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 The paper calculates the delta-V requirements to launch a spacecraft into Low Earth Orbit and execute Hohmann transfers to the International Space Station orbit and Geosynchronous Orbit. These were found to be 8.03 kms -1 , 0.12 kms -1 and 3.94 kms -1 , respectively. The paper also includes researched values for the delta-V requirements to travel to the Moon and Phobos. The paper aims to highlight the fact that delta-V requirements for manoeuvres beyond Low Earth Orbit are considerably lower than achieving Low Earth Orbit.Â


Includes descriptive metadata provided by producer in MP3 file: "Arthur Demarest, Ingram Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Mesoamerican Anthropology and Development, presented a lecture entitled 'War Crimes, Present and Past: The Royal Massacre at the Ancient Maya City of Cancuen.'"


OBJECTIVE To investigate the status of carbapenemases-producing gram-negative bacteria infections and analyze the related risk factors.METHODS The determination of the gram-negative bacteria isolated from the hospitalized patients during Jan-Dec 2010 whose drug susceptibility to carbapenem antibiotics decreased was performed by PCR,and the risk factors for carbapenemases-producing gram-negative bacteria infections were analyzed.RESULTS Of the gram-negative bacteria whose drug susceptibility to carbapenems decreased,the detection rates of carbapenemases from Klebsiella pneumoniae,Escherichia coli,Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Enterobacter cloacae and Acinetobacter baumannii were 57.14%,50.00%,46.67%,46.15% and 36.36%,respectively;sputum,urine and blood were the top three specimens from which carbapenemases were detected,accounting for 33.85%,24.61% and 15.38%,respectively;univariate factor analysis and multivariate factors analysis revealed that the duration of hospital stay,invasive operation within one week,hospitalized departments and ICU,readmission or transfer,and use of carbapenem antibiotics were the risk factors for carbapenemases-producing gram-negative bacteria infections.CONCLUSION The bacteria whose drug susceptibility to carbapenems decreases take a large proportion among carbapenemases-producing gram-negative bacteria;to reasonably use carbapenems antibiotics and shorten the hospital stay as much as possible is crucial to the control of carbapenemase-producing gram-negative bacteria infections.


Objective
To study the changes of Th1 and Th2 cells in peripheral blood of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) , and to explore the significance of Th1/Th2 imbalance in the pathogenesis of PCOS.

Methods
41 patients who were diagnosed with PCOS were selected as PCOS group, and 25 healthy women were set as the control group. Peripheral venous blood (8 ml) were obtained from subjects in the two groups, serum was separated, and chemiluminescence was used to detect sexual hormone levels. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained, cytokines IFN-gamma and IL-4 were detected by ELISA, and Th1 and Th2 cells were detected by flow cytometry. The data were statistically analyzed, with P<0.05 as the difference being statistically significant.

Results
ELISA results showed that compared with the control group, there was no significant change in the level of cytokine IL-4 in the peripheral blood of the PCOS group (P>0.05) , while the level of IFN-gamma increased significantly (the control group: (54.2±18.7) pg/ml, the PCOS group: (136.8±24.6) pg/ml, P 0.05) , while the proportion of Th1 cells (the control group: (5.7±0.6) %, PCOS group: (14.3±1.1) %, P<0.05) and the ratio of Th1/Th2 increased significantly (the control group: 2.1±0.3, PCOS group: 4.4±0.5, P<0.05) . Correlation analysis showed that Th1/Th2 ratio in PCOS group was positively correlated with LH (r=0.512, P=0.034) , LH/FSH (r=0.584, P=0.028) and T (r=0.631, P=0.016) .

Conclusion
Th1/Th2 imbalance was found in PCOS patients, which may be closely related to the disorder of sexual hormone levels.

Key words:
Polycystic ovary syndrome; Th1/Th2 imbalance


Entrepreneurs and informal businesses in general around the world, have in their financing form one of the most critical factors in its initial stage and survival (1 - 5 years) according to the World Bank.
The use of revolving financial products has allowed the development of many economic activities in the world, ranging from Chinese microentrepreneurs, to monumental buildings in Mexico, through this form of financing...


India has a long tradition of practicing ethnobotany. The bioactive secondary metabolites in plants have diverse pharmacological activities and hence always been used as traditional medicine to treat various ailments. There is dire need of drugs that are cost effective, has less or no side effects, synthesized sustainably, do not pose drug resistance issue and has same effectiveness as synthetic medicine available in the market. The study carried out on leaf extract of various plants puts some lights on potent secondary metabolites and their analysis as pharmacological agent. The anti-amylase drug helps in prevention of prolonged hyperglycemic condition in diabetic patients, thrombolytic drug is used in the treatment of thrombosis & antiplaque drug is used for treating dental caries by inhibiting plaque formation. The study was aimed to check & compare the anti-amylase, thrombolytic & antiplaque activity of methanolic leaf extract of Garcinia indica, Psidium guajava & Artocarpus heterophyllus. Soxhlet extraction of these plant leaves was done using a polar solvent, methanol & the powder obtained after drying the extracts in hot air oven were used as sample for phytochemical screening, anti-amylase activity detection using DNSA method, thrombolytic assay & antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). G. indica, P. guajava & A. heterophyllus showed 66.87%,50.38% & 48.83% inhibition of amylase enzyme (anti-amylase activity) while 53.67%,39.24% & 36.25% clot lysis (thrombolytic activity) were found respectively. Streptokinase was used as positive control for thrombolysis. Anti-plaque activity was found only in G. indica extract.


[Background] A large number of clinical researches have reported that dosing valproic acid (VPA) during pregnancy causes autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children. We have demonstrated that mice prenatally exposed to VPA at embryonic day 12.5 (E12.5) are useful as an ASD model (Kataoka et al., Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2013; Takuma et al., Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 2014; Hara et al., Behav. Brain Res. 2015; Hara et al., Autism Res. 2016; Hara et al., Psychopharmacology 2017). Recent animal and clinical studies showed that oxytocin improved impairments in social behavior and communication in ASD. However, it remains unclear how oxytocin improves such abnormalities. Here, we examined the effects of oxytocin on prenatal VPA-induced ASD-like behaviors. [Methods] Pregnant ICR (CD1) mice were intraperitoneally administered either VPA 500 mg/kg or saline on E12.5 at a volume of 10 mL/kg body weight. At postnatal day 21, offspring were weaned and sexed, and only male offspring were


A process for the manufacture and filling of repeatedly openable bags or sacks (3), which are equipped with means, such as slider (26) for repeatedly opening and closing the bag or bags (3), comprising the steps of: - making a tube-like material web (1) - making incisions (57) in the tube-like material web (1), - introduction of the means (26) for repeatedly opening and closing the bag or bags (3) through the notches (57) into the tube-like material web (1) and securing the means (26) in the tube-like material web (1) - sealing of the incisions (57) in the tube-like material web (1), - rolling up the thus-machined tubular material strip (1), - unwinding of the hose-like material strip (1) and separation of tube sections (2), bags or sacks (3) by transverse separations and - filling and sealing of the tube sections (2), bag or bags (3)


This article examines the impacts of poorly designed decentralisation programs on institutional conflicts at the Malawian Local Government level. The objective is to interrogate into the extent to which improperly construed decentralisation in Malawi has increased local level institutional conflicts. Decentralization has been trumpeted as an effective tool for increased peace and conflict resolution. However this paper has found that if poorly executed as in the case of Malawi, decentralization can be an instrument for the generation, exacerbation and influence of conflicts at the organizational level. In this regard, institutions that came with decentralization degenerated into instruments of increased conflicts. More specifically, the findings for this paper show that in Malawi poorly designed decentralization has led to conflicting relationships between the central government and local governments; councillors and members of parliament; traditional authorities and councillors; assembly secretariat and councillors; and among councillors.


A method for controlling a data processing system via a user interface on the user interfaces in several areas each image objects can be displayed, the call is assigned to perform certain functions of the data processing system, in which the areas share a part of the user interface, wherein the areas are displayed in different sizes on the user interface and in which a region, when activated, is shown in a preferred position of the user interface while the other areas are grouped around the activated region around in which a user interface image object with a pointing instrument is taken from one area to another area, wherein the user interface screen object or its link is presented to the assigned area, in which it has been drawn, characterized, in that the shifted image user interface object is displayed at the edge of the activated region, which borders on the depiction of the region to which class the shifted UI image object belongs.


The squalene/cholesterol ratio in pellets prepared from amniotic fluid is closely correlated to the gestation age and shows a marked increase in the 39th week of pregnancy. However, the absolute value of the squalene/cholesterol ratio may very considerably in relation to the process used to prepare the sample. The washing of the sedimentary cells seems to be critical point in this procedure; therefore, if it is not correctly standardized, erroneous result may be obtained.


Securing wireless mesh networks (WMNs) is a crucial issue due to its intrinsic characteristics. Several endangered features might emerge due to the exposure of the networks to a diversity of medium access control (MAC) layers such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, false reply attacks, and other identity attacks. Against these attacks, the determination of existing techniques is insufficient to ensure the complete security solutions to protect the backbone network at multiple levels. As a result, effective, scalable, and integrated security solutions for WMNs are required. In WMNs, protecting legitimate gateway nodes and internal mesh routers against malicious attacks at the MAC layer remains a difficult problem. Our proposed trust-based security mechanism includes distributed authentication and deauthentication algorithms that validates backbone mesh routers as well as gateway nodes. Particularly, this proposed model targets DDoS attacks in the network. The proposed DDoS attack prevention mechanism (DAPM) uses distributed authentication and deauthentication algorithms to build trusted group heads for managing secure data communication in the network. Our research and practical results show that the proposed mechanism decreases the severity of malicious nodes and strengthens the security compared to existing centralized schemes such as digital signature authentication (DSA-Mesh, MENSA, Mobisec, and AHKM). The experimental solutions show the significance of the proposed work with 10% to 12% of better performance than the existing techniques.


1. The actuation lever to rotate about the axis of the stator of a turbomachine variable-pitch vane comprising three zones: a first zone of fastening on the drive arm body, a second fastening area on said stator blade Variable angle and elongated third zone between the first zone and the second zone characterized in that at least one portion of the surface of at least one of said arm regions superimposed laminar element vibration-damping, and the layered element comprises at least one layer of viscoelastic material in contact with said surface portion and one kontrsloy rigid material. ! 2. Lever according to claim 1, wherein the vibration-damping laminate is glued element on said surface portion. ! 3. Lever according to claim 1, wherein the vibration-damping laminate is kept element superimposed on said surface portion by a mechanical means. ! 4. Lever according to claim 1, wherein said lever is the third zone or area of the second and third zones. ! 5. Lever according to claim 4, wherein said surface portion to which is applied a layered vibration-damping member completely covers said third zone. ! 6. Lever according to claim 1, comprising a radially upper side and lower side radially, wherein the laminate element is applied to at least one surface portion, particularly a flat, radially of said radially lower or upper sides. ! 7. Lever according to claim 1, wherein the second zone comprises a lever at one side that is different in the radial direction from the third zone, and the layered element vibration cushioning n


With the method of modal analysis, the full Jacobian according to the power system power flow equations is studied and a method to identify the suitable bus for loading shedding is proposed in this paper. The proposed method makes use of the participation factors corresponding to the active power, by which the structural characteristic of the power system nonlinearity is included. As a result, the effective bus where the load shedding should be used can be found. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method, the WSCC 9-bus power system is used as an example. The simulation results indicate that with the load shedding at the place where the proposed method decided, the voltage stability indices are considerably increased. The proposed method in this paper is effective. Introduction To the developing country, it is concerned in the power system for the imbalance between the generation and the demand, the large distance of the plant location from the load center, and the lack of transmission capability. Fault happens occasionally in such power system, which results into serious blackouts. When the power system operates at insecurity or the stability domain of the operating point is not enough, preventive and corrective controls will be adopted [1]. When it does not work for the power system stability enhancement after the control of generator, switching capacitor or the OLTC triggered, the emergency control of load shedding will be used as the last measurement to prevent the power system blackouts [2]. The research results in [3] show that control at different bus makes different effect on the power system stability. When the power system stability is maintained or even improved, it is expected to implement the controls at the key buses, in order to minimize the control cost. Reference [4-6] extended the traditional modal analysis method and proposed active power participation factor to study the effect of generator active power output to the transmission capability. The modal analysis was adopted in [7] to determine the suitable location of SVC for purpose of the voltage stability enhancement. In [8] the right eigenvector was studied to optimize the allocation of SVC. In this paper, the modal analysis is adopted to study the effective bus for stability enhancement. The proposed method is used to study the WSCC 9-bus power system, load shedding will improve the steady-state voltage stability effectively. Power flow equations and its linear transformation Voltage stability is a subset of overall power system stability. It can be investigated by the use of the power flow equations. In this paper, the power system is modeled by the following power flow equations. 1948 2nd International Conference on Electronic & Mechanical Engineering and Information Technology (EMEIT-2012) Published by Atlantis Press, Paris, France. © the authors m i B G V V Q n i B G V V P


Based on presupposition that the population is variable, we build a series of solvable ODE models and provide an EA algorithm model to estimate the spread of HIV/AIDS, evaluate different countermeasures to HIV/AIDS and analyze the development of ARV-resistant disease strains. As conclusions, three main periods spread of HIV/AIDS, and finally comes to the stable spread period; the limitations and applications of the antiretroviral (ARV) drug therapies; the minimum proportion of vaccination in a country to eliminate HIV/AIDS.


seeking behaviour, one study suggests that 'bother', frequency of symptoms and interference caused by symptoms are the factors that drive men to consult a physician [3]. Another study suggests that worry and embarrassment about urinary symptoms are key in determining consulting behaviour [4]. Severely bothersome nocturia, dysuria, daytime repeat voiding, wetting clothes and urgency independently predict decreased patient satisfaction with their urinary condition [5]. Men with moderate-to-severe symptoms report, on average, 4–6 times the degree of bother and interference with their daily activities and twice the level of worry than men with mild symptoms [6]. The patient's perception of the bothersome nature of symptoms, rather than merely their presence or absence, is therefore an important consideration in disease-specific measures of health-related quality of life (HRQoL).


Tracing measurement of the textural properties of fermented grains of Wuliang-Nong-flavor including the hardness,resilience and the adhesiveness etc.were performed by TA.XTplus physical property tester.Besides,the fermenting parameters of fermented grains including moisture content,acidity,and starch content etc.were investigated.And the relations between the textural properties of fermented grains and the change of its fermenting parameters were explored preliminarily.


The invention relates to a combined type mounting base and a press type sense metering device with the same. The combined type mounting base and the press type sense metering device with the same comprise a boss, a mounting block with holes and a thrust pressure-bearing piece, wherein the boss is provided with a shaft end and a first detachable connection mechanism used for being connected with a metering frame. One end of the mounting block with the holes is in rotation connection with the shaft end of the boss through the thrust pressure-bearing piece, and the other end of the mounting block with the holes is provided with a second detachable connection mechanism used for being connected with a press type sensor. The combined type mounting base and the press type sense metering device with the same are simple to mount, easy to execute and high in measuring precision.


Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease associated with aggregation of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) protein. More than 160 mutations in human SOD1 have been identified in familial ALS and extensively characterized in previous studies. Here, we investigated the effects of T18S and E40K mutations on protein aggregation of canine SOD1. These two mutations are exclusively found in canine degenerative myelopathy (an ALS-like neurodegenerative disease in dogs), whose phenotype is unknown at the level of protein folding. Interestingly, the T18S and E40K mutations did not alter far-UV CD spectrum, enzymatic activity, or global structural stability of canine SOD1. However, thioflavin-T assay and transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that these mutations promote formation of fibrous aggregates, in particular in the Cu2+/Zn2+-unbound state. These evidence suggested that the T18S and E40K mutations promote protein aggregation through a unique mechanism, possibly involving destabilization of the local structure, reduction of net negative charge, or production of disulfide-linked oligomers.


Many organisations grapple with labour turnover as the costs associated with turnover can
be high, specifically where organisations are faced with a loss of skills and knowledge the
consequent reduction in productivity as well as the costs of replacing leavers. At the same time,
some level of turnover is desirable to make room for new employees with different innovative
ideas and perspectives that bring fresh approaches to the business. The objective of the research
is to identify, what are the retention drivers top talent chooses to stay with or to leave their
employer.
As the 21'' Century unfolds, major changes are starting to take place in organisations, such
as a growing awareness of the challenges around workforce demographics, the globalisation of
workforce strategies and a contest for talent. These major challenges and the suggestion that
there is a potential gap in research in relation to retention processes are linked. These challenges
will inevitably impact on an organisations workforce and human resource strategies and
processes as we move further into the 21St Century.


This study traces the early contacts of the middle and upper Niger and Senegal Rivers with the Muslims in the first five centuries after hijrah and shows the spread of Islam and the rise of states long before the emergence of Al-Moravids. It analyses the early Muslim expansion in the Western Sahara, the role of the Ibāḍiyyah in central Sahara and the efforts of the Sanhadja in the Western Sahara which resulted in the spread of Islam and rise of Islamic kingdoms in the Niger and the Senegal Valleys before the 5th centaury AH.


A freeze-dried spirulina piece and preparation method thereof; the freeze-dried spirulina piece is prepared by vacuum freeze-drying 1000 parts of fresh spirulina, 1-10 parts of konjak and 40-80 parts of prebiotic; the freeze-dried spirulina piece effectively preserves the nutritional ingredients of the spirulina; the konjak increases the strength of the spirulina wall, and improves an antioxidant property of the spirulina; and the prebiotic supplements cellulose, regulates the intestinal flora of a human body, and promotes absorption of nutrients. By employing a vacuum freeze-drying technique, the method achieves drying temperature control when drying, and ensures that the active substances of the spirulina are not inactivated. The raw material of the freeze-dried spirulina piece is easily available, and the freeze-dried spirulina piece is prepared by an advanced process, provides comprehensive nutrition, and is readily absorbed.


In this paper we first document the growing importance of intra-East Asian trade in parts and components and capital goods facilitated by foreign direct investment (FDI). Japanese direct investment has a stronger influence on intra-East Asian trade relative to FDI from France and Germany. It is related to the roles of small and medium enterprises in the Japanese FDI in East and Southeast Asia.


Background The first clinical CT system to use photon-counting-detector (PCD) technology has become available for patient care. Purpose To assess the technical performance of the PCD-CT system using phantoms and representative participant exams. Materials and Methods Institutional review board approval and written informed consent from four participants were obtained. Technical performance of a dual-source PCD-CT system was measured for standard and high resolution (HR) collimations. Noise power spectrum (NPS), modulation transfer function (MTF), section sensitivity profile (SSP), iodine CT number accuracy in virtual monoenergetic images (VMI), and iodine concentration accuracy were measured. Four participants were enrolled (between May 2021 and August 2021) in this prospective study and scanned using similar or lower radiation doses compared to same-day exams performed using energy-integrating-detector (EID) CT. Results All standard technical performance measures met accreditation requirements. Relative to filtered-back-projection reconstructions, images from iterative reconstruction had lower noise magnitude but preserved NPS shape and peak-frequency. Maximum in-plane spatial resolutions of 125 and 208 microns were measured for PCD-HR and PCD-standard scans, respectively. Minimum values for SSP full-width-half-maximum measurements were 0.34-mm (0.2 mm nominal section thickness) and 0.64 mm (0.4-mm nominal section thickness) for PCD-HR and PCD-standard scans, respectively. In a PCD-CT 120-kV standard scan of a 40-cm phantom, VMI iodine CT numbers had a mean percent error of 5.7% and iodine concentration had root-mean-squared-error of 0.5 mg/cc, comparable to previously reported values for EID-CT. VMI, iodine map, and virtual non-contrast images were created for a coronary CT angiogram acquired with 66-ms temporal resolution. Participant PCD-CT images showed up to 47% lower noise and/or improved spatial resolution compared to EID-CT. Conclusions Technical performance of a new clinical photon-counting-detector CT is improved relative to current state-of-the-art CT system. The dual-source photon-counting-detector geometry facilitated 66-ms-temporal-resolution multi-energy cardiac imaging. Study-participant images illustrated the impact of the improved technical performance.


Chiral plasmonic nanostructures offer the ability to achieve strong optical circular dichroism (CD) activity over a broad spectral range, which has been challenging for chiral molecules. Chiral plasmonic nanostructures have been extensively studied based on top-down and bottom-up fabrication techniques. Particularly, in the top-down electron-beam lithography, 3D plasmonic nanostructure fabrication involves layer-by-layer patterning and complex alignment, which is time-consuming and causes many defects in the structures. Here, we present a free-standing 3D chiral plamonic nanostructures using the electron-beam lithography technique with much simplified fabrication processes. The 3D chiral plasmonic nanostructures consist of a free-standing ultrathin silicon nitride membrane with well-aligned L-shape metal nanostructures on one side and disk-shape ones on the other side. The free-standing membrane provides an ultra-smooth metal/dielectric interface and uniformly defines the gap between the upper and lower layers in an array of chiral nanostructures. Such free-standing chiral plasmonic nanostructures exhibit strong CD at optical frequencies, which can be engineered by simply changing the disk size on one side of the membrane. Experimental results are in good agreement with the finite-difference time-domain simulations. Such free-standing chiral plasmonics holds great potential for chirality analysis of biomolecules, drugs, and chemicals.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is a paucity of literature that supports the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers guideline that proton density MR imaging is a core spinal cord sequence. We hypothesized that proton density fast spin-echo imaging is superior to T2 fast spin-echo MR imaging for the detection of cervical cord MS lesions. This study compared the detection rate and conspicuity of cervical cord MS lesions on sagittal 1.5T proton density fast spin-echo and T2 fast spin-echo MR imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred consecutive patients with MS imaged with 1.5T sagittal proton density fast spin-echo and T2 fast spin-echo cervical cord MR imaging between September 2012 and October 2013 were retrospectively included. The number of MS lesions detected on each sequence was recorded; conspicuity was assessed quantitatively with the lesion-to-cord contrast ratio and lesion-contrast-to-noise ratio. Statistical analysis was performed by using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULTS: Seventy-eight patients had MS cord lesions detected. Proton density fast spin-echo imaging detected a greater number of lesions (n = 181) compared with T2 fast spin-echo imaging (n = 137, P < .001). Fifteen patients (19%) with abnormal findings on proton density fast spin-echo imaging had normal findings on T2 fast spin-echo imaging; no patient with abnormal T2 fast spin-echo imaging findings had normal proton density fast spin-echo imaging findings. Although proton density fast spin-echo and T2 fast spin-echo imaging had similar lesion-to-cord contrast ratios (proton density fast spin-echo, 0.32 ± 0.01, versus T2 fast spin-echo, 0.33 ± 0.01; P = .43), proton density fast spin-echo had greater lesion-contrast-to-noise ratio (proton density fast spin-echo, 82 ± 3.0, versus T2 fast spin-echo, 64 ± 2.6; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Proton density fast spin-echo imaging is superior to T2 fast spin-echo MR imaging for the detection of cervical cord MS lesions. Proton density fast spin-echo detects cord lesions in patients in whom T2 fast spin-echo findings appear normal. This study forms the evidentiary base for the current Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers guideline that proton density imaging is a core spinal cord sequence.


Establishing a baseline Optimal baseline Baselines to avoid Analysis of treatment effects AB and ABA designs ABAB design Intra-participant replication Inter-participant replication Reversible and irreversible behavior Multiple baseline procedures


MMoO4 (M: Ca, Sr, Ba) scheelite nanocrystals of ≤15 nm size are prepared by a vapor diffusion sol-gel method using MoO2(acac)2 dissolved in M(OR)2 (R: -CH2CH2-O-Me for Ca and -CH2CH(Me)-O-Me for Sr and Ba) in a 1:1 molar ratio followed by diffusion of H2O vapor into the solution, thermal aging (80 °C, 1 d, under N2), and vacuum drying at room temperature.


Objective To investigate the effects of amniotic membrane transplantation on the matrix metalloproteinase in corneal epithelia and corneal fibroblasts after moderate alkali burn of the corneas in SD rats.Methods Twelve SD rats were randomly divided into two groups (experimental group and control group), each consisting of 6 rats. Models of moderate corneal alkali burn were established in all rats, then the left eyes received amniotic membrane transplants and the right eyes served as controls. After 1 day and 14 days, matrix metalloproteinase expression in the corneal tissue was observed by immunohistochemistry.Results On the 1st day, expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-9 and MMP-2) in the corneal epithelia or corneal fibroblasts of the two groups was higher than expression in normal corneal epithelia or fibroblasts, but the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. On the 14th day, expression of MMP-9 and MMP-2 in the corneal epithelia of the two groups was the same as that for the 1st day, and the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. Expression of MMP-9 and MMP-2 in the corneal fibroblasts of the two groups was greater than expression on the 1st day, while expression of MMP-9 and MMP-2 in the experimental group was higher than that for the control group.Conclusion It was found that MMP-9 and MMP-2 in corneal epithelia or corneal fibroblasts could up-regulate after alkali burns of the corneas. Amniotic membrane transplantation can enhance the expressions of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in corneal fibroblasts. This suggests that the amniotic membrane plays a role in remodeling the cornea after alkali burn.


Motion planning has been traditionally studied in the area of robotics. In recent years the techniques are increasingly used in virtual environments and games. In many such applications agents move around and their motion must be planned. We define an agent as anything that can be viewed as perceiving its environment through sensors and acting upon that environment through actuators [1]. This definition applies to humans, robotic agents, but also to software agents. There are four different types of motion in virtual environments and games: navigation, animation, manipulation, and camera motion. We are interested in navigation, i.e., agents must find their route to a particular goal while avoiding collisions with obstacles and other agents. Virtual environments and games offer a challenging problem setting because of the following aspects [2, 3]:


This book is a self-contained expository introduction to the theory and practical solution of inverse problems arising in medical imaging, geophysics, and other areas of contemporary science and engineering. For the purposes of this book, inverse problems refer to the interpretation of indirect or incomplete measurements, such as those encountered in X-ray tomography, for the purpose of reconstructing a map of density, or other physical property. The book develops a unified approach to these problems, with the first part devoted to the linear inverse problem. Various methods are discussed for solving and regularizing the solution to ill-posed problems. An undergraduate understanding of linear algebra, partial differential equations, and basic analysis would be sufficient to understand this material. The second part of the book extends the approach to the more challenging nonlinear inverse problem with particular application to electrical impedance tomography. The first part of the book would be well suited to undergraduate courses covering these topics. The entire book would be of interest to engineers, scientists, and practitioners in any field with a need to reconstruct images and other information from incomplete measurements. Vibrations of Elastic Systems: With Applications to MEMS and NEMS


This paper explores the issue of how compulsory voting could potentially moderate the effect of two largely explored variables in the literature of voter behavior: sociotropic and "pocketbook" evaluations on the intention to vote for incumbents. Sociotropic and "pocketbook" evaluations work as heuristics that aid voters to decide who to vote for with little information. Given that compulsory voting leads voters with lower levels of political sophistication to the polls, could it lead them give more weight to improvements in welfare, either general or personal, when deciding to vote for incumbents? I review the literature on the subject, describe the use of matching to preprocess data and to avoid potential biases in the estimates of compulsory voting effects and apply it to survey data from the Americas Barometer. I proceed with a preliminary analysis using a logistic regression model and conclude with a discussion on the subject and future plans for this research project.


In spite of many results in quantum information theory, the complex nature of compound systems is far from clear. In general the information is a mixture of local and nonlocal ('quantum') information. It is important from both pragmatic and theoretical points of view to know the relationships between the two components. To make this point more clear, we develop and investigate the quantum-information processing paradigm in which parties sharing a multipartite state distill local information. The amount of information which is lost because the parties must use a classical communication channel is the deficit. This scheme can be viewed as complementary to the notion of distilling entanglement. After reviewing the paradigm in detail, we show that the upper bound for the deficit is given by the relative entropy distance to so-called pseudoclassically correlated states; the lower bound is the relative entropy of entanglement. This implies, in particular, that any entangled state is informationally nonlocal - i.e., has nonzero deficit. We also apply the paradigm to defining the thermodynamical cost of erasing entanglement. We show the cost is bounded from below by relative entropy of entanglement. We demonstrate the existence of several other nonlocal phenomena which can be found using themore » paradigm of local information. For example, we prove the existence of a form of nonlocality without entanglement and with distinguishability. We analyze the deficit for several classes of multipartite pure states and obtain that in contrast to the GHZ state, the Aharonov state is extremely nonlocal. We also show that there do not exist states for which the deficit is strictly equal to the whole informational content (bound local information). We discuss the relation of the paradigm with measures of classical correlations introduced earlier. It is also proved that in the one-way scenario, the deficit is additive for Bell diagonal states. We then discuss complementary features of information in distributed quantum systems. Finally we discuss the physical and theoretical meaning of the results and pose many open questions.« less


The knowledge economy of the 21st century requires skills such as creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration (Partnership for 21st century skills, 2011) – skills that cannot easily be learnt from books, but rather through learning-by-doing and social interaction. Big ideas and disruptive innovation often result from collaboration between individuals from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. Public libraries, as facilitators of education and knowledge, have been actively seeking responses to such changing needs of the general public...


A novel 3-D temperature field reconstruction method is proposed in this paper, which is based on multi-wavelength thermometry and Hopfield neural network computed tomography. A mathematical modelof multi-wavelength thermometry is founded, and a neural network algorithm based on multiobjectiveoptimization is developed. Through computer simulation and comparison with the algebraic reconstructiontechnique (ART) and the filter back-projection algorithm (FBP), the reconstruction result of the newmethod is discussed in detail. The study shows that the new method always gives the best reconstructionresults. At last, temperature distribution of a section of four peaks candle flame is reconstructed with thisnovel method.


This article argues that social and technological events in South Africa are leading to the development of the direct marketing industry. The article reviews various social and technological aspects as well as the influence that government intervention has on the direct marketing industry, especially in terms of legislation regarding privacy. The role of the South African Post Office is put under the spotlight since the direct marketing industry is very reliant on the Post Office. The opportunities presented by the information age are discussed and future growth areas highlighted. Although this paper mainly concentrates on direct marketing, it also tries to explain the potential role of direct marketing in an economic system approach, as a driving force of economic progress in developing countries.


For saving energy and improving the performance of the airborne systems, modern aircraft increasingly uses electrical energy to replace the current hydraulic, pneumatic energy on the aircraft. The goal of more electric aircraft is to obtain high performance and high efficiency with electric drive equipments to replace mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic equipments directly driven by the original engine. More electric aircraft EMA system is a typical complex nonlinear system, which is the multi-physical field collection system of electrical energy, mechanical energy and thermal energy. In order to solve the problem of system integration simulation, for simulation needs of the system, a multi-resolution modeling technology based on structure is proposed in this paper, taking the multi-electric aircraft EMA system as an example and combining with multi-physical domain modeling technology. For the needs of different simulation problems, selecting the appropriate multi-resolution models can improve the system simulation speed and observe the required signal information.


BSP30K is a major acidic glycoprotein of bovine seminal plasma. It displays beparin-, gelatin-, and phospholipid- binding activities. BSP30K binds to spermatozoa upon ejacula- tion and is thought to play a role in sperm capacitation. We have determined its amino acid sequence, disulflde bonds, and 0- glycosylation sites. BSP30K consists of 158 amino acids arranged in a mosaic structure. BSP30K has a unique 4% residue N-terminal extension which includes three 7-8- amino acid repeats and the six O-glycosylated threonine residues. The polypeptlde stretch 49-71 is homologous to type 'A' domains found ln heparin-binding proteins from other mammalian species. The C-terminal portion of BSP30K is organized in a tandem of 40-44-residue domains each sharing the consensus pattern of the gelatin-binding fibronectin type Il module. The mosaic structure of BSP30K suggests that this glycoprotein might be a factor contributing to the different sperm-capacitating effects exerted by heparin in different mammalian species.


Network-wide traffic monitoring is of interest to network operators. With constantly changing traffic characteristics and measurement objectives, existing techniques for traffic monitoring tend to be sub-optimal due to poor choice of monitor deployment locations. Routing-assisted network monitoring mechanisms have successfully catered to these needs and are able to maximize the overall traffic monitoring utility of the network by strategically re-directing selected traffic sub-populations over existing deployed monitoring devices. Both the traffic measurement gain of the network and the load-balancing of measurement workloads across distributed monitoring devices are important performance metrics in the design of efficient routing-assisted traffic monitoring mechanisms. This thesis focuses on the design of gain-driven routing-assisted monitoring mechanisms where maximizing the overall traffic measurement gain is our primary design objective. This problem is tackled using two different approaches. First, novel centralized optimal and heuristic routing solutions are proposed for jointly optimizing monitor placement and dynamic routing strategy to achieve maximum measurement gain of the network. Next, we consider the load-balancing problem about how to distribute the network measurement workload across monitoring devices without compromising on the overall traffic measurement gain of the network. Providing effective load-balancing is important since previously-placed monitoring devices may be easily overwhelmed with ever-increasing link rates and increasingly sophisticated measurement tasks. We present an optimization framework called LEISURE (Load-EqualIzed meaSUREment) for load-balancing network measurement workloads across distributed monitors. Finally, a distributed measurement-aware traffic engineering protocol is proposed based on a game-theoretic re-routing policy that attempts to optimally utilize existing monitor locations for maximizing the traffic measurement gain of the network while ensuring that the traffic load distribution across the network satisfies some traffic engineering constraint. It guarantees not only a provable Nash equilibrium, but also a quick convergence without significant oscillations to an equilibrium state in which the measurement utility of the network is close to the maximum achievable gain using offline, centralized routing-assisted network monitoring mechanisms. Both these centralized and distributed routing-assisted approaches improve the overall traffic measurement utility of the network significantly while ensuring low computation complexity.


males attracted to aromatic substances under natural conditions (as is characteristic of Euglossini bees) were first observed recently in inflorescences of Anthurium rubrinervium (Link) G. Don (Araceae) in an area of tropical forest in French Guiana (Hentrich et al., 2007 ). Moreover, three specimens of this species had been attracted and collected using methyl cinnamate baits in Dawa, British Guiana (Williams and Dodson, 1972).Until recently,


Because of the high complexity and long time of CPU in convolution operation, the power consumption of GPU is high and it can not be deployed to small hardware devices. Field Programmable Logic Gate Array (FPGA) has parallelism and fast speed , Low power consumption and etc. Therefore, this paper proposes an improved RLeNet model, which optimizes model parameters and used a parallel technology to accelerate CNN hardware. The improved model parameter data volume is reduced to 3.2% of the original. Under the MNIST data set, the accuracy of the prediction result is 98.5%. Finally, on the Xilinx Nexys 4 DDR: Artix-7 development board, the prediction process of the convolutional neural network for handwriting recognition is implemented. When the system predicts with a 200MHz clock, the time to predict a picture is 31.8μs.


This paper presents preliminary results of studies currently being conducted by NASA for constructing very large spacecraft. The paper discusses the various approaches for constructing spacecraft and their relative merits. As currently planned, Space Station Freedom has incorporated all of the basic design characteristics to permit its growth into an in-space construction facility for very large spacecraft. If disturbances from construction operations are intolerable to other experiments on Space Station Freedom, a co-orbiting construction facility could be built using truss hardware and systems previously for developed Space Station Freedom. The new PATHFINDER research initiative for on-orbit assembly and construction is also discussed. This research effort is aimed at developing construction methods for very large spacecraft and includes the development of a 100-meter-long space crane.


FOR the purpose of classification, squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx has been divided into three sites by the U.I.C.C. (1978). These are: The Pharyngo-oesophageal junction The Piriform fossa The Posterior pharyngeal wall. The latter is defined as extending from the level of the cricoarytenoid joints to the level of the floor of the vallecula. The lateral limits are not defined. The annual incidence of hypopharyngeal carcinoma in this country is about seven per million (Stell, 1973). The proportion of these tumours arising from the posterior wall ranges from 5 per cent (Dalley, 1968) to 23 per cent (Carpenter et ah, 1976). A review of the English literature shows that little attention has been paid to squamous cell carcinomas of the posterior hypopharyngeal wall, probably because these tumours are rare. Furthermore, variations in methods of classification make interpretation and comparison of published data difficult. Access to tumours of the pharynx by an anterior pharyngotomy approach was first described in the nineteenth century (Blassingame, 1952). The lateral approach was first described by Cheever in 1878. Trotter (1920), later describing the surgical technique and its application to pharyngeal surgery, with conservation of the larynx (Trotter, 1932), indicated that plastic reconstruction of the pharynx would be required after the removal of tumours from the posterior pharyngeal wall (Trotter, 1928-29). An en bloc neck dissection can easily be included with the lateral approach. Conservation surgery with preservation of the larynx has been used by many surgeons, notably Ogura (Ogura et ah, I960; Ogura, 1962) and others (Ferguson, 1976; Orton, 1930; Ballantyne, 1971; McNeil, 1981; Seda and Snow, 1974; Som etal, 1966; Tucker, 1976). The use of a vertical midline pharyngotomy has been described (Harrold, 1967; Wilkins, 1971). Finally total pharyngolaryngectomy, either alone or with various combinations of radiotherapy, has been reported (Dalley, 1968; Carpenter et ah, 1976; Bryce, 1965; Hudson and Cavanagh, 1965; MacComb and Fletcher, 1967; Cunningham and Catlin, 1967; Skolnik


Rotational seismology caused high interest in the investigation on rotational movements generated by earthquakes, mines, and existing in engineering structures. The most oppressive aspects of the research in this field are technical requirements for sensors. They have to be extremely sensitive, as well as possess an extremely wide dynamic range of operation from 0.01 to 100 Hz. This paper points out that solutions basing on the optical technology are the most promising devices in comparison to existing mechanical and electromechanical ones. Especially, instruments basing on the von Laue–Sagnac effect seem to be the most appropriate to investigate rotational phenomena due to the fact that they are entirely insensitive to a translational motion, operate without inertia mass, and are able to measure rotation rate in wide frequency and amplitude band. The paper presents a new device named FOSREM that, based on the FOG minimum configuration, possesses special solutions that makes it perfect, in our knowledge, for any rotation sensing. It enables to measure only a rotational component in a wide range of signal amplitude of 2·10–8–10 rad/s, as well as in a wide frequency band from DC to 328.12 Hz. The presented performance characteristics, as well as a laboratory investigation, confirm FOSREM's opportunity to measure rotation both in seismological observatories and engineering constructions.


A new phosphine-free palladacycle catalyst 4 was prepared from benzyl oxazoline in high yield and fully characterized. With it as catalyst, hydrophenylation reactions of a wide range of bicyclic alkenes, not only norbornene and norbornadiene but also oxa-


It is analyzed that the head bearing is heavily worn because there is a rather large axial force existing in shielded electric-pump when operating under non-designed flew. A balance plate is put into the pump head to balance the axial force without lowering efficiency and a good effect got.


The ground-breaking 24sure technology delivers aneuploidy screening of 24 chromosomes, within a 12 hour period, starting from single cells. 24sure technology uses a reliable and proven method for amplification of genomic DNA. Amplified samples are then co-hybridized to 24sure or 24sure+ slides—bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) microarray platforms designed to enable robust and reliable calling of results. 24sure technology uses array comparative genomic hybridization (arrayCGH) approaches to investigate whole-chromosome copynumber ploidy for pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS).


The paper is devoted to the role of the mass media text in the modern system of higher education while training graduates in media field, linguists, philologists, teachers of literature and the Russian language. The authors substantiate the necessity to update the approaches to the use of mass media text in educational programs in connection with changes in ideological, socio-political, economic processes. Media literacy of a university graduate implies competent interaction with the information environment, modeling of their own information behavior, professional perception and evaluation of the information in the media. The paper analyzes the use of mass media text in the educational process from the point of view of different education process participants, and also suggests the organization of training graduates to work with mass media text in three vectors educational, scientific research and the vector of personal development. The authors of the study emphasize the importance of the use of media text in teaching linguistic courses in various areas of training and the necessity to redefine the approaches to student-research activities and educational work. The preparation of a university graduate should be adjusted to the current social demand: the modern media text has a significant impact on the individuals worldview, as well as on the formation of civic responsibility and patriotism.


Structural health monitoring (SHM) may be applied to bonded composite repairs to enable the continuous through-life assessment of structural integrity. Further, adhesively bonded joints are an ideal starting point for real-time, in-situ monitoring due to knowledge of mechanisms and locations of failure. The development of a SHM technique for the detection of debonding in scarf and overply repairs based on the frequency response of the repaired structure is described in this paper. Experimental investigations were conducted on representative carbon I epoxy composite scarf and overply joints. Piezoelectric elements were used to excite and measure the response of the repaired structure. The frequency response signature of the repaired structure with simulated debonds was found to differ significantly from that of the undamaged repair for two sets of boundary conditions. This demonstrates the potential of this technique for the SHM of scarf repaired composite structures.


DNA immunization offers a novel approach to inducing humoral and cellular immunity against infectious pathogens. We examined whether such an approach could be used against cryptosporiodiosis, an intestinal disease caused by the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum. This infection is a major problem for young ruminants and immunosuppressed individuals in whom cryptosporidiosis causes life‐threatening symptoms. The life cycle of C. parvum takes place in the enterocytes of the intestinal epithelium. We therefore focused our attention on a route of immunization that might induce a mucosal immunoglobulin (Ig)A response. Eight‐week‐old BALB/c mice were immunized intranasally with DNA encoding a 15‐kDa C. parvum sporozoite antigen (CP15‐DNA) cloned onto the plasmid pcDNA3. CP15‐DNA‐immunized mice developed specific and longlasting production of anti‐CP15 Ig A in intestinal secretions and specific IgG in sera 3 months and 1 year after the first DNA inoculation. CP15‐DNA‐immunized mice also developed an antigen‐specific T lymphocyte proliferative response in both spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes. Control mice that received the pcDNA3 plasmid alone did not develop specific humoral and cellular responses. These results indicate that plasmid DNA may provide a powerful means of eliciting intestinal humoral and cellular responses to C. parvum infections in mammals.


With verbal games, repetition, fragments, and mise en abyme, all being typical narrative devices of postmodern fiction or metafiction, John Barth's Lost in the Funhouse, a series of short stories, lays bare the writing process and deconstructs the narrative framework of realist novels. In the stories, blank and silence are deliberately exposed in order to show not only the author figure's anxiety about lacuna but also his eagerness to complete the story. What Barth reveals is not merely the impasse a writer experiences; it is the lack in being that Barth intends to unveil and highlight. Since the borderline between the narrative and the narrator becomes blur in the stories, the split imminent in language coincides with the split in the subject. This paper argues that John Barth's Lost in the Funhouse is representative of what Roland Barthes calls "the text of bliss (jouissance)" and will demonstrate how the texts manifest Barthes's concept of textual jouissance, which corresponds with the idea of death drive and jouissance in Lacanian psychoanalysis. The first two parts of the paper will deal with Barth's experimental techniques and illustrate that the "funhouse" Barth constructs is a verbal or linguistic one. The ensuing part will discuss the concept of "schizo-text," or "schizoid text," in order to elaborate on the co-existence of split of the text with the lack of the subject. Finally, based on Roland Barthes's and Lacan's theoretical conception of jouissance, the fourth part will explore the essence and function of the rupture or lacuna and demonstrate that the narration is emblematic of the circulating drive in search of jouissance.


The use of ion flow for the implementation of contactless force action transmission from an active spacecraft to a passive object is a promising technology for the creation of active large space de...


In August, the board's attorney met with Mr. S. and advised him to resign because it was likely that the board was going to bring charges against him. When he refused, the board sent him a statement of 33 charges and suspended him with pay, pending its hearing and determination. Mr. S then unsuccessfully attempted, through extensive media coverage and strong community support, to have the board members removed and to


To screen optimal protein extraction method for immature seeds of rapeseed,four methods,the improved Tris-HCl method,phenol extraction- methanol / ammonium acetate precipitation,TCA / acetone precipitation and DTT / acetone method,were compared. The results showed that the TCA / acetone precipitation method and DTT / acetone method could gain more protein precipitation,more bright white color,and the effect was better. Further quantitative analysis and two-dimensional electrophoresis comparative analysis showed that TCA / acetone precipitation method could gain more protein points on 2- DE map,and the distribution was uniform,the image was clear,while DTT / acetone method detected less protein points,and the 2- DE map had obvious vertical stripes. So TCA / acetone precipitation method was the optimal protein extraction method for seeds of rapeseed.


This framework paper is aimed at policy makers who are involved in the development or management of programs in the health sector in developing countries. It provides a 'snapshot' of the type of information and communication technology (ICT) interventions that are being used in the health sector, and the policy debates around ICTs and health. It draws from the experience of use in both the North and South, but with a focus on applicability in the South to identify the most effective and relevant uses of ICTs. The paper describes the major constraints and challenges faced in using ICTs effectively in the health sector of developing countries. It draws out good practice for using ICTs in the health sector, identifies major players and stakeholders and highlights priority needs and issues of relevance to policy makers. The paper also looks at emerging trends in technologies that are likely to shape ICT use in the health sector and identifies gaps in knowledge.


This paper describes the results of a three-year programme achieved in a Joint Industry Project aiming at evaluating formation damage arising from overbalanced drilling and completion operations. Eight typical drilling fluid formulations, including water-based and invert synthetic oil-based muds have been used to perform static and dynamic filtration tests on outcrop sandstone core samples. The performance of each mud formulation has been quantified from continuous monitoring of fluid losses during mud invasion and from return permeability measurements after mud exposure. The impact of various parameters on permeability impairment, such as initial core permeability, fluid saturations (oil or gas), temperature and shear rate has been evaluated. Results show that fluid losses and permeability impairments obtained with water-based muds are significantly greater than those observed with invert oil-based muds. Return permeabilities measured on six sections of long core samples, at increasing distances from the inlet face, showed a dramatic near-wellbore permeability reduction due to the invasion of filtrate generated from water-based muds. On the contrary, a stimulating effect, i.e. oil return permeability greater than initial oil permeability, was observed after invasion of filtrate from invert synthetic oil-based muds. This was attributed to a favorable relative permeability effect due to a reduction of connate water saturation during mud filtrate invasion. The use of a heavy brine as completion fluid has generated a significant additional permeability impairment due to the trapping of the wetting phase, inducing an adverse relative permeability effect.


This paper proposes an approach to dynamic output feedback guaranteed cost control problem for linear nominal impulsive systems. Sufficient conditions for the existence of the guaranteed cost control are presented in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMI). Upon satisfaction of the conditions presented, a dynamic output feedback controller is easily calculated. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the results.


1. Calcification in a lesion does not necessarily mean satisfactory healing.

2. Clearing or reestablishment of bony detail is a much better indication of healing.

3. Bony fusion or bony block is a favorable sign.

4. Decrease in the size of an abscess is a favorable sign, while increase in the size of an abscess is decidedly an unfavorable sign.

5. Paravertebral abscesses accompanying dorsal Pott's disease are dangerous in that they cause a much wider destruction than the original lesion. A mechanical pulsating force must play a part in their production.

6. It is suggested that early eradication of such abscesses might be attempted, but the danger of establishing a permanent sinus is serious.


Stressful husbandry conditions are likely to affect growth and amino acid metabolism in fish. In this study, chronic ammonia exposure was used to test the effects of a stressor on growth and amino acid metabolism of Senegalese sole juveniles. The fish were exposed for 52 days to 11.6 mg L−1 [low-TAN (L-TAN)] or 23.2 mg L−1 [high-TAN (H-TAN)] of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), or to 0 mg L−1 (Control). Growth in L-TAN groups was slightly but significantly different from the Control groups [relative growth rate (RGR=0.35±0.13 and 0.52±0.23% day−1 respectively)]. In H-TAN groups, growth was severely affected (RGR=0.01±0.13% day−1). Stress parameters (plasma cortisol and glucose) showed slight or no significant differences between treatments. Plasma free amino acid (FAA) concentrations were affected after H-TAN treatment. Increases in glutamine and aspartate concentrations in H-TAN fish suggest alterations in amino acid metabolism related to nitrogen excretion processes. Some of the changes in FAA concentrations also suggest mobilization to energy supply and synthesis of metabolites related to stress response. Therefore, Senegalese sole seem to adapt to the L-TAN concentration tested, but the H-TAN concentration reduced growth and affected amino acid metabolism.


The downward longwave radiation (L↓), really is difficult of the net radiation the measured values component. Therefore, different parameterizations have been proposed to estimate it. Thus, in this study we evaluated the performance of various parameterizations for the L↓ flows estimated and their interaction with other variables measured as well as the air temperature and water vapour pressure interactions with L↓. In this study evaluates the performance of the downward longwave radiation parameters for clear and cloudy sky days applied in Central Amazonia region. The datasets used in this study was measured from micrometeorological tower controlled by Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere experiment in Amazonia (LBA) from Manaus city, Amazonas. It was also found that precipitation and water vapour pressure exert enough on L↓ flows influence, especially in the wet season. The models for clear-sky conditions proposed, using their original coefficients trend to underestimate the L↓ flows measured. Best results for clear-sky were obtained with Idso & Jackson (1969), Brutsaert (1975) and Prata (1996) .


Online Health Communities have become an increasingly popular information resource. Participants use them to seek health information, to seek support and to source advice regarding health challenges. The resulting lack of dependency on traditional health information channels has not only changed the way in which people source health information, but more importantly, the health information that they choose to trust and consequently act upon. Despite this fact, the factors that predict or inhibit users' trust in online health communities remain unclear. This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of the factors that influence individuals trust in such communities. Data were collected from 410 Brazilian participants of several online health communities on Facebook. The research model was tested using partial least squares, and the results show support for two new predictors of trust in online health communities: Online Community Responsiveness and Community Support. Also, we found that Information Credibility and Propensity to Trust positively influence individual's trust responses. These findings contribute both to the trust literature and to social media research knowledge. From a practitioner perspective, these findings can also serve as a guide for moderators and managers who wish to improve participants' trust in their online health communities.


Over the next 20 years in the UK, initiatives to help deliver government low carbon targets are likely to increase the take-up both of electric vehicles and of heat pumps. These additional loads will place greater demands on existing networks, leading to a greater level of network risk experienced by Distribution Network Operators. Network reinforcement is the traditional way of mitigating such increased network risk. This represents a substantial investment, and because of the need to spend capital efficiently, such investments will need to be prioritized and targeted in those areas of highest risk or that deliver the greatest benefit. This paper considers a case study based on a rural network in northern England, and forecasts how long the network will remain compliant with regulatory standards, and how that period of compliance can be extended by minor or major capital expenditure, in conjunction with active network management.


Objective:To investigate the clinical effect of Weinaian Capsules on chronic erosive gastritis with HP positivity and its effect on HP.Methods: 90 patients with chronic erosive gastritis with HP positivity were divided into 2 groups. 50 cases in the treatment group were given drug Weinaian Capsules orally, 4 capsules each time, 3 times a day. 40 cases in the control group were given drug Compound Aluminum Hydroxide Tablets orally, 2 tablets each time, 3 times a day. Both groups were treated for 6 successive weeks. Results: The effective rates were 92% for the treatment group and 67.5% for the control group ( x 2=23.87,P0.01) . HP negativity turning rates were 58% for the treatment group and 27.5% for the control group. There was also a significant difference ( x 2=8.37, P0.01). The clinical effect of the treatment group was better than that of the control group. Conclusions: Weinaian Capsules is effective for chronic erosive gastritis with HP positivity. It is safe and has no side effect.


Usually, in the slotted ALOHA system using a multibeam adaptive array, separate detection of colliding packets is carried out from the shift of PN code due to the difference in arrival time. In this paper, unlike the usual method, a method for separate detection of colliding packets is proposed in which each user randomly selects a PN code among several alternatives. As a result of the evaluation of the throughput by computer simulation, it is found that a high throughput can be obtained without consideration of arrival-time difference in the proposed method with only code selection as the separation condition, even though packet collision occurs due to identical PN code. Therefore, by restraining the increase of the preamble length, the transmission efficiency can be improved. In the case of 16 codes and 4 elements, the throughput is about 2.2, constituting significant improvement. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 85(9): 69–77, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecja.1127


A method of forming a substrate assembly (10) and which has at least one embedded component (25) in the via (24) in the board core (22), a first adhesive layer bonded to the substrate core ( including 20), at least part of the upper of the upper surface of the substrate core, a second adhesive layer on a portion of the upper implant part (26). Its board assembly may further include a first conductive layer (18) which is adhered to the lower surface of the substrate core, a second conductive layer on the second adhesive layer (28). Its substrate assembly includes a conductive surface of the embedded part, wiring (36) may further include between at least one of the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer. As wiring can be formed through at least one conductive surface (32) an opening for at least temporarily exposed buried part (34).


Advanced Driving Assistant System (ADAS) was widely learned nowadays. As crucial parts of ADAS, video-based application like lane markings detection and other objects detection, have become more popular than before. However, most methods implemented in such areas cannot perfectly balance the performance of accuracy versus efficiency, and the mainstream methods (e.g. Machine Learning) suffer several limitations which can hardly break the wall between partial automation and fully automation. This paper proposed a real-time lane marking detection framework for ADAS, which included 4-extreme points set descriptor and a rule-based cascade classifier. Several experiments were conducted in highway and urban roads in Ottawa. The detection rate of the markings by the proposed algorithm reached an average accuracy rate of 96.77% while F1 Score (harmonic mean of precision and recall) also attained a rate of 90.57%. In summary, the proposed method exhibited a state-of-the-art performance and represents a significant advancement of understanding.


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Variability of process parameters makes prediction of digital circuit timing characteristics an important and challenging problem in modern chip design. Recently, statistical static timing analysis (statistical STA) has been proposed as a solution. Unfortunately, the existing approaches either do not consider explicit gate delay dependence on process parameters (Liou, et al., 2001), (Orshansky, et al., 2002), (Devgan, et al., 2003), (Agarwal, et al., 2003) or restrict analysis to linear Gaussian parameters only (Visweswariah, et al., 2004), (Chang, et al., 2003). Here the authors extended the capabilities of parameterized block-based statistical STA (Visweswariah, et al., 2004) to handle nonlinear function of delays and non-Gaussian parameters, while retaining maximum efficiency of processing linear Gaussian parameters. The novel technique improves accuracy in predicting circuit timing characteristics and retains such benefits of parameterized block-based statistical STA as an incremental mode of operation, computation of criticality probabilities and sensitivities to process parameter variations. The authors' technique was implemented in an industrial statistical timing analysis tool. The experiments with large digital blocks showed both efficiency and accuracy of the proposed technique.


*Shape Memory Alloys (SMA's) have been employed to enhance structural properties and increase the ability of structures to adapt and conform as desired. Morphing technology has also proven beneficial to space hardware deployment, in addition to satellite antenna design. In this research, Reinforcement Learning is utilized with an antenna model to demonstrate that antenna elements equipped with SMA actuators and subject to simulated SMA dynamics are capable of independently learning the optimal concavity. Appropriate applications of Q-Learning and e-greedy methods in this manner would allow space-based radar and communication systems would be able to decrease the quantity of antennas currently mounted on spacecraft. The implication of a single antenna capable of altering its geometry is a revolutionary world-wide compatibility of receivers and transmitters.


The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) mandates that states and metropolitan planning organizations consider the preservation of rights-of-way for future transportation projects in the development of transportation plans and programs. Such preservation is intended to promote more consistent and less costly development of transportation facilities; minimize their environmental, social, and economic effects; reduce the number of displacements resulting from their implementation; and give departments of transportation and transit agencies the opportunity to develop projects in a deliberative fashion. However, efforts to obtain control of or otherwise protect the rights-of-way for planned transportation facilities have historically been too informal and uncoordinated to realize these benefits. Despite federal support of corridor preservation, the performance of many states in this area has been inconsistent. This performance has been attributed to budgetary issues and regulatory constraints. Advance fee-simple land acquisition, a traditional corridor-preservation technique, has posed a variety of problems. Other techniques, particularly those raising regulatory takings issues, have presented various challenges. However, several recent federally sponsored pilot projects are demonstrating that states can successfully pursue corridor preservation. This article continues with an examination of the following: national attention to corridor preservation; preservation techniques; reservation vs. regulatory taking; pilot corridor preservation projects; and recommitting to corridor preservation.


The problems of H 2S corrosion exist in petroleum, nature gas ,chemical and other industries At present, the steels are corroded into FeS by H 2S in the most of the domestic sever oil-refining plants Because of the FeS self-ignition, the fire hazard has taken place in many plants In this paper, the mechanisms of the FeS formation and self-ignition are introduced In addition, how to prevent these accidents from re-occurring is discussed


Soon after the Japanese invaders provoked the Incident on September 18, 1937, the broad masses of the people in Shanghai immediately launched a great movement to resist Japanese aggressors and rescue the Chinese nation, and set off an upsurge to boycott Japanese goods. When the National Government stubbornly carried out the non - resistance policy, Shanghai established various organizations to resist Japanese invaders and save the Chinese nation, thus becoming the centre of the movement in China to fight agaist Japanese aggressors and save the nation from extinction. People from all walks of life, including workers, secret socities, and boy scouts, all actively participated in various activities against Japan. The special and unique surroundings in Shanghai made it the historic venue where the Chinese Communist Party and the National Party entered their second cooperation , which marked a new milestone in the history of Chine. Thus, Shanghai contributed a great deal to the realization of the two parties' second cooperation. The two campaignss launched in Shanghai on Dec. 8 and Aug. 13 respectively against Japanese invaders dealt heavy blows to the Japanese fascists. The people of Shanghai lived and fought together with Jewish victims, noble -minded fighters against Japan from Korea, and all the other peace -loving personages from across the world. Being full of fighting spirit all along, all these people threw themselves into the noble cause of resisting the Japanese fascists--the common enemy of the world people. Thus, Shanghai made an everlasting contrbution to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.


The rapid development of commercial advertising fast speed,with its unique advantages of outdoor advertising business characteristics of live firmly preempted the subject status of the advertising blocks.Outdoor advertising business blocks in the content,the form and material are obvious characteristics.From this article introduced several aspects of the business district of outdoor advertising design features.The commercial block development of outdoor advertisement to the vast development space and improve the outdoor advertising business and effective changed the whole image of the blocks.


This paper discusses algorithmic concepts, design and testing of a system based on a low-cost MEMS-based inertial measurement unit (IMU) and high-sensitivity global positioning system (HSGPS) receivers for seamless personal navigation in a GPS signal degraded environment. The system developed here is mounted on a pedestrian shoe/foot and uses measurements based on the dynamics experienced by the inertial sensors on the user's foot. The IMU measurements are processed through a conventional inertial navigation system (INS) algorithm and are then integrated with HSGPS receiver measurements and dynamics derived constraint measurements using a tightly coupled integration strategy. The ability of INS to bridge the navigation solution is evaluated through field tests conducted indoors and in severely signal degraded forest environments. The specific focus is on evaluating system performance under challenging GPS conditions.


Recombinant human α(1→3/4)-fucosyltransferases
(FucT-III) expressed in CHO cells or baculovirus-infected insect cells,
immobilized on Ni2+-agarose through a 6His tag, exhibit a marked
stability, which was exploited in the synthesis of Lewis a and Lewis x
trisaccharides.


The bitter constituents in the root of Cayaponia tayuya (VELL.) COGN. were investigated, and 24 29-norcucurbitacin glucosides, named cayaponosides, were isolated. Among the 24 29-norcucurbitacin glucosides, named cayaponosides, isolated from the root of Cayaponia tayuya (VELL.) COGN., structures of cayaponosides A1, B6a, B6b, C3 D3a and C3b were determined based mainly on spectral analyses. They are all 3-O-glucosides of 29-nor-2, 11-dioxocucurbita-3, 5-diene, only different in side chain structure.


The wide-spread use of semiconductor and gas-filled diodes for non-linear over-voltage protection results in a variety of possible working conditions. It is therefore essential to have a thorough insight into their reliability in exploitation environments which imply exposure to ionizing radiation. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of irradiation on over-voltage diode characteristics by exposing the diodes to californium-252 combined neutron/gamma radiation field. The irradiation of semiconductor over-voltage diodes causes severe degradation of their protection characteristics. On the other hand, gas-filled over-voltage diodes exhibit a temporal improvement of performance. The results are presented with the accompanying theoretical interpretations of the observed changes in over-voltage diode behaviour, based on the interaction of radiation with materials constituting the diodes.


This review focuses on the growth of high-quality (Li1−xFex)OHFeSe single crystals by a hydrothermal method using floating-zone-grown AxFe2−ySe2 (A = K, Rb, and Cs) as precursors. The structure, superconductivity, and magnetic behavior of the obtained crystals are highly influenced by the growth conditions, such as time, temperature, and composition. A phase diagram with temperature against the c-lattice constant is summarized including the antiferromagnetic spin density wave, superconducting, and paramagnetic phases.


Face recognition networks encode information about sensitive attributes while being trained for identity classification. Such encoding has two major issues: (a) it makes the face representations susceptible to privacy leakage (b) it appears to contribute to bias in face recognition. However, existing bias mitigation approaches generally require end-to-end training and are unable to achieve high verification accuracy. Therefore, we present a descriptor-based adversarial de-biasing approach called 'Protected Attribute Suppression System (PASS)'. PASS can be trained on top of descriptors obtained from any previously trained high-performing network to classify identities and simultaneously reduce encoding of sensitive attributes. This eliminates the need for end-to-end training. As a component of PASS, we present a novel discriminator training strategy that discourages a network from encoding protected attribute information. We show the efficacy of PASS to reduce gender and skintone information in descriptors from SOTA face recognition networks like Arcface. As a result, PASS descriptors outperform existing baselines in reducing gender and skintone bias on the IJB-C dataset, while maintaining a high verification accuracy.


The Contract Electronic Manufacturing industry in UK has been influenced by the shortened time-to-market, the unpredictability of the supply chain resources and the ferocious global competition. To increase their competitiveness, UK Electronic Manufacturing Service Providers, also known as the Contract Electronic Manufacturers have developed into a set of new characteristics. The service-oriented strategy has been formulated. As a result, the firms are more vertical integrated and capable of providing fuller range of services, with a special focus on the high value-added ones. Hence the new competitive factors for providing quality services are identified. The new dimensions of new competitiveness should be taken into strategic thinking together with the traditional factors for a physical product provider.


A REvIEw of several reports in the literature concerning the treatment of upper gastrointestinal hbmorrhage indicates that it is frequently necessary to resort to emergency operative treatment in an effort to control bleeding which is massive and which continues despite conservative therapy.1 to 6Peptic ulcer is responsible for approximately 85% of gross bhemorrhages from the upper gastrointestinal tract, and this is dealt with by a direct surgical attack upon the bleeding vessel with subtotal gastric resection when possible.6 However, not infrequently the decision to operate is made and the abdomen is opened cnly to find that no causative lesion can be found by inspection, palpation and, often, by gastrotomy. It is in these circumstances that subtotal gastric resection has been carried out, on the basis that the stomach and/or the first part of the duodenum is almost certainly the site of bleeding even though a gross lesion may not be detectable.


Modeling is becoming increasingly important both as a way to learn science and mathematics, and as a useful cognitive skill. Although many learning activities qualify as "modeling", this article focuses on activities where (1) students construct a model rather than explore a given model, (2) the model is expressed in a formal language rather than drawings, physical objects or natural language texts and (3) the model's predictions are generated by executing it on a computer. Most research on such learning activities has focused on getting students to successfully construct models, which they find very difficult to do. In the hope that new research can find ways to remove this bottleneck, this article attempts to list all the major ideas that have appeared in the literature and might be useful to those developing new learning activities involving model construction. The ideas are organized into a design space with five dimensions: (1) modeling language types, (2) ways for describing the systems that students should model, (3) instructional objectives and their corresponding assessments, (4) common student difficulties and (5) types of scaffolding.


The main objective of this research project is to evaluate the capital structure and the impact on the value of the manufacturing industries for the production of food products in the province of Cotopaxi. For the analysis, the Statements of Financial Position and State of Results of 8 companies that have the financial statements of the years investigated 2015-2017; a database was created in Microsoft Excel. For the analysis of the capital structure, it was known which is the structure of each company in which it was noted that companies according to their seniority choose to finance themselves with their own resources as well as with external resources; Subsequently, the debt-to-equity ratio was applied, with the result that for the most part companies for each dollar invested in a higher value are contributed by the liability and then the capital asset valuation model (CAPM) was applied using the beta leveraged with ECUINDEX indicator; while four valuation models were applied for valuation, which are detailed below: book value method, net current asset method, classic valuation method, discounted cash flow method.
With this research using regression it is shown that there is a negligible relationship between the capital structure and the value of the manufacturing industries of food products in the province of Cotopaxi.


Objective: To report the first case of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML) in a myasthenia gravis patient after immunosuppression that included rituximab.
 Background: PML is rare in myasthenia gravis patients and is also rare following rituximab exposure. The first case of PML in a myasthenic occurred with combination therapy of prednisone and azathioprine1, while the second case occurred with prednisolone, IVIG, and azathioprine therapy.2 This patient represents the third documented case of PML in a myasthenic patient and the first reported case following rituximab.
 Methods: Case report
 Results: A 58-year-old woman with seronegative myasthenia gravis was admitted with a several month history of encephalopathy in September 2014. Previous treatments included a combination of chronic prednisone, pyridostigmine, and IVIG or plasmapheresis. Immunosuppression included mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine, and rituximab, last in September 2013. She had intermittent lymphopenia during immunosuppressive therapy but had normal lymphocyte counts in May 2014. She then developed a progressive encephalopathy leading to the hospital admission. Exam demonstrated disorientation, abulia, and hyper-reflexia. MRI brain showed bilateral white matter FLAIR lesions. She was also lymphopenic to 0.19 k/uL with undetectable CD19 and CD20 markers and normal CD3, CD4, and CD8 markers. CSF revealed elevated protein to 96 and qualitative JC virus PCR positivity, confirming the diagnosis of PML. She died on October 31, 2014. Neurohistopathology confirmed JC virus on immunohistochemical testing.
 Conclusions: As our patient's CD19 and CD20 markers were undetectable 1 year following her last rituximab infusion, we concluded that she may have developed PML due to persistent immunosuppression from multiple agents, including rituximab. As rituximab utilization is growing in treatment of myasthenia gravis, we recommend checking JC virus antibody titers prior to initiating treatment. We also recommend monitoring CD19 and CD20 counts to screen patients with preexisting immune dysfunction, which may increase the PML risk. Disclosure: Dr. Kanth has nothing to disclose. Dr. Solorzano has nothing to disclose. Dr. Goldman has received personal compensation for activities with Evidera, Genyzme, Novartis, Biogen, and Acorda. Dr. Goldman has received research support from Biogen Idec and Novartis.


U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Republican members of Congress found some common ground on energy issues such as nuclear power and the current shale oil and gas boom during a 13 June congressional hearing. However, there was some contention about the need to move forward in dealing with climate change, the definition of an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy, and the direction the Department of Energy (DOE) has taken.


Isoniazid (INH) is one of the most effective antibiotics against tuberculosis. INH is a prodrug that is activated by KatG. Although extensive studies have been performed in order to understand the mechanism of KatG, even the binding site of INH in KatG remains controversial. In this study, we determined the crystal structure of KatG from Synechococcus elongatus PCC7942 (SeKatG) in a complex with INH at 2.12‐Å resolution. Three INH molecules were bound to the molecular surface. One INH molecule was bound at the entrance to the ε‐edge side of heme (designated site 1), another was bound at the entrance to the γ‐edge side of heme (site 2), and another was bound to the loop structures in front of the heme propionate side chain (site 3). All of the interactions between KatG and the bound INH seemed to be weak, being mediated mainly by van der Waals contacts. Structural comparisons revealed that the identity and configuration of the residues in site 1 were very similar among SeKatG, Burkholderia pseudomallei KatG, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis KatG. In contrast, sites 2 and 3 were structurally diverse among the three proteins. Thus, site 1 is probably the common KatG INH‐binding site. A static enzymatic analysis and thermal shift assay suggested that the INH‐activating reaction does not proceed in site 1, but rather that this site may function as an initial trapping site for the INH molecule.


The aging of the professoriate throughout the end of the 20th century and the early years of the 2000's (both before and after the end of mandatory retirement in the United States, ca. 1994) has become a source of concern for some scholars and research administrators, who posit that the "greying" of the academy results in lower research activity and a decline in scientific advancement. Some published opinions concur that senior scholars' research programs do not keep pace with those of their younger colleagues, but little quantitative evidence has been presented to evaluate that claim. In this study, we quantify senior faculty publication activity in six broad fields, comparing their publication rates to their younger colleagues across four modes of knowledge dissemination: journal articles, conference proceedings, books, and book chapters. Career publication activity does not follow the "peak and decline" pattern described in earlier studies. In most fields, journal article publication rates do not decline substantively with age (and in some cases article publication rates are higher among senior scholars), conference proceeding publication rates tend to decline with age, while book and chapter publication rates increase markedly with age. Overall, senior scholars maintain publishing activity levels and tend to shift their focus to the development and evolution of ideas through the publication of longer-format works as books and book chapters.


Cost benefit analysis is taken to be the guideline to estimate the regulation's effect on social holistic interests,such as economic entity,environment and society.Through comparison between benefit and cost of fore and aft regulation and different weight coefficients of various economic participants,this paper evaluates the impacts of supervisory policies on social benefits.Based on traditional economic concept and new institutional economic frame,by analysis of logic origin,measure content and main ideas of cost benefit standard,and comparison of advantages and disadvantages,this paper gives a reference to Chinese government regulatory activities.


The invention relates to a method for bonding two substrates, wherein a substrate with a layer of aqueous adhesive based on dispersions of chlorinated polyolefins and Additven is coated with a pH of 10 to 13, in a subsequent operation an activator to the first or second substrate is coated, wherein the activator contains substances which have acidic groups, and bonding the coated surfaces under slight pressure. We will describe a two-component adhesive consisting chlorinated from a storage-stable aqueous adhesive dispersion containing 25 to 50 wt .-% polyolefins, 5 to 30 wt .-% further polymers as well as additives and water at a pH of 9 to 13 and an activator as a second component, the activator carboxylic acids, sulfonic acids, phosphonic acids, polymers having carboxylic acid or sulfonic acid groups, inorganic acid salts or Lewis acids includes, as well as water or organic solvents.


This book chapter explores how the social aspect of vulnerability to HIV/AIDS has been understood and acted upon. The concept of social vulnerability is based upon the knowledge that collective societal factors strongly influence personal and programmatic vulnerability. Political and governmental factors which influence social vulnerability to HIV/AIDS include 1) inattention or unconcern 2) laws that criminalize certain behavior 3) interference with the free flow of information 4) a lack of HIV-related services and 5) discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS or against certain groups. Sociocultural factors include 1) gender roles 2) attitudes towards sexuality 3) stigmatization and marginalization of various groups and 4) illiteracy and lack of educational opportunity. Economic factors such as poverty and income disparity lack of resources for prevention programs and lack of work or job opportunities also influence social vulnerability. The new approach to HIV prevention is based on a combined risk-reduction and vulnerability-reduction strategy which depends upon an analysis of available information to identify those who are most vulnerable to infection. These efforts will require the cooperation of various governmental agencies nongovernmental organizations and the private sector as well as public health ministries. The identification of poverty as a factor increasing vulnerability also presents special challenges to public health workers.


Purpose – Aims to solve singular two‐point boundary value problems, linear and non‐linear by using modified and standard decomposition methods, respectively.Design/methodology/approach – The approximate solution of this problem is calculated in the form of series with easily computable components.Findings – The accuracy of the presented numerical method was examined in comparison with others and was found to be superior.Research limitations/implications – The decomposition method provided a reliable technique that required less work when compared with the traditional techniques. The method does not require unjustified assumptions linearisation discretizations or perturbation.Practical implications – The Adomian decomposition method was found to be very easy to apply to both differential equations, higher‐order boundary value problems and linear or non‐differential systems.Originality/value – The technique is both innovative and efficient and an original approach for solving singular two‐point boundary val...


The two species, though coexisting in several areas, have different bathymetric distribution patterns, thas is N. caroli inhabits higher depths, from 400 to 110 meters (M a n g o I d -W i r z, 1963b), than R. macrosoma, which dwells between 100 and 500 meters of depth (M aOng o I d W i r z, 1963a). In regard to the distribution of the two sepiolids in ..the Mediterranean, N. caroli is restricted to the western part of the basin (M a n g o I d -W i r z, 1963b), whereas Ro macrosoma,. at the presrent state of our knowledge, is more widely distributed.