Abstract Purpose This study aimed to identify relationships between trunk control, balance and walking in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) with minor to moderate disability to guide the content of interventions to optimise balance and walking. Methods and materials Correlation analysis of baseline data from a prospective randomised controlled study comprising 79 individuals with MS was conducted using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 1.0–6.5 (mean 2.36), Trunk Impairment Scale-Norwegian Version (TIS-modNV), Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest), 2-min walk test (2MWT), 10-m walk test (10MWT), MS Walking Scale-12 (MSWS-12), Rivermead Visual Gait Assessment (RVGA) and number of steps using ActiGraphsWgt3X-BT. Log-transformations of skewed variables were conducted and Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated. Results Strong correlations (r = 0.70–0.90) between the 2MWT and 10MWT, the 10MWT preferred speed and number of steps, and the Mini-BESTest and 2MWT and 10MWT were identified. Moderate relationships (r = 0.50–0.70) were detected between the TIS-modNV and Mini-BESTest, as well as the 2MWT, 10MWT and RVGA. Conclusions The strong relationships support the need to address several aspects of balance to improve walking, while the moderate associations suggest that dynamic trunk control should be considered addressed in interventions for individuals with minor to moderate disability to optimise balance and walking.


Food cold chain relates to people's life directly, and the quality management of it needs to be strengthened. In this paper, the problems in the current quality management of food cold chain logistics are analyzed. PDCA cycle and its particularities as well as specific applications in the quality management of food cold chain logistics are discussed, which are available to guarantee the security and reliability of the food cold chain effectively.


Abstract Pennsylvanian to Early Jurassic sediments underlie part of Prince Patrick Island but are absent on Banks Island. From Early Jurassic through Early Tertiary time the Banks-Prince Patrick area underwent fairly continuous sedimentation. A slower subsidence rate than in the Mackenzie Delta and Sverdrup Basin depocentres gave rise to correspondingly smaller sediment thickness. A late Early Jurassic marine transgression covered most of Prince Patrick Island and Eglinton Graben and probably filled much of Banks Basin. Thick sands and shales resulted (Wilkie Point and Mould Bay Formations). In the Aptian, uplift and block faulting caused a regression and created local troughs in which fluvial sediments accumulated (Isachsen Formation). Sediment was derived from the craton and from local fault-bounded uplifts (?including Storkerson Uplift). Vertical sequences of sedimentary structures demonstrate stream rejuvenation and shifting channel patterns, both thought to have been caused by continued syndepositional fault movement. Succeeding argillaceous and silty beds (Christopher Formation) reflect an Albian marine transgression. A Late Albian shoreline sand facies developed in Eglinton and northern Banks Island (Hassel Formation) and an Early Cenomanian regression followed. Marine sedimentation may have continued in Big River Basin, while mild erosion ensued elsewhere in the report area. Renewed, eastward transgression commenced in the Turonian but did not reach eastern Banks until Late Campanian time. Prince Patrick Island remained uplifted until the Late Tertiary. Silty shale accumulated in the Banks area during the Late Cretaceous (Kanguk Formation). A Campanian shoreface sand facies developed on the flanks of Storkerson and Cape Crozier Uplifts, while extrusive volcanism may have occurred in the vicinity of western Banks Island. Fault rejuvenation and differential uplift from Maastrichtian through Eocene time caused deltaic wedges to prograde from Storkerson Uplift and the craton into Banks and Big River Basins (Eureka Sound Formation). Fourier analysis of gamma ray logs shows that coarsening upward clastic cycles therein thicken with present basin depth, indicating a Tertiary origin for the present structural configurations. Uplift and erosion during the Oligocene was followed by subsidence of present offshore areas and commencement of a major deltaic phase which continued to the present. Beaufort Formation is part of this assemblage, which thickens seaward to several thousands of feet.


Aceh adat community constitutes basic culture in Islamic law, including unregistered marriage which is know by Acehnese Moslems in Aceh because of the development of Islam in Aceh so that marriage is always related to Islamic Fiqh. In Aceh adat, unregistered marriage is valid in the Islamic law although the process is ot before PPN (marriage clerk) in Subdistrict Religious Affairs Office. In thiscase, there is no dichotomy abaout the validity of the marriage between the Islamic law and Law No. 1/1974 in Marriage and between the Islamic law and KHI (Compilation of Islamic Law) as the positive law in Indonesia. Therefore, a valid marriage is a marriage which has fulfilled all requirements without any obstacles.In the Aceh adat, the position of woman who performs an unregistered marriage according to the Islamic Fiqh is equal to woman who has registered marriage.


Summary. Morphological, cultural and biochemical properties of 35 isolates of rod shaped Gram negative, yellow pigmented anaerogenic, fermentative bacteria were compared. The isolates comprised named cultures of Bacterium herbicola, Erwinia lathyri, E. ananas, E. milletiae, E. uredovora and B. typhi flavum, as well as organisms isolated from deer and man which were considered to be related to E. milletiae. The results showed that the organisms were indistinguishable from one another on the basis of the tests employed, and it is concluded that B. herbicola, B. typhi flavum, E. lathyri and E. ananas should be classified as Erwinia herbicola (Duggeli) Dye. Since there was insufficient information regarding the plant pathogenicity of E. milletiae and E. uredovora, it is suggested that they should remain separate species at present. The relationship of this group of organisms to certain coliforms and to flavobacteria is briefly discussed.


Members of the International Hahnemannian Asso ciation:—All the homoeopathic world celebrates this year as the centennial of the discovery of Homoeopathy through Samuel Hahnemann, when for the first time he stated the principle of healing under the formula, Similia Similibus* Though from the oldest historical time up to his age it had been touched upon repeatedly, no physician had declared it with the lucidity which his inductive reasoning enabled him to enunciate it as a scien tific principle of the first rank. He did not reason it out at his desk on theoretical grounds, but at once went to work prac tically to make the first experiment in 1790, by testing the medicine upon his own sound body. Only after six years of further research and practical experiments he arrived at the irrefutable principle that similars are cured by similars. Similia Similibus Ourantur. This homoeopathic mode of healing was taught by nobody before Hahnemann, and this is the main ob ject of our celebration of the present centennial. There was, however, one point underlying his discovery without which he could not have succeeded. This was the necessity of using one remedy at a time in proving and healing. All his experiments would have amounted to nothing if he had employed mixtures for his investigations, as were commonly used by the physicians of his time. This, therefore, the simplex, was the conditio sine


Transformer-rectifier flux pumps provide an elegant solution for high current generation (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$>$</tex-math></inline-formula>1 kA) in superconducting magnets. By using step-down transformers and superconducting switches they can charge magnets with minimal heat-load between the external and cryogenic components. High temperature superconductors' type-II superconductivity enables a range of different switching approaches. It was recently shown that a switching approach based on reducing the critical current with an applied DC magnetic field - <italic>Jc(B)</italic> switching - is feasible. The efficiencies of this switching method are an attractive option for a conduction-cooled system where cooling power is limited. In this work we present the first conduction-cooled transformer-rectifier driven by <italic>Jc(B)</italic> switching where we successfully charge a magnet up to its critical current of 115 A whilst monitoring various component temperatures. We explore the parameter space of applied current and switch temperature to establish the effects on the charging time and maximum current.


Anthropogenic sources began to adversely impact the environment especially after the industrial revolution. With the increasing use of water by domestic, industrial and agricultural activities, the importance of keeping water resources in unpolluted shape has grown. To abate pollution of water resources knowledge about the pollutants arriving from the atmosphere and other sources is of prime importance. In this study, pollutants which are deposed by precipitation and from the soil are determined for the Borabey Pond, Eskişehir, in Inner Anatolia of Turkey. The pond's surface covers 0.16 km2 has volume 1.4 Mm3. Precipitation contains many pollutants, also from agricultural activities which find their way to the atmosphere principal among them are nitrogen and phosphorus species. The maximum total nitrogen concentration in precipitation was found to be 9.7 mg/L and total phosphorus concentration 1.97 mg/L. Besides, the soil has a total nitrogen concentration 50 mg/kg and total phosphorus concentration of 3.5 mg/kg. Strategies must be developed to protect the water source and improve water quality.


The aim of this study is to investigate the minimum growth temperatures and to examine the growth kinetics of 4 strains of Y. enterocolitica in various media including milk


Braun, U., Wolk, A. & Heuchert, B. 2014: Second collection of Tilletia avenastri discovered in type material of Trisetum imberbe. Schlechtendalia 27: 15-16. In the course of phylogenetic-taxonomic studies on Helictotrichon and related oat-like grasses, type material of Trisetum imberbe has been re-examined. Distorted inflorescences with smut sori in ovaries have been observed, examined and identified as Tilletia avenastri. This is the second record of this smut fungus, which has recently been described from Lesotho. Zusammenfassung: Braun, U., Wolk, A. & Heuchert, B. 2014: Zweiter Fund von Tilletia avenastri im Typus- material von Trisetum imberbe entdeckt. Schlechtendalia 27: 15-16. In Verlauf von phylogenetisch-taxonomischen Arbeiten uber Helictotrichon und verwandte haferartige Graser wurde Typusmaterial von Trisetum imberbe untersucht. Deformierte Infloreszenzen mit Brandsori in den Ovarien wurden gefunden, untersucht und als Tilletia avenastri identifiziert, was den zweiten Fund dieses Brandpilzes darstellt, der erst jungst aus Lesotho beschrieben worden ist. Published online 25 Feb. 2014 In the course of molecular phylogenetic and taxonomic-morphological examinations of Helictotrichon Besser and allied oat-like grasses, Wolk & Roser (2013) introduced the new genus Trisetopsis Roser & Wolk and reallocated several species of the former Helictotrichon complex to this genus, including Avena turgidula Stapf ( Trisetopsis turgidula (Stapf) Roser & Wolk, Avenastrum turgidulum (Stapf) Stapf). Syntype material of Trisetum imberbe Nees, deposited at HAL (South Africa, Cape, Leeuwenspruit, between Kraairivier and Witbergen, 4500' alt, J. F. Drege, January 1826-1834, HAL 0107178), an older synonym of A. turgidula, has been examined and exhibited distorted inflorescences with infected ovaries. Sevenster & Veldkamp (1983) mentioned an infection of type material of Trisetum imberbe by a Tilletia causing monstrous spikelets, and Schweickerdt (1937) referred to Tilletia in inflorescences of Helictotrichon turgidulum, but in both papers without exact identification of the causal agent. A detailed microscopic examination revealed infections by a smut fungus later identified as Tilletia avenastri Vanky recently described from Lesotho on Avenastrum turgidulum (Vanky 2011). T. avenastri was hitherto only known from the type collection. The present collection found in type material of T. imberbe is the second record of this smut fungus. Smut spores in type material of Trisetum imberbe agree morphologically well with the original description of T. avenastri. Sori occur in infected ovaries as ellipsoid swellings, 0.5-1.5 mm diam., within the floral envelop, covered by a brown pericarp surrounding the brownish spore mass (Fig. 1). The individual smut spores are characterised as follows: Shape globose to subglobose, composed of pigmented spores, yellowish or with an olivaceous tinge, 15-20 µm diam., wall thin, up to about 1 µm, surrounded by a thick, firm, hyaline sheath, 3-5 µm wide, combined diameter of spore and sheath 20-28 µm, spinulose, spines coarse, arising from the spore wall, permanently embedded in the hyaline sheath, conical, 2-3(-4) µm high and up to 2 µm wide at the very base, colourless. Literature


The roles that pragmatics can play in the development of communicative competence are discussed, and three uses are examined in greater detail, with examples offered: (1) for the refinement of the study of speech acts as they occur in different cultures; (2) to help determine the extent to which explicit instruction can increase the rate at which non-native speakers of English can develop different facets of their pragmatic competence (in the example cited, competence with implicatures); and (3) as a contribution to the presentation of different functions of a language in textbooks designed for second language learners. Data from studies are presented for illustration. It is concluded that the current challenge is to ensure that what is learned about pragmatics is used effectively in the second language classroom. Contains 30 references. (MSE) Ak**A1',:c:-************************************************************ Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** PRAGMATICS AND LANGUAGE LEARNING


The u.v. spectra of 5-and 7-hydroxyflavan-4-ols in acid solution are interpreted in terms of the π-π* transition of quinone methide intermediates; the enhanced reactivity of 4-substituted 7-hydroxyflavans compared to 4-substituted 7-methoxyflavans supports this mechanism which may be operative in the biozynthesis of polyflavonoids (e.g. condensed tannins).


Background Oral mucositis (OM) is a frequent complication of chemotherapy which severely affects patient quality of life. Management is generally based on topical compounded formulations. Purpose To analyse the use of our compounded formulation of Lidollanten 1% for the treatment of OM in a tertiary hospital, to describe this and four other formulations and to perform a comparative cost analysis without including professional fees. Material and methods We performed a 1 year retrospective study (January 2015–December 2015) involving all cancer patients who had used our compounded formulation during the study period. Patient data were obtained from the SAP application. Results During the study period, we dispensed 3122 Lidollanten 1% preparations for 530 patients. The cost of preparation in the hospital was €1.55/100 mL, which meant €4 823.51/year. Different formulations for the treatment of OM are shown in the table. Compounded formulation Lidollanten 1% 2 3 4 5 Components - Llanten leaves- Lidocaine- Sodium borate- Potassium chlorate- Pink honey extract- Syrup - Chlorhexidine 5%- Methylprednisolone- Mepivacaine 2%- Sodium bicarbonate- Sodium chloride- Sterile water - Mepivacaine 2%- Aluminium hydroxide- Magnesium hydroxide- Sorbitol 70%- Guar gum 1%- Nipagin- Citric acid- Peppermint oil- Sterile water - Gentamicine- Hydrocortisone- Nystatin- Lidocaine- Sodium bicarbonate- Cremophor RH 40- Xanthan gum- Sorbitol 70%- Peppermint oil- Sterile water - Sucralfate- Lidocaine- Cremophor RH 40- Sorbitol 70%- Sterile water Complexity High Low High Medium Medium Preparation time 5 hours 30 min 30 min 2 hours 30 min Storage Fridge Ambient temperature Ambient temperature Fridge Fridge Expiry time (days) 30 days 30 days 60 days 15 days 15 days Cost (100 mL) (€) 1.55 1.36 4.27 6.51 2.53 Conclusion According to our data, the least expensive formulation (from the point of view of acquisition cost) was No 2, which also happened to be that requiring the least processing time; it can be stored at room temperature, with an expiry time of 1 month. For these reasons, we believe it is the most efficient. Future studies will determine whether there are differences in effectiveness between the different formulations. References and/or acknowledgements 1. Lalla RV, Bowen J, Barasch A, et al. MASCC/ISOO clinical practice guidelines for the management of mucositis secondary to cancer therapy. Cancer2014;120:1453–61. No conflict of interest


To investigate the effects of lead acetate on the ultrastructure and the expression of p53、Bax and Bcl-2 in mice liver. Twenty five ICR mouse were randomly assigned into five groups and administrated by oral gavage with 0,10,50,100,500 mg·kg -1 body weight of lead acetate every other day for successive 28 days . The expression of p53, Bax and Bcl-2 in liver were measured by western blotting. Meanwhile, the tissue slices of liver were made for ultrastructure observation. By electron microscopy, it can be observed that nuclear chromatin condensed, nuclear membrane shrank, mitochondria swelled and ruptured at the dosage of 100 and 500 mg·kg -1 obviously. The expression of p53 was significantly higher than that of control (p0.05) at the dosage of 10 mg·kg -1 body weight as well as Bax. But as the increasing of dosage, they were decreased steadily and significantly lower than that of control (p0.05) at the dosage of 500 mg·kg -1 body weight . However , the expression of Bcl-2 showed no difference in lead-treated groups compared with control group except for the highest group. The results showed that the ultrastructure of hepatocytes were destoryed at the higher dosage, foremore, p53 and bax were up-regulated which may be associated with hepatocytes apoptosis.


The heliotron concept was one of the first approaches in Japan to obtain a contolled thermonuclear device. Heliotron E, the present major experimental facility, was built at Kyoto University in 1980. This facility's main objectives are: To demonstare the production of a plasma with high temperature (T/SUB e/ about T/SUB i/ <1keV) and high n/SUB e/ T/SUB E/ value, where n/SUB e/ and T/SUB E/ are the average density of plasma and the energy confinement time; to explore the scaling law of confinement over a wide range of plasma parameters; to study neutral beam injection and radio frequency heating and to find effective ways of producing high temperature plasma.


In order to adapt the signals in the engineering applications which has the wide range of changes in the amplitude and frequency,the programmable filter whose frequency response and cutoff frequency can be programmed is designed.The system uses microcontroller and FPGA as the control core,the controllable gain amplifier,programmable filter,the ellipse lowpass filter and the frequency characteristics of the test consists of three parts.Among them,the controllable gain amplifier uses the part of AD603 as the core,and cascades three-way fixed-gain amplifier,programmable filtering part cascades two second-order state variable filter cleverly and resistance of the DAC is equivalent to NC resistance,making the cutoff frequency programmable.Experimental results show that the system is stable,achieving very good programmable filtering functions.


: In the current era, automatic surveillance has become an active research problem due to its vast real-world applications, particularly for main-taining law and order. A continuous manual monitoring of human activities is a tedious task. The use of cameras and automatic detection of unusual surveillance activity has been growing exponentially over the last few years. Various computer vision techniques have been applied for observation and surveillance of real-world activities. This research study focuses on detecting and recognizing unusual activities in an academic situationsuch as examinationhalls, which may help the invigilators observe and restrict the students from cheating or using unfair means. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research work in this area that develops a dataset for unusual activities in the examination and proposes a deep learning model to detect those unusual activities. The proposed model has been named Automatic Unusual Activity Recognition (AUAR), which employs motion-based frame extraction approaches to extract key-frames and then applies advanced deep learning Convolutional Neural Network algorithm with diverse configurations. The evaluation using standard performance measures confirm that the AUAR model outperforms the already proposed approaches for unusual activity recognition. Apart from evaluating the proposed model on the examination dataset, we also apply AUAR on Violent and Movies datasets, widely used in the relevant literature to detect suspicious activities. The results reveal that AUAR performs well on various data sets compared to existing state-of-the-art models. activity detection, tracking and features extraction using CNN. The extracted features are then fed into Multi-class Support Vector Machine (MSVM) for classification and detection of suspicious activities. The experiments were performed on a standard dataset and achieved 95% accuracy. Jalal et al. proposed a method to recognize human interaction in an outdoor environment using a Multi-feature algorithm with CNN. The proposed method is evaluated on the BIT-Interaction dataset and recognize eight complex activities. The experimental results show 84.63% recognition accuracy. This article presents a novel deep learning-based unusual activity detection model in the examination hall. The proposed deep learning model is based on CNN. It outperforms existing models used for unusual activity recognition that uses computer vision and hardcoded algorithms to detect unusual activities during the examination. Apart from proposing the model, we have also developed a video dataset for unusual examination hall activities. The performance of the proposed research work is evaluated on a frame-level consisting of 11500 Key-frames, and the video level consists of 550 video clips of 4 different classes. We have used AUROC as an evaluation matrix. The detection results of deep learning models show excellent performance on our developed dataset. The accuracy of deep learning models for frame-level is higher than the video level due to limited video dataset and GPU resources. The proposed CNN models show an optimized accuracy on our unusual activity dataset regardless of dataset complexity and resource limitations. Apart from this examination dataset, we evaluated the proposed model on two other widely-used datasets, including the Violent-flow dataset and Movie dataset for unusual activity recognition. The proposed model outperformed existing models for all three datasets.


s: International Congress FIRB 2003 project: nanosized Cancer polymarker Biochip 202 AN ElECTRoCHEmICAl bIoSENSoR foR THE REAl-TImE dETECTIoN of bIologICAl SpECImENS IN ComplEx mATRICES daniElE gazzola, ManuElE onoFri, siMonE BonEtti, giaMPaolo zucchEri, Bruno saMorì Department of Biochemistry, University of Bologna, Bologna Italy Despite extensive research towards the development of assays for the screening of cancer in the population, optimal solutions are not yet available. It has recently been demonstrated that the concurrent detection of a set of markers, instead of a single one, has a higher correlation with tumor development. Beyond multi-marker detection, additional relevant features for the next generation of cancer biosensors are their ease of use, portability, and possibility to provide real-time data while measuring in complex matrices. Sensors based on electrochemical techniques are likely to fulfill such requirements, and thus will probably play an important role in the evolution of medical screening tests. We report a novel electrochemical measurement technique derived from chronoamperometry, which has many advantageous features for the detection of the binding of proteins at interfaces. It is based on the addition of a large electrical resistor in series with the working electrode of the electrochemical measurement cell. The resistor serves to make the electrochemical characterization independent of the bulk electrical resistance in the cell solution. This technique leads to the characterization of the electrical capacitance of an interface. The measurement is commonly operated so that no faradaic reaction takes place, so the measurement itself should not cause any modification of the interface that would lead to time drifts in the measurement. As the electrochemical measurement can be implemented with microelectronics, such a biosensor is amenable to miniaturization and parallelization: its possible two-electrode implementation, on which we are working, is even more easily amenable to such development. We have optimized a strategy that makes use of impedance electrochemical spectroscopy (IES) in order to characterize the optimal operational parameters for measuring the electrical interface capacitance. IES is an advanced electrochemical technique that can provide a full interface characterization, albeit by employing complex and expensive instrumentation, lengthy data acquisition and data interpretation. IES provides a frequency analysis of the interface behavior. The modified chronoamperometry technique that we propose is intimately related to IES as it also employs a time-varying electrical potential and the measurement of a time-changing current signal. We have employed IES to investigate the potential frequency range of maximum signal variation on the sensing electrode interface, so that we can set our chronoamperometry measurement to work at such frequency simply by changing the introduced electrical resistor. We have recently demonstrated this approach experimentally by measuring the electrical capacitance change due to adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on the surface of an ultra-flat clean gold electrode. A single IES experiment can define the optimal frequency range of a type of interface, which can then be used to implement sensors for an unlimited number and unlimited types of analytes. We could measure a 20% change in capacitance after BSA binding, i.e., a large signal in a system such as ours that can sport a 1% resolution. In the same conditions, the measured capacitance proved independent of the presence of proteins that are not binding to the surface (up to 100 μM concentration of proteins). The operational strategy that we have sketched here could be applied to diagnostic screening tests based on electrochemical measurements. In these, the specific interface derivatization would lead to specific binding of the analyte of interest, such as a circulating cancer marker, while also having a very low affinity for other molecules present in the specimen matrix. We are currently optimizing a class of interfaces based on mixed oligoethyleneglycol self-assembled monolayers that seems very promising towards such an important goal. Our electrochemical chronoamperometry method already proved effective in detecting the self-assembly of such monolayers.


The starter-making techniques, production techniques and product wine quality indexes of Dongxiang glutinous rice wine and of Korean rice wine were compared. The results showed that although both of them were produced by rice sprinkling method, the difference in starter-making and fermentation period finally led to different wine styles.


The seof-rdgulation by futures exchanges is a key link in the futures markets surveillance systems and there is mo substitute for it.Its legal position must be specified:maintaining the legal rights of the members and markets participants as well as maintaining the authority of the self-regulation by futures exchanges.For the sake of social fairness,the state must intervene this power instead of absolute self-regulation by the parties concernde.


High‐quality data on the three‐dimensional (3‐D) spatial distributions of glass and carbon fibres in fibre‐reinforced polymer composites are important for both process control and the modelling of the mechanical and thermal properties of these composites. The advent of economical, high‐speed, image analyser systems has enabled numerous research groups to measure directional distributions of fibre samples. Specimens are microtomed and polished and, using optical reflection microscopy, thousands of elliptical fibre images may be analysed within a short period of time. From the eccentricity of the fibre images, estimation of the angles (θ, φ) of each fibre relative to the vertical axis and within the measurement plane is deduced. However, this measurement is subject to considerable error. The confocal scanning laser microscope (CSLM), operating in fluorescence mode or reflection mode, is capable of improving the angular resolution (δθ, δφ) for all fibre directions. The ability of the CSLM to optically section glass and carbon fibre‐reinforced polymer composites down to depths of 20 or 30 μm allows the user to determine accurate fibre directions from the apparent movement of fibre profiles. The CSLM has the potential for standardizing measurements of 3‐D fibre directions in polymer composites and providing the quality directional data which are required for the theoretical modelling of composite processing and composite strength.


Abstract Shales in which overpressure is generated are not always in equilibrium with their associated reservoirs. Shale pressures are determined by assessment of their "porosity" – using seismic interval velocities, resistivity, sonic travel time or density data. Comparison of actual values and expected values when normally pressured and compacted yields the magnitude of overpressure, but calibration is required, usually with direct measurement in interbedded or adjacent reservoirs. Lateral transfer, the rapid redistribution of overpressure within a tilted but continuous reservoir, leads to higher reservoir overpressure than in the surrounding shales, and the reverse occurs below an equilibrium point, known as the centroid. Lateral transfer leads to drilling surprises where the magnitude has not been assessed prior to entry into the reservoir. Lateral transfer may also raise pore pressures to the fracture pressure, leading to seal breaching and a failed trap. Lateral drainage, whereby excess fluid within the reservoir escape via upwards linkage, perhaps due to regional uplift of one flank of the reservoir, results in lower overpressure in the reservoir relative to the shales above and below. In the case of both lateral drainage and lateral transfer beneath the centroid, the hydrocarbon sealing potential of the reservoirs is enhanced. Further, with lateral drainage, overpressure differences lead to tilted hydrocarbon-water contacts, with potential for non-structural traps.


The capacity of a beam waveguide can be increased by transmitting a multitude of Gaussian beams in such a way that they are clearly resolved at the receiving end. Various systems with maximum capacity but different crosstalk sensitivity are discussed. Linking the available channels end to end in an optical cavity produces a delay line or storage device. An optimized system is described which has surprisingly large storage capacity. For the analysis of both lens guides and optical cavities, a phase space representation of Gaussian beams is used which avoids cumbersome mathematics.


The exponentially growing trend of multi-device ownership creates both a need and an opportunity to migrate content and on-going user tasks from one device to another of the same user, which is more suited for the current context of use or the task at hand. One intuitive interaction method for enabling this transfer is that of a virtual display that combines the physical screens of two or more participating devices. In this work, we propose a novel technique to create a virtual screen for multi-device interaction, multimedia-sharing and collaborative work use case. To this end, participating devices need to know their relative proximity and orientation. We exploit the rich video information from the back facing camera of a device for calibration, so to enable a natural form of virtual desktop creation, without requiring any extra equipment or special environments. An extensive experimental evaluation determined the feasibility of the presented approach for seamless multi-device communications.


The theory of Evidence reasoning is an important method for processing uncertain information, in order to improve the accuracy of evidence fusion and to reduce the amount of operation, and ensure that combining results are still reasonable and effective when it happens to information conflicting, so this paper presents combination method of evidence grouping. The method can be used to judge whether it is available to combine with Dempster combination rule in evidence, if it works, the two evidences are classified as known groups, otherwise they are classified as unknown groups. For the known evidence, it makes use of combination rule to combine directly(combination within the group); the data obtained by the combination within the group and the data of an unknown group can combine in groups using computer simulation techniques, this paper analyzes the method that it is provided with characteristics of small operation, good stability, high accuracy.


AIM
Operative procedures for oesophageal malignancies are becoming more extensive and may result in fatal complications. Splenectomy compromises the immune system and can lead to increased susceptibility to infections. The aim of the present study was to report the early outcome of patients who underwent oesophagectomy and simultaneous splenectomy due to oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

METHODS
Pre-operative risks and post-operative morbidity and mortality in 135 patients who had undergone extensive oesophagectomy without simultaneous splenectomy for SCC of the thoracic oesophagus were compared with those of 14 patients who had undergone oesophagectomy associated with splenectomy.

RESULTS
Post-operative pneumonia, intra-abdominal abscess, post-operative sepsis and anastonotic leakage were significantly increased when splenectomy was added to the original operation. The incidence of in-hospital death was significantly higher among splenectomized than non-splenectomized patients (35.7% vs 8.1%, P<0.01). Pulmonary complications and leakage were the main causes of death. Multivariate analysis recognized splenectomy as an independent prognostic factor for in-hospital death following transthoracic oesophagectomy for SCC.

CONCLUSION
The addition of splenectomy to transthoracic oesophagectomy for oesophageal carcinoma can be a fatal combination. Preservation of the spleen should be the primary intention. In circumstances that necessitate splenectomy precautions should be taken to prevent post-operative infectious complications.


In this paper we present hardware realization of a novel Automatic Censored Cell Averaging (ACCA) Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) detection algorithm based on Ordered Data Variability (ODV) using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This algorithm has been recently proposed in the literature for radar target detection in non-homogeneous environments. The unknown background level can be estimated by dynamically selecting a suitable set of ranked reference window cells and by doing successive hypothesis tests. The ACCA-ODV based CFAR detector does not require any prior information about the background environment and uses the variability index statistic as a shape parameter to reject or accept the ordered cells under investigation. Recent advancements in modern FPGAs and availability of sophisticated electronic design tools have made it possible to realize the ACCA-ODV CFAR detector in a cost-effective way. The designed hardware is modular and has been physically realized in Altera Stratix II FPGA device.


Through the comparison and analysis of several commonly-used plate-making methods in costume structural design,the designers choose to design a new prototype which closely meets the need of enterprise,and is combined with the use of other costume-making methods.And it is a new trend of costume structural design that the theory of costume plane-structuring is integrated into the practice of costume solid-structuring.


Taking regional issue "effective teaching" as the focus,this paper makes analysis on data of four thousand students at grade of 2006,2007 and 2008 from Peiying middle school of Guangzhou city based on high school optional model teaching,effective teaching,selecting teaching and fitness all-round development.The result shows that there has significant difference among a number of indexes for high school teaching at each classes,it reflects the restriction of various sport events on student's fitness development.According to above problems,some suggestions are put forwarded for deeply reforming the curriculum of sports and health and making contribution for student's all-round development.


Compounds isolated from members of the Zingiberaceae family are traditionally used as a medicine against inflammatory diseases, but little is known about the mechanism. Here, we report the isolation and structural identification of coronarin D [E-labda-8(17),12-diene-15-ol], a labdane-type diterpene, from Hedychium coronarium and delineate its mechanism of action. Because the transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is a key mediator of inflammation, apoptosis, invasion, and osteoclastogenesis, we investigated the effect of coronarin D on NF-κB activation pathway, NF-κB-regulated gene products, and NF-κB-regulated cellular responses. The coronarin D inhibited NF-κB activation induced by different inflammatory stimuli and carcinogens. This labdane also suppressed constitutive NF-κB activity in different cell lines and inhibited IκBα kinase activation, thus leading to the suppression of IκBα phosphorylation, degradation, p65 nuclear translocation, and reporter gene transcription. Coronarin D also inhibited the NF-κB-regulated gene products involved in cell survival (inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1, Bcl-2, survivin, and tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor-2), proliferation (c-myc, cyclin D1, and cyclooxygenase-2), invasion (matrix metalloproteinase-9), and angiogenesis (vascular endothelial growth factor). Suppression of these gene products by the diterpene enhanced apoptosis induced by TNF and chemotherapeutic agents, suppressed TNF-induced cellular invasion, and abrogated receptor activator of NF-κB ligand-induced osteoclastogenesis. Coronarin D was found to be more potent than its analogue coronarin D acid. Overall, our results show that coronarin D inhibited NF-κB activation pathway, which leads to inhibition of inflammation, invasion, and osteoclastogenesis, as well as potentiation of apoptosis. [Mol Cancer Ther 2008;7(10):3306–17]


The observation of optical poling in lead silicate glasses is reported. A method based on EFISH-measurements is used to determine the dynamics of the phenomenon. We propose a law that accounts for the observed behavior.


Blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOECs) are isolated by outgrowth of circulating progenitor cells from a patient blood sample and thus could provide a source of autologous endothelial cells for tissue‐engineered vascular grafts. To examine the suitability of these cells for use in vascular tissue engineering, late outgrowth endothelial cells isolated from human peripheral blood were seeded on tissue constructs formed from fibrin remodeled by entrapped neonatal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDFs). BOECs adhered to this surface and remained adherent when exposed to laminar shear flow of cell culture medium, at shear stresses of 15 dynes/cm2.


Iron deficiency (ID) is a common co‐morbidity associated with chronic heart failure (CHF), which has unfavourable clinical and prognostic consequences. In Ferinject Assessment in Patients with IRon Deficiency and Chronic Heart Failure (FAIR‐HF), the treatment with i.v. ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) improved symptoms and quality of life over a 24 week period. Ferric CarboxymaltOse evaluatioN on perFormance in patients with IRon deficiency in coMbination with chronic Heart Failure (CONFIRM‐HF) was designed to test a simplifieddosage scheme of FCM during a longer follow‐up period.


Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a major foodborne pathogen that contaminates aquatic products and causes great economic losses to aquaculture. Because of the emergence of multidrug-resistant V. parahaemolyticus strains, bacteriophages are considered promising agents for their biocontrol as an alternative or supplement to antibiotics. Here, a lytic vibriophage, vB_VpaM_R16F (R16F), was isolated from sewage from a seafood market by infecting V. parahaemolyticus 1.1997T. R16F was found to infect V. parahaemolyticus, but not nine other Vibrio spp. The phage belongs to the myovirus morphotype and lysed host cells with a short latent period (<10 min) and a small burst size (13 plaque-forming units). R16F has a linear double-stranded DNA with genome size 139,011 bp and a G+C content of 35.21%. Phylogenetic and intergenomic nucleotide sequence similarity analysis revealed that R16F is distinct from currently known vibriophages and belongs to a novel genus. Several genes (e.g., encoding ultraviolet damage endonuclease and endolysin) that may enhance environmental competitiveness were found in the genome of R16F, while no antibiotic resistance- or virulence factor-related gene was detected. In consideration of its biological and genetic properties, R16F is suggested to be a candidate biocontrol agent for use against V. parahaemolyticus.


Princip al investigations carried out in this work deal with the kinetics of dissolution of synthetic ferrite of the type Ni.FeJ-.O4 formed by solution precipitation at 90aC and FeJO4 formed in situ at high temperature on carbon steel surfaces. The results of this study contribute to the improvement of the efficiency of dilute chemical decontamination process of a PHWR which has a bearing on the man-rem and economics of nuclear power industry. The concentration range of the formulation(sl used for dissolution is kept below 0.5 g.dm-3 (to suit DCD directly) so that it is only twice the concentration of iron arising from oxide when fully dissolved. The role of complexants (analogues of EDTAI, reductants (oxalic acid, ascorbic acid, Fe( I Il-complexant and base metal I and organic acids (citric acid, formic acidl in altering the mechanism of dissolution has been elucidated. Adsorption phenomena as determined by pzc measurements is considered as the key step in dissolution. The activation energies of the dissolution are determined to elucidate the mechanistic pathways. The dependence of rate of dissolution on Ni content in Ni.Fe3-.04 and the role Gf dissolved oxygen and the complexing agent on the preferential dissolution of Ni from Ni.Fe3-.04 have been studied. The changes in the concentration dependence of the rate constants between types of ligands, in certain ligand concentration ranges and pHs are quantified. Grown on magnetite over freshly cut carbon steel shreddings (apart from conventional couponsl are used to simulate reactor oxide dissolution during the present investigation. Role of oxide coating thickness upto 1.5 pm, relative area of covered to free surface, purification flow rate, formulation concentration and ratio of volume to surface area of CS to be cleaned have been studied to explain the auto reduction mechanism of oxide removal from surfaces. This specific study is unique because of the level of simulation and has enabled tailoring a Dilute Chemical Decontamination COCO) for PHWRs. A unique but one of the major problems facing the water cooled nuclear reactors, is the growth of the activated corrosion products on the out of core surfaces of the Primary Heat Transport CPHT) system. These deposits cause radiation field build up. Hence, periodic removal of these deposits by chemical decontamination is undertaken to reduce the radiation field. A clear understanding of the principles of dissolution of these corrosion products would help in designing a chemical decontaminant for successful decontamination. In the Indian context, the PHWRs are dominant, where Monel and Carbon steel CCS) are some of the major constructional materials in the PHT system. Thus the oxides found on the PHT system of PHWRs are the spinel structured oxides, namely, Fe30. and Ni.Fe3-.0.. The first phase of the present investigation is directed towards the determination of mechanism of dissolution of Nio...Fe2.3.0.. The oxide in principle follows kinetics corresponding to reducing particle diameter which is based on the principle of adsorption. The initial concentration dependence of the rate constants are analysed to categorise the mechanism for different complexants. Under inert atmosphere, the dissolution rate constant of magnetite and nickel ferrite shows linear dependence on EDTA concentration. The dissolution rate constant of nickel ferrite in ligands such as HEDTA, DTPA, NTA, HIDA and Oxalic acid shows a Langmuirian dependence on the ligand concentration. Even in an atmosphere saturated with oxygen, the dissolution rate constant of nickel ferrite in oxalic acid shows Langmuirian dependence, though the magnitude of the rate constants are much lower than that obtained under inert atmosphere. The dissolution of nickel ferrite in EDTA under oxygenated condition is however independent of EDTA concentration. Experimentally the adsorption is confirmed by the measurement of pzc of the ferrite. The point of zero charge of nickel ferrite shifts to the acidic side in the presence of the chelating I igands. The maximum shift is found in the presence of oKal ic acid and the minimum in the presence of HEDTA. The role of H+ ion concentration in dissolution is three fold. They are alteration of ligand species distribution, combination with 02to form OHand H2O and control of adsorption. On varying the pH of the medium in the range 1.5 to 5, a maKimum in the dissolution rate constant is obtained at pH 2~0.2, in all the ferrite -ligand systems studied. The dissolution of nickel ferrite in mineral acid (HCl) or in organic acid alone (Citric acid, formic acid) is however found to be insignificant. The activation energy is determined under various conditions to elucidate the mechanism. The activation energy for the dissolution of nickel ferrite in NTA and EDTA are of the same order and are also the lowest when compared to the activation energies in other ligands studied. The activation energy maximum is observed in DTPA medium. The activation energy for the dissolution for nickel ferrite under oxygenated atmosphere is of the same order at both pH 2.7 and 6.8. However, it is twice that obtained under inert atmosphere at pH 2.7. The complex stabil ity constant, high surface adsorption and pH dependence do not act in tandem to acclerate dissolution in the individual ligands. The addition of organic reducing agents like oxal ic acid, ascorbic acid and the Fe( I IJ-ligand caused a marked increase in reaction rate. Since the principal reducing agent enhancing the dissolution is ligand-Fe complex in solution, different ligand media exhibit different potential to reduce lattice Fe( I I I J. It is seen that in a given formulation the dissolution rate decreases with increasing nickel content of the oxide. Based on these studies, a model has been proposed to explain the various possible mechanisms by which the suspended powder oxide dissolves. Since factors control I ing the dissolution of particulates is different from the factors influencing the dissolution of adherent film from metal surfaces, the dissolution of magnetite deposits on CS surfaces is taken up in the second phase of this work. While for suspended crud dissolution, external reducing agent has a significant role, the deposited oxide dissolution depends on two other factors. Ease of base metal oxidation and relative rates of the reactions: cathodic discharge of H+ and cathodic reduction of lattice Fe( II IJ. These rates are influenced by the ratio of oxide covered to free surface of iron. The £ormulation9 for the second half of the work are based on EDTA, Citric acid and Ascorbic acid/Oxalic acid. The base metal however catalYges the oxide dissolution only if it is in direct electrical contact with the oxide layer. If not, the base oxidation results only H2 evolution. The relative rates of base metal oxidation and the oxide film dissolution depend on the relative areas of oxide free surface to oxide covered surface. At high formulation volume to surface area ratio (20 cm), an increase in the rate of regeneration of the reagents, from 4.5 to 40 cc/min, does not cause any significant increase in the total iron released. At these ratios the iron release rates are independent of the regeneration rate. On lowering the ratio to 4.67 cm, the variation of regeneration rate from static to 23 cc/min increases the total iron released (oxide dissolved and/or base metal corrosion). This is due to the enhanced differential generation of H+ consequent upon the Fe removal by regeneration. Thus for effective control of the rate of the dissolution process, the rate of Fe removed by IX should be greater than the rate of Fe released to the system by either oxide dissolution or base metal oxidation. A chemical descaling procedure employed in this work is useful for unearthing oxide left undissolved. Infact it has shown the presence of adherent Fe-ligand complex sticking to the surface of base metal. Theoretically calculated half life for the pick up of Fe2+ is markedly different from the experimentally observed


We study the arrangement of liquid crystal (LC) director near the LC-substrate interface of a surface stabilized liquid crystal cell during the smectic A to smectic C phase transition. We find that if the director has a pretilt at the interface, there exists strain in smectic layers near the interface and the director tends to tilt away from the easy axis produced by rubbing. These two effects can lead to a smectic layer structural transformation in the smectic C phase that has been termed the C1 to C2 transition for surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals, and we find that C1 and C2 respond differently to an external electric field.


Using an original dataset, we investigated the determinants of individual preferences for income redistribution in India. Different from previous studies, our results show that economic-related conditions do not explain people's tastes for redistribution so much. While future prospects for economic status have a statistically significant impact on preferences for redistributive policies, the current household income level does not explain individual preferences for redistribution. On the contrary, the impact of the current income level is lessened to a large extent by controlling caste membership. This suggests that the social hierarchy which is based on caste is a crucial determinant of economic status in India. Furthermore, the results show that the relative economic position compared with people in the neighborhood is an important factor; relatively wealthy individuals are more likely to favor greater redistribution. This seemingly "noblesse oblige" effect can be explained mostly by religious belief.


Road operators are activities that include the regulation, financing, construction and supervision of roads, planning policy formulation activities, drafting, general planning, and drafting road laws and regulations, carried out by the authorities aimed at realizing order and legal certainty in road operators, realizing the role of the community in road operators and realizing the role of road operators and optimally providing services to road operators  community. The formulation of the problem from this study is how the law enforcement opinions of the city of Padangsidimpuan towards the punishment of road operators and how the review of Islamic criminal law on the punishment of road operators. The purpose of this study is to find out the opinion of padangsidimpuan city law enforcement towards the punishment of road operators and to find out the review of Islamic criminal law on the punishment of road operators. The theory used in this study is a theory related to the punishment of road operators and Law No. 22 of 2009 concerning Road Traffic and Transportation. furthermore, the type of research used is field research (field research) using qualitative analysis with deductive methods. The results of the research obtained were that the punishment of belun road operators was carried out in the city of Padangsidimpuan due to public ignorance regarding the existence of Law No. 22 of 2009 concerning Road Traffic and Transportation and the factors that influenced the non-implementation of article 273 of Law No. 22 of 2009 concerning Road Traffic and Transportation was the lack of socialization of the Law to the Community.


Existing Searchable Encryption (SE) solutions are able to handle simple boolean search queries, such as single or multi-keyword queries, but cannot handle substring search queries over encrypted data that also involves identifying the position of the substring within the document. These types of queries are relevant in areas such as searching DNA data. In this paper, we propose a tree-based Substring Position Searchable Symmetric Encryption (SSP-SSE) to overcome the existing gap. Our solution efficiently finds occurrences of a substrings over encrypted cloud data. We formally define the leakage functions and security properties of SSP-SSE. Then, we prove that the proposed scheme is secure against chosen-keyword attacks that involve an adaptive adversary. Our analysis demonstrates that SSP-SSE introduces very low overhead on computation and storage.


This study aimed to profile the qualities of a holistic community reintegration program for former child soldiers (FCS) in the Lira region of Northern Uganda. Informants were a convenience sample of 37 FCS (age range 17 to 34, mean age 23.86, SD = 4.715 years; females = 29.73%). FCS completed semi-structured interviews on their current living situations and existing resources. This was aimed at assessing how they were transitioning back into the community and identifying gaps in resources. About 24% of FCS reported feeling unwelcome in their communities, suggesting a need for additional support and resources through the community integration models. Thematic analysis of the data suggests that the FCS would benefit from a holistic community reintegration program with the following qualities: psychosocial support, workforce development training, and job placement. FCS emphasised the need for skills training and employment opportunities over health and wellness; suggesting that mental health support and health care are not sufficient alone for them to successfully reintegrate into the community. FCS community integration policies and practices should prioritise holistic approaches.


-The genus Stringaspidiotus MacGillivray, 1921 is synonymized with Pseudaonidia Cockerell, 1897 as a junior subjective synonym (new synonymy) and the type species of Stringaspidiotus (Aspidiotus (Pseudaonidia) curculiginis Green) is redescribed and illustrated.


Companies that "Born Globals", are the key to economic growth in different countries. The authors investigate the social concept and ethical issues that theses entrepreneurial companies have during the period of growth of their business. The lack of social responsibility has begun to mark economic losses for companies, while the permanent vigilance of the society rewards with greater income to the companies committed with an adequate social responsibility. This paper provides a critical review and assessment of how companies base on their social responsibility and ethical principles have contributed not only to the development of the organization but also to society.


The present educational context of higher education in the European Union shows the importance of developing a teaching basedon learning. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) favor the development of a more active role of students bymeans of the creation of a flexible and an interactive learning where student is the centre. These technologies have beenincorporated in engineering degrees too where learning based on experimentation and exploration acquires a great relevance.The objective of this paper is to study the role of ICTs in the learning process of engineering students in a subject of Economy.In this context, we analyze the learning results obtained by students of computer engineering before and after the use of a learningvirtual platform. At the same time, the main advantages of such tools are discussed. Results indicate that these students obtain abetter learning by means of the use of ICTs.


I n their article, Doz et al. (1) investigate the role of TLR4/ MyD88 and IL-1R1/MyD88 signaling in cigarette smoke (CS)-induced pulmonary inflammation to unravel mechanisms involved in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In an acute CS exposure model of 3 days, they demonstrate a reduced CS-induced influx of neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid in TLR4 / , MyD88 / , and IL-R1 / mice compared with C57BL/6 controls, as well as reduced IL-1, IL-6, and KC levels and reduced matrix metalloproteinase-9 activity in BAL. In contrast, TLR4 / (C57BL/6J, C57BL/10ScNJ, or C3H/HeJ background) and MyD88 / animals appear to develop spontaneous age-related emphysema, which is not associated with an inflammatory response in BAL or lung tissue (2). We demonstrated (3) that subacute CS exposure for 5 wk in TLR4-defective animals (C3H/HeJ) results in a reduced pulmonary accumulation of neutrophils, lymphocytes, and dendritic cells in BAL as well as lower levels of MCP-1 and TNFcompared with wild-type (C3H/HeOuJ) animals. However, after chronic cigarette smoke exposure for 26 wk TLR4 became of less importance, with only minor differences in pulmonary inflammation between the two strains, similar MCP-1 and TNFlevels in BAL, and similar matrix metalloproteinase-12 expression in the lung. These studies highlight the complexity of the pathogenic mechanisms in COPD and emphysema, because CS-induced pulmonary inflammation is TLR4-dependent in (sub) acute experiments (1) whereas it is TLR4-independent in chronic experiments (3). In conclusion, these papers underscore the importance of both acute and chronic models in unraveling the pathogenesis of COPD.


We explore the chaotic behavior of a nonlinear electrical circuit constructed with simple components such as diodes and linear operational amplifiers. The circuit may be regarded as a nonlinear analog computer that gives a nearly exact solution of a particular chaotic model. Detailed comparisons between theoretical and experimental bifurcation points and power spectra yield differences of less than 1%.


volume more comprehensive. However, these small shortcomings do not obscure the overall quality of the volume. Given its innovative and rich content, the volume would serve as an excellent reference for scholars in communication and media studies, sociology, political science, and African studies. The volume will also appeal to media professionals, policy makers and ordinary citizens who take an interest in the emerging tensile stress between social media activism and governmental restrictions across Africa.


Repetitive deformation due to villous motility or peristalsis may support the intestinal mucosa, stimulating intestinal epithelial proliferation under normal circumstances and restitution in injured and inflamed mucosa rich in tissue fibronectin. Cyclic strain enhances Caco-2 and IEC-6 intestinal epithelial cell migration across fibronectin via extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK). However, the upstream mediators of ERK activation are unknown. We investigated whether Src and FAK mediate strain-induced ERK phosphorylation and migration in human Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells on fibronectin. Monolayers on tissue fibronectin-precoated membranes were subjected to an average 10% repetitive deformation at 10 cycles/minute. Phosphorylation of Src-Tyr 418 , FAK-Tyr 397 -Tyr 576 -Tyr 925 and ERK were significantly increased by deformation. The stimulation of wound closure by strain was prevented by Src blockade with PP2 (10µmol/L) or specific siRNA. Src inhibition also prevented strain-induced FAK phosphorylation at Tyr 397 and Tyr 576 but not FAK-Tyr 925 or ERK phosphorylation. Reducing FAK by siRNA inhibited strain-induced ERK phosphorylation. Transfection of N-terminal tyrosine phosphorylation-deficient FAK mutants Y397F, Y576F-Y577F and Y397F-Y576F-Y577F did not prevent activation of ERK2 by cyclic strain but a FAK mutant at C-terminal Y925F prevented strain-induced activation of ERK2. Although the Y397F-Y576F-Y577F FAK construct exhibited less basal FAK-Tyr 925 phosphorylation under static conditions, it nevertheless exhibited increased FAK-Tyr 925 phosphorylation in response to strain. These results suggest that repetitive deformation stimulates intestinal epithelial motility across fibronectin in a manner that requires both Src activation and a novel Src-independent FAK-Tyr 925 -dependent pathway that activates ERK. This pathway may be an important target for interventions to promote mucosal healing in settings of intestinal ileus or fasting. characterized effects of IL-8 on Caco-2 wound closure of similar magnitude (33). Here, wound closure increased an average 10-18% on fibronectin compared with cells not subjected to mechanical strain. Such apparently modest alterations may well be biologically important in determining whether a mucosal wound heals or fails to heal in vivo.


There has been a definite transition in the nature of Librarianship or LIS Professionals over the recent years, the main reason being the technological advances which have influenced the field of Library and Information Sciences. Along with the changing nature of libraries, the job profile and responsibilities of the librarians or LIS Professionals have also changed manifold. In the changing times it has become necessary for the librarians to equip themselves with the upcoming and reigning technologies to remain relevant and to provide the required service to their potential users as well as actual users. This paper attempts to portray the various aspects of Web 3.0 and semantic web technologies and describes the changing role of the LIS professional in the present scenario.


Background Calcium antagonists retard progression of intima–media thickness (IMT), but whether this retardation covers heterogeneous individual patient responses of IMT change is unknown. Methods Hypertensive patients treated for 4 years with nifedipine (n = 115) or coamilozide (n = 127) underwent ultrasound measurements of carotid IMT at baseline, 4 months later, and then every year. Results A histogram of individual slopes of IMT change (least square regression of IMT to time) during treatment identified three categories of slopes according to the 20th and 80th percentiles of distribution: lower, intermediate and higher percentiles of IMT slope; the proportion of categories of IMT slope differed between treatments (P < 0.05), due to a more frequent lower slope percentile under nifedipine (27%) than under coamilozide (14%); within-group differences between IMT slope categories were: (i) increased baseline IMT associated with lower IMT slope percentile in nifedipine group (P < 0.001) and (ii) more frequent carotid plaque associated with higher IMT slope percentile in both treatment groups (P < 0.05). Analysis of overall patients showed that IMT slope was associated negatively with nifedipine treatment (P < 0.01) and baseline IMT (P < 0.001) and positively with carotid plaque (P < 0.01); the relationship between IMT slope and baseline IMT was negative under nifedipine and flat under coamilozide, and the presence of plaque reset both relationships towards a higher IMT slope; the between-treatment difference in IMT slope was different between tertiles of baseline IMT (P = 0.016). Conclusions The differences in IMT slope between nifedipine and coamilozide increase with increasing baseline IMT.


In order to enhance the efficiency and robustness of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), surface passivation is crucial to minimize surface defects, improve charge transfer, and inhibit the penetration of deteriorating...


Using a simple model of a small, open economy that includes traded and nontraded goods and output in two periods, the authors demonstrate that changes in real interest rates will be associated with changes in real exchange rates. A high real interest rate will encourage consumers to substitute away from present and toward future consumption. To transfer consumption of nontraded goods intertemporally, intersectoral resource flows are required. In the simplest model, this in turn requires opposite movements in the real exchange rate over two periods. Copyright 1988 by The Economic Society of Australia.


We provide generalizations of a class of stochastic Gronwall inequalities that has been studied by von Renesse and Scheutzow (2010), Scheutzow (2013), Xie and Zhang (2020) and Mehri and Scheutzow (2021). This class of stochastic Gronwall inequalities is a useful tool for SDEs. Our focus are convex generalizations of the Bihari-LaSalle type. The constants we obtain are sharp. In particular, we provide new sharp constants for the stochastic Gronwall inequalities. The proofs are connected to a domination inequality by Lenglart (1977), an inequality by Pratelli (1976) and a characterization of Lenglart's concept of domination via the Snell envelope. The inequalities we study appear for example in connection with exponential moments of solutions to path-dependent SDEs: For non-path-dependent SDEs, criteria for the finiteness of exponential moments are known. To be able to extend these proofs to the path-dependent case, a convex generalization of a stochastic Gronwall inequality seems necessary. Using the results of this paper, we obtain a criterion for the finiteness of exponential moments which is similar to that known for non-path-dependent SDEs. Stochastic Gronwall inequalities can also be applied to study other types of SDEs than path-dependent SDEs: An estimate of this paper is applied by Agresti and Veraar (2023) to prove global well-posedness for reaction-diffusion systems with transport noise.


A particle system is a family of i.i.d. stochastic processes with values translated by Poisson points. We obtain conditions that ensure the stationarity in time of the particle system in R and in some cases provide a full characterisation of the stationarity property. In particular, a full characterisation of stationary multivariate Brown–Resnick processes is given.


An emergence of Ethics Codes and Codes of Conduct for public officers has taken place in the last two decades. In this paper, some important aspects regarding Public Ethics will be discussed, starting with its relations with other normative orders and the reasons that explain its specific place within the normative univers (Section 1). Next, I will focus on its political, pragmatic and motivational foundations (Section 2). Finally, I will point out some problems that codification of ethical values, moral principles and rules of conduct for public officials faces (Section 3), and pay special attention to judicial ethics (Section 4). Received: 31.10.2019Accepted: 21.11.2019Published online: 03.07.2020


Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are thought to exert their effects in part by limiting oxidative stress. Of therapeutic interest are the effects of MSCs in insulin resistance, a cause of elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, we analyzed the antioxidant activity of MSCs in the dietary‐induced insulin resistant C57BL6 model. Male mice were placed on either a chow (CH) or high fat (HFF, 60% kcal) diet for 18wk. Over a 6d period, mice received two serial injections of either murine serum or MSC enriched serum (2 million cells/injection, separated by 2d) via the tail vein. Analyses included cell survival, glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, respirometry and levels of hepatic mitochondrial ROS production. HFF mice were obese (31±2g vs. 46±3g) and hyperglycemic. Results demonstrated no difference in glucose tolerance or insulin resistance with MSCs. Interestingly, MSCs did not alter the rate of ROS production in CH (H2O2 production: 0.68±0.14 pmol.min−1μg−1 in CH‐MSC vs. 0.63±0.11 pmol.min−1μg−1 in CH‐Serum) but significantly reduced mitochondrial ROS production in HFF (4.85±0.39 vs. 0.72±0.17 pmol.min−1μg−1). In conclusion, short‐term MSC treatment does not impact hyperglycemia but significantly reduces rates of hepatic mitochondrial ROS production. Results invite further exploration into the specific mechanisms by which MSCs reduce ROS in insulin resistant states.


Ship detection is one of the essential techniques for ship recognition from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. This paper presents a fast iterative detection procedure to eliminate the influence of target returns on the estimation of local sea clutter distributions for constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detectors. A fast block detector is first employed to extract potential target sub-images; and then, an iterative censoring CFAR algorithm is used to detect ship candidates from each target blocks adaptively and efficiently, where parallel detection is available, and statistical parameters of G0 distribution fitting local sea clutter well can be quickly estimated based on an integral image operator. Experimental results of TerraSAR-X images demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.


Resistive change memory has been expected to be a next generation memory due to high-speed response. However, wide variations of switching voltages are often found in the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics and hinder the practical applications. We have tried suppressing the variation by three tactics based on the filament model; confinement of conductive filaments, concentration of electric field, and preparation of many routes for conductive filaments with the same electrical properties. In this study, we have investigated the combination of concentration of electric field method and preparation of many routes for conductive filaments in the insulator by electrochemical treatment (ET) using sulfuric acid. The I–V curves depend on the ET time. The best result is obtained in the long ET time. With regards to switching voltage distribution, the combination of two methods provide better switching characters than those of single method.


During the past three decades, manufacturers have been adopting lean manufacturing (LM) to face competition. The implementation of LM paradigm has been widespread and successful in the world. However, in the recent years, few researchers have begun to claim that the implementation of LM paradigm has not been yielding the expected benefits in certain sectors. In the context of making this observation, the literature review reported in this paper was carried out. This literature review was carried out from six perspectives. On viewing from these perspectives, the trends of researches on applying LM in manufacturing and small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) was studied. The trends of LM research thus captured from the literature arena have been presented in eleven sections of this paper. In the last section, the paper is concluded by suggesting the researchers to conduct lean implementation studies in SMEs and develop frameworks to this effect.


middle class and male) who, in addition to posting comments and responses, upload materials of their own making, as well as images and videos from other sites. The site's distinctive content—large-bodied, maternal, middle-aged women—provides a further contrast with the "ethnic" porn that is marketed for global audiences. Mukhopadhyay explains that the vernacular forms/objects of desire represented on the site are to be understood within the normative structures of familial life and the complex vectors of desire, objectification, and identification that arise within those structures. That this vernacular is enacted by/ through a particular male gaze is noted, but remains unproblematized. Again, the "local" is asserted to be rooted in a familial order—and one framed by the unmarked positionality of a male actor—that is uncritically deemed normative. As a whole, the book offers an ambitious account of how the global is imagined and engaged in everyday Indian life worlds, both metropolitan and rural. Its strength lies in putting this vernacular into conversation—sometimes directly, more often obliquely—with universalizing narratives of globalization. Its arguments are boldly presented and likely to invite debate, given the author's tendency to revert to generalizations (e.g., about the nature of caste and familial orders) in characterizing the life worlds of the vernacular margins and his inattention to the fundamentally gendered order of those worlds. Finally, despite its impressive theoretical breadth, the presentation is uneven, with many technical errors and no bibliography. Because five of the six chapters are lightly revised versions of previous publications, there are many redundant passages coupled with inadequate transitions between and signposting within chapters. Its thematic integration is also weakened by the absence of a separate concluding chapter. mary hancock University of California, Santa Barbara


The Contract Law seemingly makes no attempt to distinguish the contents of contract from the terms of contract. Instead, the Contract Law provides that the contents of a contract shall be agreed upon the parties, and shall include in general certain terms. This chapter deals with 4 major issues: the terms generally included in a contract, interpretation of contract, standard terms, and disclaimers. Interpretation of a contract becomes necessary when the parties dispute over certain word, expression, term or clause of the contract, and the dispute occurs where the parties have different understanding as to the actual meaning of the word, expression, term or clause. Standard terms are generally viewed as the special type of written contract, which becomes part of a contract or the contract itself. The disclaimers are recognized in the Contract Law to the extent that they do not fall within the categories where disclaimers are prohibited.Keywords: contract interpretation; contract law; contract terms; disclaimers


Landscapes have undergone unprecedented changes in Chencha and Arbaminch areas, Southern Ethiopia, during the last century. Yet there exist well-established land-use systems and a wealth of local experience in maintaining and managing landscapes. The major objective of the study is to explore the dynamics of landscapes in a chronological and spatial order to identify trends, driving forces and impacts of land use systems, land cover and landscape structures during the last century in Chencha and Arbaminch areas. The methods used in the study include detailed field and lab investigations including C14 dating, satellite image interpretation, interviews and group discussions.


We propose a logic-based approach to automated oneshot multi-issue bilateral negotiation. We use logic in two ways: (1) a logic theory to represent relations among issues --e.g., logical implication --in contrast with approaches that describe issues as uncorrelated with each other; (2) utilities over formulas to represent agents having preferences over different bundles of issues. In this case, the utility assigned to a bundle is not necessarily the sum of utilities assigned to single elements in the bundle itself.We illustrate the theoretical framework and the one-shot negotiation protocol, which makes use of a facilitator to compute some particular Pareto-efficient outcomes. We prove the computational adequacy of our method by studying the complexity of the problem of finding Pareto-efficient solutions in a propositional logic setting.


Based on the perspective of regional innovation, this study analyses the regional innovation system, then uses the theory of Regional innovation to analyses the foundation and structural problems of the development of urban leisure sports, and proposes strategies to form a regional sports economy innovation network, expand urban functions, promote urban identity integration, and the development strategies of urban leisure sports industry.


The invention relates to equipment for an intelligent home system, in particular to a 1527 code and 2262 code wireless signal 315Mhz and 433Mhz relay inter-conversion module. 315Mhz and 433Mhz are international free-application frequencies, so many kinds of equipment run on the two frequency bands. In order that the equipment of the intelligent home system better supports 315Mhz and 433Mhz as the international free-application frequencies, and meanwhile, the operation complexity degree is not increased, the module is decided to be developed. The 1527 code and 2262 code wireless signal 315Mhz and 433Mhz relay inter-conversion module consists of a singlechip microcomputer, a 315Mhz receiving module, a 433Mhz receiving module, a 315Mhz emitting module, a 433Mhz emitting module, an input LED (light emitting diode) state indicating lamp, an input LED state indicting lamp 2, an output LED state indicating lamp 1, an output LED state indicating lamp 2, an input mode switching press button and an output mode switching press button.


Even when a large amount of body fluids produced fluid is sufficiently blocked, not only prevent bodily fluids longitudinal direction of the product, and to prevent lateral leakage in the width direction thereof. An absorbent article (. 1A), which (3) and a liquid-impermeable sheet in which a liquid-permeable surface sheet interposed absorbent body (4) (2), and, in the absorbent body (4) the central region having a substantially high portion (6) thickened toward the surface, which in the region of the high portion (6) and discharge sides of the clamping region of the fluid K, are formed in the length of the absorbent article leakproof groove extending in the direction (8). The depth of the leakage preventing groove (8) is 0.5 ~ 9.0mm.


We propose a multi-technique approach based on in-vacuum synthesis of metal oxides to optimize the memristive properties of devices that use a metal oxide thin film as insulating layer. Pulsed Microplasma Cluster Source (PMCS) is based on supersonic beams seeded by clusters of the metal oxide. Nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films can be grown at room temperature, controlling the oxide stoichiometry from titanium metal up to a significant oxygen excess. Pulsed Electron beam Deposition (PED) is suitable to grow crystalline thin films on large areas, a step towards producing device arrays with controlled morphology and stoichiometry. Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is a powerful technique to grow materials layer-by-layer, finely controlling the chemical and structural properties of the film up to thickness of 50-80 nm. We will present a few examples of metal-insulator-metal structures showing a pinched hysteresis loop in their current-voltage characteristic. The structure, stoichiometry and morphology of the metal ...


This paper introduces some requirements on quality assurance in the process of procurement of the nuclear safety equipments and services.


This paper describes some of the distinctive features of flow in meandering channels. It reviews some equations derived for meander length in relation to discharge and flow rate, and some models for three-dimensional flow in curved channels. It then introduces a curvilinear version of the de Saint-Venant equations which leads to a new equation for long waves in curved channels.


Probably the most useful diagnostic for high voltage insulation is a measurement of partial discharge (PD) activity. Even for insulation systems which are designed to be discharge free (such as polymeric cables, enclosed busbars etc), where PD activity is nevertheless present, and hence potentially responsible for insulation deterioration, measurements of PD activity are vital to avoid plant failure. As the PD voltages tend to be small, other electromagnetic interfering signals are always a problem. In addition, there may be many PD sources in a power network, all contributing to the overall measured pulses. The separation and localisation of the PD activity is still a major task in improving the quality of the measured PD data.


The Main Appinitic Sequence is a suite of hornblende-rich gabbroic and dioritic rocks, late differentiates of the oura Igneous Complex. Hydrothermal minerals including hornblende, epidote, biotite, plagioclase, and quartz are spread out in the Main Appinitic Sequence, and they form such mineral assemblages as hornblende-rich, epidote-rich, and biotite-rich. An appreciable amount of copper sulfide concentration occurs in a biotite-rich altered area. Fluid inclusions in the quartz crystals from the mineralized area show fairly high homogenization temperatures, suggesting that the mineralization and alteration were caused essentially by fluid which escaped from the magma forming the Main Appinitic Sequence. The variation of hydrothermal assemblages may be the result of fractional separation of fluid: the earlier separated fluid brings about the hornblende-rich and epidoterich assemblages in the earlier formed appinitic rocks, and the biotite-rich assemblage and copper sulfide concentration in leuco albite tonalite are formed by the fluid escaping from the later differentiated magma. The albite with the igneous textures from the Main Appinitic Sequence is sometimes replaced by the hydrothermal calcic plagioclase and presumably is an original product crystallized from the magma. The generation of albite may be accounted for by the large amount of hornblende concurrently crystallizing from the magma: in view of incongruent melting of hornblende, hornblende in liquid comes out at the expense of anorthite, clinopyroxene, and orthopyroxene components in the final stage of crystallization of clinopyroxene and brings down the activity of anorthite in liquid.


Prognostication in patients with liposarcoma is a complex and controversial subject based on recognition of lipoblasts, adipocyte nuclear atypia, and qualitative estimations of cellularity and cell size. We show here that for 30 patients with liposarcoma and 5 patients with lipoma, spectral differences on high‐resolution, magic angle spinning proton nuclear magnetic resonance (hr‐MAS 1H‐NMR) spectroscopy relate to known biochemical changes and correlate with adipocyte tissue differentiation, histologic cell type, and cellularity. The NMR‐visible level of triglyceride is shown to correlate with liposarcoma differentiation, since the triglyceride level in well‐differentiated liposarcoma is 33‐fold higher on average than for myxoid/round cell liposarcoma, which in turn is 6‐fold higher than the dedifferentiated and/or pleomorphic subtypes. The NMR‐visible phosphatidylcholine level serves as an estimate of total tissue cell membrane phospholipid mass and was found to correlate with liposarcoma subtype. Pleomorphic liposarcoma, the most aggressive and metastatic subtype, was found to have a threefold increase in NMR‐visible phosphatidylcholine level compared with dedifferentiated liposarcoma. The level of NMR‐visible phosphatidylcholine was twofold greater in well‐differentiated liposarcoma compared with lipoma and was threefold larger for the hypercellular myxoid/round cell subtype compared with the pure myxoid histology. Thus, NMR‐derived parameters of tissue lipid may be used for objective distinction of liposarcoma histologic subtype/grade and lipoma from liposarcoma. These biochemical parameters may ultimately improve prognostication in patients with liposarcoma. Magn Reson Med 41:257–267, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The response surface and contour plot was generated on computer screen in order to study the pictorial form of behavior of response variables using the prediction model equation as for overall effectiveness of separation. The mathematical model was evaluated for its adequacy by testing the grader for three samples with factors constant at above level (49 kg/min feedrate and 34.6% slope). The overall effectiveness of separation of grader was found to be 61.02 per cent with + 0.69 standard deviation. The corresponding average grading efficiency i.e. weight of fruits correctly graded out of total weight of fruits taken for grading was 88.20 per cent. This lower overall effectiveness of seeration and lower average grading efficiency can be attributed to the difference between the major and minor diameter of fruit (fruit being not perfectly spherical) ranging from zero to 5 mm and the orientation of fruit (either major diameter/minor diameter perpendicular to slope) while conveying within the diverging gap between two pipes of each pair, which caused the maxing of various grades of fruits.


We explored the relationship between mother, father, and peer attachment security, empathy, and moral authority in order to clarify certain problems of previous empirical research on such relationships. A sample of 202 Persian-speaking undergraduate students completed questionnaires pertaining to these constructs. The results revealed that mother and father attachment were significantly correlated with family, society welfare, and equality sources of moral authority, whereas peer attachment security was related only to society welfare and equality sources of moral authority. Out of the empathy subscales, only empathic concern was associated with moral authority sources. Empathic concern was also related to mother, father, and peer attachment, whereas perspective taking was correlated with mother and peer attachment. The combination of empathic concern and mother, father, and peer attachment predicted significant amount of variance of "principle source of moral authority" (including society welfare and equality sources). Findings support existence of a strong relationship between attachment security and the content of moral thought of adolescents, and findings redress an empirical imbalance in research literature on the relation of attachment and morality.


A qualitative and quantitative determination of the 1,3-diacylglycerol(1,3-DG) in milk fat was established.The 1,3-DG was effectively separated and qualitatively identified by TLC,and then was quantitatively analyzed by GPO-PAP.The RSD of the method was no more than 3.78% and the recovery was 86.73%-101.83%.The method was accurate,precise,rapid and suitable for the analysis of 1,3-DG in milk fat.


Pattern analysis and prediction of sensory data is becoming an increasing scientific challenge and a massive economical interest supports the need for better pattern mining techniques. The aim of this paper is to investigate efficient mining of useful information from a sensor network representing an ambient intelligence environment. The goal is to extract and predict behavioral patterns of a person in his/her daily activities by analyzing the time series data representing the behaviour of the occupant, generated using occupancy sensors. There are various techniques available for analysis and prediction of a continuous time series signal. However, the occupancy signal is represented by a binary time series where only discrete values of a signal are available. To build the prediction model, recurrent neural networks are investigated. They are proven to be useful tools to solve the difficulties of the temporal relationships of inputs between observations at different time steps, by maintaining internal states that have memory. In this paper, a special form of recurrent neural network, the so-called Echo State Network (ESN) is used in which discrete values of time series can be well processed. Then, a model developed based on ESN is compared with the most popular recurrent neural net-works; namely Back Propagation Through Time (BPTT) and Real Time Recurrent Learning (RTRL). The results showed that ESN provides better prediction results compared with BPTT and RTRL. Using ESN, large datasets are learnt in only few minutes or even seconds. It can be concluded that ESN are efficient and valuable tools in binary time series prediction. The results presented in this paper are based on simulated data generated from a simulator representing a person in a 1 bedroom flat.


Suffering from greenhouse gas pollutions and demand of energy due to crude oil vanish lead to enforce worldwide to look out at alternative Energy sources. In theory assumption are made when optimizing Modeling process, however in practice these assumptions can distort the output response thereby affecting precision and accuracy as a case study in refrigeration system for solar-driven ejector to determine the quality of the energy in the system by change high temperatures sources under the steady state, steady flow conditions. The energy system quality differs on the operation environments, ejector geometry and the choice of working fluid (refrigerant).The study carries out on the refrigeration system with solar-driven ejector (RSSE) using R141b, for an administration building application HVAC system in Tripoli, Libya. The reported hourly outdoor temperature and solar radiation are used for the analysis of the system performance.The optimum parameters were employed to generate a model and predict the behavior of the system at different parameter condition. Using the optimum operating condition, an output of calculations show that through the work times from 6:00 to 18:00, the typical Coefficient Of Performance and the typical solar segment of the usage were 0. 3 and 0.715 in that order as the working environments are: high temperature source (90 °C), evaporative temperature (8 °C), low sink temperature (32 °C).


The specific conditions of osmium fixation have been studied on gelatin gels and bovine pancreas. Protein (gelatin)-bound osmium can be quantitated by a modification of the Majumdar and Sen Gupta test, free and tissue (pancreas)-bound osmium by a modified Bahr test. Using these two methods, the depth of OsO4 penetration after increasing the times of fixation, the osmium concentration gradients and the total concentration of free and bound osmium at given spots within gelatin and tissue blocks have been determined. Warburg type experiments on suspended yeast cells and leukocytes demonstrate that 1% OsO4 stops cell respiration completely only after 40-min incubation. Formalin, 1%, is a more effective respiratory inhibitor.


The driving force behind this book is the enduring question of whether synaptic plasticity is a suitable model for understanding the basis of learning and memory. In this book synaptic plasticity is taken almost exclusively to mean long-term potentiation (LTP) and there is virtually no discussion of, for example, long-term depression or the cerebellum.

The book begins with an introduction by Holscher in which some of the main arguments contained within the rest of the book are rehearsed. This begins with an assessment of the validity of in vitro slice techniques and then questions whether in vitro studies are relevant to learning; whether models of LTP are relevant to learning; and whether knockout techniques and the employment of these are useful for understanding firstly LTP and then learning? This is followed by a critique of the different approaches that have attempted to correlate LTP with the cellular processes that may be involved with learning. Most people in this field will recognize the problems and limitations of the systems that we work with, be these in vivo or in vitro . Most realize that it is not a simple matter to relate synaptic plasticity in a dish or in anaesthetized animals to learning in animals or in humans. Nevertheless, the Introduction is a readable account and provides a useful summary of some of the main issues.

The rest of the book is divided into five sections. The first of these deals with `Long-term potentiation in vitro and in vivo '. Abraham discusses the different types of LTP that are found in different brain regions, the types of stimuli usually employed to induce LTP and the underlying mechanisms of induction in different regions. There is an interesting section on neurogenesis (unique …


In vitro studies using detached inflorescences with peduncles were conducted to investigate flower abscission agents in North American ginseng (Panax qulnquefolius L.). Of the nine compounds studied only three, ammonium thiosulphate (ATS), abscisic acid (ABA) and ethephon induced abscission. Anilazine, benzyladenine, carbaryl, gibberellic acid, napthaleneacetic acid and thidiazuron did not induce abscission. ATS dip treatments did not induce abscission but the spray treatments induced 60.5% abscission at 1500 ㎎·L-¹ and 33.1 % at 3000 ㎎·L-¹. Severe chlorophyll loss occurred on all inflorescences treated with ATS. Both ABA dip treatments and a 250 μmol·L-¹ spray treatment caused abscission (40%) without adverse effects, and timing of ABA application was important. Because ABA was only significant in the dip treatments, ABA may not be a practical option for field use on ginseng. Ethephon sprays induced more abscission as the season progressed and as the concentration increased. As the dip concentrations of ethephon increased, the abscission rate decreased and the health of the inflorescences declined. The 1500 ㎎·L-¹ spray of ethephon gave consistent abscission results over the growing season with little phytotoxicity. Treatment with the competitive ethylene inhibitor 1-methylcy-clopropene (1-MCP) suggested that flower abscission was due to the liberation of ethylene from the breakdown of ethephon.


Changes in savanna tree species composition, both within landscapes and across climatic gradients, suggest that species differ in their ability to utilize resources and cope with grass competition. Linking trait variation among species to their relative performance under resource limitation and competition treatments could provide mechanistic understanding of species' turnover across environmental gradients in savannas. We investigated how tree species differ in response to competition from grasses and nutrient supply, and whether these responses can be related to plant traits. As humid savannas are often associated with low fertility, species of humid savannas may grow more efficiently under nutrient suppression than species from semi‐arid savannas. In heterogeneous grass swards, fast‐growing, resource‐wasteful species may be found in low grass biomass patches and slow‐growing, conservative species in high biomass patches. We compared seedlings of 40 tree species sampled from humid and semi‐arid savannas of three continents (Africa, Australia, South America) with and without grass competition and with high and low nutrient supply. We measured traits related to soil resource capture, light capture, and growth, and tested whether these traits were related to performance under the four treatments. All tree species were suppressed by grass competition and most by nutrient limitation. Only species from humid savannas in Australia grew better under nutrient limitation than their semi‐arid counterparts. Deciduous species from semi‐arid climates were more negatively impacted by grass competition than deciduous species from humid climates whereas the reverse pattern was observed among evergreen species. Faster growing species were more severely suppressed by grass competition and low nutrients than slower growing species. Traits associated with soil resource capture and seed mass supported growth under grass competition and nutrient limitation, but the traits differed by continent and by leaf habit. Synthesis. We found limited evidence that tree seedlings from humid savannas grow better under nutrient limitation than species of semi‐arid savannas. We confirmed that fast‐growing species may be advantaged in low grass biomass patches and conservative species in high biomass patches. Traits that improved performance under grass competition differed by continent, which may relate to differences in leaf habit and constraints on seed size.


Triclosan (TCS) is being detected in breast milk and in infants of puerperal women. The harmful effects caused by this compound on living beings are now critical and thus it is pivotal find new tools to TCS monitoring. In the present study, an electronic tongue (e-tongue) device comprising an array of sputtered thin films based on Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and titanium dioxide was developed to identify TCS concentrations, from 10−15 to 10−5 M, in both water and milk-based solutions. Impedance spectroscopy was used for device signal transducing and data was analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA). The e-tongue revealed to be able to distinguish water from milk-based matrices through the two Principal Components (PC1 and PC2), which represented 67.3% of the total variance. The PC1 values of infant formula milk powder prepared with tap water (MT) or mineral water (MMW) follows a similar exponential decay curve when plotted with the logarithm of concentration. Therefore, considering the TCS concentration range between 10−15 and 10−9 M, the PC1 values are fitted by a straight line and values of −1.9 ± 0.2 and of 7.6 × 10−16 M were calculated for the sensor sensitivity and sensor resolution, respectively. Additionally, a strong correlation (R = 0.96) between MT and MMW PC1 data was found. These results have shown that the proposed device corresponds to a promisor method for the detection of TCS in milk-based solutions.


This article describes an urban education program underway in two suburban high schools. The authors, who developed the program, hope their description will pro vide the motivation for other schools to offer such an experience, and a blueprint for creating one.


This article focuses on the theory applied to performances practices arising from the diffusion of historical knowledge through the treatises of the time, yet combining special elements, namely: score (Les Bergeries F. Couperin) and musical instruments (French and German harpsichords of the eighteenth century).