In 1991, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) initiated a study aimed at systematically implementing ground penetrating radar (GPR) for developing a statewide database of pavement layer thicknesses and base material type. Phase I of the study involved a demonstration of current GPR technology. This was achieved by conducting radar surveys on short pavement sections (0.1 to 1.5 miles long) established by FDOT and comparing the radar predictions with coring information. The results of these comparisons established the feasibility of using current radar technology for the purposes defined by FDOT.


Abstract—Wide research has been carried out in this Wireless Sensor Networks to improve the lifetime of the senso r odes in order to enhance the performance of the network. Clustering h reduces the energy consumption of each node, but it increases the communication burden of the cluster heads. In the proposed intra-cluster and intercluster traffic are used to reduce the load of the cluster heads. Sensor nodes and Cluster Heads are ar bitrarily placed in the deterministic setup phase with the knowledge of t heir locations. Each Cluster Head routes its traffic d rectly to the sin other Cluster Heads. In the proposed method, a power mechanisms, a routingaware optimal cluster planning and a clustering consumption. We evaluated the performance of the pr oposed algorithm and concluded that this algorithm outperformed existing a terms of energy consumption and longevity of network


Menstrual hygiene has emerged as an under-recognized barrier to human rights. Activism and preliminary research have highlighted the challenges women face in managing their menses in resource-limit...


287 and microwave-frequency synthesizers as well as highprecision clocks for test and measurement and for research. An important military application is reference oscillators for coherent RF sensors.3 A number of tunable, high-frequency sources have been demonstrated that are based on the heterodyning of two laser frequencies, either between independent lasers4–6 or between two laser modes sharing a common cavity and common gain.7–12 In the first approach, all INTRODUCTION Low-phase-noise microwave oscillators are essential for a number of military and commercial applications, and many of these applications require the output frequencies to be tunable over a broad range. Commercial applications include high-precision frequency or timing references for communications, fiber remoting of antennas for fiber radio,1, 2 precision clocks, and Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation. Additional commercial applications include master oscillators for RF A Fiber Laser Photonic Frequency Synthesizer: Concept, Performance, and Applications


With the emergence of mobile computing offloading paradigms, such as mobile-edge computing (MEC), many Internet of Things applications can take advantage of the computing powers of end devices to perform local tasks without the need to rely on a centralized server. Computation offloading is becoming a promising technique that helps to prolong the device's battery life and reduces the computing tasks' execution time. Many previous works have discussed task offloading to the cloud. However, these schemes do not differentiate between types of application tasks. It is not reasonable to offload all application tasks into the cloud. Some application tasks with low computing and high communication cost are more suitable to be executed on the end devices. On the other hand, most resources on the end devices are idle and can be used to process tasks with low computing and high communication cost. In this article, a three-layer task offloading framework named DCC is proposed, which consists of the device layer, cloudlet layer and cloud layer. In DCC, the tasks with high computing requirement are offloaded to the cloudlet layer and cloud layer. Whereas tasks with low computing and high communication cost are executed on the device layer, hence DCC avoids transmitting large amount of data to the cloud, and can effectively reduce the processing delay. We have introduced a greedy task graph partition offloading algorithm, where the tasks scheduling process is assisted according to the device computing capabilities following a greedy optimization approach to minimize the tasks communication cost. To show the effectiveness of the proposed framework, We have implemented a facial recognition system as usecase scenario. Furthermore, experiment and simulation results show that DCC can achieve high performance when compared to state-of-the-art computational offloading techniques.


Despite enthusiasm for the educational potential of the World Wide Web, few dental educators use the new opportunities offered by this medium beyond the presentation of textual information. Based on this observation, we have decided to design our own interactive Web-based 3D crown preparation course. The course objective is to provide dental students with fundamental didactic and technical knowledge to begin preclinical skill development for full crown preparations. The course incorporates a variety of interactive features including images which allow students to examine the dimensions and contours of the burs in comparison to the dimensions and the shape of the crown preparation. QuickDraw 3D allows the direct manipulation of 3D graphical models by the users. This paper will relate experiences in the development and implementation of a Web-based course with 3D direct manipulation. An initial evaluation of the development process offers directions for further development, necessary technical support, and faculty and student preparation. INTRODUCTION A rapidly increasing number of continuing medical and dental education courses is available on the Internet. Currently, Temple University School of Dentistry (TUSoD) integrates several of such Web-based resources into the school's intranet to enhance the opportunities for teaching and patient treatment, e.g. the Pulp Therapy Chapter of the Atlas of Pediatric Dentistry and Lexi-Comp's Clinical Reference LibraryTM . While there are more online courses offered for medicine than for dentistry, we were able to locate 157 online dental courses offered by 32 providers in an earlier study by Schleyer. The result of this study indicated that the quality and length of the currently offered courses vary significantly. For instance, most courses scored very low on a preliminary quality index for educational software. Despite enthusiasm for the educational potential of the World Wide Web, empirical evidence from this study suggests that only a few dental educators use the new opportunities offered by this medium beyond the presentation of textual information with incorporated images. Furthermore, we examined available anatomy Web sites for content to support the process of learning crown preparations. While there are excellent anatomy courses available via the Web, none of them offered enough detailed information related to human teeth. These investigations about existing dental and anatomy online resources indicated that we had to design our own interactive 3D crown preparation course. METHOD In order to design an online tool to teach dental students how to prepare anterior teeth for porcelain fused to metal crowns, we informally surveyed prosthodontics instructors in our school. Their major requirements for a crown preparation course were detailed, three-dimensional models of the tooth in various stages of completion, the ability to compare models of procedural steps with the actual technique of producing that step (on-demand video for each step), the ability to compare and evaluate dental bur dimensions to tooth dimensions and contours, and to actually measure and focus in on bur dimensions so that the student will appreciate the bur dimensions and shapes relative to the procedural tasks, and the ability to easily move from step to step, in any order desired. The main objective of a crown preparation course is to provide foundation knowledge for the student to begin preclinical skill development for full crown preparations. This foundation knowledge and successive skill development are necessary to begin the clinical phase of learning, the objective of which is to become competent in full crown preparation clinically. Temple University School of Dentistry's (TUSoD) strategic computing plan requires that every new application has to be tightly integrated into our existing intranet. Thus, only a Web-based application could be used for such a teaching tool. Resource allocation Budget constraints and a difficult situation on the labor market for information technology (IT) did not allow us to develop an entirely proprietary technology to reach our goals. In addition, it was planned that the new course shall function as a catalyst for further developments of highly interactive 3D direct manipulation courses covering various aspects of clinical dentistry. Thus, we focused our investigation on existing technological solutions, off-the-shelf 3D tooth models, and easy-touse editing tools. The development team was led by one faculty member of the school's Department of Dental Informatics. All content aspects were guided by two faculty members of the school's Department of Restorative Dentistry. Development and production was handled by an intern student from the German University of Applied Sciences, Dresden, who worked at TUSoD for 6 months.


Luker (according to ref. Br. Gaz., 1924, no. 2) has received very good results from the treatment of puerperal sepsis


Background: Cognitive functions decline with age. Declined cognitive functions negatively affect daily behaviors. Previous studies showed the positive effect of spices and herbs on cognition. In this study, we investigated the positive impact of wasabi, which is a traditional Japanese spice, on cognitive functions. The main bioactive compound of wasabi is 6-MSITC (6 methylsulfinyl hexyl isothiocyanate), which has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory functions. Anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories have an important role in cognitive health. Therefore, 6-MSITC is expected to have positive effects on cognitive function. Previous studies showed the beneficial effects on cognitive functions in middle-aged adults. However, it is unclear that 6-MSITC has a positive effect on cognitive functions in healthy older adults aged 60 years and over. Here, we investigated whether 12 weeks' 6-MSITC intervention enhances cognitive performance in older adults using a double-blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT). Methods: Seventy-two older adults were randomly assigned to 6-MSITC or placebo groups. Participants were asked to take a supplement (6-MSITC or a placebo) for 12 weeks. We checked a wide range of cognitive performances (e.g., executive function, episodic memory, processing speed, working memory, and attention) at the pre- and post-intervention periods. Results: The 6-MSITC group showed a significant improvement in working and episodic memory performances compared to the placebo group. However, we did not find any significant improvements in other cognitive domains. Discussion: This study firstly demonstrates scientific evidence that 6-MSITC may enhance working memory and episodic memory in older adults. We discuss the potential mechanism for improving cognitive functions after 6-MSITC intake.


A total of 105 patients with first-episode schizophrenia (male=51, female=54) and 99 normal controls (male=51, female=48) were included into this retrospective case-control study.Childhood trauma questionnaire-28 item short form (CTQ-SF) was used to assess the experience of childhood abuse.The result of binary logistic regression showed that emotional abuse(β=0.630, P<0.05)and emotional neglect(β=0.270, P<0.05)were included into the final model of predicting schizophrenia.It indicates that patients with first-episode schizophrenia experienced more early life stress than controls.Particularly emotional abuse and emotional neglect may play important roles in the onset of schizophrenia.

Key words:
Early life stress; Schizoprenia


ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to analyze the influence of inflation rate, interest rate of Bank Indonesia (BI Rate), and money supply (M2) on stock price index LQ45 period January 2015 until December 2016. The method used in this research is multiple linear regression analysis using Statistical Product of Service Solution (SPSS). This study shows that simultaneously or together with the inflation rate, the interest rate of Bank Indonesia (BI Rate), and the money supply (M2) have significant implications on the LQ45 stock price index in the period of January 2014 until December 2016. Then partial inflation rate and money supply (M2) have significant negative implications on LQ45 stock price index. Meanwhile, the interest rate of Bank Indonesia (BI Rate) has a significant positive implication on LQ45 stock price index. Keywords : LQ45 stock price index, inflation rate, Bank Indonesia rate (BI Rate), and money supply (M2).


Consensus and perception of local ethnic inhabitants from different parts of Sikkim state of India regarding the role of wild edible fruits in their daily life style was studied. Perception level was analyzed on the basis of family dependency, income generating ability, medicinal values and intercropping with agricultural crops. Results revealed that 61.6% of the respondents were with a medium perception level followed by high perception level (31.6%) about the values and usage of indigenous minor or wild edible fruit trees. Distribution of data was highly consistent (15.20%) with mean and SD value of 10.92 and 1.66, respectively. Thus, the variables gender, age and occupation of respondents were found to be critical for developing their perception level on values and usage of these fruit trees. The estimated R2 value of 0.099 indicated that predictor variables altogether had explained 9.9% variations embedded with predicted variable i.e. local people's perception on values and usage of fruit trees


Alkanes. Halocompounds. Alcohols and Phenols. Ethers and Peroxides. Alkenes. Acetylenes. The -C=N and -N=C Groups. Compounds Containing the Carbonyl Group. Compounds Containing -NH2, -NHR, and -NR2 Groups. The Nitro Group. Double Bonds Containing Nitrogen Atoms. Cumulated Double Bonds. Organic Sulfur Compounds. Organosilicon Compounds. Organophosphorous Compounds. Aromatic and Heteroaromatic Rings. Selected Infrared and Raman Spectra. Appendices. Index.


In conceiving his latest large-scale work for string quartet and orchestra, John Adams states that its inception arose from a lifelong obsession with the music of Beethoven. Out of this fixation, the first impulse for creating a referential work of musical homage came to Adams from hearing a performance of Stravinsky's Pulcinella, a ballet known for its conscious borrowing of material from the 18th-century composer Pergolesi. It is that absorption of another composer's vernacular and fashioning it into a new and unique musical work that provides the primary creative foundation for Absolute Jest.


Aimed at the problem of the salt bed wellbore creep and shrink under the drilling,based on the elasto-plastic mechanics theory and the head creep equation,the new formula of the control wellbore shrink rate was derived with in case of the plane strain and uniform in-situ stress,which was different from the old formula.By the theoretical analysis,the difference of the formula is the creep stress difference,the verification of the formula used the finite element method(FEM) was presented,it proved that the result of the theory formula is in agreement with the FEM,the result of the old formula was big error with that of the FEM.It proved that the new formula of the drilling mud density is correct.


Abstract : A survey of Aeronautical structural research in Australia has spanned over more than 40 years, from the establishment of the C.S.I.R. Division of Aeronautics in 1939. Industry, civil aviation and the armed services have benefited from the expertise of Structures Division in problem solving, as well as from ad-hoc research and, perhaps less immediately, from basic research. Not every avenue has been able to be explored. A major subject of research, structural fatigue, arose from an accident in 1945, and each new development in design and material has brought new problems. Standards of safety and risk have been explored. New technology of fibre composites permits better tailoring of strength and stiffness to requirements: this and the introduction to aircraft of active controls offer benefits and problems for the future. Additional keywords: aeronautical laboratories; aerospace engineering; aircraft structures; metal fatigue; ultra high Strength steels; Structural analysis. (Author)


In order to intensify tax collection and management on house property tax and land use tax of cities and towns,and to improve the level of tax source management by using information method,this paper introduces how to build the tax collection and management system for house property tax and land use tax based on ASP.NET technology.Based on practice,this paper sets out the necessity and the total way of the build of collection and management system from technique and function.It also emphasizes the requirement analysis and system design.The collection and management system is helpful to upgrade the management levels of local tax department.


From Survivors to Advocate: The Therapeutic Benefits of Public Disclosure Katherine Infusino This study examined the therapeutic impact of public disclosure for survivors of sexual assault. The purpose was to identify how disclosure in a public setting affected the recovery process of survivors of sexual assault. Three adult women were interviewed about their experiences. This study analyzed the meaning of public disclosure for these women in order to understand if it had therapeutic value in their recoveries. Each woman indicated that public disclosure helped strengthen her recovery. Public disclosure helped these women connect with other survivors and supporters, which assisted in alleviating feelings of shame. There is a need to study public disclosure for survivors of sexual assault further, but this study found that it can be helpful during recovery. SURVIVOR TO ADVOCATE 3 Acknowledgments This thesis could not have come to fruition without the support and guidance of many individuals along the way. I would like to give my sincere thanks to The Awakening Center, Rape Victim Advocates and The Voices and Faces Project for their assistance with recruitment. Without their support I would not have met the three wonderful women featured in this study. I feel honored to have worked with these organizations and the women of this study in order to better help survivors in our community. To my committee, Dr. Whitman, Ann Friesema, and Prem Pahwa, thank you for all your time and effort during this process. The three of you helped me grow tremendously during this time and will continue to inspire me for years to come. To my friends and family (Gaby, Jim, Nick, and Alex) I am incredibly lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. Thank you for believing in me when I was doubtful and celebrating each success along the way. And to Tom, my sender of snacks and unintentional tech support, thanks for being so patient with me during this. Lastly to Lauren, who has been my number one cheerleader along the way. When this was hard you reminded me of how important it was. I am regularly in awe of your beauty, strength and courage. So much of this is for you. SURVIVOR TO ADVOCATE 4 Table of


The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of some insecticides with novel modes of action on Liriomyza sativae Blanchard and their sublethal effects on pupal mortality, pupal weight and sex ratio in adult insects. The effects of hexaflumuron, chromafenozide, chlorfluazuron, cyromazine, lufenuron + fenoxycarb and azadirachtin and chlorantraniliprole were evaluated on 1st instar larvae of L. sativae using a leaf dip method. Dose response lines were constructed for insecticides which caused higher mortality of the larvae at field recommended doses. LC50 values for chlorantraniliprole, cyromazine, azadirachtin and hexaflumuron were 0.24, 0.49, 8.51 and 67.6 mg ai/l, respectively. A significant reduction in pupal weight and adult emergence was observed in all of the treatments except chromafenozide; but the adult sex ratio did not change significantly compared with control. Most of the insecticides used in this study are fairly new compounds with unique modes of action and had considerable lethal and sublethal effects on L. sativae. If these results also hold true in the field and commercial greenhouse conditions, these compounds could be suitable candidates in management of vegetable leafminer.


Lightweight fabrics knitted from fine and ultrafine merino wool fibres are emerging as a niche market for next-to-skin wear. The tactile sensory properties of these fabrics are investigated in this study. Seven pairs of bi-polar descriptors were defined from a survey as the most important tactile attributes for this target market. Furthermore, the existence of collinearity between the descriptive attributes was removed and three orthogonal tactile sensory dimensions were established by using principal component analysis. These three orthogonal tactile sensory dimensions explain 92.6% of the total variance of the seven tactile attributes. Partial least squares regression analyses showed that the Wool Handle Meter was capable of predicting the three tactile sensory dimensions.


Background:Excessive collagen synthesis and deposit during skin wound healing results in scar formation. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous noncoding RNA regulators that mediate diverse biological functions through repressing target genes and hold great potentials for clinical therapeutic applications. The aim of the present study was to identify miRNAs as post-transcriptional regulators of collagen 1 in skin fibroblasts. Methods:miRNA candidates that potentially target collagen 1 were predicted by computational algorithms PicTar and TargetScan. The expression changes of collagen subunits 1&agr;1 and 1&agr;2 were measured by real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction and western blot after the primary skin fibroblasts were transfected with miR-29b mimics or inhibitor, respectively. A luciferase reporter assay was performed to further determine whether both collagen 1 subunits were probably direct targets of miR-29b. Results:Computational predictions identified several miRNAs as possible regulators for collagen 1 synthesis, including miR-29b. Enforced overexpression of miR-29b resulted in remarkable decrease of collagen 1&agr;1 and 1&agr;2, whereas knockdown of endogenous miR-29b induced pronounced increase of collagen 1&agr;1 and 1&agr;2 at both the messenger RNA and the protein levels. The luciferase activities were significantly inhibited when cells were cotransfected with reporter constructs and miR-29 mimics in vitro. Moreover, miR-29b transcriptional abundance inversely related to the levels of both collagen 1 subunits in skin scar as compared with normal skin. Conclusions:Our data indicate that miR-29b is a potent post-transcriptional repressor of collagen 1 in skin fibroblasts and its deregulation might be implicated in scar formation, suggesting that miR-29b might represent a potential therapeutic target for scar reduction.


This paper presents a simple test generation method for sequential circuits using a parallel simulator with random inputs. The proposed test generation method generates sequences by simulating as many states as possible, without using a cost function for a target fault. To generate effective test sequences, dynamic switching is done between I-Mode and S-Mode parallel simulators. Here the I-Mode simulates 32 patterns for one state in parallel and the S-Mode simulates 32 patterns for 32 states in parallel. Experimental results for ISCAS'89 benchmark sequential circuits show that our method achieves test sequences with high coverage in acceptable CPU time.


Cardiovascular cells, such as endothelial cells and cardiomyocytes, are metabolically active even under physiological conditions in which abundant ATP is constitutively generated to maintain their cellular functions. A large amount of ATP is generated by oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondrial electron transport chain under normoxic conditions. During this process, superoxide (O2–) is inevitably produced in the mitochondria as a byproduct (Figure 1).1 The O2– produced in the mitochondria is immediately converted to H2O2 by mitochondrially localized manganese-superoxide dismutase (also known as SOD2). The importance of SOD2 in cellular function has been shown particularly in the cardiovascular system.2 There are 2 other SODs in mammals, cytosolic copper-zinc SOD (SOD1) and extracellular SOD (SOD3).3,4 The presence of cytosolic SOD1 may be a backup system to dismute O2– that has overflowed from the mitochondria, or may imply that a significant amount of O2– is produced outside the mitochondria. Because decreased activity of SOD3 leads to endothelial dysfunction, O2– derived from circulating white blood cells and smooth muscle cells plays an important role in the development of endothelial dysfunction (Figure 1).5 Compared with O2–, H2O2 is a stable and diffusible molecule, and is catalyzed to water by catalase and various types of peroxidases. However, H2O2 beyond the antioxidant capacity can function as a signaling molecule or be converted to hydroxyl radical (· OH). The highly reactive · OH oxidizes lipid and DNA, thereby impairing cellular functions and causing mutagenesis. Oxidative modification of critical proteins, such as disulfide bond formation, can affect intracellular signaling, thereby leading to cardiovascular diseases (Figure 1).6,7 Under physiological conditions in which small amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are constantly produced within cells, the intracellular environment is maintained in a reductive state by the presence of abundant antioxidant proteins. In contrast, under pathological conditions, ROS production is greatly, and sometimes rapidly, enhanced and may be beyond the antioxidant capacity, thereby causing cardiovascular diseases.1,8 It is believed that the mitochondria primarily contribute to increased production of ROS under physiological and pathological conditions. However, there exist various enzymes that can generate ROS and these enzymes may also play important roles under both physiological and pathological conditions.9,10


Polyurethane from Covestro is behind the new, high-performance Adidas Beau Jeu ball to be used in Europe's Euro 2016 soccer championship, set to kick off in France in the next few days. The ball's outer shell is made up of five layers of Covestro's Impranil brand polyurethane, which Covestro claims gives better grip, ball control, and flight stability than the Brazuca ball used in the 2014 soccer World Cup.


Signal/noise ratio enhancement obtainable on single-station LPE recordings by several techniques is investigated. The processors which are compared over a data base of 20 events include simple band-pass filtering, match filtering with a synthetic LR signature, and time-varying non-linear processing which examines three-component data for Rayleigh-wave characteristics. For the suite of events in this study, average S/N ratio improvement is 6 db for match filtering, 15 db for the non-linear PHILTRE processor and 20 db cascading the two processors.


Writers and scholars have used a variety of approaches to understand novels
written in English about Afghanistan. One approach that most of the writers have used is
the sociocultural approach. My approach is quite similar to other researchers but my
framework is different. My work focuses on an unwritten code of life, Pashtunwali,
which the Pashtuns of Afghanistan have been practicing for centuries. This code strictly
guides the lives of Pashtun people living in Afghanistan and North-West Pakistan. By
using the framework of Pashtunwali, this thesis provides a new perspective and
understanding of Hosseini, Hashimi, and Ackerman's novels. It not only provides a
different perspective, but also helps readers to understand these texts in the Afghani
cultural context. Some of the key topics that this thesis discusses using the framework of
Pashtunwali are honor, revenge, blood feuds, hospitality, role of religion and culture,
marginalization of Afghan women, and the system of justice. Thus, the goal of this thesis
is to provide a new dimension for readers who are unaware of the cultural codes that
people practice in Afghanistan and to highlight the social issues and problems that
Afghan people face. Not only does it highlight those social concerns, but it also traces
their root causes.


Although high-order Takagi–Sugeno–Kang (TSK) fuzzy systems have demonstrated their computational advantages and simultaneously circumvent the weakness that the number of rules with the number of input variables and membership functions grows exponentially in both zero-order and first-order TSK fuzzy systems for complex modeling tasks, they still face two serious issues: incapability for a changing environment and no interpretability of the coefficients in high-order polynomial used in the consequent part of each fuzzy rule. In order to circumvent these two challenges, a novel stacked architecture of an interpretable deep higher order TSK fuzzy classifier called DHO-TSK and its deep learning method are proposed by proving the equivalence between a high-order TSK fuzzy classifier and a deep ensemble of interpretable zero-order TSK fuzzy classifiers in this article. DHO-TSK can be built by assembling interpretable zero-order TSK fuzzy classifiers in a special stacked way. Each zero-order TSK fuzzy classifier can be learnt by randomly selecting input features, randomly assigning an antecedent fuzzy subset from a fixed fuzzy partition to each of the selected input features, and then multiplying the output of each TSK fuzzy classifier by a randomly selected feature. Except for the abovementioned solid theoretical equivalence, DHO-TSK is featured in the following aspects: first, the consequent part of each fuzzy rule in DHO-TSK becomes interpretable and the output expression of each layer in DHO-TSK becomes comprehensible due to the adopted stacked ensemble; second, its enhanced classification performance can be achieved in a stacked deep learning way; third, DHO-TSK has its adoptability for changing environments owing to random selection of both features and fuzzy membership functions. Our experimental results on the benchmarking UCI and KEEL datasets and a real dataset indicate the effectiveness of DHO-TSK and its learning method in the sense of both classification performance and interpretability.


This article focus on optimal economic load dispatch based on an intelligent method of shark smell optimization (SSO). In this problem, the risk constrains has been considered which has root in uncertainity and unpredictable behavior of wind power. Regarding to increasing of this clean energy in power systems and un-dispatchable behavior of wind power, its conditional value at risk index considered in this article which consists of loss from load and "spilling" wind energy connected with unpredictable imbalances among generation and load. This problem has been considered as an optimization problem based on SSO that evaluate the balance between cost and risk. This algorithm is based on distinct shark smell abilities for localizing the prey. In sharks' movement, the concentration of the odor is an important factor to guide the shark to the prey. In other words, the shark moves in the way with higher odor concentration. This characteristic is used in the proposed SSO algorithm to find the solution of an optimization problem. Effectiveness of the proposed method has been applied over 30-bus power system in comparison with other techniques. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity, 2016


As part of education reform in Azerbaijan takes measures to improve the quality of education. Despite the progress made in recent years in the field of education, there are problems and challenges facing the management of education systems. About this tells analysis of the actual situation in the field of education.


Pathogenic strains of staphylococci are usually of the aureus hemolytic variety. Among the characteristics of the staphylococcic hemolysis that have been studied is its appearance on blood agar plates in the form of a clear zone immediately surrounding the colony, progressing in a few days 5 mm. or more from the colony. This hemolytic zone may darken and become opaque, or there may be alternating opaque and hemolyzed bands as described by Kortenhaus' in 1929.


Laboratory and field experiments were conducted to assess the effectiveness of insecticidal toxins from Verticillium lecanii (Zimm.) Viegas on Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) in the greenhouse. In the laboratory, crude toxins from three strains of V. lecanii (V3450, Vp28, and Vl6063) at 1000 mg/L were applied systemically to eggplant seedlings that were then exposed to whiteflies. Deterrence of adults and toxicity to offspring were then evaluated. The formulaeIIPC_ Tox=N_ ITrN_ ICk=P_ hTr·N_ FTr·S_ ETr·S_ NTr·S_ PTrP_ hCk·N_ FCk·S_ ECk·S_ NCk·S_ PCkwere used to assess the interference of the toxin to the laboratory population of whiteflies. Insecticidal toxins from V. lecanii at 400 mg/L and chemical pesticides diluted 1∶1000 were tested against B. tabaci on eggplants in the greenhouse. Estimated population indices from life tables constructed for the 5 th and 6 th generation of B. tabaci were respectively 1.88 and 0.68, for V. lecanii toxins and 12.95 and 30.23 for chemical insecticides. The interference indice of population control (IIPC) values were 0.064 and 0.023, and 0.41 and 1.01, respectively. This predicted a decreased 7 th generation whitefly population after spraying the crude toxin in contrast to an increase on plants treated with chemical insecticide that surpassed that on untreated plants, this despite a smaller index of the whitefly population immediately after spraying chemical insecticide. These results indicted that application of crude toxins from V. lecanii to be the preferred treatment for control of B. tabaci and conservation of their natural enemies in the greenhouse environment.


The materials included in this project have been developed as a result of my emerging understanding of French grammar since I began studying it in 1976. I began teaching a French Activities class in1986 to eighth graders at St. Andrews and third and fourth graders at an Elementary School in Baltimore as a student at Morgan State University. While I was completing my student teaching at Baltimore City College Preparatory School, I found that my students had difficulties understanding textbook explanations. I therefore began to create my own explanations during sessions when students came for after school help. I also sketched different connections on transparencies during classes and later entered them into a computer to adjust them and make them look more professional. Since then, I have also taught French 101 and 102 at Carroll Community College in Western Maryland. I have, however, spent most of my career teaching in Maryland and Virginia high schools. Currently, I teach at Annandale High School in Virginia, twenty minutes from Washington, D.C., where over 2,300 students represent more than sixty countries and forty languages. As a result of our proximity to Washington, D.C. most of my classes contain at least one native speaker from France, The French West Indies, Former French Indochina, Lebanon or Africa. Although these students speak French with their relatives and friends, French classes may be their first opportunity to read and write their language in the United States. During my career I have taught French I through IV, Advanced Placement French and am currently implementing the first year of International Baccalaureate French at Annandale. In all of these situations my students say that my configurations help them to understand French grammar. Some of them have even returned to me for explanations after moving on to other teachers. They say "we know you'll make sure we understand it." Since these illustrations have been such an aid to my students, I am including them here along with the oral explanations I give when presenting them in class. These explanations are followed by a few classroom experiments. Inspired by my learning experiences at SIT, they are intended to create a "safe place" for using the grammatical structures explained, in spoken and written expression. I hope that these materials will help other teachers enable their students become as comfortable with French grammar as mine have. ERIC Descriptors: Adolescents, Alternative Assessment, Classroom Management, First Day Activities, French, Foreign Language, Learning Theories, Motivation, Multicultural Education, Secondary Education, Teaching Methods, Writing


The transient thermal response of a rock bed with no net fluid flow is examined following all-day charging under clear sky conditions. The experimental system consists of 1.86 m/sup 2/ (20 ft/sup 2/) of flat-plate solar collectors using air as the working fluid, a flow control system, and a 0.357 m/sup 3/ (12.6 ft/sup 3/) rock bed for thermal energy storage. A thermocline is established in the bed during charging due to the timevarying nature of the collector outlet temperature. Experimental measurements of the temperature distribution in the bed for a 13-hour stagnation period allow a preliminary estimate of the loss of available energy in the storage medium. The net loss in thermodynamic availability is 30 percent. Since the temperatures in the upper regions of the bed are lower than those in the central regions at the end of charging under clear sky conditions, the possibility of natural convection motion of the fluid in the bed exists. An ''apparent'' local thermal diffusivity is calculated and from comparison with stagnant bed values indicates that natural convection motion may occur in the upper regions of the bed.


is possible to account for the giveosutria prooduiced by large doses of sugar, oveni in. hlealtlhy peol)lo. Gralham116 states that a stud(iy of the blood slugar in cases of so-called alimenitary giveosuria ad(I severe diabetes does not suggest that ther-e is any difference between the tw-o types. In both the machine wlhichl regulates the takinlg up of tho sugar fromi tlhe blood is onily ouit of actioni to a greater or less extent, the tissuss are uinable to burin sugal, which thelrefore floods the blood anid is excreted in the urine. Comnmeniting on this seriies of inivestigationis, Professor MacLean suiggested that in the cases where the norm nal renal tlhr eshold was niot exceeded, but where glyeosu'ria was found, there might be some meclhaniism whliclh lowered the normal threshold in ordcer to eliminate the excessive quiantity of sugar ingested. Cases 2, 3, and 4, and possibly 8, show that it is niot necessary to lhave hvperglvcaemrnia before glucose is passed in the ur-ine, while in Cases 1, 5, 6, 7, anid 9 a hyperglycaemia as wA-ell as a glycosuria w-as (lemonistrated. The investigationl w-as carried out oni niatives in tlhe Mental Hospital, Pietelmaritzhiir(g. It mnight be con-tended thiat these subjects wore not niormal. I m1ainitain, hio-welvrl, that the normal glucose tolerance, after 50 grams, slhowni by tl1e cases eliminiates any possibility of tlhere beingo any defective power of glucose stora-e dlue to -their maental condition. I have com-e to tlhe, tenitative conclusion -thiat in normal lpersoOsl there is present in the kidnley a hypothetical mechanisim wlhichl is br'ouglht iito p)lay wheni hugo doses of glucose -are given. By tills meclhanisim the kidney cani elinminate the excess of sugar in the urine w-itlhout increasing the blood suigar coitent. If tills is so, tlheni it w-ould be possible to explain renial glycosiuria as eitlier an absenice of this hlypothietical mieclhaisimsni or else as an iiiipailrment of it.


Consent is the Philosophers' Stone of the law: it can transmute an unconstitutional search into a lawful one, a criminal act into a legal one, and a tort into a contract. As technology has evolved, so has this fundamental legal concept. New forms of communication call for new forms of manifesting consent. Examples include shrink-wrap licenses, click-to-accept licenses, faxed signatures, emails and e-signatures. Each of these forms, however, require some affirmative action by the person sought to be bound. An emerging issue is whether permissions granted by a computer program can constitute consent on behalf of the computer's owner, particularly where the permissions are set by default in the distributed form of the program rather than by conscious decision of the owner.


It is estimated that the gross quantity of various gas will be about 307982Nm 3/h at Jigang in 2003. To improve the utilization ratio of energy resources, the process project of generating electricity combining gas and steam is designed. The gas turbine is used as technology of generation in this process, the waste gas with higher temperature was used by heat recovery boiler. It is estimated that it will supply electricity with 104700kW anD 10.5kV after production and will decrease current drain of 83760×10\+4kW·h for Jigang per year.


Winglets are used to reduce the induced drag.. This paper propose an idea of using a propeller at the wing tip. The propeller is mounted in such a way that the blade tip is quite near to the wing tip. The rotation of the propeller induces two kinds of velocities namely an axial velocity and the rotational component of velocity. This rotational component does not allow the flow to curl upwards as it cancels it on the same plane of the wing and the axial component produces some thrust leading to a decrease in fuel consumption and indirectly better performance. The project aims to study the amount of reduction of the induced drag by experimental analysis in the wind tunnel. The results shows the increase in aerodynamic efficiency by using the propeller at the wing tip.


The present invention, the first charging step (formation) relates to a cathode of the state prior to containing the active cathode material and lithium peroxide. In addition, the present invention is a cathode, a separator (separator) comprising a method and an active cathode material for forming a lithium battery or electrochemical cell, a lithium battery including a cathode, an anode comprising an active anode material, and having an electrolyte lithium ion is associated with the cell, in which case the active cathode material is formed after the cell is fully discharged, has substantially the same lithium content as before formed.


In 1999, three plus years after starting our own practice in Bassendean, my practice partner and I realised that continuing to bulk bill everyone was no longer financially sustainable.


Do, Nhan Hieu. M.S.E.C.E., Purdue University, August 2016. Parallel Processing for Adaptive Optics Optical Coherence Tomography (AO-OCT) Image Registration using GPU. Major Professor: John Jaehwan Lee. Adaptive Optics Optical Coherence Tomography (AO-OCT) is a high-speed, highresolution ophthalmic imaging technique offering detailed 3D analysis of retina structure in vivo. However, AO-OCT volume images are sensitive to involuntary eye movements that occur even during steady fixation and include tremor, drifts, and micro-saccades. To correct eye motion artifacts within a volume and to stabilize a sequence of volumes acquired of the same retina area, we propose a stripe-wise 3D image registration algorithm with phase correlation. In addition, using several ideas such as coarse-to-fine approach, spike noise filtering, pre-computation caching, and parallel processing on a GPU, our approach can register a volume of size 512 × 512 × 512 in less than 6 seconds, which is a 33× speedup as compared to an equivalent CPU version in MATLAB. Moreover, our 3D registration approach is reliable even in the presence of large motions (micro-saccades) that distort the volumes. Such motion was an obstacle for a previous en face approach based on 2D projected images. The thesis also investigates GPU implementations for 3D phase correlation and 2D normalized cross-correlation, which could be useful for other image processing algorithms.


The invention discloses a light-emitting diode. The light-emitting diode comprises a first light-emitting diode crystal grain, a second light-emitting diode crystal grain and a third light-emitting diode crystal grain which are respectively provided with first semiconductor layers, second semiconductor layers and multi-quantum wells layer arranged between the first semiconductor layers and the second semiconductor layers, wherein the second light-emitting diode crystal grain is arranged between the first light-emitting diode crystal grain and the third light-emitting diode crystal grain; the first semiconductor layer of the first light-emitting diode crystal grain is coupled with the second semiconductor layer of the second light-emitting diode crystal grain; and the first semiconductor layer of the second light-emitting diode crystal grain is coupled with the first and second semiconductor layers of the third light-emitting diode crystal grain.


Intractable problems with DSM‐IV's Axis II mandate an entirely new approach to the diagnosis of personality‐related pathology. The Five‐Factor Model of personality provides a scientifically grounded basis for personality assessment, and Five‐Factor Theory postulates that personality pathology is to be found in characteristic maladaptations that are shaped by both traits and environment. A four‐step process of personality disorder (PD) diagnosis is proposed, in which clinicians assess personality, problems in living, clinical severity, and, optionally, PD patterns. We examine item content in five problem checklists to update the list of personality‐related problems used in Step 2 of the four‐step process. Problems were reliably assigned to relevant factors and facets, and a number of additions were made to an earlier catalogue. The four‐step process can be used by clinicians, and may be incorporated in a future DSM. This article is a U.S. government publication and is in the public domain in the United States.


Abstract Northern Ireland is now a post-conflict society but one of the legacies of the "troubles" is an education system which is defined by religious affiliation/identity. A parallel system of schools continues to exist where Catholics largely attend "maintained" schools and Protestants "controlled" or state schools. While segregation along religious grounds is the most obvious fault line in Northern Ireland schools, more insidious problems of access and performance inequalities exist which have been overshadowed by efforts to improve community relations between children and promote integrated education. This article uses school leavers' data to examine the nature of inequality in schools and consider an alternative policy option for tackling inequality and segregation, respectively.


Background: Epithelioid fibrous histiocytoma (EFH) represents a morphologic variant of cutaneous fibrous histiocytoma (FH) but can lack many characteristic features. The presence of epithelioid cytomorphology may mimic other dermal neoplasms. Our anecdotal experience of epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) expression in some examples of EFH has caused diagnostic difficulty. Our aim was to examine the immunohistochemical profile and incidence of EMA expression in EFH.


The present invention describes a liquid crystal panel and a manufacturing method of the display, the liquid crystal display panel comprising: an array substrate, an opposite substrate and a clamping wherein the liquid crystal layer; the; the array substrate and has a display area and a non-display area to substrate within the array surface of the substrate is provided with first alignment layer, to provided the second alignment layer into the surface of the substrate; the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer having a first orientation direction at the display area; non-display region comprises at least one electrode line; the first alignment layer and the second alignment layer has at least a second alignment direction in the non-display area of the electrode lines corresponding to; the first alignment direction different from the second orientation direction. This design avoids the irregular electric field causes the light leakage of the liquid crystal caused by rotation, reducing light leakage in the non-display area, improving the display effect when the peripheral electrode is energized.


The article is devoted to studying the quantitative composition of noble men by birth and personal nobility of both Middle Volga region as a whole and separate provinces in its composition. On the basis of the data contained in sources of state origin the attempt is made to analyze changes in superior estate size in the second half of the XIX th century. The author pays special attention to nobility distribution among the uyezds of Middle Volga region provinces.


Psalms were composed to be sung, and translated psalms should also be carefully constructed so that they are easily singable. This requires an understanding of the features of (indigenous) song and rhythm. Towards that end, this article seeks to summarise some important principles of African (particularly Zulu) music, and indicates some errors made in the past by translators of biblical material to be sung. Then some examples are given from a recent study which attempted to apply these principles to the translation of some biblical Psalms into isiZulu. The hope is that sensitivity to such musical features will facilitate a translation that communicates all the aesthetic beauty, rhetorical power, and memorability of the original.


Two years ago the Baker Library made its first major excursion into the field of early Italian business source material when Mr. H. Gordon Selfridge deposited with it a number of account books belonging to a branch of the Medici family. This summer the Society acquired, through the generosity of Mr. Edward J. Frost, of Boston, some account books and other business records of the great Barberini and Sciarra-Colonna families of Rome. This collection of eighty-seven vellum-bound volumes, covering the activities one of Italy's most powerful families from 1618 to 1816, takes up the story of Italian banking almost where the earlier books left it.


Background and Purpose— Plasma matrix metalloproteinase-9 levels predict posttissue plasminogen activator (tPA) hemorrhage. Methods— The authors investigated the effect of minocycline on plasma matrix metalloproteinase-9 in acute ischemic stroke in the Minocycline to Improve Neurological Outcome in Stroke (MINOS) trial and a comparison group. Results— Matrix metalloproteinase-9 level decreased at 72 hours compared with baseline in MINOS (tPA, P=0.0022; non-tPA, P=0.0066) and was lower than in the non-MINOS comparison group at 24 hours (tPA, P<0.0001; non-tPA, P=0.0019). Conclusions— Lower plasma matrix metalloproteinase-9 was seen among tPA-treated subjects in the MINOS trial. Combining minocycline with tPA may prevent the adverse consequences of thrombolytic therapy through suppression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 activity.


Background Instent restenosis (ISR) remains a significant clinical problem. Both bare metal (BMS) and drug eluting stents (DES) can present with ISR, with rates of up to 30% for BMS and 12% for second generation DES on routine angiographic surveillance being reported. Current guidelines recommend repeat stenting or the use of drug coated balloons however, treatments can result in multiple stent layers and recurrent stenosis are not uncommon. While abundant data exists on the deferral of non-significant stenosis in native coronary arteries after physiological assessment, there is a paucity of data on the safety of deferral of ISR after physiological assessment. Objectives To investigate the outcomes of deferred revascularization in patients with non-significant in-stent restenosis (ISR) by physiological assessment. Methods A propensity-score matched analysis of patients with ISR and native artery disease deferred based on physiological evaluation was performed. Matching was on a 1:2 basis of ISR to native artery disease and data were collected retrospectively. The primary end point was a composite of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) including: all-cause mortality, target lesion revascularisation (TLR) or target vessel MI (TVMI) at 36 months in the ISR group versus the matched comparator group Results A matched cohort of 68 ISR and 136 native artery stenosis were analyzed. The mean percentage stenosis was 53.46 and 54.60% in the ISR and native artery groups respectively (p=0.363). Most restenosis was within the body of the stent, and of Mehran classification 1C (30 cases, 46.16%). No significant differences were found between groups regarding the artery interrogated: the left anterior descending artery was most frequently assessed in both groups accounting for approximately half of all physiological assessments (45.49 vs 47.06% p=0.843 for ISR and de-novo groups respectively). FFR was the mostly commonly used physiological modality to defer revascularization across both groups (used in >75% of cases). The average FFR was 0.86 across both groups (p=0.569), with the average iFR being 0.93 in the ISR group vs 0.94 in the native artery group, p=0.302. At 36-month follow up there were no differences in freedom from MACE by Kaplan Meier estimates 84.77 vs 86.08%, log rank, p=0.75 for ISR and native arteries respectively (figure 1). Neither were there differences in the individual components of the composite end point: all-cause mortality (91.70 vs 90.01%, log rank p=0.75), TLR (92.73 vs 95.84%, log rank p=0.35) nor TVMI (98.45% vs 100%, log rank p=0.1556) for ISR and native vessels respectively. Conclusions Deferral of revascularization in patients with moderate ISR is safe in comparison to a matched group of native vessel moderate stenosis with no differences in a composite MACE end point at 36 months between groups.


science fiction literature of that period. The focus in this popular genre was on new weapon technology, such as new light and beam technology and poison gas. Stiasny's discussion of pacifist movies sets this chapter apart from the beginning of the book, with its focus on popular movies such as Welt ohne Krieg (1920) and Giftgas (1929). In this fascinating chapter, we find the genesis of our current science fiction movies and their genre-typical clichés of 'good' and 'bad' guys. The fourth chapter delves into Weimar's almost forgotten genre, its obsession with Prussian history. Its resurrection became appealing to the conservative and rightwing spectrum where historic sources were used as possible models for reorganizing Weimar's constitution. These movies idolizing Frederick the Great helped Weimar's conservatives in finding a model for healing of and closure to the despised defeat and leftist revolution that had turned their beloved country over to the enemy, as they perceived it. More than any other section in Das Kino und der Krieg, this element in Weimar film-making demonstrated the strong link of movies to the social and political battles of their time. Stiasny shows how these reactionary movies served as propaganda tools in sustaining the political battle against the Versailles treaty. The merit of this well-researched book lies in opening up unknown sources to recapture the emotional experience of Weimar movies. The book is highly recommended as a source book for students and teachers of German film history from 1914 to 1929.


The rise of knowledge economy and the digitalization of information resources pus forward a new subject for the management of university library.In order to adapt to the needs of readers in new period,university library should strengthen the innovation of internal management.This paper analyzed the current situation of university library management,and proposed some ideas about management innovation.


The South-Polish pollen complex, being an equivalent of the South-Polish complex in relation to its pollen content, was distinguished based on pollen data coupled with palaeomagnetic and geological investigations. The complex contains the Augustovian, Domuratovian and Ferdynandovian pollen sequences with a multicycle record of vegetation changes. The record of vegetation changes allows for the reconstruction of high-amplitude climate changes of a glacial/cooling/glacial rank and low-amplitude changes such as interstadial/stadial oscillations and climate fluctuations taking place both during interglacials and cool intervals. Based on palaeomagnetic data, vegetation and climate changes, the Augustovian succession should be correlated with MIS 21–19, the Domuratovian succession – with MIS 17, and the Ferdynandovian succession – with MIS


Stabilization effects and the electron donating ability of α-substituents in carbocations are considered as different chemical concepts. The discussion is based on quantum chemical and spectroscopic investigations of methyl- and chlorosubstituted carbocations. It has been demonstrated that the methyl group affords a better stabilizing effect but that chlorine acts as a better electron donor. These effects are studied in classical α-chlorocarbocations as well as in chloroallyl cations and aromatic systems.


Author(s): Burton, Bryan Robert | Advisor(s): Jesilow, Paul D | Abstract: This research is based upon demographic data on physicians who appeared on the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) List of Excluded Individuals and Entities for the years 2008 to 2013. Demographic information on the 1,289 excluded physicians during this period were collected from public data sources. Males, older physicians, international medical graduates and primary care doctors were overrepresented amongst excluded physicians. Females, younger physicians, United States medical graduates, board certified physicians and secondary and Tertiary care doctors were underrepresented amongst excluded physicians. Possible reasons for why these groups were overrepresented or underrepresented are discussed in the dissertation. It is argued that this demographic portrait of excluded physicians is shaped by the interplay between the individual behaviors of doctors and the activities of regulatory personnel. Female physicians were more likely to be excluded for a financial offense (FO), while male doctors were more likely to be excluded for a quality of care matter (QOC). Board certified physicians were more likely to be excluded for a QOC matter, while non-certified doctors were more likely excluded for a FO. Explanations for these findings are discussed in the dissertation.


Like diethylstilbestrol (II), 3, 3'-dihydroxy-α, β-diethylstilbene (I), an isomer of II, had strong ichthyotoxicity and coronary vasodilator action on the isolated guinea-pig heart. The median tolerance limit (TLm) at 48 h was 3.00 ppm in Oryzias latipes and 3.20 ppm in Carassius auratus. The ichthyotoxic activity of I was stronger than that of II. The vasodilator activity of I in the isolated guinea-pig heart (ED50 : 4.30 μg/ heart) was weaker than that of II (ED50 : 0.26 μg/heart). However, the action of I was stronger than that of papaverine (ED50 : 7.0 μg/heart), used as a standard. On the other hand, I, unlike II and other oxystilbene derivatives so far examined, had a cardiotonic effect. In this respect, the effect of I on the isolated guinea-pig heart is noteworthy. Owing to its negligible hormonal side effect, the above-mentioned activities of I are of considerable interest.


Student veterans have been attending college in greater numbers since the passing of the Post/9-11 GI Bill. Although similar to other nontraditional students, student veterans face unique transition challenges that can impact their pursuit of higher education. Many student veterans could benefit from dedicated programs to help them succeed in college, which in turn would enable them to secure employment in the civilian world. Facilitating the success of student veterans also makes wise use of the financial and institutional resources invested in their education. Peer support programs can help by providing an established community of other student veterans who can normalize transition experiences, offer social support, reduce stigma associated with help-seeking, and connect to useful services on and off campus. This paper describes the iterative development of a nationwide peer support program for student veterans, Peer Advisors for Education (PAVE), which uses trained peers to provide outreach, support, and linkage to resources to assist student veterans. Through a hybrid technology platform for training and program management, PAVE has been delivered on 40 college campuses nationwide and is well-positioned for larger scale national rollout.


Water-soluble amphiphilic diblock copolymers were synthesized by the living cationic polymerization of methyl vinyl ether (hydrophilic block) and its subsequent termination with n-alcohols of chain lengths varying from one to eight, and three n-alkyl carboxylic acids with 10, 12, and 18 carbon atoms. Additionally, water and ethylene glycol were tested as terminating agents. The extent of the functionalization was determined using 1 H NMR spectroscopy. The cloud points of 1% w/w aqueous solutions of the polymers as determined by turbidimetry decreased from 32 to 21°C as the number of carbon atoms of the terminating agent increased. Aqueous GPC revealed micellization of the stearic acid-terminated block copolymer, while the other block copolymers existed mainly as unimers.


Projection algorithms are well known for their simplicity and flexibility in solving feasibility problems. They are particularly important in practice due to minimal requirements for software implementation and maintenance. In this work, we study linear convergence of several projection algorithms for systems of finitely many closed sets. The results complement contemporary research on the same topic.


Six viscotoxins in pure form from Viscum album L. have been isolated and their toxicity compared by using a viscotoxin sensitive Yoshida cell line. Four of them are the known viscotoxins A2, A3, B and 1‐PS, whereas the other two appear to be new. The six viscotoxins were cytotoxic but varied in potency. Cytotoxicity of the extracts from the three European subspecies of V. album depended on the qualitative and quantitative composition of these viscotoxins. A good correlation of the cytotoxicity calculated on the basis of the content of viscotoxins present in the extracts with that measured by the Yoshida cell assay was observed. The viscotoxin sensitive Yoshida cell line is a suitable system for detecting the viscotoxin dependent cytotoxicity of mistletoe extracts


This paper proposes a novel stochastic robust real-time power dispatch model considering wind uncertainty. In this dispatch model that incorporates automatic power generation control, system constraints are constructed with affinely adjustable robust optimization to enhance the system security, while the objective concerning the expected value of generation cost is optimized to improve the cost efficiency. The optimized objective is consistent with stochastic optimization, while the formulation for the objective is different. A Nataf conversion-based three-point estimate (NC-TPE) is adopted, which uses an approximating function to formulate the expected generation cost with deterministic estimate points. Compared to traditional stochastic sampling methods, the deterministic assessment method NC-TPE achieves an accurate formulation with more stable and efficient computation performance. The dispatch model is derived as a problem with nonconvex objective and bilinear constraints using the dual theory. To address the highly nonconvex problem, the objective and bilinear constraints are first converted to difference-of-convexity functions, and then a tailored difference-of-convexity optimization is employed to convexify the nonconvex functions, such that the original problem can be solved with an iterative quadratically constrained program. Numerical simulations demonstrate the economic superiority and robustness of the proposed model, as well as the effectiveness of the convexified solution.


The international spaceflight community, including multiple government agencies and industry partners, is coalescing around plans for extending human exploration of lunar space and beyond to Mars. A key element of these plans is NASA's Deep Space Gateway in cislunar space. Architectures for the Gateway should provide flexibility and resiliency to meet the objectives of multiple partners and demonstrate technologies for future missions. NASA's top priority objective for the Gateway is to serve as a waypoint for transits to the Mars vicinity and beyond. A second priority is technology and operation demonstrations, as identified in published NASA cislunar objectives, including the selection and testing of next generation spacecraft and life support systems. These demonstrations will support readiness for riskier long duration deep space transit missions. International partners have expressed interest in use of the Gateway as an outpost for crewed lunar sorties. For the multiple commercial and public/private partnerships that might have interest in use of the Gateway to supplement lunar surface exploration and exploitation; this unique platform could support communications, telerobotics, and even sample return. Boeing's cislunar proving ground architecture and operation concept address NASA's two fundamental goals, providing a lunar Gateway for Mars exploration and providing a testbed for technology and operations demonstrations, while also enabling possibilities for international and commercial partners. The Boeing architecture is based upon the heavy lift capability of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the associated capability to co-manifest a 10t element with Orion on a single launch to cislunar space, allowing relevant cargo to arrive with every cislunar crew. Key technology and operations demonstrations include deep space environment mitigations, deep space life support, electric propulsion, automated rendezvous & docking, operating with communications lag, and telerobotic operations. The Gateway is a flexible platform that can be positioned in optimal orbits for deep space proving ground objectives, lunar surface operations and Mars mission aggregation and departure point. This paper describes Boeing's Gateway architecture concept and analyzes how the architecture enables both exploration objectives and proving ground objectives. Using elements built with proven Boeing commercial and human spaceflight technologies, a flexible architecture is created to support known and future objectives based on open internal and external integration concepts. The concept relies heavily on standardization of interfaces such as data, power, docking, rendezvous, and communication. These standards allow for multiple commercial and international partners to develop and integrate their own exploration elements and technology demonstrations. The Boeing architecture is also focused on crew safety, including radiation exposure protection & contingency EVA capabilities. The Boeing architecture demonstrates that near term exploration objectives, such as lunar surface interactions, can be accomplished while demonstrating and preparing for full Mars mission capability.


The reduction of nutrients supply from the land area is essential management to control the surplus phytoplankton bloom and subsequently mitigate the formation of hypoxic water mass at the bottom layer in the inner bay area. In this study, we tried to clarify the ability for nitrate uptake of several seaweeds under various natural environment conditions of the Omura bay through the incubation experiments. And we tried to find the appropriate seaweed species which effectively absorb nitrate in the estuary having heavy loads of land-derived nutrients with high nitrogen and phosphorus ratio (N:P ratio). Out of six species of the seaweeds (Chaetomorpha crassa, Ulva pertusa, Codium fragile, Hypnea flexicaulis, Padina australis, Sargassum fulvellum), which are often observed in the Omura bay, U. pertusa and C. crassa showed higher removal ability of nitrate and phosphate. Moreover, it was co nfirmed that U. pertusa, which is widely distributed in the coastal areas of the Omura bay, showed higher uptake of nitrate and photosynthesis potential even in the phosphorus-limited condition, during the night time, and in the low salinity condition of 15 psu. Although U. pertusa is known to cause the severe damage to the coastal ecosystem due to its coverage of the sediment and deterioration-derived smells, it can be suitable seaweed to biotechnologically remediate the coastal environment.


HPI(High-speed Portable Internet) system is going to be commercialized before long. Efficient scheduling mechanisms for UGS, rtPS, nrtPS and BE, which are service types of the HPI, are necessary to increase the utilization of wireless channels under the different QoS requirements. In this paper, we develop a simulator which can be used to evaluate the performance of scheduling mechanisms. The advantage of the proposed simulator is that one can simulate diverse situations not changing the simulation model but just setting various parameters.


Introduction Among the many papers on photoperiodism published within the last few years, convincing evidence for photoperiodic perception by leaves in a wide range of plants has been presented (I-9). On the basis of experiments with the Jerusalem artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus L., ZIMMERMAN and HITCHCOCK (i i) found that tubers were formed by the plants maintained continuously on conditions of short day, and by those capped with the black bags, but none were formed on the plants exposed to the long days of summer. They describe the three sets of conditions as follows: "Under normal day length during summer months; plants covered with a black cloth from 4:30 P.M. to 9 A.M.; stem tips, only, capped with black cloth from 4:30 P.M. to 9 A.M." They concluded that "there is every indication that the growing stem tip has a regulatory influence on the development of underground stems and tubers. It seems likely that the regulators are chemical agents of a hormone-like nature, manufactured in the stem tip and sent to other parts of the plant where they can exert a controlling influence on the development of the underground portions." Because of the amount of recent evidence, including that of FABIAN (3) dealing with tuber formation in Ullucus tuberosus, nearly all of which indicates that the leaves are the principal organs of photoperiodic perception, the following experiments were conducted to investigate the behavior of the Jerusalem artichoke.


The effects of rare earth application on the breeding of seedlings,the yield and quality of flue-cured tobacco were investigated by spraying rare earth at different stages of tobacco seedling.The results showed that rare earth application at two true leaves stage could improve the quality and growth potential of tobacco seedlings.When rare earth was applied at the stage of true leaves as cat's ear,the best growth and economic characters performance of tobacco plants in the field could be gotten,and the yield,production value and proportion of first grade leaves of tobacco in this treatment was 2181.3 kg/hm2,27528 yuan/hm2,21.86% respectively,being 7.74%,9.54%,2.91% higher than those of CK respectively.The optimum application time of rare earth was at the stage of true leaves as cat's ear.


The cluster excellence and the ways of achieving it have become the main questions of scholars and practitioners in recent years. Despite the on-going debate there are still only a few studies that investigate cluster initiatives (CI) performance and management phenomena, identify the success factors underlying cluster initiatives management success and compare their influence. The objective of this study is to identify Critical Success Factors of cluster initiatives management. The proposed Analytic Hierarchy Process framework identifies the relative importance of different success factors to cluster initiative management and determines the key areas of activity and management focus. The AHP based interviews conducted among European cluster managers representing 19 cluster initiatives located in 10 countries allowed to identify the following Critical Success Factors: 'Assuring sustainability of financing', 'Development of CI mission, vision, strategy and operational action plan', 'Integration building partnerships inside the CI, creation of interpersonal links, social networks, trust' and 'Development of cluster's critical mass and management of partners' complementarities and interdependencies'. Their joint importance for cluster initiative management success reached 40%, while the remaining 60% was distributed among 16 other factors.


Background: It is generally agreed that HCV can be efficiently transmitted parenterally, although data on HCV transmission by non-parenteral routes such as sexual and nonsexual household contacts are conflicting. HCV is highly prevalent in Egypt. Aim: To investigate HCV transmission between spouses, the burden and the potential risk factors of sexual and nonsexual transmission to prevent intrafamilial spread. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study after a questionnaire, 100 male and 100 female HCV patients having confirmed HCV infection constitute the index cases. The spouses of 200 index cases and respectively100 healthy volunteers with their spouses of matched age were included as control. They were tested for serum anti-HCV ELISA and confirmed by PCR test for HCV RNA. Results: High rate of interspousal infection were detected, female spouses of male index cases were 42% positive and of females were 34%, male control 11% and their female spouses 6%. Age, duration of marriage, less educated spouses, risky sexual behavior and community risk factors showed a significant increase of HCV infection but insignificant increase with low socioeconomic levels and without significant difference between male-to-female and female-to-male transmission of HCV in spouses. Conclusions: The study revealed high intra-spousal transmission of HCV. It increases with age, duration of marriage, less educated, non skilled and in invasive sex behavior. Interspousal transmission is considered to be the main gate for intrafamilial spread and essential for strategic prevention of HCV and reduction of its complications in Egypt.


A major policy issue confronting the Federal Reserve in recent years has been how to reduce the rate of monetary growth, and thereby ease inflationary pressures, without incurring undue risk of recession. In this regard, G. William Miller, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, has pointed out that "any deceleration in monetary growth rates has to be undertaken with caution" if a recession is to be averted.' Such caution is warranted because of the historical relationship between monetary growth and business cycles. Based on this historical relationship, some analysts have concluded that the recent slowdown in monetary growth is similar to the monetary decelerations that typically accompany recessions. This conclusion appears to be consistent with the monetary theory of business cycles, which implies that there is a one-to-one relationship between "significant" decelerations in monetary growth and recessions.' However, while monetary decelerations have been associated with recessions in the United States for over a century, there has been considerable variation in the magnitude and timing of declines in the rate of monetary growth in the vicinity of recessions. Analysis of


This report presents an implementation of a  uid simulation algorithm,capable of running at 60 frames per second on a modern handheld tabletdevice. The goal was to create an interactive application ...


[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to clarify the concurrent validity of the Ten-Step Test and the stepping ability for fall prevention using the tether-release method in the community-dwelling elderly. [Participants and Methods] The subjects were 40 healthy elderly people who could walk independently. Stepping ability was measured as the maximum body leaning weight ratio (% Body Weight) that can avoid a fall with one step movement after towing is released. The Ten-Step Test measures the time required to alternately raise and lower the lower limbs 10 times onto a 10 cm stand. [Results] The Ten-Step Test showed a significant negative correlation with the maximum body leaning weight ratio (r=–0.561). [Conclusion] The stepping ability for avoiding falls and the TenStep Test showed moderate concurrent validity.


Gravity and magnetic data outline a broad anomaly near Wahmonie Site, Nye County, Nevada. A positive 15-mGal gravity anomaly with a steep western gradient and a broad magnetic anomaly coincident with the gravity high characterize the area. Two-dimensional computer models of the gravity data were made using magnetic, seismic, and electric data as independent constraints. The models indicate the presence of a shallow, relatively high density body of 2.65 kg m−3 buried near Wahmonie Site. Aeromagnetic and ground magnetic data also indicate the presence of a large, shallow body. Two smaller local magnetic highs that occur along a magnetic prominence extending northward from the broad anomaly directly correlate to granodiorite outcrops. This indicates that the main anomaly is produced by a large shallow intrusion.


1. Mirzagrammosoma new genus of the Elachertini.

Female : With the habitus of Zagrammosoma Ashmead but the scutellmn without grooves, the vertex more elevated, elevated nearly for the length of the eyes which thus appear to be in the middle of the side of the head, the checks a little longer than the eyes. Antenme inserted about in the middle of the face, the scape compressed (about three times longer than wide at apex), also the funicle and club, as in the named genus but there are two short ring-joints. Mandibles 6- dentate. Submarginal vein distinctly broken in regularity , distinctly longer than the marginal, the postmarginal two-thirds its length. Club not very distinctly jointed. Hind tibial spur distinct, not large. Parapsidal furrows rather long, meeting the small axillre which are nearly entirely cephalad of the scutellum. Pronotum conical, as long as the scutellum which is about two-thirds the length of the scutum. Propodeum a little shorter than the scutellum, with a delicate rnedian carina and no others, the spiracle very minute. Abdomen sessile, as long as the thorax, conical. Cephalic coxre elongate. Elachertine in appearance.


Calorie restriction (CR) prevents many age‐associated diseases and prolongs the lifespan. CR induces multiple metabolic and physiologic modifications, including anti‐inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective effects that may be beneficial in multiple sclerosis (MS). The present studies sought to determine whether CR or increased calorie intake alters the course of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the leading animal model for MS. SJL and C57BL/6 mice were subjected to 40% CR beginning at 5 weeks of age. After 5 weeks of CR, EAE was induced by immunizing with proteolipid protein in SJL mice and with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein in C57BL/6 mice. Clinical, histologic, and immunologic features of EAE were compared with mice fed ad libitum and to SJL mice fed a high‐fat, high‐calorie diet. CR ameliorated clinical EAE in both mouse strains with less severe inflammation, demyelination, and axon injury. No suppression of immune function was observed. A high‐calorie diet did not alter the EAE course. CR was associated with increased plasma levels of corticosterone and adiponectin and reduced concentrations of IL‐6 and leptin. The CR‐induced hormonal, metabolic, and cytokine changes observed in our studies suggest a combined anti‐inflammatory and neuroprotective effect. CR with adequate nutrition and careful medical monitoring should be explored as a potential treatment for MS.


New experimental solubilities and tie line data for ternary mixtures containing two completely miscible binaries and one nonmiscible binary as part of a program to determine the thermodynamic properties of a series of ternary and binary systems with HMDS [1–3] are given. Hexamethyldisiloxane 99.5%, NMR grade, 2-butanone 99.5%, HPLC grade (MEK), 3-pentanone 99% (DEK) and dimethyl sulfoxide 99.9%, HPLC grade were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and used without further purification. The refraction indices were measured with refractometer R-L3 and agreed well with data published in literature [4]. The binodal curve of the ternary systems was determined by Bancroft's method [5]. The HMDS – ketone ratios used for preparation of solutions, as well as a limiting amount of DMSO soluble in the individual ternary systems at 293.15 and 303.15 ± 0.03 K, are listed in Table 1. The experimental errors were within 0.01 weight %. The concentration of components in conjugate phases determined by graphoanalytical method has been described in [5,6]. This method is based on characteristic properties of the tie lines. The tie line is located in heterogeneous surface area and terminates in points on the binodal curve [7].


Objective To investigate the effect of Shuxuetong injection in treatment of patients with acute cerebral infarction and its mechanism.Methods 63 patients with auite cerebral infarction were randomly divided into treatment group(32 cases) and control group(31 cases).Treatment group was done with Shuxuetong injection.The control group was treated with Subilin injection.And two groups were treated with routine therapy.Results The effective rates were 90.63% and 90.32% in treatment group and control group.Its difference had no significancy(P[WTBZ]0.05).It was significantly different(P0.01) compared hyponeuria before treatment with that after treatment;Neurological function improvement of the two group after treatment was not signigicantly different(P0.05).Conclusion It has identical clinical effects that the Shuxuetong injection and the Subilin injection treat the patients with auite cerebral infarction.Shuxuetong can improve injection neurological function,reduce handicap rate,extenuate handicap level.


In this work, fabrication and testing of closed-loop opto-fluidic microsystems integrating both optical and fluidic functionalities on the same chip are reported. The microsystems consisted of an electrochemically micromachined silicon substrate, on which high-order vertical silicon/air one dimensional photonic crystals (1D PhCs) were integrated together with fluidic microchannels, bonded to a glass cover, the latter provided with inlet/outlet holes for liquid injection/extraction in/out the PhCs air gaps. An experimental characterization was performed by pumping different liquids (water, ethanol, isopropanol) through the opto-fluidic microsystem and by measuring the reflectivity spectrum in the wavelength range 1.0 – 1.7 µm (at normal incidence) with an inplane fiber optic setup. Experimental results, which well agreed with theoretical predictions, demonstrated the high sensitivity of the opto-fluidic microsystem in measuring small refractive index changes, which was estimated to be 1049 nm/RIU.


We conducted experiment to reduce the level defect density in 7.5nm thin SiO2 CMOS by improving the pre-cleaning of silicon surface before gate oxidation. Fast wafer level reliability monitoring is implemented using ramped voltage stress (RVS) where from the breakdown Weibull chart, the inclination point of intrinsic and extrinsic will give the measurement of defect density (unit is number of defect per cm2). We measured high defect density of >20 times the defect density target. Through systematic problem solving methodology, root cause was found to be due to ineffective cleaning method. With the additional SPM cleaning in the gate oxidation pre-clean step, defect density reduced by almost 95%. SPM chemistry reduces the surface roughness and also improves contaminations removal on the wafer surface prior to gate oxidation. Rougher interface of Si-SiO2 leads to early failure and lower TDDB. Inline silicon surface roughness check is not practical due to very small nature of embedded-type contaminants a rough silicon surface creates. In order to increase detection probability of micro-sized particles, a good reliability monitoring strategy using special test structures is implemented.


Substituent effects of substrate and nucleophile for the reaction of substituted phenacyl tosylates with pyridines were determined conductometrically in acetonitrile. Activation parameters for these reactions were also calculated. The substituent effects in nucleophile were increased with electron-donating power of pyridines and Brnsted linear relationship was shown. Rate constant was increased by both electron-donating and electron-attracting groups in the substrate. It seems that dissociative S2 ("loose" transition state) mechanism is operating in the case of electron-donating substituents while associative S2 ("tight" transition state) mechanism is operative in the case of electron-attracting substituents.


Throughout the paper II denotes a nonzero complex Hilbert space and 13 (H) the algebra of all bounded operators on l!. A subalgebra 13 of B(H) is called an algebra of finite strict multiplicity, if there exists a finite set IXb "', xnl cH such that the linear span of {TiXi: TiED, i==l, "', n) is exactly H. In this case, let us call IXb ..., xnl the multiplicity set for 13. In particular, when the multiplicity set for B is a set consisting of a single vector x, we say that 13 is a strictly cyclic operator algebra with a strictly cyclic vector .T. If, in addition, 1'E Band 1'x=O imply that 1'=0, then we call that R is a strictly cyclic separated algebra. The aim of this paper is to generalize, in terms of algebras of finite strict multiplicity, various results obtained by B. Barnes DJ, M. Embry ([3J [4J [5J), D. Herrero ([7J) and A. Lambert ([9J [IOJ [l1J).


The Zn atom in the title salt, [ZnCl(C12H8N2)2(H2O)]Cl·C3H7NO, is chelated by two phenanthroline molecules and is bonded to one chloride ion and one water molecule, resulting in a ZnN4ClO octahedral coordination environment with the Cl and O atoms in a cis conformation. The cations and anions are linked by O—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds across a center of inversion, forming a hydrogen-bonded dimeric association. The dimethylformamide solvent molecule is disordered over two orientations in a 0.56 (1):0.44 (1) ratio.


Oncogenic RAS induces perinuclear translocation of the oncogenic kinases ERK1/2 and CK2 and the MAPK scaffold KSR1, forming endosomal signaling hubs termed perinuclear signaling centers (PSCs). PSCs are found in nearly all cancer cell lines and tumor tissues, suggesting that compartmentalization of oncogenic kinases drives tumorigenesis. We show here that the endosomal adaptor, TOLLIP, tethers RAB11A+ signaling endosomes containing CK2 and KSR1, but not ERK, to the perinuclear ER. TOLLIP binds to the KSR1 CA5 pseudo-kinase domain through a conserved region predicted to form a β-hairpin, thus anchoring PSCs to perinuclear endosomes. TOLLIP is perinuclear in cancer cells and KRasG12D-driven mouse tumors but is pan-cytoplasmic in non-transformed cells, correlating with the presence of PSCs. TOLLIP is required for proliferation/survival of KRAS mutant tumor cells but not HRAS, NRAS and BRAF cancers or non-transformed cells. KRasG12D-induced lung lesions in TollipKO/KOmice showed reduced numbers of carcinomatous lesions, implicating TOLLIP in progression to malignant cancer. Phosphoproteomics studies revealed that perinuclear CK2 phosphorylates specific substrates, particularly proteins involved in ribosome biogenesis and translation such as RIOK1 and eIF4B. In summary, our findings identify TOLLIP as a key signaling adaptor in KRAS tumors whose inhibition is a potential vulnerability of these cancers.


Recently consideration of leadership learning has taken a distinct critical focus (e.g. Edwards, et al., 2013; Gagnon and Collinson, 2014) which has developed themes around aesthetics (e.g. Schyns et al., 2013; Sutherland, 2013), gender (Kelan, 2013) and liminality (Hawkins and Edwards, forthcoming; Yip and Raelin, 2012). This paper develops considerations of liminality and leadership learning further by drawing on a previous paper on liminality and doubt. In this previous paper we discuss how undergraduate students develop an understanding of leadership through overcoming particular threshold concepts. We have emphasised, however, the inherent appreciation, by both the learner and the educator/facilitator, of issues of liminality and doubt. Within this discussion we raise concerns of the educator/facilitator taking on the role of 'Trickster' within the learning relationship. It is this role to which we give further attention.


Commercially available ionic liquids were used as additives in the model lubricant fluid glycerol. The stability of the mixtures was controlled by measuring of turbidity. Tribological experiments have been performed on a reciprocating sliding tribometer in the boundary lubrication regime with three ionic liquid concentrations, as well as with neat glycerol and the neat ionic liquids at 100°C. Wear and friction were measured, and the worn surfaces were examined with optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show the influence of the ionic liquid concentration and the anion alkyl chain length on the tribological behaviour. Significant improvement in friction and wear reduction at low ionic liquid concentrations was detected and attributed to sulfur species in tribofilm.


Cellulose triphenylcarbamate(CTPC) was synthesized. Elemental analysis and IR spectrum indicated that most of the hy-droxy groups of the microcrystalline cellulose had been converted into ester groups.The silanized gel was coated with CTPC by using tetrahydrofuran as solvent. The enantiomeric resolution of phenylalanine and tryptophan on high performance liquid chro-matography was achieved, when β-cyclodextrin( β-CD), dimethyl β-cyclodextrin(DM-β-CD) and trimethylβ-cyclodextrin(TM-β-CD) were used as mobile phase additives. CTPC column for separation of phenylalanine and tryptophan possessed a new synergis- tic effect--two-phase synergistic effect. From the principle of supramolecular chemistry, we assumed that the effect was based on the supramolecular action of chiral stationary phase and chiral mobile phase additive.


The recent economic downturn has had profound influences on contemporary European societies. This paper analyzes how the Great Recession affected the drop-out rate among university students in Italy, and whether their chosen field of study moderated its effect. To examine the potential long-term effects of this economic downturn on social inequality, we also explore whether students from less-advantaged families who enrolled in prestigious fields were those pushed out from university in disproportionally high numbers. We investigate the interacting influence of the economic crisis, social inequalities and field of study on drop-out rate using data from the Istat "Survey on the educational and occupational paths of high school graduates" in two cohorts of university students (one who attended university prior to and one during the Great Recession). Results obtained from propensity score matching show that the economic crisis had a negative effect on university participation, which was however less strong for Medicine students. Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds in the most remunerative fields of study (those leading to liberal professions), tended to leave university more often than their well-off peers.


Net S and n mineralization in forested and cultivated Typic Cryoboralfic soils was monitored over 37 wk in a laboratory incubation experiment with intermittent leaching. Patterns of net S and N release depended on the management histories of the soils. Several kinetic models were evaluated for the ability to accomodate continuously decreasing rates, a large initial flush of mineralization, a mineralization lag within the first 13 wk of incubation, or a constant rate of release near the end of incubation. (...)


We present results from our prospective testing of rock deformation measurements (Neumann & Kalenda 2010) in combination with atmospheric pre-earthquake signals (thermal radiation data from several polar orbit satellites) observed during 2013 and related to the major seismic events of M7+. We designed an atmospheric pre-earthquake signals approach according to the theoretical concept of LAIC Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere coupling (Pulinets & Ouzounov, 2011), operating between the crust and the atmosphere/ ionosphere. The basis of the joint analysis of different pre-earthquake signals follows the Dobrovolsky (1997) formula for the estimation of the earthquake preparation zone and the LAIC physical concept. The non-linear process of preparation of the strongest earthquakes influences the global stress field, which leads to the global response and coupling within the Earth geo-space-lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere and affects multi-parameter observations from the ground and space. In 2013 about 19 major earthquakes (M≥7) occurred at 16 independent localities. Six of them had been jointly alerted and studied in advance. The satellite monitoring and deformometry measurements could forecast (prospectively) four of them: M7.7 Jan 5, Alaska; M7.9 Feb 6, Santa Cruz; M7.8 April 16, Iran-Pakistan and M7.7 Sept 24, Pakistan. The largest event for 2013 the M8.3 in the Okhotsk Sea was alerted in advance using both the methods but the estimated location from the satellite measurement was outside the real epicenter (unsuccessful forecast). The M7.7 event in the Scotia Sea was alerted only by the deformometry measurement (only as a direction towards Chile from Europe), because the area was not part of the satellite monitoring regions.


The true focus of Mark 4:26-29 is neither the seed nor the farmer who sows the seed. Mark has three major concerns: (1) Christological, the identity of Jesus; (2) theological, the God who establishes the kingdom; and (3) "mathetological," discipleship. This brief parable meets the third concern, characterizing action in the face of an abundant harvest, which symbolizes the realization of the kingdom proclaimed by Jesus. Disciples, who do not know how the seed grows, nonetheless know how to gather in the ripened grain. The stages in the growth of the seed itself parallel stages in development of the disciples' awareness of the action demanded.


Static quenching of photoluminescence from nine copolymer pendant Ru(bpy)32+ complexes [pendant Ru(bpy)32+] by colloidal Prussian Blue (PB) has been studied. The quenching behavior was analyzed in terms of a stepwise complex formation mechanism between pendant Ru(bpy)32+ and negatively charged PB which obeys Poisson statistics. Seven of the pendant Ru(bpy)32+ complexes exhibited stronger tendency to bind onto colloidal PB particles in comparison with the free Ru(bpy)32+ complex. This was ascribed to the characteristics of the polymer–pendant Ru(bpy)32+ complexes, such as electrostatic and coordination effect, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity and steric hindrance of the polymer. The importance of these factors to influence the interaction of the pendant Ru(bpy)32+ with colloidal PB particles has been discussed.


This study investigates how visual impairment affects driving performance and whether this can be predicted by visual testin! in a clinic. Visual impairment [cataracts, visual field restriction and monocular vision) was simulated for a group of young normal subjects. Driving performance was assessed (on a closed road circuit) by measuring peripheral awareness, manoeuvring, reversing, reaction times, speed estimation, road positioning and time to complete the course. Subjects function was assessed by measurement using a visuai search and localisation measure, a divided attention reaction time completed a questionnaire of their own perception of their driving performance under conditions of visual impairment. Visual the greatest detriment to driving performance followed by binocular visual field restriction, even though drivers would have measure, and measurement of visual acuity for low contrast letters, using the Pelli-Robson charts. Simulated cataracts cause passed the vision test employed by the driving licence Authorities. The monocular condition did not significantly affect drivin performance for any of the driving tasks assessed. Visual impairment significantly reduced visual search ability and increasec would assist in the appropriate licensing of drivers. reaction time. Visual impairment also increased low contrast visual acuity. There is a strong indication that these visual test! Summary In modern society, driving is important for participation in many daily activities and may be regarded as an essential component for maintenance of independence. To deny a person the right to drive imposes a significant limitation on that person, and for the elderly will often be the first compromise to their autonomy. The colnnlunity is aging. Long term projections estimate a 100% increase in people aged 65 years and over. The incidence of visual impaimlent increases with age, thus over the next decade the number of persons with visual impairment applying for license renewal will increase. This is important as it has been suggested that vision comprises the major sensory input for driving. How the changing characteristics of the driving population, particularly visual characteristics, will affect road systems is as yet unknown. The aim of the study was to investigate how visual impairment affects driving performance and whether this can be predicted by visual testing in a clinic. Visual impairment was simulated for a group of young nomlal subjects. The subjects wore goggles designed to simulate the effects of cataracts, visual field restriction and monocular vision. Given an imposed visual impairment, driving perfomlance could only be assessed on a closed road circuit. …