nodes of the root or an existing leaf node from which they receive screens and voices by the WebRTC protocol. It is advantageous especially for the classes in the BYOD style because no students are required to install anything other than a browser into the PCs in advance. It is even possible to host students outside the classroom since the teacher's voices are delivered to their PCs.


"To touch the clothes" is a symbolic gesture connected with the prayer of the sicks. His first evidences go back to the Mesopotamian religious texts of the second millenium B. C. and is also present in the Gospels.


Summary Mice were exposed to cold (5°C) for periods of 15 minutes and 5 days and the effect on erythrocyte number, hemoglobin concentration and blood sugar level determined. The only significant change occurred in the blood sugar level during the short period of cold exposure. Statistically this change had a P value of <.001. Possible physiological changes are discussed.


Ž 0. 0 0 0 0 0 q y q y q y 0 0 The reactions ppTMp X p , where X is observed decaying to p p p p , p p p p and p p p p , have f s Ž . Ž . Ž . been studied at 450 GeVrc. There is evidence for an a 1320 p decay mode of the h 1645 and h 1870 in the 2 2 2 q y 0 0 q y q y Ž . p p p p and p p p p final states. The f 1950 is consistent with being a single resonance with a dominant 2 Ž . Ž . Ž . f 1270 pp decay mode. The f 1370 is found to decay dominantly to rr while the f 1500 is found to decay to rr and 2 0 0 ss . q 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. 0370-2693r00r$ see front matter q 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S0370-2693 99 01413-6 ( ) D. Barberis et al.rPhysics Letters B 471 2000 440–448 441 The WA76, WA91 and WA102 Collaborations have studied the centrally produced pppp final state in the reaction ppTMp pppp p 1 Ž . Ž . f s w x w x w x at 85 1 , 300 2 , and 450 GeVrc 3,4 . The subscripts f and s indicate the fastest and slowest particles in the Ž . laboratory respectively. In addition to the f 1285 , which was observed at all energies, peaks were observed at 1 1.45 and 1.9 GeV in the 300 and 450 GeVrc data. In contrast, no clear evidence was seen for these states in the w x 85 GeVrc data of the same experiment 1 . The increased prominence of these states with increased incident w x energy 2 is consistent with the formation of these states via a double Pomeron exchange mechanism, which is w x predicted to be a source of gluonic states 5 . Ž . G P C q qq Ž . The peak at 1.9 GeV, called the f 1950 , was found to have I J s0 2 and decay to f 1270 pp and 2 2 Ž . w x a 1320 p 3,4 . It was not possible to determine whether this was one resonance with two decay modes, or two 2 resonances. However, in a recent analysis of the centrally produced hpp final state by the WA102 w x P C qq Ž . experiment 6 , no evidence was found for a J s2 a 1320 p decay mode. The peak at 1.45 GeV was 2 shown to have I J P C s00 and decay to rr. It has been described as being due to the interference between Ž . Ž . w x the f 1370 and the f 1500 3,4 which implies that both states should have a substantial rr decay mode. 0 0 w x Ž . However, the initial analysis of the 4p channel in pp by Crystal Barrel 7 showed that the f 1500 decays via 0 w x ss with a very weak coupling to rr. A recent preliminary analysis 8 of the Crystal Barrel data concludes that Ž . Ž . ) ) the f 1370 decays strongly to ss and rr while the f 1500 decays to ss and p p where the p p decays 0 0 to rp . Ž . Ž . Ž . Therefore, there are still several unanswered questions on the decays of the f 1950 , f 1370 and f 1500 . 2 0 0 In order to address these questions, in this paper an analysis of several different 4p decay modes will be Ž . Ž . presented. In particular, to investigate the ss contribution in the decays of the f 1370 and f 1500 . One of 0 0 the major problems of studying the pppp final state is the number of possible isobar decay modes that are present. Therefore a study will be made firstly of the p p p p 0 final state which has the nice feature that it Ž . Ž . Ž . is free from any contribution from r 770 , a 1260 or a 1320 isobars. Next an analysis will be presented of 1 2 the ppp p 0 decay mode which has different systematic effects compared to the pppp decay. Finally a reanalysis of the pppp decay mode will be presented. The data come from the WA102 experiment which has been performed using the CERN Omega Spectromew x ter, the layout of which is described in Ref. 9 . The reaction ppTMp p p p p 0 p 2 Ž . Ž . f s Ž . has been studied at 450 GeVrc. Reaction 2 has been isolated from the sample of events having two outgoing charged tracks and eight g s reconstructed in the GAMS-4000 calorimeter, by first imposing the following cuts < < < < on the components of missing momentum: missing P -14.0 GeVrc, missing P -0.20 GeVrc and x y < < missing P -0.16 GeVrc, where the x axis is along the beam direction. A correlation between pulse-height z and momentum obtained from a system of scintillation counters was used to ensure that the slow particle was a proton. Fig. 1a shows the two photon mass spectrum for 8g-events when the mass of the other three 2g-pairs lies 0 Ž . 0 within a band around the p mass 100–170 MeV . A clear p signal is observed with a small background. Ž . Ž Events belonging to reaction 2 have been selected using a kinematical fit 8C fit, four-momentum conservation 0 . 0 being used and the masses of four p s being fixed . Events corresponding to the reaction hp , where the h 0 Ž 0. 0 0 0 0 decays to 3p , have been removed by requiring M 3p G0.6 GeV. The major background to the p p p p X Ž . 0 0 0 0 final state comes from the decay of the h and f 1285 to hp p where the h decays to 3p and one p is 1 undetected. This produces events in the threshold to 1.3 GeV region of the p p p p 0 mass spectrum. A kinematical fit has been used to remove these events. Using real hpp events a simulation has been performed to estimate the residual contamination in the p p p p 0 final state which is found to be less than 5 %. ( ) D. Barberis et al.rPhysics Letters B 471 2000 440–448 442 0 0 0 0 . Ž . 0 . Ž 0 0 0 0 . . Ž 0 0 . Fig. 1. The p p p p channel. a M gg when the other three gg pairs lie in the p region, b M p p p p and c M p p for Ž 0 0 0 0 . . P C qq . P C qq Ž . 1.3F M p p p p F1.5 GeV. Results of the spin analysis d the J s0 ss wave and e the J s2 f 1270 pp wave with 2 fits described in the text. The resulting p p p p 0 effective mass spectrum is shown in Fig. 1b and consists of 1438 events. There is a Ž . broad enhancement in the 2 GeV region, compatible with the f 1950 , but there is no clear peak in the 1.45 2 GeV region. One of the aims of this paper is to investigate the role of the s in the decays of the 4p final state. In order to Ž . determine the amount of ss a parameterization of the pp S-wave s is required. Parameters for the s may be process dependent. The nature of the s is not clearly established and parameterizations of it may be process dependent. It may be a resonant state or just two pions produced in relative S-wave. However, the parameterization of the pp S-wave is crucial in all these analyses in order to determine the amount of ss observed. Assuming that the 1.3–1.5 GeV p p p p 0 mass region is dominated by the decay to ss , then in order to determine the best parameters for the s , a study has been made of the p p 0 mass spectrum for the Ž 0 0 0 0 . region 1.3FM p p p p F1.5 GeV, shown in Fig. 1c. A Monte Carlo simulation has been performed using the decay X 0 TMss with sTMp p . Formally, we describe the shape of the s using a spin 0 relativistic Breit–Wigner amplitude of the form q G m0 A M s . Ž . pp 2 2 ž / q m ym y im G 0 0 pp 0 < Ž . < 2 In order to describe the centrally produced mass spectrum the resulting function A M has been multiplied pp Ž 2 .1r2 3 w x by the kinematical factor M y4m rM 10 . The mass and width of the s have been varied and the pp p pp ( ) D. Barberis et al.rPhysics Letters B 471 2000 440–448 443 Monte Carlo data passed through the detector simulation and the resulting mass distributions were compared to the real data. The parameters that best describe the data are m s450"50 MeV and Gs600"50 MeV and 0 Ž . 0 0 the resulting mass spectrum solid histogram is superimposed on the real p p mass spectrum shown in Fig. 1c. A spin-parity analysis of the p p p p 0 channel has been performed in 120 MeV p p p p 0 mass bins w x Ž . using an isobar model and the method described in Ref. 3 , assuming that only the ss and f 1270 pp 2 intermediate states with J P C s0 or 2 contribute. The data can be fitted using only the J P C s0 ss P C qq Ž . wave and the J s2 f 1270 pp wave with J s0 which are shown in Fig. 1d and Fig. 1e respectively. 2 Z Ž . Superimposed on Fig. 1d is the distribution that would be expected for the f 1500 ; as can be seen there is little 0 Ž . Ž . evidence for any f 1370 contribution. Superimposed on Fig. 1e is what would be expected from the f 1950 ; 0 2 P C qq Ž . as can be seen it well describes the J s2 f 1270 pp wave, showing that the peak at 1.95 GeV is 2 consistent with being a single resonance. An analysis has next been performed on the centrally produced ppp p 0 system. The reaction ppTMp ppp p 0 p 3 Ž . Ž . f s has been isolated from the sample of events having four outgoing charged tracks and four g s reconstructed in the GAMS-4000 calorimeter, by first imposing the following cuts on the components of the missing momentum: < < < < < < missing P -17.0 GeVrc, missing P -0.16 GeVrc and missing P -0.12 GeVrc. The two photon mass x y z Ž . 0 Ž spectrum not shown when the mass of the other 2g-pair lies within a band around the p mass 100–170 . 0 Ž . MeV shows a clear p signal with small background. Events belonging to reaction 3 have been selected Ž 0 using a kinematical fit 6C fit, four-momentum conservation being used and the masses of two p s being . qqŽ . Ž q. fixed . Events containing a fast D 1232 were removed if M p p -1.3 GeV, which left 283 408 centrally f produced ppp p 0 events. Fig. 2a shows the ppp p 0 effective mass spectrum. The mass spectrum is very similar to that observed q y q y w x Ž . previously in the p p p p channel 4 , namely, a clear peak at 1.28 GeV associated with the f 1285 , a 1 peak at 1.45 GeV and a broad enhancement around 2.0 GeV. A spin-parity analysis of the ppp p 0 channel has been performed using an isobar model and the method w x described in Ref. 3 . Assuming that only angular momenta up to 2 contribute, the intermediate states considered are


The author of the present paper hasachieved satisfactory results in the treatmentof 41 cases of cough in children by cuppingon the patient's back. A report follows. Clinical data' Of the 41 cases admitted,24 were male and the other 17 female. Theyoungest was one year old and the oldest 12.The shortest course of disease was one dayand the longest 10 months. As to


In 40 of 46 smears of carcinoma or sarcoma the nuclear membrane was assessed as "open" by the observer. In 6 smears the membrane was assessed as "closed." In 30 of 35 smears with histologically confirmed NHL, the membrane was estimated as being closed. In the remaining 5 smears it was assessed as open. The sensitivity of evaluating the parameter as open or closed membrane was 87% and the specificity was 86%. The negative predictive value was 89%, and the positive predictive value was 83%.


Bethel AME Church, an African American congregation in Champaign, IL, has a long history of rhetorical education and political activism taking place since the early years of the 20 th century. However, part of this history and records are dispersed among several locations— Bethel"s office, the University of Illinois Archives, Urbana Free Library, and members" own private archives. Given these multiple locations, but mostly, given Bethel"s aging population, who still remembers this early history, I propose to conduct a community and memory workshop with current and former members, to promote a collaborative reconstruction and revisiting of Bethel"s history (oral histories). This workshop encourages members to consider the artifacts that they hold in their private collections, and to contribute them to this reconstruction as material representations of their rhetorical history. This workshop is pertinent today as it recovers a local history, which in turn informs a national historical accounts concerning African American rhetorical training.


In pot experiment, relations between soybean cyst nematode, Heterodera glycines, and growth and yield of soybean were followed. Soybean growth and nodule development in plots which inoculated more than 16 cysts were reduced greatly from two month after inoculation. Tolerance limit was about 20 cysts per 500g of soil at seeding period. There was loss of grain yield 낀hen nematode population was 1 cyst/g of soil at seeding period. Reproduction of soybean cyst :nematode was good when initial population had been low. So, the final population was no difference depend on inoculation density.


Ketones are fundamental synthons in organic synthesis due to their wide range of applications, which include natural products, pharmaceuticals, dyes, fragrances, agrochemicals, and electronic materials. In recent years, direct acylation strategies based on commercially available benchtop aryl halides and aldehydes (alkyl/aryl) have been the prime focus for the construction of alkyl-aryl/aryl-aryl ketones using palladium catalysis under eco-friendly reaction conditions. In this account, we present conceptually developed palladium-catalyzed direct acylation strategies for achieving various carbo- and heterocycles such as ketones, 2-quinolinones, phthalazines, phthalazinones, benzoxazinones, anthraquinones, indenones, and 1,3-dihydroisobenzofurans. Significantly, these direct acylation strategies have been extended to synthesize the natural product neo-lignan and biologically significant molecules such as an n-butylphthalide antiplatelet drug, pitofenone, fenofibrate, a HBV inhibitor, and a PDE-4 inhibitor. This Account will be of interest to synthetic organic chemists wishing to prepare pharmaceutical molecules and natural products.1 Introduction2 Discussion2.1 Palladium-Catalyzed Environmentally Compassionate Acylation2.2 Palladium-Catalyzed Acylations Followed by Intramolecular Aldol Condensation to Afford Indenones2.3 Acylation of Iodo-acetanilides/Iodo-phenyl Acetates: Sequential One-Pot Syntheses of 2-Quinolinones2.4 A One-Pot Diversified Synthesis of Phthalazines, Phthalazinones, and Benzoxazinones2.5 Palladium-Catalyzed Direct Acylation: A One-Pot Relay Synthesis of Anthraquinones2.6 Palladium-Catalyzed Direct Oxidative Coupling of Primary Alcohols with Iodoarenes Leading to Ketones: Application to the Synthesis of Benzofuranones and Indenones3 Conclusion


Radial forging combined with unidirectional compression (RFCUM) is introduced in recrystallization and partial melting (RAP) to fabricate semi-solid 6063 aluminum alloy, which can be defined as a process of RFCUM-RAP. In this study, the microstructures of semi-solid 6063 alloy prepared by semi-solid isothermal treatment (SSIT) and RFCUM-RAP processes are investigated. The results show that, the solid grains of semi-solid alloy prepared by SSIT are large and irregular. However, solid grains of semi-solid billet prepared by RFCUC-RAP are fine and spherical. Additionally, during RFCUC-RAP process, with the increase of isothermal holding time, the shape of solid grain is more and more spherical, but the size of solid grain is gradually increased. To obtain ideal semi-solid microstructure, the optimal isothermal holding temperature and time are 630 °C and 5~10 min, respectively.


The relation between literature and the historical context in which it was produced leads diverse analysis, each with a different point of view. This relation is more severely revealed for research in former colonies that have only recently gained independence. An example of this phenomenon is Mozambique, which, after independence and a bloody civil war, is undergoing a quest for identity shaped by the complexity that cultural encounter can bring about. In this view, the study of the paths and forms taken by literature in Mozambique allow us in a certain way to understand how some writers work out the constitution of national identity in their works. We shall treat in this work some issues from the Mozambican author Mia Couto's book A varanda do frangipani. In this work, phenomena like Western cultural influence versus Mozambican traditions and old versus modern are presented and turned into metaphor all the time through a magical narrative in constant dialogue with natural elements. We draw on post-colonial theory for the discussion. According to Ashcroft (1991 apud Bonnici, 2005, p. 232), we can count as postcolonial literature every production inserted in a specific cultural context that is somehow 1 Luiz Carlos de Oliveira, pós-graduando. Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná UNIOESTE email@example.com 2 Claudiana Soerensen, Profa. Ms. Doutoranda (UNIOESTE/UFBA). Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná – UNIOESTE email@example.com affected by the imperial process since the first instants of European colonization until the present.


The power grids that are currently installed in the United States were not built to handle the variable output produced by wind and solar energy. They were not structured to meet the demand of technological advances that are currently being developed and they must be managed closely by operators. To overcome these flaws, engineers have begun to expand their research into microgrids. They are small electric grids that contain a power generator, can distribute energy to attached loads, and are constructed so that they can function independently in case of an emergency. They are designed to be attached to the main power grid and channel energy from it, but if something damages the larger grid, the connection can be severed and the microgrid can provide its own energy to the attached loads. The development of microgrids provides an opportunity to produce higher quality electricity that is more reliable and environmentally friendly that can be implemented in various places like military bases, hospitals, and research facilities. The Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security (SPIDERS) is an example of how microgrids are implemented in the United States.


[Objective]To investigate the clinical significance of clinical pharmacist intervention in the prevention of drug-induced respiratory disease.[Methods]The departments in the hospital were divided into two groups as experimental group and control group.The diagnosis and treatment in daily clinical work in the experimental group was in strict accordance with the guidance established by the pharmacist intervention.The control group worked was according to the traditional model of hospital medicine.Analyzed the patients' satisfaction,error rate of prescription,incidence of drug-induced respiratory disease between experimental group and control group with the χ2 test.[Results]Under the rigorous development and implementation of clinical pharmacists intervention model,patients' satisfaction in experimental group and control group were significantly different(χ2 = 6.31,P﹤0.05);error rate of prescription and incidence of drug-induced respiratory disease in the experimental group were significantly lower than the control group,the difference was statistically significant(χ2 = 6.51,6.23,P﹤0.05).[Conclusion]The rigorous development and implementation of clinical pharmacists intervention model successfully establishes a bridge between doctors and patients,which reduces the incidence of drug-induced respiratory diseases,in the result of a more safe and effective respiratory drugs system.So it has a certain value in clinical application and popularization.


According to WHO's plan of Active Community Environment (ACEs), the public health department purposes to create a healthy environment and encourage the community residents' regular excise habits. The research applied Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) method to study C-Bike cyclists' connection to ACEs. It is expected the result help associated authorities to improve the process and allocation of the resources. 400 survives to C-Bike cyclists and 376 effective survives were received. The results after went through the Item Analysis, Factor Analysis, One-way ANOVA, Independent Sample T-Test, Simple Regression and the Importance-Performance Analysis. Female show more concern on the importance result of all ACEs factors. On the IPA analysis, the cyclists will be more satisfied if six attributes are improved, including "the number of rental stations, person vehicle skip road, the sign of rental stations, C-Bike stolen problem, the ride line of safety, and the clean of C-Bike ".


.................................................................................................................. ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ viii LIST OF FIGURES (Continued) ...................................................................................... ix Part 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1: Anatomy and Pathology of Cardiovascular and Vascular Systems ....................... 1 1.1.


The Arab Spring revolutions have caught the global elites flat footed as they have watched Arab peoples challenge and pierce the thin veneer of the structures of inequality and repression in place in the Arab world. The Arab uprisings also signaled to the rest of the world's peoples that the relations and institutions of political and economic control and domination are far from being permanent; they can be rattled to the core, pushed into a crisis, and be transformed in radical-democratic ways. Arab revolutionaries have shown that it is possible to organize nonhierarchically and effect change without engendering authoritarianism. Their struggles have already inspired others around the world including the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in the US. All this might yet be a new beginning. We argue that undercurrents of discontent, in the Middle East and North African region, about the unfinished national liberation struggles, the military regimes, and the neoliberal elites propelled the rocking of the Kasbah, or of the familiar order in the regions and beyond. We end the piece by describing in short the authors' contribution to the whole forum. This forum opens up space to continue the conversation about what has become a powerful, unstoppable force in the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, and Yemen. The Middle East and North Africa, as we have known is no more. It has taken the Arab masses, long dismissed as prisoners of the "Oriental soul", little time to radically transform the region at a time of a broad "political" crisis around the world. At the time of writing, in Egypt and Tunisia, the initial uprisings have ushered in transitional processes, including constitutional reforms heralding greater participatory politics. Various political groups, ranging from the secular to neoliberal to Islamist are vying for political prominence, if not for dominance. In Yemen, the struggle for power has spiraled into a protracted war of attrition with no end in sight. Bahrain has managed to suppress the popular uprisings using its geo-strategic importance to enlist both Arab (i.e. Saudi Arabia) and US support. In Syria, months of relentless repression by the Assad regime have failed to stem the tide. Although


A new formulation of Lanchester-like attrition equations is proposed. This formulation is derived from theoretical attrition occurring at extrema and with reference to historical data. It provides a different view of the attrition process as well as insight into the meaning of the logarithmic law attrition parameter. A method of testing the formulation against more familiar equations is proposed


With the ongoing debate over the scientific basis of psychoanalysis and the relative importance of fantasy and external reality in the development of mental dis orders, the publication of a newly discovered document of Freud's will be of interest to many. The core of the book is the draft of the manuscript of Freud's 12thand finalmetapsychological paper, written in 1914—1915 in the form of a letter to Ferenczi and


The main aim of this study was to enhance the dissolution rate of BCS class II drug Indomethacin (IND) by solid dispersion (SD) techniques using Ocimum basilicum mucilage (OBM) as a carrier. Solid dispersions of indomethacin were prepared by using Ocimum basilicum mucilage by four different methods. Effect of methods of preparation on dissolution rate was studied. It was found that the dissolution rate of IND from its SD was dependent on the method of preparation of solid dispersions. Dissolution study revealed that the physical mixture and kneading method were convenient and effective methods for dissolution enhancement of poorly water soluble drug IND, among various methods of preparation of SD. The prepared SD's were characterized by FTIR, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction studies. From the study we conclude that OBM could be used as a potential carrier in enhancing the dissolution rate and ultimately bioavailability of IND.


Noted for both vocal and symphonic output, Gustav Mahler's musical sophistication constantly puzzled scholars in the past decades. In his symphonic works, the mixed forms and styles in combination with the vocal influence make it abstruse for listeners to detect the meaning of the use of traditional instruments. The solo violin, which has an extensive history of appearing in symphonic compositions since the Baroque era, is an instance of a traditional instrument given an unusual function. For instance, Mahler's violin solos do not tend to showcase the virtuosity of the instrument as they normally do in orchestral music. In order to closely examine the role of the solo violin, I rely on aspects relating to introversive semiosis such as harmonies, rhythms, textures, phrase structures, and forms; then my focus shifts to extroversive semiosis, specifically to topics and contextual factors. By considering the violin as a musical sign, listeners can comprehend the instrument's structure, syntax, and ultimately the complex logic of Mahler's musical discourse.


Metastasis is defined by a subset of cells disseminating from the epithelium, and eventually colonizing distant organs. The transcription factor Twist1 is overexpressed in metastatic breast cancers and its expression correlates with poor patient prognosis. Although Twist1 is known for promoting metastasis by controlling gene expression, its exact gene targets that are functionally involved in cell dissemination are still controversial.


The ensuring of unity, consistency and coherence of the legal system sometimes refutes and levels the regulatory by legal acts which are adopted for the purpose of overcoming of the crisis phenomenon in the country and bringing financial capabilities of some laws of the country. One of the most problematic issues related to the conflict in law is their solution, which is a process aimed by achieving a uniform regulation of legal relations or by final removal of contradictions from the system of legal provisions, or overcoming them in the process of enforcement.


In this paper we present the development from paradoxism to neutrosophy, which gave birth to neutrosophic set and logic and especially to NeutroAlgebraic Structures (or NeutroAlgebras)


Fig. 7 — Principle of the photoacoustic effect. Photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS), also known as optoacoustic spectro scopy, was pioneered by Alexander Graham Bell more than a century ago. The advent of the laser strongly stimu lated research and applications of this technique and the interest is such that international topical meetings on photo acoustic and photothermal phenomena are now held biennially. The photoacoustic (PA) effect is es sentially an energy-conversion process. When a sample (solid, liquid or gas) is irradiated by a laser beam or some other radiation source, part of the absorbed energy is converted into translation energy of the molecules by radiation less transitions. It is this de-excitation channel which is responsible for heat production within the sample although secondary reactions may also play a role (see Fig. 1). If either the incident radiation or the absorption by the sam ple is modulated, the periodic heating finally results in a pressure modulation. The PA signal thus originates from the thermal response of the sample to the absorbed energy detected as pressure fluctuations acoustically. Owing to ther mal diffusion processes the magnitude of this signal depends not only on the thermal and optical characteristics of the sample but also on the nature of the coupling mechanism between sample and detector. Consequently the cou pling medium plays an important role and one can differentiate between the light-to-heat conversion and the heatto-sound conversion efficiencies.


Constitutionally Indonesia adopted a presidential system of government, proportional electoral system and embrace multi-party system. Until now, the democratic government built yet stable, this is not apart from the three buildings is not compatible. The formulation of the constitution mandated a presidential system proved difficult in practice, even walking is less effective especially supported by the weak performance and presidential institution in maintaining political stability. Thus the need to design an effective presidential system of government with an realignment both institutional and non institutional. Keywords : Design, presidential system, effective.


Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the deadly causes of burn infections. In this study, a chimeric vaccine harboring OprF OprI – PcrV was designed, and the recombinant proteins including our chimer, Opr F, Opr I, PcrV were expressed in E.coli. The immunogenicity of recombinant chimer and OprI, OprF and PcrV were studied in the burn mouse model. Mice groups were immunized with purified recombinant proteins and the antibody titer in sera from immunized mice was estimated. Immunized and control mice were challenge with 2, 5 and 10LD50 of P. aeruginosa and microbial counting of skin, liver, spleen and kidney were performed. The antibody titer (total IgG) was significantly raised by injection of 10 μg of chimeric protein compared to control groups. The antibody survival titer was up until 235 days after the second booster. The survival rate of mice infected with 10LD50 was significantly increased and the number of bacteria, especially in the internal organs (kidney, spleen and liver), were reduced compared to the mice groups immunized with any of the Opr F, OprI and PcrV alone. Based on our results, chimeric protein is a promising vaccine candidate for the control of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.


The purpose of this reflective practice was to examine my conference presentations to K-12 teachers and administrators in order to increase their effectiveness. I have often felt frustrated by my conference presentations not accomplishing their intended objective for the attendees. I possessed a general understanding of the suspected reasons; however, I wanted to identify specifics so that I could implement change through a conference presenting protocol (Appendix A). This reflection occurred through a series of three conference presentations. This allowed me to iterate through each conference presentation, focus on specific areas, and arrive at beneficial insights. Ultimately, this reflective practice demonstrated the need to keep the audience central, narrow the focus, and provide guided assistance with the design thinking process. The lessons learned will assist in creating more effective conference presentations, which can also be applied to additional contexts, such as leading professional development for K-12 teachers.


Catastrophe theory in the self-organization theory is introduced in this paper.The paper evaluates the capability of science and technology(ST) innovation in Hebei Province using Catastrophe Progression Method(CPM) for the first time.This method avoids some disadvantage in usual evaluation which includes the complexity of computation and the large weight in subjective.The paper gives a brief introduction of CPM's steps and then evaluates the 11 cities objectively.A scatter diagram is drawn obtaining innovation output and input.The ST innovation capability is divided into 4 types and different development approaches could be chosen according to their types to enhance the capability.


Transformation of converter to save energy of crystallizing fan in solid state polymerization is introduced.The therory of regulating fan speed is analyzed.The practice proved that regulating fan speed used by converter is the best method.


Since 1990 many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have witnessed extraordinary progress in school enrollment; however, the progress has slowed in recent years. UNESCO warns that unless new measures are taken, the number of out-of-school children in 2015 will increase from current levels. Inequalities in most developing countries have been found to be a major barrier to universal education. Priority has been given to gender and income inequality; however, to achieve universal education we must focus on all marginalized groups. The disabled are among the least visible of the marginalized children. As the Ugandan government develops a policy on special needs children, it is essential to understand the current schooling status of disabled children in Uganda. Therefore, using 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey data this study examines schooling patterns of disabled children in Uganda. The study finds that disabled children are significantly less likely to enroll, attend and complete Grade 5. The study also finds that the disadvantage disabled children face depend on the nature and extent of the impairment.


Acid rain is a major regional scale environmental problem around the globe. To control acid rain pollution and to protect the ecological environment, it is a major need to identify the occurrence of acid rains. This paper presents a methodology for identifying the occurrence of acid rain using pH values calculated from normality by applying k-means clustering and haar wavelet transform on the satellite imagery of water vapor, SO2 and NO2. If the computed pH value lies in the range of 1 ≤ pH ≤ 5, it is identified as acid rain. The resulted outcome indicates that the amount of rainfall with the concentration of SO2 and NO2 have a strong influence on the occurrence of acid rains.


Optical, electrooptical, and dielectric properties of a mesogenic polymer of combined structure were examined in dilute solutions and a nematic phase by means of flow birefringence, equilibrium electrical birefringence, and orientational elastic deformations in electric fields. The effect of the length of the flexible spacers in the main chain on the electrooptical and dielectric characteristics of solutions and a nematic phase of the studied polymer is discussed. The results obtained are compared with those reported previously for the polymers of similar structure.


. The eruption of Mt. Sinabung has been going on for more than a decade. It has devastated homes, schools and agricultural lands. During this disaster, the emergence of COVID-19 has certainly increased to the multi-dimensional problems. This article analyzes the responses of the people of Karo Regency affected by the eruption of Sinabung to adapting the new normal of pandemic. This article is also focuses on the application of human rights-based approach to disaster management within the pandemic. The result indicates the lack of governmental bodies to understand and incorporate human rights-based approach into local policies including all efforts to protect people who are actually affected by the eruption and pandemic COVID-19 as well.


39 40 Spermatozoa have a unique genome organization: their chromatin is almost completely devoid of 41 histones and is formed instead of protamines which confer a higher level of compaction than 42 nucleosomes and preserve paternal genome integrity until fertilization. Histone-to-protamine 43 transition takes place in postmeiotic male germ cells called spermatids, and is indispensable for the 44 production of functional spermatozoa and thus for male fertility. Here we show that the H3K79 45 (histone 3 lysine 79) methyltransferase DOT1L controls spermatid chromatin remodelling and 46 subsequent reorganization and compaction of spermatozoon genome. Using a mouse model in which 47 Dot1l is knocked-out in adult male germ cells, we found that the chromatin of Dot1l -knockout (KO) 48 spermatozoa is less compact and characterized by a higher level of retained histones and of immature 49 forms of protamine 2. Proteomic analyses performed on differentiating male germ cells reveal that 50 Dot1l KO extensively modifies the spermatid chromatin prior to histone removal. By transcriptomics, 51 we also show that Dot1l KO deregulates the expression of ~1500 genes, many of which are involved in 52 other essential aspects of spermatid differentiation such as flagellum formation. As a consequence of 53 all these chromatin and gene expression defects, Dot1l -KO spermatozoa have misshapen and less 54 compact heads, and are less motile, which results in impaired fertility. 55


Mathematicians like Markov and Bishop made an effort to develop constructive mathematics and extended many theorems in classical mathematical analysis. Heine Borel theorem tells us that a closed bounded subset of Euclidean space R is compact, but in constructive mathematics, Tseitin and Zaslavskii showed that the set of all constructive real numbers between 0 and 1 is not compact. We are going to show that when giving certain restriction to the open cover on [0,1], we can however always choose a finite sub-cover.


The corn yellow pigment was extracted from corn protein powder,which was the by-product in starch plant.This paper studied a technological route of extracting corn pigment from corn protein powder with different organic solvent,and the optimum factor and the technological conditions were determined by the mono-factor and the orthogonal experiment.The results showed that the temperature could have a greater impact on extraction of the corn pigment than time and ratio of material to liquid.The optimum technological condition by solvent was that alcohol was used as the extraction reagent,the extraction temperature was 70℃,the time was 1.5h,the ratio of material to liquid is 1:15,and the yield of yellow pigment was 56.84%.


Abstract : A multi-national sea trial on the effects of ship motions on human performance was performed off the coast of Canada, in early 2007. Primary goal: To obtain subjective and objective measures for human task performance, possibly affected by real ship motion. TNO participated with a Vigilance and Tracking Test, a Multi-Attribute Task, and a Dynamic Visual Acuity test. The experiment was conducted in three phases: a pre-exposure phase in harbour, an exposure phase at sea, (sea conditions varying from calm to low sea state six) and a post-exposure phase in sheltered waters to re-examine baseline performance. Experiment schedule and protocol are described, motions and wave conditions encountered during the trial, and the results of the Dutch tests are presented. Results: Cognitive performance and visual acuity are impaired by ship motion. This seems to be caused by seasickness in particular, possibly even more so than by ship motion per se. Tracking was affected only by sickness, and not by motion itself. Apart from showing that DVA is of value to further quantify human performance, these data also support the development of an onsite fit-to-perform screening tool based on DVA.


Abstract Tryptophan is an essential amino-acid broken down initially to kynurenine (kyn), an immunomodulatory metabolite that we have previously shown to promote bone loss. Kyn levels increase with aging and have also been associated with neurodegenerative disorders. Additional tryptophan metabolites include picolinic acid (PA); however, in contrast to kyn, PA is neuroprotective. Thus, we hypothesized that PA might be osteoprotective. In an IACUC-approved protocol, we fed PA to aged (23-month-old) C57BL/6 mice for eight weeks. In an effort to determine potential interactions of PA with dietary protein, we added PA to both a standard (18%) and a low protein diet (8%). The mice were divided into four groups: control (18% protein), +PA (700 ppm); low protein (8%), +PA (700 ppm). There was no difference in weight among the groups [36.1±4.1, 34.6±3.8, 32.8±3.2, 32.6±3.0 gm, (Means±SD, control vs +PA vs 8% vs +PA, p=ns; n=8-10/group). Mice were sacrificed and bones and stromal cells collected for analysis. We found that addition of PA to the diet had no impact on femoral BMD or BMC (BMD: 0.069±0.008 vs 0.075±0.007 vs 0.069±0.005 vs 0.070±007, p=ns). Addition of PA to the diet had no impact of % body fat as measured by DXA; however, stromal cells isolated from the PA-fed mice showed a significant increase in the expression of the lipid storage genes, Plin1 and Cidec. Thus, although PA is downstream of kyn, the kyn-induced detrimental effects on bone mass are no longer observed with PA but instead this kyn metabolite appears to impact energy balance.


In this study, the thermo-mechanical behaviour, shape memory characteristic and the mechanical properties such as tensile strength, Young's modulus, impact energy and hardness of the carbon fibre reinforced shape memory epoxy composite have been investigated.


Users in the Mediterranean region face significant water supply risks. Water markets mechanisms can provide flexibility to water systems run in tight situations. The largest water infrastructure in the Iberian Peninsula connects the Segura and Tagus Basins. Stakeholders and politicians in the Tagus Basin have asked that water transfers between the two basins be eventually phased out. The need to increase the statutory minimum environmental flow in the middle Tagus and to meet new urban demands is going to result in a redefinition of the Transfer?s management rules, leading to a reduction in the transferable volumes. To minimise the consequences of such restrictions to irrigators in the Segura Basin who depend on the transferred volumes, we propose the establishment of water option contracts between both basins that represents an institutional innovation with respect to previous inter-basin spot market experiences. Based on the draft of the new Tagus Basin Plan, we propose both a modification of the Transfer?s management rule and an innovative inter-basin option contract. The main goal of the paper is to define this contract and evaluate it with respect to non-market scenarios. We also assess the resulting impact on environmental flows in the Tagus River and water availability for users in the Segura Basin, together with the economic impacts of such contract on both basins. Our results show that the proposed option contract would reduce the impact of a change in the transfer?s management rule, and reduce the supply risks of the recipient area.


Nano materials are used widely in today's life. Engineering fields are mostly made use of such substances. In biomechanical engineering the use of nanomaterial is no that famous. Today's studies are focusing in utilizing the Nano technology in engineering materials. However, Viscoelastic behavior has been largely ignored. In this work a mini review of current studies where nano materials is utilized in biomechanical systems is presented. For example, a characterizing the micro-mechanical viscoelastic properties of cross-linked hydrogels at typical cell length scales is presented. An advanced ceramic conversion surface engineering technology has been applied for the first time to self-drilling Ti6Al4V external fixation pins to improve their performance in terms of biomechanical, biotribological and antibacterial properties. Characterization of the ceramic conversion treated Ti pins was carried out using nano- and micro-indentation and scratching. Results of this review show that an empirical equation describing the stress-time relation can be derived from experimental data. The use of nanomaterial helps in improving the mechanical properties of the tissues under study. The mechanical properties of Ti pins are significantly increased hardness (more than three times) and the effectively enhanced wear resistance. The maximum insertion force and temperature were reduced from 192N and 31.2°C when using the untreated pins to 182N and 26.1°C when the ceramic conversion treated pins were tested.


The three-stranded chromatin structure R-loop is commonly found in the genomes of different species, and functions as the double-edged sword in gene expression and genome stability. The monoclonal antibody S9.6 specifically recognizes RNA:DNA hybrids, and has been widely used as a powerful tool to detect R-loops genome-widely. However, the structure basis and the molecular recognition mechanism of S9.6 to the nucleic acid substrates is still limited. Here, applying cryo-electron microscopy, we have determined a 4.9 Å structure of S9.6 antigen-binding fragment (Fab) complexed with RNA:DNA hybrids. We found that the native Fab cleaved from S9.6 antibody has much higher affinity to RNA:DNA hybrids than to the double-strand RNAs, and the minimum length of the hybrids should be more than 8 base-pair. The structure of Fab binding to the hybrids suggested one loop of S9.6 heavy chain inserts into the minor groove in the RNA:DNA hybrids, and the other three loops flank to the hybrids. The top of four loop all enrich with aromatic or positive charge residues which are potentially responsible for nucleic acids binding specificity. Our results revealed the recognition mechanism of S9.6 on R-loops, which directs the future engineering of S9.6, and thus could further promote R-loop biology studies.