In this paper I have tried to present an integral view of the socio-historical roots and sources of the movement of non-alignment which appeared after the Second World War as a relatively, but not entirely, new force in international relations. My intention is above all to argue the thesis that non-alignment is not a subjective and ephemeral phenomenon linked with one specific juncture in the international situation, but rather a long-term social and historical factor with the staying power of historical necessity. In the context of this subject posited in the above way, I refer in the paper to the character and consequences of the Second World War, and to the decisive factors having an impact on its course, outcome and aftermath, as well as


Total drilling in South Texas decreased 24.4% from 2,029 wells in 1967 to 1,532 wells in 1968. Exploratory drilling for the year was 22.8% successful, an increase of 6.4% over 1967. Seismic activity decreased in all trends except the Jurassic-Cretaceous and offshore trends which increased slightly. No gravity exploration was reported in 1968. Total geophysical activity decreased 21%. Only 1 Jurassic test was drilled. At the year end, several deep tests in the Paleozoic trend were drilling. Exploratory drilling for the Sligo Formation (Cretaceous) continued but was unsuccessful. Wilcox discoveries of interest were in the shallow updip trend and the deep lower Wilcox. Exploration continued in the deep upper Wilcox. Most prolific discoveries of the area appear to be 2 new Frio (multiple pay) fields in Jackson County. Two other deep Frio discoveries and 1 Vicksburg gas discovery are significant.


More than half a century after The People's Choice inaugurated the modern study of voter behavior, scholars remain puzzled by the paradox of campaigns. Though billions of dollars are spent on campaigns in every election cycle, evidence that these efforts have any substantial effect on voters' choices remains hard to find, and the mechanisms by which these effects occur are an even greater mystery. This paper aims to clarify our understanding of campaign effects by looking at the role of issue advertising in the 2004 US presidential election. It tests whether campaign messages increase voters' knowledge of the candidates' positions, influence voters' policy preferences, or alter the salience of issues, and whether such effects have any meaninful impact upon the voters' candidate preferences. These analyses offer greater insight than previous studies by taking advantage of the more abundant and precise data on both voters and campaigns which has only recently become available, allowing for much finer-grained analyses than was possible in previous studies. The results show clear evidence that voters learn from and change their positions in response to campaign messages, but no evidence that the salience of issues is significantly affected. In translating these effects to vote choice, however, learning and opinion change are shown primarily to reinforce existing candidate preferences, while changes in issue salience (if and when they occur) show the greatest potential to sway votes. These findings serve to both demonstrate the significance of campaign effects and also help explain why they have historically been such a challenge to find.


Since introduced in the 1960's, energy efficiency standards and labels have been widely adopted in the world as one of the most effective policies to raise end-use energy efficiency. These policies have gained increasing popularity among government agencies because not only they are effective tools in achieving energy saving and climate change goals, but also they can bring substantial economic benefits to consumers and the national economy in terms of reduced energy costs and avoided investment in generating capacities (Wiel and McMahon, 2001). By focusing on manufacturers, energy efficiency standards can effectively remove most inefficient energy consuming products from the market place while guide the market competition toward higher energy efficiency. By providing energy performance information, energy efficiency labels help consumers make informed choices in their purchasing decision on appliances. Standards and labels can be either mandatory or voluntary, and are often complementary. The most successful examples of these policies include the minimum energy performance standards in the United States, the "Top Runner" program in Japan, the comparative energy labels in Europe and Australia, and the endorsement energy label Energy Star in the United States. Since 1989, China has developed one of the most comprehensive appliance standards and labeling programs in the developing world. The program includes minimum energy efficiency standards, a voluntary endorsement label, and a proposed information label. The minimum energy efficiency standards are mandatory and have been issued for 9 types of appliance and lighting products. The voluntary endorsement label has been issued for 15 types of appliances, lighting, and industrial products. The information label is under development and is likely to be implemented as a pilot program in 2003 (Lin, 2002).


Machine Translation has its roots in cold war which led Russian to English translation. But even after war was over, US government continued its effort in this field. But the research went in vain, when Automatic Language Processing Advisory Committee (ALPAC) report (1966) exposed that the MT project had hardly fulfilled the promises it made ten years back. In the 80s, this field again started to blossom when the computing power of machines had increased. This period was marked by the introduction of very exciting statistical models for MT.


Driving of motor vehicles is a highly coordinated process involving a series of learned reflexes and carefully made conscious decisions. Many medical conditions with cognitive dysfunction, neuromuscular coordination or vision consequently affect driving safety. The medical profession, transport authorities and regulatory bodies have been interested in the medical aspects of fitness to drive. Legislations have been established in almost all developed countries. Good examples include legislations in North America, Europe and Australia. Sadly the global situation is not as promising. There is an urgent need for the rest of the world to adopt the latest evidence-based and well-tested guidelines, legislations and experiences from the developed countries in this area. Raising the awareness among the public, professionals and regulators about the importance of the issue is urgently needed.


Summary
Three phytosterols were isolated from Musa spp. flowers for evaluating their capabilities in inhibiting glucosidase and amylase activities and glycation of protein and sugar. The three phytosterols were identified as β-sitosterol (PS1), 31-norcyclolaudenone (PS2) and (24R)-4α, 14α, 4-trimethyl-5α-cholesta-8, 25(27)-dien-3β-ol (PS3). IC50 values (the concentration of inhibiting 50% of enzyme activity) of PS1, PS2 and PS3 against α-glucosidase were 283.67, 11.33 and 43.10 μg mL−1, respectively. For inhibition of α-amylase, the IC50 values of PS1, PS2 and PS3 were 52.55, 76.25 and 532.02 μg mL−1, respectively. PS1 was an uncompetitive inhibitor against α-amylase with Km at 5.51 μg mL−1, while PS2 and PS3 exhibited a mixed-type inhibition with Km at 52.36 and 2.49 μg mL−1, respectively. PS1 and PS2 also significantly inhibited the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in a BSA–fructose model. The results suggest that banana flower could possess the capability in prevention of the diseases associated with abnormal blood sugar and AGEs levels, such as diabetes.


T he sInternational Co nference on Polymer Ch aracterization (POLYCHAR-8) took place a t the University of N orth Tex as in Denton on January 11-14, 2000. The Conference was preced ed by a Short Course on January 10. As in previoud events the coverage was wide and included modelling & predictive methodologies, mechanical & electricla properties, recycling. Attendance was also global and delegates from over 40 ~ountri~s attended the even t, repeating a pattern seen 10 previous years. The Short Course also proved popular and drew from an international skill base with experts from th e US, Greece and Germ any lecturing on the followin g areas : differenti al sca n n ing calorimetry (DSC); dynami c mech anical a na lys is (DMA) ; thermal mech anical analysis (TMA) and volume pressure temp erature (PVT) determinations for solids and melts; mechanical testing; microscop y; interfaces; light scatte ring; and dielectric spectroscopy and rela ted techniques. Participants feedb ack was very positive with many ind icating th at it allowed them to have a grea te r und erstanding of some of th e papers presented in the Con ference proper. Some 140 papers were presented in th e poster, oral presentation or invited lecture formats in a series of 21 sessions. It is impossible to list all outstanding papers but a number of th e more interesting are summarised :In the first session on predictive methods William C. Forsman, University of Pennsylvania, Phil adelphia pr esented a useful pap er on Gelation Theor y for Solutions of Polymers with Sites of St rong Interacti on . This paper conside red a sta tistica l mechan ical ana lysis of gela tion in ce rta in solutions of copolyme rs. John Q uin tan illa, University of North Texas in Denton gave an inter esting ta lk entitled Simula ting Mod el s of Imp enetrable Particles on the use of random and


The antimicrobial activity of one gel based toothpaste, two normal toothpastes, four herbal toothpastes, two herbal samples was tested against buccal cavity organism. Isolated organism from the selected media has been characterized by using biochemical tests. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus sp was identified microscopically. The different level of antimicrobial activity was observed by zone of inhibition using disc diffusion and well method.


Diacylhydrazine is a type of promising compounds for its rapid development and widespread applications in different areas.Diacylhydrazine is widely accepted as a biological active unit of insect growth regulator and has significant potential application to electroluminescence,liquid crystal materials and medical materials.The research progress in pesticide,biomedical materials,selective recognition,electroluminescence and liquid crystal materials is reviewed in this article.The research fields in the future are proposed.


Monitoring data collection method of wireless sensor networks(WSNs) is current research hotspot,and the radio characteristics of wireless transmission enables the network coding is very suitable for wireless network.The principle,core ideas,advantages of network coding and its present situation of application in WSNs are introduced,and an adaptive data collection method in WSNs based on partial network coding is put forward,aiming at cluster network topology structure,the cluster member nodes send network encoding data to cluster head node,and it sends to Sink node by random network coding mode.The experimental results show that this mechanism has characteristics of low energy consumption and accurate report data.


The present invention belongs to the technical field of food processing, and specifically relates to a health-care beverage for treating laryngopharyngitis. The beverage is characterized in that the beverage consists of the following ingredients in parts by weight: saccharum officinarum 200-300 parts, lemons 100-150 parts, pomelo flesh 150-250 parts, ginger 30-50 parts, smoked plum 10-20 parts, radix ophiopogonis 6-12 parts, Platycodon roots 5-12 parts, loquat leaves 10-15 parts, Adenophora stricta 20-30 parts, liquorice 10-15 parts, crystal sugar 10-20 parts and honey 20-30 parts. According to the invention, a variety of the finest raw materials are selected and used to produce the health-care beverage, and the beverage is obtained by refining the finest raw materials through decocting, filtering and other processes. The beverage has obvious effects for treating laryngopharyngitis; the beverage has a simple preparation method which is easy for industrialized production.


Active since 1989, Eurimages was established as a cultural support fund of the Council of Europe. It currently numbers 371 of the 47 member states of the Strasbourg-based organisation. Eurimages promotes the European audiovisual industry by providing financial support to feature-length fiction, animation and documentary films produced in Europe. In doing so, it encourages cooperation between professionals in different countries. In 2015, Eurimages supported 92 European co-productions out of a total of 165 applications received; this selection rate of 56% represents an increase of more than 5% on the average rate for the previous five-year period. The total amount granted to the 227 producers involved in these projects was €22.6 million.


Stewart-Williams and Thomas (this issue) urge evolutionary psychologists to reconsider their historically heavy emphasis on sex differences in human mating. The authors draw from research in biolog...


A novel multiple-time programmable (MTP) single-poly EEPROM cell based on a half-MOS device is presented. The proposed cell is fabricated in a standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process without any additional mask or process step. It is based on a novel approach, which provides many advantages with respect to the state-of-the-art standard MTP cells, in terms of area, program/erase performance, and endurance. A test-chip is fabricated in a standard 0.13 μm CMOS process and extensive experimental results are provided.


Weâ€TMre the leading free Ebooks for the world. Platform for free books is a high quality resource for free eBooks books.Give books away. Get books you want. You can easily search by the title, author and subject.Open library is a volunteer effort to create and share e-books online. No registration or fee is required, and books are available in ePub, Kindle, HTML and simple text formats.If you're looking for a wide variety of books in various categories, check out this site. Take some advice and get your free ebooks in EPUB or MOBI format. They are a lot nicer to read. There are a lot of them available without having to go to pirate websites.


The IEEE 1451.4 standards defines an architectural model for interfacing smart transducers for sensors & actuators. This standard allows analogue transducers to communicate their identification and calibration data in a digital format. A digital format is called the TEDS (transducer electronic data sheet). However, the standard template TEDS of IEEE 1451.4 do not supports sensors to use in electronic tongue system, such as arrayed-potentiometric and voltametric sensors. In this paper, a solution to standardize sensors for E-Tongue (electronic tongue) and electronic tongue systems is presented.


The authors propose a new method to remove the transient response of the piezoelectric transducer in the pulse-echo method using the inverse Fourier transform acoustic input impedance and reflection coefficient so that the time resolution in the measurement of transit time in a thin object may be increased.


PURPOSE: A method for extracting significance parameters for a differential diagnosis based on entropy rough approximation technology and an integration clinical decision supporting system using the same are provided to apply raw data of a collected clinical test result without a preconditioning process which would be capable of raising a distortion problem or a reliability problem in the data. CONSTITUTION: Clinical references are calculated from two different data groups by using entropy maximization measurement(S100). Candidate test items are extracted by evaluating a clinical difference between the two different data groups(S200). Attribute values of the test items are converted into nominal attribute values(S300). A significance parameter for a differential diagnosis is extracted among the extracted candidate test items(S400).


A total of 34 varieties of japonica rice from northeast China were taken as experimental materials and the indica varieties of thermotolerant cultivar 996 and thermosensitive cultivar 4628 were taken as control to study the effects of high temperature at heading stage on pollen fertility and seed setting rate.The results indicated that for pollen fertility,G 19,Bei 04-20,Dongdao 1,Dongnong 428 and Qianchonglang 2 reduced in a small range,while Dongnong 03-33,Dongnong 03-44,Changbai 9,Longjing 21,Dongdao 2,Suijing 4,Changbai 10 and Pingjing 8 reduced in a large range;for seed setting rate,USSR 5,Changbai 9,Changlixiang,Dongdao 2,Dongnong 03-33,Dongnong 415-2,Dongnong 9213,Hejiang 195,Jijing 3,Qianchonglang 2 and Shenhe 57 reduced little,while 08M8,G 19,Dunneidao,Dongdao 1,Jijing 2,Pingjing 8 reduced much.After high temperature stress,the seed setting rate of some varieties was higher than that of cultivar 996,included Dongnong 03-33,USSR 5,Jijing 3,Dongdao 2,Dongnong 415-1 and Hejiang 195;the order of yield per plant was Hejiang 195Dong nong 415-1Dongnong 03-33USSR 5996.It is considered that the key trait for selection of thermotolerant rice plant should be absolute seed setting rate.


Europium-doped yttrium oxide (Y2O3∶Eu3+) hexangular microprisms were synthesized through a citrate-mediated hydrothermal method followed by subsequent calcination. The as-prepared products were characterized by X-Ray Powder Diffractometer (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), and fluorescence spectrometer. The sizes of the Y2O3∶Eu3+ hexangular prisms are about 3 μm in rim and 10 μm in length. The citrate additive was found to be responsible for tailoring the crystal growth dynamically: the concentration of hydroxides in solution is reduced via forming citrate-rare earth ion complexes, giving rise to large crystals with perfect facets; the ratio of growth rate of hydroxides along the c-axis and other crystal facets is suppressed, leading to relatively small aspect ratio. The smooth surface and large size led to the luminescence intensity of hexagonal-prism phosphors higher than that of needle-like bundle products obtained without using trisodium citrate additive.


Summary During the study of the reproductive cycle of a Spanish population of the freshwater incubatory bivalve Pisidium amnicum, histological evidence of self-fertilization inside the ovary of several specimens was found. In addition, recently formed zygotes and embryos in several developmental stages were found inside the female gonad. The area near the gonopore and the gill are proposed as zones where cross-fertilization normally occurs.


SUMMARY Droughts, which are a function of the spatial and temporal variablity and total amount of rainfall, have significant negative effects on socioeconomic aspects of a country. Palmer's Drought Severity Index was calculated for characterize droughts at three sites located in the agricultural zone of La Pampa Province, General Pico, Santa Rosa y Guatrache for the period 1970-2005. During the period of analysis, the frequency of humid events was greater than the frequency of dry or normal periods in the three sites. General Pico had the lowest freqency of drought, followed by Guatrache and then Santa Rosa. General Pico had the highest freqency of humid episodes, followed by Santa Rosa and Guatrache. Guatrache has greater frequency of normal months than Santa Rosa and General Pico. The highest frequencies of drought intensity correspond to category weak in the three sites. At General Pico neither severe nor extreme droughts are registered, whereas in Santa Rosa and Guatrache only extreme droughts did not occur. In General Pico, Santa Rosa and Guatrache the month with highest drought frequency are August, October, and November respectively. The months with lowest frequency of droughts are January and November in General Pico, and January in Santa Rosa and Guatrache.


Purpose - – Owing to the importance of the portfolio problem in modern financial investment fields, the aim of this paper is to rank and choose suitable stocks in stock markets under vague environment. Design/methodology/approach - – Many new principles and methods have been introduced to help the investor to decide which stocks are worth to be chosen. In real word, people prefer to express their attributes by using linguistic terms, so the used data are often imprecise and vague. In this paper, the second method of constrained fuzzy analysis hierarchy process (CFAHP) is used to evaluate the relative weights of the criteria and rank alternatives by fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (FTOPSIS). Findings - – In this paper, empirical result shows that the proposed method is capable of helping investor to allocate asset in portfolio problems under vague environment. Research limitations/implications - – The proposed method gives a new mathematical framework for portfolio selection. Investors can decide the asset allocation by using the combination of CFAHP and FTOPSIS. Practical implications - – Besides the benefit of sorting feature, the proposed method can be used to obtain the asset allocation. Social implications - – The aim of the portfolio selection theory is to rank and decide the asset allocations. But it is still a difficult task in deciding which assets should be selected under uncertain environment. The proposed method in this paper has been proved to be an efficient method to deal with vague information in decision-making programs. Originality/value - – This study analyzes the effectiveness of the combined method of CFAHP and TOPSIS in portfolio problem.


A criterion for the global asymptotic stability of 2D discrete systems described by the Fornasini-Marchesini second local state-space model employing state saturation arithmetic is presented. An example shows the effectiveness of the present criterion.


Minor amounts of thermally and hydrolytically stable combined dissimilar polarity type neoalkoxy titanates and/or zirconates can be added directly into the polymer during the thermoplastic or thermoset compounding phase at temperatures in excess of 200°C to form bipolar layers that provide a transparent, non-blooming organometallic transfer circuit resulting in a volume as well as surface antistatic effect. The permanent antistatic effect depends upon a complete dispersion of the combined organometallics and thus works differently than conventional surface blooming hygroscopic antistats that rely on polymer incompatibilization and resultant surface blooming to attract ESD atmospheric moisture to the thermoplastic surface in environments having humidity greater than 25%. A transparent film results since the combined organometallics are of good color and solubilize into the polymer, and are not made of insoluble conductive particulate or cobalt-based metallocenes. Specifically, it will be shown that when using a combined trineoalkoxy dodecylbenzene sulfonyl zirconate/trineoalkoxy aliphatic amino zirconate antistatic agent, transparent olefin films remain clear after long-term aging tests. Atomic dispersion of the antistat will be shown to be critical. For example, data will show that when 1% of the new and novel antistat is added to polypropylene in an intensive mixer (Banbury) operating in the range of 160 to 190°C – and the mixer compounding conditions are changed (to increase specific energy input) from 30-second drop after flux occurs @ 50 rpm to 2-3 minutes drop after flux occurs at 100-125 rpm – the resistivity will be lowered from 1013 to 1011 Ω/sq. for 30 mil compression molded slabs. Differences in ESD effects in HDPE using a 2-roll mill vs. a twin-screw extruder will be discussed. In addition to PP and HDPE, ESD effects will be shown in various other polymer disciplines such as LLDPE, PVC, PVC/Nitrile, PETG, Nylon, PES, Acrylic, ABS, Ethyl Acetate (Nail Polish), Natural Rubber Latex, Acrylic Latex and Polyurethane. For example, a clear thermoplastic polyurethane having a surface resistivity and a volume resistivity of 1.3 × 1016 Ω/sq. and 1.7 × 1015 Ω-cm respectively will exhibit ESD properties of 7.4 × 1012 Ω/sq. and 4.6 × 1011 Ω-cm when 2% by weight of PU of a 60% active combined trineoalkoxy zirconate on silica powder masterbatch is used.


This study investigates cryptic coloration and the phenomenon of colour change in the sand flathead, Platycephalus arenarius (Ramsay and Ogilby), a shallow-water marine species. The chromatophore configurations of the dorsal integument are described and the responses to a range of artificial backgrounds studied. Certain visual cues used by this species in colour change are deduced, and the existence of a linear relationship between the shade of the integument and that of the background is proposed.


AIMS AND METHOD

We conducted a questionnaire study to establish the incidence, specialist staff availability, treatment provision and socio-demographic profile of patients with first-episode psychosis referred to all adult and child and adolescent community mental health teams in south and west London.

RESULTS

All 39 teams completed the questionnaire, identifying 295 cases of first-episode psychosis (annual incidence 21/100 000/year) referred in the year 2000. Teams manage to engage most patients with first-episode psychosis. A total of 73% of cases of first-episode psychosis were on some form of Care Programme Approach. However, many teams did not have adequately trained staff to provide psychosocial interventions. Even where such staff were available, care was focused mainly on monitoring medication and risk assessment, with only half the teams providing psycho-educational programmes and only a quarter offering individual cognitive-behavioural therapy to those with first-episode psychosis.


The article deals with the analysis of the novel «The House In the Country» by A. N. Varlamov: ontological problems of Russian prose in the late XX сentury. The writer analyses Russian national character, Russian national life, and identifies possible connections of the classical literature and the «country prose» poetic.


A polyion-complexed monolayer of a water-soluble viologen amphiphile and poly(acrylic acid) was immobilized as a Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) film on an indium–tin oxide (ITO) electrode; electrochemical reduction of the viologen was found in the LB film and the redox potential was affected by pH.


The objective of this thesis is to elucidate the femtosecond dynamics of coupled low-energy excitations in both strongly correlated materials and artificially engineered quantum structures. By means of near-infrared pump/multi-THz probe spectroscopy and a series of technological innovations (a novel collinear four-pass Ti:Sapphire amplifier and shot-noise reduced electro-optic sampling), fundamentally new insights into the many-body physics of two representative strongly correlated materials are obtained:
- It is clarified which microscopic mechanisms underlie the formation of the charge density wave in the transition-metal dichalcogenide titanium diselenide (1T-TiSe2).
- A study of the high-temperature superconductor YBCO reveals that there exists no temporal hierarchy between electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering processes in this system.
Furthermore, non-adiabatic activation of ultrastrong light-matter interaction between a tailor-cut photonic resonance and an electronic excitation is realized and studied on a sub-cycle timescale. This further paves the way towards the observation of novel quantum-electrodynamical phenomena.


Artificial insemination (AI) is one of the first reproductive biotechnologies has been established and developed in the pig production system. In most case, liquid stored semen or fresh semen is used for AI in commercial swine herds (Wagner and Thibier, 2000). The use of FT boar semen for AI is limited due to the low fertility outcomes compared to extended fresh semen (Johnson et al., 2000; Wagner and Thibier, 2000). The first success of boar semen cryopreservation was reported in 1956 (Polge, 1956) and the first pregnancy was achieved with FT boar semen using surgical insemination in 1970 (Polge, 1970). Currently, the attempt to develop the boar semen cryopreservation technique is ongoing. Nevertheless, the success of boar semen cryopreservation is relatively variable because the factors responsible for the cryosurvival of boar spermatozoa have not been entirely elucidated.


RF signals are widely used in space telemetry, track and command (TT&C) field. However, in the transmission process, a lot of noise will be introduced due to the interference of equipment components, transmission channel, atmosphere, electromagnetic environment, etc., which will affect the subsequent analysis and processing of the receiving equipment. Based on the singular value decomposition (SVD) method for noise suppression of RF signals, the Letts' criterion method was proposed to determine the effective rank order of singular value sequence (SVS). The effect of SVD on noise suppression in different dimension matrices were compared and analyzed. Main influencing factors were put forward to choose the matrix dimension as a result. Finally, Hankel matrix dimension automatic determination system was built to realize the choice of the matrix dimension. The noise suppression effect was improved by 0.5dB at least which compared with the traditional matrix dimension determination method.


In most African cities, existing approaches to tackle climate change and sustainability issues have remained largely weak, piecemeal and fragmented. For example, current adaptation practices are mainly focusing on 'adapting to' climatic disturbances instead of 'adapting with' the vulnerable urban population. This approach views climate change as the main source of vulnerability and focuses on protecting systems from weather and climatic events. It grossly ignores the social roots of vulnerability and misses out on opportunities such as those that emerge when climatic risks are jointly treated with environmental sustainability concerns. To evade this problem, this paper proposes a shift towards transformative adaptation, an approach that comprehensively attend to the entire urban socio-ecological system. The aim is to contribute to the discourse of inclusive cities by examining the prospects of simultaneously addressing climate change alongside other urban development challenges. Drawing on growing literature and reports on climate change adaptation in cities, I argue that the adjustment approach does not comprehensively address the underlying urban vulnerabilities and fail to match the severity of climate change impacts being experienced. On the contrary, a transformative approach locates urban risk beyond the biophysical environment to the entire urban social-ecological system. Thus, this approach is capable of jointly dealing with climate change and other urban development challenges as it holistically deals with the underlying vulnerability risks in urban settlements while addressing the root causes of urban unsustainability. African cities can draw useful lessons from the benefits that come with a transformative adaptation trajectory.


1,2,3,4Department of Electronics and Communication, S G Balekundri Institute of technology, Visvesvarayya Technological University, INDIA -----------------------------------------------------------------------***-------------------------------------------------------------------AbstractThe main purpose of this project is to find the quality and purity of food grains by using image processing techniques to reduce the manual work. In the present system, grain type and quality are assessed by visual inspection. This evaluation process is tedious and time consuming. This also affects the eyes of the visual inspector. So, automating this process, we used digital image processing and neural network. A back propagation neural network based to identify the unknown grain types. The morphological and color features were presented to the neural network for training purposes. The trained network was then used to identify the type of grain and also the purity of the grain. By using this method, we can reduce the time consumed and is also cost effective.


Distributed generation (DG) is one of the foremost elements in distribution planning. DG units play a significant role in distribution system stability and to enhance its power
quality. Numerous benefits can be attained by the integration of DG unit in distribution networks, such as power loss reduction and improvement in voltage profiles and power quality. Such advantages can be accomplished and elevated if the DG units in the systems are optimally located and sized. Inappropriate placement and sizing of DG units would lead to negative impacts such as further loss in the system original power and system realibility. Meanwhile, power quality issues such as harmonic distortion and voltage dip have gained interest especially in power system researches. Therefore, this study deals with inverter-based DG with renewable source, which is the photovoltaicbased distributed generation (PVDG). In this research, a method for determining the optimal sizing and location of single and multiple PVDG in distribution systems is presented. A multi-objective function is formed to minimize total real losses and average voltage deviation, voltage total harmonic distortion and voltage dip magnitude. In this study, three-phase fault has been generated and injected to all the bus in the distribution
systems for the voltage dips assessment. The optimization problem is generated using a weighted sum method. In order to obtain the best compromise solution, a novel heuristic
algorithm based on improved gravitational search algorithm (IGSA) is proposed as an optimization technique. IGSA has the ability to search for the best solutions and it executes faster. The IGSA performances has then been compared with other heuristic algorithm such as particle swarm optimization (PSO) and GSA. The load flow algorithms from MATPOWER, harmonic load flow and method of fault position has been integrated in MATLAB environment to solve the multi-objective function. Single and multiple PVDG installation cases have been examined and compared to cases
without PVDG. A comparison of the performances has also been made using optimization techniques when PVDG units are fixed at critical buses. The optimization techniques have been tested on two radial distribution systems, which are IEEE 33-bus and IEEE-69 bus with several scenarios and case studies. The overall results show that IGSA outperforms PSO and GSA in obtaining the best fitness value and has the fastest average computational time.


U937 and MSC Differentiation in Hydrogel We plan to study cell differentiation by administering differentiation signals via microspheres or nearby cells releasing signals in hydrogel. Differentiation reagents in microspheres are released by heating the microspheres allowing for specific control over differentiation signals. Cell signaling and quorum sensing in hydrogel have been demonstrated with E. coli bacterium, and we are beginning signaling experiments with U937 cells. Abstract


The utility model relates to a crimping head for a crimper. One end of a rocker arm is hinged with a machine base by a hinged shaft, and the other end of the rocker arm is hinged with one end of a swing arm by an upper crimping roller and a bearing; the lower end of the other end of the swing arm is provided with an upper crimping knife; the machine base corresponding to the upper crimping roller is hinged with a lower crimping roller by a bearing; the machine base corresponding to the upper crimping knife is provided with a lower crimping knife. The end where the upper crimping roller of the rocker arm is provided is hinged with a cylinder of the rocker arm; the cylinder of the rocker arm is arranged on the machine base and is used for pressurizing the upper and the lower crimping rollers; the hanging end of the swing arm is hinged with a cylinder of the swing arm; the cylinder of the swing arm is arranged on the machine base and is used for pressurizing the upper and the lower crimping knives. The utility model has the advantages of simple structure and convenient waste silk and tow residual heads cleaning, and the replacement of the upper and the replacement of the lower crimping rollers are not mutually influenced.


In this paper, we present a 3D object reconstruction system that recovers 3D models of general objects from video. We assume the video of the object is captured from multiple viewpoints. The proposed system is composed of the following components: feature trajectory extraction, 3D structure from motion, surface reconstruction, and texture computation. In the feature trajectory extraction, we compute dense optical flow fields between adjacent frames and aggregate them at the interest points to obtain reliable feature trajectories. In the next structure from motion stage, we develop a robust algorithm to recover the dense 3D structures from several viewpoints for uncalibrated image sequences. For the surface reconstruction from the recovered 3D data points, we develop a new cluster-based radial-basis-function (RBF) algorithm, which overcomes the extensive computational cost limit in a divide-and-conquer manner. For the last texture computation process, we combine multi-view images to form the texture map of the 3D object model. Finally, experimental results are given to show the performance or the proposed 3D reconstruction system.


The first part of this article will describe principles upon which modern electronic balance operate. This will be followed by a description of the products of the major manufacturers in the field.


Air pollution, especially particulate matter (PM), has very serious effects on human health. According to the World Health Organization, diseases caused by PM reduce the average live expectancy in Europe by 9 months. This is a significant number, especially considering that 80% of the European population lives in cities with levels of PM exceeding the levels considered save by the WHO Air Quality Guidelines [1]. In this project we propose a smart phone application, which enables inhabitants of the city of Zurich to choose health-optimal paths between arbitrary locations in the city. We show in this thesis that by using health optimal paths, the exposure to particulate matter can be reduced by 6.5% on average. The paths are computed using the high resolution urban air pollution maps obtained by the OpenSense project [2]. The application does not rely on server infrastructure for the computation of the optimal paths: It uses kd-tree based nearest neighbour search along with a bidirectional shortest path search using a priority queue based variant of Dijkstra's algorithm to compute the healthoptimal paths on the limited smart phone hardware. We tested the application on a real smart phone, achieving an average computation time of 170ms for a health-optimal path.


Abstract The antimicrobial effect of Jatropha gossypifolia Linn. ( Euphorbiaceae ) leaf extract was evaluated on microbial strains like gram-positive species staphylococcus spp., and Bacillus spp. and gram-negative species Echerichia Spp. and Pseudomonas spp. The solvent used for extraction of plant were Petroleum ether, Alcohol, Chloroform. The alcoholic extract of leaves of Jatropha gossypifolia shows maximum antimicrobial activity. The in vitro antimicrobial valuation was carried out by agar disc diffusion method. The significant antibacterial activity of active extract was compared with standard antibiotic Amphicillin. The samples of leaves were further used for the phytochemical studies . Results of the Phytochemical analysis indicated the presence of phenolic compounds, tannins, lignin, starch grains and saponins . Physico-chemical evaluation includes ash values, extractive values and moisture content while Phytochemical isolations includes saponins, tannins, phenols, cellulose, nitrogen, crude proteins and minerals like calcium, phosphorous and potassium. The antibacterial activities of the leaves were due to the presence of various secondary metabolites. Keywords : Antimicrobial, Physico-chemical, Phytochemical, Jatropha gossypifolia


M&S as a Service (MSaaS) is an increasingly adopted paradigm that brings the benefits of service-oriented architectures and cloud computing into the M&S field. The design and implementation of MSaaS platforms typically address the provision of coarse-grained M&S services, which offer the user easy access and orchestration of M&S components consisting of entire environments, applications and/or tools. This paper introduces an approach to the provision of fine-grained M&S services, which are defined by use of a microservice-based architecture, according to which applications are developed as a suite of small-sized services. The proposed approach extends an already available MSaaS platform, named SOASim. The paper shows how the integration and mutual use of fine-grained and coarse-grained services (e.g., modeling services, transformation services, presentation services etc.) significantly enhance the benefits of SOASim. An example application to the microservice-based setup of a discrete event simulation is used to describe and discuss the proposed approach.


This work intents to show the question about childhood and young people suicide from a social-educative perspective making a special emphasis on the preventive aspects that it's possible to develop from the school as positive framework of intervention. In this sense, the school allows us to see it as an axis of possibilities to get the social competence and adjustment of the individuals in base to improve personal coping skills and group integration, susceptible to reduce the thinking-out and the suicide tentative in the pupils. We finish asking a more attention and support of the educational administration about preventive functions that the orientation services should regard on the psychopedagogical advice at the schooling centers.


The problem of stimulating population growth is among the most urgent problems since the average annual population growth rate and the absolute population increase have been declining in the Soviet Union in recent years. Thus, in 1961-1971 the annual population growth was 1.84, 1.67, 1.55, 1.43, 1.28, 1.10, 1.13, 0.98, 0.96, 0.92, and 0.91%, while the increase in the population size was 3.9, 3.6, 3.4, 3.2, 2.9, 2.5, 2.6, 2.3, 2.2, 2.2, and 2.2 million persons. What are the trends in this area? Is it necessary to raise the birth rate? Is it possible, while expanding reproduction in the national economy, to secure the growth of labor productivity that would make it possible to avoid an increase in the number employed? Can those working at home and in private subsidiary production be employed in social production? These questions demand answers.


Penetration of bending stresses due to edge effects in flat plates, cylindrical, and rotational shells; estimate of edge effects and their penetration for case of hyperbolic paraboloids supported on straight generatrices.


Researchers evaluated the effects of training primary care health professionals in counselling patients about health related behaviour change. A cluster randomised trial with general practices as the unit of randomisation was performed. The intervention consisted of behaviour change counselling in four risk behaviours (smoking, alcohol use, exercise, and healthy eating). Control treatment consisted of standard care.1

The primary outcome measure was the proportion of patients who self reported making beneficial changes in at least one of the four risky behaviours at three months. Sample size was based on the ability to demonstrate an increase in the proportion of patients reporting beneficial change on one or more of the four health behaviours from 50% in the control group to 65% for the intervention group at three months. To do so a randomised controlled trial using simple random allocation with 80% power and a critical level of significance of 0.05 would require 340 patients. To account for clustering effects from randomised practices, an intracluster correlation coefficient of 0.05 was applied; this increased the sample size to 1104 patients, with 24 practices recruiting 46 patients each.

The researchers reported that training primary care health professionals in behaviour change counselling did not increase patients' self reported beneficial behaviour change at three months.

Which of the following statements, if any, are true?


On the basis of analysis of the characteristics on the resource-based cities and harmonious tourism, the author explored six key factors of harmonious tourism in resource-based cities, such as the basis of resources, industrial structure, socio-cultural, ecological environment, infrastructure and technological innovation, and contructed dynamic model of harmonious tourism in resource-based cities. Finally, the author putted forward the countermeasures of achieving a harmonious response.


As cloud storage services have become popular nowadays, the integrity of outsourced data stored at untrusted servers received increased attention. Provable data possession (PDP) provides an effective and efficient solution for cloud data integrity by asking the cloud server to prove that the stored data are not tampered with or maliciously discarded without returning the actual data to users. In this article, we propose an efficient identity-based privacy-preserving provable data possession scheme (ID-P<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^3$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="ni-ieq1-3036641.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>DP) based on the RSA assumption for secure cloud storage. In ID-P<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^3$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="ni-ieq2-3036641.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>DP, a cloud user takes the outsourcing file and a global parameter in a time period as inputs to generate identity-based homomorphic authenticators, and any third-party auditor (TPA) can check the integrity of the outsourced file by verifying the validity of homomorphic authenticators. The distinguished feature of ID-P<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^3$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="ni-ieq3-3036641.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>DP is to support the aggregation of identity-based homomorphic authenticators generated by different users under the RSA assumption, which is an open problem in provable data possession. Specifically, we transfer the identity-based homomorphic authenticators generated in distinct time periods into those with the same period parameter, and the cloud can compress the homomorphic authenticators of different users to generate a data possession proof for integrity verification. Besides, by exploiting zero-knowledge proof, the leakage of outsourced data to TPA can be prevented. The soundness of ID-P<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^3$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="ni-ieq4-3036641.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>DP is proved based on the RSA assumption, and the privacy against TPA is perfectly preserved. Finally, we demonstrate ID-P<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^3$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="ni-ieq5-3036641.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>DP is more efficient on integrity verification than the existing BLS-based schemes, and cross-user aggregate verification can significantly reduce computational and communication overhead for TPA.


Before I began my series of books about the Second World War, based on interviews that I and others did with veterans of that conflict, the project was discussed at an advisory body meeting of the History Group (as it then was) of the Ministry for Culture & Heritage. One of the people present wondered how it would be possible to tell the story of the war through interviews as most of the people who knew what had happened – he meant officers – were dead. In Remembering Gallipoli , Chris Pugley and Charles Ferrall have shown that everyone who experiences war knows what happens. They may not have an overview of tactics and plans, but my word, do they understand what it was like to be there. What richness the testimonies in this book add to our understanding of war.


For many applications, analyzing the uncertainty of a machine learning model is indispensable. While research of uncertainty quantification (UQ) techniques is very advanced for computer vision applications, UQ methods for spatio-temporal data are less studied. In this paper, we focus on models for online handwriting recognition, one particular type of spatio-temporal data. The data is observed from a sensor-enhanced pen with the goal to classify written characters. We conduct a broad evaluation of aleatoric (data) and epistemic (model) UQ based on two prominent techniques for Bayesian inference, Stochastic Weight Averaging-Gaussian (SWAG) and Deep Ensembles. Next to a better understanding of the model, UQ techniques can detect out-of-distribution data and domain shifts when combining right-handed and left-handed writers (an underrepresented group).


This proposal is for an Aviation/Aerospace Teacher Education Workshop. The workshop will be offered to elementary school teachers. During the course of the workshop, the teachers will become familiar with aviation fundamentals and issues, and with ways to incorporate aviation topics into their normal curricula to enhance education. The proposal is organized in two parts. Part I deals with issues of program development. These issues include program intent, benefit to the sponsoring institution, program model, credibility, co-sponsorship and potential problems. Part II deals with problems specifically related to program implementation.


This research project deals with the financing of SMEs and the economic growth of the bodybuilding sector of the Ambato canton for the improvement of business development, with the main objective of analyzing the impact that access to financing by SMEs has on the economic growth and if they have an adequate plan to meet the business objectives. The research of the sector was carried out in an international, national, provincial and cantonal focus, and the independent and dependent variables were analyzed; and the problem of the current situation of the bodybuilding industry. The survey was applied as an instrument to collect the information through the questionnaire technique, to 16 Managers - Owners of SMEs in the bodybuilding sector of the Ambato canton. Finally, with the analysis of the information of all the research carried out and with the results obtained, it was possible to verify and verify that the objectives were met, and it is concluded that financing to SMEs significantly influences economic growth in the bodybuilding sector. of Canton Ambato, that is; that financing for SMEs is of great importance for economic growth, for decision-making and to increase their competitiveness within the market.


By analyzing the communication protocol of the mechanism of the endpoint admission defence,some systemic limitation of the mechanism was found out,and the encryption fashion and work flow of the SSL protocol were expounded and applied to the mechanism of the endpoint admission defence.Finally a safe transmission channel between the client and server was set up,which can improve the security of the endpoint admission defence dramatically.


The concept that excitatory amino acids (EAA) function as neurotransmitters mediating neuronal excitation is now well established . Their receptors are among the most abundant in the mammalian central nervous system. Recent progress in the understanding of EAA receptors has been summarized in several review articles that focus on the selectivity of agonists and competitive antagonists for the particular subclasses of EAA receptors ( 1 -4) , noncompeti tive EAA receptor antagonists (5) , anatomical organization of EAA receptors in the eNS (6) , characteristics of ionic channels associated with EAA recep tors (7 , 8) and the role of EAA receptors in synaptic plasticity (9) , long-term potentiation ( 1 0) , and neurotoxicity ( 1 1 ) . The current classification of EAA receptors, originating mostly from iontophoretic and radioligand-binding studies, is based on ligand selectivity in distinguishing receptors for N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), kainate, quis qualate, and 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyrate (APB) (3). Among endogenous compounds, L-glutamate seems to activate all of the above receptors, although other compounds found in the brain tissue, such as L-aspartate, L homocysteate or N-acetyl-aspartylglutamate, may activate particular EAA receptor subtypes (3) . Although the activity of glutamate receptors may be regulated by mech anisms controlling the release and reuptake of the transmitter ( 1 2) , an increas-


Slow waves are of considerable topical interest; we show that they can be created within a simple waveguiding structure, a planar waveguide with periodic corrugations, and we describe the physical mechanism responsible. We show that this is a general feature of waveguides in both scalar systems, we use the Helmholtz equation within a guide with either Dirichlet or Neumann wall conditions as our main pedagogic example, and in fully coupled systems such as in-plane elasticity. The presence of slow modes within elastic waveguides has remained unexplored and so potential applications have not been exploited. We demonstrate that the same physics is responsible for the elastic slow modes with a subtle nuance connected to the presence of negative group-velocity modes within the elastic system. In addition to describing the mechanism we derive the frequencies at which they arise using a high-frequency asymptotic algorithm. These asymptotics predict the existence of slow modes associated with a countable set of discrete eigenfrequencies around the cutoff frequencies of an unperturbed waveguide. The asymptotic scheme leads to a natural physical explanation for the presence of such slow modes. Finite element computations for both dispersion curves and associated eigenmodes provide further evidence of the existence of slow modes and allow for comparison with the asymptotics. Many new applications are possible, particularly in elasticity, to generate analogies of optical delay lines. Furthermore the guiding structure we describe is simple to construct.


The significance and present situation of our national university defense education were analyzed.Through contrasting the present situation of defense education with modernized war request,meanwhile,combining our country security condition,the aim and way which university defense education should realized were proposed.The trend of university defense education development was forecasted.


Ant-colony optimization (ACO) is a popular swarm intelligence metaheuristic scheme that can be applied to almost any optimization problem. In this paper, we address a performance evaluation of an ACO-based algorithm for solving large-scale global optimization problems with continuous variables, labeled Differential Ant-Stigmergy Algorithm (DASA). The DASA transforms a real-parameter optimization problem into a graph-search problem. The parameters' differences assigned to the graph vertices are used to navigate through the search space. The performance of the DASA is evaluated on the set of benchmark problems provided for CEC'2010 Special Session and Competition on Large-Scale Global Optimization.


In this paper, a method for power flow (PF) analysis in a Low Voltage Direct Current (LVDC) traction network is introduced. It includes regenerative braking power from traction sources and non-receptive substations, using a modified Newton-Raphson algorithm. The traction loads and power sources are calculated for each time-step of the simulation and do not use statistical information. Besides, all power sources are modeled to operate non-receptive to match the real conditions of the currently implemented diode based systems. The new method uses a sensitivity-based approach to compute the regenerative refeed breaking power that can be returned to the network without violating the given voltage restrictions. This non-linear behavior leads to a significant increase in computational effort. To showcase the framework for the proposed method, the most significant components of the system model are introduced and the method is tested in a network with meshed power lines, photovoltaic (PV) systems and moving trolleybuses.


Background: Many people with eating disorders often report having suffered some kind of childhood trauma. For this reason, many studies have attempted to explore the mediating factors between traumatic experiences and the development of eating disorders. The aim of our study is to conduct a systematic review of published works on the mediating factors between childhood trauma and the development of eating disorders. Method: This review was carried out up to 5 December, 2020, using the databases PsycInfo and PubMed, combining the keywords, and applying a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: A total of 18 articles were retrieved. After the articles were analyzed, a set of mediating factors between childhood trauma and the development of eating disorders was established, including pathological dissociation, difficulty with emotion self-regulation, body dissatisfaction, negative affect/depression, anxiety, general distress, self-criticism, and alexithymia, among others. Conclusions: In addition to evaluating trauma in eating disorders, these results highlight the importance of paying special attention to the presence of various possible mediating factors, which must be taken into account in the planning of therapeutic treatment. Identifying symptoms of trauma or eating disorders early on could prevent onset of more severe psychopathology during adulthood.


Suggests that written examination is not a necessary part of the selection process for small agencies, but is for large agencies.


The coefficient of atmospheric extinction may change during the night and in fact it often does. This has an adverse effect on the determination of atmospheric extinction by simple Bouguer plot of magnitude against air mass. This effect was studied by Rufener (1964), who introduced for the purpose of accurate photoelectric photometry in the Geneva photometric system the method of two 'extinction stars'. His method consists of the measurement of two stars of the same colour — one starting at high air mass 2 - 3, the M-star (for French montante = rising) and the second starting simultaneously in the meridian at low air mass, the D—star (for descending).


Because it minimizes the spaces between transistors, the aspect ratio of shallow trench isolation (STI) becomes large and it gets difficult to fill STI by conventional LP-CVD TEOS SiO/sub 2/ film without void formation. A high-density plasma deposition process has been evaluated for better STI fill instead of LP-CVD, however, the new equipment costs more than that for LP-CVD. This paper describes a new technique, a pulse pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method for STI fill without forming any voids by using conventional LP-CVD equipment. Pulse pressure enables a uniform source gas supply to the STI trench and a conformal film deposition without voids.


ObJectives: Oxidative stress (OS) is the most important common pathway in the pathogenesis of endothelial and vascular damage related with the cardiovascular risk factors. Reactive oxygen species damage the macromolecules and DNA. 8-OHdG (8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine) is the reliable marker for oxidative DNA damage (ODD). To date, little is known about the presence of OS or ODD in patients with newly diagnosed and untreated primary hypertension (PHT), and the effects of antihypertensives on the ODD. The aims of the study was 1) to determine the oxidative DNA damage and to compare with normotensive healthy persons, 2) to determine the factors related with 8-OHdG level, and 3) to investigate the acute effect of olmesartan on 8-OHdG levels, in patients with newly diagnosed untreated PHT. mateRiaL and metHODs: We enrolled 49 newly diagnosed, never treated, mild to moderate hypertensive patients with no additional cardiovascular or OS risk factors, and age and sex-matched 20 normotensive healthy persons. At the beginning of the study; biochemical tests, glomerular filtration doi: 10.5262/tndt.2012.1001.10 Yazışma Adresi: ahmet KiYKim Mersin Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, İç Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Nefroloji Bilim Dalı, Mersin, Türkiye Tel : 0 324 337 43 00 E-posta : email@example.com Geliş Tarihi : 20.06.2011 Kabul Tarihi : 04.08.2011


Model calibration of welded SHS.-.to.-.SHS T.-.joints under moment loading The behaviour of the semi-rigid joints can be obtained by laboratory tests or by an appropriate finite element analysis. This paper describes the process of modelling joints in the SOFISTIK software package and their calibration method. The verification of the results obtained from the 3D models is performed with values obtained from laboratory tests. In the framework of the modelling and calibration process of the models, all parameters that influence the accuracy of the results are being reviewed. Analyzes performed with well-calibrated mathematical models including finite elements based on experimental research within certain parameters allow a large number of parametric analyzes to be faster and more economical if performed exclusively by laboratory tests.


Confined catalysis in a 2D system is of particular interest owing to the facet control of the catalysts and the anisotropic kinetics of reactants, which suppress side reactions and improve selectivity. Here, a 2D‐confined system consisting of intercalated Pt nanosheets within few‐layered graphene is demonstrated. The strong metal–substrate interaction between the Pt nanosheets and the graphene leads to the quasi‐2D growth of Pt with a unique (100)/(111)/(100) faceted structure, thus providing excellent catalytic activity and selectivity toward one‐carbon (C1) products for the glycerol oxidation reaction. A hierarchically porous graphene architecture, grown on carbon cloth, is used to fabricate the confined catalyst bed in order to enhance the mass‐diffusion limitation in interface‐confined reactions. Owing to its unique 3D porous structure, this graphene‐confined Pt catalyst exhibits an extraordinary mass activity of 2910 mA mgPt −1 together with a formate selectivity of 79% at 60 °C. This paves the way toward rational designs of heterogeneous catalysts for energy‐related applications.


Active role in college is very important as a lecturer teaching in the learning process.
Lecturer is a major cornerstone in the transformation of science given by the university to
its students. Therefore Muhammadiyah University of Purwokerto (UMP) is always
working to improve the quality of the lecturers as one of the most important factors in
the learning process. In support of Muhammadiyah University of Purwokerto (UMP) that
information technology can be used to meet the needs of lecturer performance quality
information, in this case the quality of the information obtained from the evaluation
lecturer performance is assessed learning of student teachers. Therefore this study aims
to generate Application Evaluation of Student Learning Lecturer by using a Web-based
programming language PHP, MySql database and proceed with the testing of the system
by using Fuzzy Inference System Tsukamoto method. Expected results of this research in
the form of lecturer learning applications can help evaluation Muhammadiyah University
of Purwokerto (UMP) in terms of improving the quality of lecturers.


Three-phase foam as a new technology was proposed to prevent the spontaneous combustion of coal.Experiments were done to research the characteristic of preventing spontaneous combustion of coal treated with three-phase foam by using spontaneous combustion testing apparatus.Speed of temperature rise and CO released were tested and the testing influencing parameters included types of coal,concentration of three-phase foam,concentration of slurry and size of granularity.The results show that the preventing effect of three-phase foam is remarkable.It can effectively depress the radiative velocity and control temperature of coal to rise and restrain quantity of CO released.6figs.,2tabs.,8refs.


By the time this edition of our journal reaches our readers, we will have had many months to consider the meaning of a global pandemic to the patients we serve and to the diverse workforce of professionals comprising our field. The pandemic has compelled us to gain additional insights into what motivates each of us to serve our fellow citizens. For many of our colleagues around the world, the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in an even greater appreciation of the emotional, cognitive, and physical vulnerabilities of those we care for. In this introduction to a groundbreaking edition of the IPA journal, we have had the privilege to speak to colleagues from our own communities and across the globe. Our perspectives as practitioners in the field of psychogeriatrics have often been as a protected and privileged class, highly educated, well thought of, and likely to have strong ideas about how to lead and what to do next. Yet, we have been humbled by the recognition of exactly how little control we have to change a world that has been so profoundly affected by a disease which we know so little about. The particular risk to older individuals has been recognized since we began tracking the devastation of COVID-19, with the highest reported mortality and most severe morbidity in those over age 65. Additionally, the cohort that we serve is highly likely to have comorbid conditions that increase the risk of especially adverse outcomes of this disease. This COVID-19 experiential collection ncludes contributions from North America (United States, Canada), South America (Brazil), Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico), Europe (Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and United Kingdom), Asia (China, Hongkong, Japan, Philippines, and Taiwan), Middle East (Lebanon), Israel, and Australia. Colleagues from around the world provide insights and unique perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 on the full spectrum of geriatric mental health.We hope this collective experience will inform our worldwide community of clinicians, educators, and researchers in ensuring the continuity of the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) mission to promote better mental health for older people around the world. Voices from the field


In recent years, it has been brought forth that dog-human relationships share several characteristics with the maternal bond that unites a child with their principal caregiver (Serpell, 2003) and that mutual gazing—sustained eye contact between two individuals (Rogers, 2013)—could be one particular way in which we express our affection or love with our dogs (Nagasawa et al., 2009). Although affection has already been the subject of many animal studies (e.g., see Harry Harlow's lifelong work with rhesus macaques by Blum, 2002), the possibility that members of two unrelated species could communicate their affection simply by looking at each other is an emerging and fascinating topic for comparative researchers (MacLean and Hare, 2015). Recently, Nagasawa et al. (2015) supported this hypothesis by revealing that oxytocin, a neuropeptide that regulates many forms of social behavior, including bonding and affiliation (Churchland and Winkielman, 2012), is largely involved in the physiological mechanisms underlying mutual gazing between dogs and humans.

In an elegant first experiment in which domestic dogs and tamed wolves were reunited for 30 min with their owners, Nagasawa et al. (2015) found that gazing behaviors from dogs, but not from wolves, increased oxytocin concentrations in owners, which in turn increased oxytocin concentrations in dogs. In addition, the increase in oxytocin in dogs and their owners correlated with the duration of dog-to-owner mutual gazing: Dogs and owners who exchanged long gazes had an increase in oxytocin, whereas oxytocin concentrations remained stable in dogs and owners that shared shorter gazes. By examining the age of acquisition of the dogs by the owners and other variables, such as the degree of socialization, the authors discarded the possible impact of an early-life experience with humans to explain these differences between dogs and wolves. Based on the results of this first experiment, Nagasawa et al. (2015) concluded that oxytocin has facilitated and modulated human-dog bonding through gazing behavior and that this particular oxytocin/mutual-gaze feedback loop possibly evolved during dog domestication. Although we encourage and applaud the efforts deployed by Nagasawa et al. (2015) to pinpoint the origins of mutual gazing between dogs and humans, we want to address a few questions regarding this particular experiment and the conclusions drawn by the authors.

Firstly, bonding in humans undeniably has roots in the relationship between a child and their primary caregiver, which is usually their mother (Feldman, 2012). In Nagasawa et al. (2015)'s study, however, the dogs' principal figure of attachment were their owners. Although dog-owner attachment behaviors are analog to child-mother's ones (Topal et al., 1998), before concluding that the oxytocin/mutual-gaze feedback loop coevolved during dog domestication, one must first examine if dog puppies and their own mothers (especially pairs of dogs that remain together for months after birth) present the same oxytocin concentrations as dogs and their owners when reunited. Indeed, even if dogs do not usually exchange mutual gazes, they can express their affection to each other through different behaviors, such as tail wagging or licking (Coren, 2000). Thus, when reunited, dogs and their mothers could present an increase of oxytocin as a function of these behaviors. If positive, this would suggest that the oxytocin feedback loop is generalized to various behaviors and to any dog's primary caregiver, whether they are human or not, casting doubt on the coevolution hypothesis.

Secondly, given that all dogs tested by Nagasawa et al. (2015) were adults, it is possible that the oxytocin/mutual-gaze feedback loop may be derived from experiences in ontogeny rather than domestication. One particular avenue to explore is the possibility that, during ontogeny, some dogs (and their owners) learn to use mutual gazing, which could be reinforced by the release of oxytocin. We therefore suggest that a similar transversal and/or longitudinal study, using a procedure similar to the one developed by Nagasawa et al. (2015), be conducted with dog puppies.

Thirdly, why did the two sub-groups of dogs (short and long gaze) respond differently to the reunion? In many species, including dogs (Romero et al., 2014), oxytocin concentrations are highly variable between members of the same species. Notwithstanding these individual differences, if the oxytocin/mutual-gaze feedback loop suggested by Nagasawa et al. (2015) coevolved during dog domestication, the same trend—an increase in oxytocin concentrations and of gaze duration before and after reunion—should be observed in all dogs, not just in long gaze dogs. Unfortunately, Nagasawa et al. (2015) did not provide a satisfying explanation for this intra-species difference. Moreover, they neglected to examine the potential effects of many important variables (e.g., age of acquisition of the dog, degree of socialization, quality of the dog-owner relationship) that could explain the differences between the short and the long gaze sub-groups.

Finally, although the authors declared that "Participants were aware of the procedure of the experiment but blind to its purpose" (p. 1, Supplementary materials), we were astonished to learn that at least one member of the research group participated in the study with his own two dogs (see Grimm, 2015). Although researchers are usually not banned from participating in their own study, it is well-known that a Rosenthal's effect can occur if participants are knowledgable about the research hypotheses, making them more inclined to behave in line with the hypotheses (Rosenthal, 1966). Thus, how many members of the research group participated in the study with their dogs? And if many did, could it be possible that their knowledge of the hypotheses increased the duration of mutual gazing, triggering the release of higher concentrations of oxytocin?

Despite the comments above, we agree that oxytocin, especially when nasally administered to dogs (see Experiment 2 in Romero et al., 2014; Nagasawa et al., 2015), appears to modulate and facilitate mutual gazing between dogs and humans. However, we strongly believe that Nagasawa et al. (2015)'s conclusion about the possible coevolution of the oxytocin/mutual-gaze feedback loop during dog domestication is premature and that further work is necessary. Until further support, we suggest that any reference to this possible coevolutionary process be presented and discussed with great care.


Primary care physicians lead the pack in e-prescribing. You may be shocked to see how many of your colleagues have made the transition in the last 3 years.


Analysts have to include the status quo option as one of the alternatives in the Choice Experiments (CE) technique. This is to ensure the technique is consistent with Hicksian welfare analysis. However, it comes with a price. Usually, respondents choose the option is not because it provides highest utility but for some other reasons (e.g. to avoid making difficult decision; to protest the attributes trade-off; or to speed up the interviewing process). One of the solutions to investigate the effect of this status quo option is by including the alternative specific constant (ASC) in an estimation model. However, the solution is not applicable for an estimation model that has no ASC. In this study, Heteroscedastic Extreme Value (HEV) model is applied to investigate the effect of status quo and preference uncertainty. Analysing respondents' preferences on attributes at recreational parks, the results suggest that there is more uncertainty on the status quo option. On the other hand, there is less uncertainty with the hypothetical alternatives.


Towards fault-tolerant and secure agentry.- Workflow management - An exercise in distributed computing.- In memory of Anya Pogosyants.- Verification of the randomized consensus algorithm of Aspnes and Herlihy: A case study.- A simple DFS-Based algorithm for linear interval routing.- ATM layouts with bounded hop count and congestion.- Scheduling in synchronous networks and the greedy algorithm.- Rapid convergence of a local load balancing algorithm for asynchronous rings.- Performing tasks on restartable message-passing processors.- Revisiting the Paxos algorithm.- Heartbeat: A timeout-free failure detector for quiescent reliable communication.- Genuine atomic multicast.- Low-overhead time-triggered group membership.- Virtual precedence in asynchronous systems: Concept and applications.- Detecting global predicates in distributed systems with clocks.- Fault tolerance bounds for memory consistency.- Precedence-based memory models.- Strong interaction fairness in a fully distributed system with unbounded speed variability.- Reliable communication over partially authenticated networks.- Self-stabilizing depth-first token passing on rooted networks.- Secure distributed storage and retrieval.- Optimal wait-free clock synchronization protocol on a shared-memory multi-processor system.- Transparent support for wait-free transactions.- On the power of multi-objects.


FIELD: textiles, paper. SUBSTANCE: carpet cleaning equipment (M) comprises mounted on a common frame (10) conveyor (3) for transporting a carpet (M) with the same speed between the washing and drying units (4, 2), the control unit (5), at least one washing unit (4) and one drying unit (2) and means for supplying power to the equipment and media used. The washing unit (4) comprises a node of wet and dry cleaning, provided with at least one brush and means for moving the carpet (M), and each drying unit (2) comprises a blower device (20) blowing the carpet with compressed air supplied by pressure of 200-1500 kPa on the front side of the carpet (M). The equipment is made mobile and is provided with a device for receiving water from an external source and the machine module (100) comprising means for receiving a power supply for the vehicle and means for converting of the received energy supply to the pressure and volume flow (200) of the equipment, required for equipment, to the heat energy (400) of water used in the equipment and to the electric energy (300) consumed by the equipment components. The method of cleaning carpet is based on operation of the said equipment. EFFECT: increased efficiency of carpet cleaning. 16 cl, 5 dwg


The operators of hand tractors experience high levels of hand-transmitted vibration which cause early fatigue. Two different designs of handle grips made of foam rubber (HG1) and styrene butadiene rubber (HG2) were selected for the study. They were evaluated for reducing vibration with regard to their performance as per ISO 5349 (2001) and subjective feeling of comfort during actual field operations involving rota-tilling, rota-puddling and transportation. Ten experienced hand tractor operators were chosen for the study. Data were collected at three levels of forward speed, i.e. 1.11, 1.71 and 2.31 m/s during transportation and 0.30, 0.45 and 0.63 m/s during rota-tilling and rota-puddling. The data collection included frequency-weighted vibration acceleration in Root Mean Square (rms), frequency spectrum of vibration acceleration and subjective response. The results indicated that the handle grip made of foam rubber (HG1) and styrene butadiene rubber (HG2) could reduce frequency-weighted vibration acceleration (rms) by about 11% and 5%, respectively, from the existing handle grip. The characteristics of the handle grips were found to vary considerably below 40 Hz. Maximum reduction of vibration acceleration (rms) was in the frequency range from 20.0 to 31.5 Hz by handle grip HG1. Average reduction of frequency-weighted vibration acceleration (rms) was highest in the X-axis, i.e. perpendicular to the palm surface area. Handle grip made of foam rubber was most preferred by all the subjects over the existing handle grip of the hand tractor.


The linewidth of the internal mode ν 2 of SO 4 2- ion of the antiferroelectric K 3 D(SO 4 ) 2 shows the anomalous broadening with lowering temperature near the phase transition point. The broadening is well explained by a mechanism resembling the motional narrowing phenomenon in the nuclear magnetic resonance theory. The characteristic time of the motion of deuteron in a hydrogen bond is estimated to be on the order of 10 -13 s.


The effect of meat particle size reduction and calcium / phosphate binding systems on processing properties of restructured mutton steaks were investigated. The meat was sliced to 7 cm length and 8 mm thickness (G1) and reduced in a meat mincer with an opening size of 20 mm (G2), 12 mm (G3) and 5 mm (G4). Purge loss % was significantly (p<0.05) lower in G3 and G4 than in G1. Cook yield of restructured mutton steakettes were significantly (p<0.05) affected by meat particle size. The distortion (diameter and thickness) was more extensive in steaks manufactured with small meat particle (G4). Restructured mutton steaks had greater (p<0.05) shear force value in G3 and G4 (smaller particles) than G1 (sliced meat). There was no significant difference in moisture and protein contents of cooked mutton steaks. However, the fat content was affected by meat particle size reduction. In this study, among the treatments, some differences in organoleptic scores were noted, but no trends were evident. The study indicated that excepting yield and distortion, the method of size reduction used had similar results in the finished product. Further, a consumer panel showed similar preference for the products prepared by the methods of particle size reduction.


introduCtion In his essay, The corrosion of character: the personal consequences of work in the new capitalism, Sennett (2009) begins his discussion by talking about his meeting at an airport with Rico, the son of Enrico, whom he had interviewed 25 years earlier. The conversation takes place over the course of a flight, during which Rico goes on about his life and how mobile he is compared to his father. Based on this, the author compares the linear biography of Rico's father – a general service worker who cleans buildings, and has enjoyed successive achievements, like purchasing a house, building up savings, and talks about the role of unions in protecting jobs and the forecast for his retirement – with that of his son, characterized by social mobility: a university education, a career that started as a consultant in an investment bank, then moved to the computer industry in Silicon Valley, and then to a company in Chicago; affected by the uncertainty in the new economy, he was let go from that company and moved to New York, where he opened a small consulting firm. Rejecting his father's conformism, Rico's discourse about change and risk in his non-linear life story nevertheless reveals his own insecurity, lack of outlook and meaning in his professional career. Two generations, two different historical contexts: Fordist and post-Fordist work, the new flexible capitalism. In another story, Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand, in his film The barbarian invasions (2003), which was the continuation of his previous work, The


This article holds that harmony education is the base to creating harmonious socialist society, and harmony education should consist of the development of mind, body, and harmonious development of individual student and society. Only by creating a harmonious educational environment and student-teacher relationship, rightly arranging the relation of all-round development and individual diversity, strengthening both sciences and art edification can harmony education be truly accomplished.


A method for the determination of lead in the solution from ZnⅡ-NH3-NH4Cl-H2O leaching system which is used for smelting Zn by ammonia leaching.It is found that it can increase method sensitivity when ammonium chloride is added in substrate solutiom in oscillopolarographic determination of lead.Detection limit can be reduced from micro-level to trace level.It is confirmed experimentally that the optimal composition of the substrate solution is 0.6 mol/L hydrochloric acid,2 mol/L ammonium chloride,8×10-5 g/L glutin and 7.9×10-7 mol/L ascorbic acid.The detection limit is 1.0×10-5 g/L.The linear range is 3.48×10-5-0.64 g/L.The relative standard deviation for six parallel determinations is 3.3 %.The determination results are consistent with those by ICP-AES.The method can be applied to detect low,micro and trace lead in the leaching and purifying solution from ZnⅡ-NH-NH4Cl-H2O system which is used for smelting Zn by ammonia leaching.


The history of European integration has — at its heart — what seems to be a striking contradiction: the further the European Union travels down the road to economic and political unity, the greater the power and influence of the EU regions and local communities. Far from closer union leading to a "centralised super-state" — to use the language of the Europhobes — it is, in practice, leading to an unprecedented degree of decentralisation not only of public administration but also of political power. It is, of course, too soon to speak about the final emergence of a "Europe of the Regions". But in a decade which has seen important moves to regional autonomy in EU member states now including the United Kingdom the trend is clear. At the time of writing, Ireland, Portugal and Sweden are all locked in a heated debate about the right formula for greater regional autonomy. In their different ways Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain are already more or less federal states, while France and Finland have already embarked on a degree of decentralisation which would have been unthinkable in the recent past. The controversies about regional self-government are in part linked to the wider debate about the future course and direction of the European Union after the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty. Whatever the disappointments and the shortcomings of the new Treaty, for those who have long campaigned for a more federal union, the EU now faces major decisions which will shape the character of European integration for decades to come. The regions will almost certainly play a more prominent part in the political architecture of the EU over the next decade or so. Very close to the top of that agenda must be enlargement, with the prospect of the Union more than doubling in size over the next decade or


The researches were conducted for two years (2009/10 and 2010/11), of eight winter durum wheat genotypes, including 2 domestic durum wheat varieties (angela and mina), one durum wheat variety introduced from Serbia (pobeda - 2) and 5 varieties durum wheat introduced from Bulgaria (predel, zvezdica, viktorija, progres and bugaria).
In two years of research, the smallest spike length had a variety victorija (6,4 cm in 2009/10 and 6,6 cm in 2010/11), and the highest had variety zvezdica (7,6 cm 2009/10 and 8,5 cm in 2010/11). The lowest number of spikelets in the spike had variety progres, and most had a variety zvezdica. In two years of research, the lowest grain number in the spikes had variety angela (34.6 in 2009/10 to 35.5 in 2010/11), and the most had variety predel (46.96 in 2009/10 and 46.1 in 2010/11).
The grain yield in spikes, in both years of research, statistically, the highest is at variety predel (2,6 g in 2009/10 and 2,5 g in 2010/11). High grain yields reached also variety victorija (2,4 g in 2009/10 and 2,3 g in 2010/11).


A study of the literature pertaining to the distribution of sugar in the blood shows a decided divergence of opinion among different investigators. Tachau 1 found that there was always a higher percentage of sugar in plasma and a smaller percentage of sugar in the corpuscles than in whole blood. In a report of their work on the permeability of the red blood corpuscles to sugar, Gradwohl and Blaivas 2 make the following statement: "When the alimentary hyperglycemia begins and sugar is thrown into the circulation in increased quantity, it is first dissolved in plasma and penetrates the corpuscles secondarily. As the hyperglycemia declines, the sugar content of the plasma goes down and the corpuscles then throw their sugar in excess into the plasma. Tachau attempts to explain by this line of reasoning why it is that in the presence of a declining hyperglycemia of alimentary origin the serum loses its sugar


The light scattering(LS) spectra of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied.The results show that the LS intensities were in proportion to the concentrations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at peak 308.0 nm in the concentration range of 2.0×10~(4)—2.0×10~(6) Cell/mL.The detection limit(3σ) was 4.94×10~(2) Cell/mL.The present new method was successfully applied to the rapid,sensitive determination and characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae biomass in suspensions.


The invention discloses a large-scale breeding method for white cyanea nozakii, and belongs to the technical field of breeding of aquatic animals. The large-scale breeding method includes domesticating parents; laying eggs and fertilizing the eggs; acquiring scyphistoma; and managing early-phase scyphistoma, metaphase scyphistoma and anaphase scyphistoma. The wild white cyanea nozakii parents are used for producing fertilized eggs of the white cyanea nozakii under the condition that the illumination intensity and the temperature and the salinity of seawater are artificially controlled, the fertilized eggs are incubated and attached, and finally large quantities of scyphistoma materials are obtained. The large-scale breeding method has the advantages that the large quantities of scyphistoma study materials of the white cyanea nozakii are obtained for the first time, and the materials are provided for carrying out research for white cyanea nozakii disasters and increasing species of ornamental jellyfishes in markets.


It is well accepted that Th17 cells are a highly plastic cell subset that can be easily directed toward the Th1 phenotype in vitro and also in vivo during inflammation. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding the reverse plasticity (conversion from Th1 to Th17). We show here that ectopic ROR‐γt expression can restore or initiate IL‐17 expression by non‐classic or classic Th1 cells, respectively, while common pro‐Th17 cytokine cocktails are ineffective. This stability of the Th1 phenotype is at least partially due to the presence of a molecular machinery governed by the transcription factor Eomes, which promotes IFN‐γ secretion while inhibiting the expression of ROR‐γt and IL‐17. By using a mouse model of T cell‐dependent colitis we demonstrate that Eomes controls non‐classic Th1 cell development also in vivo and promotes their pathogenic potential. Eomes expression associates to a highly inflammatory phenotype also in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Indeed, it favors the acquisition of a cytotoxic signature, and promotes the development of IFN‐γ+GM‐CSF+ cells that have been described to be pathogenic in chronic inflammatory disorders.


Manganese is widely known to be an essential element but not too many are aware of its toxicity in living organisms once it exceeds the ceiling value in the body. The application of agricultural waste prepared from untreated and acid-treated corn shaft were used for the removal of Mn(II) ions from aqueous solutions in a batch experiments on a temperature controlled orbital shaker at a speed of 150 rpm. The equilibrium studies involved the investigations of effect of contact time, initial metal concentrations, biosorbent dosage, pH and temperature on the adsorption capacity of the bio- sorbents. The uptake of Mn (II) ions by untreated and acid-treated corn shaft were found varies with all the factors mentioned above. Optimum uptake of Mn (II) ions was attained at a contact time of 80 minutes, initial metal concentration of 300 mg/L, biosorbent dosage of 1g, temperature of 80 o C and pH of 3.0. The equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm followed by Freudlich isotherm and least in Dubinin-Radushkavich isotherm. Also, kinetic modeling revealed that the biosorption process is governed by Largergren first-order model. Desorption studies showed the reusability of corn shaft for subsequent biosorption studies. It was deduced that corn shaft is an effective biosorbent for the removal of Mn (II) ions from aqueous solutions.


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex, idiopathic, incurable, chronic condition affecting 1.4 million Americans annually. The two primary types of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and according to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, most patients are diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 35 with an estimated 140,000 patients


This guide highlights resources for looking up lab procedures. This page identifies key books or monographic series related to laboratory procedures.


The use of unmanned vehicles is becoming increasingly popular nowadays and has been successfully demonstrated for various civil and military applications. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have demonstrated applications in various fields including yield prediction, land use surveys in rural and urban areas, traffic surveillance and weather research. Multicopter frame modelling is useful for analyzing the reliability of body frame parts and helps determine the type of rotor and propeller to ensure the required acceleration. Multicopter is influenced by the thrust generated, by the distance between each rotor blades and also by the stiffness of the framework. In this design, a multicopter body frame design with composite materials was carried out, in which in this study the body frame was designed using Inventor software. This design was carried out to get the latest innovation on multicopter body frames with composite materials where the body frame that was made could be used to be a quadcopter, hexacopter and octocopter with different load loads.


Little is known about the precise mechanism involved in immunity to fungal infections. Researchers discovered that fungal prostaglandins, deactivate immune cells, preventing them from destroying the infection. Fungi are known to make molecules similar to those of our own immune system. Scientists found that the fungus molecules weaken the immune system, which is essential in stopping infections. Opportunistic infections like Cryptococcus which normally pose no threat, but are potentially life-threatening in those with weakened immune systems. Scientists are now working to find the other ways these fungal molecules are affecting immune cells and how the immune cells are deactivated. Antibodies against fungi and yeasts may be


Mechanistic modeling indicates that stomatal conductance could be reduced to improve water use efficiency (WUE) in C4 crops. Genetic variation in stomatal density and canopy temperature was evaluated in the model C4 genus, Setaria. Recombinant inbred lines (RIL) derived from a Setaria italica x Setaria viridis cross were grown with ample or limiting water supply under field conditions in Illinois. An optical profilometer was used to rapidly assess stomatal patterning and canopy temperature was measured using infrared imaging. Stomatal density and canopy temperature were positively correlated but both were negatively correlated with total above-ground biomass. These trait relationships suggest a likely interaction between stomatal density and the other drivers of water use such as stomatal size and aperture. Multiple QTLs were identified for stomatal density and canopy temperature, including co-located QTLs on chromosomes 5 and 9. The direction of the additive effect of these QTLs on chromosome 5 and 9 were in accordance with the positive phenotypic relationship between these two traits. This suggests a common genetic architecture between stomatal patterning in the greenhouse and canopy transpiration in the field, while highlighting the potential of setaria as a model to understand the physiology and genetics of WUE in C4 species. Highlight This article reports a phenotypic and genetic relationship between two water use related traits operating at leaf level and canopy level in a C4 model crop species.


This study was carried out seasonally in 9 stations selected to represent the lake in between April 2013 and January 2014. Physicochemical water quality analyzes were carried out in order to determine water quality parameters of Egirdir Lake. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, oxygen saturation, pH, electrical conductivity and salinity parameters were measured in situ. Turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), sulphate (SO4 -2), carbonate (CO3 -2) and bicarbonate (HCO3 -2) alkalinity, calcium (Ca+2), magnesium (Mg+2), total hardness (TS), ammonium (NH4+1), potassium (K+1), sodium (Na+1), silicon (Si+1), nitrite (NO2 -1), nitrate (NO3 -1) and orthophosphate (O-PO4 -3) were determined by titrimetric and spectrophotometric methods in the laboratory. On the average of the parameters in the obtained; water temperature 14,2 oC; dissolved oxygen 9,05 mg/L; pH 8,78; saturation 90,0%; electrical conductivity 383,4 μS/cm and salinity 0,28 ppt as was determined. Parameters performed in the laboratory, on average, the turbidity 1,08 NTU; COD 17,0 mg/L; SO4 -2 26,57 mg/L; O-PO4 -3 0,05 mg/L; NH4 + 1 0,035 mg/L; NO2 1 0,032 mg/L; NO3 -1 1,2 mg/L; CO3 -2 alkalinity 21,1 mg/L; HCO3 -2 alkalinity 197,55 mg/L; Ca+ 2 23,46 mg/L; Mg+ 2 34,80 mg/L; TS 20 oF; K+ 1 2,82 mg/L; Na+1 9,57 mg/L and Si+ 1 1,215 mg/L as was determined. As a result of the study, it was determined that water quality of Egirdir Lake is Class I water quality (High quality water) in terms of physical and some chemical parameters according to inland water quality standards. However, attention has to be paid to nitrogen and phosphorus. In this context, it is necessary to apply a good protection-use plan and program according to the characteristics of the basin and to take the necessary precautions in order to protect the lake.


Onions are generally considered heavy feeders especially if you include the fertilizer requirements for producing the transplants. In addition, they are a long season crop with transplanting beginning the end of November and harvest beginning in April. This long season gives growers many options in their fertility program both in respect to the materials they use and application timing. For example, several years ago Meister (Helena Chemical Co., Collierville, TN), a slow release fertilizer, was introduced to onion growers as a single application product. This worked well in most years, however, during years of heavy rainfall with high leaching potential many growers found they had to apply additional fertilizer. Most growers still use a formulaic approach with various materials applied in 5-6 applications. Soil test recommendations have been updated to reflect more accurately what the crop needs, which has been a reduction in P and K recommendations. Additionally, research has shown that as few as three applications are sufficient to produce a good quality crop. Recently several slow release fertilizers have been introduced to the Vidalia onion growing region and we have been evaluating them over the last couple of years. These experiments were to evaluate the effectiveness of these materials as well as other input options and rates in production of short-day onions in southeast Georgia.