*Corresponding Author: Abdelhakim F. Ghallab Department of Otorhinolaryngiology , Faculty of Medicine, Benha University Tel.: 01225722483 email@example.com Background: Adenoid hypertrophy (AH) plays an important role in chronic rhinosinusitis and chronic otits media in children. Children may frequently have recurrent upper and lower respiratory tract infection. Objectives: To assess anti leukotrienes effect on CD64 expression on surface of monocyte cells in children complaining of adenoid hypertrophy. Methodology: This study was conducted on Patients diagnosed with adenoid hypertrophy at Otorhinolaryngology Department, Benha University Hospital, Egypt during the period from February 2018 to October 2018. Sixty patients were included and they were divided into two groups: group (1) 30 Patients who did not take antileukotrienes therapy (control group), and group (2) 30 patients who had commenced antileukotrienes therapy (case group). Samples of blood were taken from all patients to measure the level of CD64 by flow cytometry at Medical Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University before and after 3 months of antileukotrienes therapy. Results: Statistical data for CD64 levels revealed that at the comparison between CD64 levels at the beginning of this study and then after 3 months in group (1) were 157.63 and 141.64 respectively. There was non significant difference (P value =0.127) while at comparison between CD64 levels pre and post treatment in group (2) the level was 157.63 and 141.64 respectively. There was a significant difference (p value =0.003). The adenoid size had three courses in the study; stationary, regressive and progressive. None of patients in the group 1 showed regressive course regarding adenoid size. In group 2, one patient showed a progressive course while most cases (22 patients) had regressive course as they were improved on treatment. There was a highly significant difference in the different categories of adenoid size between the two groups (P value< 0.0001). Conclusion: Antileukotrienes therapy might be generally associated with decreasing levels of CD64 expression on surface of monocytes that lead to decrease the adenoid size in children complaining of adenoid hypertrophy..


An improved process for preparing bisphosphonate zoledronic acid was studied.The intermediate product 1H-imidazol-1-yl-acetic acid hydrochloride was synthesized with imidazole and ethyl chloroacetate as raw materials via N-alkylation and salification.Then final product zoledronic acid was prepared with 1H-imidazol-1-yl-acetic acid hydrochloride,phosphorus oxychloride and phosphoric acid by hydrolysis.The influence of the solvents on the reaction was mainly discussed.The results show that the toluene,ethanol with volume fraction of 95%,phosphoric acid with mass fraction of 85% are suitable for the zoledronic acid synthesis because of their lower poisonousness,low cost and easy operation as solvents.The overall yield of zoledronic acid is 43%.The optimized conditions for N-alkylation with the toluene as solvent are at 65-70 ℃ for 4.5-5.0 h.The novel process presents simple operation,short reaction time,low cost and is easy for industrial production of bisphosphonate zoledronic acid.


In this paper we analyze the electricity portfolio problem of a big consumer in a multi-stage stochastic programming framework. Stochasticity enters the model via the uncertain spot price process and is represented by a scenario tree. The decision that has to be taken is how much energy should be bought in advance, and how large the exposition to the uncertain spot market, as well as the relatively expensive production with an own power plant should be. The risk is modeled using an Average Value-at-Risk (AVaR) term in the objective function. The results of the stochastic programming model are compared with classical fix mix strategies, which are outperformed. Furthermore, the influence of risk parameters is shown. keywords: Stochastic Optimization, Scenario Generation, Energy Markets, Optimal Electricity Portfolios, Average Value-at-Risk


The problem of inference for the mean of a highly asymmetric distribution is considered. Even with large sample sizes, usual asymptotics based on normal theory give poor answers, as the right-hand tail of the distribution is often under-sampled. This paper attempts to improve performance in two ways. First, modifications of the standard confidence interval procedure are examined. Second, diagnostics are proposed to indicate whether or not inferential procedures are likely to be valid. The problems are illustrated with data simulated from an absolute value Cauchy distribution. 4 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.


In order to better meet and suit environment transformation and development,and form one kind of continual and scientific development momentum,China′s accounting theory must form one kind of development strategy with high theory value in the transformation environment;developing China′s accounting theory must probe the challenges of external environments,including economy,society,political globalization and integration as well as the Chinese characteristic socialism theory,reform and open and so on,and probe the challenges of internal environments,including developmental strategy,flow technology,organization personnel and so on,think development strategy from perspective of value,fully discover their existing theory value,and correctly carry out value choice and value creation in learning or convergence to improve and enrich China′s accounting theory.


The conventional travelling wave protection is susceptible to the high frequency transient quantities, which can reduce the protection reliability. A directional-relay algorithm based on positive sequence superimposed components is proposed in this study. In microprocessor relays, the extraction of fundamental frequency voltages and currents is, conventionally, provided by phasor estimation methods such as the Fourier algorithm. The common required time for fault detection in these relays is approximately one to two cycles. This study presents a high-speed algorithm for the extraction of fundamental frequency positive sequence voltages and currents superimposed components based on Park transformation. In the meantime, specially designed high speed algorithms to solve the difficult problems that exist in a real system are proposed. Extensive simulations are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results show that the algorithm is fast and reliable for power transmission line protections. Also it is immune to fault resistances and system condition.


Objectives: To systematically review the effects of more versus less intensive blood pressure (BP) control in old people with chronic kidney disease. Methods: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we systematically searched Pubmed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and clinicaltrials.gov for clinical trials published between Jan 1,1998 and December,2017.We use old people,intensive blood pressure,standard blood pressure and blood pressure targets as keywords to search.We included randomised controlled trials with at least 6 months'follow-up that randomly assigned participants to more intensive versus less intensive blood pressure lowering treatment.We analyzed clinical trials that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria.We did a meta-analysis of blood pressure reductions on relative risk (RR) of major cardiovascular events and kidney outcomes. Results: We identified 6 trials with 12927 patients.Our meta-analysis showed that intensive blood pressure-lowering treatment achieved RR reductions for major outcome (21% [95% CI 0.69–0.92]), cardiovascular death (34% [95% CI 0.51–0.85]),and all cause mortality (26% [95%CI 0.62–0.87]). Conclusion: Lower BP targets decrease the incidence of cardiovascular events,cardiovascular death and all cause death in elderly patients with chronic kidney disease.


SUMMARY

Recently there has been an increasing interest in the economic aspects of education. It is due to the insight—which itself gained ground because of the growing quantitative importance of education—that education involves costs, or demands resources which are essentially scarce. The optimal allocation of resources to the sector of education is therefore an important problem. It is not automatically solved by the market mechanism, because social costs and returns of an education are not recorded in the market. A rational solution of the problem, therefore, depends largely on non-market decisions, which in turn presuppose an indirect evaluation of costs and returns of an investment in education.

The present article reviews critically the methods applied and the problems encountered by American economists and calculating the costs and returns of an investment in education, taking as an example the typical four-year college education. It is shown that, under certain assumptions, costs and returns of investments in education can be calculated, compared with corresponding data for other investments and thus be used as a basis for a decision as to whether expenditures on education should be increased or decreased. The main shortcoming of this approach, judging from the hitherto published contributions, seems to be a neglect of the dynamic implications which in turn are closely connected with the external effects of education. It is to be hoped that further research will better take into account these effects which are likely to be of considerable importance.


In this paper, we propose an automatic segmentation and detection of heart sound components (S1, S2, S3 and S4) which incorporates Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) denoising, autocorrelation-based cardiac cycle calculation, Shannon energy envelope extraction, first derivative peak and boundary detection, and real peak selection using Heron's formula. The proposed method is evaluated on synthetic data corrupted by white Gaussian noise. The simulation results show that the proposed method is able to segment and identify the heart sound component correctly from normal and abnormal heart sound data.


Objective To explore the ways to consummate the adverse drug reaction(ADR)damage relief risk sharing mechanism in our country. Methods Using literature and comparative method, we analyzed the present situation of the current legal regulations on ADR damage relief and put forward some suggestions on the improvement of the existing ADR damage relief risk sharing mechanism by referring to ADR damage relief system of Taiwan and foreign countries. Results Conclusion Our existing tort liability has problem in product flaw limits and we should consummate through this aspect. We should also share ADR damage risks through ADR liability insurance and ADR damage relief foundation from the ADR special relief aspect.


This paper focuses on the systematic comparison of different basic structures for electromagnetic energy harvester to increase the power density of the converters. The goal is to select the optimal basic structure depending on the specific requirements. To achieve this, an automated design methodology was developed and implemented in MATLAB®. The systematic comparison and automation allows a cost-effective design of adapted energy harvesters for application-specific requirements. In studies, the influence of different boundary conditions on the evaluation of basic structures was investigated. It can be shown that none of the structures always delivers the highest output power.


Antonetta Margaretha Gezina Sas, MD Fop van Kooten, PhD An 18-year-old woman was referred for a slowly growing tumor on her scalp, which had been present since her birth. Examination revealed a soft-tissue non-pulsating mass on her scalp (figure 1) which became larger in recumbent position and with Valsalva maneuver. CT showed that almost the entire venous system drained through enlarged parietal foramina with dilated emissary veins connected to multiple subcutaneous veins, which is called sinus pericranii (SP) (figure 2). Generally, SP is located frontally in


SECTION I: General Considerations Chapter 1: Basic Science of Spinal Receptors Chapter 2: Pharmacologic Agents and Compounding of Intrathecal Drugs Chapter 3: Polyanalgesia for Implantable Drug Delivery Systems Chapter 4: Principles of Patient Management for Intrathecal Analgesia Chapter 5: Patient Selection for Intrathecal Infusion to Treat Chronic Pain Chapter 6: Patient Preparation Chapter 7: Psychological Considerations in IDD Chapter 8: Intrathecal Drug Delivery: Medical Necessity, Documentation, Coding and Billing SECTION II: Implant Devices Chapter 9: Methods of Trials for Consideration of ITDDS Chapter 10: Techniques of Implant Placement for Intrathecal Pumps Chapter 11: Programmable versus Fixed-Rate Pumps for Intrathecal Drug Delivery Chapter 12: SynchroMed EL vs SynchroMed II Chapter 13: Minimizing the Risks of Intrathecal Therapy Chapter 14: Complications Associated with Intrathecal Drug Delivery Systems SECTION III: Evidence-based practice Chapter 15: Management of ITDDS in Patients with Co-Morbidities Chapter 16: Cost-Effectiveness of Implanted Drug Delivery Systems Chapter 17: Neuroaugmentation by Stimulation vs. Intrathecal Drug Delivery Systems Chapter 18: Anticoagulation guidelines and Intrathecal Drug Delivery Systems Chapter 19: Intrathecal Therapy for Malignant Pain SECTION IV: ITDDs for spasticity Chapter 20: Intrathecal Baclofen Trialing Chapter 21: Baclofen Pump Management SECTION V: Future of ITDDs Chapter 22: Future of Intrathecal Drug Delivery Systems (including new devices) Chapter 23: Trialing for Ziconotide Intrathecal Analgesic Therapy Chapter 24: Perioperative Management of Patients with ITDDS


This paper describes a patented Poynting-vector transducer for the simultaneous measurement of both current and voltage in a high voltage power system. It also describes its application for protective relaying, high voltage metering, and measurement of losses in large transformers and shunt reactors. The principle of operation is based on the measurement of the Poynting vector from its constituent electric and magnetic fields in a very well-defined region of space around the high voltage conductor. The signals from the current and voltage sensors are processed by simple electronic circuits to bring them to the form and level required by the computers, meters, and relays. The new transducer is also ideally suitable for integration as a module in gas-insulated busbar duct system.<<ETX>>


Given the plurality existing in current relationships, plaintiffs seek alternative ways to analyze organizational behavior. There is consensus on the understanding that, in the interaction process, the agents learn and evolve in an attempt to self-organize. The objective of the paper is to identify the level of changes in the complexity of a bank branch, the lines Modeling proposed by Leite (2004). The search strategy was case study, from observation, interviews and documentary research. Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method, it is possible to infer that the agency is at level 3.


The process of preparing ethyl creatine hydrochloride includes the following steps: dropping sulfoxide chloride into anhydrous alcohol in a reactor at temperature lower than 10 deg.c while stirring; throwing anhydrous creatine to the mixed solution at 10-15 deg.c while stirring for reaction of 1 hr; heating to 25-40 deg.c and reflux reaction for 7-12; cooling with icy salt solution to below 10 deg.c to produce ethyl creatine hydrochloride crystal; separating and drying to obtain ethyl creatine hydrochloride product. Of the reactants, creatine, sulfoxide chloride and alcohol have the weight ratio of 1 to 1-1.4 to 6-10. The present invention has fast reaction, high yield, high product purity and less pollution.


In this paper, some novel converters are proposed to solve the drawbacks of traditional phase-shifted full-bridge (PSFB) converter. In the primary side of proposed converters, the FB inverter is divided into two half-bridge inverters and the large-sized transformer is replaced by two small-sized transformers. By employing this structure, the zero voltage switching range can be extended and the primary circulating current existing in the additional PSFB converter is removed. In the secondary side, various rectifiers can be adopted to suit for different applications. Moreover, the primary power can be continuously transferred to secondary side in the proposed converters, which contributes to the reduction of output filter requirement. The circuit configuration, operational principle and relevant analysis of proposed converters are introduced in this paper. Experimental results on two typical prototype converters are built to validate the theoretical analysis.


Software Aberrations - Origins and Treatments.- Reasoning with Incomplete Information: Rough Set Based Information Logics.- Knowledge and Uncertainty a Rough Set Approach.- A Formal Approach to Software Reusability.- Modeling Uncertainty in Object-Oriented Databases.- Management of Uncertainty in AI: A Rough Set Approach.- Rough Sets and Data Dependencies.- Situation Theory and Dempster-Shafer's Theory of Evidence for Information Retrieval.- Completeness in Statechart Models for Reactive Systems.- Knowledge Recovery and Development.- A Relational Data Model for Manipulating Probabilistic Knowledge.- Uncertainty as a Function of Expertise.- Unnesting Fuzzy SQL Queries in Fuzzy Databases.- A Logical Explication of the Concepts of Incomplete and Uncertain Information.- Evolution of Intelligent Database Systems: A Personal Perspective.- Extracting Exact and Approximate Rules from Databases.- Logic of Rough Sets.- Author Index.


RNA secondary structure prediction is one of the most important and difficult research areas in Bioinformatics.Pseudoknot prediction is the most difficult research in the area.This paper introduced a new representation of the RNA structure information with plane pseudoknots by the multi-class Support Vector Machine(multi-class SVM).First step,a multi-class SVM model was presented to predict RNA secondary structure based on E-NSSEL labels which can express plane pseudoknots.Second step,another SVM was used to judge the two predicted labels whether getting paired or not by considering the labels of neighbor residues.After the two steps,resumed the RNA secondary structure according to the predicted results.Experiment proved that this method could improve the precision of the RNA secondary structure prediction with plane pseudoknots.


Traditional microcomputer fault oscillograph cannot meet the requirements of coal mine substation to digital and networked. A double CPU and distributed coal mine fault oscillograph is presented, the device data acquisition unit of new fault oscillograph use high performance DSP chip TMS320LF2812 to complete signal acquisition and processing, and S3C2410 chip is used in data management unit to complete the data storage, display and communication function. Test results show that the new fault oscillograph could separately installed in each substation and has stable operation and high communication capacity advantages.


For grasping the dynamic of distribution zone of Ciconia boyciana in China,importance evaluation on 39 distribution zones of Ciconia boyciana in China were analyzed by neighbor cluster method and GIS office software based on these data of wild investigation and paper published. The results showed that 92. 00% of distribution zones were nature reserve,and these distribution zones included two level protection system namely urgent attention zone and key protected zone. Further analysis showed that establishment of across national borders reserve, reserve promotion and establishment of reserve should be the main work plan of conservation and management for oriental white stork.


To study the effect of surge arrester installation on improving the lightning shielding level of long spans of EHV transmission lines, we established EMTP-RV simulation models of lightning current source, transmission lines, towers, insulator strings, and line arresters based on the actual parameters of Guanting-East Lanzhou 750 kV transmission line. Factors, such as grounding resistance, location of lightning, distribution of surge arresters installation, which could affect the minimum shielding failure current to cause flashover, were analyzed. The simulation results show that installing surge arresters at each end of the long span to three phases significantly improves the lightning shielding level to 81~119 k A, which is far beyond 30 k A, the theoretically calculated maximum shielding failure current. This setting of surge arresters also conceals the influence of grounding resistance variation. While the insulators at each end of the long span are fully protected, the protection of insulators on nearby towers is weakened. To achieve a full protection, additional surge arresters should be installed on the adjacent towers.


In the paper at hand, a model-based design and energy estimation approach for wireless sensor nodes in human activity recognition systems is extended. Entire wireless body area sensor networks are modeled and analyzed w.r.t. their real time capabilities of different software mappings on a system level.


Tension cables are easily prone to generating varied vibrations under the action of external loads, which adversely affects the safety of bridges. Therefore, it is necessary to take effective measures to suppress the vibrations of tension cables. Cable end dampers are widely used in vibration reduction for cable-stayed bridges due to their convenient installation and low costs. However, the previous studies on the tension cable-viscous damper systems mostly adopt the linear method, and the weakening effect of the flexibility of mounting brackets on the damper vibration reduction is not sufficiently taken into account. Therefore, this paper adopts the improved Kelvin model to conduct the derivation, solution, and parametric analysis of vibration equations for the stay cable-nonlinear viscous damper systems. The results of parametric analysis show that the maximum modal damping ratio that can be obtained by cables and the corresponding optimal damping coefficient of dampers are correlated with the damping nonlinear coefficient α, stiffness nonlinear coefficient β, vibration order n, installation position a/L, and stiffness coefficient μ, etc.; among them, n damping nonlinear coefficient α and stiffness nonlinear coefficient β are the key parameters that affect the parameter design of dampers, where damping nonlinear coefficient α mainly controls the optimal damping coefficient and stiffness nonlinear coefficient β mainly controls the maximum damping ratio. Based on the parametric analysis, the design principles of dampers and value requirements of key parameters under different vibration suppression objectives are presented.


Surveying the Philippine-born artist's political and artistic activity since the 1970s, Horne characterizes Maestro's work through notions of emptiness, repetition, place, and origin. The installation created during the artist's residence (an earth-filled room) is also analyzed. Japanese-Canadian writer Sakamoto's text is a story about man, woman, and child. Biographical notes. 23 bibl. ref.


Abstract Cystic fibrosis (CF), the most common autosomal recessive disorder, at least in western countries, is caused by mutations of CFTR. The disease affects the intestine, the pancreas and the liver, but most important for life quality and expectance of CF patients are alterations in lung functions. The present review describes a novel pathway to explain many aspects of the pathogenesis of CF: ceramide accumulates in bronchial, tracheal and intestinal epithelial cells, and causes pulmonary inflammation, infection susceptibility, peribronchial collagen deposition and cell death, with the consequence of DNA release into the bronchial lumen and concomitant reduction of mucociliary clearance. All of these pathophysiological events are corrected by the normalization of pulmonary ceramide. Phase IIa and IIb clinical studies indicate a beneficial effect of a pharmacological inhibition of acid sphingomyelinase on lung functions in patients with CF.


An in vivo study on the effect of alcoholic extracts of turmeric (TE), turmeric oil (TO) and turmeric oleoresin (TOR), betel leaf extract, catechu and cinnamic acid on the burning sensation of mucosa, interincisal opening and incidence of micronuclei (MN) in subjects with oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) was conducted in the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Nair Hospital Dental College, over a period of five years. This study was carried out in accordance with the guidelines for scientific research (Helsinki guidelines) and was accepted by Mumbai University. This article is a compilation and statistical comparison of the data collected during this study. It was observed that, after treatment all the patients showed a subjective response. Within 3 weeks of administration of Ayurvedic medications containing natural extracts there was relief from burning sensation and micro nuclei count which was repeated after three months was reduced and found statistically significant. Oral opening was increased in all the patients on clinical examination but this was not reflected in the statistical evaluation.


The utility model discloses a multi-frequency combined-type electronic tag. A micro-strip antenna of an UHF frequency electronic tag in the utility model is arranged on a baseplate to form the shape of the letter S; a chip is positioned in the centrosymmetric part of the letter S; antenna circuits on two sides of the chip adopt saw-toothed structures, are symmetric and extend to form symmetrically half surrounding shapes; an HF frequency electronic tag is also combined in the hollow part of one half surrounding antenna circuit on one side; the antenna circuit keeps a certain distance from the half surrounding antenna circuit of the S-shaped antenna of the UHF frequency electronic tag in which the antenna circuit is arranged; and the chip is arranged at the opening part near the half surrounding antenna circuit. The electronic tag can generate electronic tags adopting different frequencies for reading/writing information and/or manufactured certificates, can achieve close/remote and/or option reading and writing, can independently replace HF or UHF electronic tags, can further be combined with a visual information carrier structure, meets the requirements of various automatic identification, repeated use and grading security management, greatly improves the recognition, the verification and the management efficiencies, reduces the material consumption, and saves the costs.


The invention provides a preparation method of androst-17 beta-carboxylic acid. The preparation method comprises the following steps: dissolving an inorganic strong base in water, adding 3-carbonyl-4-androstene-17 beta-methyl carboxylate or 3-carbonyl-4-azaandrost-17 beta-methyl carboxylate, suspending in a water solution of the inorganic strong base, slowly heating to 80 DEG C-100 DEG C, reacting, cooling to below 60 DEG C when a suspension becomes a clear solution, neutralizing with acid till the pH value is 4-6, filtrating by throwing, drying by throwing, then washing a filter cake with water to neutral and then drying to obtain 3-carbonyl-4-androstene-17 beta-carboxylic acid or 3-carbonyl-4-azaandrost-17 beta-carboxylic acid.


Summary: A numerical analysis was performed on SDS-PAGE protein patterns of 307 Xanthomonas strains comprising all species and 27 X. campestris pathovars. The electrophoretic groupings corresponded in some, but not all cases with the existing pathovars. Six pathovars constituted distinct entities, comprising all strains investigated. These included X. campestris pv. campestris, X. campestris pv. graminis, X. campestris pv. hyacinthi, X. campestris pv. pelargonii, X. campestris pv. pruni and X. campestris pv. theicola. A great number of pathovars consisted of a homogeneous group from which only one or a few strains were aberrant. In two cases (X. campestris pv. ricini and X. campestris pv. vitians) even the pathovar reference strain was aberrant. Six pathovars from members of the plant family Fabaceae could not be differentiated from one another: X. campestris pv. phaseoli, X. campestris pv. phaseoli var. fuscans, X. campestris pv. cajani, X. campestris pv. vignicola, X. campestris pv. alfalfae and X. campestris pv. glycines. At least six X. campestris pathovars were heterogeneous, displaying two or more protein electrophoretic types: X. campestris pv. alfalfae, X. campestris pv. dieffenbachiae, X. campestris pv. juglandis, X. campestris pv. poinsettiicola, X. campestris pv. vesicatoria and X. campestris pv. vignicola. A database of SDS-protein patterns provides a valuable tool for the identification of unknown xanthomonads.


[] I would like to express my deep feelings of support and gratitude that the Association for Computing Machinery and most notably Herb Grosch are making a strong stand on the fundamentals of humanity as an inherent right of all humans. Unfortunately, our world is not yet aware that it is everyone's birthright to lead a life of complete fruition , free from suffering and free from ignorance. It must be of grave concern to all scientists that they support these fundamental rights, not only individually, but also universally. The scientific endeavor not only involves the scientist's contribution to the particular field, but also the scientist's contribution to the growth of science for all humanity. Thus a scientist must not only be concerned that he actualize his fullest potential, but that all scientists have the freedom to fulfill their fullest potential. I am proud to be a member of an association that supports complete worldwide evolution of science. [] I take exception to both Peter Turk's letter in the February ACM Forum and Herb Grosch's reply. President Grosch took entirely too much space effectively insulting a member of the ACM. His argument-beyond the insults-was really not relevant to many ACM members who are unconcerned about politics in other nations. On the other hand, Turk is just plain wrong in his initial point. Politics is very interesting to many people in the computer field. Although I am a practicing computer analyst with about 15 years experience, I also hold local elected office. Many (if not most) computer professionals have very strong political feelings and express those feelings with action. Much of the fault of current government policies is a result of the voters leaving too much decision-making to career politicians. Indeed, more nonpoliticians should enter the arena which Mr. Turk decries. Why should scientists avoid involvement in politics when politics affects sci-ence? The same question is valid in many other endeavors: medicine, truckdriving, homebuilding, bartend-ing. Involvement and participation in the decisions which control our lives and our nation (and possibly other nations) is everyone's duty. [] The Presidential correspondence in the February 1978 Communications (pp. 109-110) touches on the propriety of censoring (and censuring) news items such as announcements of conferences with dominant or heavy support from the USSR. The issue, however, is left unresolved. I propose that a policy be adopted which permits full publication of such news items, but …


Although northern Nigeria is known for its extensive enforcement of Islamic law, the region has been heavily influenced by local custom and traditions. The dominant and now official school (madhhab) is the Maliki school which, arguably more than any other madhhab, recognizes ʿurf or custom as a source of Islamic law. This essay looks at local customs as they affect Islamic family law, specifically marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance, and the judicial responses to these customs in contemporary courts in northern Nigeria.


Abstract Four experiments were conducted to compare productivity, nervousness, feather condition, and livability of cage- and floor-reared White Leghorn layers when kept as adults in several environments. In Experiment 1, productivity and livability data were obtained on layers of an experimental stock kept 7 per cage at 332 cm2 per bird. Age at first egg of cage-reared birds was 5.3 days younger than that of floor-reared birds. In Experiments 2 and 3, layers of three experimental stocks were kept 6 per cage at 387 cm2 per bird (Experiment 2) or 20 per floor pen at 1,800 cm2 per bird (Experiment 3). In general rearing environment effects and interactions of rearing environments with genetic stock and ages were absent for productivity traits and mortality of hens kept in either cages or floor pens. Floor- and cage-reared layers of three commercial stocks, kept 4 per cage at 348,464, and 580 cm2 per bird, were compared in Experiment 4. Cage-reared hens had better feather coverage than floor-reared ones at 57 to 60 wk of age. Rearing environment by genetic stock or by density interactions were generally absent. A negative correlation (r = −.4) was found between nervousness score and feather score. It was concluded that pullets reared in either cages or floor pens should be able to adapt equally well to multiple-bird cages or low-density floor pens as adults.


A "single-cell phenotype database system and a search engine" are a single-cell phenotype database system and a search engine method which is provided by aiming at a problem that a single-cell phenotype research is difficult to carry out since few relevant single-cell phenotype databases and single-cell phenotype database search engines exist in China at present. A main module of the single-cell phenotype database system and the search engine mainly consists of the single-cell phenotype database and the search engine; the single-cell phenotype database system is suitable for storing the Raman spectrum data of a single cell and a single cell image and has a core of a two-layer database structure and a corresponding data processing method; the search engine based on the single-cell phenotype database system can take the Raman spectrum data of a certain single cell and the single cell image as query data, and the whole single-cell phenotype database is searched to find optimal matching cells so as to obtain the detailed information of the unknown cell.


books: Expanding children's views of the Soviet Union Roberta Long Long has taught for a number of years in International Schools, including the Anglo-American School in Moscow. She is now teaching reading, child development and children's literature at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama. Most of the books used in this study can be obtained from Imported Publications, Inc., 320 West Ohio Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610, USA.


We used the method of nets to calculate the thermoelastic stresses on the GaAs surface caused by a non-destructive nanosecond pulse laser irradiation (λ = 0.532 μm) with diffraction spatial intensity modulation from a shield with rectangular cut. The structure of irradiated subsurface layers of samples was studied by the AFM method. A periodic islet structure formed in the process of diffusive redistribution of defects was revealed by the level-by-level chemical etching.


Cadmium is one of the most harmful heavy metals reported to contaminate the food chain and pose a high risk for health, including non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic effects. High levels of cadmium contamination due to industrial effluent discharge have been reported to affect plant growth and productivity, which could be used as a bio-indicator for cadmium bioaccumulation in plants. The utilization of cadmium-contaminated water for vegetable production has been known to increase the health risk for human consumption. Moreover, pH level was known as a factor affecting cadmium solubility and cadmium uptake by plants. However, there is still unknown about critical pH level that is associated with high cadmium concentrations in water resources used in agriculture (e.g., river, lake, effluent, etc.) and results in bioaccumulation and health risk of vegetable consumption grown by the cadmium contaminated water. In this study, pak choi as a model plant in a hydroponic setup was used to access cadmium bioaccumulation and the health risk of vegetable consumption. The experiment was conducted using four initial cadmium doses (control: 0 mg/L, 1 mg/L, 2 mg/L, and 3 mg/L) in a four-week operation. Three initial pH levels (7.5, 6.5, and 5.5) were used for experiments I, II, and III, respectively. The study was designed to use nitrogen and phosphorus levels at low concentrations (ammonium = 0.91 ? 0.36 mgN/L, nitrate = 0.50 ? 1.4 mgN/L, phosphate = 0.23 ? 0.10 mgP/L), which were in range of wastewater effluent and natural water for agricultural reuse. Results show that cadmium concentrations of 1-3 mg/L significantly inhibited pak choi growth (p < 0.05) compared with the control. Bioaccumulation in plant roots (0.035–2.963) and leaves (0.434–1.038) occurred with an increase in cadmium concentration (p < 0.05), suggesting that cadmium ions were translocated from water to roots and accumulated in the edible part of pak choi (leaves and stems). The highest cadmium available in water (2.67 ? 0.1 mg/L) was found at the initial pH of 5.5 due to the solubility of cadmium at the acidic pH level. Based on US EPA average daily intake and health risk assessment, it was found that consumption of pak choi grown by the cadmium contaminated water resource in the range of 1 to 3 mg/L will not cause chronic non-carcinogenic (hazard quotient <1) but can cause carcinogenic effect (cancer risk > 10-6) over 30-year consumption. Therefore, it is recommended that the monitoring of cadmium in water for agricultural use must be regulated strictly.


The author constructs a two-sector growth model for a stylized small economy characterized by an economic system with a large traditional sector and a small well-protected modern sector. Migration functions with subjective probabilities of securing jobs are introduced. The effects of exogenous changes and domestic austerity measures inducing emigration from both traditional and modern sectors are examined. Policy implications are discussed (ANNOTATION)


Combined with a large amount of data in postal enterprise business systems, the analysis system can give the user ranking in the types and transaction volume which business customers use. It also provide link relative ratio, growth rate over the same period, other statistical analysis of business proportion and trend in branches, to identify customer behaviors, and to manage, assess, evaluate subordinate sector, then implement business systems analysis functions in order to improve work efficiency and management level by Stored Procedure.


Spatial differentials in economic growth has become an important economic, social and political issue in China in her rapid industrialization drive over the last two decades. Measuring such differentials and quantifying their relevant components are important for policy making on regional development. This paper shows how a traditional shift-share method can be used for these purposes by use of provincial level panel data on GDP growth in China for the period 1985-94. The results provide some essential information on the diversity and complexity of the Chinese economy under transition.


This dictionary of information technology is aimed at managers, students and schools. Using technically precise definitions, this dictionary covers personal computing, key programming terms and concepts, common abbreviations, underlying technologies and many aspects of data processing.


In terms of Lyapunov's direct method, a stability criterion is derived to guarantee the stability of the system especially for the resonant and chaotic systems. The common P matrix of the criterion is obtained by using linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization algorithms to solve the robust fuzzy control problem. Based on the control scheme and this criterion, a fuzzy controller is then designed via the technique of parallel distributed compensation (PDC) to stabilize the nonlinear system. Finally, the proposed controller design method is demonstrated through numerical simulations on the chaotic and resonant systems.


Dear Editor, Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is caused by the vector-borne protozoan parasite Leishmania and is transmitted via infected female sandflies. A 22-year-old man with Israeli and Japanese parents presented with ulcerative eruptions in June 2017. His business was in Israel but he occasionally traveled to Japan. He noticed skin lesions when in Israel in September 2016. Physical examination revealed peripherally ridged, centrally ulcerative erythematous nodules, 27 mm 9 17 mm and 21 mm 9 16 mm in size, on the right forearm (Fig. 1a). Abnormal general symptoms were absent. Laboratory examinations revealed 8890/lL leukocytes, 5.4% eosinophils, 15.8 g/dL hemoglobin and 26.0 9 10/lL platelets. Biopsy showed diffuse infiltration of inflammatory cells including lymphocytes, plasma cells and monocytes in the dermis (Fig. 1b,c). Leishmania amastigotes could not be found at high magnification in hematoxylin–eosin (HE) staining but Giemsa staining of a biopsy tissue-crimping specimen detected a small number of them (arrows) (Fig. 1d,e). For molecular diagnosis of Leishmania infection, DNA was extracted from the skin biopsy sample using a DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (QIAGEN, Tokyo, Japan). We performed polymerase chain reactions (PCR) with DNA samples to identify the Leishmania large subunit ribosomal RNA gene and Leishmania kinetoplastid membrane protein-11 gene, and detected products with expected sizes on agarose gel electrophoresis. For genotyping of the Leishmania species, PCR targeting internal transcribed spacer (ITS) was performed with patientderived DNA samples, and the PCR products were sequenced after cloning into the pCR2.1-TOPO vector using a TOPO TA Cloning Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Yokohama, Japan). Analysis of the sequence using the neighbor-joining method determined the species was clustered in the Leishmania tropica clade. Based on these findings, we diagnosed the ulcerative eruptions as CL.


New macrocyclic qudaridendate (N4) Schiff base complexes have been synthesized by the template effect of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) metal ions on thiourea and acetylacetone. These complexes were found to be octahedral with two additional aqua ligands in the case Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes and distorted octahedral with two chlorine ligands in the case Cu(II) complexes. They have been characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility, IR, UV-visible and antimicrobial activity studies.


AbstractConstruction litigation in the infrastructure sector has long had the potential of locking in investments. The court case in this study finally ended, with the judgment delivered by the hig...


Fluid-acoustic interactions are important in a variety of applications, and typically result in adverse effects. We analyze the influence of Mach number on such interactions and their input-output characteristics by combining resolvent analysis with Doak's momentum potential theory. The specific problem selected is the flow over an open cavity of L/D = 6 at Re = 10, 000 and M∞ = 0.6 and 1.4, respectively. The resolvent forcing and response modes of the timeand spanwise-averaged Large Eddy Simulations are first obtained at each Mach number. The response modes are then decomposed into their hydrodynamic, acoustic and thermal components. Although the results depend quantitatively on Mach number, some trends remain consistent. In particular, at lower frequencies, the acoustic component appears primarily at the trailing edge of the cavity. When the frequency is increased, the primary acoustic response moves towards the leading edge and overlaps with its hydrodynamic component, indicating greater influence on the flowfield. Inspired by actual cavity flow control, the forcing is then localized to two regions – the leading-edge and front wall of the cavity – and also filtered to consider notional actuators that can separately introduce each component of velocity, density, and temperature forcing, respectively. Among these different types of actuation perturbations, regardless of Mach number, streamwise velocity forcing achieves the largest energy amplification when placed at the leading edge, with considerable reduction in effectiveness when placed on the front wall. A suitable ratio is defined to assess the relative acoustic versus hydrodynamic modification. The frequency where this ratio is largest is often slightly higher than that associated with the energy amplification peak. For both subsonic and supersonic cavity flows, beyond a certain forcing frequency threshold value, the nature of the acoustic versus hydrodynamic response becomes independent of the forcing type; however, the amplification continues to be strongly impacted by the forcing frequency. This reinforces the importance of the frequency for energy amplification mechanisms. Overall, this work provides an alternative approach to examine input-output flow-acoustic characteristics where resonance is dominant and provides a means to evaluate the relative effectiveness of different types and locations of actuation.


This report describes work performed under a program to develop Silicon-Film{trademark} Product III into a low-cost, stable solar cell for large-scale terrestrial power applications. The Product III structure is a thin polycrystalline layer of silicon on a durable, insulating, ceramic) substrate. The insulating substrate allows the silicon layer to be isolated and metallized to form a monolithically interconnected array of solar cells. High efficiency is achievable with the use of light trapping and a passivated back surface. The long-term goal for the product is a 1200-cm{sup {minus}2}, 18%-efficient solar module. This report discusses material quality improvements due to the use of new metallurgical barrier technologies. The barrier is essential in preventing impurity interaction between the silicon film and the low-cost substate. Also, a new filament-based fabric substate material was investigated. Efficiencies greater than 10% were achieved on 1.0-cm{sup 2} devices made on these substrates. We also demonstrated the monolithic fabrication sequence by the fabrication of a prototype array using the device processing sequences developed during Phase 11 of this program.


This paper presents a new approach for terminal presence detection in the family of algorithms called network diversity multiple access (NDMA). The new scheme is based on non-orthogonal sequences. In NDMA, system-induced retransmissions are used to resolve the conflicts between colliding terminals. The key initial aspect in NDMA is to use signal processing tools to identify the size of the collision, as well as the identity of the contending terminals. This information is used to calculate the number of required retransmissions. These retransmissions are stored in memory, thereby creating a virtual MIMO (multiple input multiple-output) system that can be used to resolve the collision via source separation or multi-user detection. These detection and source separation processes are based on a set of orthogonal training sequences, each sequence uniquely assigned to one terminal in the network. This paper proposes a new approach for presence detection in NDMA using non-orthogonal sequences. The number of available sequences is increased and the bandwidth used for training is therefore considerably reduced. This comes at the expense of multiple access interference (MAI) between contending terminals. Additionally, in NDMA the estimation of the collision multiplicity is conventionally achieved in the first time-slot of the collision resolution period. This paper extends the detector to include all the received copies of the original transmissions (the initial transmission and also subsequent retransmissions). This means that after each retransmission received by the access point, the estimation of the collision multiplicity and contending terminals identification must be updated. The analysis here presented includes the effects of MAI caused by non orthogonal training sequences and the effect of sequential collision multiplicity estimation. Results suggest a considerably decrease of performance with respect to the orthogonal case scenario, but a more flexible training sequence allocation that becomes relevant for large numbers of terminals.


Three experiments are reported which give support to an empirical rule which may be used for predicting the entries in a closed confusion matrix for any subset of items drawn from a master set of items with a known confusion matrix. This rule, the constant‐ratio rule, states that the ratio between any two entries in a row of a submatrix is equal to the ratio between the corresponding two entries in the master matrix. For this statement of the rule it is assumed that the only variables which differ systematically in obtaining the two matrices are the different sets of messages and the allowable responses. This is an empirical rule which was formulated after examination of three 6×6 master matrices for CV's (consonant‐vowel syllables) and six 3×3 submatrices. Two more experiments using monosyllables and digits were then conducted to test further the rule. Although no direct experimental evidence is reported, the use of the constant‐ratio rule for predicting a master matrix given some of its possible submatrices is discussed.


Electro-optic LiNbO3 optical waveguides can be used as optical modulators and also as electric field sensors. In this second application, the optical waveguide senses an electric field, which modulates the intensity of light traveling through the waveguide. In an alternative approach, the electric field can modulate an optical delay, instead of the optical intensity. The fact of modulating an optical delay is also known as optical coherence modulation. An optical delay can be generated when low-coherence light is injected in either a birefringent LiNbO3 optical waveguide or in an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer. As the modulated optical delay can be transmitted through an optical channel, at the receiver, the sensed electric field can be recuperated by introducing a second optical delay which is matched to the one on the electro-optic sensor. When using birefringent optical waveguides, the sensing-detection process is highly sensitive to optical polarization variations. To minimize such a polarization sensitivity, in this work, a polarization insensitive electric field sensing scheme, based on an unbalanced LiNbO3 Mach-Zehnder interferometer is described. This scheme has been tested and shows a much lower polarization sensitivity when compared to birefringent sensors. The experimental scheme has been tested by sensing wide-band electric fields, in a 0-5 MHz frequency range.


A study of the Empowerment Zone in which over one thousand poor residents mobilized to learn, create knowledge, and formulate a plan to reinvent government and alleviate poverty.


In the case described here, PLC that emerged after STN-DBS was managed successfully by adjusting the stimulation parameters. This obviated the need for psychotropic medication, avoiding potential side effects and undesirable drug interaction with concomitant medications, while the therapeutic effect of DBS on motor functions could still be maintained. Despite several small clinical trials and case series supporting the use of SSRIs as first-line treatment for PLC, the evidence regarding how long patients should continue on the treatment is limited. Moreover, reemergence of PLC after discontinuing the SSRI has been reported in many patients, including in the previously reported patient who developed PLC after STN-DBS. Given these findings, combined with the potential side effects of SSRIs (especially in patients with PD, who often already are receiving multiple medications), we suggest that, whenever possible, nonpharmacologic treatment for PLC should be considered. Careful adjustment of stimulating parameters may achieve resolution of the PLC while maintaining the clinical benefits of DBS. The mechanism of PLC development after STN-DBS remains unclear. It has been reported in both unilateral (left-sided) and bilateral STN-DBS for PD. In our patient, the fact that PLC improved after a reduction of stimulation parameters possibly suggests current spread beyond the motor STN and into the limbic-associative STN, white matter, or substantia nigra. However, the rarity of this observation may underpin the relevance of individual vulnerability for developing PLC. Another interesting clinical point in our case was that the stimulation "threshold" for PLC appeared to gradually increase over time. Therefore, this may offer an additional therapeutic window to maintain the clinical efficacy of DBS as PD progresses over time.


Ventricular septal defect(VSD)is one of the most common congenital cardiac malformations.Since the Amplatzer membranous VSD occluder in treatment of VSD developed,with advances in transcatheter treatment options,percutaneous device closure of VSD has become a safe and practical alternative for surgical repair.The initial clinical experience of using this method has been very encouraging with results showing a high rate of complete closure and a low incidence of complications at mid-term follow-up.However,closure device of perimembranous VSD may resulted in complete artrioventricular block.In this article,the risk factors and preventive measures of artrioventricular block after percutaneous device closure of VSD were reviewed.


High fiber levels (165 g neutral detergent fibre (NDF)/kg DM) in Moringa oleifera leaf powder (MOLP) could limit its utilization as a nutraceutical source in Jumbo quail diets. Pre-treating MOLP with exogenous fibrolytic multi-enzymes could reduce the nutrient-encapsulating effect of non-starch polysaccharides and subsequently increase nutrient and bioactive compound utilization. Thus, this study investigated the effect of pre-treating dietary MOLP with an exogenous fibrolytic enzyme mixture on some physiological parameters and meat quality characteristics in Jumbo quail. A total of 396 Jumbo quail were randomly distributed to 6 experimental diets, with 6 replicate pens each and 11 birds per replicate. The experimental diets were: CON = a standard grower diet (156.5 g NDF /kg) without MOLP; ENZ0 = CON + 10% MOLP; and CON + MOLP pre-treated with 0.25% (ENZ25), 0.50% (ENZ50), 0.75% (ENZ75) and 1% (ENZ100) fibrolytic enzymes. There were no significant linear or quadratic effects on growth performance parameters and carcass characteristics in response to incremental levels of fibrolytic enzymes. However, neutrophils linearly increased, while breast meat lightness and 24 h hue angle linearly declined with enzyme levels. Quadratic effects were observed on gizzard weights and 1 h hue angle in response to enzyme levels. All the hemato-biochemical values fell within the normal ranges for healthy quail. It was concluded that the maximum fibrolytic multi-enzyme application rate of 1% may not have been adequate to enhance feed utilization and positively affect weight gain in Jumbo quail, thus higher levels may need to be investigated further.


The purpose of this essay is to present a brief overview of the main fundamental epistemological tests in the construction of scientific knowledge, in the specifications of Geography and their relevance theoretical for the study of territorial identity. It is assumed that the currents of knowledge outlined below are relevant as they are faced with theoretical approaches to the subject of territorial identity. The paper develops two points, the first describes epistemological currents, beginning with the contention of the approaches to science, parallel to the development of philosophical thought; emphasizing current currents that incited the development of geographic science. Foremost there are two well-marked approaches, positivism and radicalism, the latter strongly impregnated the socio-critical character of Geography. The second considers the epistemological currents that have theoretical and methodological relevance in the dissertation of territorial identity. In short, the aim is to identify the directions that allow reflection and knowledge. The final considerations are presented below.


In the work, the link of registered relative and absolute current signals of different amplitude and shape in recording spectral characteristics of the sunlight PV converter external quantum efficiency is investigated, and the need to use absolute current in spectral response studies of multijunction solar cells with clearly pronounced luminescent coupling is established.


Fund, a collaborative initiative of TrustAfrica and IDRC. It's a working paper circulated for discussion and comments. The findings and recommendations are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICBE-RF Secretariat, TrustAfrica or IDRC The Impact of Microfinance Service Delivery on the Growth of SMEs in Uganda By Nahamya K. Wilfred, Ajanga Max, Omeke Michael, Nasinyama Moses and Tumwine Norman Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda


Hybrid H-2 genes have been constructed in which the DNA sequences encoding the C2 domains were exchanged between the H-2Ld and H-2Dd genes in order to determine the positions of polymorphic sites of mouse class I antigen. DNA-mediated gene transfer allowed the expression of hybrid H-2 genes in mouse fibroblasts. Binding studies with monoclonal anti-H-2 antibodies against the transformed cells revealed that some serologic determinants were mapped to the C2 domain, while the majority mapped to the N and/or C1 domains. In contrast, uncloned anti-Ld and anti-Dd cytotoxic T lymphocytes predominantly recognized N and/or C1 but not C2 domains. Additionally, all three H-2-restricted hapten-specific cytotoxic T-cell populations (TNP, FITC, and AED) showed predominant detection of N and/or C1 domains.


l‐Asparaginase (l‐Asnase) can suppress the growth of malignant cells by rapid depletion of two essential amino acids, l‐glutamine (l‐Gln) and l‐asparagine (l‐Asn). To study the cytotoxic effect and the secondary complications of l‐Asnase in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the development of a novel enzyme reactor of l‐Asnase for the hydrolysis of l‐Gln, employing the enzyme‐gold nanoparticle conjugates in capillary, was reported in this work. First, a microchip CE (MCE)‐LIF was established for the separation of l‐amino acids (l‐Gln and l‐glutamic acid) and studying the hydrolysis of l‐Gln by using l‐Asnase enzyme reactor. Then, using l‐Gln as target analyte, the enzyme kinetics of l‐Asnase in free solution, enzyme‐gold nanoparticle conjugates (E‐GNP), and the enzyme‐gold nanoparticle conjugates immobilized in capillary (E‐GNP‐C) were investigated in detail with the proposed MCE‐LIF method. Moreover, for optimizing the enzymatic reaction efficiency, three important parameters, including the length of capillary, the enzyme concentration reacted with gold nanoparticle and the amount of l‐Asnase immobilized on the gold nanoparticle, have been studied. Owing to the high specific activity, the E‐GNP‐C enzyme reactor exhibited the best performance for the hydrolysis of l‐Gln.


Birmingham City University, Millennium point, B4 7XG United Kingdom Assembling of neural networks referred to as "Ensemble neural networks" consist with many small "expert networks" that learn small parts of the complex problem, which are established by decomposing it into its sub levels. Ensemble neural network architecture has been proposed to solve complex problems with large numbers of variables. In this paper, this architecture is used to analyze maintainability risks of high-rise buildings. An ensemble neural network that consists with four expert networks to represent four building elements namely roof, facade, basement and internal areas is developed to forecast the maintenance efficiency (ME) of buildings. The model is tested and the results showed good performance. The model is further validated using a real case study.


Diazotrophic activity and primary production (PP) were investigated along two transects (Belgica BG2014/14 23 and GEOVIDE cruises) off the western Iberian Margin and the Bay of Biscay (38.8–46.5° N; 8.0–19.7° W) in May 2014 24 close to the end of the spring bloom. We report substantial N2 fixation activities, reaching up to 65 nmol N L -1 d -1 and 25 1533 μmol N m -2 d -1 close to the Iberian Margin between 38.8° N and 40.7° N. Similar figures in the basin have only 26 been reported in the temperate and tropical western North Atlantic waters with coastal, shelf or mesohaline 27 characteristics, as opposed to the mostly open ocean conditions studied here. In agreement with previous studies, the 28 qualitative assessment of nifH gene diversity (encoding the nitrogenase enzyme that fixes N2) suggested a predominance 29 of heterotrophic diazotrophs, and the absence of filamentous cyanobacteria. At the sites where N2 fixation activity was 30 highest sequences affiliated to UCYN-A1, obligate symbiont of eukaryotic prymnesiophyte algae, were recovered. The 31 remaining phylotypes were non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs, known to live in association with suspended particles and 32 zooplankton (i.e., Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria). Outside the area of exceptional activity, N2 fixation in 33 the open ocean and at shelf-influenced sites was also relatively high, ranging from 81 to 384 μmol N m -2 d -1 , but was 34 undetectable in the central Bay of Biscay. We propose that the unexpectedly high heterotrophic N2 fixation activity 35 recorded at the time of our study was sustained by the availability of phytoplankton derived organic matter (dissolved 36 and/or particulate) resulting from the ongoing to post spring bloom. We pose that this organic material not only sustained 37 bacterial production, but also provided sufficient nutrients essential for the nitrogenase activity (e.g., phosphorus). 38 Dissolved Fe was supplied through atmospheric dust deposition during the month preceding our study and through 39 advection of surface waters from the subtropical region and the shelf area. Our findings stress the need for a more 40 1 Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2018-220 Manuscript under review for journal Biogeosciences Discussion started: 23 May 2018 c © Author(s) 2018. CC BY 4.0 License.


SUMMARY Thetwomonoclonal IgMs(IgM 1andIgM2)were characterized froma patient withWaldenstrom's macroglobulinaemia that resulted ina gammapathy. Heavyandlight chains were isolated fromthe IgM.Thecomplete primary structure ofthetwolight chains andtheNH2-terminal region ofthetwo heavychain molecules weredetermined. Thesequencedataindicated that theheavyandlight chains frombothIgMsbelong tothe same (III andII)lambdasubgroups. Bytesting their antibody activity it was foundbyimmunofluorescence andimmunoblotting thatonlyIgM2reactswithan intermediate filament protein.


Using strain gauges, the method to be described measures the lateral force required to produce a standard deflection of toothbrush tufts. A deflector bar which remains stationary is attached to a cantilever which is stressed by the pressure of the brush moving across the deflector bar. The resulting strain is measured by using strain gauges which are connected via a Wheatstone bridge to an oscilloscope. Movements of the oscilloscope beam represent changes in the force exerted by the brush and are photographed on moving film.

The effects on stiffness of changes in the rate of strain, length, diameter, wetness and temperature of nylon were investigated separately, and a standard test was devised which could assist in more accurate labelling of toothbrushes.


Given a point set P, are k closed convex polygons sufficient to partition the convex hull of P, such that the interior of a convex set contains no point in P? What if the vertices of these polygons are constrained to be points of P? We show that the first decision problem is NP-hard, and the second NP-complete.


The discrepancy between in†sample and out†of†sample predictability of common predictors for asset returns has been widely discussed in the literature. We examine the out†of†sample predictability and its economic significance of Variance risk premium (VRP), which recently has shown empirical success in predicting asset returns in†sample. Extensive analysis indicates strong out†of†sample predictability of the VRP for U.S. stock index, currencies, credit index, and equity portfolios. However, we do not find any evidence for predictability of bond and commodity markets. We demonstrate economic significance by providing profitable market timing strategies exploiting the out†of†sample forecasting power of the VRP in a real time setting.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the technical actions and heart rate response of amateur minifootball players during a competitive match. Methods: Ten male amateur minifootball players (age: 26.3 ± 4.2 years, height: 176 ± 7.4 cm and body mass: 78.9 ± 10 kg), from a First Division Tunisian team, participated in a match (2 × 25-min with 10 min rest). Heart rate was recorded during the whole time that participants spent on court. The minifootball match was recorded and analyzed for technical actions (i.e., data pertaining to passes, shots, actions, duels, fouls) using InStat. Results: Results showed that a minifootball match induced an intensity of 84.2% heart rate max (HRmax) (i.e., high intensity). The percentage of success in actions was 53.33 % and in shots was 36.54 %. A large number of passes (400 (290 successful)) and duels (210 (145 successful)) was found both in offensive and defensive phases. Conclusions: A minifootball match is of high intensity and requires a high level of physical and technical ability.


Global industrialization and the subsequent dwindling of many natural resources have become elements for product differentiation in marketing. Environmental certification programs are increasingly being recognized as significant market‐based tools for linking manufacturing and consumer purchases. This research examines the relationships between intrinsic environmental motivations and the willingness‐to‐pay a premium for environmentally certified wood products. A conceptual model is proposed that captures the effects of perceptions, awareness and price on consumer willingness to purchase and pay a premium for environmentally certified forest products. The data suggest that there are positive correlations between the willingness‐to‐pay and the independent variables in the model, environmental consciousness, certification involvement and perceived importance of certification. A cluster of US consumers was identified that has a proclivity to purchase certified wood products and may be a logical target market.


The impact caused by the detonation of landmines and improvised explosive devices may directly lead to spine fracture and injury of seated occupants on special vehicles. The vibration transmitted from the uneven road surface is another important factor affecting ride comfort/health, on the other hand. Aiming at minimizing the injury to spine and "discomfort" due to the shock and vibration from the terrain or blast, a magnetorheological (MR) energy absorber (EA)–based semi-active seat suspension system for both shock and vibration mitigation is proposed and investigated in this article. The proposed MR semi-active seat suspension system consists of a coil spring supporting the seat and the occupant, a MREA, and a fail-safe EA rod. The dynamic model of the MR semi-active seat suspension system with a 4-degree-of-freedom lumped-parameter model for seated occupant is established. A concept of integrated hybrid controller combining strategies for shock and vibration control is proposed and designed. The hybrid controller employs the skyhook control strategy to achieve vibration control and the "soft-landing" control strategy to achieve shock control, and it switches between the two control strategies according to the system dynamic states. Based on the real-time velocity of the seat, the motion process of the "vehicle-seat-human" system can be pre-judged, and the critical point for switching the two control strategies can be determined. A feedforward control strategy based on a hysteresis model with a resistor-capacitor (RC) operator is proposed and realized to high-efficiently output desired damping force of the hybrid controller from the employed MREA. Sequentially, both ride comfort (i.e. vibration control) and vertical safety (i.e. shock control) of the MR semi-active seat suspension system are analyzed and evaluated under different excitations.


The present communication is the first report of new distributional record of Ficus altissima Blume (Moraceae) in Tripura. F. altissima was found to be an important feeding and nesting habitat for forest frugivores, since the genus is very rich in diversity and is considered as a keystone species. This also possesses huge scope to understand the mechanism of interactions especially for conservation of rich avifaunal diversity. Brief description and field photographs are presented for facilitating easy identification of the species.


Thermal fatigue cracking is a phenomenon found in many of the refining and petrochemical industry processes. It may occur in any grade of steel including carbon and stainless grades where extensive cycling of hot and cool processes mixed. Damage occurs over time and has the potential to cause failures, which may be considered catastrophic due to the process and temperatures used.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


In spite of their importance in the resistance durability phenomena, molecular mechanisms for the recognition of fungal pathogens by their host plant remain poorly understood. To date, Twelve fungal avirulence genes have been cloned , including 4 from Cladosporium fulvum and 5 from Magnaporthe grisea. The peptides encoded by these genes share no structural homology, except for their size which is generally (but not always) small. Thus, studying more avirulence genes is desirable. The genome sequence of Magnaporthe grisea was released recently [Magnaporthe Sequencing Project. Ralph Dean, Fungal Genomics Laboratory at North Carolina State University (http://www.fungalgenomics.ncsu.edu), and Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research (http://www-genome.wi.mit.edu)]. This provides a useful tool to rapidly develop microsatellite molecular markers. Among the 1,436 microsatellite sequences identified in the genome (that were composed of di, tri and tetra nucleotides of at least 18 nucleotides), we chose 341 sequences, distributed throughout the genome, to define primers pairs allowing for their amplification by PCR. Eight percent of these primers did not amplify any product. Among the others, 43% revealed polymorphism between the parents of a reference cross (Guy 11 x 2539) as analysed on 3% agarose gels. One hundred-thirty four microsatellite markers could be added to the existing reference map. These markers are distributed over the six chromosomes at an average distance of 10 cM. The descendants of four crosses between different M grisea strains were analyzed by pathology testing and 9 avirulence genes were identified. The reference microsatellite map was used to choose markers that allowed us to map them in the new crosses or to increase the density of markers in areas surrounding the avirulence genes. In most cases, when comparing the location of markers in different crosses, the order of markers and distances between markers were conserved. Some evidence for rearrangements were, however, found. The use of a reference microsatellite map turned out to be very rapid and very efficient for the construction of framework genetic maps and rough mapping of a gene. For example, for a new cross for which no information was known, we could construct in just 3 weeks, a framework map using 94 progeny and 52 markers covering the 6 chromosomes. Since the genome sequence is available, increasing the number of markers in one particular area should become relatively easy. (Texte integral)


According to current situation of physical education teaching management in the vocational colleges,we analysis the introduction reasons of ISO standards.By the introduction the ISO quality management system to physical education teaching,it is helpful to build the teaching quality assurance system,improve the quality of teaching,and achieve the teaching objectives.


A new biodegradable, sustainable and environmentally friendly building material is introduced and studied in this work, which can be applied to lightweight architectural structures, aiming for the reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation of the climate change effects. The focus was to investigate the effect of water concentration and different types of sand on the mechanical properties of corn starch-based artificial sandstone. A series of cubic, cylindrical and disk specimens were prepared by varying the concentration of water and using different sources of commercial quartz sand. The quasi-static and cyclic compressive properties of starch-based artificial sandstone samples were measured as a function of water concentration and sand type, while the structure of the artificial sandstone specimens was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. Moreover, the Brazilian Test was employed as the indirect method to determine the tensile strength of the samples based on the type of the commercial sand they contained. The experimental results showed that the homogeneous grading of sand grains and the latter's chemical composition have a significant effect on the mechanical properties of the sandstone samples. The highest compression values were obtained using the microwave heating method at a water concentration of about 12 wt%, while the cyclic compression and Brazilian Tests have shown that the granulometric grading of the sand particles and the chemical composition of the sand influence the compressive and tensile strength of the material.


The total phenol content of four common paddy cultivars of Odisha namely Abhisek (R), Manik (MR), Bas-12 (S) and Lalat (HS) were studied under pot culture condition in the net house following CRD design under different treatments using biofertilizer Azospirillum. brasilense alone or in combinations against rice root-knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola. The objective of  the work was to study the quantitative changes in phenolic compounds content and the effect of  A.brasilense in the induction of phenolic compounds on the test nematode. It was observed  that there was a significant increase in total phenol content in both resistant and moderately resistant paddy cultivars Abhisek and Manik in treatment T2  (Azospirillum brasilense @ 12kg/ha at 15DAT + M. graminicola @ 1000J2 after 7days of Azospirillum inoculation) were seen higher than the susceptible variety Bas-12 and highly susceptible variety Lalat  as compared  to control T5 with increase percentage of 38.77%, 36.58%, 35.02% and 39.28% respectively in shoots. Similarly the trend was continued in roots containing total phenol content of 0.25mg/g  in Abhisek, 0.18mg/g  in Manik, 0.21mg/g in Bas-12 and 0.19mg/g in Lalat as compared to  other treatments. There were increase in percentage of change (p≤0.05) in roots under treatment T3 (A alone) in all the four varieties followed by T2 (A→N), and T1 (N→A) with respect to control T5. Basically, shoots of control plants in all four cultivars were observed more content of phenolic compounds than their roots. But after M. graminicola invasion and the action of A. brasilense the amount increased  in both the roots and shoots of all the cultivars. The T4 (N alone) treatment in all the R, MR, S and HS varieties were recorded higher as compare to T5 but less than the treatments T3, T2, and T1 in both roots and shoots against the test nematode, which could exacerbating for eco-friendly RKN management approach.


The aim of this research work was to investigate the influence of spruce bark natural bioactive compounds on copper bioaccumulation in rape plants. To eliminate the influence of soil characteristics and microorganism interaction, germination tests and hydroponic culture experiments were carried out in the presence of different polyphenolic aqueous extracts and various copper ion concentrations (10, 25, 50 mg/L CuSO4). To evaluate the effects of spruce bark polyphenolic extracts (0.580, 1.004, 1.912 g dry matter content/L), the following parameters were determined: content of chlorophyll a and b, concentration of copper ions at root level and their translocation to hypocotyls and cotyledons, as well as the bioaccumulation factor. The presence of spruce bark extracts in a copper contaminated environment stimulates the development of rape plantlets and blocks the heavy metal access to the plant.


The utilization of natural and chemically modified polysaccharides as a part of drug development has increased in the past two decades. Great attention has also been focused on biopolymer based hydrogels for use as potential carriers in controlled drug delivery. Hydrogels are three dimensional, hydrophilic networks capable of imbibing large amount of water or biological fluids, mimics biological tissues. Because of this nature, great attention was devoted to these systems for biomedical applications. Indeed, these networks can be made suitable as the modulated drug delivery devices by tuning the physicochemical properties of the hydrogels with varying the degree of crosslinking either by physical or chemical or physical-chemical means. Numerous approaches have been investigated for formulation of controlled release dosage forms of different therapeutic agents including proteins, peptides, and even cells. In this present review, an attempt was made to narrate the different natural polyanions and their mechanism to form cross-linked hydrogel beads. This review was also focused on various methods of preparation of beads. Here, it was also tried to explain the importance of ionotropic gelation and polyelectrolyte complexation approaches, as these methods show great promise as a tool for the development of encapsulation process. Each method has its own advantages as well as limitations. For further improvement in this area, it is important to understand the strength and drawbacks of each method. Hence, an attempt was also made to discuss the same.


The cobalt-59 nucleus is an NMR active nucleus with the nuclear spin I = 7/2 and has a natural abundance of 100 %. It is an important nucleus because it has ease of detectable NMR signals both liquid and solid-state. The Co-59 NMR chemical shift range is one of the largest known in NMR spectroscopy, spanning some 18,000 ppm or more. However, Co-59 NMR is an extremely sensitive technique to external factors such as pressure, temperature, and others. Therefore, predicting Co-59 NMR chemical shift might be useful to assist experimentalists in the structural characterization. In the present study, we propose a new NMR-DKH basis set for Co atom to predict NMR chemical shift in Co complexes. Besides, we proposed a computational protocol (Functional DFT/Co basis set/Ligands basis set) for the prediction of the structure and, later, for the prediction of the Co-59 NMR chemical shift using 6 Co complexes as model systems. The results show that the computational protocol (NMR/structure) GIAO-B3LYP/NMR-DKH/IEF-PCM(UFF)//CAM-B3LYP/LANL2DZ/jorge-DZP/IEF-PCM(UFF) presents a mean relative deviation (DRM) of 1.48% for the structure, a mean absolute deviation (MAD) of 101 ppm and a DRM of 1.2% for the Co-59 chemical shift. Finally, the protocol was corrected by a linear regression model giving a MAD and MRD of 57 ppm and 0.7%, respectively.


This volume includes texts by authors who are explicitly inspired by the ecosophical pragmatics of Félix Guattari or who resonate with it. Published in a blend of English and Spanish, the thirteen articles were written by researchers, artists, art historians, philosophers, and schizoanalysts from Asia, America, and Europe. Their methods, ideas, and approaches highlight the ability of creative practice to map and engender complex, relational, singularized, transversal, and constitutive forms of life. Departing from bold analyses of capitalism's mechanisms of subjection, their contributions describe how art is able to resist the repressive politics of dominant representations and mobilize processes of existential heterogenesis through molecular becomings. The origin of this publication is the IV International Symposium Mutant ecologies in contemporary art: machinic capitalism, molecular beings, and subsistence territories that took place online on November 25-26, 2020, which had as special guest the philosopher and art theorist Gerald Raunig. This special issue of the Journal of Global Studies and Contemporary Art builds on the project started with the book Mutating Ecologies in Contemporary Art (Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona) which investigated the conjunction of the ecological turn in contemporary art and Guattarian ecosophy to inquire about the role of art in light of the challenges posed by the environmental degradation and the socio-political crises of today. Thirty years after Guattari's death and the publication of Chaosmosis (1992), this collection of texts testifies that Guattari's clinical and critical analyses continue to infuse artistic, ecological, and political practice with a revolutionary potential.


Thermal analysis properties and chemical structure of carbon fiber/epoxy composites under environmental exposure were examined using an accelerated aging tester which can simulate real weather conditions such as temperature, moisture and ultraviolet. The composite specimens were exposed to combined environmental factors up to 3000 hours. Thermal analysis properties and chemical structure of the composites were evaluated with various exposure times through Modulated DSC and FTIR. According to the results of Modulated DSC, the glass transition temperature increased as exposure time increased due to the formation of network structures in the composites. Also endotherm peaks of enthalpy relaxation related to physical aging that can affect the properties of the composites were observed as exposure time increased. From the results of FTIR, it was found that the location of the peaks was little affected by exposure time, but the intensity of the peaks slightly decreased as exposure time increased due to the curing reaction in the epoxy group.


The objective of this article is to articulate the hermeneutics of liberation in Ayi Kwei Armah's Two Thousand Seasons. Premised on an assertion that Two Thousand Seasons is divisible into three sections—the realm of the godhead, the realm of the ancestors, and the realm of the living—this article will argue that the protagonists of the novel use land, an abode of the ancestors, as a text through which they form themselves into a healing community. Reinterpreting African belief systems' claim of connectedness of the ancestors to the gods and the godhead, this article will assert that when the protagonists have authentic relationship with each other and their world, they constitute gods or creative forces and consequently have a glimpse of the godhead. Commencing by articulating African belief systems' concepts of godhead, gods, and ancestors, this article concludes by describing the hermeneutic project of the novel's protagonists.


In the four previous parts of this series of articles, level measurement using a floating system, using pressure instruments, using radar waves and using ultrasonic waves were discussed. The instruments offered by Indumart company applicable for each method were also recommended. In the final part of this article, level measurement using capacitance, conductivity probes, vibration forks, thermal dispersion and optical technics are discussed.


[546-67-8] C8H12O8Pb (MW 443.37)

InChI = 1/4C2H4O2.Pb/c4*1-2(3)4;/h4*1H3,(H,3,4);/q;;;;+4/p-4/f4C2H3O2.Pb/q4*-1;m

InChIKey = JEHCHYAKAXDFKV-XDSBQQJHCT

(oxidizing agent for different functional groups;1 oxidation of unsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons;2 oxidation of monohydroxylic alcohols to cyclic ethers;3 1,2-glycol cleavage;4 acetoxylation of ketones;1 decarboxylation of acids;5 oxidative transformations of nitrogen-containing compounds6)

Alternate Name: lead tetraacetate; LTA.

Physical Data: mp 175–180 °C; d 2.228 g cm−3.

Solubility: soluble in hot acetic acid, benzene, cyclohexane, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, methylene chloride; reacts rapidly with water.

Form Supplied in: colorless crystals (moistened with acetic acid and acetic anhydride); widely available, 95–97%.

Analysis of Reagent Purity: iodometrical titration.

Drying: in some cases, acetic acid must be completely removed by drying the reagent in a vacuum desiccator over potassium hydroxide and phosphorus pentoxide for several days.

Handling, Storage, and Precaution: the solid reagent is very hygroscopic and must be stored in the absence of moisture. Bottles of lead tetraacetate should be kept tightly sealed and stored under 10 °C in the dark and in the presence of about 5% of glacial acetic acid.


Introduction The motivation for using Ge substrates instead of Si in planar CMOS devices is its high mobility, required for high-performance applications in future generations. The combination of Ge with high-k dielectric layers might at the same time meet the aggressively scaled EOT (Equivalent Oxide Thickness) targets as specified in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) [1]. In this paper, we compare Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) of HfO2 on HF-last, "O-free", and NH3 pretreated Ge substrates.


Abstract This article presents a groundbreaking new model for the management of natural resources, introduced into New Zealand (NZ) law in line with the worldview of the indigenous Maori. The artic...


This
article provides a brief overview of the technology of humanoid
robots. First, historical development and hardware progress are
presented mainly on human-size full-body biped humanoid robots,
together with progress in pattern generation of biped
locomotion. Then, «whole-body motion» – coordinating leg and arm
movements to fully leverage humanoids' high degrees of freedom – is
presented, followed by its applications in fields such as device
evaluation and large-scale assembly. Upper-body humanoids with a
mobile base, which are mainly utilized for research on human-robot
interaction and cognitive robotics, are also introduced before
addressing current issues and
perspectives.


AIM: This study aimed to determine the influence of 250GA polymorphism in the LIPC gene and 1607insG in the MMP-1 gene on the course of obliterating atherosclerosis of lower limb arteries (OALLA).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-six individuals were included in this study. In the first group (n = 34), patients with an unfavorable (progressive) course of OALLA and developed critical ischemia of the lower limbs within 5 years from the onset of the disease were included. In the second group (n = 34), patients with a conventionally favorable (non-progressive) course but did not develop critical ischemia of the lower limbs within 5 years from the onset of the disease and did not have a progressive degree of chronic ischemia. In the control group, healthy volunteers (n = 8) without signs of atherosclerosis in all vascular pools were included. In all the patients, LIPC-250GA and MMP-1-1607insG were genotyped. The difference in the observed and expected frequencies was evaluated via a Pearson 2 test with correction for likelihood.
RESULTS: Significant differences (p = 0.013) in the 250GA polymorphism of the LIPC gene were found between the observed and expected frequencies compared with those in patients with OALLA and healthy volunteers. The assessment of the first and second groups revealed differences in the observed and expected frequencies (р = 0.004). Heterozygous carriage (GA genotype) was associated with an increased risk of the development of the unfavorable course of OALLA (hazard ratio = 2.133 with 95% confidence interval = 1.2143.748). In the analysis of the 1607insG polymorphism of the MMP-1 gene, statistically insignificant data were obtained compared between the first and second groups (р = 0.128) and between the groups of patients with OALLA and healthy volunteers (р = 0.38).
CONCLUSIONS: The heterozygous carrier of LIPC 250GA was associated with an increased risk of an unfavorable OALLA course. This research on this polymorphism could be applied to patients with the newly diagnosed atherosclerosis of the arteries of the lower extremities to determine the prognosis of the disease course, especially in young patients with early manifestation and individuals with a burdened hereditary history. The 1607insG polymorphism of the MMP-1 gene had no effect on the course of OALLA.


The effect of mixing technique on the PVC paste was investigated in this paper. Theinfluence of plasticizer dosage, PVC type, PVC molecular weight, filler size, stirrer, viscosityreducer, mixing temperature, mixing time on the viscosity of PVC sol and the initial viscositywas also investigated.


In this paper we present a survey above recent developments for improvement of Digital Radio receivers and a design of an Audible Content Manager based on Personal Audio Recording via DAB. The solution is based on a flexible framework (Java) which can establish fundamentals of a stand-alone or cooperative system in a convergent environment. This software based solution provides a basis for multiple configurations as well as an upgrade way for future applications.


Defected ground structures (DGS) are expanded from the photonics bandgap (PBG) structures. On the ground metallic plane, the defected units are etched artificially, the ground current distribution can be changed, and the frequency properties of the transmission lines can be influenced. In this paper, the precise parameters of transmission properties of the periodic defected ground structures (PDGS) and nonperiodic defected ground structures (NPDGS) are obtained on the basis of FDTD analysis. The relation be-tween periodic unit amounts and transmission properties of PDGS is given in the paper. There is great difference between the trans-mission properties of PDGS and the transmission properties of NPDGS because of the differences in periodic unit amounts and the ground plane. The conclusion given in the paper will provide powerful tool for the analysis and design of DGS.


In this study, we explore the robustness of cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning (c-MARL) against Byzantine failures, where any agent can enact arbitrary, worst-case actions due to malfunction or adversarial attack. To address the uncertainty that any agent can be adversarial, we propose a Bayesian Adversarial Robust Dec-POMDP (BARDec-POMDP) framework, which views Byzantine adversaries as nature-dictated types, represented by a separate transition. This allows agents to learn policies grounded on their posterior beliefs about the type of other agents, fostering collaboration with identified allies and minimizing vulnerability to adversarial manipulation. We define the optimal solution to the BARDec-POMDP as an ex post robust Bayesian Markov perfect equilibrium, which we proof to exist and weakly dominates the equilibrium of previous robust MARL approaches. To realize this equilibrium, we put forward a two-timescale actor-critic algorithm with almost sure convergence under specific conditions. Experimentation on matrix games, level-based foraging and StarCraft II indicate that, even under worst-case perturbations, our method successfully acquires intricate micromanagement skills and adaptively aligns with allies, demonstrating resilience against non-oblivious adversaries, random allies, observation-based attacks, and transfer-based attacks.


Heave, pitch and roll motions as well as airgap are key characteristics of semisubmersibles in extreme seas which are defined by Ultimate Limit State design conditions (ULS) with a specified 100-year design wave height Hs and peak period Tp . The increasing number of reported rogue waves with unexpected large wave heights (Hmax /Hs > 2), crest heights (ζmax/ /Hmax > 0.6), wave steepness and group patterns (e.g. Three Sisters) may suggest a reconsideration of design codes by implementing an Accidental Limit State (ALS) with a return period of 104 years. For investigating the consequences of specific extreme sea conditions this paper analyses the seakeeping behaviour of a semisubmersible in a reported rogue wave, the Draupner New Year Wave embedded in irregular sea states. The numerical time-domain invegstigation using a panel method and potential theory is compared to frequency-domain results. In particular, the characteristics of the embedded rogue wave is varied to analyse the dynamic response of the semisubmersible in extreme wave sequences For validation, the selected sea condition is generated in a physical wave tank, and the sea-keeping behaviour of the semisubmersible is evaluated at model scale. In conclusion, the results deomstrate the consequences of rogue wave impacts, with respect to the relevance of present design methods and safety standards.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


Image of musicians and festival attendees all gathered together under a tree for an intimate performance on fiddle, banjo and guitar. In the center Ken Bloom? playing banjo.


This paper considers the apparatus for the rehabilitation of the lower extremities of a person after injuries. It consists of three elements interconnected electric drives. The paper presents the relevance of the research and design of such devices. The scheme and mathematical model of the mechanismare calculated. The mathematical model allows to investigate the controlled motion of the device by the numerical method. Studied two different modes of the device. Thedevice can more effectively influence the joints and muscles of the human. In the result of the numerical simulation for each of the suggested modes of operation revealed regularities of changes of angles, angular velocities and angular accelerations from the control moments. The developed model can serve as a basis for the development of methods for design and develop optimal control algorithm rehabilitation devices.


Aims : To standardize the histopathological assessment of synovial membrane specimens in order to contribute to the diagnostics of rheumatic and non‐rheumatic joint diseases.


SUMMARY

A case of spontaneous rupture of an apparently normal kidney is presented. A search of the literature revealed only three reports of a similar case. The probability that there are nevertheless logical explanations for these occurrences is discussed.


We show that if actors are defined as more knowledgeable when they possess more information, and if actors are defined as more powerful when they can extract greater surplus while exchanging resources, there is a fundamental trade-off in the social structural foundations of power and knowledge. This trade-off derives from the opposing implications of having redundant (i.e., directly or indirectly linked) contacts. Insofar as ego's alters are nonredundant, ego can be expected to become more knowledgeable more quickly. And such nonredundancy can also be the basis for great power as ego monopolizes the flow of resources (including information) between ego's alters. However, the very same mechanism that is behind ego's power as a provider of resources—i.e., the possession of nonsubstituitable resources on the part of disconnected contacts—also implies that that ego's alters will themselves be monopolists, thus weakening ego as an acquirer of resources. Furthermore, while the surplus earned from providing resources on monopoly terms is potentially much greater than the surplus earned from acquiring resources on competitive terms, the former strategy carries the risk that socially distant actors will not value one another's resources. Beyond elucidating the trade-off in the social structural foundation of knowledge and power, our framework also shows how the opposing implications of redundancy are the basis for a broad family of well known trade-offs (cosmopolitanism versus localism; exploration versus exploitation; insider versus stranger; robust versus simple identities) whose relationships with one another and with power and knowledge have not been appreciated. For all such trade-offs, the greater potential returns afforded by nonredundancy are balanced by the surer returns available from redundancy. Copyright 2008 , Oxford University Press.


Explicit expression of global gauge anomaly coefficients A(..omega..) of locally anomaly-free representation ..omega.. of classical groups SU(N), Sp(2N) and SO(N) have been calculated in even dimensional space-time by uses of group theory and homotopy theory. As a by-product, we will prove some modular relations involving the n-th Kynkin indices Q/sub n/(..omega..) of these groups. 11 refs.


Treatment of OsCl2(PPh3)3 with HC≡CAr (Ar = Ph, p-tolyl) produced the η3-allenylcarbene complexes OsCl2(═CAr-η2-CH═C═CHAr)(PPh3)2. Reactions of the η3-allenylcarbene complexes with gold alkynyls Au(C≡CR)(PPh3) (R = Ph, p-tolyl, TMS, nBu, CH(OEt)2) or copper(I) alkynyls Cu(C≡CR) (R = Ph, TMS) in the presence of HNEt3Cl produced the osmabenzynes Os{≡CC(R)═C(CH2Ar)CH═CAr}Cl2(PPh3)2. Computational studies suggest that the osmabenzynes are formed through electrocyclization of osmium alkynyl-allenylcarbene intermediates followed by protonation with HNEt3Cl.


The antibody response to triple-helical calf skin collagen is apparently regulated by T cells since nude mice (BALB/c strain) responded to this antigen only after transfer of T cells. Syngeneic transfer of B and T cells was required to prepare thymectomized and irradiated normal C57B1/10 recipients for an anti-collagen response. Reconstitution by B cells alone was unsuccessful. The results are compatible with previous evidence on the H-2 linked genetic control of the antibody response to and the non-repetitious nature of helical antigenic determinants in calf collagen.