The purpose of this study was to gather information about how students learn the foundational concept of conservation of matter during a non-chemistry unit on the rock cycle. The unit covered the rock cycle, rock types, and the law of conservation of matter, and took place in a sixth grade classroom of 30 students. Students made significant learning gains from pre-test to post-test and showed mastery in less complex subject areas, but struggled to learn the more complex concept of conservation of matter. More research is needed in order to gain a greater understanding of how students learn foundational concepts such as conservation of matter, and how they are able to apply their understanding across disciplines in science. This study offers suggestions for future work including a series of questions to assess student misconceptions about matter, and how to use those questions to measure students' ability to transfer knowledge to different learning contexts.


ABSTRACT: Dielectric measurements have been made on a silt soilboard with three moisture contents and different densities using a short monopole probe at microwave frequencies. A detailed analysis has been made to obtain the variation law of the real permittivity with the volumetric moisture content and the dry density of the soil studied. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 820–826, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24185


The persistence and efficacy of Helicoverpa zea nuclear polyhedrosis virus (HzNPV) on heading grain sorghum was compared with three multiply-enveloped NPV's from other hosts to which the corn earwo...


Many intermetallic Ce compounds have magnetic ground states unstable under pressure and vs anion concentration in alloys. We analyze the magnetic instability by calculating the magnetic moment in the local spin density approximation and the hybridization width Δ of the Anderson model as a function of volume reduction and composition in CeCd 1-x Zn x , CeAg 1-x Zn x , and CeCd 1-x Ag x . For x=0, Δ is found to increase with volume reduction, as expected. Our calculations may thus explain the behavior of T C vs pressure observed in CeAg in terms of the RKKY-Kondo competition driven by the increase of the s-f coupling


Multiplier is one of the most important arithmetic unit in Microprocessors and DSPs and also a major source of power dissipation. Reducing the power dissipation of multipliers is a key to satisfy the overall power budget of various digital circuits and systems. this paper elaborates the array multiplier through different logic styles. The fundamental units to design a multiplier are adders. The various types of adders used in this paper are complementary MOS (CMOS) logic style, complementary pass- transistor (CPL) logic style, double-pass transistor (DPL) logic style and domino logic style. The main objective of our work is to calculate the average power, delay and PDP of 4x4 multipliers. The design of full adder for low power is obtained and the low power units are implemented on the array multiplier and the results are analyzed for better performance. The designs are done using TANNER S-EDIT tool and are simulated using T-SPICE. The multiplier architectures are designed using the three better above said full adders and the results are compared so that we can obtain a better multiplier design.


The invention discloses a method for detecting the quality of a human face image, pertaining to the technical field of image processing. The method comprises the steps of: conducting LBP processing on an original human face image to obtain an LBP image (P); evaluating the symmetry of P according to a histogram of left cheek and right cheek in the LBP (P); conducting LBP backward processing on the LBP (P) to obtain a reconstructed image R; evaluating the illumination intensity and contrast ratio of P according to P and R; and evaluating the definition of P according to P and through the gradient of an image. The four evaluation methods can be used independently and can give computation weight to individual weight thereof and can also be used simultaneously. The method can be applied to detecting the quality of acquired images in image processing, and has the advantages of totally ignoring the influence of illumination and fully expressing the posture change, illumination intensity and contrast ratio of the human face.


Objective: To study the effects of estrogen on insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women with mild to moderate essential hypertension (EH).Methods:Thirty\|five postmenopausal women with mild and moderate EH were given 0 625 mg Premarin(conjugated estrogen) daily, We examined blood pressure, the levels of plasma glucose and insulin in a fasting state at baseline and at the end of 3 months of therapy, The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed, insulin was examined at the same time. Results: After treatment, blood pressure were changed no significantly, fasting plasma glucose and insulin levels significantly reduced ( P 0 01),insulin sensitivity indexes increased significantly( P 0 01). Conclusion: Estrogen may significantly reduce the levels of plasma glucose and insulin, increase insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women with mild and moderate EH.


The invention relates to the use foam inhibitors as additives in cleaning agents LOW FOAM, ALQUILPOLIETILENOGLICOL ether WITHOUT terminal OH groups of the formula RELIEVED 1-O- (CH 2 CH SUB SUB 2 O) NR SUB ( SQUARED) wherein R HIGH 1 is an alkenyl group or branched alkyl, CHAIN IN LINE OR CYCLIC 6 to 18 carbon atoms, R (squared) is an alkyl group with 4 to 8 carbon atoms CYN is a number between 3 and 6, PREPARED FROM ETHYLENE OXIDE AND A fatty alcohol, or a mixture of fatty alcohols containing a group R HIGH 1 AND etherification therefore with alkylhalide cONTAINING GROUP R (squared) THROUGH ethoxylation FATTY ALCOHOL IN THE PRESENCE OF calcined hydrotalcites as catalyst.


The Korean War was a 'laboratory' of cold war social science, where U.S. military-academic establishment undertook a series of academic research projects. Research reports of the Human Resource Research Institute(HRRI) on psychological warfare and sovietization during the Korean War was a typical example. In this article, the process of organizing the HRRI research team and the production of research material in Korea is examined. It is argued that the process of material production in peripheral areas was a core element in understanding the nature and effect of cold war social scientific research.


Amelogenesis imperfecta represents a variety of structural abnormalities of enamel that result from some malfunction of the enamel organ. The aim of the treatment is to restore esthetics,masticatory function, increase vertical dimension of occlusion and reduce hypersensitivity of teeth. Modern methods and materials have widened the range of available treatment.


Although their monovalent cations are of similar size, the Ag+- and K+-exchanged forms of Caex-A show a different molecular sieve action; thus Ag+ has a site selectivity different from K+.


This study (Q27) is one of a series of studies performed in the Szechtman lab at McMaster University and deposited in the FRDR public repository as a collection under the name "A Digital Library of Behavioural Performance in Standardized Conditions - Szechtman Lab Collection". This collection as a whole constitutes a big dataset containing raw data objects of video, track, and path plot records of rats exploring for 55 minutes a large testing environment in a standardized paradigm during chronic treatment with psychostimulant drugs; for details of this big dataset see, https://www.frdr-dfdr.ca/repo/collection/szechtmanlab.
The historical context for study Q27 was Project_09 entitled: "Probing the environmental modulation of sensitization and compulsive checking". Title of experiment in Q27 was "Effect of sensitization in activity chambers or in the home cage on performance of compulsive checking in the open field".


catedbecause, inaddition toaffecting theinterference between . spatially closely located links, binding interfaces tochannelsmodifications totheMAC layer andutilization ofmultiple affects thetopology ofthenetwork. Ifthechannel assignmentchannels havebeenexplored inliterature. Utilization ofmulisdonewithout taking thetopology into consideration, distance tiple channels andrelated issues havereceived considerable between anytwonodesmayincrease arbitrarily. We proposeattention inrecent days[2], [3], [5], [6]. a noveldistributed channel assignment algorithm thatreduces Inthis paper, we propose toutilize allthechannels provided interference andatthesametimeprovides boundsonthedistance between anytwonodesinthetopology resulting fromchannelbythe802.11 standards toincrease thecapacity ofthemesh assignment. Ouralgorithm isbased ontheconcept ofspanners. network. Useofmultiple channels allows formultiple simulWealso develop andimplement amodification ofAODV,whichtaneous transmissions inthesameneighborhood. Thisreduces usesthecumulative metric WCETT [4] astherouting metric. inter-path andintra-path interference considerably. Weusethis routing algorithm toanalyze theperformance ofour Solutions whichutilize themultiple channels withasingle channel assignment algorithm. Throughextensive simulations in NS-2, weshowthattheproposed channel assignment algorithm radio oneachnodehavealsobeenexplored [5]. But,these provides nearly 30%improvement inthroughput overasimple, solutions require hardwarewhichcanchangefrequencies minimal-connectivity preserving channel assignment algorithm. fast enough nottocause anyperformance degradation. They also require tight timing synchronization between neighboring


70 confirmed cases of malaria were included in the present study to determine the clinical and prognostic implications of hypocalcemia and correlated QT interval (QTc) prolongation in malaria. Peripheral blood smear examination was done to determine the parasite species and the parasite load. Serum calcium level and QTc measurements in electrocardiogram were done for each patient. Thirty patients were of P. falciparum malaria (18 complicated and 12 uncomplicated), 30 of vivax malaria and 10 patients were having mixed (P. falciparum and P. vivax) infection. Hypocalcemia was found in 44 cases in which QTc was prolonged. Fourteen patients who had convulsions, all of them were having QTc prolongation and Ten had hypocalcemia. A total number of eight patients had muscle spasm, of which six had QTc prolongation and five had hypocalcemia. There were 54 cases of cerebral malaria, of which 23 had hypocalcemia as well as QTc prolongation, 15 of them developed renal failure and 14 had high parasitaemia. Two patients died who had hypocalcemia and QTc prolongation due to hepatorenal syndrome. The mean parasite load, QTc interval and serum calcium were 3.07 +/1.2, 0.411 +/0.038 sec and 7.06 +/0.77 mg/dl respectively in complicated falciparum malaria; 1.9 +/0.53, 0.512 +/0.033 sec and 7.02 +/0.49 mg/dl in complicated mixed (Pf + Pv) infection. 1.04 +/0.61, 0.435 +/0.035 sec and 8.07 +/1.07 mg/dl in uncomplicated falciparum malaria and 1.43 +/0.58, 0.403 +/0.019 sec and 8.68 +/0.03 mg/dl in vivax malaria. The difference was significant between complicated falciparum and Vivex (Pf + Pv) infection when compared to uncomplicated falciparum and vivax malaria (p < 0.05). Keyword: Calcium, hypocalcemia, malaria Q-Tc prolongation, quinine, Clotting-bleeding time, Parathyroid Hormone.


Multiple-year testing periods of an International Winter Wheat Performance Nursery (IWWPN) were compared to identify a yield trend for modern winter wheats and to assess the genetic contribution to any predicted yield gain. Average grain protein concentration, plant height, and 1000-kernel weight values of the most productive cultivar in each trial were examined to determine whether simultaneous trends for these traits could be established and/or correlated with yield performance. Data from a uniform set of sites over 12 test periods from 1970 to 1983 indicated yield advancement from 4075 to 5946 kg ha⁻¹ for the most productive wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars. Of this gain, 57% was attributable to improvements in cultural techniques whereas 43% was due to genetic improvements. When data from all reporting test sites were used, predicted yields advanced from 4022 to 5326 kg ha⁻¹ with 55% of the gain attributable to genetic improvement. A slowing in the rate of yield increase was not detected among the most productive wheat cultivars in this study. Generally, increased grain production levels are associated with reductions in grain protein concentration. However, the increased grain yields in the IWWPN were not associated with significant reductions in grain protein concentration. Relative to the long-term check, 'Bezostaya 1', grain yields of the most productive cultivars in the IWWPN showed a significant increase from 1970 to 1983, while the grain protein concentration of these cultivars remained essentially constant. Since high yielding semi-dwarf wheats succeeded many of the older standard-height cultivars during the 1970s it was of interest to determine whether a correlated response between higher yields and reduced height would be apparent among the IWWPN cultivars. Plant height of the most productive cultivars was variable and not closely associated with grain yield per se. Although a trend toward shorter height of these cultivars was not apparent, more of the recently tested cultivars in the IWWPN have been short in stature. The average height of the three most productive cultivars per trial has shown a significant decline from 1970 to 1983. Kernel weight values were variable and not closely correlated with advances in grain yield.


Theoretical innovation is what workers in the theory and practice of trade union should aspire to. At present time,there are some problems demanding prompt solution in the practice of trade union,including the problems of economic domain,anticipating in social development and so on.Moreover,it is necessary to seri- ously tackle the difficulties and problems that have occurred in the development of Chinese trade unions and global workers' movement.The theoretical innovation on trade union should be made in the light of background of our own time.And the new research method should be taken so as to solve the practical difficulties and problems as soon as possible.


In urban streets, pedestrians compete with vehicles for right-of-way. In some situations, it may be very challenging for pedestrians to deal with complex, sometimes hostile, traffic conflicts, especially in urban areas. This paper provides an exploratory analysis of pedestrian behavior on four types of mid-blocks crossing facilities in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. The analysis was based on descriptive statistics and logistic regression models of variables related to signal control, facilities, and pedestrian characteristics and behavior. The models considered the following binary variables: (i) crossing vs. no crossing during pedestrian red phase; (ii) driver yielded vs. did not yield while pedestrian crossing; (iii) normal vs. aggressive/risked pedestrian behavior while crossing. A total of 2,400 crossings were considered in this study. The results show that, in general, the increase of traffic demand was related to easier crossings. Moreover, the presence of raised crosswalks increased in about 20 times the chances of a driver yielding to pedestrians in comparison to the marked-only crosswalk. In addition, the presence of mechanisms that facilitate pedestrian crossings such as raised crosswalks or traffic signals reduced the number of aggressive/risked crossings considerably.


Aim of work: To determine bacterial causative organisms of premature rupture of membrane (PROM) and its detrimental effect on maternal and neonatal outcome.Patients and Methods: This study included 150 pregnant females at gestational age between 28 up to39 weeks who were followed up from onset of PROM till two weeks after delivery. The study included females. High vaginal swab and amniotic fluid sample were taken for culture and sensitivity. The outcome measures were the prevalence of genital tract bacterial infection, in addition to fetal and maternal complication in swab +ve patients.Results: The mean age was 27.7±4.69 years ranged between 19-38 years, with mean gestational age of 34.81±2.7 weeks. Ninety patients (60%) were swab +ve and 60 patients (40%) were -ve cultured results. There was a significant increase in cases with positive culture results in neonatal sepsis, prematurity and early neonatal death (END). The most common organism were G(B) Beta hemolytic streptococci in mothers with Chorioamnionitis and G(A)Beta hemolytic streptococci in puerperal sepsis. The most commonest organism founded in swab +ve cases with neonatal sepsis was Coagulase -ve Staph, while it was G(b) StreptAglactiae was in premature cases, E-coli in incubated neonates, and non-hemolytic streptococci organism in cases with END.Conclusion: The screening of the vaginal infections in patients complain of PROM, can be a useful method for prediction of preterm labor. Bacterial role in the etiology of PROM has been suggested. The mother with PROM, also her neonate, might gain some benefit from this rapid tests and antibiotics treatment.


Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cytokine molecules present in a rat tendinopathy model and in the torn edge of human rotator cuff tendon in an attempt to understand their role in tendon degeneration. Methods: A rat tendon overuse model was used with custom microarrays consisting of 5760 rat oligonucleotide features in duplicate. Seventeen torn supraspinatus tendon and matched intact subscapularis tendon samples were collected from patients undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery.Control samples of subscapularis tendon were collected from ten patients undergoing arthroscopic stabilisation surgery.Specimens were analysed for the presence of interleukins 18, 15, 12, 11, 6, 2, macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF), and tumour necrosis factor ƒN by semiquantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Tendinopathy was assessed on a basic histological scale. Results: Rat Microarray analysis: Upregulation of IL-6, IL-11 and IL18 receptor was noted in the degenerated rat supraspinatus tendon. Downregulation of IL-2 was noted. No other cytokine signal was expressed. Histological analysis: All torn human supraspinatus tendons changes consistent with marked tendinopathy. Matched subscapularis tendon showed appearances of moderate-advanced degenerative change. Cytokine mRNA expression: TNF-£\ mRNA expression was found to be significantly elevated (p Immunohistochemical analysis: Presence of IL-18, IL-15, Il-6, MIF and TNF-£\ was confirmed in all samples of torn supraspinatus tendon. Significantly increased levels of IL-18, IL-15, IL-6 and MIF were found in torn supraspinatus. (p Conclusions: Cytokines have been shown to promote the intensive production of reactive O2 metabolites 1 and are potent agonists of protein kinases 2 . Our finding of significantly increased cytokine levels may suggest that these molecules when expressed during the degenerate and healing phases of tendon injury result in the subsequent production of reactive O2 species and protein kinases 3 causing tendon damage or failure of the normal reparative process. Our finding of marked tendinopathy in matched subscapularis tendon may also provide a useful human tendinopathy model.


Korean celadon glazes from the 10th through 16th centuries are studied and compared with Chinese celadon. Mineralogy and composition of the glazes are discussed as they relate to the characteristic greyish green color. Wollastonite and anorthite at the glaze body interface, which provide a rough, white reflective surface on Chinese green glazes, is not found on the Korean celadons. Glaze thickness and inclusion content changed over time, but glaze composition seems to have remained fairly constant. Crazing seems to have been used intentionally as a design element in inlaid celadons. Some differences from Chinese celadons may be explained by the smaller size of Korean kilns, which fostered quicker cooling and inhibited nucleation of anorthite, wollastonite, and cristobalite at the glaze-body interface. Korean celadon glaze technology is interpreted as a conservative tradition which evolved through time to meet popular demand as porcelain replaced green glazes for court use. While similar to southern Chinese technology, the characteristic translucency was attained by different means.


A guide to dairy farming for new farmers in the South, for the purpose of improving the quality of their products.


K lán J ., Z im a T . and B audišová D. (1994): P o ten tia ted effect of e thanol on A m anita phalloides poisoning. Czech Mycol. 47: 145-150 In te rac tio n of th e effects o f d ea th cap an d e thanol in ra ts was stud ied . E thano l was found to have no p ro tec tiv e effect du ring poisoning by A m anita phalloides. In co n trast, it bu rdened h ep ato cy tes w ith its own detoxification an d m ade th e absorp tion of th e fungal toxins easier due to a changed m em brane fluidity. Besides, et hanol was responsible for an increased deimage to the cellu lar m em branes by free rad icals th a t o rig inated in its m etabolism . T he p o ten tia ted effects of th e two noxae is th u s defined. O u r resu lts suggest th a t th e in toxication by A. phalloides parallelled by digestion of a sm all dose of a n alcoholic d rin k will have a m ore serious course and worse prognosis.


The popularity of British children's literature about the war after 1918 shaped the memory of the war in the minds of many children. This paper explores presentations of the foreigner in Bessie Marchant's Molly Angel's Adventures and D. H. Parry's With Haig on the Somme. Both books are packed with encounters between English heroines or heroes and their French and Belgian allies as well as meetings with the feared German enemy. Read together, the texts serve as a powerful reminder of the pervasiveness of the war into areas of civilian life such as the nursery and the schoolroom.


[Abstract] Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a model organism for chloroplast studies. Besides other convenient features, the feasibility of chloroplast genome transformation distinguishes this unicellular alga as ideal for the manipulation of chloroplastic gene expression aiming biotechnological goals, such as improved biofuel and biomass production. Ribulose 1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (EC 188.8.131.52, Rubisco) is the photosynthetic carbon-fixing enzyme which is considered crucial for biomass accumulation in algal cultures. Purification of wild type and site-directed mutants of Rubisco in C. reinhardtii is usually performed to study its catalytic properties and assess the carbon-fixing potential of the strains. In this protocol Rubisco is extracted through sonication of cell pellets, and purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, sucrose gradient centrifugation (Goldwaithe and Bogorad, 1975) and anion exchange chromatography.


The present work is devoted to the investigation of the peculiarities of fluctuations in glass-forming liquids. To justify our reasons we will anlayze the character of molecular light scattering in silicate glass, that was the object of experimental study. Our approach to the problem of fluctuations in glasses and liquids near the glassification point is based on the following general motivations. Highly-viscous and glass-like states of glass-forming liquids are in the metastable region, which correspond to the crystal state of a system in the equilibrium. The behavior of a system is determined by relations between two characteristic times: τw(T) and τe, where the former is the waiting time for the critical nucleus and τe is the time for cooling the system from the melting temperature to the spinodal temperature Ts at the same pressure. If τe <(<<) τw(Ts) the system smoothly passes to the glass-like state. Here two factors are very important. In metastable region of a system the nuclei of the new phase (crystal) appear. The fraction volume φ(T), occupied by them, depends on the cooling rate. The value of φ is the less the more quick cooling the system is. However, below the spinodal in accordance with thermodynamics the homogeneous states of a system are impossible. The existence of the lasts contradicts the stabilty conditons. From here we conclude that typical glass-like states in a system should be microinhomogeneous. Similar conclusion is confirmed by the results of experimental study of the structure. Now we should note that the strongly anisotropic interaction between nonspyherical molecules of glass-forming liquids leads to considerable coupling between the translational and orientational degrees of freedom in a system. In other words the changes of density is accompanied by the corresponding modulation of molecular orientations. Due to strong increasing the shear viscosity at approaching the glassification point some configurations of the centers of mass and the orientations of molecules froze. More exactyly, only weak thermal deviations of coordinates of molecules from their local equilibrium values are possible. The radical change of the global molecular configuration requires exponentially large time. Thus, the combination of frozen and thermal fluctuations is the distinctive feature of glass-like state of a system. It is necessary to note that different ways of cooling of a system lead to nonequivalent frozen fluctuations.


Saudi Arabia is looking to expand its oil production. However, opinion is divided as to whether it can increase production enough to compensate for natural decline rates of around 700,000 b/d each year and still maintain the Saudi policy of running a spare capacity of between 2mn and 2.5mn b/d to regulate the market in times of crisis, writes Mojgan Djamarani.


A new species, Neidium vietnamensis sp. nov., is described from Phu Quoc Island, South Vietnam, Southeast Asia. The valves of this new species have a distinct linear outline with non-protracted, we...


The People Capability Maturity Model® (People CMM®) advocates a staged approach to organizational change. Developed by the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute, this model seeks to bring discipline to the people side of management by promoting a structured, repeatable, and predictable approach for improving an organization's workforce-related processes. A system of best practice processes, and associated practices, holds potential for changing an organization's culture from that of an "ad-hoc"racy to one pursuing workforce excellence. This article introduces Human Performance Technology professionals to the model, its approach, and its potential to improve workforce performance.


Abstract It has been established that the dark conduction of isatin-[thiophene]-indophenine and of three polymers in which it is a repeating unit is described by the expression [sgrave] = [sgrave] exp (Eact/kT). The indophenine repeating units in the polymers are connected with a single bond, an oxygen atom, or a methylene group. The electronic spectra in solution and in the solid state indicate that these bonds between the basic units do not interrupt the conjugation along the chain. There is no correlation between the activation energy calculated from optical data and the thermal activation energy of conduction. The latter is considered as a sum of the energy necessary for the generation of the carriers and the energies needed to overcome the intramolecular and intermolecular potential barriers. The values of the parameters characteristic of the semiconducting properties are determined in the first place by the structure of the polymers as a solid body. Crystallinity tends to improve the electrophysical...


In comparison with the acquirement of knowledge by expression of symbol or numerical formula, the experience based knowledge acquirement give stable and clear understanding of information to a learner. Various educational systems based on computer such as virtual reality, intelligent learning system, visualization of concept, simulation-based system, and microworld have so far been developed. In this paper, a method of two dimensional visualization of a physical law by simulation has been suggested to educate a learner. Especially, learning the law of gravity by simulation based educational method gives a learner indirect experience that enhance the efficiency of knowledge acquirement clearly. The visualization methods of a real-time physical law and a virtual anomalies` physical law by simulation are proposed in this paper to deliver information or knowledge clearly. Then we show that a learner can acquire some knowledge effectively by the proposed method.


Based on the software of eCognition and using the WorldView-2 image data of the southern region in Kunshan,this paper realized water body information extraction with object-oriented technology through choosing suitable scale and combining the features of image texture,shape and spectrum to construct rule set. Using the measured results to check the consistency of shape and area,the degree of accuracy can reach 89. 14%and 92. 06% respectively,which indicates using object-oriented classification technology to extract water body information from high resolution remote sensing image is reliable and practical.


Results from 32 project groups in a large R&D organization showed that group cohesiveness, physical distance, job satisfaction, and innovative orientation were associated with performance of projec...


Stephen Krog has pointed out that landscape architecture has an ill-studied Modernist history, and further suggested that landscape architecture is too theoretically bereft to have a considered theoretical Post-Modernism anyway. The projects that make up the Sunburnt exhibition all emerge from practitioners who were educated during the Post-Modern period in Australia, roughly the 10 years between 1985 and 1995 - a period corresponding to the Australian Bicentennial celebrations in 1988. This essay will quickly trace lineages of education, office experience and ideas through the projects and practices during that period. In common with theories of Post-Modernism in architecture propounded at the time, many of the projects exhibit an interest in pluralistic views of places, cultures and issues, including engaging contextual relationships with places, and involving urban form. These designers were interested in form at a time when it was regarded as incidental rather than important.


A new equivalent circuit model for lead-acid batteries is presented, taking into account internal losses due to self- discharge and polarisation effect within a battery. This model is compact in describing both the ohmic voltage drop and overvoltage effects in a combined form of polarisation effect, using a single equivalent resistance for each operating mode. The battery electromotive force is represented by a dependent voltage source whose value changes with the state of charge. The circuit parameters expressed in non-linear function forms are used to describe the charging and discharge characteristics. The model has been derived from the manufacturer's data and validated by experiment.


SummaryIfosfamide, like cyclophosphamide, belongs to the group of oxazaphosphorines. Regarding the profile of action of both compounds, there are important differences:Chemical structure: One of the two 2-chloroethyl groups of the exocyclic nitrogen mustard moeity of cyclophosphamide is transposed in ifosfamide onto the cyclic phos-phamide nitrogen of the oxazaphosphorine ring.Pharmacodynamics: Ifosfamide differs from cyclophosphamide in the behavior of the time constants for the curative and lethal action. Its cumulation of curative action is increased and that of the toxic action is reduced. Therefore, fractionated dosage regimens or continuous infusion over 1–5 days increase the tolerability and remission rates with ifosfamide.Metabolism: Like cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide is also 'activated' in the liver. As with cyclophosphamide, the basis of cytotoxic specificity and cancerotoxic selectivity is the oxidized oxazaphosphorine ring hydroxylated at the carbon 4 atom. 'Side chain oxidation' with formation of chloroacetaldehyde plays a more important role with ifosfamide than with cyclophosphamide.Pharmacokinetics: The spontaneous toxification of activated ifosfamide is slower than that of cyclophosphamide, and the alkylation rate of the end product of ifosfamide toxification is much slower than that of nitrogen mustard phosphoric acid diamide which is the toxification product of cyclophosphamide.Pharmacotherapeutic characteristics: 4-hydroxy-ifosfamide has the highest cytotoxic specificity of all oxazaphosphorine metabolites. Therapeutic comparisons conducted with optimal dosages confirm the superior therapeutic range of ifosfamide in numerous experimental animal tumors.Detoxification: The wider therapeutic range of ifosfamide is based on the reduction in toxicity by dose fractionation. A further increase in selectivity was made possible by an effective uroprotector (mesna) which obviates the therapy-limiting urotoxic side-effects, especially hemorrhagic cystitis.


The global financial crisis has created a structural break in the global economy. Businesses thus need to reassess the strategies they have developed to operate in a highly integrated global economy. Initial reactions have often been defensive as companies downsize and call for government support. However, times of crisis are also times of opportunity. In the short-term, opportunities arise for instance in 'value for money' segments. Long term opportunities require managers to develop foresight to use the crisis to position themselves for the next upswing. Business leaders thus need to develop scenarios of the new economy, and envisage their role in it.The current public debate largely focuses on the origins of the crisis, yet it is time look forward to address the question, how can businesses survive the crisis, and position themselves for the recovery whenever it may come? This paper aims to initiate this forward-looking debate. The main focus thus is on generating ideas on how to move forward, rather than to provide definitive answers.


Gabion check dams (GCDs) are among the most diffused soil and water conservation practices in Burkina Faso, used to cope with soil loss and reservoir siltation. Specifically, CGDs are flexible, permeable structures built in gullies to create a sedimentation bench that decreases the average upstream slope. The consequent slowing-down of the flowing water limits flood-wave sediment transport capacity reducing soil loss upstream, reduces the amount of trapped sediment in reservoirs and promotes water infiltration into the soil. The present work provides concise guidelines for the design and implementation of GCDs in Burkina Faso. This was achieved gathering the experience developed in the frame of several cooperation and development projects led by the Italian non-governmental organization. The theoretical elements and procedural steps to perform an appropriate design and implementation of GCDs are described and discussed, including hydrological and hydraulic methods to assess stream flow characteristics, spillway functioning, siltation rate, dimensions and stability of the


A major challenge in the process of designing analog and digital circuits for high-temperature applications is the usefulness and completeness of information supplied by component manufacturers. The models supplied in datasheet packages require verification and/or extension to be integrated into systems that function at or above 200°C. Between 85°C and 175°C this activity is accomplished through breadboarding and population of bespoke printed circuit boards respectively. Before investing in a fabrication run, rapid additive prototyping can be used to verify designs and inform designers if modification is required. Additively manufactured modules can also interface with final products and can be easily integrated with other high temperature modules such as Ozark IC's XNode® single board high-temperature computers. The materials used for fabrication of the high-temperature prototype module are selected in a manner that is compatible with the components used for fabrication. Compatible materials are required for all interfaces; connector-to-board, board-to-passive, board-to-wirebond, and wirebond-to-die. Using proper materials and packaging techniques, operation at 200°C for over 7000 hours has been achieved. Ozark IC has developed a post-fire process that allows for maskless single-layer board fabrication, from design to electrical test, in less than one week. Currently in development is an additive dielectric deposition process, which will enable multilayer board fabrication using commercially available metal and dielectric inks. This process was used to fabricate a Resistance Temperature Detector readout function (RTD board) with the dimensions of 5 cm X 5 cm which was then integrated with an XNode AQ200 module and tested at temperatures up to 200°C. This material system was used to fabricate the single-layer and multilayer additively manufactured substrates which have tested successfully at temperatures up to 800°C.


A bibliographical study of protocols for obtaining and evaluating mouse and cow embryos has been performed. There have been retained those methods that can be applied successfully in less equipped laboratories.
 In order to obtain mouse embryos, females of any age may be used; they will receive a multiple ovulation therapy with pregnant mare's serum and hCG followed by natural breeding, and their collection will be made by ovaryhysterectomy at 40 hours after identifying the vaginal plug.
Cow embryos will be obtained following FSH or pregnant mare's serum multiple ovulation treatments, followed by artificial insemination and non-surgical collection on
Day 7.
 The methods used to evaluate viability of embryos are as follows: examining morphology using the optical microscope, staining with trypan blue, biochemical ascertainment of glucose, fructose and lactose consumption.
 A comparison study between these methods and their efficacy in evaluating the viability of embryos will be carried on


This paper identifies the extent to which the BRICS maintain the existing
international order. Such an inquiry has important implications for our
understandings of the state of contemporary international order and what future order
will entail. Ultimately, this paper identifies that the BRICS are the crux of any
changes to world order, and that the story has yet to be written. In turn, key questions
are highlighted to map how to use the BRICS as a subject of inquiry about reordering
of international politics.
Conceptually, the paper outlines an argument for understanding changes to
international society in terms of legitimacy. There are two sources of authority in
international society, power and values, which comprise legitimacy. Changes in the
respective hierarchies of power and values yield different kinds of change. Change in
the power hierarchy of international society yields change in the identity and/or
number of great powers. Change in the value hierarchy of international society, the
values which define the purpose of international society, is what leads to reordering.
This framework is applied to the BRICS and contemporary international order.


We use Model Core Potential to calculate the geometry and binding energy of systems with heavy elements that consist hydrogen bond and van der Walls.The results show that we can use the counterpoise method proposed by Boys and Bernardi when studying intermolecular interactions within MCP basis sets at MP2 level.Compared to all-electron basis sets at the same level,the average relative error of binding energy was 5.2 %.This result was accurate,but BSSE was generally large for MCP basis sets.The calculation time was much shorter for MCP basis sets than that of all-electron basis sets.Also,the efficiency of MCP method is improved with the increase of the core electron shell of heavy elements.


The invention relates to a split bearing block base which comprises a convex circle, a bottom plate, a mounting hole, joint screw holes, a bearing guard bottom, an oil chamber bottom and a typecasting strip surface, and is characterized in that reinforced ribs are arranged on the bottom plate of the base, below the bearing guard bottom, on both sides of the typecasting strip surface and between the joint screws. The split bearing block base has the advantage of simple structure, and enhances the strength of the bottom plate, especially for the strength of large-scale bearing blocks.


Based on the voussoir beam theory,the bi-directional(up and down wards) movement model of top-coal caving face was promoted.Accordingly the energy and stress sources of rockburst were analyzed.By the seismic observation technology,the microseism(MS) effect of the overlying strata movement was observed and the achieved results are as follows:(1) the MS activity is periodic,before rockburst,the total energy continuously gets larger,and when rockburst happens,it gets up to the largest,and then it drops extraordinarily;(2) before rockburst happens,the events firstly get higher and then drop.The rockburst happens during the process of events reducing;(3) the average elevation can reflect the development state of the movement of overlying strata.Before rockburst happens,the average elevation gets higher,and when or pre of the rockburst,the elevation gets up to the largest value,while it drops abruptly after rockburst happening:(4) during the MS activity cycle,the spatial distribution of seismcities gets higher in elevation and vast in space before rockburst.When rockburst happens,it gets up to the peek values and the strata near the working face active strongly.As a result,the rockburst mainly happens during the overlying strata moving downwards,hence it?s possible to observe and prevent rockburst by monitoring the upward movement of the overlying strata.


Beginning with the minimal complete cells graph in dynamic manufacturing alliance, the linear was distinguished from nonlinear relation among cells. Under the linear interactions, a systematic effect model(SEM) was created in the form of constant coefficient differential equation. Under the nonlinear interactions, the two dimensional Volterra model were applied and extended, then a new SEM in the form of Volterra model was developed. The solution and its process can be the tool for determining the characteristics of cells, cells selection and the analysing of returns trend of cells.


Electrode catheter ablation is one of the remedies for atrial fibrillation (AF) which is a kind of heart disease. Catheter ablation is an operation which suppresses AF by the insertion of a catheter into the heart and burning the parts causing premature atrial contractions (PAC). However, generally, the operation takes several hours since the parts causing PAC remain to identified and reoperations are frequently required. If only the parts causing PAC can be detected, early and accurate operation would be possible. This paper describes discovering the parts causing the PAC from catheter electrocardiograms (C-ECGs) by using a novel analytical method to detect the signal derived from the heart. Patients were done the catheter ablation, and the catheter electrocardiogram was measured. In this paper we show the first, the parts causing the PAC from C-ECGs by translation error using Wayland test and Double-Wayland test. Second, it is shown that the rule of the measurement signal can be distinguished from translation error, and finally, these methods can be applied to the detection of the parts causing PAC from patient's C-ECGs.


The catalytic hydration of cyanohydrins to their corresponding α-hydroxyamides provides a route to industrially useful α-hydroxy amides, α-hydroxy esters, α-hydroxy carboxylic acids, and their acry...


The invention provides a phenol modified aliphatic water reducer and a preparation method thereof as well as a complex water reducer containing the aliphatic water reducer. The phenol modified aliphatic water reducer is prepared from the following raw materials in parts by weight: 200-400 of formaldehyde, 80-120 of acetone, 80-120 of sodium sulfite or 120-180 of sodium hydrogensulfite, 10-20 of phenol, 60-90 of sodium pyrosulfite, 1-2 of sodium hydroxide, 20-35 of sodium sulfanilate and a proper amount of water. The water reducer provided by the invention has the characteristics of early strength, obvious reinforcing property, high slump maintenance value and small slump gradual loss.


The current Internet is facing serious scalability problems and the over- loading of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses is regarded as an important reason. The Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP) is proposed as a network-based so- lution that separates IP addresses into Routing Locators (RLOCs) and Endpoint Identiers (EIDs) to address the routing scalability problems. It is a critical chal- lenge for LISP to design a scalable and ecient mapping system. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical mapping system (HMS). HMS consists of two levels with the bottom level maintaining the EID-to-RLOC mappings in an Autonomous System (AS) and the upper level storing the mappings between EID-prexes and ASs in the global network. We adopt one-hop Distributed Hash Table (DHT) to organize


Shear wave propagation is at the heart of several elastography methods designed to quantify the elastic properties of living tissues. These differ in excitation mechanism, imaging modality, volume of tissue being sampled, and the diagnostic output [Parker et al. PMB, 2011]. Some of these techniques are already available to clinicians as diagnostic tools for the identification of pathology, particularly in the diagnosis of liver fibrosis. However, these techniques work in different parameter regimes, making it difficult to quantitatively compare different elastography modalities. As a result, the critical cutoffs for fibrosis staging are system dependent [Ferraioli et al. WFUMB, 2015]. We present progress toward a framework to allow quantitative comparison of different viscoelastic measurement techniques, including shear wave based elastography (SWE) methods (e.g., acoustic radiation force based SWE and magnetic resonance elastography), and a novel vibration rheometry of gel phantoms. In so doing, we seek ...


Should the Earth's land surface be protected from the natural forces of erosion caused by wind and water? Obviously, without question, yet the Earth's 13 billion ha of land are at serious risk of b...


These proceedings address engineering issues related to vibratory pile driving and deep soil compaction. Also included are keynote lectures and the documentation of an international vibratory class-A prediction event.


The use of Functional Movement Screening (FMS TM ) for elite university female netball players was investigated by evaluating the relationship between FMS TM total score and various performance tests. Out of 20 netball players, 19 completed the FMS TM screen consisting of deep overhead squat, hurdle step, in-line lunge, active straight leg raise, shoulder stability, trunk stability and rotary stability; and the performance tests consisting of maximum vertical and lateral jumps, 5m- and 10m-sprints, 5-0-5 agility tests and repeated sprints. Spearmanꞌs correlations (p≤0.05) examined the relationships between the FMS TM and performance tests. Players with higher FMS TM total scores were faster on the 5-0-5 agility test (r=-0.52, p=0.02) and covered more distance in the repeated sprints test (r=0.51, p=0.03). Agility 5-0-5 test was also significantly associated with repeated sprints (r=-0.87, p=0.02), while no significant relationships were found with 5m- or 10m-sprints. Due to specific demands of netball, female players develop physical performance characteristics that do not depict strong association with the FMS TM assessment. Coaches and trainers should use both tools for comprehensive performance evaluation of their players. Keywords: Functional movement screening; Netball; Agility; Speed


Induction of in vitro sugarcane through somatic embryogenesis technique influenced by addition of plant growth regulator. The objective of this research was to determine appropriate formulation medium for indirect somatic embryogenesis induction on two potential sugarcane SUT Event 02 and PS 881. This research carried out in three steps, callus induction, callus proliferation, and shoot regeneration. Explants taken from basal of in vitro plantlet one month SUT Even t 02 and PS 881 resulted from shoot regeneration previously. Five different medium formulas applied for callus induction and one formula for proliferation and shoot regeneration. Research using completely randomized design (CRD) factorial with five different formulation induction mediums. The result showed that the best respond of indirect somatic embryogenesis on SUT Event 02 and PS 881 was medium containing  3 mgL -1 of  2,4-D.


Domestic scholars have given a multi-disciplinary research and practical try for context. In this paper, the author gave analysis on role played by context in the elements of political perception's antecedent, adjustment and, and then discussed impact effectiveness of context for organizational politics perception existed in organizational behavior. The paper summed up context and measurement elements of organizational politics perception reflected the same features in employee's psychological, behavioral dimensions and it had non-uniform, contradictory characteristics with various elements measured by organizational politics perception. At last, the paper gave constructive comments about context's practical application in organization and human resources management.


Valves belonging to the genus Plectodon Carpenter, 1864 were identified in collections made under the REVIZEE program, off Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (32o55'S and 50o34'W), at a depth of 99 m; and from material deposited in museums. This is the first record of the genus from the South Atlantic Ocean. The transfer of the species Cuspidaria braziliensis E. A. Smith, 1915, to the genus Plectodon is proposed, and a lectotype and paralectotype are designated herein. The shell of Plectodon braziliensis (E. A. Smith, 1915) is characterized.


Thermal performance of buildings is under permanent investigation since heating in buildings represents essential financial part of the operating cost. Heat loss is an unwanted phenomenon that increases demand for financial sources and thus the precise evaluations of heat losses are desired. A common procedure used for the evaluation of heat loss is based on heat conduction through walls. The interior and exterior temperatures along with the total thermal resistance of the wall are crucial parameters for determining heat loss. The temperatures in the vicinity of walls are considerably influenced by the thermal radiation emitted by the heating system installed in the room. In order to take into account this influence, it is necessary to develop a computational formalism for radiant heat transfer in inner spaces of buildings. In the present contribution such a computational formalism is proposed. It employed the matrix of view factors characteristic for the given room and the system of algebraic equations for radiosities and heat densities.


Thionucleosides are uniquely present in tRNA. In many organisms, tRNA specific for Lys, Glu, and Gln contain hypermodified 2-thiouridine (s2U) derivatives at wobble position 34. The s2 group of s2U34 stabilizes anticodon structure, confers ribosome binding ability to tRNA and improves reading frame maintenance. Earlier studies have mapped and later identified the mnmA gene (formerly asuE or trmU) as required for the s2U modification in Escherichia coli. We have prepared a nonpolar deletion of the mnmA gene and show that it is not required for viability in E. coli. We also cloned mnmA from E. coli, and overproduced and purified the protein. Using a gel mobility shift assay, we show that MnmA binds to unmodified E. coli tRNALys with affinity in the low micromolar range. MnmA does not bind observably to the nonsubstrate E. coli tRNAPhe. Corroborating this, tRNAGlu protected MnmA from tryptic digestion. ATP also protected MnmA from trypsinolysis, suggesting the presence of an ATP binding site that is consiste...


Ever wonder what the next generation of network forwarding devices will look like? Some will simply switch and route traffic in a manner that is similar to what is seen now, others may communicate with an external controller to determine forwarding options. Yet another class of systems will be created and their use will not be known as they will stay hidden inside datacenters with features completely unknown to the users whose data transits the network. It may be difficult to predict exactly which features will be included, but one feature that is an almost certainty is they will be running a Linux kernel. While many of the devices in use today are running Linux there is little collaboration around this effort as the forwarding ASICs are only enabled by the use of closed-source SDK and out-of-tree kernel drivers and modules provided by the hardware vendor. This paper will provide some historical background on the current situation and propose a way to enable rapid, zero-cost development on datacenter-grade ASICs by starting the process of Breaking Open these SDKs to provide an infrastructure that may allow for inclusion in the upstream Linux kernel.


This paper explores issues around reflective practice and refers to an undergraduate module 'Understanding and Responding to Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse', designed for professionally qualified students undertaking various 'top‐up degrees' (e.g. nurses, social workers, midwives, health visitors and other health‐care workers). The module incorporated a reflective writing component at the end of each weekly session. In this context we suggest that reflection is an active mulling over of experiences so that difficult thoughts and feelings can be explored and learnt from. Reviewing these writings revealed key personal and emotional experiences, and a number of themes were clearly identified. Although many of the emotions and experiences were recurring, some seemed to be developing over the 10 weeks of the module. We concluded that the group's disparate emotions of denial, fear, disgust and confusion were turned into learning, acceptance and understanding and suggest that these were achieved partly because of the reflective process. This was a crucial factor in the students' learning for themselves and about each other, as well as improving professional practice.


As computer hardware and software continue to grow in power and complexity, with new advances announced every day, many engineers wonder how to keep up with the rapid pace of change. When are programs and systems really obsolete and when does a vendor simply want you to purchase another expensive system. At Boyle Engineering, Newport Beach, Calif., we've found that investing time and money into researching packages, keeping abreast of the computer industry in general and networking with friends and associates to be highly effective. In many cases, we've found upgrades offer useful additions of power and features, but in others, it means a time consuming process of converting old files and custom-made software developed around the old package. In one case, we've been using a program last upgraded in 1988 with no ill-effect on our practice. But judgements about whether to upgrade or stay in place require a thorough knowledge of both what the industry has to offer and what your company needs.


The dewatering and drying of sludge are important to achieve volume reduction and resource utilization, while the sticky properties of sludge is one of the main problems in the dewatering and drying process. Therefore, reducing the viscosity of sludge and the amount of sludge adhesion is critical to improving the operating efficiency of drying equipment. In practice, the surface electro-osmosis has been used to reduce the adhesion of soil to a loading shovel, and electro-osmotic pulse is applied to a concrete structure to achieve humidity reduction. In this research, the effect of surface electro-osmosis pulse on reducing the adhesion of sludge is studied by using a periodically changing electric field combined with surface electroosmosis technology. The results showed that with surface electro-osmosis pulse, the sludge adhesion stress is reduced from 1514.7 to 820.5Pa at 45% water content within 10s, which indicates that surface electro-osmosis pulse has application value in dewatering and drying process.


Lasers have made great strides in therapeutics and have become indispensable tools for the excision of soft-tissue lesions from the oral cavity. This quick progress can be attributed to the fact that laser excision provides excellent hemostasis, better field visibility, and maximum postoperative patient comfort. Following is the series of case reports where intra-oral soft-tissue lesions were excised using a diode laser.


Objective The function of induced apoptosis of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) to lung carcinoma cell line (A549) was studied in this paper.The basic data of study was provided for the clinical application of TIL's treatment to lung carcinoma. Methods The TIL cells were separated from pleural effusion of lung carcinoma patients by Ficoll-Hypaque ( 1.077±0.001 ) After cultured for 20 days in completed medium with 1000U/ml IL-2, TIL cells co-cultured with target cells (carcinoma cell line) for 24 hours. Then cultured cells were smeared on the slides, and fixed the slides in 10% formalin.Apoptotic carcinoma cells were labeled by TdT-mediate dUTP nick end labeling(TUNEL) method.Results Apoptotic index (%)of carcinoma cells was:8.56±0.84 in TIL experimental group, 2.10±0.86 in control group.There was different significance between the above two groups(p0.01).Conclusions Apoptosis of lung carcinoma cells induced by TIL cells may be one of the mechanisms of TIL cells killed lung carcinoma cells.


Objective: To assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics of the anti-myostatin adnectin RG6206 (BMS-986089) in a Phase 1b/2 study (NCT02515669) in ambulatory boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Background: Pharmacologic inhibition of myostatin, a negative regulator of muscle growth, has been shown to increase skeletal muscle mass in several species, including humans. Design/Methods: Forty-three ambulatory boys with DMD, aged 5–10 years, were randomized to receive weekly subcutaneous injections of RG6206 (4–50 mg) or placebo during a 24-week double-blind phase (treatment: placebo ratio 3:1). All participants then received RG6206 throughout a 48-week open-label phase. The primary endpoint of this study was safety and tolerability over 24 weeks. Secondary endpoints included the PK of RG6206, frequency and titer of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs), and effect on serum myostatin levels. Exploratory outcomes included timed function tests and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry imaging of lean body mass (LBM). Results: At 24 weeks' treatment, the most common adverse events were mild-to-moderate injection site reactions, which resolved without change to study treatment. No clinically significant changes in laboratory values, vital signs, electrocardiogram parameters or echocardiogram were observed. One patient had a positive ADA titer at a single time point; this was not accompanied by hypersensitivity or injection site reactions. RG6206 treatment resulted in a dose-dependent reduction (77–97%) in free myostatin. We will report on the effect of treatment on LBM index in boys with DMD who received RG6206 for 72 weeks compared with boys with DMD in the Collaborative Trajectory Analysis Project who had not received any treatment. Conclusions: No drug-related safety findings leading to withdrawal from the study were identified. In total, 41 patients from this study are now enrolled in a 228-week open-label extension. A Phase 2/3 RG6206 study is actively recruiting (NCT03039686). Disclosure: Dr. Wagner has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Sarepta, Wave, Fibrogen, Dynacure, Lion, and PTC Therapeutics. Dr. Wagner has received research support from Pfizer, Roche, and Sarepta. Dr. Wong has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Wave Life Sciences, and AveXis. Dr. Byrne has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Pfizer, Inc.. Dr. Byrne has received compensation for serving on the Board of Directors of Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC). Dr. Byrne has received royalty, license fees, or contractual rights payments from University of Florida. Dr. Tian has received research support from Pfizer, BMS, Roche, Fibrogen, PTC, Sarepta. Dr. Jacobsen has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Shire. Dr. Jacobsen holds stock and/or stock options in Shire which sponsored research in which Dr. Jacobsen was involved as an investigator. Dr. Jacobsen holds stock and/or stock options in Shire. Dr. Jacobsen has received research support from Shire. Dr. Tirucherai has nothing to disclose. Dr. Rabbia has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Roche/Genentech. . Dr. Kletzl has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with F. Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Kletzl holds stock and/or stock options in F. Hoffmann-La Roche which sponsored research in which Dr. Kletzl was involved as an investigator. Dr. Kletzl holds stock and/or stock options in F. Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Kletzl has received research support from F. Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Dukart has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with F. Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Dukart holds stock and/or stock options in F. Hoffmann-La Roche which sponsored research in which Dr. Dukart was involved as an investigator. Dr. Ong has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with F. Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Ong holds stock and/or stock options in F. Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Yen has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with F. Hoffmann La-Roche. Dr. Sajeev has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Analysis Group, Inc. and Collaborative Trajectory Analysis Project (cTAP). Dr. Signorovitch has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Analysis Group Inc. Dr. Ward has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with The Analysis Group Inc. Dr. Bechtold has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Bechtold holds stock and/or stock options in Bristol-Myers Squibb, which sponsored research in which Dr. Bechtold was involved as an investigator. Dr. Krishnan has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Roche and Biogen.


Chronic suppurative otitis media is one  the most common conditions in ENT practice. Its importance lies in its chronicity and dreaded complications .The frequent presence of CSOM in general practice and poor response to routine treatment make the evaluation of bacteria flora important.The aim of the study is to isolate and identify the etiological agents causing CSOM and determination of their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. In this study, one hundred clinically diagnosed cases of CSOM with chronic ear discharge with no prior antibiotic consumption were considered, whose  ear swabs were collected and cultured for bacteria. Standard methods of isolation and identification were done followed by Antibiotic susceptibility testing  by Kirby- Bauer disc diffusion method. Staphylococcus aureus was the most dominant including isolates of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antibiotic sensitivity pattern shows ciprofloxacin to be the most effective drug, followed by gentamicin and amikacin.


The field of approximate computing has received significant attention from the research community in the past few years, especially in the context of various signal processing applications. Image and video compression algorithms, such as JPEG, MPEG, and so on, are particularly attractive candidates for approximate computing, since they are tolerant of computing imprecision due to human imperceptibility, which can be exploited to realize highly power-efficient implementations of these algorithms. However, existing approximate architectures typically fix the level of hardware approximation statically and are not adaptive to input data. For example, if a fixed approximate hardware configuration is used for an MPEG encoder (i.e., a fixed level of approximation), the output quality varies greatly for different input videos. This paper addresses this issue by proposing a reconfigurable approximate architecture for MPEG encoders that optimizes power consumption with the goal of maintaining a particular Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) threshold for any video. Toward this end, we design reconfigurable adder/subtractor blocks (RABs), which have the ability to modulate their degree of approximation, and subsequently integrate these blocks in the motion estimation and discrete cosine transform modules of the MPEG encoder. We propose two heuristics for automatically tuning the approximation degree of the RABs in these two modules during runtime based on the Characteristics of each individual video.


We prove that if $\Sigma$ is a closed surface of genus at least 3 and $G$ is a split real semisimple Lie group of rank at least $3$ acting faithfully by isometries on a symmetric space $N$, then there exists a Hitchin representation $\rho:\pi_1(\Sigma)\to G$ and a $\rho$-equivariant unstable minimal map from the universal cover of $\Sigma$ to $N$. This follows from a new lower bound on the index of high energy minimal maps into an arbitrary symmetric space of non-compact type. Taking $G=\mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{R})$, $n\geq 4$, this disproves the Labourie conjecture.


Denoising X-ray image is an important preprocessing process to measure BMD (Bone Mineral Density) correctly. In this paper, we deal with denoising X-ray image in DEXA (Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) system. Image noise in DEXA is modeled by separating source and detector noises. Using the noise model in DEXA, a noise reduction method is proposed. The proposed denoising method consists of Wiener filter to reduce the detector noise, and logarithmic scale-wavelet BayesShrink filter to reduce the source noise. Experimental results verified the proposed DEXA noise model and showed that the proposed noise reduction method outperformed the conventional method.


It was only with the broad emergence of survey research after the end of the Second World War that a systematic study of individual beliefs, attitudes and behaviours at the level of the individual became possible. In addition, the application of the survey method to probability samples of specified populations, including the total body of eligible voters, signalled the rise of a research methodology that seemed favourable to the notion of 'one person, one vote' democratic mass publics. The spread of the research infrastructure required for the high-quality conduct of such research, plus the institutionalization of empirical social science research at universities and other academic research institutions, did not develop equally well across time and nations; much of the success in this process is owed to the efforts to internationalize social research in the 1950s by scholars like the late Stein Rokkan and Angus Campbell, as well as Mattei Dogan, Jean Blondel, Warren E. Miller, Erwin K. Scheuch, Sidney Verba and Rudolf Wildenmann, to name but a few. For somebody like this reviewer, who joined the ranks of the empirical comparativists one or two decades later, the two books to be reviewed in this essay give a great deal of satisfaction.' This is particularly so because both books document the maturation of electoral research far beyond its heyday, when studies centred around the analysis of individual elections. By contrast, both books are decidedly comparative, longitudinal and dynamic in perspective. This has become possible because, triggered by networks of research organizations like data archives and individual scholars, empirical electoral studies are now widely institutionalized; for example, the American National Election Study of the Michigan Center for Political Studies and similar European enterprises. Both books seem, at least according to their titles, very similar in intent and content. Whilst the first is more or less true, the second is not. Both publications owe their existence to scholarly conferences, but the Crewe and Denver volume is clearly more coherent conceptually as well as empirically; at the same time it is more limited in scope. This is why this review will first address the


We describe the design of a digital calorimeter trigger processor system which could form a major part of the ATLAS level-1 trigger system. Utilising novel techniques, but with today's technologies, the system can be contained within six electronics crates and will provide the central trigger logic with signals from events with high-pT electrons, photons, jets and missing ET. Communication with the trigger digitisation system will employ commercial highspeed optical links, terminating in multi-chip modules (MCMs) incorporating custom-designed integrated optics. Simulation studies combined with an extensive demonstrator programme have been used to develop flexible digital algorithms with programmable parameters for bunch-crossing identification and electromagnetic cluster-finding. These algorithms will be embedded in semicustom application-specific integrated circuits, of which five types will be designed. Inter-crate data fan-out will be achieved by means of optical splitters, while communication within crates will use transmission-line backplanes. The remaining technical issues will be studied in the final phase of the current R&D demonstrator programme. A parallel demonstrator programme is also under way to study alternative techniques with the potential for future system enhancement.


This study examines the processes underlying gender discrimination in a large Australian government research organization. It is specifically concerned with discrimination that occurs after the initial assignment of employees to career streams or ladders has occurred. When questioned, 37 and 41 percent of the women surveyed stated that they had regularly experienced promotional or day- to-day discrimination. Based on analyses of data collected from 625 women and 512 men, evidence is presented for a vested interest explanation as best account ing for promotional discrimination, as distinct from day-to-day discrimination. These findings highlight the need to recognize and treat different forms of gender discrimination in the workplace as analytically distinct.


between Spaniards and Indians. In campaigns against the Pimas and Apaches especially, one glimpses the increasing frustration of the Spanish at the lack of opportunity to fight a conventional conflict in the face of a mobile, well-armed enemy, exploiting his knowledge of the terrain with great tactical ability; hence the search for alternative solutions. A number of manuscripts by Jesuit writers are informative on the progress of missionary work to eradicate pagan beliefs and practices, some of which are described. At times one can but marvel at the dogged determination and inflexible purpose of the missionary in a hostile physical and human environment. Occasionally, however, as in the case of the Tarahumaras, the words of criticism are reserved for the Spanish and their abuse of a hardworking, peace-loving Indian. Finally, there are scattered errors in Spanish vocabulary throughout the whole volume, from introduction to bibliography. These, and other points mentioned above, may not unduly worry those to whom the book is principally aimed and who will find in it an illuminating selection of material. But the definitive history of the presidio, and even less that of the militia, cannot be written on the basis of these documents alone.


In this article,the author thinks,in order to solve Tibetan problems,we should not only keep firm principles but also have flexible methods.When we concretely deal with some affairs concerned about Tibetan,we should definitely change the thought that "the class struggle is locomotive of the history progress" into this kind of flexible thinking that "greater national union is the motive power of Chinese social development".The thought of "less force much work" accord with not only the need of constructing harmonious society and harmonious world,but also the actual demand of maintaining Chinese national benefits.There are four flexible elements of solving Tibetan problems,namely to facilitate Dalai Lama homecoming earlier,to welcome Tibetan Compatriots overseas returning hometown settled,to utilize Sino-Indian strategic partner to promote and solve Tibetan problems,and to respect modern universal values to resolve Tibetan problems.


This essay briefly presents some problems on the classification of igneous rocks nowadays, such as some kinds of rocks have no place in the traditional classification diagrams, some overlapping area exists because of less rock chemical parameters, and some wrong classifications resulted because of the existence of glass matter. Taking the ingredients of the eleven oxides of the igneous rocks as the variable, which include SiO2、TiO2、Al2O3、FeO,etc., the paper puts forward a new way to set up a chemical classification model of igneous rocks by using artificial neural net-the BP Net. With correct judgment rate of 97.8% on 46 rock samples, the experiment results show that the method is reasonable and feasible.


The hiatus of the 4th century AD in the terp region During the 20th century, the population history of the terp region of the northern Netherlands during the Migration Period was hotly debated. The new idea that the different material culture of the 5th century, compared to the Roman Iron Age, indicates immigration by Anglo-Saxons was not accepted by everyone, on nationalistic but also on theoretical grounds, since there is no one-to-one relation between material culture and ethnic identity. This article summarizes and examines arguments and evidence. Pottery research supports the idea that most of the terp region was not inhabited during the 4th century, with some exceptions such as Ezinge in the province of Groningen, and Jelsum and Marssum in the province of Friesland. The hiatus is especially clear when we compare coastal pottery to the pottery of the inland Pleistocene region, where habitation and the development of pottery style continued without interruption. Overseeing all the evidence, it seems that the terp region, especially the eastern part, the province of Groningen, was part of a socio-cultural network that extended far into northwestern Germany. Where habitation was uninterrupted within this network, in northwestern Germany, northern Drenthe, and in a small number of settlements in the terp region, pottery style developed in largely the same way, often with decoration and shapes in the style that is traditionally called Anglo-Saxon. Newcomers from the Anglo-Saxon regions brought their own pottery and other objects in the 5th century, but their pottery resembled local pottery. The socio-cultural network also appears from burial ritual. The isolated burials and single bones from before the 4th century clearly differ from the cemeteries with inhumations and cremations that appear in the 5th century. However, already in the 3rd century, there are indications of changing traditions. Small cemeteries from that period are found near houses in several settlements in the northern Netherlands and northwestern Germany. In the course of the Migration Period, these develop into mixed cemeteries that belong to settlements. It can be concluded that the material culture and burial customs of the northern Netherlands in the 5th century would not have been very different if habitation had been continuous.


The low design of the low-beta insertion installed at the BØ straight section of the Tevatron is presented. This design replaces two of the regular lattice quadrupoles with stronger, separately powered quadrupoles and adds an additional triplet in the free space on either side of the interaction point. By varying the four separate quadrupole circuits, and two trim quadrupole tuning circuits, it is possible to go smoothly from the normal, fixed-target configuration with ß* = 75 m in each plane to the colliding-beam mode of operation with ß* = 1 m in each plane, while maintaining a constant tune for the Tevatron.


Interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) salient pole structure drives benefits in utilizing in higher-performance industrial applications. For high-performance application, the control of IPMSM required precise information of rotor angular velocity and shaft position. The speed sensorless control algorithm is designed utilizing the model reference adaptive system (MRAS) based on a Luenberger observer (LO). The Adaptive Luenberger Observer (ALO) estimates rotor speed and used for speed self-sensing control. Due to the MRAS approach, the self-sensing speed control shows sensitivity to stator resistance. To address the effect of parameter variation, the stator resistance is estimated and utilized for efficient control performance. Maximum torque per armature (MTPA) algorithm is used to attain the maximum torque under the minimum phase current. The electrical parameters are estimated based on Popov's stability criterion. To present the usefulness of the designed speed self-sensing control algorithm, the simulation is executed in Matlab/Simulink. The simulation result shows that the sensorless control algorithm can effectively estimate the shaft speed and position with the help of the state variable and attain steady-state and dynamic performance with computational complexity reduction.


Last year the worldwide network of neutron monitors recorded a new ground level enhancement (GLE) of cosmic my intensity (CR) on 20th of January 2005, during the recovery phase of a series of Forbush effects taking place at a time‐period very close to the minimum of the current cycle of solar activity. This enhancement seems to be the greatest GLE of the current solar cycle, reaching almost 5000% in some polar stations. A joint analysis of data from ground level stations (neutron monitors) and satellite measurements has been performed in order to calculate the amplitude and the anisotropy of the event as well as the energy of the more fast particles arriving at the Earth. A new GLE — model has been created in order to couple the primary solar cosmic ray flux on the top of the magnetosphere with the flux recorded by neutron monitors and define this way the primary solar cosmic ray spectrum during the event. Moreover, the absorption length of solar energetic particles propagating through the Earth's atmosphere has been calculated applying the Wilson et al. method (1967). These results have been compared with the respective results calculated for other ground level enhancements. Finally, a comparison between this enhancement and the big GLE of 1956 has been performed.


This study investigated the changes of consciousness and ambivalent attitudes about the important environmental issues among the teachers who enrolled the environmental education training. Experimental and control groups were composed with 47 and 30 person, respectively. Environmental issues were constructions of sea-wall, nuclear power plant and dam. Cronbach alpha of the self-developed questionnaire was 0.6909∼0.8992. Score were made with 5 Likert scales for consciousness, and with semantic differential half scale for ambivalent attitudes. Almost teachers(94.0% and 97.1%) have above 10 years teaching career. Strangers in environmental program were 53.2%. After environmental training, teachers' consciousness was significantly changed to negative about the construction of sea-wall for the farm field and industry complex area(p=0.019), and about the construction of dam for disaster like flood(p=0.026), and for adverse effects of citizen by fog(p=0.042). They were also significantly changed to negative about the construction of nuclear power plant for economical energy(p=0.004)', no-emission of greenhouse gases(p=0.033)', 'alternative energy(p=0.000)', 'destruction of ecology(p=0.052)' and 'social fear (p=0.009)'. The consciousness of teachers who have the experience of environmental training, were significantly changed to negative about the construction of nuclear power plant. Scores of teachers' ambivalent attitudes were made lower in experimental than control group about the construction of sea-wall and nuclear power plant. After education training, they were made lower so much as -10.0% in control, but higher much as +4.4% in experimental, and severely higher much as 86.5% in teachers who had experienced the environmental training about construction of sea-wall. Their scores were made lower so much as -3.3% in control, but much as -6.4% in control.


We have studied the spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Locally Rotationally Symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type-I universe in F(T) theory of gravity. By using a conservation equation, we have discussed some well known F(T) models. It is interesting to observe that these F(T) gravity models represent the different phases (matter, radiation and dark energy eras) of the universe. An attempt has been made to retain Sharif and Rani's [1] forms of the various quantities. Our results are analogous to the results obtained by Sharif and Rani [1].


Since the dawn of the automobile age at the beginning of the 20th century, oil has guided the growth of the global economy. The availability of oil and its price have been a determinant in times of both war and peace. The Allied nations achieved victory in two world wars in large part because of their ability to dominate the oil supply. The post-war boom ran on oil that was widely accessible and reasonably priced. When that supply tightened and became subject to political manipulation with the formation of OPEC, there was a direct correlation with slowing growth. This supply and demand relationship between oil and the rest of the modern economy was the underpinning of a Paradigm: when oil was readily available the economy could grow; when it became too scarce or expensive, the economy stalled. Following the end of the Cold War, geopolitics focused on ensuring access to supplies in the Middle East - the swing producing region whose output determined marginal cost and price – even at the expense of wars in Iraq, Kuwait, and Syria and ongoing tensions with Iran. Following the financial crisis of 2008, the pattern of economic growth began to diverge from the supply and price of oil. In the emerging New Paradigm, renewable energy, climate impacts, and new sources of supply from fracking and new discoveries are the determining factors. Oil and its derivatives remain important but their close link to economic performance has been broken.


We consider the slow and fast systems that belong to a small neighborhood of an unperturbed problem. We study the general case where the slow equation has a compact positively invariant subset which is asymptotically stable, and meanwhile the fast equation has asymptotically stable equilibria (Tykhonov's theory) or asymptotically stable periodic orbits (Pontryagin-Rodygin's theory). The description of the solutions is by this way given on infinite time interval. We investigate the stability problems derived from this results by introducing the notion of practical asymptotic stability. We show that some particular subsets of the phase space of the singularly perturbed systems behave like asymptotically stable sets. Our results are formulated in classical mathematics. They are proved within Internal Set Theory which is an axiomatic approach to Nonstandard Analysis. RESUME. On considere les systemes lents-rapides appartenant a un petit voisinage d'un probleme non perturbe. On etudie le cas general ou l'equation lente admet un sous-ensemble compact positive- ment invariant qui soit asymptotiquement stable tandis que l'equation rapide a des equilibres asymp- totiquement stables (theorie de Tykhonov) ou des cycles limites stables (theorie de Pontryagin). La description des solutions est de ce fait donnee sur des intervalles de temps infinis. On examine les problemes de stabilite decoulant de ces resultats en introduisant la notion de stabilite pratique. On montre que certains sous-ensembles de l'espace de phases des systemes singulierement perturbes se comportent comme des ensembles asymptotiquement stables. Les resultats sont formules classi- quement mais sont demontres dans le cadre de la theorie IST, une approche axiomatique de l'Analyse Non Standard.


Different kingdoms had different calendars during the Spring-Autumn Warring Period. May 5 Taboo was originally the custom of Jin and Qi kingdoms in the north, which later began to influence the whole country. This custom initially had nothing to do with QU Yuan. During the period of late Han and Nanbei dynasties, the suspicious custom in the north and the movement to save QU Yuan in the south were combined to shape the complete custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. The Dragon Boat Race, one of the important contents for the Festival became popular in Tang Dynasty. This Festival makes QU Yuan remembered forever.


Purpose – To provide a reinforced concrete model including bonding coupled to a classical continuum damage model of concrete, capable of predicting numerically the crack pattern distribution in a RC structure, subjected to traction forces.Design/methodology/approach – A new coupling between bonding model and an alternative model for concrete cracking is proposed and analyzed. For concrete, proposes a damage‐like material model capable of combining two types of dissipative mechanisms: diffuse volume dissipation and localized surface dissipation.Findings – One of the most important contributions is the capacity of predicting maximal and minimal spacing of macro‐cracks, even if the exact location of cracks remains undetermined. Another contribution is to reiterate on the insufficiency of the local damage model of concrete to handle this class of problems; much in the same manner as for localization problem which accompany strain‐softening behavior.Practical implications – Bonding becomes very important to ev...


The conversion of pumping radiation from erbium (lambda/sub l/ = 1.54 ..mu..m) and neodymium (lambda/sub l/ = 1.054 ..mu..m) lasers to the visible spectrum with lambda/sub l/ = 0.67 ..mu..m has been obtained for the BaYb/sub 2/F/sub 8/:Er (0.1%) crystal. It is shown that by adding the optical frequencies of the /sup 4/F/sub 9//sub ///sub 2/(Er) levels one can pump more efficiently than when using the anti-Stokes conversion of 1.054-..mu..m radiation.


Today there is much ado about water – as there always has been and always will be. However, until we actually find ways to apply scientifically-based, truly interdisciplinary scholarship that embraces sound community engagement, crucial knowledge about our most valuable resource may continue to be "lost" or at least ignored, much as water trickles through a sieve. We need a comprehensive, inclusive approach to solve the challenges of the water environment. Of course this is not a new argument. Thousands of books, articles, papers and technical reports have been written describing water problems from around the world, outlining fundamental causes, and calling for changes in the way we approach problem solving. Yet still we encounter severe crises – shortages of water for drinking, agriculture and industry, catastrophic floods, contamination and pollution of water sources, and outbreaks of water-related health issues such as cholera, schistosomiasis, and typhoid. The sieve that has made such endeavors profitless, it seems, is a human one, a lack of will and commitment on many different levels. For all intents and purposes, we understand many of the issues involved; we have "merely" failed to implement appropriate solutions. Even a cursory look at the literature on water reveals a vast scholarship originating from diverse disciplines and applying multiple methodologies. The term "water wars" is used ubiquitously to describe the challenges facing many societies around the globe, from the corporate moves towards water privatization and the recent climate change issues in Bolivia, to the dam and reservoir systems in India, to the controls over water supply encountered in the Middle East and China. Indeed, "water wars" elicits 585,000 hits on Google and 3,400 on Google Scholar. On Amazon.com there are over 850 book citations to "water wars." Clearly, there is no shortage of scientists and academics dedicating serious study to water conflicts. Other terms reveal similar levels of Google hits: water crisis (973,000), water solutions (736,000), water sustainability (73,300), water quantity (477,000) and water quality (15.4 million). A similar search on Google Scholar reveals thousands of titles, articles and reports outlining the problems facing societies around the world. Most of this research aims to improve our understanding of the water ecosystem; when viewed from a resource perspective, this is of course very much a geographic issue, one that presents both spatial and temporal challenges to society. The water resource manager must ensure that the right amount of water, of a suitable quality, reaches the desired place at the appropriate time. So the manager's challenge is to balance supply and demand in an ever-changing natural and social environment, with a constantly-moving target. In this respect, the expertise of hydrologists, fluvial geomorphologists and geo-hydrologists, is fundamental to any scientific modeling of the water world. At the same time, though, we must recognize the overwhelming significance of the human environment and the powerful social, economic, and political forces that create and ultimately determine the directions of the water crisis. Obviously this is no easy task. We need scientifically-based studies of both the natural and social environments to appreciate the complexity of water problems and develop predictive and explanatory models. Perhaps more importantly, this must involve interdisciplinary initiatives 1


In recent years, educational resources have gradually been digitized, and digital education platforms have gradually become popular. We use AI to accurately assist people in performing daily tasks through a machine learning process. In education, we can use AI in many situations, such as predicting student's learning outcome and discovering student's learning strategies. However, most solutions have not yet utilized modern AI capabilities, such as natural language processing. This research aims to help teachers use machines to automatically generate short answer questions to reduce the time for teachers to write exam questions. In addition, the main reason we focus on short answers is that many studies prove that short answer exercises can enhance student's long-term memory, thereby improving their learning performance. We propose an automatic question generation (AQG) system that combines syntax-base and semantics-base, in order to prove that the system is highly available and improve student's learning performance, we conducted experiments with 41 students. The experimental results show that student's learning performance has been significantly improved, which means that by repeatedly testing the machine question generation system, students can deepen their long-term memory of course knowledge.


Low lying scalar resonances emerge as a necessary part to adjust chiral perturbation theory to experimental data once unitarity constraint is taken into consideration. I review recent progress made in this direction in a model independent approach. Also I briefly review studies on the odd physical properties of these low lying scalar resonances, including in the $\gamma\gamma\to\pi^+\pi^-, \pi^0\pi^0$ processes.


The present study investigates variance among compulsive communicators on the traits of communication apprehension, verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness and the relationship between these three communication traits and self‐perceived competence. Results confirmed a positive relationship between self‐perceived communication competence (SPCC) and argumentativeness and a negative relationship between SPCC and communication apprehension. The hypothesized relationship between SPCC and verbal aggressiveness was not confirmed within the sample studied. These results suggest that compulsive communicators are not a monolithic group but possess a range of competence.


We propose a method for fabrication of ultra-thin stress chips (UTSC) by dicing before thinning method on chip-scale level, discuss attributes of UTSC, and report their applications in bio-medical areas, including pulse monitoring and orthodontic force measurement. Using an edge protection method and a wafer transfer technology, silicon stress sensor chips with size of 2 mm× 2 mm fabricated using CMOS technology have been reconfigured as a virtual wafer and thinned from 350 μm to 35 μm. The thinned individual chips have been laminated with a flexible polyimide substrate and wire-bonded to the electric interconnects embedded in the polyimide substrate. Measurement results show that the sensitivity of the UTSC is about 70 times larger than that of metal strain gauge. The flexibility and the high sensitivity of the UTSC enable the measurement of human wrist pulse and orthodontic force in 1:1 teeth model. These preliminary results demonstrate a possible solution for sensor integration on flexible substrates using dicing before thinning.


The present invention relates to a window substrate and a touch screen panel having the same. More specifically, the window substrate comprises a non-conductive light blocking pattern formed on a non-display unit of one side of the window substrate. The non-conductive light blocking pattern comprises a protruding and indenting pattern including pearl paint; a color pattern layer which covers the protruding and indenting pattern and forms a flat surface; and a light blocking layer in the upper part of the color pattern layer. Accordingly, the window substrate can be equipped with the non-display unit capable of displaying patterns with an excellent three dimensional effect and high visibility, and is suitable to be applied to a substrate having a large surface.


A new X-band continuous wave Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) cavity is presented, capable of simultaneous EPR measurement during high-power microwave irradiation. This new capability provides the opportunity to use a new chemical probe to unravel the complex mechanisms taking place in microwave driven chemical processes. Here we highlight recent work detailing the design and construction of the EPR probe for high power microwave processes and demonstrate the principle of rapid sample heating by measuring the EPR trace of spin labelled micelles whilst being heated by microwaves [1]. The key concept of the design is the use of a cavity resonator allowing EPR detection (at 9.5 GHz) and sample heating (at 6.1 GHz).


In this work we present a"modest"holographic reconstruction of the bulk geometry in asymptotically flat spacetime using the two-point correlators of boundary quantum field theory (QFT) in asymptotically flat spacetime. The boundary QFT lives on the null boundary of the spacetime, namely null infinity and/or the Killing horizons. The bulk reconstruction relies on two unrelated results: (i) there is a bulk-to-boundary type correspondence between free quantum fields living in the bulk manifold and free quantum fields living on its null boundary, and (ii) one can construct the metric by making use of the Hadamard expansion of the field living in the bulk. This holographic reconstruction is"modest"in that the fields used are non-interacting and not strong-weak holographic duality in the sense of AdS/CFT, but it works for generic asymptotically flat spacetime subject to some reasonably mild conditions.


A 39-year-old woman sought advice regarding potential risks to her offspring due to previous possible diagnosis of incontinentia pigmenti. She had linear hyperpigmentation along the lines of Blaschko affecting the upper and lower limbs, and skin-coloured papules on the left palm. Ophthalmoscopy revealed hypopigmented spots in the macular region of the retina in each eye due to focal areas of depigmentation of the retinal pigment epithelium. An array comparative genomic hybridization on DNA extracted from a skin biopsy revealed a 63.63-Mb duplication, arr[GRCh37] 3q22.2q29(134212001_197837069)x3, on the long arm of chromosome 3. This case is an example of genetic mosaicism resulting from a de novo genetic defect arising at some point in embryonic development.