Preface. Introduction. DAMPING AND EROSION COATINGS. Coatings for Enhanced Passive Damping (Peter J. Torvik). Ceramic Damping Coatings: Evaluating Their Effectiveness and Predicting Added Damping (S. Patsias). Deterioration and Retention of Coated Turbomachinery Blading (Widen Tabakoff, Awatef A. Hamed, and Rohan Swar). Large Area Filtered Arc and Hybrid Coating Deposition Technologies for Erosion and Corrosion Protection of Aircraft Components (V. Gorokhovsky, J. Wallace, C. Bowman, P.E. Gannon, J. O'Keefe, V. Champagne, and M. Pepi). COATINGS TO RESIST WEAR AND TRIBOLOGICAL LOADINGS. Deposition and Characterization of Diamond Protective Coatings on WC-Co Cutting Tools (Y. Tang, S.L. Yang, W.W. Yi, Q. Yang, Y.S. Li, A. Hirose, and R. Wei). Friction and Wear Behavior of Zirconia Ceramic Materials (C . Lorenzo-Martin, O.O . Ajayi, D. Singh. and J.L. Routbort). NANOSTRUCTU R ED COATINGS. Cerium Oxide Thin Films via Ion Assisted Electron Beam Deposition (V. Dansoh, F. Gertz, J. Gurnp, A. Johnson, J. I. Jung, M. Klingensrnith, Y. Liu, Y.D. Liu, J.T. Oxaal, C.J. Wang, G. Wynick, D. Edwards, J.H. Fan, X.W. Wang, P. J. Bush, and A. Fuchser). Formation of Nanocrystalline Diamond Thin Films on Ti 3 SiC 2 by Hot Filament Chemical Vapor Deposition (S.L. Yang, Q. Yang, W.W. Yi, Y. Tang, T. Regier, R. Blyth, and Z.M. Sun). THERMAL BARRIER COATING PROCESSING, DEVELOPMENT AND MODELING. Process and Equipment for Advanced Thermal Barrier Coatings (Albert Feuerstein, Neil Hitchman, Thomas A. Taylor, and Don Lernen). Corrosion Resistant Thermal Barrier Coating Materials for industrial Gas Turbine Applications (Michael D. Hill, Davin P. Phelps, and Douglas E. Wolfe). Damage Prediction of Thermal Barrier Coating by Growth of TGO Layer (Y. Ohtake). Young's Modulus and Thermal Conductivity of Nanoporous YSZ Coatings Fabricated by EB-PVD (Byung-Koog Jang, Yoshio Sakka, and Hideaki Matsubara). Influence of Porosity on Thermal Conductivity and Sintering in Suspension Plasma Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings (H. KaOner, A. Stuke, M. Rodig, R. VaOen, and D. Stover). Numerical Investigation of Impact and Solidification of YSZ Droplets Plasma-Sprayed onto a Substrate: Effect of Thermal Properties and Roughness (N. Ferguen, P. Fauchais, A. Vardelle, and D. Gobin). Author Index.


Contents Some Practical Advice About Empowerment and Democracy Changing the System Creating a Planning Team and Team Leaders Educating an Empowered Workforce Changing the Support Systems Consensus Decision Making Empowerment and Planning Perspectives on Democracy in the Workplace Adult Education and Workplace Democracy Unions, Adult Education, and Industrial Democracy The Organizational Gardener


We propose a methodological approach to provide the accurate and calibrated measurements of sky radiance and broadband solar irradiance using the High Dynamic Range (HDR) images of a sky-camera. This approach is based on a detailed instrumental characterization of a SONA sky-camera in terms of image acquisition and processing, as well as geometric and radiometric calibrations. As a result, a 1 min time resolution database of geometrically and radiometrically calibrated HDR images has been created and has been available since February 2020, with daily updates. An extensive validation of our radiometric retrievals has been performed in all sky conditions. Our results show a very good agreement with the independent measurements of the AERONET almucantar for sky radiance and pyranometers for broadband retrievals. The SONA sky radiance shows a difference of an RMBD < 10% while the broadband diffuse radiation shows differences of 2% and 5% over a horizontal plane and arbitrarily oriented surfaces, respectively. These results support the developed methodology and allow us to glimpse the great potential of sky-cameras to carry out accurate measurements of sky radiance and solar radiation components. Thus, the remote sensing techniques described here will undoubtedly be of great help for solar and atmospheric research.


The development of standard simple of tin bronze for casting is presented,design of composition, selection melting temperature 1150 °C, put into 0.2m3/kg argon gas, stirring with 100rpm for 1min, keeping temperature for 30min as the optimum process conditions, coarse and fine tests of homogeneity with data analyses, determination of standard values and standard deviation. The homogeneity and standard values of samples meet the national standard GB/T15000 and YS/T409-1998. The standard sample series has ratification as National Reference Materials (GSB 04-2707-2011) by National Technical Commission on Reference Materials.


Improved employee performance can contribute to the advancement of quality human resources. Many factors influence this. CV Ony Sarmanih, in their observations, concluded that the phenomenon that often occurs among employees is dissatisfaction with bonuses, benefits, and incentives received. The employees felt that the salary they received was unfair because the workload they were bearing was not proportional to the compensation they got. As a result, the work performance and discipline of the employees are negatively affected. Many employees often skip classes or only work half a day. To investigate this issue, this study used quantitative methods by collecting data through the distribution of questionnaires. The study sample consisted of 100 respondents selected using a saturated sample technique. Based on data analysis, the following results were obtained: 1) there was a significant influence between compensation on employee performance amounting to; 2) there is a significant influence between work performance on employee performance amounting to; 3) there is a significant influence between work discipline on employee performance as much as


In this paper relations between r I(r) and T(r,P) have been obtained, where I(r) is a proximate order relative to T(r, f) and P is a homogeneous differential polynomial respectively. Also results pertaining to Nevanlinna exceptional values have been established, and bounds for K I(r)(P) in terms of Nevanlinna defects have been given, where K I(r)(P) = limI rââ N(r, P) + N(r, 1/P)/T(r, P) For instance it has been shown that if I£ i I(a i) = I± (a i â â and I´() = 2 - I±), then, I± - 1/nI± ⤠K I(r)(P) ⤠n(m + 1)(I±-1)/nI±.


1. Wild rabbits were caught during both phases of the excretory cycle and their gut contents were analysed for volatile fatty acids (VFA). 2. All rabbits were found to have high concentrations of VFA in the caecum and in the proximal colon. Acetic was the most abundant acid followed by n-butyric, then propionic. 3. VFA concentrations in the caecum and in the proximal colon of rabbits caught during the day and during the night were similar. Hard pellets from the distal colon and rectum of rabbits caught during the night had considerably less VFA than did the soft pellets from rabbits caught during the day. 4. Owing to the ingestion of soft faeces, the VFA content of stomach material was greater in rabbits caught during the day than in those caught at night. 5. The results are discussed in terms of the mechanism of the diurnal excretion pattern and the role of coprophagy in the rabbit.


We describe a mode-selective single-photon subtraction device based on sum-frequency generation and ultrafast pulse shaping for multimode quantum state engineering. Its essential feature is the tunability of the single-photon subtraction mode.


This guide covers resources for the study of drama and theatre at OSU, including how to find plays and reviews Find literary criticism in Books with BOSS and OSU Library Catalog


Hospitals are socially obligated to maintain a clean environment and to dispose of medical waste, in order to prevent pollution and infection within and near the hospital. Since its establishment, Hiroshima City, Asa Hospital has been implementing a "Clean Hospital Project", which has two goals: infection prevention and waste management. The nosocomial infection prevention committee and medical waste treatment and disposal examination committee lead these efforts.


Introduction Delayed Gadolinium enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) is a technique for molecular imaging of the proteoglycan level in cartilage using quantitative T1 measurements [1]. Until now there have been no studies of the repeatability of such T1 quantifications for 3D-dGEMRIC. The aim of this work is thus to measure this repeatability in vivo for two successive measurements and for three different dGEMRIC techniques, 2D-Inversion Recovery (2D-IR), 3D-Look Locker (3D-LL) and 3D-Variable Flip Angle (3D-VFA).


In order to assess the available sulphur content in soils of Aravalli district of North Gujarat, two hundred and sixty five surface soil samples (0-15 cm) were randomly collected from 6 talukas of Aravalli district of North Gujarat. All the collected soil samples were analyzed for available sulphur as per standard procedure. Results revealed that the available S content in soils of Aravalli district varied from 3.64 to 86.91 mg kg with a mean value of 24.21 mg kg. Out of 265 soil samples of the district, 20.38, 31.70 and 47.92 per cent were found under low, medium and high category for available sulphur, respectively. According to the nutrient index value (NIV), soils of Aravalli district were adequate in available sulphur (2.28). Significant positive correlation was found to exist between organic carbon and available S status of soil under study.


Dominance effect refers to the allele interaction in a locus. In this study, different portions of dominance standard deviations underlying quantitative trait loci (QTL) effect were considered. The F2 design is frequently employed in QTL mapping experiments using Haley and Knott regression method for QTL mapping analysis. This simulation study is carried out to consider the effect of the total standard deviation of QTL (SDQ) with different portions of additive/dominance effects in the context of different levels of population size, marker spacing and relative position of QTL from marker bracket on power of detecting QTL, precision of estimated QTL position and additive and dominance effects. The other aims of the study were to design an optimal artificial neural network (ANN) model to predict Haley–Knott (HK) results for more combinations of simulated parameters. SDQ of QTL strongly affected the power of QTL detection, therefore, in every combination of other parameters when SDQ is either 0.5 or 0.8, power was 100%. In all scenarios, the power increased when the ratio of additive and dominant SD of QTL effects was low or high (0.25 or 0.75). Increase of additive effect compared with the dominance effect decreased the precision of QTL location. Precision of estimated additive effect and dominance effect was good but precision of dominance effect was more affected by the considered parameter combinations than the additive effect. This study developed an ANN model with minimum dimensions and minimum errors for prediction of efficiency parameters of HK method given the simulated parameters. Moreover, for the first time, this study shows the use of trained ANN model for prediction of large-scale combinations of simulated parameters.


—In the present study, M2 high speed steels were fabricated by using electro-slag rapid remelting process. Carbide structure was analysed and the fracture toughness and hardness were also measured after austenitization treatment at 1190 and 1210 o C followed by tempering treatment at 535 o C for billets with various diameters from 16 to 60 mm. Electro-slag rapid remelting (ESRR) process is an advanced ESR process combined by continuous casting and successfully employed in this study to fabricate a sound M2 high speed ingot. Three other kinds of commercial M2 high speed steels, produced by traditional method, were also analysed for comparison. Distribution and structure of eutectic carbides of the ESRR billet were found to be comparable to those of commercial alloy and so was the fracture toughness.


This paper analyzes the correlation between good personality and "Eight Honors and Eight Disgraces ",and points out that the practice of " Eight Honors and Eight Disgraces " is one of the ways to improve college students' personalities.


Abstract A previous attempt (Segui, Mehler, Frauenfelder,&Morton, 1982) to assess in French the putative computational asymmetry between open- and closed-class words failed to reveal a difference in frequency sensitivity for these two types of words. In the present paper, two further lexical decision experiments are presented. The experimental conditions were chosen to maximise the chances of finding differences in frequency sensitivity between the two word classes (speeded responses and stimulus masking). Both experiments revealed strong frequency effects for open- and closed-class items and thus no asymmetry in frequency sensitivity. The implications of these results for both normal and aphasic populations are discussed.


The athletic shoe industry continues to offer new features and technologies, but the basic criteria for choosing athletic shoes remain the same as ever - comfort and safety. New developments such as unique designs for women and new lacing systems have improved shoe fit. Beyond the fit, knowledge of foot types and of the demands of each sport helps physicians guide patients toward shoes that will help them avoid injuries.


Abstract Titanium carbide was coated on tool steel by chemical vapor deposition. A four-point bending test method was used to evaluate precisely mechanical Young's modulus of TiC coated film. The X-ray method was successfully used to measure the residual stress in the coated film by the Sin2ψ method. The X-ray Young's modulus measured was 494 GPa which was lower than the mechanical determination value of 555 GPa. The residual stress in the film measured by X-rays was a compression of 2.24 GPa.


In this paper, we study the impact of a local high-k gate insulator on the drivability and off-current of a gate-all-around (GAA) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). The replacement of part of the gate SiO2 film with a thick high-k insulator (for example, HfO2) results in the high drivability of the GAA MOSFET, which stems from the lateral extension of high gate-induced potential. A simulation was performed to determine the optimal width of the high-k insulator in order to realize the best performance. In addition, simulation results reveal that the parasitic resistance of the low-doped source and drain diffusion region is markedly reduced by the lateral extension of gate-induced potential because the crosssection of the silicon wire is very small.


A review of the authors' experience on the use of Fluosol DA. This includes studies on animals and also clinical trials on patients.


This paper explores Klein's concepts of the depressive position, paranoid position, envy, projective identification and reparation, and their application to understanding overt racism. An extensive case example from the movie Gran Torino and its protagonist Walt Kowalski are the foci of this theoretical speculation. Implications for antiracist practice are discussed.


Background and Aim: American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) established standards for neonatal hearing screening programs in 1999. The main purpose of this study was to achieve exact statistical data of this program in Ahvaz, Iran, and to compare these results with the standards of American Academy of Pediatrics. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, the data of neonatal hearing program in Ahvaz west health center from 2008 to 2011 were reviewed. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics. Results: From 25073 neonates, 25 had hearing loss. The false positive and referral ratio to the diagnosis stage were 2.6 and 0.48 percent, respectively. 92 percent of hard of hearing infants were diagnosed before three months of life. Conclusion: In comparison with the standards of American Academy of Pediatrics, all of the items, except two, were included completely or relatively complete. But, more efforts must be done to achieve the whole standards which are available.


Abstract The increasing land-use intensity in developing-country cities necessitates land markets supported by active land titling. The study of land titling patronage is critical in a developing country like Nigeria, where the state of development necessitates determining who has rights to lands, for what purposes, and for how long on the available relatively scarce expanse of land. Data for the study was obtained from the Ondo State Ministry of Lands and Housing and the household heads of the purposive selected private layouts/estates within the study area. Data were analyzed using both the Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope estimates as well as discriminant function analysis. The findings revealed a monotonously decreasing trend in the demand for titling in the study area which was statistically significant at 0.01 in decreasing order from 2009 to 2018. Further analysis showed that the education level of the head of the household as well as propensity to obtain loan/engage in the subsequent transactions were the most important determinant as to whether a landowner would title land or not. The study will be useful for public enlightenment, policy formulation, policy implementation, professionals and scholars, as well as in academic debates.


Purpose and BackgroundTraditional physiotherapy methods utilised in the management of NSCLBP have small effects on pain and disability and this is reflected by data previously collected by the host physiotherapy service. O'Sullivan has validated a novel classification system and matching treatment strategy known as Classification Based–Cognitive Functional Therapy (CB-CFT) for people with NSCLBP. Briefly, CB-CFT is a behavioural and functional management approach to NSCLBP. A recent RCT employing CB-CFT has demonstrated superior outcomes in comparison to traditional physiotherapy methods advocated by clinical practice guidelines. It was unknown if CB-CFT improved outcomes for people with NSCLBP attending an NHS physiotherapy service, therefore an evaluation of practice was proposed.Methods and ResultsPeople referred to physiotherapy with NSCLBP were assessed and treated by a physiotherapist trained in the delivery of CB-CFT. Primary outcomes of interest included the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Num...


Thupten Phelgye was born in Tibet in 1957. He remembers the chaos brought by the Chinese invasion of his country in 1959. After several failed attempts to escape that resulted in their being placed in concentration camps, Phelgye's parents managed to travel with him to India. There Phelgye heard His Holiness the Dalai Lama explicate four lines of a sutra, an experience that changed his life. He became a monk and, after an individual audience with the Dalai Lama at the age of 17, went into isolation for five years. Since rejoining society he has worked hard to better the lot of his people and of animals, encouraging a vegetarian diet. Phelgye founded the Universal Compassion movement and now represents the Dalai Lama in the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. He spoke briefly with our editor about the transcendence of hatred at Gonzaga University on October 15, 2008.


This chapter will address the health psychology aging within the context of known diseases. Age has potential interactions with all of the important causal and mediating variables in health psychology and is a major risk factor for most chronic diseases. We start with an overview of important aging concepts and issues, including definitions of normal aging and the role of geriatric medicine and epidemiology to the study of the health psychology of aging. We then turn to the study of hypertension, as it is especially useful in illustrating the issues that aim to separate the effects of aging from the effects of disease on changes in cognitive functioning. We next turn to a review of methodological issues in the field with a particular emphasis on longitudinal studies and the special problems that age poses in traditional epidemiologic designs. We then summarize work in personality and social factors on disease with age with an emphasis on behavioral risk indicators for heart disease, social support, and self-rated health. Finally, we point out some emerging areas in developmental health psychology with particular attention to genetics, stress, decision making, coping, adherence, and problems associated with cancers.

Keywords:

age as a risk factor;
epidemiology;
geriatrics;
longitudinal studies;
normal aging;
research methods


To reduce mortality and morbidity in patients with adrenal disorders, it is essential to understand glucocorticoid replacement. I agree with Amin and colleagues that we should mimic the circadian rhythm, but once daily treatment with any of the drugs suggested would not do this.1 …


Introduction Lepidoptera is the second largest and the most diverse order of the class Insecta (Benton, 1995). Many investigators have used Lepidoptera as model to assess the impact of disturbance and management practices on forest ecosystems (Willott et al., 2000; Lewis, 2001; Beck et al., 2002; Stork et al., 2003; Axmacher et al., 2004; Brehm, 2005). Noctuidae is the largest family in the order Lepidoptera. The sub-order Heterocera of Lepidoptera which contains the moths has important roles in forest ecosystems as herbivores and as food for various predatory and parasitic organisms. Many are also serious pests of crops (Bellocq et al. 1994; Young 1997). Noctuidae is one of the dominant and economically important families of the order Lepidoptera. Many are pests of various agricultural, horticultural and plantation crops. Studies on diversity of Noctuidae in forest ecosystems can provide useful information on their role in the ecosystem. The present study was undertaken to investigate the diversity of Noctuid moths in the Nilgiri Biosphere. The present knowledge on the insect fauna of Indian forests is largely based on earlier studies by pioneer workers like Hampson, (18961898). Although a series of revisionary studies has been subsequently carried out from different geographical regions, no exhaustive survey has so far been done specifically from the various forests. This is particularly true with regard to the Western Ghats region which is noted for its richness in biodiversity. Materials and Methods Study area: Noctuid moths were collected from five different sites situated in four different areas namely, Coonoor, Ooty, Kothagiri, Doddabedda and Kodaikanal. The study was conducted from January 2009 to December 2010. Nilgiri biosphere reserve (NBR) covers an area of 5,520 sq. km in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It lies between 11° 08 ̋ to 11° 37 ̋ N and 76° 27 ̋ E to 77° 4 ̋ E. NBR is characterized by great altitudinal (from 100 m to 2554 m above mean sea level) and climatic gradients. The natural vegetation of NBR is of different types: tropical wet evergreen forest, montane stunted Shola forest and progressively drier deciduous forests ending in thorny scrub. These variations in climate and vegetation are favourable for a great diversity of insects. Doddabedda is the highest mountain in the Nilgiris Hills, at 2637 meter (8652 feet). It is 9 km from Ooty, on Ooty-Kotagiri Road in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu (11°24′8.7′′N 76°44′12.2′′E). The major collection site in the study is Coonoor situated on the eastern side of the southern extremity of Doddabetta range, at an altitude of 1,858 m above the sea level. It is the second largest hill station in the Nilgiris. Coonoor is located 19 km away from Ooty (Latitude 11°35 ̋ 00 Longitude 76°8 ̋16 Altitude: 4927 feet. Lat (DMS) 11.20' 60 N, Long DMS 76.49' E Altitude meters 1501. Rainfall: 121cms. Another collection site in the study Kotagiri is situated at an elevation of around 1793 m above sea level and is one of the three popular hill stations located in the Nilgiris. Kotagiri is located at 11.43°N 76.88°E. It has an average elevation of 1793 meters (5882 ft). The monthly average rainfall in Nilgiris is 94.20 mm. The months of June-September and October-November receive a rainfall that is more than the annual average rainfall. The district has the highest average number of rainy days with 7.3 per month. Mean maximum average temperature is 20.7°C; mean minimum average temperature is 9.6 °C and mean relative humidity is a maximum of 76.9% and minimum of 75.8%. Kodaikanal has a subtropical climate. Kodaikanal sits (Fig. 2) on a plateau above the southern escarpment of the upper Palni Hills at 2,133 m (6,998 ft), between the Parappar and Gundar Valleys. These hills form the eastward spur of the Western Ghats on the Western side of South India. It has an irregular basin as its heartland. This place is situated in Dindugul district, Tamil Nadu, India; its geographical coordinates are 10° 14' 6" N; 77° 29' 6" E. During summers (March to May) the average temperature ranges between 11°C to 20°C. Winters are very cool


Polygonum viviparum is widely distributed in the east of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.The genetic diversity within 7 populations of P.viviparum along altitude gradient is analyzed by random amplified polymorphic DNA(RAPD) technique.The degree of genetic differentiation among these populations is estimated by Bayesian approaches,in comparison with other methods(Nei's G ST et al).Thirteen random primers are selected out for the amplification and 117 repetitive loci with 84 polymorphic loci are generated.The total average percentage of polymorphic loci(PPL) is 71.79%,while that of population level is only 32.60%. With a burn-in of 5 000 iterations and sampling run of 25 000 iterations from which every 50th sample is retained for posterior calculations,the estimate for θ B is obtained as 0.602 3 and its 95% credible interval is [0.553 9,0.645 4].The GST value estimated by Nei index is 0.575 3,very close to the θ B estimate.The result indicates that the genetic differentiation among populations is relatively higher than that within populations.AMOVA also demonstrates 66.59% of genetic variance among population,33.41% of that within populations.As analyzed by POPGENE32,the genetic diversity of P.viviparum is higher with an average Nei's gene diversity of 0.289 1 and Shannon's information index of 0.420 7.In contrast,the genetic diversity within each population is low,with an average Nei's gene diversity of 0.122 7 and an average Shannon's information index 0.180 4.That the gene flow estimated by GST is only 0.369 1 indicates less gene exchange among populations of P.viviparum.The UPGMA cluster analysis shows that among seven populations firstly P1 and P2 together,then two groups P4 and P7 populations' together,P5 and P6 populations' together,last cluster into P3 population.The correlation analysis shows that the genetic distance among populations is no significantly related with the altitude and geographical distance.


Object tracking is a common vision task to detect and trace objects between consecutive frames. It is also important for a variety of applications such as surveillance, video based traffic monitoring system, and so on. An efficient moving vehicle clustering and tracking algorithm suitable for traffic monitoring system is proposed in this paper. First, automatic background extraction method is used to get a reliable background as a reference. The moving blob(object) is then separated from the background by mean shift method. Second, the scale invariant feature based method extracts the salient features from the clustered foreground blob. It is robust to change the illumination, scale, and affine shape. The simulation results on various road situations demonstrate good performance achieved by proposed method.


pre-planning of nuclear strategy is more important than a wider sharing of nuclear power and control within the Alliance. Professor Possony proposes that the decision to launch a nuclear attack and the plans for it should be pre-programmed on a computer. More effective Atlantic unity is the Holy Grail pursued by a majority of the participants. Even those who display an undeserved faith in the efficacy of organizational machinery for this purpose have few illusions about the immediate difficulties to be overcome, For Canadians, it is rewarding to find in John W Holmes' paper, "The Advantages of Diversity in NATO, some of the most perceptive analysis, and certainly the most refreshing writing, in the whole volume. Mr. Stanley brings to his work a conviction that the security of the West and its strength in the continuing struggle with the Soviets must be underpinned by nuclear might. He believes that the Alliance must advance both formally and informally towards greater economic and political integration but can find no surer guarantee of the likelihood of success than "the assumption that common sense prevails over short-term pride and prejudice. In each of these volumes the reader will find detailed and excellent analyses of NATO'S past and present. Their varied prescriptions and forecasts for its future, if they do not entirely reassure, will confront him with some of the more crucial issues of our times.


In computer vision, two-dimensional shape classification is a complex and well known topic, often basic for three-dimensional object recognition. Among different classification methods, this paper is focus on those that describe the 2D shape by means of a sequence of d-dimensional vectors which feeds a left to right hidden Markov model (HMM) recogniser. We propose a methodology for featuring the 2D shape with a sequence of vectors that take advantage of the HMM ability to spot the times when the infrequent vectors of the input sequence of vectors occur. This propierty is deduced by the repetition of the same HMM state during the moments in which the infrequent vectors is repeated. These HMM states are called by us synchronism states. The synchronization between the HMM and the input sequence of vectors can be improved thanks to adding an index component to the vectors. We show the recognition rate improvement of our proposal on selected applications. Object recognition, shape modelling, and shape classification constitute active research areas in computer vision. Its applications has been found in various areas such as industrial part identification, target identification, character recognition, and medical diagnosis. Moreover, these issues are receiving a growing attention due to the advent of visual databases and the related necessity to retrieve information not only by using textual queries, but also on the basis of the image context. Shape classification requires a shape description method. Shape description refers to the methods that result in a numeric descriptor or shape descriptor vector from a given shape. The goal of the description is to uniquely characterize the shape using its shape descriptor vector. The required properties of a shape description are invariance to translation, scale and rotation. This is required because these three transformation do not change the shape of the object. Many techniques are based on the description of two-dimensional (2D) aspects of the objects, and a wide literature can be found about 2-D shape classification and planar object recognition. Early techniques are available in Pavlidis [1] and Loncaric [2]. In this paper we will focus on boundary transform techniques which consist of transforming the 2D shape into a sequence of vectors. For example, a 2D shape can be represented by the sequence of radius (one dimensional vectors) from the shape centre of gravity to each pixel of the contour. Note that time series modelling tools can be used to describe 2D shape …


Spoken language applications are becoming increasingly operational and are used in many computer applications today. Translation dictation is a mode of translation by which a translator reads a source text and speaks out its translation, instead of typing it. Translation dictation is thus a method of translation situated in between interpretation, where the interpreter hears a text and speaks out the translation (e.g., during conference interpreting) and conventional translation by which a written source text is translated mainly using the keyboard. It is close to sight translation. Translation Dictation was a technique used in some translation bureaus in the 1960s and 1970s (Gingold, 1978) but it has been used less frequently since the mid-80s, as professional translators started using micro-computers (Zapata and Kirkedal, 2015). Already, the ALPAC report (Pierce et al., 1966) mentioned that "productivity of human translators might be as much as four times higher when dictating" as compared to writing, and with today ́s increasing quality of voice recognition this mode of translation is experiencing a come-back. The usage of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems provides an efficient means to produce texts, and our experiments suggest that for some translators and types of text translations it might become even more efficient than post-editing of machine translation. In this paper we describe the ENJA15 translation study and corpus. The ENJA15 corpus is a collection of translation process data that was collected in a collaborative effort by CRITT and NII. The ENJA15 data is part of a bigger data set which will enable us to compare human translation production processes across different languages, different translation modes, including from-scratch translation, machine translation post-editing and translation dictation.


LANL has been contacted to provide possible assistance in safe disposition of a number of 241Am-bearing materials associated with local industrial operations. Among the materials are ion exchange resins which have been in contact with 241Am and nitric acid, and which might have potential for exothermic reaction. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and define the resin forms and quantities to the extent possible from available data to allow better bounding of the potential reactivity hazard of the resin materials. An additional purpose is to recommend handling procedures to minimize the probability of an uncontrolled exothermic reaction.


Carbonate pore types are formed by depositional, diagenetic, or fracture processes such that the spatial distribution of porosi ty may or may not conform to depositional facies boundaries. Pores may be formed or altered by diagenesis and brittle fracture. Understanding c arbonate porosity requires identifying pore characteris tics that reflect the processes that crea ted them. It requires determining how ge netic pore types are related to petrophysical characteristics and how pore- forming processes have influenced bulk-rock properties.


The electron paramagnetic resonance of γ-irradiated single crystal of iminodiacetic acid, HN(CH2COOH)2, has been observed and analyzed for different orientations of the crystal in the magnetic field. The radicals produced by γ-irradiation have been investigated at room temperature. The radiation damage centers produced in the crystals were attributed to the HNC˙HCH2(COOH)2 radical. The g values and hyperfine coupling constants of the unpaired electron with the environmental α-proton, methylene protons, NH proton and 14N nucleus were determined. The results were found to be in agreement with hyperfine coupling and are discussed.


The work is aimed at experimental research and description of the mechanical behavior and degradation of the fibrous structural composite material strength properties during thermal and moisture aging in aggressive (operational) environments of different duration and temperatures. The object of the study was STEF structural fiberglass. STEF is a laminated fiberglass reinforced plastic obtained by hot pressing of glass fabric impregnated with a thermosetting binder based on combined epoxy and phenol-formaldehyde resins. After preliminary aging under various temperature-time conditions, fiberglass samples were tested at normal temperature for interlayer shear. To study the defect initiation and propagation during the deformation of fiberglass after preliminary aging under various temperature-time conditions and environments, the acoustic emission method is used in this work, which makes it possible to study the deformation stage structure and track the processes associated with the formation of defects in the structure of the fibrous composite. Influence of various media, such as industrial water, sea water and machine oil, at different durations (15, 30, 45 days) and temperatures (22°, 60° и 90 °С) on the processes of composite destruction and the implementation of various mechanisms damage accumulation during quasi-static interlaminar shear tests were obtained and analyzed. The paper presents the test results obtained by the acoustic emission signals processing. The data illustrating the stages of damage accumulation are presented and described, and the main mechanisms of damage to the composite structure under loading are analyzed. The results of a study of the microstructure of samples obtained using a stereomicroscope before and after thermal and moisture aging in aggressive media are described.


Bluetooth 5, the latest version of the Bluetooth standard, brings various improvements compared to the legacy Bluetooth standards. This project aims to introduce Bluetooth 5 technologies and its key characteristics to achieve connectivity in Smart Building services. Performances such as data transmission and power consumption are examined and analyzed for in-building networks via experiments. Based on the evaluation and comparison, we propose a new adaptive physical mode selection scheme for utilizing the legacy Bluetooth and the new Bluetooth 5 efficiently. This scheme dynamically switches the physical layer configuration along with the change of radio environments. Therefore, the network connectivity performances in terms of throughput and outage rate are improved by operating Bluetooth Low Energy and Bluetooth 5 coordinately.


(57) Abstract: The present invention relates to an interactive digital system that enables complete and active participation of viewers in the viewing of live program of events (1). In particular, live events, and different camera angle, by setting options, including multiple video streams having audio and graphics partitioned example incorporated, are personally provided to the viewer. In addition, it is possible to incorporate the information obtained from the relevant web site to live program.


Eight strongly electron-donating alkylthio- or arylthio-groups have been introduced to a strongly electron-withdrawing pyrazinoporphyrazine (PyZ) core, to form the Zn complexes of octadecylthiolated ZnPyZ, (SDc)[Formula: see text]ZnPyZ, and octaphenylthiolated ZnPyZ, (S[Formula: see text])[Formula: see text]ZnPyZ, and their electronic structures studied by 1H NMR and electronic absorption spectroscopy. The strength of the ring current, aromaticity, and flow of charge were discussed by calculating the ring current, nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS), and anisotropy of the current-induced density (ACID), respectively. Good agreement was seen for the results of these three calculations, demonstrating that a strong ring current of the macrocycle is produced when the aromatic ring fused to the tetraazaporphyrin core has a weaker diamagnetic ring current, [Formula: see text]. weaker aromaticity (negatively smaller NICS values). TD-DFT molecular orbital (MO) calculations succeeded in explaining the differences of the absorption spectra between these octathiolated ZnPyZs and those without thiolated groups. The singlet oxygen quantum yield in pyridine (0.62) of (S[Formula: see text])[Formula: see text]ZnPyZ was similar to that (0.61) of normal ZnPc.


Pino Koc, Miroslav Halilovič, Boris Štok Original scientific paper Mechanical analyses of the Krško NPP primary system piping subjected to the restrained thermal expansion due to insufficient pipe shim clearances are addressed in the paper. Reduction of clearance between a pipe and respective pipe restraints preclude free thermal expansion of the pipe system during the heat-up, thus causing a rise of excessive contact forces in the pipe pipe restraint pairs. This results in a development of unfavourable strains and stresses both in pipes and restraints. A series of numerical simulations was performed which demonstrate sufficient strength resistance of the Krško NPP primary piping, while supports are much more susceptible and need careful engineering consideration.


Verbs in the Semitic languages are unique amongst the corpus of languages, in that they have the ability to express different actions by inserting a three or four letter root into a certain pattern. Moreover, various aspects of a given action, such as those containing an iterative or causative sense, are shown through changes in verbal patterns from the basic verb to the derived forms. As such, there are many forms across the Semitic languages that comprise distinct meanings endemic to each pattern. Though most of these forms are well documented by many linguists, they sharply disagree as to the origin and core meaning of the L-Stem ('lengthened' stem). In order to wade through this controversy, I plan first to narrow the field of languages that utilize the L-Stem, so as to tell which of them necessitate further study. Then, a summary of the opinions debating the true origin and meaning of the L-Stem will be presented, along with my thoughts stating that the verb form is indeed derived from the basic verb. Lastly, through analysis of samples taken from classical texts, I can then determine that the contextual meaning of the L-Stem connotes actions that directly affect another person.


To solve the problem of poor reciprocity and redundancy of channel characteristic measurements in secret key generation systems based on wireless channel characteristics, a preprocessing algorithm based on principal component analysis and a new type of hardware fingerprint difference compensation algorithm are proposed. By comparing the changes in the consistency and randomness of the channel state information of the legal communication parties in various test scenarios, it is proved that the algorithm proposed in this paper can effectively improve the channel reciprocity and randomness of key generation.


There is a substantial need for images that are able of capturing the whole dynamic range of a natural scene, thus techniques and algorithms for the High Dynamic Range (HDR) image processing were developed. This image format can capture the dynamic range of a scene, however excessively large files are created, which constitute an obstacle for their storing and transmission. For these particular reasons there is an essential need to compress adequately these files. Our purpose is the development of algorithms using conventional compression techniques -such as JPEG- appropriately adjusted for the peculiarities of this type of image , in order to achieve efficient compression and minor compression error.


1. Two types of cracking of fruits viz., radial and-transverse were observed in lemon varieties at the Horticultural Experiment Station of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi during 1956 and 1957. Radial type was more common.


Vet Ryk Botes is a branch partner at Medivet. He has a special interest in orthopaedics and enjoys refining new techniques, most recently in elbow replacement surgery.


Here we report a case of a patient with gastric undifferentiated carcinoma associated with choriocarcinomatous and hepatoid carcinomatous differentiation. A 62-year-old man was referred after a healthcare screening gastroscopy. Gastroscopy revealed an approximately cm ulcerofungating mass in the posterior wall of the antrum. Biopsy results revealed a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. The initial serum -FP levels were above 350 ng/mL. An abdominal CT scan revealed focal wall thickening along the greater curvature of the gastric antrum, with perigastric fat invasion and enlarged multiple perigastric lymph nodes. He underwent a palliative radical subtotal gastrectomy and gastroduodenostomy with dissection of the enlarged lymph nodes. Postsurgical histological examination revealed an undifferentiated carcinoma associated with choriocarcinomatous and hepatoid carcinomatous differentiation. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that the tumor cells were positive for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), -FP, and anti-hepatocyte antibody.


AFLPs are being used in L. angustifolius to construct a molecular linkage map and find molecular markers linked to traits of interest. To date, over 700 polymorphic loci have been identified in an F2 mapping population. Linkage analysis, using MAPMAKER/EXP V3.0, has generated 21 linkage groups, including 2 AFLP markers linked to Ku (early maturity). A specific PCR test has been developed for this marker that can distinguish homozygous early and late maturing plants, as well as heterozygotes. Studies are continuing to find other markers, and to expand the linkage map.


We have studied the viscoelastic properties of semifluorinated alkanes F(CF2)n(CH2)mH (referred as FnHm) confined at the air‐water interface. These specially synthesized model doubly‐hydrophobic macromolecules of varying architecture reside at the air‐water interface in the form of well‐defined disk‐like surface micelles that minimize the free energy. Pressure area isotherms performed on Langmuir monolayers of these micelles indicated two transitions: one at about 4 mN/m and a second at about 8 mN/m. In both regimes a solid‐like viscoelastic response was probed. In each regime the values of both the storage and the loss surface moduli increased with surface pressure. These findings are discussed in view of recent theoretical developments and provide opportunities for manipulating surface structure and rheology of such types of complex macromolecules. Finally, the effect of architecture on this surface structure—rheology interplay has been also addressed.


Characterization of O2-tolerance in H2-producing photosynthetic organisms is essential to the development of this renewable energy source, since application of green algae for H2 production is confronted with the problem of oxygen sensitivity. During current reporting period, we observed a new oxygen sensitivity in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that is clearly distinct from the oxygen sensitivity of the hydrogenase. This distinct O2 sensitivity indicates that there is an alternative electron transport pathway that can take electrons away from the hydrogenase-catalyzed H 2 production pathway to O2. Our experiments demonstrated that this alternative mechanism is more sensitive to O2 than the oxygen sensitivity of the hydrogenase. These findings redefine the meaning of "oxygen tolerance" in algal H2 production. Future work will focus on mapping this alternative electron transport pathway and on developing a technique to control this pathway to enhance the production of H2.


Videogame developers have utilized many types of display technology, from oscilloscopes to Teletypes to high-definition LCD displays. Two significant early display technologies, raster scan and random scan CRTs, played a significant part in the history and evolution of videogames. A study of these technologies shows how the choice of one or the other, and the need to port games between the two, influenced game design and prompted developers to innovate.


Surface doping is being used as an effective approach to improve the mechanical, optical, electronic, and magnetic properties of various materials. For example, experimental studies have proven that rare-earth element doping can enhance the optical properties of silicon nanostructures. However, the majority of previous investigations focused on either bulk materials or nanosized spherical crystals. Here we present a comparative study on semiconducting germanium (Ge) nanowires with and without surface doping by using multiple integrated characterization probes, including high resolution scanning/transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM), in situ high pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. Our results reveal that under pressure the stability of the Ge-I phase (diamond structure) in erbium (Er)-doped Ge nanowires is enhanced compared to undoped Ge nanowires. We also found an increased stability of the Ge-II phase (body centered tetragonal structure) in Er-doped Ge nanowires du...


This research involved the design and manufacture of a prototype for a hybrid bicycle system. The design called for a vehicle capable of being used in a mode where normal bicycle operation is possible while being reconfigurable into a cargo carrying configuration where both wheels are coaxial. The simplification of the process by which the device could change from one mode to the other and the robustness of the system as a whole were set as primary design criteria. This design would allow for the transportation of individuals and cargo under varying situations, including the evacuation of a wounded individual when in cargo mode. The success of the prototype proved the value of the concept and its possible applications in military, urban, and outdoor environments. Testing also showed that further research into refining the cargo transport's driving dynamics and the manufacturing of the most critical components is merited.


The present invention relates to a magnetic induction charging device 50 comprises an electric power supply source 60 connected to the main coil (61). And the device (50) comprises a passive resonant circuit (70, 80, 90, 100) of each of the resonance frequency different from the frequency range of the predetermined main value. Each passive resonant circuit (70, 80, 90, 100) comprises a secondary coil (71, 81, 91, 101). It said secondary coil (71, 81, 91, 101) is arranged on each of the different zones of the main coil (61). The electric power supply source (60) is adapted to generate different charge signal of the main frequencies of the range of the predetermined value of the main frequency.


We study a problem of scheduling n jobs on machines of two types: in‐house machines and third‐party machines. Scheduling on in‐house machines incurs no additional costs, while using third‐party machines implies costs depending on their number and the time of usage. Each job has a fixed time interval for being processed which can be divided and allocated among several machines, as long as there is only one machine processing the job at any time. No machine can process more than one job at a time. Jobs can be rejected, and they are of different importance that is reflected in the weight of each job. The objective is to find a subset of the jobs and the number of third‐party machines for any period of time so that the accepted jobs can be feasibly scheduled, the total weight of the accepted jobs is maximized, and the total machine usage costs does not exceed a given upper bound. We also study a similar problem in which the objective is to maximize the total time at which at least one job is processed. Both problems are encountered in situations in which certain activities with given start and completion times have to be serviced by human operators. Examples are air traffic control and the monitoring safe vehicle unloading. Other examples are the employment of subcontractors in agriculture, construction or transportation. We will present NP‐hardness proofs, polynomial and pseudo‐polynomial optimal algorithms and an approximation algorithm for these problems and their special cases. These problems admit graph‐theoretical interpretations associated with finding independent sets and a proper vertex coloring in interval graphs.


surprisingly poor quality; the author admits freely (p. 38) that the purpose of his taking photographs was ". . . the best way for me to create an aura of respectability." The pictures are poorly composed, badly focused, and quite uninteresting. The text which accompanies them becomes comical at times in its overinterpretation, as in his description of "an altogether private look" given by a new mother to her husband. The picture in question shows the woman's blurry profile and her husband cropped off at the shoulders (pp. 70-71). There are many other books available with excellent photographs and less turgid writing. But there would still be a justification for this book if it were the honest exploration of a man's emotional feelings about childbirth and fatherhood, in which case one would expect to hear about the emotions connected with personal experience. Remarkably, the author is not writing about the birth of his own children, though he mentions just in passing that he has three children of his own. Rather, he diligently records his own feelings about being at the births of three infants whose parents do not know him well but allow him to be present. His decision to do this project came, apparently, as a result of his artistic difficulties with his "Cycle of Life" sculpture. The situation seems somewhat irrelevant. The writing is wholly subjective, even self-indulgent, and the few opinions expressed, on the use of drugs during labor, silver nitrate treatment for infants' eyes, and the separation of mother and infant after birth, are confused and misinformed. The fact that some combination of these practices occurred with each birth compromises his advocacy of "natural" childbirth considerably. In short, this book does not succeed at all and should not be recommended. There are too many other visually satisfying and informative books available on the new practice of childbirth.


Aiming at the common embedded multimedia system without network function,an embedded hardware platform program for the network display system is presented.This system design uses LM3S1138 with ARM Cortex-M3 as the main controller,uses USB controller CH375,Ethernet controller ENC28J60 and audio-decoder VS1003 as the periphery chips, and usesμC/OS as operation system.The method of the system software design is given,including the device diver design and application program design.In the test,this system design downloads and plays the music on the net fluently,it is widely used in house electrical appliances,car electronics products and public broadcasting.


Unwanted bleaching of two-photon absorption microscopy probes can be reduced by designing more efficient nonlinear fluorophores. Here the linear and nonlinear photophysical properties of unsaturated oxazolones are studied. A set of pushepull oxazolone derivatives have been designed by substituting the 2-phenyl-4-benzylidene-1,3-oxazol-5-one unit in two different positions with a combination of electron donor (dimethylaniline) and/or acceptor (nitro, nitrile and benzimidazole) groups. By engineering this green fluorescent protein analogue core we have prepared molecules with high two-photon absorption cross-sections 200e500 GM and fluorescence quantum yields up to 0.75. The factors determining the overall nonlinear emission efficiency of the new unsaturated oxazolones are discussed in terms of the nature of the substituents.


Mangrove ecosystems are the most productive ecosystems, and possess unique environmental conditions, but are least explored. This study was carried out to isolate Actinomycetes strains that have potential to produce commercially important enzymes as well as antibiotics from least explored mangrove soils. The soil sample was collected from Dumas – Bhimpore mangrove region, Surat. Using dilution plate technique three isolates were obtained and were characterized based on morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters. Screening was done for four important enzymes such as amylase, cellulase, Lasparaginase and protease production and respective enzymatic activities by isolated strains. All strains were able to produce amylase enzyme. Strain 1 was found to have potential to produce amylase and cellulase enzymes; strain 2 was found to have potential to produce amylase, and L-asparaginase enzymes while strain 3 was found to have potential to produce all four enzymes. Isolates were also screened for antimicrobial activity against test organisms such as Salmonella typhimurium, Serratia marcescens, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Klebsiella pneumoniae and antifungal activity against Rhizopus, Penicillium, Neurospora crassa, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum. Strain 1 was found to have no potential antimicrobial activity against any test bacteria. No isolate was found to have potential antifungal activity against test fungus. Keywords— Actinomycetes, Mangrove ecosystem, Enzymatic activity, Antimicrobial and Antifungal activity.


Background and purpose:Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia(WM) is a B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by lymphoplasmacytic bone marrow infiltration and immunoglobulin M(IgM) monoclonal gammopathy.WM remains incurable.Preclinical studies have shown that the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib targets signaling pathways of relevance in WM.Bortezomib,alone and in combination with rituximab,has demonstrated notable activity in clinical studies of patients with WM.We examined the activity and toxicity of bortezomib in combination with dexamethasone in patients with symptomatic WM.Methods:Bortezomib in combination with dexamethasone was administered as first-line treatment in two patients with WM.One patient was untreated and the other relapsed after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation.Two patients received 1.3 mg/m2 of bortezomib on intravenously days 1,4,8,and 11;20-40 mg of dexamethasone on days 1,2,4,5,8,9,11 and 12 on a 21-day cycle.The patients received two cycles,one of which was in combination with plasma exchange.Results:Two patients with clinical symptoms improved signifi cantly,including one patient whose prothrombin time was close to normal.Two cases of serum IgM levels were significantly reduced after treatment,one patient declined from 100.00 g/L to 9.23 g/L,and the other declined from 9.13 g/L to 3.24 g/L.Pulmonary infection and peripheral neuropathy(grade Ⅱ) occurred in two patients after the second cycle.In one patient,it occurred first in diarrhea,then constipation,while the other presented abdominal distention and constipation.Both patients improved after treatment.After treatment,these patients were in stable condition for 4 months continuing follow-ups.Conclusion:Bortezomib,when used in combination with dexamethasone is for treating WM short-term.However,peripheral neuropathy and infections are main complications.


1 This study investigates the effects of two structurally different antagonists of platelet‐activating factor (PAF), BN52021 and WEB2086, on the circulatory and renal failure elicited by lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from Staphylococcus aureus (an organism without endotoxin) in anaesthetized rats. 2 Administration of LTA (10 mg kg−1, i.v.) caused hypotension and vascular hyporeactivity to noradrenaline (1 μg kg−1, i.v.). WEB2086 (5 mg kg−1, i.v., 20 min before and 150 min after LTA) inhibited the delayed fall in mean arterial blood pressure (at 300 min: 99 ±6 mmHg vs. 75 ±6 mmHg, P<0.01) and prevented the decrease in pressor response to noradrenaline (at 300 min: 36 ±5 mmHg min vs. 17±5 mmHg min, P<0.01). Surprisingly, BN52021 (20 mg kg−1, i.v., 20 min before and 150 min after LTA) neither prevented the hypotension (74±6 mmHg) nor the vascular hyporeactivity (21±5 mmHg min). However, BN52021 inhibited the hypotension to injections of PAF as well as the circulatory failure elicited by lipopolysaccharides (10 mg kg−1, i.v.). 3 LTA caused an increase in plasma concentration of creatinine from 39±5 μm (sham‐operated) to 70±8 μm and urea from 4.7±0.1 to 13.1±1.6 mM. The renal failure elicited by LTA was significantly inhibited by WEB2086 (creatinine: 45±4 μm and urea: 5.7±0.7 mM), but not by BN52021. 4 The induction of nitric oxide synthase activity in lungs by LTA was attenuated by WEB2086 from 98±17 to 40±15 pmol L‐citrulline 30 min−1 mg−1 protein (P<0.01), but not by BN52021 (148±21 pmol L‐citrulline 30 min−1 mg−1 protein). Similarly, WEB2086, but not BN52021, inhibited the increase in plasma nitrite concentration associated with the delayed circulatory failure caused by LTA. The release of tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) after injection of LTA was not attenuated by WEB2086. 5 The induction of nitrite release by cultured macrophages activated with LTA (10 μg ml−1 for 24 h) was inhibited by 74±4% by WEB2086 (3times10−4 m), but not by BN52021, indicating that only WEB2086 acts on intracellular PAF receptors. 6 Thus, the intracellular release of PAF contributes to the circulatory and renal failure and induction of nitric oxide synthase elicited by LTA in anaesthetized rats. The difference between the two structurally different PAF antagonists in our septic shock models using either LTA or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), shows the importance of models for Gram‐positive sepsis in the elucidation of the pathophysiology of septic shock and for the evaluation of potential drugs.


The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Guidelines for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) covered a broad scope of disease management from screening to diagnosis to management of early and advanced stage disease. Since its drafting in 2017 and subsequent publication in early 2018, there have been significant advances in the management of advanced HCC. Some of these new data were addressed in the subsequent AASLD Guidance, but still not all of the newest data were included. Lenvatinib gained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and global approval for first-line use, joining sorafenib in this setting. Results from two phase 3 studies comparing yttrium-90 (Y) resin microsphere treatment with sorafenib failed to show superiority in intermediate and advanced HCC, and a third phase 3 study failed to show benefit of Y plus sorafenib over sorafenib alone. Currently, there are two FDA-approved therapies for second-line use after sorafenib, including regorafenib, cabozantinib, nivolumab, pembrolizumab, and ramucirumab. Fig. 1 summarizes the mechanisms of action of these new drugs.


3510 Background: MK-1775 is an inhibitor of Wee1, a kinase that phosphorylates CDC2 to inactivate the CDC2/cyclin B complex (regulating the G2 checkpoint). Since most human cancers harbor p53-dependent G1 checkpoint abnormalities, they are dependent on the G2 checkpoint. G2 checkpoint abrogation may therefore sensitize p53 deficient tumor cells to anti-cancer agents.

METHODS
This study is evaluating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), and pharmacodynamics (PD) of MK-1775 administered as both monotherapy (MT) and combination therapy (CT) with gemcitabine (G), cisplatin (P), or carboplatin (C). PART 1 consists of a single dose of MK-1775 followed by 14 days observation. If well tolerated, the same pt continues on to one of three treatment arms in PART 2: a single lower dose of MK-1775 in combination with: 1) 1000 mg/m2 G, 2) 75 mg/m2 P or 3) C AUC 5. Maximum Tolerated Doses (MTDs) will be established for MK-1775 as both monotherapy and in combination. PD biomarkers include IHC analysis for pCDC2/CDC2 in plucked hair and skin biopsies, peripheral blood, and tumor biopsies. Wee1 gene expression signature is measured in plucked hair and tumor biopsies by qPCR.

RESULTS
To date, 37 pts (median age 61; up to 4 prior therapies) have been treated with MK-1775. 4 pts experienced DLT. One pt on G + 200mg MK-1775 had gr3 leucopenia and neutropenia; one pt on P + 200mg MK-1775 had gr3, fatigue, diarrhea and hypokalemia and another pt gr2 nausea/vomiting > 48hrs requiring hospitalization. One pt on C + 325mg MK-1775 was hospitalized for gr3 bilirubin. Linear PK was demonstrated at 100, 200, 325, 650 and 1300 mg MK-1775. Terminal T½ of MK-1775 was 7.6-12.2 hrs and Tmax was 1.0-6.0 hrs. Preliminary MTDs of MK-1775 in combination with G, C and P were 200, 325 and 200mg, respectively. Significant changes in Wee1 signature gene expression were observed in plucked hair. Of 28 evaluable pts, >50% regression of axillary lymphadenopathy was seen in 1 pt with melanoma on the P arm, and stable disease in 14 other pts (median duration).

CONCLUSIONS
MK-1775 is a first in class Wee1 inhibitor that is well tolerated and shows promising anti-tumor activity in previously treated pts. [Table: see text].


Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing is a common RNA modification catalyzed by ADAR (adenosine deaminase acting on RNA) enzymes. ADAR1 serves a crucial function to edit double stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules to prevent activation of the dsRNA sensor MDA5 (
 IFIH1
 ) that stimulates an interferon stimulated gene (ISG) response. Discoveries in human genetics now implicate deficient ADAR1 RNA editing as a causal mechanism in coronary artery disease (CAD). We hypothesize that smooth muscle cell (SMC) specific RNA editing is required to prevent vascular calcification and inflammation. Here, we demonstrate that ADAR1 is the master regulator of RNA editing in primary human coronary artery SMC (HCASMC).
 ADAR1
 KD in HCASMC causes an ISG response characterized by massive upregulation of key ISG genes (e.g.
 ISG15, IFI6, IFIH1
 ). Importantly,
 ADAR1
 KD stimulates the upregulation of genes with known roles in SMC phenotypic transition and CAD risk, including
 KLF4
 ,
 TCF21
 ,
 ATF3
 , and
 ZEB2
 . This effect is dependent on activation of MDA5. Additionally, we demonstrate ADAR1 and MDA5 regulate SMC phenotypic modulation and calcification in vitro where
 ADAR1
 KD inhibits SMC maturation and dysregulates the calcification gene program in an MDA5 dependent manner. Using scRNAseq data collected from human vascular tissue we show that immunogenic dsRNA are disproportionately expressed in human SMC in atherosclerosis. Similarly, in atherosclerosis prone mice, scRNAseq analysis reveals SMC to have increasing ISG expression as cells transition from mature SMC to a more calcified chondromyocyte phenotype — consistent with MDA5 activation. To further evaluate the role for SMC specific RNA editing in vivo, we generated a conditional SMC specific
 Adar1
 KD mouse (
 Adar1
 flox/flox
 ,

 Myh11
 CreERT2
 , ROSA
 tdT/+

 ). At 2 weeks following SMC-
 Adar1
 KD, mice demonstrate a severe phenotype of elastin degradation and disarray, intravascular hemorrhage, and inflammatory cell infiltration in the aortic wall. This effect was not seen with an endothelial cell specific deletion model (
 Adar1
 flox/flox

 , Cx40
 CreERT2

 ). Here we provide key evidence to support the observations from human genetics that the ADAR1-dsRNA-MDA5 axis is a causal mechanism in vascular disease and warrants further investigation.


Gamma attenuation factors calculated by Monte Carlo and moment methods for flat, infinite-plane roofs are compared. The calculations are also carried out for roofed structures having walls that can reflect or transmit the radintion. (T.F.H.)


On the basis of comprehensive analysis of limestone mine's reserve,method of utilization of residual limestone resource is found out.The experience is useful for reference for similar mines where mineral resources are near exhausted.


Taking consider of the problem for rotor side power and DC bus voltage change frequently volatile,a framework of AC excited VSCF doubly fed wind power generation system was designed.And control strategy of the back-to-back PWM converter was studied.A control model of the rotor side converter was established,and a system of VSCF doubly fed wind power generation based on the stator voltage orientation(SVO)vector control was designed.A simulation model of the system was built.The simulation results show that the feasibility of the control strategy and technique,and the system can realize the active power,reactive power decoupling control and maximum wind power tracking control.


What effect does culture have on the achievement of joint gains in negotiation? Prior research has identified a number of strategies, for example sharing information about preferences and priorities, eschewing power, that lead to the development of joint gains when both negotiators are from the U.S. Are these same strategies used in other cultures? Are other strategies used? How effective are negotiators from different cultures in realizing joint gains? These are among the questions considered by the authors, whose research is based on data collected from negotiators from six different cultural backgrounds: France, Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, Brazil, and the U.S.


In 2008, the German legislature enacted a completely revised Insurance Contract Act, in which a new rule of proportionality replaced the former all-or-nothing principle for questions of liability. This article outlines the reasons for this shift and the impact of the rule of proportionality on insurers and policyholders. It also addresses the criticisms raised regarding the new system as well as some of the technical problems arising in its application, for example, with regard to placement of the burden of proof. This is followed by a short discussion of the rule as it is traditionally applied in Switzerland and as it is adopted in the Principles of European Insurance Contract Law (PEICL).


We report the case of a 77-year-old male who came to the emergency department with epigastric pain accompanied by fever and chills. After the diagnosis of intra-abdominal abscess and gastric tumor, emergency surgery was performed with resection of the tumor and abscess drainage. The patient had a good postoperative course.


Students who have special needs also have the right to obtain an education as a provision for life, just like regular students. However, several learning tools for them are still very few. It is because some researchers always focus on standard students. Therefore, this study aims to develop visual-based mathematics teaching materials on integer arithmetic operations, one of which is deaf students. The development model used is a modified development model from the 4D model. Teaching materials that have been developed and tested on deaf class VIII students are suitable for use as a learning medium because they meet the criteria of being valid, practical, and effective. Valid because the average value of the three validators is 3.85. Furthermore, the practical standard is because the percentage of the average response score of students obtained is 80%. Finally, the effective criterion is that the average score of students trying to solve the test questions is 81. The results of this study contribute to providing alternative teaching materials for deaf students.


In large industrial plants and factories, it has become popular to use in-house generation systems connected to utility power systems. Especially, co-generation systems have been introduced to many consumers such as hotels and hospitals. However, when a fault occurs on the transmission line, voltage on the internal power system drops instantaneously until its clearance. To enhance the load's reliability, a new switchgear system has been developed. This equipment consists of static switchgear applying thyristor, disconnecting switches, and a control circuit. This control circuit has functions to detect voltage drops and voltage synchronization. This equipment is installed in series with the circuit breaker which connects the buses of the consumer's own power generation system, and executes high speed tripping and reclosing when the voltage on the consumer's bus drops instantaneously. In this paper, artificial test results of this equipment is presented. From these results, it is confirmed that this equipment can restrain voltage drop of the important loads within one cycle by means of tripping the short circuit current within one cycle when the voltage drops under the setting value. Then, comparison between measured results and simulated results by EMTP is represented. From this comparison, it is confirmed that verification of this equipment's performance using EMTP is effective. Then, influence of voltage drop (20% and 50%) on loads is investigated by simulating transient voltage change of the generator.


Ganglioside GM2 (GM2) frequently appears on the cell surface of human cancers of neuroendocrine origin. A mouse‐human chimeric monoclonal antibody (mAb), KM966, against GM2 was previously found to promote the lysis of various cancer cells by human blood mononnclear cells (MNC). In this study, we analyzed the effector cells responsible for the chimeric mAb‐dependent cell‐mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) against small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells and examined the enhancing effect of various cytokines on the ADCC activity. The ADCC activity was assessed by 4‐h 51Cr release assay. Highly purified lymphocytes (>99%) and monocytes (>90%) were separated by centrifugal elutriation from peripheral blood MNC of the same healthy donor. KM966 induced lysis of SCLC cells mediated by both lymphocytes and monocytes to similar extents, in a dose‐dependent manner. Pretreatment of lymphocytes with various cytokines [interleukin (IL)‐2, IL‐12 and interferon‐γ] and that of monocytes with macrophage‐colony‐stimulating factor significantly augmented the killer activity against SCLC cells in the presence of KM966 mAb. KM966 was also effective for the lysis of non‐small cell lung cancer cells in direct proportion to the GM2 expression levels. These findings suggest that combined treatment of KM966 mAb with cytokines may be therapeutically useful for in vivo killing of lung cancer cells expressing GM2 through the ADCC reaction.


Background and purpose - Parkinson's disease with cardinal feature of bradykinesia is a movement disorder. The effect of cueing in disorders like parkinsons patients ,stroke, spinal cord injury for improving motor skills and gait and lower limb functions have long been investigated by the Researchers, but there are dearth of studies evaluating the effect of cueing on fine motor skills in patients with parkinson's disease. Hence this study tries to investigate the effect of auditory cueing on fine motor skills in Parkinson's disease. Methodology - 25 diagnosed Parkinson's patients having primary level of education, with mean age 72±5 yrs in Hoehn and Yahr stages 1 to 3 of disease and MMSE score above 24 were included in the study. Two groups were formed; one group performing activities with auditory cueing and other group performing activities without auditory cueing. Scores were calculated using Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test. Results - Mean values of pre and post intervention timings on Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test were calculated. Group with auditory cueing showed improvement in total sores of subtests of Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test with mean and standard deviation (58.51±2.69) seconds in dominant hand and (54.59±2.43) seconds in non-dominant hand, whereas, Group without auditory cueing showed improvement in total sores of subtests of Jebsen Taylor Hand Function Test with mean and standard deviation of (13.39±2.07) seconds in dominant hand and (13.52±1.96) seconds in non-dominant hand. Conclusion- Auditory cueing is proved to be an effective method in improving fine motor skills in patients with Parkinsons disease.


Several narrow-band VI, obtained from high spectral resolution reflectance data in the red-edge, have proved to be sensitive at the canopy scale to leaf chlorophyll concentration [Chla+b] a valuable indicator of nutritional stress; A few broad –band VI, based on green, red and NIR reflectance, have been proposed with the same objective; However, there is currently little agreement on which VI, both among narrow and broad-band indices, has the strongest relationships with [Chla+b]


Fulminant hepatic failure secondary to herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a rare complication that is associated with high mortality. Here, we describe the case of a critically ill patient with severe burns and inhalation injury who developed severe coagulopathy during her hospital stay, which was later found to be caused by HSV hepatitis. In addition, we review the current literature on HSV hepatitis. Only three prior reports document liver involvement of HSV in patients with burn. Clinical symptoms, diagnostic factors, and management of HSV hepatitis in patients with burn are presented. Because of severe immunosuppression and potentially fatal nature of this infection, clinicians should have a heightened suspicion for HSV hepatitis in burn patients with HSV mucocutaneous involvement, unexplained liver dysfunction, and severe coagulopathy, and it should prompt immediate initiation of intravenous acyclovir.


THE discovery of insulin; the progressive biochemical studies of the diabetic and his reaction to dietary and other treatment, demand an altered attitude on the part of the clinician, especially the surgeon. The subject -has many aspects and can be approached from many angles. Firstly:-Diabetics, as a class, are not immune to those diseases demanding surgical intervention which are the common heritage of us all. An acute appenicitis may just as readily develop in a diabetic as in one who is not diabetic. Trauma may be suffered by the diabetic, and this trauma may require anesthesia, or operation, or both. To what extent does the diabetes influence the surgical treatment and the prognosis? May I boldly state "Not at all." But just as emphatically it must be stated that in the absence of recognition of the diabetic state, and without positive control of the diabetes, the prognosis as to healing and recovery is almost invariably bad. For generations our medical forbears had recognized the importance of routine urinalysis before attempting any surgical procedure. In the event of the discovery of glycosuria such procedure was either abandoned, postponed, modified, or undertaken with trepidation. It was recognized that following operation the diabetic state was frequently increased in severity, with acidosis, coma and death; that wounds suppurated, and infection ran riot; that healing was slow and tedious. All this is now changed. The routine urinalysis is just as imperative, the recognition of the diabetic state just as important, but with proper treatment of the diabetes the advanatages of surgical intervention can be granted without hesitation and without delay. In hospitals with a well equipped bio-chemical laboratory the blood sugars of glycosurics are watched, the dosage of insulin regulated to the changing requirements of the patient, the carbo-


Many vibration isolators, for instance, passive vehicle mounting device, have fixed stiffness. This article presents the development of the adjustable stiffness engine mounting magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) based to reduce vibration. The development of MREs vibration isolator is to design of engine mounting first step, for next step is to simulate the electromagnetic circuit. The housing material selection and MREs thickness were considered to equip sufficient, uniform magnetic fields to change the stiffness. The innovative magnetic circuit design includes the type and size of the wire and the number of the coil turns to obtain the best magnetic fields to eliminate vibration. Finite Element Method Magnetics (FEMM) software was utilized to show the effectiveness of the electromagnetic circuit in generating magnetic fields through the MREs. Finally, various current input influence to the MREs vibration isolator is investigated. The higher current input is more useful to eliminate vibration using MREs isolator system.


This study is to review the costumes of female Shamans through Gamrotaenghwa(甘露幀畵) in the late Joseon Dynasty of the 18th and 19th centuries. The picture of Mudangnaeryeok(巫堂來歷) showing Shamanic performances which is kept in Kyujanggak, Seoul National University was the only one thing enabling to compare with the Shamanic costumes shown in Gamrotaenghwa. The earlier Gamrotaenghwa doesn`t show the Shamanic features but that of the later part of 18th century shows specific costumes so that the scene of Shamanic performance can be guessed. The Shamanic costumes are classified into 5 types. Type A is considered to have followed the figures shown commonly in earlier Gamrotaenghwa of the 16th and 17th centuries, rather than the traditional costumes. Types B through E show the costumes of the Joseon dynasty. With the basic costumes of skirt and Chogori(a kind of jacket, Type B), the variable costumes worn for each type of Shamanic performances are Mongduri(蒙頭里, Type C), Jeonbok(戰服, Type D) and Cheolrik(天翼, Type E). Reviewing the general style of those costumes, the upper part was tight and the lower part was silhouette of big volume, and the length of Chogori was a little long in the early of 18th century but it became shorter with narrower sleeves from the later part of the same century. According to the general literatures about the outer collars were not overlapped and its side parts were open, with half or no sleeves. In case that the target of Shamanic performance is male god, the Shaman wore the male costumes represented by Cheolrik and Jeonbok. Because these Cheolrik and Jeonbok which were worn during the Shamanic performance have the symbolic meaning to correspond with the male god, they didn`t function as ordinary costumes.


The feasibility and technological conditions of the preparation of flame retardant paper based on the fibers in which Mg-Al hydrotalcites were co-precipitated as the filler were investigated. The crystallizations, granularities of Mg-Al and the characters of the flame retardant paper were measured using transmission election microscope and X-ray diffraction technique, etc. The results indicated that Mg-Al hydrotalcites are layered hexagonal nanoparticles, with perfectly crystallized structure and striking performance in furnish retention improvement. The flame retardant paper based on the fibers in which the Mg-Al hydrotalcites are precipitated as fillers is feasible. The oxygen index of the flame retardant paper produced is above 20% at the dosage of 10% of the hydrotalcites.


Primary oral malignant melanoma usually presents as a dark brown or black lesion. It is a rare malignancy, accounting for less than 1% of all melanomas and 1.6% of all head and neck malignancies, thus forming up to 0.5% of all oral malignancies in the world literature. In general, the prognosis of oral melanoma is poor and worse than that of cutaneous melanoma. The preferred treatment is radical surgery alone or in combination with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy and immunomodulatory agents. A case of Oral Malignant Melanoma is presented here which was undetected during the first visit to the hospital. When a simple oral surgical treatment was carried out in that region, it resulted in the appearance of a massive pigmented lesion which was histopathologically diagnosed as malignant melanoma. This paper is presented to reemphasize the fact that any pigmented lesion in the oral cavity should be viewed with suspicion and proper investigation (biopsy) should be carried out to rule out any untoward experiences later.


Summary. The meat quality of Pietrain, Pietrain x Landrace and Landrace hogs and gilts at four finishing weights was studied with respect to post-mortem glycolytic rates, colour, wateriness and toughness.

The rate of post-mortem glycolysis was found to be indicative of the subsequent meat quality in the three breeds.

The longissimus dorsi of the Pietrain carcasses exhibited those characteristics associated with paleness, wetness and toughness. The Pietrain x Landrace were intermediate between the parent breeds, but more closely resembled the Landrace.

Muscle brightness was significantly related to the pH of the muscle measured at 45 min post mortem (pH1) and also pigment concentration.

Significant correlations were found between pH1, and protein solubility, compressibility and tenderness values; and also between compressibility ratios and tenderness values.

The light coloured part of the semitendinosus was significantly paler in the Pietrain than in the Landrace and Pietrain x Landrace, while the dark part became darker with increasing weight.

With increasing weight, the inner layer of subcutaneous fat became less pink and increased in brightness for gilts.


Restructuring financing is one of the policies that can be implemented to overcome problematic financing that frequently arises in financial institutions, including murabahah financing. This study aims to assess the conformity of the implementation of the applicable regulations and to identify the various types of restructuring implementation in the settlement of troubled murabahah financing at BPRS Mustaqim Banda Aceh resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. This study employed a descriptive-qualitative methodology with BPRS Mustaqim Banda Aceh as the subject of study. Interviews and document reviews were conducted to collect research data. The findings of this study indicate that the restructuring implemented by BPRS Mustaqim Banda Aceh conforms to the DSN-MUI Fatwa and SE BI and that the implementation of restructuring in dealing with troubled murabahah financing due to the Covid-19 pandemic includes rescheduling, reconditioning, and restructuring by DSN-MUI Fatwa Number 49/DSN-MUI/II/2005 and PBI Number 10/18/PBI/2008.


The city of Loja is home to one of the most important performing arts events in the country, the International Festival of Living Arts, for the countless cultural manifestations in the field of arts, letters and music, here large exponents of music, a potential that transforms it into the "Musical Capital of Ecuador", this recognition constitutes a great value for the Lojano people; However, it has not been possible to show a musical city as such, since there is no tourist offer that promotes the rescue of this cultural heritage, this being a problem that entails the loss of the Lojana identity. To solve this problem, the following research was chosen: "Proposal of Tourist Innovation with Musical Theme, for the Cristal Palace Hotel, of the City of Loja", with the purpose of offering a more attractive lodging alternative and a service personalized, this being a unique hotel infrastructure style in this city.
The development of this project was determined by the following general objective: Conduct a study for the proposal of tourism innovation with musical themes, for the Cristal Palace Hotel in the city of Loja; Three specific objectives derive from it: diagnose the current situation of the Cristal Palace Hotel in the city of Loja; elaborate the musical theme proposal for the Cristal Palace Hotel; and determine marketing strategies for the Cristal Palace Hotel, based on the proposal of a musical theme. To achieve the specific objectives of the research, descriptive, analytical, historical, deductive and inductive methods were used; In addition, techniques such as direct observation, the interview, the survey, which allowed the development of the F.O.D.A (Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats) matrix, with which strategies were established to design the tourism innovation proposal.
After the work carried out, it is concluded that this business idea will show innovative hotel offer for the city, which in addition to providing comfort, will offer a unique atmosphere of rest and a space where professionals, amateurs or not to music can experience a new way of lodging.


The kinetics of the reactions of some long chain alkylamines with long chain carboxylic esters of 4-nitrophenol have been studied. Hydrophobic interactions caused large increases (up to 107-fold) in the rate of the amine-catalysed (termolecular) reaction, compared with the corresponding reaction of ethylamine with 4-nitrophenyl acetate. In aqueous ethanol, the maximum effect from hydrophobic interaction occurred when the composition of the mixed solvent coincided with the maximum development of structure. In those cases where the hydrocarbon chain of the amine was at least as long as that of the ester, the decrease in the free energy of activation was that predicted from theoretical calculations of the free energy supplied to the transition state by the hydrophobic interaction.


undergoing surgeries during the incubation period of COVID-19 infection. EClinicalMedicine 2020; 21: 100331 16. Cai Q, Huang D, Ou P et al. COVID-19 in a designated infectious diseases hospital outside Hubei Province, China. Allergy 2020; 75: 1742–1752 17. Pei G, Zhang Z, Peng J et al. Renal involvement and early prognosis in patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia. J Am Soc Nephrol 2020; 31: 1157–1165 18. Hoffmann M, Kleine-Weber H, Schroeder S et al. SARS-CoV-2 cell entry depends on ACE2 and TMPRSS2 and is blocked by a clinically proven protease inhibitor. Cell 2020; 181: 271–280.e8 19. Zhang H, Penninger JM, Li Y et al. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a SARS-CoV-2 receptor: molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic target. Intensive Care Med 2020; 46: 586–590 20. Pan XW, Xu D, Zhang H et al. Identification of a potential mechanism of acute kidney injury during the COVID-19 outbreak: a study based on single-cell transcriptome analysis. Intensive Care Med 2020; 46: 1114–1116 21. Puelles VG, Lutgehetmann M, Lindenmeyer MT et al. Multiorgan and renal tropism of SARS-CoV-2. N Engl J Med 2020; 383: 590–592 22. Palmieri L, Vanacore N, Donfrancesco C et al. Clinical characteristics of hospitalized individuals dying with COVID-19 by age group in Italy. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2020; doi:10.1093/gerona/glaa146 23. Hirsch JS, Ng JH, Ross DW et al. Acute kidney injury in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Kidney Int 2020; 98: 209–218 24. Cheng Y, Luo R, Wang K et al. Kidney disease is associated with in-hospital death of patients with COVID-19. Kidney Int 2020; 97: 829–838 25. Zhang W, Du RH, Li B et al. Molecular and serological investigation of 2019-nCoV infected patients: implication of multiple shedding routes. Emerg Microbes Infect 2020; 9: 386–389 26. Zheng S, Fan J, Yu F et al. Viral load dynamics and disease severity in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Zhejiang province, China, JanuaryMarch 2020: retrospective cohort study. BMJ 2020; 369: m1443 27. Dreher M, Kersten A, Bickenbach J et al. The characteristics of 50 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with and without ARDS. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2020; 117: 271–278 28. Chen X, Zhao B, Qu Y et al. Detectable serum SARS-CoV-2 viral load (RNAaemia) is closely correlated with drastically elevated interleukin 6 (IL6) level in critically ill COVID-19 patients. Clin Infect Dis 2020; doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa449 29. Chan JF, Yuan S, Kok KH et al. A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster. Lancet 2020; 395: 514–523 30. Kim JY, Ko JH, Kim Y et al. Viral load kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 infection in first two patients in Korea. J Korean Med Sci 2020; 35: e86 31. Ding Y, He L, Zhang Q et al. Organ distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in SARS patients: implications for pathogenesis and virus transmission pathways. J Pathol 2004; 203: 622–630


Abstract Velocity and temperature profiles collected in warm-core ring 82-I in January 1983 are used to describe the mean and fluctuating fields of the ring. The ring was relatively small, containing no Sargasso See water. Its signature vanished below 600 m and its velocity maximum was 50 cm s−1 at 35 km radius. The mean flow was in cyclogeostrophic balance and much of the core in solid body rotation with vorticity −0.5f. Potential vorticity was uniform along isopycnals below the depth of atmospheric influence. Horizontal Reynolds-stress forces did not contribute significantly to the mean momentum balance. Downward-propagating near-inertial waves account for the most energetic of the fluctuating velocities. Energy levels four times greater than typically observed were found inside the ring, consistent with the expectation of trapping and critical-layer amplification of near-inertial waves in regions of negative vorticity as a consequence of a depressed lower bound of the internal waveband, feff = f + ζ/2....


Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) offers a recent approach to dramatically enhance NMR signals and has enabled detailed structural information to be obtained in a series of amorphous photocatalytic copolymers of alternating pyrene and benzene monomer units, the structures of which cannot be reliably established by other spectroscopic or analytical techniques. Large 13C cross-polarization (CP) magic angle spinning (MAS) signal enhancements were obtained at high magnetic fields (9.4–14.1 T) and low temperature (110–120 K), permitting the acquisition of a 13C INADEQUATE spectrum at natural abundance and facilitating complete spectral assignments, including when small amounts of specific monomers are present. The high 13C signal-to-noise ratios obtained are harnessed to record quantitative multiple contact CP NMR data, used to determine the polymers' composition. This correlates well with the putative pyrene:benzene stoichiometry from the monomer feed ratio, enabl...


International students not only have an economic impact on the United States in the billions of dollars, they culturally enrich college campuses and play a critical role in fostering U.S. foreign relations (NAFSA, 2006). Further understanding the factors that shape international students experiences and perceptions of U.S. culture, and understanding how to foster positive U.S. perceptions, is critical to ensure that the United States maintains the lead in serving as the top destination of choice for students studying outside their home countries. The purpose of this study was to examine international students" perceptions of the United States as a result of participating in a short-term ESL program at three campuses of a community college district in the Midwest, and to explore the influence of varying campus cultural attributes (diversity of the student body, breadth of support for international students, and setting) on these perceptions. This was a mixedmethod study. Data was collected via a quantitative survey, four focus groups, and two case studies. The participants were sixty students from eight countries throughout East and Southeast Asia. The findings suggest that the students" perceptions of U.S. culture were altered as a result of their eight-week stay in the United States for each of the five perception areas examined: diversity, friendliness, safety, wealth, and quality of American higher education. The findings also suggest that perceptions of U.S. culture differed because of the cultural attributes of each campus, particularly the construct of diversity. For example, students who attended the more diverse campuses gained a greater appreciation for the historical, social, and cultural issue of race relations in the United States. Yet an important finding was that students from all campuses expressed appreciation for the International Students" Perceptions iii open discussion and collaborative learning environment of their college classrooms. This class format contributed to increased perceptions of the quality of American higher education. Additionally, students from all three campuses were required to participate in a service learning project that connected academic and social experiences. This experience was integral in not only connecting students with their local communities, but also students reported a greater understanding of wealth stratification in the United States. The attributes from each campus that contributed to positive perceptions and experiences are presented in a model titled S.C.A.L.E. This is an acronym for the five key factors that influenced perception formation: Staff, Culturally-relevant Curriculum, American Student Contact, Local/regional Exploration, and Experiential Learning. All components impact perceptions to various degrees, depending on the cultural attributes of the campuses. Implications and suggestions for international student programming, and suggestions for further research conclude the study. International Students" Perceptions iv


The utility model discloses a wheel speed sensing device, an induction unit of the wheel speed sensing device and a vehicle with the wheel speed sensing device. The wheel speed sensing device is arranged on a wheel of the vehicle, and used for detecting the wheel speed of the vehicle in real time, the wheel comprises a hub and a screw rod penetrating through the hub, the induction unit of the wheel speed sensing device comprises a fixed piece and an induction circuit board, the fixed piece is fixed to the screw rod of the wheel, an induction piece is arranged on the induction circuit board, the induction circuit board is fixed to the fixed piece, and the extending direction of the induction circuit board is approximately perpendicular to the center shaft of the hub. The wheel speed sensing device is more precise in detecting result, simple in structure and convenient to mount, and mounting work time and mounting materials are saved.


A new titanium(IV) butoxide-cyanopropyltriethoxysilane
(Ti-CNPrTEOS) hybrid material was successfully
synthesized for the use as sorbent for the extraction
of polar aromatic amines. The sorbent was synthesized by
hydrolysis and condensation of titanium(IV) butoxide and
cyanopropyltriethoxysilane with the presence of hydrochloric
acid as catalyst via sol–gel method. Several factors
influencing the synthesized sorbent such as solvent selection,
mol of water content, ratio of titanium(IV) butoxide and
cyanopropyltriethoxysilane and aging temperature were
investigated and optimized. The sorbents were characterized
by fourier transform-infrared, field-emission scanning electron
microscopy-energy, CHN elemental analysis and thermogravimetric
analysis. The applicability of the sorbents for
the extraction of polar aromatic amines by the batch sorption
method was extensively studied and evaluated. Under the
optimum synthesis conditions (tetrahydrofuran as solvent,
1.2 M of hydrochloric acid catalyst, 4 mol of water content
with ratio of titanium(IV) butoxide and cyanopropylteriethoxysilane
of 1:1 and aging temperature of 60 C), the
extraction showed high recovery towards the extraction of
polar aromatic amines. The synthesized sorbent was successfully
applied for the extraction of selected aromatic
amines via batch sorption method in waste water samples
prior to the gas chromatography-flame ionization detector
separation. The synthesized sol–gel Ti-CNPrTEOS sorbent
demonstrated the potential as an alternative extraction sorbent
with higher selectivity towards polar aromatic amines.