Origami, the ancient paper folding art has inspired the engineering equipment and design for decades. The basic concept of origami is very general, which leads to applications ranging from small scale to large scale. Recently, researchers are interested in being able to create self-folding structures. Such a structure enables kinematic manipulation by external forces or moments without folding and/or unfolding operations. This is a beneficial application for many fields including aerospace systems, robots, small devices and self-assembly systems. In this paper, the investigation and analyses of the previous literatures on the key driving force of the actuation structure, including the heat, light, electricity, gas and other actuation methods. The aims are to provide researchers and practitioners with the support to systematically understand the latest technologies in this important and evolving field, with inspiration and direction for follow-up.


Described here is an autopsy case of a 30‐year‐old woman with systemic hemangiomatosis accompanied by coagulopathy and mlcroanpiopathfc hemoly‐tic anemia. She had hepato‐splenomegaly, anemia, thrombocytopenia, prolonged prothrombin time and partial thromboplaetin time, and fibrinogenopenia. A splenectomy was performed and a diffuse angioma of the spleen was found. Postmortem examination revealed cavernous hemanguomas and hemangioendotheliomatous lesions in the liver, bone marrow, inteetine, and lymph nodes. Coagulation studies suggested that exacerbation of coagulopathy occurred due to Liniac (10MV X‐ray) irradiation. Our observation raised the possibility that the irradiation might lead to chronic localized consumption coagulopathy, which was confined to the hemangioma, to acute disseminated types of intravascular coagulation.


The planning of a modern rapid transit system requires consideration of a variety of elements. If such a system is to succeed it must be located and designed to serve those elements. It must provide fast, comfortable and economical transportation; be compatibly related to other forms of transportation; encourage the orderly growth of the urban area; and be built at the least reasonable cost. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System has moved through these planning stages and is in the process of construction. Considerable research was required to meet operating criteria, as well as high standards for comfort and esthetics. Meanwhile, the communities to be served by the new system are accelerating their own master planning to accommodate the impact of the $1.2-billion network upon their areas.


ABSTRACT Due to their Indigeneity, Indigenous early career researchers are positioned differently and therefore experience the higher education sector differently to their non-Indigenous peers. Such positioning significantly impacts the development and progression of Indigenous academic research career trajectories. This article reports from the first stage of a three-year longitudinal study to examine the self-identified support needs of Indigenous early career researchers. The findings offer six factors that are crucial in supporting Indigenous early career researchers to develop and establish sound research careers within the academy. This article engages Indigenous standpoints related to the cultural interface and Indigenist research, with a view to shaping institutional responses to supporting Indigenous research career trajectories and further to recognise Indigenous Knowledges as integral to building global academies of teaching, learning and research.


Aim: To report on a modified technique for upper eyelid lengthening in lid retraction associated with Graves' disease. Methods: A prospective consecutive interventional case series. 41 patients, 38 women and three men, with a mean age of 55 years (range 32–75 years) were included. Full transsection of the upper eyelid with optional transsection of the lateral horn was performed in 60 lids. A central bridge of conjunctiva was left intact in the pupillary axis. Before and after surgery, the skin crease, palpebral aperture, and scleral show were measured and the contour of the lid margin was assessed. The overall result was graded as "perfect," "acceptable," and "failure." Results: The mean period review was 6 months (range 2–36 months). Preoperatively, upper eyelid retraction varied from 1 mm to 7 mm; mean scleral show was 2 mm in 45 lids, the palpebral aperture was in the desired height (SD 1 mm) in 53 of 60 lids (88%) and was reduced by 3 mm (mean), the skin crease remained unchanged (SD 1 mm) in 44 of 60 lids (73%). The result was considered "perfect" in 43 and "acceptable" in 14 of 60 lids after one or two surgical approaches. In three lids, the surgery had failed. Conclusion: In contrast with other surgical techniques the surgical approach presented here is easy to perform and still leads to very satisfying and predictable postoperative results.


The utility model discloses a curing medical paste for adjunctive curing acute nephritis, belonging to the medical paste technical field, which comprises an upper basement layer and a lower basement layer, wherein the upper and the lower basement layers are made of the non-woven cotton cloth with good gas permeability, between the upper and the lower basement layers broken magnets and a medicine mixing layer are arranged, the upper surface of the upper basement layer is provided with a protective membrane layer; the medicine comprise Chuancaoxian, Poria, Semen Coicis, Semen Eutyales, Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, Semen Plantaginis, Portulaca grandiflora, Herba Taraxaci, Cortex Phellodendri, Exocarpium Benincasae and Xiandigen; the surface of the lower basement layer is provided with a non-drying glue layer. Compared with the prior art, the utility model has the advantages of reasonable design, simple structure, convenient manufacture and use, no side effect, medicine absorbing through skin, painlessness of patients, and significant curative effect and so on, and is a suitable medical paste for adjunctively curing the acute nephritis that can be widely used for clinic.


Since porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV) has spread in the swine population worldwide. Although uncomplicated infections pass undetected or with mild clinical symptoms, PRCV is a well-known factor in the development of the porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC). Previous research has suggested a role for bacterial cell wall toxins, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA), as secondary agents involved in PRDC. A variety of proinflammatory cytokines, particularly tumour necrosis factor-


Bioremediation involves microbial metabolism of harmful substances. This study was undertaken to enhance oilspill bioremediation through the addition of sodium sulfate, sodium nitrate, and sodium phosphate to samples containing Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis. Since these bacteria often utilize nitrates during cellular respiration and nitrate ammonification, respectively, it was hypothesized that sodium nitrate would increase the amount of hydrocarbon metabolites present in samples more than sodium sulfate or sodium phosphate. Samples containing different combinations of bacteria, .1 and .01 molar solutions of the above nutrients, salt water, and crude-oil-substitute hexadecane (utilized to replicate the long hydrocarbon chains found in petroleum) were shaken at 27°C for seven or 14 days. Bacterial concentration was estimated by turbidity measurements. Each organic layer was analyzed with gas chromatography to identify any smaller hydrocarbons. The data from two trials partially disprove the hypothesis. While the treatment of .1 M sodium nitrate caused one of the greatest increases in bacterial concentration with P. fluorescens and B. subtilis, the chromatographic data from these treatments differed only marginally from the positive controls and other treatments. Additionally, the data suggested that substantial metabolite formation occurred only in P. fluorescens samples with .1 M and .01 M treatments of sodium phosphate. However, the .1 M nutrient combination and .01 M sodium sulfate treatments caused the greatest hexadecane disappearance. These results are relevant to the enhancement of bioremediation techniques; a need exemplified by the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. Introduction Marine oil spills represent one of the most devastating accidents occurring worldwide, as demonstrated by the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20, 2010. Preventing these spills entirely would be practically impossible; however, preparing for them can limit the damage they cause. Increasing the rate at which oil spills in the ocean can be cleaned would save millions of organisms and acres from lasting harm. This project was completed to increase the effectiveness of bioremediation techniques by the addition of inorganic nutrients to Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis for use during oil spills. According to the EPA, almost 14,000 oil spills are reported each year1. Many different techniques are used to attempt to clean oil spills. Booms–barriers that extend about three feet below the surface of the water can be used to contain the oil, while The Effect of Nitrogen, Sulfur, and Phosphorus Compounds on Bioremediation of Oil Spills by Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis Meghan Shea1*, Sandra Litvin2, and Anastasia Chirnside3 Student1, Teacher2: Unionville High School, Kennett Square, PA 19348 Mentor3: University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 *Corresponding author: email@example.com INTERNSHIP ARTICLE skimmers act as vacuums to remove this contained oil1. Sorbents, or materials that absorb or adsorb oil, are also commonly used to remove the final traces of oil from an oil spill1. However, the technique that requires the least human effort and is often the most successful in the long run is bioremediation1. According to the Civil Engineering Department of Virginia Tech, bioremediation is "the application of biological treatment to the cleanup of hazardous chemicals in the soil and surface or subsurface waters"2. Certain bacteria are able to feed on the contamination, which in this case is long hydrocarbon chains, and use the energy for growth and reproduction2. Through this process, the oil is metabolized into water and carbon dioxide. While this process usually occurs naturally, it can be stimulated through the addition of nutrients and microbes, which is known as bioaugmentation. Common organisms used in the bioaugmentation of petroleum are Pseudomonas, Proteus, Bacillus, Penicillum, and Cunninghamella. For this experiment, two rod-shaped, aerobic, heterotrophic microbes, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis, were used to degrade oil. P. fluorescens colonizes soil, water, and plant surface environments and is motile due to multiple polar flagella3. This Gram-negative bacterium can utilize nitrate as an electron accepter in place of oxygen during cellular respiration3. B. subtilis, a Gram-positive bacterium with peritrichous flagella, also inhabits soil and water4. In place of crude or motor oil, both of which contain additives that react with different aspects of this experiment making data collection difficult, HD (see figure 1 for abbreviations and acronyms) was utilized to replicate the long hydrocarbon chains found in petroleum. HD is an alkane hydrocarbon with a 16-carbon chain. Often, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur are the limiting factors of bioremediation in aquatic environments. Therefore, sodium nitrate (NaNO3), sodium phosphate (Na3PO4), and sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) were used as sources of the above nutrients in order to determine which has the greatest effect on the bioremediation of hydrocarbons by P. fluorescens and B. subtilis. All three inorganic nutrients are soluble in water, making them effective for aquatic oil spills. In P. fluorescens, 30 Figure 1. Abbreviations and acronyms. Meghan Shea, Sandra Litvin, and Anastasia Chirnside Page 2 of 8 31 Materials and Methods Inoculating liquid cultures of P. fluorescens and B. subtilis: One liter of nutrient broth was prepared using the standard procedure found on the container and sterilized using an autoclave. 150 ml of nutrient broth were added to each of three clean Erlenmeyer flasks labeled B. subtilis, P. fluorescens, and Spectronic 20 control, respectively. The three flasks were autoclaved. The flask labeled P. fluorescens was inoculated with bacteria from a pure colony from Carolina Biological, using a metal inoculating loop and standard flaming techniques to avoid contamination. The inoculation was repeated twice more with P. fluorescens, re-inoculating the same flask to ensure adequate bacterial growth. The above procedures were repeated with the B. subtilis pure colony and the flask labeled B. subtilis. All three flasks – two inoculated and one control – were incubated at 27oC. Creating a standard spec-20 absorbance curve for each bacterium: A Spec-20 was set to a wavelength of 686 nm and left to warm up for a minimum of 15 minutes. Eleven clean culture tubes were obtained and labeled 1-11. Using different pipettes, turbid P. fluorescens liquid culture and nutrient broth were added to each tube to a total volume of 10.0 ml. The volume of liquid culture was reduced by 1.0 ml in each tube from 10.0 ml to 0.0 ml. Using a vortex mixer, each tube was mixed thoroughly for 1 – 2 seconds. After mixing, 3-4 ml of broth from tube 11 were transferred to a clean Spec-20 tube and the outside of the tube was wiped with a Kimwipe. The tube was placed in the Spec-20 and used as a blank, following the instructions for the specific machine. Starting with tube 10 and going backwards to tube 1, 3-4 ml of each dilution were transferred to the Spec-20 tube and the absorbance was measured. Using the absorbance data, a X-Y scatter plot of dilution factor vs. absorbance was created and a second order polynomial trend line was added to the plot. From the plot, the range over which absorbance was proportional to bacterial concentration was identified, and a second plot was created using only this range. A linear trend line was added to this nitrate is often incorporated in metabolism by serving as an electron acceptor during cellular respiration3. B. subtilis uses nitrate ammonification in anaerobic conditions4. However, the specific use of these nutrients during the hydrocarbon metabolism of P. fluorescens and B. subtilis has not yet been studied. Since the two bacteria utilize nitrate during cellular respiration in anaerobic conditions and nitrate ammonification, respectively, it was hypothesized that sodium nitrate, an inorganic nutrient that provides nitrogen to the microbes, would cause the greatest HD degradation and production of smaller hydrocarbons. To test this hypothesis, samples were prepared containing different combinations of bacteria, .1 and .01 molar solutions of the above nutrients, salt water, and crude-oil-substitute hexadecane. The turbidity of each sample was measured daily using a Spec-20. An absorbance standard curve for each bacterium coupled with serial-dilution plating facilitated the conversion of absorbance to CFU/ml. After shaking at 27°C for 7 or fourteen days, the organic layer was removed from each sample using an Acetonitrile-based Solid Phase Extraction. Each organic layer was analyzed with gas chromatography (FID) to identify any smaller hydrocarbons, the presence of which would indicate successful bioremediation. new plot. Using the equations of the trend lines from the first and second plots, a correction formula was derived to correct for linearity at high absorbance readings. The entire procedure above was repeated with a turbid B. subtilis culture to obtain a second corrected absorbance curve. Calibrating absorbance measurements with viable cell counts: One liter of nutrient agar was prepared using the standard procedure found on the container, sterilized using an autoclave, and poured into sterile Petri dishes. 16 sterile culture tubes were obtained and labeled 10-1 – 10 -16. Using a 10-ml pipette, 9 ml of sterile nutrient broth were added to each culture tube. 32 nutrient agar Petri dishes were obtained and two were labeled 10-1, two 10-2, etc., through 10-16. Using a Spec-20 and the procedure detailed above, the absorbance of a turbid P. fluorescens culture was recorded. Using a 1-ml micropipette, 1 ml of turbid P. fluorescens culture was transferred to the 10-1 tube. The dilution was mixed thoroughly by vortexing for 1 – 2 seconds. Using a new pipette tip, 1 ml of the 10-1 dilution was withd


Luxury goods industry has been escalating rapidly across the globe over the years. Despite the rapid growth, unfortunately there are limited studies found in Malaysia as majority were done in foreign countries. Besides, there was also a rise in demand observed specifically among Generation Y. With regards to this, the objective of this study is to determine the factors that create an impact on the purchase intention of luxury among Malaysian consumers. The study adopted a research model from past study in which the Theory of Impression Management was integrated. Variables such as personal value dimension (self-identity value, hedonic value and materialistic value), functional value dimension (price-quality perception and uniqueness value), social value dimension (conspicuous value and prestige value), and financial value dimension (price value) are used to predict the purchase intention of luxury goods.


Magnetic logic devices are, in principle, capable of transmitting and processing binary information in an entirely magnetic way. Magnetic quantum-dot cellular automata (MQCA) (R.P. Cowburn and M.E. Welland, Science vol. 287, p. 1466, 2000; G. Csaba et al., IEEE Trans on Nanotechnology vol. 1, p. 209, 2002) realize logic functionality based on arrays of dipole-coupled nanomagnets. Recent experimental studies investigated the correlation length of antiferromagnetic ordering on chains of coupled single-domain ferromagnets (R.P. Cowburn, Phys. Rev. B vol. 65, p. 092409, 2002; A. Imre et al., Proc. IEEE-NANO 2003). Switching-field variations of the nanomagnets was identified as a critical issue during the ordering process. We present a combined experimental and theoretical study on arrays of closely-spaced magnetic dots with varying shapes in the size of 70-300 nm. The goal of our study is to identify those shapes which yield the longest correlation lengths for MQCA applications.


Aim: Today, there is an increase in cancer incidence and cancer-related deaths in the elderly population. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) levels on the survival rate in elderly patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Material and Methods: A total of 73 patients (aged ≥70 years) who operated for NSCLC between 2012 and 2018 were included in this study. Patient records were analyzed retrospectively. The NLR value was calculated with the blood neutrophil count/lymphocyte count formula. The cut-off value for NLR was considered as 2.5. The PNI value was calculated as 10 x serum albumin (g/dL) + 0.005 × total lymphocyte count (per millimeter). PNI values lower than 50 were considered as low.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 74.15±3.23 years, 59 (80.8%) patients were male and 14 (19.2%) were female. No statistically significant relation of postoperative complication was noted with PNI (p=0.354) and NLR (p=0.483). Postoperative mortality was not significantly associated with PNI (p=0.188) and NLR (p=0.465). For patients with NLR <2.5, 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were at 86.0%, 86.1%, and 78.3%, respectively, while these rates were at 76.9%, 65.2%, and 24.8%, respectively, for patients with NLR >2.5 (p=0.028).
Conclusion: Results revealed a significant association of NLR with survival rates in elderly patients with NSCLC. NLR can be considered inexpensive, easily measurable, and reproducible marker that can be incorporated into routine clinical practice for guiding and optimizing treatment decisions in patients with NSCLC.


Abstract The study aims to report an algorithm based on co-ordinate transformation to compute complex flows. A two-dimensional computational code is developed using transformation of governing incompressible flow equations by employing body-fitted co-ordinates. The complex flows may involve external flows past obstacles having curved surfaces or internal flows confined in curved domains. The transformed governing equations are discretized using MAC algorithm. The code has been validated by comparing variation of Strouhal number with Reynolds number for flow past a circular cylinder.


Objective To investigate effect of Ginsenoside-Rg 1 on the brain in adult rat following local ischemia. Methods The model of cerebral infarction in the territory of middle cerebral artery in rat was prepared, Ginsenoside-Rg 1 was injected to abdominal cavity with different doses, and the neurological function deficits were examined and analysed. Results In the 1st day group, no difference was found (P0.05)in comparing every dose (50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg)with positive control group and negative control group. In the 3rd day group, there was no difference(P0.05) compared with positive group, but a marked difference(P0.05)was showed in the 100 mg/kg dose group compared with negative control group. In the 7th day group, neurological function analysis revealed great difference (P0.05) in comparison with both pasitive group and negative group. Conclusion Ginsenoside-Rg 1 could produce effects of treatment and protection to a certain extent when it was used for local ischemia, with time-effect relationship, but with no dose effect relationship. The treatment duration should be longer, say, seven days.


The Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy in Australia (STELLA) were developed and launched in 2001. Their development has been well documented and it is not my intention here to describe their history. Instead, I want to consider their relevance and value to practising and beginning English teachers.


The paper aims to augment the limited literature on teacher job satisfaction in developing countries, specifically in Chile. The nature of job satisfaction in Chilean secondary science teachers is investigated and causes of satisfaction and dissatisfaction identified. Teachers mentioned most often their satisfaction with interactions with students, relationships held within the school and opportunities to contribute to the development of society, future generations or the individual. Sources of dissatisfaction are poor salary, excessive workload, student characteristics, resources and infrastructure. Associations between teachers' characteristics (age, gender, experience), the type of school administration and job satisfaction are also made and suggestions on how to address the issues of teacher satisfaction and dissatisfaction are discussed.


PurposeThis study aims to examine the rehabilitation project of the iconic urban industrial building in Athens, "FIX" brewery, and the practices followed, so as to initiate a discussion on the role of the façades in such a process. In particular, this study suggests that by choosing to restore just two of the façades out of the whole building, while placing emphasis on creating a new face for the new use, frontality is promoted against the pre-existing homogeneity approach, and façadism is introduced. However, both façadism and frontality distance this project from the rationale behind the adaptive reuse and redevelopment of built heritage.Design/methodology/approachA thorough architectural analysis of the FIX brewery building's long history and its consecutive transformations, besides providing adequate evidence for the hypothesis set, provided the opportunity to broaden the scope of this research and explore the role of the façades in adaptive reuse practice. Methodology-wise, this research was further strengthened by a comparative analysis of the Weverij De Ploeg adaptive reuse project in Bergeijk.FindingsIn the light of this critical analysis, the current study first highlights the importance of a building's façades in shaping public perception and establishing a connection to the city, by transmitting information and meanings about the building's structure, function, character and era. Accordingly, it stretches the need for façades' retention when adapting an industrial building of cultural heritage to a new use. Second, it emphasizes the need of fostering a holistic perspective toward a historic industrial building of such merit, respecting the building as a whole and in all its depth.Originality/valueThis in-depth analysis provides a solid ground for rethinking adaptive reuse, concretizing the appropriate approaches to industrial buildings of cultural heritage from parties involved (inter alia government leaders, legislators, property developers, historians, urban planners, architects and other engineers), to ensure both the building's continuity and longevity, and an efficient and sustainable urban regeneration.


Abstract : Since 2005 DRDC Atlantic has been conducting the Multi-Sensor Torpedo Detection, Classification, and Localization (MSTDCL) technology demonstration project aimed at improving the torpedo detection, classification, and tracking capabilities on Halifax-class frigates. This document examines the advantages to the MSTDCL project of adding a capable Environmental Analysis package for detection performance prediction. Three levels of complexity were examined: a basic level based on the Networked Underwater Warfare (NUW) developed analysis package, an intermediate level package building on the NUW package to provide improved functionality and displays while reducing operator interaction, and an Advanced Environmental Analysis package that improves the accuracy of the performance predictions by more accurately representing range-dependent environments. The advantages of each level to the MSTDCL system are compared, along with estimates of the work level required to implement the package. A low-risk approach beginning with the NUW package and advancing through the intermediate levels is recommended.


Objectives : This study aimed to explore the passive multi-channel time series analysis method by measuring bio-potentials of acupuncture point and the peripheral region Methods : Bio-potential was measured at ST36 and the peripherical region of ST36 of 5 healthy volunteers at three times. The diagram of the potential changes over time were smoothed by moving average method and similarities of ST36 and the other points were calculated. Results : In the normal weight group, bio-potential similarity tended to decrease in proportion to the distance from the acupuncture point. In the obesity group, bio-potential similarity appeared in a very wide area. Bio-potential similarity had positive correlation with BMI value. Conclusions : The passive multi-channel time series analysis method showed the possibility be appropriate for the electrical characteristics study of meridians.


Official travel is one of the very important activity in PT.Citra Swarna Group aiming to do a particular task or so that the management of vehicle will be required when you want to travel. In undergoing the process of its business, the proposer, logistics, finance and logistic head. face problems in terms of management of vehicles for official travel is proposing and licensing process is less practical for example proposer vehicle must meet the logistics officer and logistics officer met the boss financial and PT.Citra Swarna Group in the management of vehicle demand. Therefore, vehicle management applications for official travel purposes based online features nomination letter requesting information management vehicles for official travel and vehicle maintenance management.
This application is made with the waterfall method using the programming language PHP with CodeIgniter framework and uses MySQL as a database server.Pengguna of this application is an employee PT.Citra Swarana Group which include staff, logistics, finance, logistic head.
Keywords: PT.Citra Swarna Group, Demand Letter Vehicles, vehicle.


River regulation for hydroelectricity production results in rapid changes of flow and habitat features, but its effects in the movement patterns of freshwater fish are not well understood. Radiotelemetry was used to track Iberian barbel during a year cycle in non‐regulated and regulated rivers. We applied a kernel density method to estimate and compare home range sizes of the two populations. Seasonal patterns of movement and the intra‐annual variation in habitat preferences were also compared. Barbel inhabiting regulated river exhibit larger and more continuous home and core ranges, in opposition to the smaller and patchy areas used by fish inhabiting the non‐regulated river. Seasonal movements of both populations were differentiated by the drought period. Barbel from the non‐regulated river had to search for suitable refuges, with specific habitat characteristics, in which they remained aggregated during harsh summer conditions. Conversely, barbel from regulated river kept a continuous distribution along the river. This study contributes to the management of regulated rivers by providing insights about which flow components are more altered by hydropeaking operations and which are the most critical annual periods for fish movements. It also suggests several restoration actions, such as the protection of fish summer refuges, the restoration of large‐scale temporal streamflow variability and the reduction of daily rates of discharge rise and fall, which should be continuously monitored in order to increase their efficiency and provide new knowledge. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Schisantherin A (SchA), a dibenzocyclooctadiene lignan isolated from the fruit of Schisandra sphenanthera, was reported to possess anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant activities. However, its protective effect against renal ischemia‐reperfusion (I/R) injury in human renal tubular epithelial cells subjected to hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) has never been studied. Thus, herein, we investigated the effect of SchA on renal I/R injury in vitro. Our results demonstrated that SchA pretreatment significantly improved HK‐2 cell viability exposed to H/R. Pretreatment with SchA markedly inhibited the levels of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde, as well as suppressed the production of tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), interleukin‐1β, and interleukin‐6 in H/R‐stimulated HK‐2 cells. In addition, SchA also suppressed H/R‐induced HK‐2 cell apoptosis. Furthermore, this protective effect of SchA was mediated through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in HK‐2 cells. These findings showed that SchA may exert a protective effect on renal tubular epithelial cells against H/R injury through the activation of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.


Objective To understand the bone metabolism in the patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE)by determining the serum level of B-ALP、PINP、NTX、 CTX.Methods Forty two patients with SLE and 30 matched normal controls were studied.The serum level of B-ALP、PINP、NTX、 CTX were measured.Results The serum level of B-ALP((5.03±1.22)μg/L、PINP(30.18±5.14)μg/L in SLE patients were significantly lower than that of the normal subjects(B-ALP 7.85±1.30)μg/L、(PINP45.12±4.95)μg/L(P0.05).The serum level of NTX(5.12±1.08 nmBCE/L)、 CTX(0.26±0.07)μg/Lin SLE patients were significantly higher than that of the normal subjects(NTX 2.01±0.95 nmBCE/L)、(CTX 0.15±0.05)μg/L(P0.05).Conclusion Abnormal bone formation and decreased bone turn over exist in SLE.


Group B streptococcus (GBS) is the commonest cause of early onset sepsis in UK newborns. Several risk factors for early onset GBS sepsis (EOGBS) have been described. The presence of these risk factors provides an opportunity for intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) and forms the basis of current UK EOGBS prevention guidance. Having observed poor compliance with national guidelines in a review of EOGBS cases within the UK Neonatal Infection Surveillance Network (NeonIN), we reviewed 14 NeonIN unit guidelines. We found substantial variation in recommendations within and between units on indications for IAP and treatment of asymptomatic neonates, and discrepancies between obstetric and neonatal guidelines, potentially increasing infants' risk of infection. The lack of high quality evidence in this area and related ambiguity in national guidance may have contributed to diverse local approaches. A common approach would permit prospective evaluation of an EOGBS prevention strategy, generating an evidence base to benefit future guidelines.


The relationship of failure detection ratios between sensors and bearings at different distances were investigated in order to decide the rational numbers of sensors and select appropriate sensor locations. The impulse signals from damaged bearing were separated from the vibration signals of machinery failure by an envelope detector. The failure detection ratios were calculated according to the analysis of impulse signals. Experimental results have shown that locating an accelerometer on the bearing housing to monitor conditions of a few bearings at different distances is possible and the relationship between the failure detection ratios and various testing conditions have been obtained. This detection method, using an accelerometer to monitor a few bearings at different distances, has been proved to be able to satisfy the various requirements of failure diagnosis. In addition, since the method reduced the unnecessary number of sensors and other devices, it can not only decrease the costs of monitoring devices, but also decrease the self-maintenance costs of monitoring devices. This study provides a new approach for bearing failure diagnosis.


ABSTRACT This article examines the deployment of border conocimiento and the subsequent cultural production of third spaces for transnational Mexican youth by Chicano educators who I call "border brokers" at a northern California high school. It examines the micro-level insurgent actions on the part of a small group of educators at Bosque High to engage Mexican migrant youth through a different educational vision and narrative—a vision based on communal notions of learning and belonging and border epistemology, what I call Acompañamiento, where the meaning and scope of membership in the community in which one lives are addressed. Demonstrating a border epistemology, border teachers understood intimately the need to go beyond narrow constructions of academic success to join in the struggle for full realization of their students' humanity and need to be in community. Using ethnographic data from a year-long study at a northern California high school and town, this paper examines the different ways that educators came together to claim space and create place for displaced transmigrants in what I call acts of acompañamiento—a fluid cultural practice of solidarity, advocacy, and relationship/community building based on cultural knowledge situated in border zones.


The title salt, [Li(H2O)4][Li(C7H5O2)2], which was synthesized by reacting equimolar quantities of lithium hydroxide and tropolone in water, consists of a hydrated lithium cation whose charge is balanced by a ditropolonatolithate. Both Li atoms exist in a tetrahedral geometry (the cation and anion lie on different sites of 222 symmetry). Hydrogen bonds link the cation and anion into a layer structure; π–π stacking [centroid–centroid distance 3.313 (2) A] is observed with the tropolonate rings, the stacking allowing the formation of channels that facilitate the packing of the cations within them.


FIELD: electronics. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to solid-state electronics, particularly to heat sinks of high-power semiconductor devices and can be used in various engineering devices operating with high specific heat loads. Diamond heat sink is made in form of layered structure of diamond plates, wherein thickness of layer structure exceeds minimum along surface of structure of local heat source size. EFFECT: technical result is increased output power from local heat source. 7 cl, 4 dwg


The annual litter production increased with increasing age of the Eucalyptus plantations both in the pure and intercropped stands with Mentha and Cymbopogon spp. An increase in litter production was recorded in all the intercropped in comparison to pure stands at all the ages. Higher concentration of N, P and K was observed in the litter of the intercropped stands which decreased with increasing ages of the stands. The total addition of nutrients through litterfall to the soil was higher in the intercropped than the pure stands. The N, P and K contents of the soil under the pure stands was higher than those of inter cropped stands. Maximum amount of N and K was found in the superficial layer of the soil which decreased with increasing depth. Most of the Phosphorus was accumulated in the soil at the depth of 15-30 cm in all the stands. The available N, P and K in the soil increased with increasing age of the stands.


Optimal resource allocation is a challenging problem which is faced by Project Managers. In large projects, where multiple resources have to be properly allocated taking into consideration the total cost of project and the time needed to be completed, the optimization problem becomes even more difficult. Therefore, intelligent techniques have been widely used to cope with such demanding problems. This study applies a nature-inspired intelligent algorithm, i.e. Sonar Inspired Optimization (SIO), to face the Resource Leveling problem of a real world project, i.e. a High Voltage Alternating Current Submarine Link Terminal Station. The specific application domain is a NP-hard optimization problem as it can receive a very large number of possible solutions. Furthermore, a hybrid scheme of this algorithm with Simulated Annealing (SIO-SA) is used to improve the performance of SIO. Comparative results show that both approaches (SIO and SIO-SA) perform almost equally well.


Diao Chan and the story of a set of interlocking stratagems originated from the masses and then were accepted by scholars.In Yuan Ming period,people liked the story very much.We know it from three aspects: First,showing intentional favouritism to writing by the masess and the scholasr.Second,the high interests in the "《连环计》ZaJu"and "《连环记》ChuanQi".Finally,the high praise to "《连环记》ChuanQi".In fact this story is made up of three factors——histroy,stratagem and beauty.The masess and the scholasr liked this kind of story,which embodies the same cultural mentality of the whole people: laying stress on histroy,advocating wisdom and loving beauty.


A practical and reliable CFRP plate anchorage is a key in design and construction practice of the strengthening technique using prestressed CFRP plates.Seven different anchorages for CFRP were tested and the performances of the anchorages for CFRP plate were investigated.Base on analysis of the test results,the influence factors for the anchor effect of CFRP plate anchorage were discussed.A new CFRP plate anchorage was proposed for the prestressed FRP retrofit construction practice.


Vietnamese Treebank is a syntactically annotated corpus newly published in 2009. In this paper, we applied automated methods to detect errors in Vietnammese Treebank based on the concept of equivalence classes proposed by Dickinson. On this basis, we propose an improved method of error detection by transforming syntax trees based on vertical markovization. Our experimental results on Vietnamese Treebank showed that the scope of error detection was extended more than 2 times and the precision was improved more than 18.07% in comparison with the base line methods.


The laser dia-testing machine is used to precisely test the diameter of many things,but the circumstance such as dust and vapor always affects the accuracy of results.In this article the author has introduce a laser dia-auto-testing system which is based on GPIB(General Purpose Interface Bus).The system is used to gather the signal of laser dia-testing machine in each interferential condition.The results are analyzed and processed through computer in order to reduce the effects or different condition.In addition,the application of the logic analyzer is introduced in this system.


Two approaches to prepare amino acids with catalytically active organometallic side chains are presented. These methods are notable in that they provide access either free or N-protected compounds that are structurally analogous to naturally occurring amino acids. The N-protected organo-metallic amino acids are compatible with standard peptide coupling conditions and can be used to prepare catalytically active metallopeptides.


Aspects of the financial markets that became apparent in the 2008 crisis were exacerbated by the intervention of monetary authorities. Financial markets under stress validate the general concept of Prospect Theory, under certain assumptions about the distributional characteristics of asset returns. This validation points to the need for re-examining performance metrics, such as the Sharpe Ratio and the Information Ratio. This analysis proposes new ratios that accommodate a higher moment of the portfolio return distribution. This alteration is reflected by the qualitative analysis of investment managers, which is performed by the performance evaluation industry, as it pertains to fixed income.


Whitlockite phosphates Ca 9 R(PO 4 ) 7 (R = Ln) were synthesized. Their dielectric and nonlinear opti- cal properties were studied. A polar crystal structure (space group R 3 c ) was determined for all of the phos- phates. When the temperature elevates above 840 K, the phosphates experience second-order phase transitions to centrosymmetric states, which were classified as ferroelectrics. The high-temperature conductivity of the Ca 9 R(PO 4 ) 7 obeys the Arrhenius law; its value increases with the R cation size. In accordance with the crystal- chemical models of the whitlockite structure and by analogy with the isostructural vanadates Ca 9 R(VO 4 ) 7 , the electrical conductivity of Ca 9 R(PO 4 ) 7 was ascribed to calcium ion transfer.


Currently several methods of super-resolution optical microscopy are known. One of them – super-resolution radial fluctuations (SRRF) microscopy – was successfully used in present work to study the structures, formed by FtsZ protein in living E.coli cells with a resolution well below the diffraction limit.


In multi‐user multiple input multiple output (MU‐MIMO) uplink, the bit error rate (BER) of linear detection schemes, namely, zero forcing (ZF) and minimum mean square error (MMSE) under correlated Rayleigh fading channel deteriorates with increase in spatial correlation and load factor due to the increase in the condition number of the channel matrix. Moreover, the performance gap between ZF and MMSE increases with increase in the antenna number for large load factors. To address this issue, in this paper, truncated singular value decomposition (TSVD), which is a popular method for solving ill‐posed problem, is used in the ZF detection process through proper selection of hard threshold. However, the pseudo‐inverse computed using TSVD is an approximate inverse, which results in interference at the output of the detection process. Therefore, a mathematical expression for the post‐processing signal‐to‐interference‐plus‐noise ratio (SINR) of the substream is derived and subsequently BER is evaluated. Further, the analytical BER is analyzed with respect to the parameters namely, average signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) ( EsN0 ), correlation coefficient ( ρU,ρB ), load factor ( β ), and number of singular values considered to compute the hard threshold ( n ) and also validated by Monte Carlo trails. From the simulation results, it is observed that for higher order MU‐MIMO systems and at lower values of EsN0 , the performance of TSVD‐based scheme is comparable with that of MMSE by decreasing the truncation parameter ( k ). Moreover, as the complexity of TSVD‐based ZF using randomized schemes is O(NU2NB+NU2log(k)+NUk2 ), therefore, the complexity of detection significantly decreases with decrease in k .


The importance of the research on the social feeling of a company's workers in the situation of organizational changes is substantiated in the article. The authors have developed its parameters and indicators. The modifying impact of the social and organizational changes is revealed. The article also presents the results of an empirical study.


After the two year research of inter-religious dialog in Belgrade, here is the article which points out the complex and multidimensional status of Islamic community in Serbia. Using the theoretical-research concept "grassroots level", and by investigating local confessional community, author have tried to contribute in getting to know each other between the closest neighbors, but also to stress the problems which are slowing down or disabling inter-religious dialog in specific environment.


Aiming at realizing the remote education of PLC experiment course,the architecture and implementation of a PLC control experiment system was presented,which combines computer network,PLC and object-oriented programming technologies.The function,design and process of the system were described.Furthermore,the key points of design and implementation methods were presented,in both the client side and the controller side.Using script programs,an approach of operating the PLC exclusive software in distance was introduced,and a remote experiment system based on Omron PLC was built.The results of actual operation show that the system runs stable,the client interface is similar with the traditional PLC experiment environment,and the system can satisfy the requirements of the remote PLC experiment course.


The corrugated solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) can effectively improve energy density and transformation efficiency compared with conventional planar SOFC, but its stability and durability have not been systematically analyzed. The residual stress of SOFC may lead to crack initiation and propagation during cooling process, so stress distributions of planar and corrugated SOFCs are simulated to analyze the location of crack initiation. The materials of electrolyte, anode, and cathode in this paper are yttria‐stabilization zirconia (YSZ), Ni‐YSZ, and strontium‐doped lanthanum manganite (LSM), respectively. The result shows that the edge of cell is more prone to cracking. Therefore, precracks including edge crack and middle crack are introduced into anode‐electrolyte interfaces to investigate crack propagation of two types of SOFCs during cooling process. For corrugated SOFC, the cracks propagate more slowly, and the cell is less prone to interfacial delamination compared with planar SOFC. In addition, the interface energy release rates are obtained to further analyze crack propagation of two types of SOFCs, and the corrugated SOFC has lower energy release rate. The research in this paper provides guidance for stability analysis and lays a foundation for future mechanical analysis of corrugated SOFC.


Chimney behavior is studied via computer simulations to quantify the effects of specific parameters, including chimney height above roof, masonry flexural tensile strength, chimney section dimensions, vertical steel reinforcement, and chimney-house anchorage strength. All of these parameters are found to affect performance. Damage functions are formulated relating peak ground acceleration to the likelihood of extensive chimney damage. The functions offer a practical way to inform fragility curves, thereby better reflecting an individual chimney as well as chimney inventories in regions of interest.


An active protein adsorption membrane composed of poly(vinylidenedifluoride) (PVDF) and TiO2 nanoparticles, which is surface modified by oleic acid (OA) molecules has been fabricated. The hybrid membranes were obtained using an induced phase inversion method by blending the PVDF casting solution and OA-modified TiO2 nanoparticles. The TiO2 nanoparticles in the anatase phase with average sizes ranging from 10 to 50 nm were entrapped into the pores and deposited on the surface of PVDF films. Furthermore, the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles affected the formation process of PVDF films and resulted in the variation of the pore structure of PVDF films. The adsorption performances of these PVDF hybrid membranes were measured using bovine hemoglobin (BHb) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as target substances, and the effects of adsorption conditions were systematically studied to determine the optimum conditions. The adsorption results showed that the hybrid membranes had significant enhanced adsorption activity toward BHb and BSA in comparison with pure PVDF, and there was a positive relationship between adsorption capacity of proteins and the loading amounts of TiO2. However, The OA-modification enhanced the BHb adsorption and meanwhile depressed the BSA adsorption. Interestingly, the adsorption capacity of BHb on the hybrid membranes was as 3–4 times that of BSA. Using the mixed protein solution as the adsorption object, the SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated that BHb can be selectively adsorbed on the hybrid membranes. This work showed a prospective application of these hybrid membranes in the selective adsorption and separation of BHb.


The research project is focused on the design and construction of a prototype double chamber furnace (glp) that allows hospital pathological waste to be incinerated. The environmental problem is currently regarded as a technical challenge that requires a great deal of prevention, knowledge and relentless control that serves to take corrective prevention measures. Waste formed in public and private health centres has inadequate collection, transport, storage and final disposal of waste, which can cause severe physical damage and dangerous infections to staff working in these centres, patients and the community at large. Prior to the design, different incineration methods were assigned to take a mechanical design alternative, in fact the three proposed alternatives were concluded to take as an example the alternative Na 3, made by about two chambers, in the first chamber the incineration of solid waste and in the second chamber the disposal of polluting gases. The design of this furnace will allow to expose waste to high temperatures above 1100 oC, sufficient to eliminate microorganisms that could be a threat to human health and the environment.

Keywords: Oven, incineration, Pathological waste, infectious risk


Mung bean seedlings (Vigna radiata L. cv. TN5, a chilling-sensitive cultivar) pretreated twice with 200 mM hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by a 3-h interval apart followed by chilled at 4oC for 36 h showed a similar electrolyte leakage levels to those of seedlings cold-acclimated at 10oC for 48 h. Double H2O2 treated seedlings showed higher glutathione levels than those of control, single-treated, and even cold-acclimated plants. This H2O2 induced glutathione accumulation in seedlings did not inference by illumination; however, the glutathione levels of cold-acclimated plants diminished significantly. Seedlings treated with buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), a specific inhibitor of glutathione synthesis, prior to H2O2 application reversed the H2O2-induced tolerances and thus showed a higher electrolyte leakage. Combination of distinct treatments with ethylene glycol-bis (β-aminothyl ether)-N,N,Nˊ,Nˊ-tetraacetic acid (EGTA), a specific calcium chelator, although had no significantly influence on the glutathione accumulation. However, the tolerances of cold acclimated and H2O2 treated seedlings do decrease by EGTA. Notably, ruthenium red, inhibitor of Ca2+ flux from intracellular stores, had no obvious influence on both glutathione and electrolyte leakage levels. These observations indicated that extracellular calcium and glutathione accumulation play important roles in the response elicited by H2O2 pretreatment in mung bean seedlings. Also, cold acclimation induced chilling tolerance response could separately mediate via both light-dependent and light-independent pathways.


Abstract : Here are some of the highlights in our three year's work supported by this grant: 1) New lessons from a dragonfly flight, namely, designing flapping flight at low Reynolds number need not follow the traditional rule, but instead, could make use of drag as well as lift. 2) Two new Navier-Stokes codes for efficiently simulating multiple wings and ground effects. 3) Experiments of dragonfly flight provided data to our computational models and study the dragonfly's fore-hind wing interactions. 4) Experiments, computation, and theoretical analysis of passive flight of falling paper and plates taught us about models of fluid forces. 5) Comparison of 2D computations against 3D robotic fruit fly experiments allow us to assess the relevance of 2D computations as well as the role of 3D effects in insect hovering. 6) Theoretical analysis of fluid forces including the effect of both the leading and trailing edge vortex sheets, a much needed improvement over the classical theory. 7) Simulations of three-dimensional elastic flapping wings that are actuated by muscle forces, which now finally takes off.


Objective To identify the relationship between preoperative factors and transfusion requirements of female osteoarthritis( OA) patients undergoing primary total knee arthroplasty( TKA).Methods Age,surgical time,presence of hypertension,anesthesia,implants,preoperative hemoglobin( HB) value,and erythrocyte sedimentation rate( ESR) were analyzed in this retrospective study. 59female OA patients( 71 knees),who met our inclusion criteria and underwent primary TKA,were included. Results The patients with ESR 20 mm / h received more transfusion than those with normal level ESR( Z =- 2. 015,P 0. 05). ESR showed significant association with transfusion( P 0. 05),and no other factor was relevant. When patients over 65 years old were separately analyzed,significantly more transfusions were applied during or after TKA in patients with ESR 20 mm / h( Z =- 2. 915,P 0. 01);ESR( P 0. 01) and HB( P 0. 05) showed significant association with transfusion. The preoperative ESR level was highly positively correlated with the perioperative transfusion( r = 0. 347,P 0. 01),especially in the patients over 65 years old( r = 0. 489,P 0. 01). Conclusion The findings indicate that in the female OA patients,the preoperative ESR is highly associated with blood transfusion and it could be a potentially reliable biomarker for perioperative allogenic blood transfusion.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To pickle and passivate a stainless steel at the same time and to reduce the operating cost at the time of pickling a chromium-contg. stainless steel by using a pickling soln. consisting of iron ion, hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid and an ordinary additive, supplying an oxidizing agent to convert the Fe 2+ formed in pickling to Fe 3+ and keeping the oxidation-reduction potential at a set value. SOLUTION: A stainless steel is dipped in a bath kept at 30-70°C, preferably at 45-55°C, and contg. 25-120g/l HCl (a), at least 15g/l, preferably ≥30g/l, Fe 3+ (b), 5-50g/l HF and about 1g/l additive (d) (emulsifier, wetting agent and abrasive) and acid corrosion preventive agent. The bath is agitated by an air current, etc., the components (a), (b), (c) and (d) by the amts. securing the optimum concn. level and ≤pH2.5 and the oxidizing agent by the amt. keeping the oxidation-reduction potential of the bath at least 200mV are continuously or periodically supplied, and pickling is performed. COPYRIGHT: (C)1997,JPO


In this study, a nonlinear 3‐branch equivalent circuit model is established that considers the instantaneous dynamic characteristics of supercapacitors. A dynamic capacitor Cf is introduced to represent the effect that the terminal voltage has on the capacitance for supercapacitors based on the traditional model, which can improve the precision of the description of a supercapacitor's dynamic characteristics. Then, the parameters of the supercapacitor model are identified using Levenberg‐Marqurdt method, and a simulation analysis and experimental validation are performed. The simulation and experiment results show that the linear and nonlinear 3‐branch equivalent model can quickly track the measured voltage value under the dynamic working conditions of Economic Commission for Europe and Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule. However, the nonlinear 3‐branch equivalent circuit model has a smaller voltage error, and the minimum error is 2.16%. In summary, the proposed nonlinear equivalent circuit model can more accurately reflect the actual dynamic characteristics of supercapacitors with a better engineering application value.


A first order lag with time delay was used to model dynamic responses of product temperature, torque, and mass pressure to step changes in screw speed. Transportation lag was evident in the mass temperature at the die, while the time constants generally decreased with increased magnitude of the step input. Dynamic responses indicated a more stable response to larger magnitude of step inputs! Product attributes and process variables were shown to be a function of the magnitude of the step input when final screw speed set points were identical.


This study describes editing behaviors of students with metalinguistic awareness as the intervening variable. Results of a 25-item Grammaticality Judgment Test showed that the participants in the study had moderately low levels of linguistic awareness, as indicated by a mean score of 10.21. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of data reveal that these students did not perform effectively as peer editors for they engage in low-level processing of texts.


Dear Editor, We report a case of mycotic abdominal aortic aneurysm (MAAA) in hemodialysis patients. Prompt diagnosis is a challenging problem and such aneurysms are often underdiagnosed because of their rarity, and atypical symptoms that mimic pyelonephritis or kidney stones (1,2). A 73-year-old female with pre-dialysis diabetic nephropathy and cirrhosis was admitted to our hospital because of uremic lung.We started hemodialysis via a dual lumen catheter into the right jugular vein. An arteriovenous fistula (a shunt for dialysis) was created in the left forearm, and the catheter was exchanged for a cuffed tunneled catheter in order to wait for the shunt to develop. We had not prescribed preventive antibiotics except in the shunt operation, as we were concerned about resistant organisms. Sixteen days after the tunneled catheter was inserted, the patient developed fever, hypotension and Grampositive-coccal bacteremia (BT 38.9°C, WBC 18600 /mL, CRP 5.79 mg/dL, BP 98/64 mm Hg). Catheterrelated bacteremia was diagnosed since the outlet of the catheter had pus producing-inflammation despite our aseptic manipulation. We removed the catheter and started antibiotic therapy with cefazolin intravenously (iv) at 1000 mg per day. Intravenous antibiotics were continued for six days, by which time the fever had resolved, the WBC count normalized and blood cultures were negative for Gram-positive coccus (BT 36.4°C, WBC 7500/mL,Neutro 78.9%, Eosino 0%, Baso 0.3%, Lymph 11.4%, CRP 4.93 mg/ dL). We subsequently determined that the Grampositive coccus was methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Three days after stopping intravenous antibiotic therapy, the patient started to complain of bilateral lower back pain. A thoracoabdominal enhanced computerized tomography scan was performed. An abdominal aortic aneurysm with a lobulated surface and periaortic fluid was detected just below the diaphragm (Fig. 1). Ultrasonography of the heart did not show any structures suggestive of infectious endocarditis. A diagnosis of impending rupture of the MAAA was made because of imaging features indicative of an infected aneurysm and the rapid expansion of the aneurysm. We started treatment with vancomycin i.v. at a trough level of 14.5 mg/dL (therapeutic range, 5–15 mg/dL) for elective surgery. Blood cultures became positive again. Six days after the diagnosis, the patient died of rupture of the MAAA before surgery. Tunneled hemodialysis catheters are generally used, but various complications have been reported. In our patient, a pathogen invaded a highly calcific vessel wall during her bacteremia leading to a mycotic aneurysm. Staphylococcus aureus produces a dextran polysaccharide that allows adherence to damaged intima. In a similar case reported by Lee et al., fever relapsed and blood cultures became positive after 6 weeks of intravenous vancomycin therapy


The total amount of energy spent in buildings is quite significant, reaching up to 40% of the world's total energy usage. Accordingly, the EU has set goals requiring zero CO2 emission in buildings by 2020 to respond to the increasing energy demand and started continuously supporting innovative research approaches for improving energy efficiency in buildings. However, innovative approaches cover the challenges in specific parts (specific facilities, building functionalities, etc.) of both new buildings and renovation of existing buildings. Therefore, main challenge in current building facilities is scaling up of the building innovative approaches in combination with the building usage. So, it is crucial to influence the complex interaction between users and buildings. To reinforce the building configuration and adaption according to the occupants' behaviour, this paper presents a methodology to construct a building-user interaction. This methodology aims at developing data mining algorithms and semantic models with stream reasoning capabilities that allows occupants and facility managers to monitor and control the energy consumption, to detect the energy inefficiencies and to generate recommendations to reduce energy consumption whilst increasing occupant comfort. The proposed methodology is modular which could be integrated in the existing building management systems and that is promising to reduce energy use in existing buildings.


As shown in another communication to Symposium 5, nano-sized aluminas enriched in pentacoordinated aluminum (Al{sup V}) are obtained through the limited hydrolysis of aluminum alkoxides. Here the surface properties of these aluminas are investigated from the catalytic point of view. The goal is to obtain geometrical information on the Lewis acid sites. {sup 1}H{r_arrow}{sup 27}Al (cross-polarization) high resolution MAS NMR, using chemisorbed NH{sub 3} which acts as a {sup 1}H spin reservoir, allows the direct observation of surface Al involved in the catalytic site. The polarization transfer from these protons to surface Al is remarkably efficient because of the relatively short Al:N-H distance. It is observed that the main Lewis acid sites are located on distorted tetrahedral aluminum and pentacoordinated Al. These results are compared to low temperature infrared data of adsorbed CO.


We show unique existence (global in time) and regularity of solutions to the Navier--Stokes equations for compressible viscous flows with nonzero initial and Dirichlet boundary data on polygonal domains. The solution is constructed by the inverse of the sum of two operators taken from Da Prato and Grisvard [J. Math. Pures Appl. (9), 54 (1975), pp. 305--387] and, applying to the inverse the corner singularity result of the Lame system and the Laplace with parameters, is split into singular and regular parts. The orders of the leading corner singularities for the velocity are the same as those of the Lame system, and the one for the temperature is the same as that for the Laplace operator. The coefficients of the singularities, called the stress intensity functions, are constructed, and the remainders are shown to have increased regularities. Consequently the derivatives of the flow variables may blow up along the trajectory curves starting near the nonconvex vertices, so the dynamical behaviors will be ste...


Fivebasicneedsfortheimprovementofsystem security are identified. Briefdiscussions are presented intheareasofsystem design, coordinated operation, more effective operation, andpolitical-public relations problems. Recentresults inthefifth basic need forsystemsecurity, thedevelopment of more sophisticated approaches totheproblems ofsystemcontrol, arepresented. The results areinresearch areassponsored byElectric Research Council Research Project RP90.Finally, several suggestions are offered for further research inthis vital areaofsystemcontrol.


A new set of laboratory experimental frequencies for the J = 1–0 rotational transition of 12CH+, 13CH+, and 12CD+ are obtained by using a liquid nitrogen cooled extended negative glow discharge in a gas mixture of CH4 and He. These frequencies are found to be significantly different from those reported previously. The unexpectedly large Zeeman effect and the spin-rotation hyperfine interaction for a 1Σ molecule are observed. The Zeeman effect and the hyperfine interaction appear to be distinctively different for each isotopic species. Theoretical considerations reveal the isotopic dependence of the magnitudes of these effects, and they also provide strong evidence for the identifications.


Magnetospheric growth of coherent VLF signals transmitted from Siple Station, Antarctica, is inhibited by whistler mode echoes of earlier transmitter signals. This new phenomenon, called echo-induced suppression, is observed at least a third of the time that transmissions from Siple Station are detected at the receiving station in Roberval, Quebec, Canada. Suppression levels as high as 20 dB are observed. Though the echo is usually much weaker than the direct signal, the level of suppression is directly related to the amplitude of the echo. The echoes reduce the triggering of emissions as well as the growth of the signal. Echo-induced suppression is not explained by linear wave-wave interference. The echoes are thought to restrict growth by reducing the coherence of the total input signal. These new results suggest that coherent waves tend to limit their own growth even when particle distribution modification is unimportant. Other phenomena, such as whistler-induced suppression of signal growth, are thought to be related. Wave-induced growth suppression provides an indirect verification of the existence of discrete ducts for the propagation of VLF signals in the magnetosphere. It also provides a new tool for investigating wave-particle interactions in the magnetosphere.


Plasma relaxin immunoactivity was measured in guinea pigs during the estrous cycle from midpregnancy to parturition as well as during acute suckling using a homologous porcine relaxin radioimmunoassay. Samples were collected at frequent intervals from an indwelling jugular vein catheter. The peak levels found during pregnancy, \.'12 ng/ml, were higher than the peak levels during the estrous cycle and suckling (4-5 ng/ml). During the estrous cycle, relaxin levels were low at estrus and early diestrus and were high at late diestrus and proestrus preceeding the opening of the vaginal membrane. During late pregnancy, episodic secretion of immunoreactive retaxin was common and the timing of this secretion varied. In some guinea pigs, relaxin levels increased in mid to late pregnancy; others showed only a rise before parturition or only the mid to late pregnancy rise. Spectral analysis of the data revealed clear periodicities in the results from several animals but others showed no evidence of periodicity. The most common period was 18 h. In most animals, but not all, the onset of lengthening of the pubic ligament as determined by palpation was preceded by a period of relaxin production. There was no evidence for an acute effect of suckling to elevate relaxin secretion in this species; indeed suckling decreased relaxin immunoactivity with mean levels of control animals significantly higher than those of animals suckling their young.


The diverse and complex ways in which individuals from one society now engage in the political affairs of individuals living in other societies have generated a wealth of academic and practitioner analysis. In ensuing debates, ethics of intervention have featured prominently. However, just war theory, traditionally a key frame for ethical analysis, plays a comparatively small part in contemporary discourse. This article thus examines how just war thinking can be used to guide current interventionist practice, and in particular how it can structure analysis of recourse to engagement. It begins by surveying recent debate. It then conceptualizes intervention by developing an eight-part typology. Next, it presents a six-part framework for ethical evaluation of recourse to intervention, drawn from just war theory but attuned to contemporary practice. It closes by briefly considering operationalization of the framework in the real world of international politics.


This article presents a summary of a study on the application to the Mexican energy sector of a core set of indicators for sustainable energy development (ISED), developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The study focused on the elaboration of socio-economic and environmental indicators related to energy production and use, and was aimed at assessing Mexico's existing energy policies and identifying strategies and possible policies that could bring about improvements in major priority areas: energy intensity, atmospheric emissions, energy import dependency and use of renewables. While positive trends have been observed in relation to energy intensity and atmospheric emissions, Mexico is becoming more dependent on imports of gasoline, natural gas and other high-value secondary energy sources, while exporting significant amounts of primary fuels, such as crude oil. Also, no significant increase has been observed in the use of renewable sources of energy. Social, economic and environmental policies need to be formulated for the energy sector and related investments (public and private) reinforced so that all economic sectors have access to energy from cleaner and more diverse sources.


This paper presents a 6 ~ 18 GHz 7-bit digital-controlled attenuator. The proposed attenuator is based on switched-T architecture, but no inductor is used for minimum chip size. The designed attenuator was fabricated using 0.18 μ m CMOS process, and characterized using on-wafer testing setup. The resolution(minimum attenuation step) and the maximum attenuation range of the attenuator were measured to be 0.22 dB and 28 dB, respectively. The measured RMS attenuation error and the RMS phase error for 6 ~ 18 GHz were less than 0.26 dB and 3.2°, respectively. The reference state insertion loss was less than 12.4 dB at 6 ~ 18 GHz. The measured input and output return losses were better than 9.4 dB over all frequencies and attenuation states. The chip size is 0.11 mm 2 excluding pads.


Distributed control system has been widely used in industry . This system tallied with that concept, and is a minitype distributed monitoring system which adopts tokenbus structure. The design and implement of network communication is introduced in detail.


By ,,error of observation" is meant the deviation of the observed from the true value. In an interview survey this may depend on several factors, some of which are referable to the interviewer. The "interviewer effect" may therefore be defined as the discrepancies attributable to the person conducting the interviews. As far as we know, the question of an interviewer effect has not received close attention in Sweden, but studies from other countries (e.g. Hyman et al. 1954) have shown that such an effect may occur. In many interview surveys, however, this source of error it not taken into account. The causes of interviewer effect have been discussed in the sociological literature. According to Maccoby and Maccoby (1954) it is essentially connected with such factors as the behaviour of the interviewer, his manner of addressing questions, his thoroughness, expectation of answers and way of classifying these in his report. In connection with a recent interview survey of sanitary nuisance and health hazards from flue gases, we studied the occurrence and significance of interviewer effect. The results are presented below.


The molecule of the title compound, C10H7N3, excluding the methyl H atoms, is essentially planar, the maximum deviation being 0.067 (2) A for the C atom of the methyl group. The molecular packing is made up of a network of weak hydrogen-bonding interactions involving all the N atoms, which stabilizes the molecules in layers parallel to the ac plane. The interlayer distance of ca 3.74 A allows stabilization along the b axis by π–π stacking.


Ghosting—the act of ending a relationship by ceasing communication without explanation—is a type of ostracism that threatens a person's basic psychological needs for belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and control. The experience of ghosting creates uncertainty within the relationship and may vary based on individual differences in the need for closure, which is the desire to avoid ambiguity. Across three preregistered studies with emerging adults, we predicted that a greater need for closure would be associated with lower intentions to use ghosting (Studies 1 and 2) and lower needs satisfaction after being ghosted (Study 3). Results from Study 1 (N = 553) and Study 2 (N = 411) were inconsistent, but together indicate that a higher need for closure is not negatively associated—and may be positively associated—with ghosting intentions. In Study 3 (N = 545), participants who recalled a time when they were ghosted reported lower needs satisfaction than included and directly rejected participants. Further, a higher need for closure was associated with lower needs satisfaction after being ghosted and after being directly rejected, but with greater needs satisfaction after being included. Overall, these findings suggest that the need for closure is less influential when deciding how to end a relationship, but it appears to play an important role in amplifying both positive and negative experiences within a relationship.


In this paper, we propose a method of feature map dimensionality reduction as the input of CNN. We validate the complexity advantages of this scheme in a 120Gb/s PDM 64QAM coherent optical communication system.


There is no unanimity about the origin of non-alignment. India's claim as its birth-place has been contested by others, particularly, by Yugoslavia and Indonesia who also claim the same honour. This controversy notwithstanding, the fact remains that non-aligment as a movement started in 1961 although several countries pursued non-aligned policies before it. Among these countries the most prominent were India, Indonesia, Egypt and Yugoslavia and by 1961 non-aligment as a foreign policy option had already won some legitimacy at least in the third world. With a view to providing greater strength and vitality to non-alignment, they took initiatives to give an organisational shape to it. From time to time bilateral and multilateral meetings were held among the leaders of like-minded countries to devise some organizational mechanism for forging unity and co-operation among them. From the Asian Relations Conference, 1947 to the Brioni meeting of 1956, non-alignment steadily grew from policies of individual countries to a.big and strong movement, culminating in the first non-aligned summit of 1961 held at Belgrade.


This paper presents preliminary investigations concerning the use of simple recurrent network (SRN) in Chinese word prediction. We explore the architecture introduced by Elman (1990) for predicting successive elements of a sequence. This model is based on a multilayer architecture and contains special units, called context units which provide the short-term memory (STM) in the system. Based on this model, We constructed a modular SRN to predict Chinese word at two levels. The first level network predicts the major category of the next word, then the next possible word is predicted at the second level network. Also, the specific encoding schemes was described in the paper. Experiments show that the method is promising.


At present, China has entered a new stage from traditional fisheries to modern fisheries, there has been a hot topic to build modern fisheries through hold the scientific principles of fishery development in fisheries economic circles. Based on the definition of modern fisheries, to carry out the related discussion with the characteristic and developmental tendency of modern fishery, in order to lay the foundations for related research and practice.


The effect of harvesting time and temperature on the antimicrobial potency of Moringa oleifera Lam. (drum stick) leaf of the family Moringaceae and it's phytochemical constituents were determined against Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhi using the agar well diffusion technique and qualitative phytochemical analysis method respectively. The aqueous leaf extracts were found to contain phenol, alkaloid, tannin and saponins. The plant leaf extract had activity against the test organisms regardless of the harvesting time and processing temperature. S. aureus was found to be more susceptible with mean zone of inhibition of 19.6±2.08, 21.0±2.64, 21.6±3.21 and 19.3±5.13 at all processing temperature and harvesting time as compared to S. typhi with lower mean zones of inhibition of 11.0±2.0, 11.0±1.0, 10.3±1.53 and 10.3±2.51. Leaf extract from the 2 pm maceration, 2 pm decoction and 5 am decoction had the lowest MIC (25 mg/ml) against S. typhi and S. aureus respectively while extracts from the 2 pm maceration and 2 pm decoction had the highest MBC against S. typhi. The effect of harvesting time and processing temperature is less significant for M. oleifera leaf against the test organisms. Notwithstanding, harvesting time and processing temperature should be of consideration in research on herbal drugs.


Small ubiquitin-like modifier, SUMO, is a member of the ubiquitin-like protein family. Similar to ubiquitin, SUMO is conjugated to target proteins as a post-translational modification via an E1, E2, and E3 enzymatic cascade, in a process known as SUMOylation. SUMOylation leads to altered target protein localization, half-life, or protein-protein interactions. Bursts of SUMOylation following stresses (SUMO Stress Response / SSR) have been documented, however what triggers the SSR, the kinetics of the response, and the cellular components necessary to mediate the response have not been well characterized. Additionally, SUMO has been widely implicated in transcriptional regulation and chromatin organization, although the nature of its role remains unclear. This thesis aims to: 1) complete a comprehensive characterization of the SSR, and 2) elucidate the true role of SUMO in transcriptional regulation and chromatin organization. To this end, I characterized the SSR following a variety of stresses and time courses. I then used mutants and inhibitors to demonstrate that the SSR is triggered by coordinated transcriptional changes (such as in response to a stress). RNA-Seq of a SUMO system mutant identified 162 transcripts which show a SUMO-dependent transcriptional derepression following SUMO system inactivation. These transcripts are primarily inducible genes which are normally induced under specific conditions. Notably, these mutants were still able to


According to the requirement of theory,practice,and skills for food processing specialty technical professionals in vocational colleges,taking the cultivation of food processing specialty in Xiamen Ocean Vocational College as an example,the cultivation requirements,divided step for cultivating mode,curriculum reform,teacher team construction,and training base construction was discussed on the basis of the cooperation of college and enterprises. The aim was to improve the quality of teaching and training students' practical ability,and highlight the characteristics of food processing technician's cultivation in vocational colleges. The platform of the cooperation of college and enterprises cultivated the industry shortage technicians.


Cable bolting and rock/rebar bolting are the two main reinforcement techniques used in underground coal mines to maintain the stability of openings. Due to the structural features of cable strands, cables and solid bolts behave differently in reinforcing rock strata. Since the generation of a cable model is different in a numerical program, and especially impossible in a 2D program, some researchers tend to replace cable bolts with rebar bolts in numerical models, which is still pretty suspicious. To compare their performance differences when subjected in tension and/or in shear, numerical models of cable and rebar bolt were built and analysed using Flac3D program. The generated models of cables and rebar bolts were assigned identical geometrical dimensions and basic mechanical properties to ensure comparability. Attention was mainly given to the strength and stiffness of cables and rebar bolts both in tension and in shear. Conclusions are drawn from these models, which can be a reference for other studies in this area.


Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are included in the criteria air pollutants and plays the role in the formation of acid rain. Waste incinerator are a major sources of NOx and SO2, particularly on local basic of air pollutions. This study was designed to assess the impact of NOx and SO2 emissions that are emitted from the waste incinerator at Walailak University to the ambient concentrations using an atmospheric dispersion model, AERMOD for the two simulated years of 2010 and 2012. Stack emissions of NOx and SO2 were taken from stack monitoring data of the waste incinerator. Meteorological data were mainly taken from Thai Metrological Department for the study area while terrain data were taken from ASTER GDEM database. Results indicated that maximum NOx concentration were 3.30, 0.30 and 0.13 µg/m3 , respectively for 1-hour, 24-hour and annual average while those for SO2 were 18.68, 1.72 and 0.72 µg/m3 , respectively. Simulated concentrations of NOx and SO2 were well below the values specified in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of Thailand and World Health Organization Guidelines.


Abstract : In liquid O2 and N2 the threshold for stimulated Raman emission is found to be much lower than for other nonlinear processes. Thus it is possible to make reliable measurements of the intensity of Raman emission over a large range of incident laser power by using a simple longitudinal geometry. Several distinct regions of emission were investigated, including normal Raman scattering, exponential gain, onset of oscillation and saturation. There is good agreement with theory. (Author)


The relation between the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals (DSMs) and asexuality is likely to constitute a prolific direction in research, especially because of the diagnostic category 'hypoactive sexual desire disorder' (HSDD). This article investigates the concept of sexual desire as outlined by psychiatry and explores the ways in which asexuality disrupts that knowledge. By extension, I consider the model of sexuality that the DSM vehiculates. The manuals themselves provide no measures, no scales, and no defined norms, yet, simultaneously, assume a normative sexuality against which all others can be measured and classified. This article discusses the conceptualisation of 'sexual dysfunctions' in the DSM, of which HSDD is a part, and questions how it operates in clinical research into asexuality. I also pay attention to the clause of 'personal distress' in HSDD, since it appears to be one of the main differences between HSDD and asexuality. HSDD, asexuality, and the role played by the DSM poses questions such as what discourses, forms of knowledge, and institutions, have shaped, silenced, and eventually erased, asexuality.


Automatic Width Control (AWC) system is made up of lever 2 process computer and lever 1 basic automation TCS system. The process computer tracks strip and deals with measured data through tracking system, and calculates roll gap etc. Process parameters which are necessary for AWC through model system. According to process parameters given by level 2 model, TCS system changes gap opening of vertical edging rolls to control strip width through feed forward and feedback technology.


In this paper we study the stability of the collective behavior of social foraging swarms, i.e., swarms moving in a profile of nutrient/toxic substances (an attractant/repellent profile) and extend our previous results. In particular, we consider a plane profile and also extend our results for the quadratic, Gaussian, and multi-modal Gaussian profiles. Moreover, we analyze the ultimate behavior of the individuals in the social foraging swarm. The paper closes with new simulation studies that give insights into swarm dynamics.


Acute kidney injury in children is frequently a component of the multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.It often occurs within the severe catabolic phase determined by critical illness and is intensified by metabolic derangements.Nutritional support is critical for these children to improve outcomes.Meeting the special nutritional needs of these critical children with acute kidney injury often requires nutritional supplementation by either the enteral or the parenteral route.The nutritional requirements of these children should be frequently reassessed for individualized nutritional support and carefully integration with renal replacement therapy.

Key words:
Acute kidney injury; Nutrition; Children


When the effectiveness of asthma interventions are evaluated in the research setting, the physiologic manifestation of asthma-variable airways obstruction-is always objectively measured by some of the following pulmonary function tests: (1) Baseline spirometry gives a highly accurate «snapshot'of asthma severity and the degree of airways obstruction. The FEV 1 , derived from spirometry, is the most reproducible pulmonary function parameter and is linearly related to the severity of airways obstruction. There are no contraindications for the test, spirometers are widely available at reasonable cost, and methods and result interpretation are comprehensively standardized


In order to improve cavitation characteristics for a high-speed propeller, leading edge shape of a 2-D hydrofoil is investigated numerically and experimentally. For flowfield analysis around the leading edge, the incompressible Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) equation is solved using the standard turbulence model and a finite volume method(FVM). The cavitation thickness, which is occurred on hydrofoil surface, is predicted using the panel code. It is shown that the calculation codes predict the experimental trend fairly well. From these results, new hydrofoils are designed


The performance of lubricants is much more important for the crucial demand of the starting friction torque of miniature bearing.A device is designed,which is able to test the starting friction torque of miniature bearing under the conditions of different axial loads and different lubricants at low temperature.By comparison of the test results with the results of YZC-II friction torque tester at room temperature,the device is reliable;The influence of different lubricants on starting friction torque of miniature bearing is tested at different low temperature,the measured data has good repeatability.


This paper presents the optimization based cost comparison between reinforced concrete and doubly-symmetrical welded steel I beams. The task of the research was to define the spans at which each of two different considered structures would show its advantages. The optimization/comparison was performed for simply supported beams for spans between 5 and 30 meters and for a uniformly distributed variable imposed load of 5 kN/m. The structural optimization was performed by the nonlinear programming (NLP) approach. The cost objective function was defined for the optimization and subjected to structural analysis constraints. The structures were designed in accordance with Eurocodes for both the ultimate and serviceability limit states. Beside the optimal self-manufacturing costs, the results also include the optimal masses for the different considered structures.


The presence of stiffness in a stretched string vibrating between fixed supports raises all the natural frequencies over those for a perfectly flexible string. The presence of nonuniformity in cross‐sectional area along the string changes some or all of the frequencies from those for a perfectly uniform string, the amount and direction of change depending on the form of the nonuniformity. These changes in frequency may introduce error into the calculation of the average cross‐sectional area of a fiber by means of the vibroscopic technique, wherein the mechanical resonance of a stretched fiber is observed under oscillating mechanical or electrostatic forces. In this paper the natural frequencies are calculated with both the stiffness and the nonuniformity taken into account to first‐order terms. The relation between the average cross‐sectional area and the natural frequencies is analyzed. Consideration is given to the manner in which the changes in frequency and shifts of the nodes, due to nonuniformity, d...


Abstract : While ATP-ase does not, in the reticulocyte, reveal an activity noticeably different from that of the mature erythrocyte, the 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and the pyruvatokinase reveal a noticeably increased activity. The 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase activity, corresponding to the disappearance of the granular and filamentous substance, moves toward the values that are characteristic of the normocyte; this gives noteworthy correspondence between the behavior of the enzyme and the morphological aspect. Pyruvatokinase, instead, decreases more slowly and maintains a still rather high activity in the young erythrocytes which are no longer reticulated.


India's gross domestic product has been growing at more than 8% in the past few years, making it the fourth-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. According to a Goldman Sachs report, India could become the second-largest economy in the world by 2050. The key growth drivers are investments in infrastructure, domestic consumption, and a hub for global outsourcing. This is further supported by growth-oriented policies by the government. The favorable environment has led to the growth of the private equity market. India received approximately U.S. $17.5 billion of investments in private equity in 2007, making it the number-one destination in Asia. Indian private equity has been mainly focused on providing growth/expansion capital to the company as compared to buyouts in the developed markets. © 2008 ICICI Bank Limited. Printed with permission.


The article examines the consequences of the sanctions war declared by Western countries against Russia. The author gives a brief description of the sanctions imposed since February 2022 against individuals and legal entities of Russia. Further, the author highlights the main problematic consequences of restrictive measures negatively affecting the economy of the EU member states. Information is provided on measures taken by national governments to counter inflationary pressure. Then the author considers the proposals put forward by the European Commission aimed at overcoming the energy crisis. As a result of the study, the author concludes that the European bureaucracy in the process of combating the negative consequences of the sanctions imposed against Russia faces the interests of not only national governments, but also corporate players who seek to maximize profits against the background of the crisis.


Assistive technology is defined as a set of features, devices and services that provide or extend functional abilities, its main objective being to provide independence, quality of life and social inclusion. This study aimed to understand the reasons that trigger the use and nonuse of assistive technologies with physical disabilities. This is a qualitative study with an intentional sample of 10 participants, all of them being users of assistive technology andthe Physiotherapy Clinic. For purposes of data collection, a semi-structured script was used and the interviews were recorded and later transcribed and analyzed according to Bardin's perspective. The results revealed that the reasons for wheelchair use are associated with greater functional independence, although the reasons for not using are related to the lack of urban and residential accessibility, the injuries caused by their use and the need for assistance by the user. It was concluded that the functional independence of the use of the wheelchair is reported by its users, justifying that its use facilitates mobility and helps them to participate in activities, although many wheelchairs do not allow functionality, need assistance from third parties and do not provide much comfort routinely.


January 07, 2020, a new virus responsible for multiple respiratory diseases, called since "SARS-CoV-2" or more commonly "COVID-19". If the first outbreak of the new virus is detected in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, towards the end of December 2019, the development and speed of transport has helped the spread of the new virus in five continents. Since then, we have been facing a pandemic, according to the WHO declaration of March 12, 2020. This pandemic has grown steadily, with numbers that are frightening; more than 4 million people infected with the virus (COVID-19) and more than 276 000 deaths on May 9, 2020. The fact remains that the African continent is; more or less, spared from the slaughter, by comparing the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) contamination or those of deaths in Africa with other continents. Through this work, we will identify the causes which can so far spare the African countries from the American scenario or that of southern Europe, in spite of the poverty and the lack of means which characterize the majority of the countries of the black continent. We arrived at several results, thus among the components of the immunity of the African continent: the late arrival of the pandemic on the continent, a destination less popular with mass tourism, a continent with a low population density, fairly young and has innate immunity.


In operational terms (cost, implementation), a virtual 3D laboratory store offers an attractive alternative to a physical laboratory store for testing in store marketing initiatives (packaging, price or other). This study compares controlled sample shopper behaviours for a consumer good and shows that the shopper behaviours observed in a virtual store are significantly different from the behaviours observed in a physical laboratory store. Also, significantly less attention is paid to price, reflecting a substantially different decision-making process. This finding is supported by highlighting the moderating effect of habitual purchasing of the brand: when placed in an unfamiliar virtual environment, the consumer is less sensitive to her environment and makes greater use of her memory. However, measures which are predominantly rational, such as attitude to the brand, are not influenced by the type of store visited previously. The article discusses the implications concerning the choice of the type of laboratory store environment, particularly the fact that the behavioural effects of manipulating in-store variables (packaging, price) are less clearly visible in a virtual laboratory store


WLAN Device-free passive (DfP) indoor localization is an emerging technology enabling the localization of entities that do not carry any devices nor participate actively in the localization process using the already installed wireless infrastructure. Current state-of-the-art DfP localization systems require a large overhead to construct an RF profile for the environment, that is then used as a reference for either motion detection or tracking. These profiles are also not robust to changes in the environment, requiring frequent manual maintenance or reconstruction. In this paper, we present the design, implementation and evaluation of Ichnaea, an accurate, robust, and low-overhead DfP localization system. Ichnaea uses a lightweight, typically two minutes, training period to learn the silence profile of the environment. It then applies statistical anomaly detection techniques and particle filtering, while adapting to changes in the environment, to provide its localization capabilities using standard WiFi hardware. Evaluation of Ichnaea in three typical testbeds with a side-by-side comparison to the state-of-the-art WLAN DfP systems shows that it can achieve a worst case median distance error of 2.5 m while requiring significantly lower deployment overhead and being robust to environment changes.


We investigate boundedness of the set of infinite matrix transformations from convergence-free space to sequence spaces lp(1p∞).Especially,we get the general forms of infinite matrix transformations from convergence-free space to sequence spaces lp(1p∞). Furthermore,we get the conclusion that the general forms of infinite matrix transformations from perfect convergence-free space to itself have a simple style.


We have studied the electroluminescence of ITO/Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ superlattice tunnel diode on Si. The light emission intensity and efficiency are >3 orders of magnitude larger than 20 /spl Aring/ SiO/sub 2/ tunnel diode and 0.18 /spl mu/m MOSFET. Besides the small 3 V operation and low power consumption, good reliability is another merit for this device.


A time series analysis of the residuals (TSAR) of a single-equation econometric hog-price forecasting model is conducted. Post-sample forecasts from the integrated econometric-time series model were compared with forecasts from individual econometric and time series approaches. The TSAR forecasts offered some improvement over the individual methods.