We introduce a novel way to search and recommend mobile applications namely, activity-based app search. Keywords used in activity-based app search are terms such as "drinking coffee", "during a flight", "cooking with friends", "driving". We define context as What, Where, When and Whom. The results returned by activity-based app search are apps that can be used while performing the activity specified in the search (What) at a certain time (When) in a certain place (Where) within a social context (Whom). The use of any of the returned apps and the activity performed by the user will not interfere with each other. For example, activity-based app search for "cooking" will return apps to use while cooking such as Pandora Internet Radio while a traditional search for "cooking" would return apps for cooking such as cookbook apps. Out of all the many challenges that this new search paradigm introduces, we focus on the activity (i.e., What) as it is the most challenging and novel of all four.


This report provides the results of experimental work in the field of RAW (radioactive waste) thermal treatment with application of the induction melting technology , results of engineering development of induction melting systems at Mos SIA Radon ,as well as aspects of designing and application of new designs of induction melters are considered. Technical problems and ways of their decision when developing and improving of induction melting technology at Mos SIA "Radon" and also experience in thermal treatment of various kinds of waste with application of this technology are reported in short . This technology at the certain completion is quite suitable for treatment of highlevel waste (HLW) and intermediatelevel waste (ILW). Technical decisions available at present for this technology can be a basis for development of new induction melting systems in which the new materials , new automated control systems, new approaches to designing, application, management should be applied.


Objective: Through the skin Basal cell carcinoma(Basal cell carcinoma,BCC)comprehensive analysis,understand the characteristicsof the clinical manifestations, pathological examination in a timely manner so as to reduce the misdiagnosis, BCC.Methods:65 Cases of clinical data of patients with BCC comprehensive analysis. Results: In patientswith BCCmale and female ratio is1.03:1.The average agewas66.2 yearsold,the agewas sixtyyearsold accounts for 72.3% of the total number of cases.Head face cases accounted for about 76.9% of the total number of cases, including nose and nasal cases accounted for about 43.1%. Clinical manifestation with nodules, patches, ulcer is, not for pathological inspectors easy to cause the misdiagnosis.Conclusion: BCC clinical manifestation has diversity, should pay attention to and other diseases, to identify suspected casesof early ask organize pathology, is to improve the basal cell carcinoma diagnosis level of important means.


The laser system for eye surgery, receives a laser engine for generating a laser beam, the generated laser beam, the focus of the laser system, over the first Z interval is scanned along the optical axis of the laser system a first Z scanner, receives a laser beam emitted from the first Z scanner, the focal point of the laser system, an XY scanner for scanning in a direction substantially transverse to the optical axis of the laser system, which is scanned from the XY scanner receiving a laser beam provided with a focusing of the laser system, over a second Z interval, and a second Z scanner for scanning along the optical axis of the laser system. .FIELD 1


This thesis deals with the fabrication and characterization of nanochannels (channels with at least one dimension in the sub-100 nm range). These channels are important for various areas of research, including DNA analysis systems and chemical sensors. In addition, the behavior of liquids in nano-confinement is of interest for many of the applications. The technologies currently used to fabricate
nanochannels are often expensive and/or time consuming or simply not accurate enough. This creates a need for controlled, yet simple fabrication technologies.


Report on the Cognition and Culture Workshop M. Afzal Upal (firstname.lastname@example.com) Cognitive Science, Occidental College Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA Keywords: culture, religion, anthropology. concepts has been used to explain other aspects of religious thought. Lisdorf (2007) argues that counterintuitive agents such as divine concepts are introduced in rituals to form an easily comprehensible explanation of the ritual actions by appealing to the agency of hidden counterintuitive agents. While acknowledging that counterintuitiveness of religious concepts may partly explain their wide distribution some (e.g., Atran 2002) have argued that MCI explanations fail to completely explain religious concepts. Atran (2002) for instance argues that the MCI hypothesis does not explain the reasons as to why some counterintuitive concepts (e.g., Jesus and Allah) are a religious concepts while others such as Mickey Mouse are not. Furthermore, if MCI concepts always enjoy memorability advantages then why don't cultures representations have even more of them? (Atran 2002). Even though explaining mental foundations of culture and cultural foundations of mental life has always been one of the ultimate objectives of collective social sciences, there seemed little hope of developing a natural science of culture until the recent interdisciplinary attempts called cognition and culture. What sets the new approach apart is its focus on understanding the relationship between individual level cognition and social processes rather than settling for explanations that appeal to only one of these levels and allowing researchers from diverse traditional disciplines to productively communicate with each other and make progress on problems that transcend their disciplinary boundaries. Thus anthropologists, religious studies experts, marketing researchers, experimental psychologists, and computer scientists can work together to identify the ecological, cognitive and ontological factors that are critical to the spread of information and to identify the patterns of complex dynamics between cognition and culture. Annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CSS) is an ideal platform for such an endeavor since CSS because of its interdisciplinary nature attracts researchers from various traditional disciplines. This issue oriented workshop focuses on several open issues in the emerging science of cognition and culture. These include: • Can cognitive science of religion explain real world religious concepts and rituals and hence real world religions? • What role does modularity hypothesis play in explaining the preferential processing of minimally counterintuitive concepts? • What role can computer simulation in general and cognitive modeling in particular play in advancing the cognition and culture research? • Are religious and scientific cognition similar or different? Status of Modularity Hypothesis in Cognitive Science of Religion Modularity hypothesis is the notion that mind, not unlike a swiss army knife, consists of a number of specialized modules which have been evolutionarily designed to efficiently process domain specific inputs (Fodor 1983; Cosmides & Tooby 1994). Cognitive scientists of religion including Boyer (1994) and Sperber (1994), similar to others who advocate evolutionary explanations for cultural phenomena (Cosmides & Tooby 1994), have assumed that such modularity is both implied by evolutionary history and is also needed to explain the cultural patterns such as widespread beliefs in minimally counterintuitive concepts. As Boyer and Barrett (2005) write: "… human expertise about the natural and social environment, including what is often called semantic knowledge", is best construed as consisting of different domains of competence. Each of these corresponds to recurrent evolutionary problems, is organized along specific principles, is the outcome of specific developmental pathways and is based on specific neural structures. What we call a "human evolved intuitive ontology" comprises a catalogue of broad domains of information, different sets of principles applied to these different domains as well as different learning rules to acquire more information about those objects. Boyer and Ramble (2001) further argue that: whenever an object is identified as belonging to one such domain, this triggers specific, principled expectations… violations of intuitive expectations for domain-concepts are more salient than other types of cultural information, thereby leading to enhanced acquisition, representation, and communication. Cognitive Science of Religion and Real World Religions One of the hallmarks of the cognitive approach to culture has been the observation by Boyer (1994) that most religious concepts are minimally counterintuitive (MCI) in the sense that they violate a minimal number (typically taken to mean one) of the ontological expectations of a category. Furthermore, a series of experiments (Boyer and Ramble 2001; Barrett & Nyhof 2001) have shown that MCI concepts are more memorable than intuitive concepts. This may help explain as to why such concepts are so widespread. Furthermore, preferential processing of counterintuitive


Summary. We confirm that in many patients with iron‐deficiency anaemia, desferrioxamine chelates body iron in amounts similar to normal healthy men.


Oscillating weight 21 and the antenna for receiving a power generating mechanism (2), and a timing mechanism to reveal the time, the wireless information to a mechanical energy due to the rotation with the generator to convert electric energy of the oscillating weight 21 (6 ), and a reception apparatus, an antenna 6 having a locus of rotation than is the outer periphery of the oscillating weight 21 is provided on the radially outer side of the oscillating weight (21).


In this research work, iron modified titanium dioxide photocatalyst was synthesized by the sol-gel method. The catalyst is characterized by FT-IR, XRF, and TGA techniques. Since the activity of Fe/TiO2 is highly affected by the loading of Fe, our major purpose of this work was focused on the role of this factor. Moreover, the effect of calcination temperature, which was also of high importance, was studied in this work. FT-IR results indicated the existence of a peak in the range of 1100-1200 corresponding to Ti-O-Fe bonds. The intensity of this peak is proportional to the amount of iron, which is incorporated into the TiO2 lattice. Optimum Fe-loading was specified by FT-IR and it was measured by XRF. In order to evaluate the catalytic activity of Fe/TiO2, a synthetic wastewater of phenol was irradiated by the UV lamp (757.38 mW/cm 3 ), Fe/TiO2 with the dosage of 0.5 g/L was applied as the catalyst and H2O2 (12.5 mL, 30% wt. /wt.) was added as an oxidizing agent. Experimental results proved, the optimum condition for phenol degradation process over Fe/TiO2 is as follows: Fe loading in the TiO2 lattice: Fe2O3/TiO2 is 0.27%, calcination temperature: 600°C, and irradiation time of 600 min. Under this circumstance, 98.26% of the phenol in water was decomposed.


Abstract: A famous passage in the first Critique (A 557 f.) often gives rise to the belief that Kant had not yet delivered a full treatment of freedom in 1781 and intended to shift this treatment to future writings. However, a closer inspection of the passage reveals that, to the contrary, Kant claims that due to the limitations of human reason his critical account of freedom given thus far must be considered complete. And indeed, this account reappears unchanged in the Groundwork. When considered in this light, not only do the exact achievements of the first Critique concerning Kant's doctrine of freedom become evident, but so too does the further development of this doctrine. In 1785, the Groundwork supplies a new conceptual link between freedom and the moral law (and with it an explanation of the possibility of categorical imperatives). And thanks to this very link, Kant is able, in the second Critique (1787/88), to remedy a 'dogmatic' mistake (discovered by a reviewer in 1786) in his 1781/85 account of freedom.


We previously systematically reported how anionic surfactants of different hydrophilicities affected three metabolically important enzymes (namely, glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and malate dehydrogenase (MDH)) of various molecular masses and their transport behaviors through a semipermeable membrane at a pH range (6.5-7.4) and concentrations relevant to body functions. Reports of how electrolytes that are important to human body functions, such as Cl, K, Ca, and Na , are transported through cellular membrane in a homogeneous setting are not readily available. In this study, we systematically investigated how the surfactants of various hydrophilicities affect the interfacial transport of Cl, K, Ca, and Na through a semipermeable membrane in the presence of enzymes at pH 6.5 to 7.4. Surfactants of various hydrophilicities have definite effects on activities of enzymes and the effects are also pH dependent, but surfactants with concentrations at ppm level do have significant effect on the permeabilities of ionic electrolytes. In the presence of multiple enzymes, permeation rates of enzymes decrease when they are compared to a single enzyme solution.


Identification of biological molecules and microorganisms is an important problem of the microbiology which is traditionally solved by means of the marked antibodies. However in most cases the corresponding methods are based on detection of a significant amount of the interacting molecules and don't allow to find out their distribution on a surface. One of possible solutions consists in use of a modern method of atomic force microscopy. In current work the specific complexes formedbynanodimensionallabels, containing colloidal gold or amorphous carbon on a surface of bacterial cages of S.aureus and on a surface of plastic microwell immunological plateswere found and studied by means of atomic force microscopy. Morphological characteristics and the map of distribution of the revealed complexes on the studied surfaces were established. In experiments with tags sensitivity of a method was defined and comparison with the enzyme-linked immunoassay was carried out. The received results indicate high sensitivity of the offered method and certain advantages of carbon labels in comparison with gold labels, because of their easy detection and unambiguity in identification on the received images. Identification of microorganisms in model two-component biological systems was carried out and approaches to marking of bacterial cages in complex biological mixes was developed for the directed their allocation and the subsequent studying. Thus, use of a atomic force microscope in combination with nanodimensional carbon and gold labels, allows to realize a new way of identification of single molecules and microorganisms in complex biological mixes.


Introduction: Aim of the study was to clarify the basic demographic characteristics, sexual risk behaviors, and online social network use of the sexual partners of African American and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) to inform interventions. African American and Latino MSM are increasingly using online social networks to meet sexual partners. Online social network interventions are being designed to increase HIV prevention among these populations with the hope that the interventions will spread throughout the social networks to also reduce risk among sexual partners. However, little is known about the sexual partners of African American and Latino MSM or how these partners might impact HIV risk. Material and methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey study that took place in fall of 2012. Forty-four participants were recruited via referrals from a previous study with high-risk MSM. Participants were invited to contact their current, former, or potential sexual partners on Facebook. Sexual behavior and online social network usage data were collected. Results: The participants had a mean age of 31.8 years old. More than 50% of partners had not been tested for HIV in the past 12 months, nearly 30% were previously diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease, and 15% had used drugs while having sex. 36 % of the participants had gone online to meet new sexual partners. Conclussion: Results suggest that sex partners of African American and Latino MSM are engaging in behaviors (drug use and lack of testing for STDs) that are associated with an increased risk of HIV/ AIDS. Additional studies should elucidate the characteristics of interconnected sexual networks that facilitate rapid transmission of HIV as well as create tailored and culturally appropriate interventions for minority men who have sex with men. HIV AIDS Rev 2018; 17, 2: 117-121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5114/hivar.2018.76372


This project is based on the use of technology and computation applied to acoustic signals of a room, as a tool to enhance the listener's experience during playback of a musical material or performance "live». This requires a process designed for this purpose Para citar este articulo: M. Biembengut, «Modelaje matematico en la ensenanza de Matematica en la Ingenieria: posibilidades y dificultades», Ingenium, vol. 16, n.° 31, pp. 71-92, mayo, 2015.


Operators of larger farms are more likely to adopt conservation measures that are compatible with farm production. Operators of all types and sizes of farms have adopted conservation-compatible farming practices and installed conservation structures. Many farmers do so for sound business reasons—to protect the productive capacity of their farmland, to reduce seed, fertilizer, and other input costs, or to save time and labor. However, the costs of conservation practices that primarily create off-site benefits to society—in the form of cleaner air, improved water quality, and a healthier ecosystem—often pose significant barriers to their adoption by farm operators. To encourage these efforts, USDA provides technical and financial support to farm and ranch operators through a diverse set of conservation programs that either retire environmentally fragile land from production or encourage the adoption of conservationLand Retirement and Working-land Conservation Structures A Look at Farmers' Choices


The paper investigated the association between emotional intelligence and work motivation among employees of organisations to determine whether emotional intelligence differences exist in work motivation, and to assess the nature of the association between emotional intelligence and work motivation. A sample of 140 respondents was selected through the convenience sample method for the primary data collection. A set of questionnaires developed by the researcher was used to collect data from the respondents. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, and presented in Tables. The results indicate respondents are emotionally intelligent and are also motivated. The research findings also indicate emotional intelligence differences exist in work motivation. It is recommended that improvement in skills in the emotional intelligence of employees will contribute positively to work motivational levels, and organisation's productivity, and growth. Organisations should, therefore, thrive to identify factors that improve the work motivation of employees.


Part XV of Cuneiform Texts fromn Babylonian Tablets in the British Museurn contains twenty four plates of "Early Sumerian Religious Texts." It also contains, at the beginning, six plates, entitled "Old Babylonian Legends." The religious texts are purely Sumerian, but the so called legends are Assyrian. There are really three tablets of the legends, which, according to the publication, seem to be considerably broken. Yet cols. i and viii of the first tablet, cols. i and ii of the second tablet and cols. ii and vil of the third tablet furnish six interesting texts which may properly be called poems, a translation of which is given in the following pages. I take great pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to Professor John Dyneley Prince of Columbia University for much valuable help in the translation of these difficult Old Babylonian unilingual poetic texts.


We propose a practical picture browser called DrawerBrowser for finding items in drawers, which is designed through observation of daily activities.


Preliminary measurements are reported on the azimuthal single‐spin asymmetries of exclusive ρ0 and π+ mesons for a transversely polarized hydrogen target at HERMES using the 27.6 GeV HERA lepton beam. Within the generalized parton distribution (GPD) formalism, hard exclusive vector meson production is sensitive to GPDs H and E, while pseudo‐scalar meson production is sensitive to GPDs H and Ẽ. The extracted sin(φ−φs) azimuthal amplitude of the transverse target‐spin asymmetry is compared to theoretical calculations based on GPD models.


Image contrast enhancement is a very critical step for automatic medical image processing and analyzing applications. In this paper, we described a novel image enhancement algorithm based on the single-scale Retinex (SSR) theory to enhance the tiny anatomical structures and other regions of interest on the low-dose CT (LDCT) images. This algorithm applies a three-stage approach: (a) separating the input images into illumination component and reflectance component, and calculating the approximate luminance of the original images; (b) normalizing the illumination component for the image dynamic range adaptively and manipulating the reflectance component with a nonlinear function; and (c) Finally, combining the normalized illuminance with the Gamma corrected reflectance to obtain the results. We have tested the proposed algorithm on 2 CT data sets. Comparing with the conventional histogram equalization, the Frankle-McCann Retinex algorithm and McCann99 algorithm, the proposed algorithm yields better performance for LDCT images enhancement.


Statistics of observed durations of scintillation fades and enhancements of the ITALSAT satellites at 20, 40 and 50GHz are presented for various threshold signal levels, and their use in fade countermeasures is examined. The analysis shows that most signal amplitude deviations from the mean level are of short duration and do not depend on the threshold level. Distribution of fade durations at thresholds 0.1 and 0.5dB were reasonably well approximated by the lognormal function. Introduction The saturation of C-band and the ever-increasing demand for new services that require greater bandwidth has led to the exploitation of higher frequencies. The higher frequencies offer various advantages such as, increased bandwidth, smaller antennas, and smaller satellite footprint that give higher EIRP and permit frequency reuse. The main obstacle however is that they are subject to stronger propagation degradation. The small size antennas employed in VSAT and USAT systems significantly reduce the cost of earth station terminals and also eliminate tracking requirements, but they lose the mitigating effect of aperture averaging and hence experience stronger scintillation [1]. Scintillations are rapid fluctuations in amplitude and phase of the received signal arising from fluctuations in the atmospheric refractive index due to turbulence. Increasing the transmitted power or the receiving antenna diameter to provide an adequate fade margin is often not feasible in VSAT systems. An alternative scintillation countermeasure, which is being investigated, is the use of Forward Error Correction (FEC) codes and adaptive modulation schemes. Link budget engineers use annual and worst month cumulative distribution functions to calculate the link budget for a new satellite communication system. The use of digital signal processing however requires the knowledge of the dynamics of tropospheric scintillation, including the distribution of scintillation fade duration and inter-fade interval. Fade duration statistics are particularly important for the design of high frequency satellite systems. In such high frequency systems, operating at a fixed small fade margin, the best way to mitigate propagation impairments is by introducing adaptive techniques, adaptive fade countermeasure strategies. Fade and interfade duration statistics provide the system designer with useful information for evaluating various mitigation techniques that will be employed to ensure a given system availability and quality of service. In this paper attention is focused on the analysis of scintillation fades and enhancements at 18.7, 39.6 and 49.5 GHz, which will be hereafter referred to as the 20, 40 and 50GHz, respectively, using propagation data from the ITALSAT F1 and ITALSAT F2 satellites. Experiment and Analysis ITALSAT was Italy's first operational communication satellite launched on the 16 of January 1991 by an Ariane booster and stationed in geostationary orbit at 13.2 degrees east. The design life for the ITALSAT vehicle originally was only five years, but ITALSAT F1 operated beyond its expected life, facilitated by the adoption of a propellant saving option in which the North/South station keeping was abandoned. As a consequence it became necessary for the beacon receivers to track the satellite position. Towards the end of 1997 the 50 GHz beacon receiver at Sparsholt was equipped with a tracking unit to counter the problem. The same goal was attained for the 40 GHz receiver in August 1998 [2]. The data examined can be divided into two sets: a) Data set 1: This contains data measurement from the ITALSAT F2 satellite, operating at 20 GHz and covering a 1-year period from September 99 to August 2000. b) Data set 2: This contains data measurement from the ITALSAT F1 satellite, operating at 40 and 50 GHz and covering a 1-year period from September 96 to August 97. 20th AIAA International Communication Satellite Systems Conference and Exhibit 12-15 May 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada AIAA 2002-1906 Copyright © 2002 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Both data sets were recorded at Sparsholt (51.0814°N, 1.3947°W), UK at a path elevation of 30° and at a sampling rate of 1 Hz. Cassegrain antennas of diameters 1.22m for the 20 GHz and 0.61m for both the 40 GHz and 50 GHz beacons were employed. The propagation data together with a range of meteorological measurements recorded at the same sampling rate were archived to a compact disk once a month. Pre-processing of the raw propagation data was carried out. This involved visual inspection of graphs of the data to identify gaps and spurious samples, and high-pass filtering using a 6 order Butterworth filter with a cut-off frequency of 0.04 Hz to extract scintillation [3]. Distribution of Scintillation Fade & Enhancement In Figure 1, the observed annual cumulative distributions of scintillation fades and enhancements at 20, 40 and 50GHz are presented. It can be seen from this figure, that for 0.01% of the time the fade levels at 20 and 50GHz are 0.8 dB and 1.5 dB, respectively. This represents an increase in the scintillation signal amplitude by a factor of 1.88.


The infidelity of reverse transcription enzyme activity during the replication cycle of a retrovirus can cause retroviruses to rapidly mutate. For gene therapy, this raises biosafety issues, such as the deletion of a therapeutic gene from a vector and the development of a replication-competent retrovirus. In a single retroviral replication cycle, a therapeutic herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVtk) gene was inactivated in approximately 8% of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV)based vectors. In the same vector system, the mutation rates within a single retroviral vector were calculated as high as 3% per kb (9,14). In addition to the deletion of HSVtk from the retroviral vector, deletion mutations have been observed in retroviral vectors carrying various genes, including nerve growth factor receptor (7), α-rev sequence (2), human glucocerebrosidase (16) and luciferase (13). It is often difficult to distinguish a mutant vector from correct vector sequences in the genomic DNA of vector producer cells (VPC) because both vectors share large homologous DNA sequences except at the deletion or mutation site. To define the mutated region requires multiple Southern blots and analysis by restriction endonuclease mapping. This analysis can be complicated by interference with endogenous retroviral element sequences in the mammalian genome because these sequences are highly homologous to vector sequences. High frequencies of superinfection and retrotransposition (manuscripts in preparation) of retroviral vector in cultured VPC results in detectable amounts of episomal DNA. Episomal DNA is advantageous for the Southern blot analysis of vectors because it is not subject to interference from endogenous retroviral sequences. Episomal vectors or retroviral sequences have been observed with other retroviruses, including mouse mammary tumor virus (11), avian sarcoma virus (15), avian leukosis virus (12), human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) (10) and in avian packaging cells (5). In this study, we successfully identified an HSVtk-deleted vector from VPC by analyzing episomal DNA directly instead of by genomic DNA restriction mapping. PCR primers were therefore designed accordingly to amplify this mutated region. The same primers were used to sequence this deletion without sequencing walking. A LTKOSN.2 VPC was previously established in our group for a phase I human gene therapy clinic trial (4). pLTKOSN plasmid DNA (Figure 1A) was first introduced into the ecotropic packaging cell line GP+E86 (6) by transient transfection. Supernates from these cells were then used to transduce the amphotropic retroviral packaging line PA317 (8), which was selected in G418 (1 mg/mL) for two weeks. Twenty different VPC clones were isolated from the original pool of cells. LTKOSN.2 VPC produces viral titers of approximately 1 × 106 cfu/mL (4). A deletion of the HSVtk gene in LTKOSN.2 VPC was first detected in viral RNA collected from pelleted viral particles in Northern blot analysis by using different probes (Figure 1B). This result indicated that the titer calculated from only G418 resistant colonies did not represent the titer of the fulllength LTKOSN vector, which implies that the evaluation of the vector titer needs to first ensure that all vectors contain an intact HSVtk suicide gene. Unintegrated, episomal copies of viral DNA were used for Southern blot analysis to analyze this mutation without the interference with endogenous retroviral elements present in the cellular genomes. Small amounts of episomal DNA derived from vector sequences have been routinely detected within VPC from PA317 and GP+E86derived VPC (unpublished data). Episomal DNA was extracted from both the cytoplasmic fraction and nuclear fraction of 1 × 107 LTKOSN.2 VPC. First, cells were trypsinized and subjected to 1% Triton X-100 detergent for 5 min at room temperature to lyse the cellular but not the nuclear membrane. Nuclei were separated from the cytoplasmic fraction by centrifugation at 9500× g for 5 min at 4°C (3). Cytoplasmic fractions were subjected to phenol/chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation to isolate purified episomal DNA. The episomal DNA in nuclei was extracted using Hirt's method (1) with 5 M NaCl to remove genomic DNA. The supernate containing episomal DNA was isolated from cell nuclei by centrifugation (13 000× g for 15 min) and then subjected to phenol/chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation. Episomal DNA samples extracted from both the cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions were evaluated by Southern blot analysis. The results clearly show that episomal DNA was mainly detected in


In this paper we face the buffer dimensioning issue for an ATM multiplexer, whose input consists of the superposition of homogeneous ON-OFF sources, each modeled by a two-state markovian process. Our approach is based on a simple and accurate analytical model, which approximates the actual input process by means of a suitably chosen two-state Markov Modulated Poisson Process (MMPP). In this paper, firstly an efficient procedure for the computation of the loss probability of the MMPP/G/1/K queue is derived. Then, this procedure is applied to the queueing model of the ATM multiplexer. The numerical results here presented let us gain a deep insight into the multiplexer performance behaviour as the source parameters (peak bit rate, mean burst length and activity factor) are varied. This enables us to establish simple and effective buffer dimensioning criteria.


Never judge a book by its cover, they say. Nor, one might add, judge a book by its title. The Metaphor of Play is an appealing one, promising an exploration of the significance of play both in the development of the self and in the therapeutic setting. And to some extent this is what this book does. Yet its sub-title takes a different direction: The Origin and Breakdown of Personal Being. Is that related to play? At first the author certainly makes a case for this, but as the book develops the theme of play gets lost among many other features of the development of the self and the therapeutic interaction. It is not that these are not interesting in themselves, but by the end this reviewer was left somewhat confused as to what the book is really about. Is this one of the perils of a third edition, the temptation being to add apparently relevant sections to the core text? This book first appeared in 1992, produced by a publisher unfamiliar to this reviewer. The second edition followed swiftly in 1993, this time published by Jason Aronson. The third edition appears to contain new material in a way that the second edition perhaps did not, and, perhaps for the first time, is promoted in the United Kingdom, this time by Routledge. The author indicates that there are eight new chapters in the current volume. The Metaphor of Play, as the author indicates in the preface, represents the germinal centre of his thinking 'round the fundamental experience of what William James called the ''duplex self'', a form of double consciousness' (p. xii) – in other words we are aware both of the outer world but also of our inner world. Meares is concerned to understand the experience of those who suffer from 'a pervasive feeling of emptiness, who live as if on the surface, caught up in a ceaseless traffic with the stimuli of the everyday world' (p. 3), known since the 1980s as the borderline personality. The aim of the book then 'is to show how these experiences, in both their lesser and more severe forms, can be understood, and how a way of treating them can be derived from this understanding' (p. 3). The first part of the book is concerned with the development of a sense of self, and here Meares draws upon experimental


Photoacoustic imaging is a novel hybrid medical imaging technology. It uniquely combines the advantages of optical absorption contrast with ultrasonic resolution for in vivo imaging as deep as 5-7 centimeters. Here we will discuss some technology development pursued in our lab towards clinical translations.


Due to the development of GPGPU (General Purpose Graphic Processing Unit) technology, GPU has been applied in many computation tasks as accelerators. In this paper, a new password recovery technique for the standardized hash functions, MD5 and SHA1, are proposed by combining the optimization methods on GPU. The performance on AMD HD7970 is 2615 mc/s for SHA1 and 6877 mc/s for MD5, which is 10 times better than the original implementation. If the length of password is limited, our GPU-based technique makes it possible to recover password from hash values in a reasonable time.


This chapter contains sections titled: The Significance of Clock Signal The Characteristics of Clock Signal Clock Signal Driving Digital System Clock Signal Driving Sampling System Extracting Clock Signal From Data: Clock Data Recovery Clock Usage in System-on-Chip Two Fields: Clock Generation and Clock Distribution Bibliography ]]>


In this paper, a 3-D integrated 77-GHz automotive radar front-end is presented. Embedded wafer level packaging (EMWLP) technology is proposed to eliminate the use of wire bonding, which not only introduces significant radio frequency loss, but also occupies large footprint for high-pin count die. The transceiver bare die is embedded in a reconfigured molded wafer with compression molding process. Double-sided multiple redistribution layers are formed to fan-out the transceiver input/output signals and through mold via is employed to realize the vertical interconnection. With these promising features, the EMWLP technology can be extended to a 3-D integration. A substrate integrated waveguide slot antenna is integrated on top of the EMWLP module and a lens is used to enhance the antenna directivity. The performance of the fully integrated radar front-end is tested and the measurement results show good package performance with RF loss around 5 dB for most of the samples. Temperature cycling reliability test was also performed by letting the fully integrated prototype goes through 1000 temperature cycles with JEDEC standard. The measured package loss spread across samples after 1000 cycles of TC test is about 13 dB, which is mainly due to the antenna warpage affecting the RF path's signal integrity.


The success of Russian policy directed on development of socio-oriented market-type economy depends extensively on investment attractiveness of regions, intensity of elaboration and validity of managerial decisions in the sphere of territorial investments. The capital investment can be effectively achieved in the regions, which have the best conditions for it. As a result, the statistical estimation and forecasting of investment attractiveness of regions begin to play more important role in informational and methodological provision with making management decision.


Automatic brain extraction or skull stripping from magnetic resonance images (MRI) is an important pre-processing step in many image processing pipelines. Most skull stripping methods are optimized for normal brains and applicable to single T1-w MR images. However, other contrasts, such as T2, can provide complementary information about the boundary. This is especially true in the presence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other diseases, where lesions can confound boundary definitions. In this paper, we propose a deep learning based framework to extract intracranial tissues from multi-contrast MR images in the presence of TBI. Our approach is based on state-of-the-art convolutional neural network architecture to learn a transformation from multi-contrast atlas MR images to their stripping masks without using any deformable registration. An advantage of our framework is that it can be applied to different species. We applied our approach to 19 human patients with mild to severe TBI, as well as 16 normal mice images, and another 10 mice brains with TBI. We compared the approach with 3 separate state-of-the-art human and rodent brain extraction methods. Using only a few manually delineated atlases, we showed significant improvement in brain extraction accuracy in both healthy and pathological human and rodent images.


The course withdrawal decision includes both monetary and time costs for the student. Institutional costs include the misallocation of scarce seats to noncompleting students. Understanding the course withdrawal decision process can aid advisors and administrators as they seek ways to improve retention and progression. This study uses 21,318 course outcomes from introductory business core courses for the period 2003 to 2013. Our results suggest a higher withdrawal probability for students with merit-based scholarships and with a previous history of withdrawals. Online courses and withdrawal-related policy changes are also important factors in the withdrawal decision. Individuals who are less likely to withdraw include those with a high GPA or SAT score, students with more experience, summer school attendees, and Black students. In addition, students in introductory economics or business law classes were less likely to withdraw than those taking introductory accounting courses. Variables such as need-based aid, gender, and age did not impact the course withdrawal decision.


An advantage of the semantic web is that information can be easily added to existing data. Ideally, it should be possible to query the original and new data, using an extensible natural-language query interface. (NLQI). In order to facilitate the extension of an NLQI, it helps if the query language is based on a compositional semantics, and if the language processor is highly modular. Such an NLQI to an online event-based triplestore has been constructed and is available through a web interface. The NLQI is implemented as an executable specification of a highly modular attribute grammar using parser combinators in a pure functional programming language. The parser/interpreter can handle ambiguous left-recursive grammars and fully dependent synthesized and inherited attributes. This enables the integration of semantic rules with syntactic rules, in the style of Montague Grammars, which facilitates the addition of new constructs to the query language.


The dynamic public finance literature underwent significant changes over the past decade. This research agenda has now reached a stage at which it is able to analyze the design of social insurance programs and optimal taxation in rich environments that can be closely matched to microeconomic data. We provide an overview of the recent advances in this literature, discuss the key trade-offs, and explain how the prescriptions for the optimal policy depend on the specific parameters that can be estimated in the data.We also describe the relationship between the dynamic mechanism design approach to optimal taxation and the approach that considers sophisticated tax functions chosen within parametrically restricted classes. 147 A nn u. R ev . E co n. 2 01 5. 7: 14 717 1. D ow nl oa de d fr om w w w .a nn ua lr ev ie w s. or g A cc es s pr ov id ed b y Y al e U ni ve rs ity L aw L ib ra ry o n 08 /0 5/ 15 . F or p er so na l u se o nl y.


At present, the lack of a proper mobility infrastructure and road equipment doesn't allow an optimum development to be generated for the socio-economic growth of the region. Therefore, in the specific case there are three complementary elements that are: the environmental, logistic-commercial and agro-tourist, necessary to achieve a better regional competitiveness and large-scale progress of the country through its structuring systems, which will solve the interregional connectivity, the reduction in travel times and reduce the impact on carbon dioxide emissions in the environment, improving the quality of life of people.


The intermittent fine structure of fully developed turbulence is studied by means of a visualization experiment. Characteristic locally ordered flow patterns, tentatively identified as layered vortex sheets, are observed.


Abstract Background In October 2012, a maternal pertussis vaccination program was introduced in England for women between 28 and 32 weeks of pregnancy. In April 2016, the recommended optimal window was extended to 20–32 weeks to improve vaccine coverage and protect preterm infants. This study assesses the impact of offering maternal pertussis vaccination earlier in pregnancy on hospitalized infant pertussis cases. Methods Hospitalized pertussis cases ≤60 days old in England were extracted from Hospital Episode Statistics pre- and post-policy change. Data were linked to laboratory-confirmed cases, and clinical records were reviewed where cases were not matched. Maternal vaccine status of identified cases was established. Median hospital duration was calculated, and a competing risk survival analysis was undertaken to assess multiple factors. Results A total of 201 cases were included in the analysis. Of the 151 cases with reported gestational age, the number of hospitalizations among full-term infants was 60 cases pre-policy and 62 cases post-policy, respectively, while preterm cases declined from 20 to 9 (P = .06). Length of hospital stay did not differ significantly after the policy change. Significantly longer hospital stays were seen in cases aged 0–4 weeks (median of 3 more days than infants aged 5–8 weeks), premature infants (median of 4 more days than term infants), and cases with coinfections (median of 1 more day than those without coinfection). Conclusions The number of preterm infants hospitalized with pertussis in England was halved after the policy change and preterm infants were no longer overrepresented among hospitalized cases.


Abstract SESSION TYPE: Cancer Case Report Posters IPRESENTED ON: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 01:30 PM - 02:30 PMINTRODUCTION: We report a case of hypoxic respiratory failure caused by pneumonic type primary bronchogenic adenocarcinoma with extensive metastasis to contralateral lung in the absence of extra-pulmonary metastasis.CASE PRESENTATION: A 53 year old Hispanic man with no significant past medical history was admitted with progressive dyspnea on exertion of 5 weeks duration. This was associated with a significant weight loss, productive clear cough and low grade fever. His symptoms shortly started after a trip to Mexico. On examination he had decrease breath sounds in the left side. Chest Radiography (CXR) was positive for consolidation on the left upper lobe with multiple bilateral small pulmonary nodular opacities, Computerized tomography (CT) scan of the chest identified Innumerable randomly distributed pulmonary nodules in both lungs and dense airspace consolidation within the left upper lobe. Bronchoalveolar lavage ruled out Tuberculosis and other infections but was positive for atypical cells. Left upper lobe trans-bronchial lung biopsies were positive for invasive poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with tumor cells completely occupying and obliterating the alveolar spaces. Staging work up did not show any other organ involvement. The patient was referred for oncology however shortly after that he progressed to hypoxic respiratory failure and died 4 weeks after the diagnosis.DISCUSSION: This case has an uncommon presentation with a consolidation however the unique findings is that of widespread and likely aerogenic metastatic bronchogenic adenocarcinoma to both lungs causing respiratory failure with no extra-pulmonary metastasis. Tumor presentation as an airspace consolidative lesion is a atypical but well-recognized pattern of adenocarinoma formaly named "bronchiolo-alveolar carcinoma". In this unique case the tumor had metastasized extensively to both lungs with no extra pulmonary metastasis in autopsy supporting the argument for possible aerogenic metastasisCONCLUSIONS: Physicians should be aware of atypical presentation of tumors and consider adencarnioma in the differential of non-resolving consolidation even in the absence of mass lesion. Our case may possibly represent an aerogenic spread of tumor cells to the ipsilateral and contralateral lungs.1) William D. Travis, Brambilla E, Noguchi, M et al. International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society: International Multidisciplinary Classification of Lung Adenocarcinoma: Executive Summary Proc Am Thorac Soc 2011; 8: 381-385.2) Gandara DR, Aberle D, Lau D, et al. Radiographic imaging of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma: screening, patterns of presentation and response assessment. J Thorac Oncol. 2006 Nov;1(9 Suppl):S20-6.DISCLOSURE: The following authors have nothing to disclose: Bashar Farjo, Anandhi Murugan, Weissferdt AnnikkaNo Product/Research Disclosure InformationUniversity of Texas, Health Science Center, Houston, TX.


This paper discusses some of the more important applications of the quartz crystal in the telecommunication art. In particular, the applications of both quartz oscillators and resonators by the Radio Branch of the Post Office are outlined and the performance of representative equipments incorporating crystals is described. In view of their importance, the methods which have been developed in the Department for the production of the necessary quartz oscillators and resonators are considered in some detail. The paper is divided into an Introduction and four Parts. In the Introduction, the scope of the paper, the quartz crystal and a standard nomenclature are considered. Quartz oscillators and their application to frequency control are considered in Part 1. Part 2 discusses the quartz resonator and some of its uses in frequency measurement and frequency selection. The production of quartz oscillators and resonators is briefly described in Part 3, while Part 4 is concerned with anticipated future development in both production and application.


There is strong evidence that the order in which response options are presented in surveys significantly affects the answers that respondents provide. According to the theory of survey satisficing, the severity of order effects should increase with task difficulty. However, the tasks provided to respondents in existing studies of response-order effects are generally very simple, making it difficult to evaluate the satisficing hypothesis. Further, evidence from cognitive psychology suggests a completely different mechanism: people are more motivated to persist in completing tasks when they are intricate, challenging, and enriching. I designed survey experiments administered over the Internet consisting of two types of tasks: (1) a complex task in which respondents were asked to rank seven public officials in order of how much they should be blamed for the property damage and loss of life caused by Hurricane Katrina in the city of New Orleans; and (2) a series of simple tasks in which respondents answered items with ordinal response choices on rating scales. I found almost no order effects in the complex task among all educational groups. Conversely, I found significant and substantial order effects in the simple tasks, particularly among low-education respondents. These results suggest that theories of survey satisficing may simplify matters by assuming that satisficing monotonically increases with task difficulty. Moreover, my findings have important implications for questionnaire design, underscoring the importance of randomizing response options.


The strategic plan is an overall developmental plan.It is an important management means of modern university.This paper analyzes the basic concepts of strategic plan.The military academies are to meet the new military revolution,improve the planning status,and achieve development,which needs strategic planning.The paper focuses on the environmental analysis and the content system of strategic planning and gives some suggestions.


In Reply We appreciate the interest of Dr Ghadami in our recently published study titled "Association Between Hypercoagulability and Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea."1 The comments raised by the reader can be summarized as follows: The frequent arousals in sleep might be one of the reasons for elevated coagulability markers in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We agree that frequent arousal in OSA causes reduced sleep quality, anxiety, and depression.2 In a meta-analysis study,3 treatment with positive airway pressure showed a moderate clinical effect on the symptoms of depression and anxiety in OSA. These psychological stresses are associated with multiple other medical comorbidities including hemostatic alterations.4 However, because the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of OSA are still unclear and multiple factors have been suggested to be involved in the production of cormorbidites,5 it is hard to conclude that psychological stress caused by frequent arousal is the main factor that leads to elevated coagulation. Moreover, not all patients with OSA suffer from depression or anxiety6 and there is not enough evidence to support the claim that a high arousal index directly elevates coagulation. Most studies investigating coagulopathy owing to psychological stress demonstrate the general activation of both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways.4 However, in our study, prothrombin time was shortened, whereas activated partial thromboplastin time and platelet count did not show any difference between patients with moderate to severe OSA and controls. Nevertheless, the investigation of additional mediators, such as psychological stress, would provide valuable clinical information and help inform a better understanding of the mechanism causing hypercoagulability in OSA.


Objective: to interpret the meaning of accompaniment of the father during the perinatal care. Method: qualitative, descriptive research, supported by the theory of social representations; 34 couples participated, selected for having been cared for throughout the perinatal care; data collection through interview, data analysis was carried out under an interpretive framework, using a chromatic technique, the results are discussed based on Moscovici's social representations, conceptualizing the category; the empirical data is confronted with the theory, thus capturing the logical reasoning. Results: perception of the father's participation and meaning of his accompaniment in the care, type of experience obtained, awareness of the husband in the care of the newborn, highlight the role of the father in comprehensive perinatal care, demonstrate his intervention as part of the trinomial. Conclusion: the mother reveals about the meaning of the father's participation during the delivery period the relevance of her presence. Parturition; Obstetrics.


This paper discusses the service architecture of E-government,which is the single point of contact to user.It is based on trust and authorization system,supported by E-government sharing platform,and it takes the workflow engine,the general E-government structural unit and the service integration module as main contents.The service courses,including identity certification procedure,application authorization procedure,service scheduling procedure,are described.As an example,an imaginary tax system,used to verify the service architecture,is developed and deployed in the Internet.


Epidermal structures of four genera of Asteraceae from Akwa –Ibom State are described. The mature stomata types were diacytic, anisocytic, staurocyctic, anomocytic and brachyparacytic stomata. The anisocytic stomata were the commonest. Abnormalities observed here include unopened stomatal pore, stomata with one guard cell, aborted stomata, vertical and parallel contiguous stomata and one subsidiary cell shared by two stomata variously oriented. Diacytic stomata were distributed on both surfaces of B. pilosa but absent in A.africana, E. prostrata and E. floribundus. Parallel contiguous stomata were found only in the adaxial surface of E. floribundus and vertical contiguous stomata were also found only in the abaxial surfaces of E.prostrata and B. pilosa. Leaves are amphistomatic in B. pilosa and A.africana, but hypoamphistomatic in E. prostrata and E. floribundus. Glandular trichomes occurred in the abaxial surface of B. pilosa. Crystal druses are found on the abaxial surface of E. floribundus but absent in other species surfaces studied. Other systematically useful characters are shapes of the epidermal anticlinal walls, stomata index and guard cell area can also be used for distinguishing the species.


Iron overloads in liver and heart are detected in vivo by nuclear resonant scattering (NRS) technique. The method is based on the resonant scattering of 847 keV gamma ray from the first nuclear level in 56Fe. The source of radiation is provided by 56MnCl2 maintained in a gaseous phase in anevacuated quartz vial at 1030°C. It was observed that the time dependent NRS yield, from an iron slab, differed appreciably from the 2.58 hr. half-life of 56Mn. Inasmuch as the NRS system responds only to the source in the gaseous phase, the discrepancy is attributed to the interaction between the gaseous source and the walls of the vial. Fused silica vials and fused quartz vials demonstrate entirely different time behavior.


An autoclave heating jacket including a heating fluid collar (200), a fluid inlet (120), a fluid outlet (122), and a plurality of fluid flow baffles (202, 204, 206) is claimed. The heating fluid collar (200) can have an outer wall (208) which includes an upper contact surface (210) and a lower contact surface (212) forming an enclosed chamber when engaged with an outer surface of an autoclave. The fluid inlet (120) can be oriented through the outer wall and is capable of directing a heating fluid into the enclosed chamber. The fluid outlet (122) can be oriented through the outer wall but is capable of directing the heating fluid out of the enclosed chamber. The plurality of fluid flow baffles (202, 204, 206) can be oriented within the enclosed chamber so as to direct the heating fluid along a predetermined pathway within the enclosed chamber.


We present here the first island-wide assessment of the status and breeding population of the Spur-winged Lapwing Vanellus spinosus in Cyprus from July 2007 to June 2009. This survey was carried out at 27 wetland areas and more than 200 individuals were recorded at 10 wetlands during autumn passage while at least 50 over-wintered at five wetlands. Approximately 100 individuals were recorded at 12 wetlands during spring passage, and the breeding population was estimated at 61– 68 pairs scattered among 15 wetlands. The population of this species has increased since the 1990s, probably as a consequence of population growth in the Middle East as well as increasingly warmer winters in Cyprus and the creation of water reservoirs, particularly sewage lagoons. The most important sites are concentrated in central and eastern Cyprus.


The present invention relates to a waterborne polyacrylamide emulsion, the preparation thereof and the application thereof. The waterborne polyacrylamide emulsion is prepared by the free radical polymerization of the nonionic monomer with the double bond or combined polymerization of the nonionic monomer with the double bond with the cation, using multi inorganic salt solution as the mediums and using polyelectrolyte as the stabilizer. The appearance of the product is cream white, the particle diameter is about 10-100 Mum, the emulsion has high solution rate, and the production process without any organic solvent is innocuous and environmental protection. Compared with the dry powder and the microemulsion of the traditional polyacrylamide, the emulsion of the invention is safe and convenient in use, is capable of being used in the treatment of the oilfield produced liquid combined with the demulsifier to promote the oil-water separation to increase the dehydration of crude oil, wherein the water quality of the dehydrate water. The product can be used as an oil-water separating agent of the oily wastewater in industry and as a water purificant, also be used for sewerage treatment of the oil field and the city as an organic flocculent, and be used in paper making field as a filter aid, a retention aid, a paper strengthening agent, etc.


long vowels are shortened in closed syllables. The following processes were most probably involved: Second consonant gemination: kaaze->kaazze; consonant devoicing: kaazze-* kaasse. Vowel shortening: kaasse-*kasse. Consonant reduction: kasse-»kase. Therefore what looks today like a marking of plurality through the devoicing of the second consonant of the stem, a highly idiosyncratic device, is in fact a result of the gemination of the consonant, a well attested means of coding verbal, and less often nominal, plurality throughout the Chadic branch. A puzzling element in the description of verbs is the existence of several forms which Jungraithmayr characterizes as' passive'. There is a ' passive verbal noun stem' and a ' Passive Perfect Participle'. For 'passive verbal noun stem' there are no syntactic or functional environments stated. Instead translations of various forms are given, such as yaazo ' act of being done'. Similarly 'the Passive Perfect Participle' stem is also presented through translations of single lexical items. Given the controversial nature of the category passive in Chadic languages, an analysis of the syntax, semantics, and possibly pragmatics of the 'passive' forms in Tangale should yield interesting results. There is one verbal extension in Tangale with two different forms for' aorist-intentional' and 'perfective' aspect, a situation identical with that found in Pero. Like the other BoleTangale languages described so far, the language also has so called Intransitive Copy Pronouns (not identified as such by Jungraithmayr). J. states that verbal subject suffixes may be added to intransitive verbs, but the function of these pronouns is not described. The focus of the volume is the dictionary. All entries in the Tangale-English part have their lexical or grammatical category identified. Many entries are illustrated through examples which are complete clauses. The form of the examples indicates that they have been elicited rather than taken from running texts. Nevertheless these examples constitute a most valuable source of data and often provide additional (if not the sole) information about the meaning of a lexical item. Given the general difficulties in establishing the meaning of a word, and also given the constraints on time that a linguist decides to devote to a single language, this method of conveying the meaning of a single word is praiseworthy. Tangale entries are cross-referenced when a related form or another variant is also given as a separate entry. Some entries give Hausa equivalents, which for those who know that language provides further help in identifying lexical items in Tangale. For some nominal entries in Tangale the definite form is given in the dictionary, while for others it is only stated that the definite suffix is -i. By providing the full form of the definite noun Jungraithmayr makes it possible for other researchers to analyse the phonological processes involved when a vocalic suffix is added to stems ending in a vowel. Plant and animal names, although not numerous, are identified by their botanical and zoological names. Verbal entries consist of the aorist-intentional form, followed by the active and passive verbal nouns, the plural form, and past participle form. Copious examples supplement the English glosses of the main entry and again allow a reader to produce his own synthesis of the various meanings a verb may have. The English-Tangale index is rich enough to facilitate a search for an item in the Tangale-English part. The material presented in the grammatical introduction appears to be under-analysed for the most part. But that is to be expected when the aim of the author is to provide the scholarly community with a dictionary and the data in a most expeditious way. The dictionary constitutes a valuable contribution to Chadic linguistics. It could also be used in any literacy campaign among Tangale speakers, since in general the transcription system is simple and transparent. One would probably like to reverse the notation system of the vowels so that the vowels that occur most often are written without the diacritic and the vowels that occur less often are written with diacritics, contrary to Jungraithmayr's present usage.


Results of recent field trials have exposed the limitations of present-day cholera vaccines for conferring immunity to man (Cvjetanovic, 1966). A summary of the results obtained in different field trials is given in Table 7. As these vaccines were made up of mixtures of killed cells of the two antigenic types, Inaba and Ogawa, of Vibrio cholerae or of V. el Tor, there is speculation whether live vaccines may prove superior (Panse & Dutta, 1964). There is also a revival of the concept, originally put forward by Besredka (1927), that local immunity in the intestinal tract might play an important part in immunity to cholera, which is predominantly an intestinal infection without systemic invasion (Burrows, Elliott & Havens, 1947; Freter, 1956, 1965; Mukerjee, 1963). The development of any live vaccine, whether for oral or parenteral administration, should necessarily involve a detailed study of attenuation of virulence. The attenuated nature of certain strains of V. el Tor, isolated from the natural waters of the Middle East and India, has been described (Mukerjee, 1963). The present paper describes the isolation and study of an attenuated mutant of V. cholerae. The results and the current evidence which warrants trials of live cholera vaccine will be discussed. MATERIALS AND METHODS Characterization of strains


Far advanced malignancy of the tongue and floor of the mouth usually commits the patient to several months of progressive local pain and interference with speech, respiration and deglutition. Cure of such a lesion is not likely, although long-term control of disease may be achieved in a small percentage of cases':" with appropriately radical therapy.t:" Palliation in terms of control of symptoms, without increasing disability, is a more realistic goal, particularly since the great majority of extensive cancers of this type fulfill all three of Conley's" basic conditions requiring palliation: 1) severe pain, 2) foul slough, and 3) interference with one of the essential functions of breathing or swallowing.


The invention relates to the field of cylinder liner production, particularly relates to a variable-diameter transferring manipulator device for cylinder liners, specifically provides a cylinder liner transferring manipulator device which is quick in workstation switching, time-saving and labor-saving during the production and processing of the cylinder liners, and aims at current situations of low automaticity in existing cylinder liner production in China. The device comprises a working table, a transverse driving mechanism and a longitudinal driving mechanism, wherein the transverse driving mechanism and the longitudinal driving mechanism are used for driving the working table to move, a manipulator structure arranged at the lower end of the working table comprises a small cylinder, a connecting shaft, a coupler, a locking nut, symmetric manipulator connecting rods, symmetric manipulator levers, symmetric cross rods, symmetric clamping block connecting plates and symmetric clamping blocks, and all the parts are mounted on a bottom plate.


Gulzar Mufti ISBN: 9781910878828 Book Guild Publishing Ltd, 2016 256 Pages, PB, £8.99 A fascinating read giving insight into the world of the operating theatre through a range of amusing anecdotes from Mr Mufti's forty years' experience and his colleagues, enabling us to learn from the experiences shared. Starting with his childhood where wáttan-gorbonesetters, hakims – physician and wáren – midwife were the staple source of medical help until the bulding of a new hospital. Going on to cover his medical training and how he reached his decision (with help from a scrub nurse and others) to become a surgeon rather than join any other specialism.


Abstract : Sodium laurylsulfate (L.S.) lyses E. coli cells when their metabolism is halted or inhibited by any of a number of antimetabolites. Actively growing cells are completely unaffected. It was shown by paper chromatography that L.S. extracts the lipoprotein of free cell walls exactly as phenol does. L.S. has an extremely rapid lytic action on globular forms of E. coli. The probable mechanism of the cytolysis of nonmetabolizing whole cells is discussed.


It is of great significance to improve the driving range prediction accuracy to provide battery electric vehicle users with reliable information. A model built by the conventional multiple linear regression method is feasible to predict the driving range, but the residual errors between -3.6975 km and 3.3865 km are relatively unfaithful for real-world driving. The study is innovative in its application of machine learning method, the gradient boosting decision tree algorithm, on the driving range prediction which includes a very large number of factors that cannot be considered by conventional regression methods. The result of the machine learning method shows that the maximum prediction error is 1.58 km, the minimum prediction error is -1.41 km, and the average prediction error is about 0.7 km. The predictive accuracy of the gradient boosting decision tree is compared against that of the conventional approaches.


The magnitudes and rates of offsets and changes in the thrust vector of an engineering model NSTAR thruster (EMT2) used in an 8000 hour wear test and the flight thruster (FTl) for the DS-1 spacecraft were characterized with an innovative thrust vector probe. Offsets from the ion optics axis were less than 2° in the horizontal and vertical axes immediately after ignition and less than 1.5° during steady-state operation. Sensitivity testing revealed that the thrust vector is responsive to the beam current, beam voltage and engine flow rates. Changes in these parameters during throttling after ignition result in rapid changes in the thrust vector orientation which are followed by thermal transients with timescales of hundreds to thousands of seconds. Throttling from one power level to another results in changes of less then 0.5° with very little long-term thermal component. Higher frequency fluctuations of less than 0.05° amplitude and periods of tens to hundreds of seconds are thought to be induced by the laboratory xenon feed system and are not expected to be observed in flight. A longterm drift of less than 0.3° in each axis was observed during the 8000 hour test. Significant differences in behavior were observed between the engineering model and flight thrusters which are likely due to changes in the engine structural and thermal design. 'Copyright 1998 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. No copyright is asserted in the United States under Title 17, U.S. Code. The U.S. Government has a royalty-free license to exercise all rights under the copyright claimed herein for Governmental purposes. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner. Introduction Xenon ion propulsion is finally entering an age of application in NASA's planetary program. A xenon ion primary propulsion system is one of the key technologies to be demonstrated on Deep Space 1, the first of the New Millenium missions. This spacecraft will be launched in 1998 and fly by an asteroid and a comet in 1999. Ion propulsion was considered an enabling technology for the DS4/Champollion comet sample return mission, which is slated for launch in 2003. Ion thrusters are also being studied for use in a number of proposed Discovery missions and outer planet missions. One issue that spacecraft designers must consider in the integration of electric propulsion on planetary spacecraft is how the thrust vector of the ion engine varies with time and throttle level. The gimbal design must have sufficient range and rate to null disturbances produced by initial offsets in the thrust vector from the spacecraft center-of-gravity as well as shortand long-term transients. The magnitudes and rates of these offsets and transients must therefore be characterized to support gimbal and control system design efforts. The behavior of the thrust vector has been studied as a part of the NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Application Readiness (NSTAR) program, which is validating NASA's 30 cm xenon ion thruster technology for use in near-Earth and planetary missions. This program is designed to develop the industrial capability to produce flight engine, power processor and propellant feed system hardware and demonstrate that the technology is mature enough for flight applications. The technology validation portion of the program is focussed largely on providing flight program managers with sufficient information on performance, reliability and spacecraft interactions to allow them to use the technology. This paper presents data obtained on the variation of the thrust vector measured in an 8000 hour wear test of an engineering model NSTAR thruster and a functional test of the flight thruster for the New Millenium DS1 spacecraft. Initial offset of the thrust vector from the thruster axis, changes in the thrust vector during engine startup, variations while throttling the engine from one power level to another, and drift over very long periods of operation were characterized. The implications of the measured magnitudes and rates of thrust vector drift on engine gimbal design are discussed. Apparatus and Procedures


Grammar is an important part of college English course,but there are still such problems in grammar teaching,as the deviation of teaching from learning,the difficulties in respecting the students' individual differences and the lack of students' interest in learning.Therefore it is necessary to take reforms in grammar teaching.Based on the students' characteristics and teaching tasks,grammar teaching should focus on situational teaching and performing teaching,and take problem-based teaching method and incentive teaching method,which can tap students' latent potentialities and stimulate their interest.And in this way students' abilities in using grammar will be improved.


Platycodon grandiflorum A. DC.(PADC) root was taken as experiment material to extract polysaccharide. On the base of single factor tests(extraction time,extraction temperature,liquid-solid ratio,solvent pH value and NaCl concentration) ,the study concluded the main factors affecting the extraction of PADC polysaccharide,which are liquid-solid ratio,extraction time and extraction temperature. Then through central-composite test design,the extraction conditions were concluded as liquid-solid ratio 34.43,extraction time 89.83 min and extraction temperature 52.47 ℃. By means of validation experiments,the adequacy of this model was confirmed.


For his friends to combine to found this lecture and to confine it so strictly within the orbit of this city shows that Dr. Long Fox was proud to be a citizen of no mean city and of its Medical School which he had adorned. So to an exile, also proud of his native city and of the University which nurtured him, I thought it appropriate that I should honour Dr. Fox as a teacher in this Medical School by trying to honour my own teachers, as Hippocrates said we should do. Happily many are still with us and to them, and to all my other teachers I would like to express my gratitude, fof even those with whom I came little in contact have helped me in various ways, if unknown to them. One winter's day before my finals I went on my only ward round with Dr. Orr-Ewing. He was so moved, I know not by what, to speak of typhus fevef and the hideous hallucinations which accompany it. He sent me to that famous book of a physician with Bristol connections, Murchison's Continued Fevers of Great Britain which I read with fascination. Years later I was standing by the bedside of an almost comatose lady missionary. Africa being what it is, I had already treated her as a case of cerebral malaria and was now, I know Professor Perry will forgive me, taking a history from her companion and going on to examine her. I heard of the fevef and rigors, of the severe headache, and then her companion said "and Doctor she said saw hideous shapes at the foot of the bed and tried to throw her pillow at them' ? The cobalt sky of Africa immediately became the pearly sky of a Bristol winter day and I was back listening to Dr. Orr-Ewing. I thought "this must be typhus" and so it proved. She thanked me on her recovery but she also thanked, through me, my teachers. But it is of three of these who have passed to their reward that I wish particularly to speak. The first, that giant amongst men, Professor T. B. Davie, who gave me a lifelong interest in pathology for which I can never be too grateful. Then there Is the late Dr. H. H. Carleton, for I was one of the first Infirmary students to brave the bracing river …


...................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ............................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................. vii Chapter 1. BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION...................................................... 1 Chapter 2. METHODS AND MATERIALS.................................................................... 15 Chapter 3. RESULTS........................................................................................................ 24 Chapter 4. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................ 47 Chapter 5. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK .................................................... 52 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 56


To obtain credible estimates on existence of productivity spillovers through exports one needs to account for endogeneity of exports. Studies that attempt to do so offer mixed evidence. By combining data on South African manufacturing sectors with bilateral trade data we investigate the link between productivity exposure through exports and total factor productivity (TFP). Ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates suggest a positive correlation between productivity levels of importers served by South Africa and South African total factor productivity. A two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation is implemented to account for potential endogeneity of export market exposure. Exports from groups of other countries are used to instrument exports from South Africa aiming to isolate variation in exports caused by demand shocks abroad. The 2SLS-results suggest the OLS-estimates to be biased upwards and the effect of destination-productivity on TFP to be negligible. Finally, the paper contrasts the link between export destinations and productivity to the link between exported products and


The two rustics in Virgil's first eclogue represent the paradox o£ the simple life in a civilization dominated by "the city": on the one hand leisure, time for friendship and creative life, access to the simple provisions of nature; on the other, the dependency implicit in a complex civilization with ownership of real estate, wage labor, dispossession, exile, separation. Tityrus the happy shepherd is described as "lentus in umbra," relaxed in the shade, protected by imperial favor 1 ; yet a little later Tityrus himself uses the same word, lentus, to describe the plight of the country under Rome. Rome, he says, rises above all other cities as the cypresses stand out among the bending ("lenta") osiers (II. 24-25). The granting of Tityrus's petition has made him osier-like, pliant, docile; both "lentus" and "umbra" become ominous symbols of the state of man. It is a fading Arcadia that Virgil presents—the happy shepherd is being uprooted, driven to live among thirsting Africans or to freeze in the remote North, while the coarse, impius barbarian soldier occupies his place. Meliboeus can only explain his suffering by reference to the greater tribulation of civil war that has destroyed Rome's joy and innocence (11. 71-72). His sole consolation remains the last night in friendship with Tityrus as they look forward to a frugal supper. The closing images of the eclogue render concisely this sense of transitory joy:


Aim Survival after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is dependent on donor/recipient (D/R) HLA matching. However disparities in survival were reported for some ethnicities despite comparable HLA matching. Individual ethnicities/races, as reported through self-identification, can change over time. Most studies have shown that African-American recipients (AAFA race) experience worse survival. Another way to investigate ancestry is to use Ancestry Informative Marker SNPs (AIMs), providing ancestral admixture. We hypothesized that information on donor and recipient genetic admixture may be used to evaluate D/R genetic disparity and that this may be associated with outcomes of HLA matched unrelated donor HCTs. Methods Study population included 1295 10/10 HLA matched D/R pairs receiving HCT for AML, ALL, CML and MDS between 1995 and 2011. Samples were genotyped for 500 AIMs. We estimated African (AFR), European (EUR), Asian (ASI) and South European/Amerindian (SE/A) admixtures for donors and recipients using STRUCTURE at K=4 clusters. Tables 1 and 2 show the admixture distributions in each of the self-identified race groups. To model D/R genetic disparity we ran principal components analysis (PCA) on the D/R genotypes, then calculated the pairwise Euclidean distance between a subset of PCA eigenvectors of each D/R duo. Multivariate analyses were performed using Cox proportional hazards models for overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS), relapse, transplant related mortality (TRM), acute and chronic graft versus host disease (GVHD) for admixture and genetic disparity. Results For transplant recipients , increasing AFR admixture was associated with worse OS and TRM at p donors, increasing AFR admixture was associated with worse OS, DFS and TRM at p donor ASI, EUR and SE/A. We tested for a cut point for AFR admixture that best associated with survival. For recipients, the optimal cut point was > 14% AFR admixture. This only included 2.8% of the population (N=34 recipients) but 90% of the African-American self-identified recipients. For donors the cut point was > 23% AFR admixture which only included 1.9% of the population (N=24 donors) but 89% of African-American self-identified donors. Recipients and donors with high AFR admixture were highly confounded and numbers were too small to explore whether recipient or donor AFR admixture was more important. No significant associations were observed for D/R pairwise genetic distance and clinical outcomes. Conclusion While no significant associations were found for the D/R genetic distance used here, increasing AFR admixture in recipient and donor associated with increased risk of overall mortality, TRM and decreased DFS. The observed effect was attributed to 2.8% of the recipient and 1.9% of donor population with higher AFR admixture, groups that contained >89% of the self-identified African-Americans. Our findings are consistent with studies showing that self-identified African-Americans are associated with suboptimal HCT outcomes. It is still unclear whether the deleterious effect of AFR admixture is genetic in nature or due to other non-genetic factors such as access to healthcare or other socio-economic factors mostly pertinent to recipients. Disclosures Majhail: Gamida Cell Ltd.: Consultancy; Anthem Inc.: Consultancy. Lee: Kadmon: Consultancy; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy.


Crime and thriller books are amongst the most popular selling books in the world and Sonya Feldhoff and Laura Kroetsch discuss I Saw A Man and Death Comes To Pemeberley this month.


The existing deprivation theory has been seen by a number of scholars as the cause of both personal religious commitment and adherence to a religious message, as well as the formation of sects and cults. Essentially, these scholars argue that there is a direct relationship between economic deprivation, both relative and absolute, and acceptance of particular religious messages. This thinking may have been valid at a particular historical juncture, but the case of the Caribbean, particularly since the late 1970s, indicates that deprivation theory is too narrow in its conceptualization and understanding of the "religious" phenomenon. There is a significant limitation of deprivation theory stating that those of the privileged classes are, in fact, receptive to particular religious messages under adverse social, economic, and political conditions.


A 64-years-old women with history of rheumatic polymyalgia 11 years before developed sub-acute bilateral claudicatio at both arms few days after injection of influenza vaccine (Fluvarix®). At clinical examination both arterial radialis pulses were absent. Arterial blood pressure was 110/80 mm Hg at the right arm and not measurable at the left arm. Arterial blood pressure measured by Doppler ultrasonography at both ankle was 150 mm Hg. A systolic arterial murmur was heard at the level of the proximal subclavian artery. Erythrocyte rate sedimentation was 61 mm/h. Duplex sonography showed suspicion of arterial occlusions of the upper extremity arteries. Angio-magnetic-resonance showed occlusion of the right axillar-brachial artery portion (length 4 cm) (fig. 1: arrows), and an occlusion of the left subclavian artery (fig. 1: arrowheads). The clinical diagnosis of giant cell arteritis was made and therapy with prednisone (50 mg/day) was initiated. Given the temporal association with previous vaccination, HLA typing was performed and the patient was identified as HLA-DRB1*04.


The history of the RCA (Central African Republic) has been immersed in wars, instability, coups, Humanitarian Crisis and International interventions; The latter have made changes in certain parts of the country, keeping the missions and operations as the starting point for the restructuring of the Central African territory. There have been many attempts by the international community to help improve the crisis that exists within the African State in question; This project aims to contribute to the studies related to the peacekeeping missions carried out by the UN on the African continent, focusing on the RCA from 2014 to 2018, taking into account the development of the objectives set forth in the MINUSCA mission and EU involvement with its EUTM-RCA crisis management mission; The objective of this work is to analyze the effects on security and governance in the Central African Republic as a result of the development of these missions, having as a theoretical basis the Complex Interdependence.


The scholarly literature on civil resistance has grown noticeably over the past few years. Influential books, such as Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict by Chenoweth and Stephan (2011), have stimulated a whole new body of research on the topic. Scholars are increasingly studying civil resistance campaigns from a more empirical, theory-informed and analytical perspective. With this turn, a subject that was previously seen as largely descriptive and sometimes normative began to gain the attention of major journals in political science and related areas (see, for example, the 2013 Journal of Peace Research special issue 'Understanding Nonviolent Resistance' edited by Chenoweth and Cunningham). Today academics count not only on a diverse array of high-quality historical case studies (e.g. Ackerman & DuVall 2000; Bartkowski 2013), but also on cross-national datasets (e.g. Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes [NAVCO]) that allow for a more systematic study of the phenomenon. Just to provide an indication of how much traction civil resistance has gained within mainstream academic circles, there were not only individual papers but also over 40 papers and more than 10 panels devoted to discussion of various dimensions of the topic at the 2017 International Studies Association annual convention held in Baltimore.


AIM: To investigate the representations of nouns and verbs in the brain areas processed using event-related potential technique. METHODS: The experiment was carried out in Xuzhou Normal University in March 2006. A total number of 16 undergraduate students of either gender, aged 19-22 years, participated in the experiment of word matching.①The stimuli presented to subjects were 180 priming words ('yi Q' and 'bu M', Q was noun quantifier and M was modal verb) and 180 target words noun (N) and verb (V)in total. There were four possible types of combining a priming word and a target word, among which two types were syntactically legal while other two types were syntactically illegal.②All the subjects were demanded to judge whether the word matching of the priming words and target words was correct. Stimuli were arranged at random. Both the priming words and target words were presented for 200 ms with a stimulus onset asynchrony of 300 ms, and the interstimulus interval between two neighboring trails was 2 500 ms.③Event related potentials were recorded by Neuroscan Synamps 2, and were analyzed with Neuroscan 4.3, which were further analyzed using a repeated-measurement of analysis of variance. RESULTS: The data of 16 subjects were all included for the statistical analysis.①Reaction time and accuracy: A significant difference in reaction time was found between two types of matching 'yi Q+N' and 'bu M+V' F(1, 30)=5.475, P =0.026but no difference for accuracy.②The mean amplitude of Nd400: In time window of 350-750 ms, the main effect of types of matching on Nd400 of frontal region was extremely significant F(1, 15)=14.211, P =0.002]. The difference wave 'bu M+N'-'bu M+V' elicited a significant Nd400. In time window of 450-530 ms, the extremely significant main effect on Nd400 was found in the posterior scalp region F(1, 15)=11.042, P =0.005]. The difference wave 'yi Q+V'-'yi Q+N' elicited a larger Nd400.③Latency: In the posterior scalp region, an extremely significant difference was found between latencies elicited by the two difference waves mentioned above F(1, 15)=29.512, P =0.000], with Nd400 caused by the difference wave 'yi Q+V'-'yi Q+N' more delayed.④Isopential voltage: In time window of 400-600 ms, the difference wave 'bu M+N'-'bu M+V' showed more negativity over frontal region, whereas the difference wave 'yi Q+V'-'yi Q+N' extended more negativity over posterior scalp region. CONCLUSION: In normal people, nouns and verbs are represented by different brain networks. The frontal lobe is more involved in the representation of verbs, while the posterior part of brain is crucial for nouns.


In this paper, we investigate the mutual mobility effect for independent multiple primary users and numerous secondary users on the spectrum sensing capability of secondary users. The proposed system model adopts two different mobility models; namely, the random walk (RWL) model and random waypoint (RWP) model with varying numbers of primary mobile users and secondary mobile users in the network. Closed-form expressions for the detection capability and normalized sensing capacity were derived. The results show that the increase in the number of independent mobile users following a random mobility model has an impact on the total sensing capacity over unoccupied bands.


Weak spurious intensities arising from the n-beam interaction (the multiple diffraction) often obscure the existence of screw axes or glide planes. It is pointed out that the n-beam interaction may also introduce· significantly different intensities to a set of crystallographically equivalent reciprocal lattice points. These problems can be solved by making IJI scanning measurements and, more definitely, by a comparison with the simulation based on the Soejima-Okazaki-Matsumoto (1985) formalism; some examples are shown. Since the influence on the intensity reaches 10% for strong reftections and more for weaker ones, a careful examination is essential for the accurate determination of F values.


A protocol for forensic identification of 5 species of Asclediaceae which contain cardiac glycosides, namely Calotropis gigantean (L.) R. Br. ex Ait., Cerbera odollum Gaertn., Nerium oleander L., Strophanthus gratus Franch., and Thevetia peruviana (Pers.) K. Schum, was proposed based on botanical and chemical examination. Plant materials were collected and subjected to morphological, microscopic, and thin layer chromatography (TLC) examinations. Morphological comparison suggested that the shape of leaf was distinctive as each plant species has a unique leaf shape. Comparison of microscopic characteristic of powdered plant parts revealed the composition of different cell characteristics. Moreover, unique TLC fingerprints were generated when plant extracts were separatedin a EtoAC:MeOH:CH2Cl2 (81:11:8) solvent system. Results supported that these 5 Thai plant species can be accurately differentiated by botanical and chemical characters. Introduction: Plants containing cardiac glycosides are classified as poisonous plants and have a long history in fatal poisoning. Cardiac glycosides have direct effect on Na + /K + ATPase pump of cardiac cells, resulting in the increase of intracellular Na + concentration which consequently affects the Na + /Ca 2+ exchange channels. Therefore, resulting in an increase in intracellular Ca 2+ that leads to increased force of cardiac muscle contraction (positive inotropic effect) 1 . Consumption of plants containing cardiac glycosides may be either accidental or by intention. During 1984 – 2001, there were 14 cases of children consuming fruits and seeds of Thevetia peruviana 2 reported from a hospital in Columbia, Sri Lanka. These children were brought to the hospital with symptoms i.e., vomiting, abdominal pain, bradycardia, and loose motion. There are also reports of death caused from Nerium oleander poisoning. In these cases, Nerium oleander leaves were used to make tea as they were thought to be eucalyptus leaves, 3 another case report was on a male with diabetes consuming herbal medicine containing N. oleander 4 . Blood of the deceases were analyzed by LC-MS/MS for oleandrin and related compounds, and matched with those from N. oleander leaves. T. peruviana and Cerbera odollam seeds were also reported to be used for suicide and homicide incidents. According to an 11-month retrospective study in 1995, 79 people were admitted in a hospital located in northern Sri Lanka suspected to attempt suicide by eating seeds of T. peruviana, of which 6% did not survive when reached hospital 5 . During 1989 – 1999, there were 537 casualties from consumption of C. odollam. These incidents consisted of both suicide and homicide cases 6 . To identify the plant species in these poisoning cases, details of the ingested plant such as adescription of the plant, plant part and ingesting time, are essential information. However, in severe cases, immediate supportive treatment is given prior to identification of the plant. Most Thai plants containing cardiac glycosides belong to the family Apocynoceae, i.e., Nerium oleander L., Cerbera odollam


Since the introduction of mechanical bolts in the coal mines, the amount of research into the understanding of the behaviour of roof bolts has been significant. Today, almost all coal mine roofs are supported with roof bolts in South Africa. However, falls of ground still remain a major cause of fatalities and injuries in South African collieries. In the early years, the design of roof bolt patterns was based on local experience and the judgement of mining personnel. The suspension mechanism was the most easily understood and most widely used roof bolting mechanism. However, significant advances have been made over the last 20 years, in particular, the development of resin anchors, tendon elements, and installation hardware. These advances have resulted in an increase in the use of full column resin bolts. The design of roof bolt patterns has also been improved, and four main rock reinforcement techniques have been developed: simple skin control, beam building, suspension, and keying. In traditional deterministic roof bolt design methodologies, the input parameters are represented using single values. These values are described typically either as 'best guess' or 'worse case' values. However, investigations into the roof and roof bolt behaviour presented by many studies (Van der Merwe22, Canbulat and Jack3, Canbulat et al.5, Canbulat et al.6) suggest that the input parameters, including the mining geometries, rock and support properties can vary significantly within a few metres in a panel and also from one support product to another. These properties can be described using deterministic (calculation of a single safety factor) and/or probabilistic models. Deterministic models typically use a single discrete descriptor for the parameter of interest. Probabilistic models, however, describe parameters by using discrete statistical descriptors or probability distribution (density) functions. This is the fundamental principle of probabilistic design approach, which is the recognition that the factors that govern the roof stability and support performance exhibit some degree of natural uncertainty. This uncertainty should ideally be accounted for in the design method. While deterministic approaches provide some insight into the underlying mechanisms, they cannot quantitatively address the risks and uncertainties that are inherently present. In a probabilistic design method, however, the stochastic nature of the input parameters are included and, therefore, it is possible to quantitatively represent uncertainties and thus the resulting probability of failures. In the paper, a review of the probabilistic approach will be given, followed by an attempt to understand the roof behaviour in South African collieries through in situ monitoring. Design of optimum roof support systems in South African collieries using a probabilistic design approach


The application of present generation of digital and analog monolithic integrated circuits (ICs) to operating power plant systems has resulted in components scaled down to less than 1jlOth of the area of conventional components, and still function faster and more efficiently. Microprocessors and digitaljanalog ICs in monitoring and control systems have emerged as the preferred choice for power plant systems. This paper develops a reliability analysis for power plant systems with IC components assuming constant failure rate. A variable failure rate model is also developed for analyzing observed failure data to ascertain probable cause.


AVGWLF and PRedICT softwares were used to estimate the Louisiana dairy industry's effect on water quality. Results indicated a 20 percent decrease in N and P but little decrease in sediment pollution even when best management practices were adopted in 75% of land.