the legal profession but there does not seem to be much study of those problems at the undergraduate level. That lack of interest may well be a reflection of the profession's own lack of interest, until recently, in its own problems. It may also reflect in part the graduate legal training tradition in this country, which has to a large extent separated out law courses, except constitutional law courses, from the undergraduate curriculum. There has been some recent interest in incorporating study of "law" into the undergraduate program. It may be that that interest will also eventually encompass ethical issues in law, but that phenomenon has not yet made an appearance.


Inverse halftoning is a process to recover the multi-tone images from halftone images. Since halftoning is not an invertible process, there is no clear best or unique approach for inverse halftoning. In this paper, we propose a low complexity, high quality Fast Adaptive-spatial-varying Filtering (FAF) for inverse halftoning, which is robust to different kinds of halftone images. FAF is a two-step algorithm combining spatial-variant and spatial invariant filtering. Firstly, it uses spatial invariant filter to suppress the halftone noise and then generates the target image. Secondly, it uses spatial variant filter to filter the halftone image based on the target image. Combining these two filtering, FAF can filter the noise and preserve edges of the halftone image at the same time, which is essential for effective inverse halftoning.


Nowadays, most of the travel agency company in our country used the old fashion
system to manage and maintain their services but now, the computerized system is needed in
helping the system admin and staffs in managing reservation process more efficiently and secure.
Therefore, a research has been done to help this department in managing their services. For that,
one system will be developed which is Wanderlux Travel Online System.
This system will be used by the multiple level users which are system admin,
staffs and public users. This system is used to make the reservation of the package holiday, flight
or hotel. To make the reservation, users need to fulfill the customer information, reservation
information and made a payment for the reservation and for every form users need to submit it.
This is because; the records that have been filling by the users will be record by the system.
System admin do the import and export data, backup and recovery and the reservation procedure.
All related information has been gathered from interview, facts and finding. This
system use System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Database Life Cycle (DBLC) as
methodology for database design process. Some problems have occurred such as human-errors in
recording, and missing of files. Therefore, the computerized system that will be developed is for
solving the problems that occurs or might occur and also to make all the reservation activities
smoothly and increase the service.


The 5α-cholestan-3-ols with phosphorus pentachloride give high yields of the appropriate 3-chloro-5α-cholestanes with complete inversion of configuration.5α-Cholestan-3α-ol (OHax) with thionyl chloride gives 3α-chloro-5α-cholestane and 3β-chloro-5α-cholestane in the ratio 47 : 53, with much olefin and 5α-cholestan-3α-yl sulphite. 5α-Cholestan-3β-ol (OHeq) with thionyl chloride gives 3β-chloro-5α-cholestane and 3α-chloro-5α-cholestane in the ratio 47 : 53, with only traces of olefin and much 5α-cholestan-3β-yl sulphite.


Recent investigations carried out on late-Precambrian rocks of the Armorican Massif a coherent scheme to be established of the studied area; according to most models, a southeastward subduction could thus explain the orogenic magmatism of the Domnonean domain before 580 Ma. In fact, petrological and geochemical features of the Lower Brioverian succession with interbedded black cherts leads us to dispute this hypothesis and suggest a more suitable north-dipping subduction


Critical micelle concentration (cmc) is an important parameter for preparing, solubilizing, and characterizing liposomes, surfactants, and other self-aggregating amphiphiles. We present a comparison between a direct, nondestructive method to determine cmc, in which sound velocity is measured as a function of the concentration of amphiphile, and a commonly used fluorescent method based on two fluorophores (1,6-diphenylhexa-1,3,5-triene (DPH) and 8-anilinonaphthalene-1-sulfonate (ANS)). The ultrasonic method involves accurate measurement of the sound velocity in the amphiphile dispersion and determination of the concentration corresponding to the maximum change in a gradient in the sound velocity. This method does not use a probe (like DPH or ANS), and therefore the contribution of artifacts related to impurities is minimal. Initially we used the ultrasonic method to determine the cmc's, in several media, of three typical detergents, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), Triton X-100, and Cremophor EL, for which hi...


AbstractIn working out vertical heights on the Akuse-Kete Krachi chain of triangulation in the Gold Coast a fairly considerable difference was found between values of the coefficient of refraction obtained from observations taken during the day and those taken at night, the mean values being 0.069 for daylight observations to heliographs and 0.087 for night observations to lamps. This difference no doubt is due mainly to the condition of the atmosphere during the day differing from its condition during the night rather than to any effect due to different sources of light. A new chain has recently been observed in Western Ashanti, and the index of refraction for the daylight observations again gave a lower value than that obtained from the night observations, the figures being 0.073 and 0.099 respectively. For the night work three different sources of light were used, hurricane lamps for short lines, Tilley vapour-pressure lamps for lines of intermediate length, and McCaw acetylene signalling lamps by Watt...


In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel dither-free low bias stabilization method with circulators-assisted in deeply-modulated analog photonic links. The stabilization is achieved by reversely transmitting and power locking a lightwave along the Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM). Using this technique, bias locking at a low bias position with less than ±0.3 degree phase deviations is achieved even when the input RF voltage is as high as 1.4 Vπ. This low bias stabilization method is relatively simple and convenience but effective and accuracy, so that it is potentially to be applied in radio-over-fiber links.


A growing demand for low-power and real-time computation is motivating the development of dedicated neuromorphic processors. To maximize scalability and power efficiency, multicore architecture has been broadly applied in existing neuromorphic processors. Nevertheless, mapping a Spiking Neural Network (SNN) on a multicore architecture requires a lot of multicast operations. Conventional routing algorithms like path-based routing and dimension order routing (DOR) lead to a severe overhead in both latency and power. To address these limitations, we propose a novel routing algorithm named Pruned Node-fusion Tree-based Multicast Scheme (PN-TMS). PN-TMS leverages multiple algorithms for route planning, optimizing latency and power simultaneously. Experiment results show that PN-TMS outperforms existing network processors' routing schemes in terms of both energy consumption and latency, achieves an average energy delay product (EDP) reduction of 38.9%.


An Enterprise-establishing loan Internet finance mobility system provided by the invention comprises an investment and financing module, a my account module and a more module. The investment and financing module is configured to allow small and medium-sized enterprises or persons to upload tendering demand information and selection bidding demands, wherein the uploaded tendering demand information is a real name scanning copy, and the bidding documents are real and effective scanning copy bidding documents; the my account module is configured to manage the account information of small and medium-sized enterprises or persons, wherein the my account module includes an account information module, a recharging module, a withdraw module, a list to be received module, a fund recording module, a bank card module and a safety center module; and the more module is configured to extend more related information required to investment and financing, wherein the more module includes an about us module, a company news module, a notification and announcement module and an information version module. Through adoption of the technology, the enterprise-establishing loan Internet finance mobility system has the advantages of ease of use, platform independence, mobility and safety, etc.


Based on multi-body system theory,for a precision machining center with table station,the space synthesis error model was established.The error transfer problems resulted in movement error of the exchangeable table to synthesis error were analyzed and solved,and the synthesis error modeling method of thermal drift error of each axis was improved.The machining precision of machining center can be effectively improved by using of the error model for real-time compensation.


The objective of this research is to obtain empirical evidence of board of independence, institutional ownership, board of size, managerial ownership, profitability, firm size, audit quality, audit committee, and leverage as independent variables to earnings management. Earning management as dependent variable in Indonesian manufacturing companies.The research period is three years from 2012-2014 and population in this research is all listed companies in Indonesian Stock Exchange. Samples are obtained through purposive sampling method, listed manufacturing companies in Indonesian manufacturing companies meet the sampling criteria, resulting 185 data. Multiple linear regressions is used as the data analysis method in this research.The result of this research shows that profitability,  firm size, audit quality, and leverage statistically have effect on the earningsmanagement. While other variables such as board of independence, institutional ownership, board of size, managerial ownership, and audit committee have no effect on earnings management.


The scientific instrumentation on board the x-ray astronomy satellite SAX includes a medium energy concentrator/spectrometer (MECS), operating in the energy range 1.3 - 10 keV, which consists of three identical instruments, each composed by a grazing incidence mirror unit with focal length of 1850 mm and by a position sensitive gas scintillation proportional counter. The MECS flight instruments have been calibrated at the X-ray PANTER facility of the Max Planck Institute and the preliminary results are presented in the paper.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.


Three strains of Leuconostoc were isolated from 98 dairy samples collected from the Hulunber pastoral area. They were identified as L.lactis (EW21),L. mesenteroides subsp. dextranicum (EW24-2)and L. mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides (CB8-1)respectively. The biological characteristics had also been studied. EW24-2、CB8-1 can produce dextran from sucrose. All strains can grow in pH4.8 conditions.


Flavonoids from Euphorbiaceae have anti-tumor,anti-virus,anti-oxidant,anti-inflammatory activities and so on.Based on chemical structure,there are four kinds of flavonoids including flavones,flavonol,flavonone(flavanonol) and anthocyan.These kinds of compounds are structurally novel,display extensively medicinal perspective,and deserve to be deeply studied and developed.This paper reviews the research advances on the structures and bioactivities of flavonoids from Euphorbiaceae.


The deadline scheduling problem in project management is a NP-hard problem with major relevance in software engineering and scheduling of activities. In this article, we introduce an efficient parallel evolutionary algorithm applied to solve that problem, engineered to compute accurate solutions in reduced execution times. Specific evolutionary operators are proposed to allow solving realistic problem instances, and a master-slave parallel strategy is applied to further improve the computational efficiency and the results quality. The experimental analysis performed on a set standard problem instances shows that accurate solutions are computed. The comparative evaluation demonstrates that the proposed parallel evolutionary algorithm is able to outperform one of the best well-known deterministic techniques for the problem in reduced execution times, especially when facing instances with tight deadline constraints.


Hapten Patch testing under dupilumab Patch testing under upadacitinib Clinical relevance Fusidic acid sodium salt 2.0 pet 2+ 2+ Probable: fusidic acid ointment used by patient Amerchol L 101 (lanolin) 50.0 pet 3+ 3+ Probable: fusidic acid ointment and desoximethasone cream used by patient Thiuram mix 1+ – Probable: rubber gloves at work 4-tert-butylphenol formaldehyde resin 1.0 pet 1+ – Probable: shoe and working boots adhesive Corticosteroid Mix 2.1 pet • Hydrocortisone-17-butyrate 1.0 pet • Tixocortol-21-pivalate 1.0 pet • Budesonide 0.1 pet 1+ – Probable: clobetasol and desoximethasone cream *Other corticosteroids judged as cross-reactors


In recent years, privacy preservation has attracted much interest due to concerns regarding breaches of privacy when data are published and analyzed. Private information can be observed directly from published data or inferred through data mining techniques. The k-anonymity concept was first proposed to hide sensitive attribute values that could be discovered using a linking attack. Association rule hiding techniques have been proposed to hide sensitive patterns in mining results. However, these association rule hiding techniques have side effects such as hiding failure, creation of new rules, and lost rules. In addition, the k-anonymity approach does not consider hiding association rules. In this work, we extend the k-anonymity concept to hide sensitive association rules and compare it with the association rule hiding approach. We propose a novel concept of measuring privacy gain and utility loss of anonymized association rules. Numerical experiments comparing the two approaches show that the k-anonymity for association rule mining approach achieves higher privacy gain, while the direct anonymization approach of association rule hiding achieves lower utility loss. The results obtained here provide a guideline for adopting anonymization techniques under different requirements and suggests a direction for the development of new association rule hiding techniques.


In animals with asymptotic growth after maturity, a variety of factors can lead to inter- and intraspecific variation in sexual size dimorphism (SSD). Growth-based models tailored for a particular taxon provide a useful framework for analyzing questions about the proximate bases, adaptive significance, and evolution of SSD. This paper shows how growth-based models designed for Anolis lizards have been used to study the effects of male territorial and competitive behavior on SSD and adult size distributions. In a comparative study of different species of anoles, indices of SSD based on male and female asymptotic snout-vent length (SVL) have been used to confirm a prediction from territorial theory that SSD should be related to inter-female distance. Within populations of Anolis sagrei and Anolis limifrons, adult size distributions were sometimes skewed in favor of larger males than predicted by null growth-based models, as a result of the underrepresentation of small, young males in samples containing females of the same age. A relative shortage of newly mature males in adult size distributions is consistent with behavioral studies suggesting that young, small males may bear the brunt of aggression from larger territorial males. Hence, growth-based models can be used to suggest and test behavioral and other hypotheses about the factors affecting SSD.


Uneven load sharing of a planetary gear set is the main cause of preventing the miniaturization and weight reduction of a planetary gearbox. Non-torque loads and carrier pinhole position errors are the main factors that worsen the load-sharing characteristics. However, their effects are seldom analyzed at a system level especially for an off-road vehicle. To make up this gap, some simulation models are proposed to investigate the effects of floating members on the load-sharing characteristics and the strength of a planetary gear set with non-torque load and carrier pinhole position error. When the error is not considered, the mesh load factor converges to unity irrespective of the type and number of floating members and the safety factors for pitting and bending are increased slightly. When the carrier pinhole position error is considered, the mesh load factor dramatically worsens. Although it is improved using the floating members, it does not converge to unity. However, the bending safety factor of the planet gear with the error is increased by 26%. This indicates that the design modification for the original planetary gearbox is needed to satisfy the safety factor requirement, but the problem is solved using only floating members.


Abstract The Netherlands has ratified The Kyoto protocol and agreed to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases. Since 1990 the goals were made less ambitious several times, but still the last goal for 2000 was not met. Economic growth surely has been one of the main culprits. The main reason economic growth results in higher CO2 emissions, is the fact that it causes higher energy consumption. So far policy measures to reduce CO2 emissions, including many energy efficiency and energy reduction measures, did not succeed in beating the effects of economic growth. The Netherlands did not manage to decouple economic growth and environmental pressure (measured here as CO2 emissions). Absolute decoupling will require an economy that has a fuel mix with a large proportion of renewables, and a much higher energy efficiency level, and probably some major technological breakthroughs. It is not very likely that current policy measures will lead to the Kyoto goals. Therefore, it is concluded that emission trading and levies would offer good, and efficient options for further reductions of CO2 equivalents. It might, however, make it difficult for The Netherlands to realise 50% of its reduction domestically, as CO2 reduction abroad will most likely be at least five times cheaper. The Ministry of VROM will have to invent new policy measures to meet the Kyoto goals.


Aerobic vaginitis (AV) is a condition in which the normal vaginal inhabitants are replaced by aerobic bacterial pathogens, triggering a vaginal immune response. AV should be treated promptly. The aim of the present study is to analyse the prevalence of AV in patients with clinical symptoms of vaginitis. High vaginal swabs were collected from 156 women with clinical suspicion of vaginitis , over a period of 1 year. The swabs were subjected to Gram stain and bacterial culture under aerobic conditions. The organisms were identified using standard microbiolgical methods and antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed for the bacterial isolates as per CLSI guidelines. Out of the 156 samples processed aerobically, 33 showed bacterial growth in culture. The common bacteria isolated in the study were Staphylococcus aureus (24.2%), β-hemolytic Streptococcus (21.2%), Klebsiella species (21.2%), Escherichia coli (15.2%). Antibiotics like β-lactams/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations, Linezolid were effective against Gram positive bacteria. Gram negative bacteria were found to be more susceptible to Piperacillin Tazobactem, imipenem, meropenem, etc. The study emphasises the need for complete investigation of aerobic vaginal pathogens in patients with clinical symptoms of vaginitis.


The analysis of Tambov streets` names is considered; the structural types of Tambov urbanonymes and its motivation basis are scrutinized; the lexis and semantic characteristics of urbanonymes, which testifies about individual types and typical onomastic units typical for Russian toponymic intact, is offered.


Stable isotope measurements are increasingly being used to gain insights into the nutritional ecology of many wildlife species and their role in ecosystem structure and function. Such studies require estimations of trophic discrimination factors (i.e. differences in the isotopic ratio between the consumer and its diet). Although trophic discrimination factors are tissue- and species- specific, researchers often rely on generalized, and fixed trophic discrimination factors that have not been experimentally derived. In this experimental study, captive wild boar (Sus scrofa) were fed a controlled diet of corn (Zea mays), a popular and increasingly dominant food source for wild boar in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe, and trophic discrimination factors for stable carbon (Δ13C) and nitrogen (Δ15N) isotopes were determined from hair samples. The mean Δ13C and Δ15N in wild boar hair were –2.3 ‰ and +3.5 ‰, respectively. Also, in order to facilitate future derivations of isotopic measurements along wild boar hair, we calculated the average hair growth rate to be 1.1 mm d-1. Our results serve as a baseline for interpreting isotopic patterns of free-ranging wild boar in current European agricultural landscapes. However, future research is needed in order to provide a broader understanding of the processes underlying the variation in trophic discrimination factors of carbon and nitrogen across of variety of diet types.


O NCE LOOKED DOWN UPON for a perceived lack of rigor, qualitative research is now accepted as a legitimate mode of inquiry in academic circles. Qualitative inquiry allows researchers to gain in-depth understanding of a particular problem or issue that is often unattainable through the use of surveys and other quantitative methods. From its anthropological predecessors with an emphasis on ethnography, qualitative research has blossomed into a field ripe with multiple methodologies—case study, life history, phenomenology—and multiple methods— observation, interview, and document analysis, to name just a few. However, as with any area, the field—and those being studied—continue to grow and change. For this issue of Theory Into Practice, we invited authors to consider emerging themes and trends in qualitative research. Our aim in this issue is twofold: to provide readers with a sense of the emerging issues in qualitative research and to ground discussion in the dynamic context and issues facing those in education today. Articles in section one focus on harnessing digital technologies for qualitative inquiry; articles in section two explore issues of representation, or alternative ways of approaching and presenting qualitative research. After considering the advances in those areas, the issue concludes with a third section of articles that considers the didactic roles that qualitative researchers may take on: communicating findings beyond the academy and instructing novice researchers. To anchor the issue, all authors were asked to consider how advances in qualitative research might help us understand the changing populations of schools and universities. The authors draw on their experiences across a wide range of research contexts. For example, Kennedy-Lewis references her research at an alternative middle school that serves students who were expelled from their comprehensive schools for violent or drug-related offenses. Anders considers a school district struggling to incorporate an influx of Burundian refugees. Pascoe discusses the utility of online research methods for gaining access to the daily routines and lives of school-aged youth. Ultimately, although the foci of the articles differ, several commonalities emerge across this issue, including the potential for qualitative research to build bridges to various research participants and educational constituencies, and the potential for qualitative inquiry to inform research, policy, and practice in the 21st century. The articles in the first section consider the ways in which digital technologies and new media afford both challenges and opportunities for qualitative researchers. The authors address two distinct issues: conducting research while making use of new technologies and conducting research about the use of new media. In exploring these issues, the three articles highlight the ways that


One hundred and fifty 1-day-old chicks were divided into two groups randomly.Exprimental group(100 chicks) were infected intraperitoneally with 2 000 plaque-forming units(PFU) of the MDV-GA.The uninfected control group(50 chicks) were injected with the same dosage of diluent(0.2 mL).The two groups were housed in separate cages in the same filtered-air,positive-pressure isolation rooms.At the end of trial period(60 d.p.i.),we dissected all the survivals,and chose healthy spleens(HS) from four age-matched uninfected chickens,tumorous spleens(TS) from four MDV-infected chickens,and apparently normal spleens(ANS) from four survivals for detecting the expression levels of TNFSF13B and ST18 genes by qRT-PCR.The tumor-related genes TNFSF13B and ST18 were significantly down-regulated in TS samples,indicating that MDV could decrease the expression level of TNFSF13B to suppress B cells differentiation and maturation and thereby impaired the host immune system.Meanwhile,MDV down-regulated the expression of ST18 gene and induced the development of tumors.We also found the expression levels of TNFSF13B and ST18 in ANS samples were consistent with those in HS samples,showing the two genes could play an important role in MDV resistant activites of the hosts.


The following observations are based on a study of 95 cases of primary lung carcinoma. Of these, 38 cases were personally examined both macroscopically and microscopically and the remaining 57 cases, of which fairly complete pathological reports existed, were examined microscopically only. The incidence of the disease in cases coming to autopsy in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh during the period 1904-1934 is published elsewhere.


Simultaneous occurrence of bilateral axillary Paget's disease in a 61‐year‐old male with genital Paget's disease of 2 years' duration was presented. Invasive adenocarcimoma was found in the genital lesion. No regional lymph node metastases ware apparent. The lesions were excised in toto. There has been no recurrence 14 months later.


Objective To investigate the effect of radiation on secretion of small intestinal epithelial cells IL-2 and IL-6,and deproteinized calf blood extract(Actovegin)on the inhibition of apoptosis of small intestinal epithelial cells.Methods 50 rats were randomly divided into normal group,radiation group,low-dose Actovegin group,medium-dose Actovegin group and high-dose Actovegin group,with 10 rats in each group.High-energy X-ray linear accelerator was used on radiation group,low-,medium-and high-dose Actovegin group,the dose was 9.0 Gy,and the rat radiation damage model was established.Modeling rats were injected drug in abdomen for 4 days,pathological section of small intestinal epithelial cells was taken,IL-2 and IL-6 level was detected,and effect of Actovegin on small intestinal epithelial cells apoptosis was detected by immunohistochemistry.Results Small intestinal epithelial cells IL-2 andIL-6 level of radiation group was significantly higher than the other groups,the difference was statistically significant(P0.05),L-2 andIL-6 level of low-,medium-and high-dose Actovegin group was higher than the normal group,but the difference was not statistically significant(P0.05).Intestinal villus height,mucosal thickness,crypt depth,full thickness of Actovegin group improved significantly compared to the radiation group(P0.05).Intestinal epithelial mucosal apoptosis-related proteins Bax expression level of the high-dose Actovegin group was significantly lower than the radiation group,bcl-2 level was higher than the radiation group,the difference was statistically significant(P0.05).Conclusion Actovegin can effectively inhibit the expression of the apoptotic proteins Bax,and may contribute to the inhibition of apoptosis protein bal-2 expression.It has good repair effect.


Cluster analysis and the classification tree technique are applied to investigate the relationship between the individual characteristics of Italian temporary help agency (THA) workers and their probability of achieving a temporary job. The application aims to show some advantages of these techniques with respect to traditional econometric tools. Sketches of the most common profiles among Italian THA workers are obtained as a result. Besides the typical THA worker pointed out by previous studies (young male workers, with a medium-high level of education, living in the Northern regions), two new profiles have been identified: the first comprising male manual workers with previous job experience, whose average age is over 30 and whose educational level is low; the second comprising young female workers with a medium-high level of education, working in the service sector or in the public sector. The results are compared with the more usual logit analysis and show their robustness. Copyright 2004 CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.


Feature films function as a keeper of America's collective conscience - a repository of fears, guilt, and hopes. "Buddy films" about men of different races depict a world where a peaceful balance is possible and conflicts can be resolved. Since the 1930s these films have presented various forms of masculinity, reflecting dominant mainstream social traditions, images of men and manhood within the culture. Interracial buddy films include such examples as the "Silver Streak", "48 Hrs", "Beverly Hills Cop", "Lethal Weapon" and "The Shawshank Redemption". Many of these films have been made into franchises, furthering their cultural importance as filmic versions of interracial equality. This critical study analyzes the idealized interracial relationships, the heterosexual masculine roles within the films and the appearances of this kind of film in various genres. The book is arranged in six major chapters, each focusing upon a particular era in the development of the interracial buddy film. The book also examines the film sequel as a validation of the enduring significance of interracial interaction. The scope of the work is not limited to Caucasian/African-American pairings. Films with a myriad of racial and ethnic combinations are also analyzed, such as "Tin Cup", "Rush Hour", "Shanghai Noon" and "Ocean's Eleven".


We review recent empirical work on the determinants of the cross-section of expected returns. This literature, which includes the influential work by Fama and French (1992, 1993), tends to ignore the positive evidence on beta and to overemphasize the importance of book-to-market. Kothari, Shanken, and Sloan (1995) show that beta significantly explains the cross-sectional variation in average returns, but that size also has incremental explanatory power. We find that, while statistically significant, the incremental benefit of size given beta is surprisingly small economically. Book-to-market is a weak determinant of the cross-sectional variation in average returns among large firms and it fails to account for returns from momentum strategies. This raises doubts about the forecasting power of book-to-market.


Among the contents of Odda's Chapel, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, is a rare surviving 17th- century bier. This article outlines the history of this bier and describes it. It explains that the funeral bier developed in the second half of the 16th century as a result of the reform of liturgy established by the Elizabethan Settlememt. These changes included the burial rite, and the practical response of parishes can be seen both in new equipment and in the provision of ancillary structures in churchyards.


1Malaria and NTDs Laboratory, National Centre of Tropical Medicine, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; 2Laboratório de Ecologia de Doenças Transmissíveis na Amazônia, Instituto Leônidas e Maria Deane, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil; 3Malaria & Emerging Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, National Microbiology Center, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain Abstract: Mansonellosis is caused by three filarial parasite species from the genus Mansonella that commonly produce chronic human microfilaraemias: M. ozzardi, M. perstans and M. streptocerca. The disease is widespread in Africa, the Caribbean and South and Central America, and although it is typically asymptomatic it has been associated with mild pathologies including leg-chills, joint-pains, headaches, fevers, and corneal lesions. No robust mansonellosis disease burden estimates have yet been made and the impact the disease has on blood bank stocks and the monitoring of other filarial diseases is not thought to be of sufficient public health importance to justify dedicated disease management interventions. Mansonellosis ́s Ceratopogonidae and Simuliidae vectors are not targeted by other control programmes and because of their small size and out-door biting habits are unlikely to be affected by interventions targeting other disease vectors like mosquitoes. The ivermectin and mebendazole-based mass drug administration (iMDA and mMDA) treatment regimens deployed by the WHO ́s Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN) programme and its forerunners have, however, likely impacted significantly on the mansonellosis disease burden, principally by reducing the transmission of M. streptocerca in Africa. The increasingly popular plan of using iMDA to control malaria could also affect M. ozzardi parasite prevalence and transmission in Latin America in the future. However, a potentially far greater mansonellosis disease burden impact is likely to come from shortcourse curative anti-Wolbachia therapeutics, which are presently being developed for onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis treatment. Even if the WHO ́s ESPEN programme does not choose to deploy these drugs in MDA interventions, they have the potential to dramatically increase the financial and logistical feasibility of effective mansonellosis management. There is, thus, now a fresh and urgent need to better characterise the disease burden and ecoepidemiology of mansonellosis so that effective management programmes can be designed, advocated for and implemented.


earn higher profit margins. Meda dedicates a fifth chapter to teaching aids and school furniture, showing that these items were initially imported from France and Germany before Italy took steps to develop a domestic industry of its own. This chapter is very brief but innovative in terms of the described methodologies, and therefore a potential guide for future research. Of particular note from a methodological viewpoint are the new sources indicated by the author: advertisements in educational journals; the catalogues of domestic and international trade fairs, at which school furnishings and teaching aids occupied entire pavilions; medals, awards, and mentions of honour; and patents, licences, and contracts for the sale of companies. Future analysis, by the author himself and other scholars, may develop this part, providing further details on some aspects of the material culture, in particular teaching aids, by examining both materials conserved in education museums and documentary sources from other archives. Finally, the book is completed by four appendices, offering lists of printers of exercise books (1861–50); series of exercise books (1920–60); manufacturers of school furniture (1880–1960); and manufacturers of teaching aids and science equipment (1860–1960). These valuable lists have been meticulously constructed by Meda on the basis of a broad and diverse set of documentary sources.


A small-world simulation model of a regional innovation system combining the strength of the intersubject relationship of the regional innovation system with the loosely coupled system is constructed. We use a simulation to observe knowledge flow within the regional innovation system under relationships of varying strength. The results show that when the relationship between the subjects of the regional innovation system reaches a certain strength, the system will exhibit high module independence and high network integrity, forming a loosely coupled system. The knowledge flow in the system exhibits the emergence of a fast flow rate, a high mean value and little variance. When relationship strength is at other levels, the emergence of knowledge cannot be identified.


Background Due to a 2010 rule revision, attack with the arms or hands below the belt is prohibited, with the penalty being hansoku-make for the first offense. This strict rule must have affected competitors' technical-tactical behaviors with regards to using hands and arms below the belt in contests. The purpose of the present study is transformation of technical-tactical behaviors for hand techniques attacking below the belt in men's contests before and after the 2010 rule revision. Material & Methods: 436 men's contests from the 2009 Grand Slam Tokyo and the 2010 Grand Slam Paris were examined. DVDs of the Federation of All Japan Judo were used. Five hand techniques used in below the belt maneuvers as referenced in the Kodokan manual were investigated. The analysts unanimously decided if the techniques performed by competitors could be categorized within one of the five hand techniques studied. Results: Use of kibisu-gaeshi significantly decreased (p<0.05). Use of sukui-nage used in countering an opponent's crossguard grab significantly increased (p<0.05). Use of kata-guruma not utilizing below the belt hand or arm grabbing significantly increased (p<0.01). German, English, and Japanese contestants significantly decreased in their use of hand techniques below the belt (p<0.01, p <0.05, p<0.05, respectively). Conclusions: Sukui-nage was increasingly used to counter the opponent's use of the cross-guard grab; the kata-guruma technique underwent a style transformation. On the other hand, kibisu-gaeshi could not be used effectively with the rule revision.


The Rocketdyne free-electron laser (FEL) being presently developed for operation in the visible to one-micron regime is described, with particular attention given to some of the principal optics and atmospheric propagation issues. The paper describes the system assembly and discusses the performance requirements for power beaming, the resonator design, and the basic ideas and calculations involved in the beam propagating through the atmosphere and tilt corrections. This FEL will be capable of an average output of greater than 1 kW in the near infrared. The laser system has an ability of scaling to power levels required for beaming power to space platforms.


A new shearing interferometer using hologram is introduced. The hologram is taken with two reference beams polarized perpendicularly to each other and shearing is achieved through rotating the hologram during the reconstruction process. The amount of shear is adjustable by changing the azimuth. A theoretical illustration for the shearing process is given, and experimental applications of the method to the diffusion process of the solute in an acqueous solution and also to the measurement of the change of the refractive index are described.


Endoscope decontamination prevents cross-infection and misdiagnosis. Legislation and guidance exist to ensure this, and Joint Advisory Group (JAG) accreditation is dependent on correct adherence. Due to their cost and complex construction, endoscopes have to be decontaminated between patients. Manual cleaning is an integral part of the decontamination process and helps ensure prions, which can transmit Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), are cleared. Guidelines and standards include Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Top Ten Tips, British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) guidance, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) advice and the health technical memorandum, MTH-01-06. Over recent years, guidance has been updated. Changes incorporate tracking and traceability, levels of essential practice and best practice requirements, time from bedside clean to endoscope washer disinfection processing and issues around CJD. Guidance includes following the manual decontamination process, use of endoscope washer disinfectors, choice of disinfectants, rinse-water quality, safety, endoscope storage, operational management, environmental design and training. By following the most up-to-date guidance and legislation, nurses can ensure the safety of both patients and staff.


SDF 1 is a chemokine released by BM stromal cells. It belongs to CXC subfamily. Recent studies show that the SDF 1 is related not only with normal hematopoiesis, but also with the motion and the function of the leukemic cells. In this review, the relationship between SDF 1 and lymphocytic leukemic cells was analyzed.


INTRODUCTION: Calcitonin is a major hormone secreted by thyroid gland responsible for bone formation and decrease of blood calcium level. It is a mixture of amino acids plus a modifying agent. It has been proved that the synthetic salmon calcitonin enhanced bone growth in depth as well as in width that is why they used it as a treatment for bone diseases and fractures. OBJECTIVES: This study was done to evaluate histologically the effect of intra muscular (IM) calcitonin administration on bone healing around titanium dental implants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve adult's Mongrel dogs received one implant in the maxilla in the edentulous space distal to the canine. Six dogs were randomly selected as the test group then they received a single daily dose of calcitonin 50 IU administered IM, for 28 successive days. And six dogs served as control group and no medications were injected. The animals were sacrificed 4, 8, and 12 weeks after surgery. RESULTS: Through microscopical examination of specimens showed an apparent trend toward increased new bone formation in the osteotomy site in the calcitonin-treated group compared with the controls in fourth and eighth week intervals. While in twelfth interval there was a non-significant difference could be noticed between control and study groups concerning new bone formation which gave firm attachment between host bone tissue and the used implant. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that using short, small dose of salmon calcitonin by daily intramuscular injection for 28 days enhanced bone mineral density when compared with the bone density without injection of this material.


This paper aims to study the risk aversion on valuing the single-name credit derivatives with the fast-scale stochastic volatility correction. Asymptotic approximation is applied to obtain the closed-form solution of the non-linear PDE, and comparison is made to show the utility before and after the stochastic volatility modification.


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to surface themes which may influence Chinese students' decision making in relation to postgraduate study in international universities.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilises a semi-structured qualitative interview methodology (n=15).FindingsThe main findings are discussed according to the following themes: financial and time costs; employment prospects; postgraduate education as a cultural adventure; linguistics; visa issues; admissions; climate; influence of referents; and academic image and reputation.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size is small, yet affords greater depth of data and discussion.Practical implicationsThe research offers practitioners in universities who are managing postgraduate recruitment of Chinese students, some greater understanding of the reasons behind prospective Chinese postgraduate students' choice; from which they can evaluate the effectiveness of their institutions' recruitment strategies.Originality/valueExtant research has tended to report reasons why Chinese students study overseas, whereas this study offers deeper insight and exploration of the reasoning of Chinese international students in the postgraduate context. The research is of value given the importance of postgraduate Chinese students to international university recruitment.


Two acetylated flavonoid glycosides: quercetin-3- O -ß-D-(6?- O -galloyl)-glucopyranooside and quercetin-3- O -ß-D-(6?- O -galloyl)-galactopyranoside together with quercetin-3- O -ß-D-glucuronide, quercetin-3- O -ß-D-glucopyranoside, quercetin-3- O -ß-D-galactopyranoside, quercetin-3- O -a-Lrhamnpyranoside, quercetin-3- O -rhamnoglucoside, kaempferol-3- O -D-glucopyranoside, quercetin, kaempferol and taxifolin, were isolated from the aerial parts of Polygonum lapathifoluim ssp tomentosum (Schrank) Dans. The structures of the compounds were determined by chemical and spectroscopic methods.


Conventional medicine used against dermatophytosis has resulted in treatment failure, relapses of the fungal infection and side effects due to its use. Herbalist in the Tugen community in Kenya claim that Salvia nilotica leaves have anti-dermatophytic effects but there is no scientific documentation for these claims. This study determined the phytochemical constituents in Salvia nilotica methanolic crude leaf extract, its anti-dermatophytic activity against Trichophyton mentagrophytes and probable mode of action through the effects on metalloprotease 2 (MEP2), sulphite efflux pump (SSU1), subtilisin 3 (SUB3) and dipeptidyl-peptidases V (DDPV) target genes. The phytochemical constituents of S. nilotica leaf extract were determined using standard methods. Food-poisoned technique was used to determine the anti-dermatophytic activity of extract at different concentrations ranging from 7.76 mg/mL to 77.59 mg/mL versus the standard, fluconazole. Comparative CT analysis of real time quantitative PCR data was utilized for gene expression analysis. The Phytochemical-rich Salvia nilotica leaf extract was found to have anti-dermatophytic activity against Trichophyton mentagrophytes which was not significantly different (p < 0.05) when compared with fluconazole treatments. In addition, MEP2, SSU1, SUB3, and DPPV genes of Trichophyton mentagrophytes were down regulated by different folds by the extract. This study has shown that Salvia nilotica crude leaf methanolic extract could offer a potential alternative medicine for dermatophytosis treatment.


Going upstairs is a common humanoid robot task. In this paper, a genetic algorithm (GA) gait synthesis method for going upstairs and a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) implementation, are considered. The gait synthesis is analyzed based on the minimum consumed energy and minimum torque change. The proposed method can easily be applied to generate the angle trajectories for going downstairs, overcoming obstacles, etc. In our work, the stability is verified through the ZMP concept. For the real time implementation, a RBFNN which is taught based on the GA results, is considered. The RBFNN generates the optimal gait in a very short time, where the input variables are the step length, step height and step time. Simulations are realized based on the parameters of the "Bonten‐Maru I" humanoid robot.


We propose a new method to measure "visualness" of concepts, that is, what extent concepts have visual characteristics. To know which concept has visually discriminative power is important for image annotation, especially automatic image annotation by image recognition system, since not all concepts are related to visual contents. Our method performs probabilistic region selection for images which are labeled as concept "X" or "non-X", and computes an entropy measure which represents "visualness" of concepts. In the experiments, we collected about forty thousand images from the World-Wide Web using the Google Image Search for 150 concepts. We examined which concepts are suitable for annotation of image contents.


Thick target yields of α particles emitted in the 6,7 Li(d,α) 4,5 He reactions in PdLi x and AuLi x were measured as a function of the bombarding energy between 30 and 75 keV. It was found that the...


The Church Buttes arch extends from the Bridger Lake field in northern Utah northward through the Church Buttes field to the Big Piney-La Barge field in southwestern Wyoming, a distance of approximately 120 mi. The arch is considered an overthrust structure. Deformation of the Absaroka thrust zone and the Church Buttes arch occurred during the Late Cretaceous as the result of the same tectonic forces. Folding of the arch resulted in localization of oil and gas accumulations in Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks. Oil and gas production from combination structural-stratigraphic traps, directly related to the folding of the arch, has been established in the Cretaceous Frontier, Bear River, and Dakota Formations, and the Pennsylvanian Morgan Formation. Continued exploration of the rch should result in additional discoveries in both Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks. End_of_Article - Last_Page 911------------


Noble-metal clusters, such as colloidal particles and evaporated nanostructured films, present unique optical and electronic properties, notably different from those of the bulk material. [1,2] The special optical phenomena associated with noble-metal (e.g., gold, silver) clusters are attributed to excitation of localized surface plasmons (SPs), resulting in strong light scattering, the appearance of intense SP absorption bands and enhancement of local electromagnetic fields. [1,2] The localized SP resonance (LSPR) extinction band (shape, amplitude, frequency of maximum extinction) of an ensemble of Au or Ag nanoislands depends on the particle size, shape, and spacing, as well as on the effective refractive index of the surrounding medium. [2–5] The latter forms the basis for sensing applications based on refractive index changes at the nanoisland-medium interphase as a consequence of analyte binding. Optical sensors based on LSPR spectroscopy have gained increasing interest in recent years as relatively simple and low-cost transducers for biological and chemical sensing (for a recent review, see ref. [6]).


An experimental study was conducted to determine the heat transfer performance of advanced convective cooling techniques at the typical conditions found in a backside cooled combustion chamber. For these internal cooling channels, the Reynolds number is usually found to be above the Reynolds number range covered by available databases in the open literature. As possible candidates for an improved convective cooling configuration in terms of heat transfer augmentation and acceptable pressure drops, W-shaped and WW-shaped ribs were considered for channels with a rectangular cross section. Additionally, uniformly distributed hemispheres were investigated. Here, four different roughness spacings were studied to identify the influence on friction factors and the heat transfer enhancement. The ribs and the hemispheres were placed on one channel wall only. Pressure losses and heat transfer enhancement data for all test cases are reported. To resolve the heat transfer coefficient, a transient thermocromic liquid crystal technique was applied. Additionally, the area-averaged heat transfer coefficient on the W-shaped rib itself was observed using the so-called lumped-heat capacitance method. To gain insight into the flow field and to reveal the important flow field structures, numerical computations were conducted with the commercial code FLUENT™.Copyright © 2008 by Alstom


Background: Childbirth experience is a major outcome of labor, which is always associated with some potential psychological advantages or damages. Given the significant impact of childbirth on maternal role and on physical and mental health of mothers, this study aimed to investigate the relationship of childbirth experience with postpartum maternal functioning and mental health of women.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 483 mothers with vaginal childbirth, 4-16 weeks after delivery in health centers of Tabriz-Iran, 2018. The cluster random sampling method was used. The socio-demographic characteristics questionnaire, Questionnaire for Assessing the Childbirth Experience (QACE), Mental Health Inventory (MHI), and Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning (BIMF) were completed through interviews and the obtained data were analyzed using independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation test, and the General Linear Model (GLM). Results: The mean score of childbirth experience was 1.6 (0.4) within the score range of 1-4. The mean score of mental health was 79.1 (15.0) out of 18-108 and maternal functioning was 97.4 (13.0) out of 0-120. Based on the correlation coefficients, there were significant correlations between the total score of mental health and maternal functioning and all its subdomains with childbirth experience (P<0.001), also based on GLM results, maternal functioning was significantly correlated with childbirth experience (P<0.001), receiving help for infant care (P<0.001) and the adequacy of family income (P=0.006). Mental health was significantly correlated with childbirth experience (P<0.001), complete life-satisfaction (P<0.001), and receiving help for infant care (P=0.025). Conclusion: The results showed significant relationships between childbirth experience with maternal functioning, mental health and all their subdomains. Considering these relationships, it seems that supportive care services offered by health care providers can improve mothers' birth experiences and consequently lead to improved postpartum maternal functioning and mental health.


Two cases of Cornelia de Lange syndrome with cleft palate were presented.This syndrome is charactarized by severe mental retardation, anomalies of the extremities and charactaristic faces.This syndrome also is occasionaly accompanied by cleft palate.Detailed descriptions as to oral manifestations in the reported cases were also made.


This study aims at developing an indoor temperature control method that could provide comfortable thermal conditions by integrating heating system control and the opening conditions of building envelopes. Artificial neural network (ANN)-based temperature control logic was developed for the control of heating systems and openings at the building envelopes in a predictive and adaptive manner. Numerical comparative performance tests for the ANN-based temperature control logic and conventional non-ANN-based counterpart were conducted for single skin enveloped and double skin enveloped buildings after the simulation program was validated by comparing the simulation and the field measurement results. Analysis results revealed that the ANN-based control logic improved the indoor temperature environment with an increased comfortable temperature period and decreased overshoot and undershoot of temperatures outside of the operating range. The proposed logic did not show significant superiority in energy efficiency over the conventional logic. The ANN-based temperature control logic was able to maintain the indoor temperature more comfortably and with more stability within the operating range due to the predictive and adaptive features of ANN models.


Multi-component GPR system is developed. It is a part of integrated electromagnetic survey system. The GPR system has four antennas and is able to measure with four antenna patterns. Two field tests are conducted. First test was conducted to analyze the effect of angles between target, steel pipes, and survey line with two directional parallel antennas. Hyperbolic shapes of reflections in data differ by the angles, 0, 30, 60 and 90 degree. Two parallel antennas compensate each result at any survey direction. Summation of two pair of antenna improved the results. Second field was conducted to evaluate the multi-component migration. It is not big different for angle 0 configuration. However two component migration improved the image for angled configuration.


Various types of image processing that can be done by computers, such as improving image quality is one of the fields that is quite popular until now. Improving the quality of an image is necessary so that someone can observe the image clearly and in detail without any disturbance. An image can experience major disturbances or errors in an image such as the image of the screenshot is used as a sample. The results of the image from the screenshot have the smallest sharpness and smoothness of the image, so to get a better image is usually done enlargement of the image. After the screenshot results are obtained then, the next process is cropping the image and the image looks like there are disturbances such as visible blur and cracked. To get an enlarged image (Zooming image) by adding new pixels or points. This is done by the super resolution method, super resolution has three stages of completion, first Registration, Interpolation, and Reconstruction. For magnification done by linear interpolation and reconstruction using a median filter for image refinement. This method is expected to be able to solve the problem of improving image quality in image enlargement applications. This study discusses that the process carried out to implement image enlargement based on the super resolution method is then built by using R2013a matlab as an editor to edit programs


ABSTRACT This article presents a study on three somatic movement dance educators' perspectives on developing creativity in dance students. A post-positivist, inductive qualitative study was undertaken to gather practitioners Katye Coe's, Sara Reed's, and Rebecca Weber's phenomenological reflections on teaching somatically informed dance and how somatic practices may contribute to enhancing students' creativity in dance. Data were collected through open-ended interviews, which then underwent thematic analysis to identify shared pedagogical perspectives on developing creativity in dance students. Key themes which emerged included metaphorical thinking, a breadth and multi-directionality of thought, a sensitized relationship to embodiment, and applied practice or "usefulness." These findings are theoretically contextualized through establishing their relation to existing cognitive psychological literature from the field of creativity research. The themes' reliability is also enhanced through similar connections to existing somatics research from dance studies.


The plasma arc melting (PAM) process has attracted keen attention in melting titanium, because it has many advantages such as melting under the atmospheric pressure and refining by utilizing ultra-high temperature and plasma gas. In particular, in melting titanium alloy, the plasma arc melting process produces less evaporation loss of alloying elements, enables comparatively easy composition control, and provides less restrictions in material form. It is very important to raise the melting efticiency in plasma arc melting from the commeTcial point of view. So, basic investigation was carried out on arc voltage and heat efficiency when titanium-based materials were melted with plasma arc. The results are summarized as follows:


This article discusses the task of identifying controlled transactions under review by the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. In particular, it aims to alert courts as to the necessary role of contractual interpretation law in determining the true nature of such controlled transactions.


A draft of the diagnostic guidelines for hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) proposed by a working group of the Japanese Research Society for Vibration Syndrome, which is currently under discussion by the Society, is presented. The new diagnostic guidelines serves two purposes workplace health examination for HVAS and clinical diagnosis of HVAS. A general medical examination should be provided to workers regularly or occasionally exposed to potentially harmful levels of HAV. Individuals with abnormal findings or reporting any HAVS-melated impairments or symptoms will undergo a special medical examination for further investigation. The clinical diagnosis of HAVS will be established also at two stages, basic diagnosis and specialized examination. If HAVS is diagnosed, the individual will be advised on fitness for work with exposure to vibration, and on medical treatment.


Environment simulation has always been one of the most challenging tasks in computer graphics.Simulation of wood-texture is an indispensably important part of environment simulation.Because of the complexity and randomness of wood-texture,it is very difficult to simulate it realistically.Based on the deep study of the principles of fractional Brownian motion and the random mid-point displacement algorithm,the influences of different parameters on fractal curves are deduced.A method of parameter-based controllable fractal-Wood Textures is proposed in this paper.Simulation results show that the method is fast,simple,efficient and controllable.By changing parameters the real wood texture simulation can be better achieved.


The transesterification reaction is the most widely used process for biodiesel production. Monitoring it in real time enables optimization of the operational parameters, hence providing better yields and lowering the costs of biodiesel production. Techniques that have been used for this purpose include chromatography and spectroscopic methodologies. In this work, transesterification reactions were monitored on line, in situ, by fluorescence spectroscopy with ultraviolet excitation at ~360 nm. The temporal behavior of the fluorescence intensity was similar to that of the viscosity of the oil/alcohol/catalyst solution, as reported in the literature. The results indicated that UV-Vis fluorescence spectroscopy could be used on-line, in situ, for the efficient monitoring of biodiesel production, providing a valuable indication of the degree of success of the transesterification reaction. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v10i1.1026


Two courses, advanced decision-making and pharmaceutical marketing, were combined in a collaborative process to mimic how the pharmaceutical industry determines the potential of new drugs. Integrated student teams worked together to complete semester-long projects and taught each other their respective knowledge areas—marketing and statistics. Real-world data for medical and pharmacy claims payments were "cleaned†and mined by students to analyze usage and cost patterns for anti-hypertensive and anti-hypercholesterolemia drugs currently on the market. Analyses included merging the medical and pharmaceutical data records to derive individual electronic patient records, which were the basis of financial projections for the new drugs. Importantly, the single patient record is congruent with the needs of the stakeholders currently working to reform U.S. healthcare delivery.


We prove that a sum of two odd irreducible two-dimensional Galois representations with squarefree relatively prime Serre conductors is attached to a Hecke eigenclass in the homology of a subgroup of GL(4, Z), with the level, nebentype, and coefficient module of the homology predicted by a generalization of Serre's conjecture to higher dimensions. To do this we prove along the way that any Hecke eigenclass in the homology of a congruence subgroup of a maximal parabolic subgroup of GL(n, Q) has a reducible Galois representation attached, where the dimensions of the components correspond to the type of the parabolic subgroup. Our main new tool is a resolution of Z by GL(n, Q)-modules consisting of sums of Steinberg modules for all subspaces of Qn .


Multipliers are the major elements to perform arithmetic function in devices but aging effect degrades the speed of multipliers and in long term system may fail due to timing violations. Circuits have al ways aged but these aging effects weren't significant until the circuits enter nanotechnology domain. The simultaneous use of extremely small channel length and higher operating frequencies has elevated circuit aging from an academic exercise to a growing and perhaps deterministic concern. Majorly aged systems fail due to delay problems. Therefore delay is the major effect which occurs due to aging. There are many approaches to design multipliers that reduce this delay. But these systems are not aging aware. For reducing these timing violations an aging aware multiplier with adaptive hold logic is designed. In this paper, comprehensive analysis of multiplier architecture which reduces the delay and an aging-aware reliable multiplier design with a novel adaptive hold logic (AHL) circuit is done.


Neuroimaging is continuously advancing at a rapid rate and has progressed from excluding relatively uncommon secondary causes (stroke, tumor) to assisting with early diagnosis and subtype of dementia. Structural imaging has given way to functional, metabolic and receptor imaging.


The present state of distribution transformer industry in our country, urban and rural power networks are introduced. Some factors such as design means, technological equipment, test equipment and new product development etc., which are relevant to product quality and level are expounded. Some technical problems that should be paid attention are pointed out.


Most policy makers and practitioners have now started to recognise the different ways in which climate change impacts on poor, vulnerable, and socially excluded women and men. However, making adaptation policies and programmes sensitive to gender issues does not simply mean 'adding on' a concern for women. It also requires a nuanced understanding of gendered forms of vulnerability, and a stronger commitment of resources – financial, technical, and human – to address specific gendered priorities. Drawing on insights from coastal Gujarat, in India, this article illustrates how researchers and practitioners can collaborate to strengthen learning across communities and regions. Simple and practical tools for assessing vulnerability, as well as empirical research and documentation, can further and support advocacy on climate-resilient development policies.


IntroductionNational Stock Exchange (NSE) was the first stock exchange in India to introduce online trading, imbibing technology in the process of trading, clearing and settlement process. It emerged as a bench-mark exchange for technology driven markets in the country resulting in increased volume of trade, reaching all corners of the country and all types of traders (Retail and Institutional). It is fair to say that though trading, clearing and settlement in securities markets is dominated by the institutional investors, it is becorning increasingly cost effective and efficient for all the classes of traders. Furthermore the mitigation of risk, for example operational, credit and market risk, in the process of trading, clearing and settlement process has steadily improved. All these factors have contributed to an environment of increasing trust across the functions of the trading value chain. Further the regulatory body, Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has been working on the loopholes, which are misused to manipulate the markets, and the problems that cause inconvenience to the traders, and more importantly the retail traders. The process of steady improvements in NSE continues, with the major debate currently surrounding the barriers to efficient trading, particularly in respect of clearing and settlement which is more relevant to the new and experienced retail investors in different corners of the country, who are aggressively participating in booming stock markets.An in-depth study on the trading, clearing and settlement process gives an insight into the problems or inconveniences experienced by the retail investors who are ignored, when compared to institutional investors including Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and Mutual funds. The whole process serves as the base to suggest corrective measures to Intermediaries (Brokers and Depository Participants - DPs), Market (NSE) and the Policy makers (SEBI) on important issues resulting in an effective and efficient trading, clearing and settlement process in NSE in terms of liquidity, returns, cost, risk and time. This study helps to trace the reasons for technical and non technical barriers or problems in the process of trading, clearing and settlement and serves as a base to compare the trading barrier related to or associated with the market (NSE) and brokers. It also helps NSE and its intermediaries in designing a better trading, clearing and settlement system.Objectives of the study1) To understand the Trading, Gearing and Settlement process in NSE2) To know the problems of retail investors related to or associated with the brokers in Visakhapatnam city in the process of trading, clearing and settlement process of NSE.3) To know the problems of retail investors in Visakhapatnam city related to or associated with NSE in the process of the trading, clearing and settlement process of NSE.4) To analyse the distribution of individual problems associated with NSE and brokers5) To know the relevance of problems associated with NSE and problems associated with the brokers.HypothesesH^sub 1^ : Problems associated with brokers are unevenly distributed.H^sub 2^ : Problems associated with the market (NSE) are unevenly distributed.H^sub 3^ : Problems associated with the market and the brokers are dependent.MethodologyIn order to meet the objectives of the research and test the hypothesis, a study was carried out in Visakhapatnam city with retail investors who experienced the securities trading through their respective brokers in the city.SampleA purposive sample size of one hundred and twenty five was chosen targeting retail investors in Visakhapatnam city from June 2005 to June 2006. Twenty three samples were ignored as they have not expressed the problems.List of Stock Brokers: Following is the list of stock brokers approached in alphabetical order. …


THERE ARE three possible relationships between the business cycle and seasonal amplitudes of production. A particular relationship will depend on the circumstances surrounding an individual product. In the case of steel, for example, the amplitudes of seasonal fluctuations tend to become larger as the general demand for that product declines. This tendency is entirely reasonable in view of modern business practices. During periods of recession business men often resort to hand-to-mouth buying; they do not build up stocks; they are doubtful of the future. Production, therefore, is largely seasonal in nature, and demand varies widely from month to month. During the upswing of the cycle seasonal fluctuations assume a different character. Demand increases over an extended period of time; business men become increasingly optimistic; they build stocks; the policy of hand-to-mouth buying is discarded. Because of the continued increase in demand, production is largely cyclical in nature, and month-to-month variations diminish as the peak of the cycle is approached. Moreover, seasonal amplitudes of steel production must decrease because of the fixed physical capacity which is present at a given point of time. A second kind of relationship may exist. In the case of certain luxury goods, for example, seasonal amplitudes of production increase as the peak of the business cycle is approached. Here the circumstances are different, for the sale of these goods depends, in a large measure, on the purchasing power of consumers. When purchasing power is low or declining the consumer does not easily part with his money, either in or out of season. On the other hand, when the consumer's pockets are well filled his purchases in season are large. Finally, there are some types of products whose seasonal amplitudes of production are but little affected, if at all, by general business conditions. A case in point is to be found in the motion picture industry, where the number of domestic feature-length films produced varies but little between the years of prosperity and the years of depression. General recognition of the fact that seasonal patterns change in response to one or more causal factors has resulted in newer and more


can effi ciently convert NIR light to UV and activate the TiO 2 shells to kill the cancer cells. [ 14 ] The recent studies reveal that these UCNPs/TiO 2 nanostructures can improve the utilization of solar energy owing to the fl uorescence resonance energy transfer between TiO 2 and UCNPs. In general, the energy conversion effi ciency between the two chromophores in FRET system is greatly dependent on the structures, crystallization, and the distance of the chromophores. [ 15 ] Thus, it is still a challenging task for developing and fabricating highly effi ciently photocatalysts on a large scale driven by near-IR light. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of freestanding and fl exible UCNPs/TiO 2 upconversion fl uorescent nanofi ber mat on a large scale using tetrabutyl titanate (TBT) as titanium source by electrospinning technique. Electrospinning technique has been developed for synthesis of upconversion luminescent porous silica fi bers and Tb 2 (WO 4 ) 3 :Eu 3+ nanowires. [ 16 ] In this work, water dispersible UCNPs were achieved according to the previous protocol; [ 17 ] subsequently, the UCNPs nanoparticles can be well embedded or assembled into polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)/TBT matrix via the electrospinning technique. Finally, the UCNPs/TiO 2 upconversion fl uorescent nanofi ber mat can be achieved after the calcination of as-prepared UCNPs/PVP/ TBT nanofi ber mat at 500 °C to remove PVP. In the present study, Yb 3+ , Tm 3+ co-doped NaYF 4 host matrix was used as upconversion phosphor (chromophores). In order to improve the upconversion fl uorescence intensity, especially for UV emission, core-shell nanoparticles of NaYF 4 :Yb/Tm@NaYF 4 have been fabricated via a facile sequential synthetic process. [ 18 ]


Aiming at the control problem of quadruped robot in fast and stable running state, a backward control method of quadruped robot based on CPG was proposed in this paper. Rhythm signal produced by central pattern generator (CPG) to control the height of the body, pitching angle, and the periodic generation and switching of foot trajectory can be realized. At the same time, the impedance control was used to realize TD detection and feedback the parameter signal about the stability to the robot. The virtual force generated by PD control of trajectory deviation was fed back to the system to form a closed-loop backward control. Simulation results were given to show that this method can make the quadruped robot run at a stable and high speed.


This article examines the long-run and short-run effects of health aid on health, as measured by life expectancy at birth. Using panel cointegration techniques, it is found that while in the short run health aid has significant positive effects on life expectancy, in the long run, an increase in health aid leads to a small but significant reduction in life expectancy.


Updated results from RTOG 0236, a phase II trial examining stereotactic body radiation therapy for inoperable early-stage non-small cell lung cancer, indicate that this treatment continues to yield a high rate of primary tumor control. Compared with conventional radiotherapy, overall survival is also significantly improved.


The disadvantaged groups are those who are disadvantaged in social resources distribution,who are lack of equal citizenship,who are discriminated by other citizens,who are greatly influenced by risks and uncertainties,who are hard to satisfy their basic needs and who only achieve low level of functionary activities.The discussions about the disadvantaged group in domestic academic world have focused on the cause and the type of the disadvantaged group;while the theoretical answer to who is the disadvantaged is not satisfactory.Western political philosophy defines the disadvantaged groups from the perspectives of distributive justice,politics of recognition and capabilities approach.The capabilities approach is better than the other two,because it could integrate the perspectives of distributive justice and politics of recognition to define who "the disadvantaged" is in a relatively comprehensive way.


【Objective】 The aim of the study was to clarify the characterization and expression of one WRKY transcription factor in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.HDA149) during the incompatible interaction between HDA149 and Meloidogyne incognita.【Method】The combination of RACE and RT-PCR was used to clone the cDNA of a WRKY transcription factor named CaRKNIF2 from pepper inoculated with nematode,and the coding sequences of DNA were amplified with specific primers designed according to the cDNA sequence,copy number of the gene was identified by Southern blot,and the gene expression in various tissue and in different time points after inoculation with nematode were analysed by real-time RT-PCR.【Result】 The cDNA of CaRKNIF2 (GenBank Accession No: GQ253367) containing an open reading frame of 1 662 bp and encoding 553 amino residues was cloned from pepper.The genome DNA length of CaRKNIF2 was 2 530 bp,and contained 5 introns and 6 exons.CaRKNIF2 was a single copy gene in genome identified by Southern blot.The real-time RT-PCR revealed that the gene expressed tissue-specific with the expression level was the highest in tissue of root tips after inoculation with M.incognita.The expression level of gene CaRKNIF2 in root tips of pepper was increased gradually from 3 to 12 h after inoculation with M.incognita and reached a peak at 12 h.The relative gene expression level at 12 h after nematode inoculation was 3.1 times higher than that of the control.【Conclusion】 The expression of CaRNIF2 was up-regulated by the nematode inoculation,which implied that the gene might play an important role in the process of incompatible interaction between M.incognita and C.annuum variant HDA149 mediated by resistant gene Me3.


Soil solution compositional analysis is widely used to evaluate plant growth response and environmental fates of chemicals, but little is known regarding the influence of sample storage techniques on the composition of displaced soil solution. We conducted this research to determine the effects of time of incubation (storage at room temperature) on soil solution composition of Ultisol Ap and B horizons that had been maintained field-moist or had been air-dried and rewet. We analyzed soil solutions displaced immediately after soil sampling or over a 32-day period of incubation for pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved organic carbon, and total concentrations of SO4, Cl, NO3, Ca, Mg, K, Na, Si, and Al. Soil solution composition was frequently influenced by the interaction of sample treatment (field-moist versus air-dried and rewet) and time of incubation. The effects of sample storage were most pronounced in A horizon samples, where higher organic C and microbial activity resulted in greater variation in soil solution composition in comparison to soil solutions from B horizons. It is difficult to identify any one combination of sample treatment and time of incubation which most closely corresponds to the composition of soil solution obtained immediately after sampling. Samples stored field-moist and displaced after 2 or 4 days of incubation, however, seemed to result in the most consistent composition for the bulk of components determined. The variation in soil solution composition anticipated as a result of sample storage should be recognized and carefully dealt with when soil solution composition is used as a diagnostic measure.


photographs by Gerald Cubitt Once part of an ancient supercontinent, New Zealand was isolated by the sea to form its present-day raft of islands stretching from the sub-tropical to the sub-Antarctic. This superbly illustrated book offers a tour of this diverse, wild "land of the long white cloud, " capturing in text and over 400 full-color photographs New Zealand's untamed areas and the wildlife that inhabits them.


Many people ask us how we breed Jenday conures and after our reply we receive many raised eye brows. It's not the food we feed or our automatic watering system that people react to, but the bird's housing. All our jendays are cage bred with a plain old ordinary cockatiel nest box attached to the outside with pine shavings inside. Some of our cages are 18"x 18"x 24" tall and a few are larger. All our metal cages have metal rabbit feeders attached to them with each one containing parakeet mix, safflower and sunflower seed. They also receive a daily bowl of sprouted seeds (sunflower, safflower, millet and canary), apple, oranges, peas, corn, beets, carrots, vitamins, cod liver oil and wheat germ oil all mixed together. Each cage has a crock pot with fresh water for drinking and also for bathing in. They also each have a mineral block and grit. But now lets get down to the nitty, gritty pairing! We have heard of many ways of sexing jendays by their looks. Well, we're still looking! We've read that the skin around the eye in the hens is very white and the males is an off-white. When I tell my proven male that he's supposed to be a hen he looks at me as if I'm nuts! We have also read that the iris in the male is very dark and in the female it is lighter. We have found that this does not hold true for we have a proven male with a very light colored iris. Also all our hens have very dark eyes. We have been told by a pet dealer that females bite and males don't. We have had many a time when blood was flying (ours, not the birds') and believe me, both sexes bite. We have many pairs of jendays and I will say that they are all colored up beautifully. The females are just as colorful and bright as the males. Even their shape (body and head) is the same. The way we try to choose pairs is by their pelvic bones and then we have them surgically sexed to be completely sure. In the pelvic bone method the males two vent bones are sharp and very close together and the hens' are usually somewhat duller to the touch and are further apart. It does take some practice but soon you can tell that there is a difference. Of course there are quite a few birds where this method of sexing doesn't hold true, especially in very young birds. We have found that selecting them first by the pelvic bone (my husband being 90% right) has saved us many unpaired birds sitting around waiting for mates. Now, about the question of how old a jenday has to be to go to nest. We have had jendays go to nest as early as nine months of age, but it is best to wait till they are between eighteen and twentyfour months old. We have found that at a very young age they will go to nest but sometimes not hatch their eggs or feed their babies. We have even had some young pairs break and eat their eggs. It seems like once they reach about two years old they stop all the monkey business and get down to work. Another question that is usually asked is how long does it take for a pair of jendays to go to nest? An honest straight answer is; when the birds are good and ready to nest that's when they'll nest and not before! We have one pair that a lady owned for three years. They were set up in hopes that they would breed and produce young but they never did. She tired of feeding them and waiting so she sold them to us. Less than three weeks after we purchased them they were on an egg and soon after raised two babies. Some jendays, if compatible, will go to nest in a matter of weeks and some will wait over a year! I have another interesting story on one of our pairs of jendays. We had a proven male jenday that was someone's pet at one time. We went out and purchased a female who also had been a pet and was surgically sexed to find it was a hen. We put the hen in with the male and he instantly attacked her, so we removed her. (By the way, this was a new cage for the male also at that time.) We tried again and the same thing happened. We then removed the male, put the hen in the cage first, and then put him in with her. He again attacked her chasing and biting her. We were about ready to give up when we decided to try one more thing. We took the two jendays and put them in the cage right next to the one they were fighting in earlier. It was just like love at first sight. They started preening each other instantly and he started to feed her. Within five minutes the two were together in the nest box. Less than two weeks after that she was on her first egg! To this day we have never been able to figure out why he would attack her in the other cage. Both cages were set up the same, actually the cages were identical (including the metal feeders, crock pot of water, and nest box). The only difference was that the cages were set up about six inches apart and sitting side by side. Now let's get down to the subject of eggs and babies. Once we have a true pair set up we hope that they are compatible. If everything goes well a pair bond will be developed. By pair bond I mean cleaning and preening each other, male feeding the hen and, hopefully, copulating. Once the pair starts breeding and gets ready to raise a family, the hen starts spending quite a bit of time in the nest box during the day. Most jendays roost in the nest box at night whether they are a true pair or not. Soon, the vent on the hen will swell and within a couple of days the first egg is laid (hopefully in the nest box). Most jendays lay on the average a total of four eggs an egg being laid every other day. We have had clutches as small as one egg and as large as six. When incubating the eggs, each hen is different. We have pairs that start to incubate as soon as the first egg arrives, some that wait till they have three eggs and even some pairs that wait to incubate till the last egg is laid. The average incubation period for jenday eggs is 26 days. With some pairs the hen does the total incubation with the male only entering the nest box at night to sleep. And, on the other hand, we have pairs where both male and female incubate. So just remember that what seems right for one pair may not be the right way for another. Once the babies hatch it is vitally important that the pair has plenty of fruits and vegetables and ours even receive wheat bread. I inspect the nest box twice a day (morning and evening) to make sure everything is fine. The jenday babies grow so fast that by the time they are six weeks old they are almost feathered, and between ten and twelve weeks old they are usually eating on their own. All our babies, however, are hand fed from the time they are two weeks old (sometimes even younger if there is a problem). The formula we use is very similar to Velma Harts' in Bates and Busenbark Parrots and Related Birds. Having the jendays hand fed can have many advantages. The jenday parents get a rest and the babies turn out so tame they make excellent pets that learn to talk and do tricks. And even the tamest jendays will breed and raise babies. We feel that the Jen day conure with its bright sunny golden head, fire red chest and under wings, blue flight and tail feathers and deep bright green body is one of the most beautiful of the conure family.


Using ethanol-salt extraction and ion-exchange chromatography, an acid protein was isolated from 80S pea ribosomes. The protein is localized in the large subunit, is phosphorylated and has a molecular weight of 14000 and pI of 4.7. These features and the results of a comparative study of tryptic hydrolysates of the plant protein and of the protein under study suggest that the latter is homologous to the ribosomal protein L7/L12 of a prokaryotic type.


A method for producing a fabric (8, 9), said fabric (8, 9) has at least one monofil or monofil weft thread from hochschrumpfbarem material and warp threads of low shrink material which is characterized in that in the weaving process to the at least one monofil or monofil is interwoven weft thread (1, 2) at least a running in the same shed multifilament weft thread (18, 19).


Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a frequent hereditary disorder. One of the characteristic features of this disease is the development of neurofibromas. Since the NF1 gene is supposed to be a tumour suppressor gene, these neurofibromas should develop upon inactivation of both NF1 alleles. So far, mutation and deletion have been found to be involved in NF1 gene inactivation. However, these inactivating mechanisms explain the development of only a limited fraction of analysed neurofibromas. In this study, we investigated microsatellite instability (MSI) and promoter methylation as potential contributors to NFI gene inactivation. Since site-specific methylation in the NFI promoter inhibits binding of transcription factors Spl and CREB, we studied the methylation status of their binding sites in particular. We analysed 20 neurofibromas and 3 neurofibrosarcomas, but did not find evidence for microsatellite instability or NFI promoter methylation in any of the tumours. Thus, our data suggest that both microsatellite instability and promoter methylation are unlikely to be major causes of NF1 gene inactivation in these tumours.


Dempsey and Thoms provide an authoritative overview of the development of transportation law in the America in the last century. They trace the development of American transportation (including railroads, pipelines, water transport, motor carriers, and airlines), the origins of economic regulation, the changing role of regulators, and the effects of deregulation. Economic regulations are separated into three areas: policing entry and exit from transportation, efforts to keep rates just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory, and mergers, consolidations, antitrust, and other issues. The limitation of loss, damage, and other tort suits against carriers by legislation is also considered. Other chapters review government operation of railroads from Amtrak and Conrail to commuter trains and local freight lines, the Railway Labor Act and other labor legislation pertinent to the transportation industry, and the sponsorship of urban mass transit by the federal government.


The purpose of this study was to compare step counts and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) across 4 traditional school physical activity modules.


Narration angle is closely connected with narration form.Basically speaking,the problem of narration angle is a problem of power self restriction.In a certain sense,power self restriction and reader involvement setting are just different in approach but equally satisfactory in result.When the narrator has to break through the limited narration angle,the most common method he will use is "skip to another angle".


A vibration diagnostic system for a reciprocating machine has been developed. Its main function is to monitor operation state and to diagnose faults for the reciprocating machine. The software has two parts, one in a diagnostic machine and the other in a PC. It can perform diagnosis on the spot, realize self learning and adapt to many types of machine. It takes main factor autoregressive model as a character extractor and the ANN model as classifier. With the combination of the two technologies, the system can perform data sampling, signal analysis, character extracting and fault recognition automatically. It reduces factors involved by human beings in a diagnosis process, so the accuracy of the diagnosis and the level of intelligence and automation has been raised.


A manifold adapted to be forcibly fitted on an alternator shaft, notably for a motor vehicle, is achieved by overmolding insulating material on the conductive elements and comprises a generally cylindrical body (10a, 10b, 20, 22) having on its outer surface two collector rings (10a, 10b) connected to two elements (14a, 14b) for connection with the son ends (FB) of a coil, the body having a bore (24) for said shaft and an extension insulating material (28) beyond one of the two rings, a side where a fitting force must be exercised. According to the invention, at least one notch (30, 30 ', 30 ") is formed in said extension, in its entire axial thickness, and reveals an edge of the adjacent ring (10b), whereby that the fitting force can be exerted directly on the said ring through the said notch.


The four-month treatment course will be for patients with particular strains of chronic hepatitis C (genotype 2 or 3) who have low virus levels before starting treatment, and who show a rapid virological response by clearing the virus from the blood within the first 4 weeks of treatment. This shorter treatment duration with Pegasys/Copegus will provide patients with the full benefits of therapy while reducing unnecessary drug exposure.


Nonlinear guided waves (NGWs) exhibit extraordinary sensitivity to microstructural changes in materials which are often considered as damage precursors in many structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. However, these changes are usually very small at the microstructural level, thus generating weak nonlinear wave components which are prone to or even overwhelmed by other deceptive and non-damage-related nonlinear sources present in a monitoring system. This may jeopardize the practical implementation of the NGW-based SHM methodology. To tackle this problem, this paper proposes a metamaterial filter (meta-filter (MF)), in the form of a patch to be surface-mounted over the structure under inspection. The MF is designed to purify the probing waves during propagation before reaching the inspection area through tactical elimination of non-damage-related nonlinear components from the actuation. Considering different bonding conditions and the lattice symmetry of the MF, two types of bandgaps, corresponding to Bragg scattering and local resonances, alongside their respective band properties are analyzed. Time-domain finite element simulations are carried out to assess the efficacy of the MF in terms of wave purification in the context of SHM, supported by experimental validations. The designed MF is deployed in an aluminum strip to detect the material microstructural changes induced by a thermal ageing treatment. Results demonstrate the designed MF significantly enhances the detection ability of NGW-based SHM system. Both locally resonant and Bragg bandgaps can, in principle, be used for wave purification. While the former requires precise control of the bonding quality of the MF, the latter relies on symmetrical installation of the MF to ensure a reasonably wide wave filtering range. Considering variability factors in the implementation of the MF and better immunity to the nonlinearity of the bonding layers, preference is given to Bragg bandgap for NGW-based SHM applications.


Silver triangular nanoplates (AgTNPs) is a promising and still relatively poorly studied colorimetric probe for sensing various organic compounds. In particular, they undergo a change in their morphology when interacting with various catecholamines. This process is accompanied by a hypsochromic shift of the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) band of nanoparticles. The greatest spectral changes can be observed in the case of the interaction of AgTNPs with epinephrine which can be the basis for a sensitive method for its detection. It was found that the detection limit of epinephrine under the selected optimal conditions is equal to 3 uM, and the dynamic range is from 9 uM up to 50 uM. Selectivity of the proposed method for the epinephrine determination was evaluated as well. It was shown that the determination does not interfere with a 10-fold excess of vanillylmandelic acid and dopamine, and with a 1000-fold excess of common cations and anions. The proposed approach was successfully applied to the determination of epinephrine in a drug and a sample of artificial urine containing an epinephrine additive.


Objective To detect leptin levels in different stages asthma children, and explain their clinical significance in asthma. Methods Detect leptin in 38 cases of asthma children and 20 cases of normal children with ELISA. Results Serum leptin level in asthmatic group was significantly higher than that of the control group(P 0.01), and leptin level in stage of attact was significantly higher than that in catabasis (P 0.01). Conclusion The imbalance of leptin levels in asthma children suggests it plays an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. Detecting leptin levels can provide a basis judgement of the diagnosis of asthma and state of an illness.


For the multisensor nonlinear systems which have the same measurement function,an adaptive unscented Kalman filter is presented based on the Sage-Husa estimator.This algorithm can estimate the measurement noise variances R(j) of the subsystems by the correlated functions matrix of these educed sequences,and its convergence is also proved.The algorithm avoids the disadvantage of classic Sage-Husa estimator when the Q and R are all unknown.To take full advantage of the information of multisensor systems and improve the filtering accuracy,the adaptive weighted measurement fusion unscented Kalman filter is obtained by using the weighted least squares(WLS) method.A simulation example for a nonlinear system with 3 sensors shows its effectiveness.


Defects related to degradation were observed in an ancient book paperboard cover through nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry and infrared thermography. Data collected with this combined method allowed identifying areas with moisture content and thermal diffusivity anomalies within the front board, corresponding to the different conservation status of the cellulose-based material. Non-destructive testing analytical procedures provide comprehensive knowledge for preserving precious library archives.


Hormones, life style, animal proteins etc are factors that influence menarche. Like-wise a declining trend in age at menarche has been noticed over the past few years. This study was taken up with the objectives to study factors that are associated with menarche in our study population. Hence a school-based cross-sectional study was undertaken for the same which showed the mean age of menstruation was 12.5 years. It was significantly influenced by milk intake (p <.05). Mothers' age at menarche was also found to be significantly associated with their daughters' age at menarche. Conclusion: This study provides an insight into determining factors affecting age of menarche, focusing on dietary and maternal factors. Milk consumption was found to be an important factor.