Radiographic testing (RT) images of complex components are affected by several factors, including low greyscale levels, low contrast and blur. These factors can significantly restrict the accuracy and effectiveness of defect recognition. To address this issue, this paper proposes a
 radiographic image enhancement method based on a triple constraint U-Net network. Firstly, a radiographic image preprocessing target dataset is constructed based on conventional image preprocessing technology and previous experience. The U-Net model is then used to design a model loss function,
 including the parameters of image consistency, texture consistency and structural similarity, in order to achieve structure preservation and noise removal in the images. Finally, radiographic images of actual complex components are used to illustrate and verify the effectiveness of the proposed
 method. The results show that the proposed method can effectively convert an original image to a target image, enhance the details of the defect area and improve the accuracy of defect recognition by 5.2%.


This paper aims to understand and analyse previous conceptions of prospective and in-service teachers, who are currently carryng out different kinds of educational activities at the University of Alicante, as an initial step in the implementation of methodology strategies based on social constructivism. The previous thoughts and conceptions analysed refer to basic concepts related to professional activity, such as knowledge and learning. This research is situated in the framework of a model based on the social construction of knowledge through the processes of enculturation, research into practice and situated learning.


value , 0.05 was considered as the level of significance. Results: Out of 203 patients, 75 were included for final analysis. 17/75 (22.7%) patients experienced rebleeding. Clinical and endoscopic characteristics were compared between patients with and without rebleeding. Patients with rebleeding had a higher median INR compared to patients without rebleeding [1.3 vs. 1.2] (p-value 0.04). The relationship between index bleeding site and rebleeding event was significant as well. In the rebleeding group, the index bleeding site was esophageal in 12% (2/17), gastric in 29% (5/17), and duodenal in 59% (10/17). In comparison, in the non-rebleeding group, the index bleeding site was esophageal in 10% (6/58), gastric in 60% (35/58), and duodenal in 30% (17/58). Association between rebleeding event and clinical/endoscopic characteristics of patients has been shown in the table. Conclusion: Rebleeding group had higher INR and duodenal bleed as compared to norebleeding group. Interestingly, restarting DAPT was not associated with the rebleeding group. In our study sample, logistic regression could not be performed due to small event rate of rebleeding and sample size. Further studies in larger patient population should be performed to elucidate risk factors of rebleeding.


The aim of this The aim of this community service is to provide knowledge in the field of handling sports injuries through sports massage and the rice method for pencak silat athletes in Pekalongan Regency theoretically and practically in increasing knowledge of handling sports injuries in the field. This community service is carried out in Pekalongan Regency. The material presented at this seminar is about handling sports injuries through sports massage and the rice method. The results of the implementation of this community service activity are expected to provide knowledge to athletes, especially pencaksilat athletes in Pekalongan Regency and can produce quality masseurs for the recovery needs of athletes in Pekalongan Regency.


The national identity is one of the core items in ethnological research. Because of the special effects and ethnic characteristics of the region,there are multiple approaches to the identity of different ethnic groups in the southwest border,mainly in accordance with the local language context or the national language context. The selection of national identity under the local language context will reflect the roots and the conscious perceptions of the ethnic groups themselves,as well as the care and pursuit of the interests of their own groups;however,the selection of national identity under the national language context is related to the recognition of the constitutional system of the country,and the identity and loyalty to the whole nation. The fundamental interests of the selection of the national language context or that of the local context should be the same,without any contradiction and problem. However,once one side is overemphasized while the other is overlooked,national problems will come out. Therefore,how to maintain national identity under the national language context,how to care for national identity under the local language context,and how to create a harmonious multi- ethnic identity in the country is of theoretical and practical significance.


The invention relates to a semiconductor technology, a semiconductor structure and a package structure thereof. The semiconductor technology comprises the following steps: providing a carrier, wherein the carrier has a metal layer, and the metal layer has a plurality of substrate areas and a plurality of lateral areas; forming a first photoresist layer; forming a plurality of bearing parts; removing the first photoresist layer to expose the bearing parts, wherein each bearing part has a bearing surface, and each bearing surface has a first area and a second area; forming a second photoresist layer which exposes the first areas of the bearing surfaces; forming a plurality of joint parts, wherein the joint parts cover the first areas of the bearing surfaces so that the joint parts are enabled to be connected with the bearing parts to form snap bumps; removing the second photoresist layer to expose the snap bumps; and removing the lateral areas of the metal layer to enable a plurality of under-bump metal layers to be formed on the substrate areas.


Since The Holiday Makers – Understanding the Impact of Leisure and Travel was published by Jost Krippendorf in 1987, it has become the defining text of the responsible tourism movement. As the concept gained momentum, it ignited considerable critique and research (Bramwell et al. 2008). Wheeler (1991: 91) perhaps, has been the strongest critic of the movement, arguing that responsible tourism fails to address the sheer volume of global tourism and for this reason it can be "dangerously misleading." It is now approaching 25 years since the popular introduction of the concept and 20 years since Wheeler's critique. In this time period, Harold Goodwin has been contributing to the development of the responsible tourism movement and charting the great strides that have been made in learning, knowledge, research, experience, and practice. Despite disappointments and missed opportunities, Goodwin presents Taking Responsibility for Tourism with infallible optimism for he argues that there are many reasons to be hopeful. The text presents evidence that the movement is resulting in positive outcomes for the natural, sociocultural and economic environments in which tourism manifests as well as the community of global citizens who rely on tourism for their livelihood. The book is divided into two parts. Part one consists of four chapters that address the emergence and evolution of the responsible tourism movement. Part two consists of three chapters that explore the triple bottom line of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental responsibility. It concludes with a chapter that reflects on the ethic of responsibility and the future of tourism. The first chapter presents the context for and the challenges of changing the way that we travel and take holidays and the way that the industry goes about servicing the tourist. It follows with the guiding principles for economic, social and environmental responsibility, and a discussion of who must take responsibility


Frequency histograms and the 'power spectrum analysis' (PSA) method, the latter developed by Yu & Peebles (1969), have been widely employed as techniques for establishing the existence of periodicities. We provide a formal analysis of these two classes of methods, including controlled numerical experiments, to better understand their proper use and application. In particular, we note that typical published applications of frequency histograms commonly employ far greater numbers of class intervals or bins than is advisable by statistical theory sometimes giving rise to the appearance of spurious patterns. The PSA method generates a sequence of random numbers from observational data which, it is claimed, is exponentially distributed with unit mean and variance, essentially independent of the distribution of the original data. We show that the derived random processes is nonstationary and produces a small but systematic bias in the usual estimate of the mean and variance. Although the derived variable may be reasonably described by an exponential distribution, the tail of the distribution is far removed from that of an exponential, thereby rendering statistical inference and confidence testing based on the tail of the distribution completely unreliable. Finally, we examine a number of astronomical examples wherein these methods have been used giving rise to widespread acceptance of statistically unconfirmed conclusions.


Iron aluminides belong to a wide group of intermetallic alloys. The long distance arrangement of individual metal atoms is responsible for some special properties as an exceptional corrosion resistance or a high mechanical strength. Addition of small amount of zirconium leads to formation of lavesor tauphase, which further increases the mechanical strength. This work deals with the assessment of the structure, the hightemperature mechanical properties and the effect of heat treatment on the Fe-30Al-5Zr alloy.


Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of neutral zone dentures(ND).Electric activities of facial muscles in edentulous patients wearing neutral zone dentures(ND) and conventional complete dentures (CD) were analyzed.Methods 10 edentulous patients were selected to participate in the study.Surface dectromyogram were assessed in these patients with ND and CD during various mandibular movements.The patients were analyzed (i) after 1 month and (ii)after 3 months from the delivery of ND, (iii) after 1 month and (iv) after 3 months from the delivery of CD.Paired t-tests were taken to compare muscle activity between①group ND 1 month and CD 1 month.②group ND 3 months and CD 3 months.P0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results①In postural position:no significant differences were found in muscular activity of facial muscles between two groups;②In maximum clench:muscular activity of TA:group ND 3 monthsgroup CD 3 months;③In right chewing peanuts movement: muscular activity of TA,MM:group ND 3 monthsgroup CD 3 months(P0.05),In left chewing peanuts movement:muscular activity of TA:group ND 1 monthgroup CD 1 month(P0.05),muscular activity of MM:group ND 3 monthsgroup CD 3 months (P0.05);④In swallow:muscular activity of TAR、LOO:group ND 3 monthsgroup CD 3 months.Conclusion Physiologic function could he improved when edentulous patients wore ND.The stability of ND was better than that of CD.


In healthy adults, it is generally accepted that women have less upper body muscle mass compared to men. However, it is unknown whether there are sex differences in skeletal muscle distribution in highly trained large‐sized athletes. Our aim was to compare the skeletal muscle size distribution between large‐sized male and female athletes.


Introduction: Sarcopenia is a major public health concern. It is defined as a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disorder that is associated with an increased likelihood of falls, fractures, physical disability, and ultimately, premature death.
Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence and determine the role of physical activity, nutrient intake, and selected risk factors for the development of sarcopenia in older women.
Methods: The study involved 302 women aged ≥65 years (mean age: 72.1± 5.9 years). Bioelectrical impedance analysis of body composition, static muscle strength measurements, Timed Up and Go test, and the assessment of current physical activity using accelerometers were performed. Diets were assessed using the 24-h recall method from two non-consecutive days. The energy and nutrient content of diets was calculated using the computer program DIETA 6.
Results: Sarcopenia was present in 28.8% of the women studied. The most important factor in the decrease in the risk of sarcopenia was protein intake ≥ 0.9 g/kg b.m. (OR=0.08;p<0.001), and physical activity ≥ 4000 steps/day. However, these results were not statistically significant (OR=0.58; p=0.08). Furthermore, the risk of developing sarcopenia increased as BMI (OR=1.36; p<0.001) or percent of body fat (OR=1.29; p<0.001) increased.


Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) are a type of sensor network especially adapted and designed for the industrial environment to improve process and efficiencies. They inherit the potential to significantly outperform the traditional wired industrial monitoring and control systems, both in terms of cost and efficiency. The broadcast nature of the wireless channel, on one hand, can be exploited to enhance system diversity by processing multiple copies of the same signal; while on the other hand, it results into an interference limited system, degrading the system performance. This paper proposes two configurations for IWSN, where the first configuration strives to enhance the reliability of the system while the second aspires to enhance the spectral efficiency. This paper resorts to two metrics, i.e., bit error rate (BER) and outage probability for the performance analysis of the proposed configurations.


Protochlorophyllide (Pchlide) reductases are key enzymes in the process of chlorophyll biosynthesis. In this review, current knowledge on the molecular organization, substrate specificity and assembly of the light‐dependent reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate:Pchlide oxidoreductases are discussed. Characteristics of light‐independent enzymes are also described briefly, and the possible reasons for the selection of light‐dependent enzymes during the course of evolution are discussed.


Wenli Zhang, Shangbin Xiao, Heng Xie, Jia Liu, Dan Lei, Andreas Lorke 3 4 5 1 Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Center of Ecological 6 Conservation and Management in Three Gorges Area, China Three Gorges University, 7 Yichang, 443002, China; 8 2 College of Hydraulic & Environmental Engineering, China Three Gorges University, 9 Yichang, 443002, China; 10 3 Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany 11 12 13 Email address for each author listed: 14 firstname.lastname@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com; email@example.com; email@example.com; 15 firstname.lastname@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com; 16


In this study resistance to the process of learning and teaching among high school students who come from a lower socio- economic level is investigated. The research was conducted in Bursa, a city that has a considerable immigration rate in Turkey, in three schools in the city centre whose students come from lower socio- economical levels. The data was obtained using the Resistance Scale for High School Students (LODO) and then analyzed using the Kruskal- Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. The information acquired shows more frequent resistance for students who have negative attitudes towards teachers, lessons and their homework. When analyzed according to a number of variables, resistance of: students in the social and Turkish- mathematics classes, male students, the students born in Bursa and other regions have been observed to show more frequent resistance than others.


Objective
To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA H19(LncRNA H19)and its regulation of histone methyltransferase 2(enhancer of zeste homolog 2, EZH2)in the lung tissue of neonatal rats with bronchopulmonary dysplasia(BPD), and to lay a foundation for elucidating the pathogenesis of BPD lung epithelium-interstitial transformation(EMT).

Methods
The BPD model of SD neonatal rats was induced by hyperoxia(inhalation oxygen concentration was 85%)(n=50), and oxygen inhalation concentration of the control group was 21%(n=50). The two groups were collected at 1d, 3d, 7d, 14d and 21d after birth in lung tissue.Immunohistochemistry, Western blot, real-time quantitative PCR and other techniques were used to detect the intracellular localization, and the expression level of EZH2 protein and the mRNA expression level of H19 and EZH2.

Results
Immunohistochemistry showed that EZH2 protein was located in the nucleus and cytoplasm of alveolar epithelial cells, and the expression of EZH2 protein in the model group was significantly enhanced compared with the control group.Similarly, the results of Western blot demonstrated that the expression of EZH2 protein in the model group increased from 1d(control group: 0.196±0.030, model group 0.650±0.149)to 21d(control group 0.934±0.215, model group 1.785±0.298)rather than the control group(P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the mRNA expression level of H19 in the model group increased from 7d(control group 2.591±0.211, model group 3.558±0.093, P<0.05)and the expression level of EZH2 mRNA started to increase from 3d(control group 1.246±0.015, model group 2.148±0.215, P<0.05). Moreover, the differences between the two groups were obvious with the time of hyperoxia exposure.

Conclusion
In the development of BPD, the expression levels of H19 and EZH2 protein in lung tissue is up-regulated, and the peak of H19 expression precedes EZH2, which suggest that H19 might be involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary dysplasia induced by EZH2-mediated EMT.

Key words:
Long non-coding RNA H19; Enhancer of zeste homolog 2; Bronchopulmonary dysplasia; Newborn rat


A transmitted information analysis on distinctive phonetic features was carried out in the current study,based on the data collected from an experiment of Chinese listeners′perception of English consonants in noise conditions.The results showed that the transmitted information on features such as place,manner,voicing and sibilant were all different between Chinese English learners and native English listeners,indicating different strategies of using these features in perceptual tasks in noise between the two listener groups.The native language influence on Chinese learners′English consonant perception was also discussed,and this paper suggests that,to improve Chinese learners′perceptual performance in adverse conditions,more explicit instructions on the key distinctive features between English phoneme categories should be given during the teaching process.


An analysis is made of adequacy and limitations of the neutron weighted ion distribution function for the determination of the hydration ion structure in hydrothermal solutions. Our analysis indicates that the coordination number based on the O—Ni2+ interactions is unambiguously defined by the first peak of the neutron weighted cation distribution function G Ni(r), but that the corresponding H—Ni+2 and H—Cl− coordination numbers may be ill-defined due to the occurrence of Ni+2-Cl− ion pairing. For the system considered in this work, this effect contributes about 1.5 units to the H—Ni−2 and 0.85 units to the H—Cl− coordination numbers, respectively, for a 3.9 M NiCl2 aqueous solution under ambient conditions. A comparison under ambient conditions between the most reliable NDIS data on Ni2+ hydration and our simulation results suggests that the present intermolecular potential models underestimate the O-Ni+2 coordination numbers by about 1.5 units, and it might indicate the need for a reparametrization of the current ion-water intermolecular potentials. The hydration structure exhibits practically no temperature dependence for the isochore studied (1.356 g cm−3) and composition. The Ni+2-Cl− ion pair formation appears to affect the location of the shoulder in the neutron weighted distribution functions G Ni(r) and G Cl(r), although it does not affect the magnitude of the ion—water coordination.


Most of existing e-commerce recommender systems aim to recommend the right product to a user, based on whether the user is likely to purchase or like a product. On the other hand, the effectiveness of recommendations also depends on the time of the recommendation. Let us take a user who just purchased a laptop as an example. She may purchase a replacement battery in 2 years (assuming that the laptop's original battery often fails to work around that time) and purchase a new laptop in another 2 years. In this case, it is not a good idea to recommend a new laptop or a replacement battery right after the user purchased the new laptop. It could hurt the user's satisfaction of the recommender system if she receives a potentially right product recommendation at the wrong time. We argue that a system should not only recommend the most relevant item, but also recommend at the right time. This paper studies the new problem: how to recommend the right product at the right time? We adapt the proportional hazards modeling approach in survival analysis to the recommendation research field and propose a new opportunity model to explicitly incorporate time in an e-commerce recommender system. The new model estimates the joint probability of a user making a follow-up purchase of a particular product at a particular time. This joint purchase probability can be leveraged by recommender systems in various scenarios, including the zero-query pull-based recommendation scenario (e.g. recommendation on an e-commerce web site) and a proactive push-based promotion scenario (e.g. email or text message based marketing). We evaluate the opportunity modeling approach with multiple metrics. Experimental results on a data collected by a real-world e-commerce website(shop.com) show that it can predict a user's follow-up purchase behavior at a particular time with descent accuracy. In addition, the opportunity model significantly improves the conversion rate in pull-based systems and the user satisfaction/utility in push-based systems.


A multi-wavelength tuneable OTDR is realized and tested for in-service monitoring of a colourless WDM PON. The instrument regenerates the probe optical pulse by modulating, through an acousto-optic modulator, the continuous wave emission of a tuneable telecommunication laser. This setup reduces at the same time the spontaneous emission noise and the coherent Rayleigh noise. The absence of interference between the signal transmission and the monitoring is demonstrated also performing BER measurements of the upstream communication in an RSOA-based reflective PON.


In the production of portland cement, grinding aids are used to improve the grinding stage and reduce the energy required to achieve the required fineness. These additives remain in the final product and they might influence the characteristics and properties of the cement, and thus, mortar and concrete. This paper presents an evaluation of two grinding-aid additives used in the production of portland cement ground in a ball mill at a laboratory stage, with suitable proportions of portland cement clinker and gypsum. A control cement mix was also produced without using any admixture and the results are shown on a comparative basis. Conclusions indicate that grinding-aids additives have some influence on the characteristics of portland cement produced, increasing their specific surface and modifying microstructure and its packing ability. Mortars and concretes made with cements ground with the addition of gringing-aids exhibit higher strength at any age and a reduced water demand. Special attention should be taken to consider any interaction with water-reducing admixture in concretes and mortars.


i Present address: Department of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605 USA. survive (Halliday, 1983). Octopuses appear to possess such a mating system (Wells and Wells, 1977); octopuses are not territorial in nature, and male octopuses are not known to actively compete for, or to guard mates. Thus female octopuses are predicted to choose mature males as mates although the mechanisms by which females might assess male maturity are unknown. The comparatively few observations of copulation


Author designing websites online exam easily used when conducting examinations at SMAK SMK Padang. This study aims to determine the validity, practicalities and Effectiveness Website Designing and Making Class X Examination Department of Chemical Analysis In SMAK SMK Padang Academic Year 2018/2019. This study uses research and development (R & D) 4D. Sabjek study amounted to 31 people, with design and development steps are as follows. (1) Define, in step define will do a needs analysis of the system that we created (2) Design, at this step is to design tehadap system will be made (3) Develop, in this step will be the stage of assessment of the system created and ( 4) Disseminate, at this stage of deployment of products that have been created. The validity of the test results by the experts overall assessment of the validator test Website Online Class X Exam Chemical Analysis Department at SMK Padang SMAK by 89.87%, so the rate can be interpreted validity Invalid use. Results of votes overall assessment practicalities test the practicalities of the Website Online Class X Exam Chemical Analysis Department at SMK Padang SMAK by 90.84%, so the rate can be interpreted praktikalitasnya Very Practical use. Results of votes overall effectiveness test assessing the effectiveness of the Website Online Class X Exam Chemical Analysis Department at SMK Padang SMAK by 89.44%, so that their effectiveness can be interpreted Very Good used. In conclusion, based on the assessment along with expert input as  well as the results of the field trial Website Online Exam as the system is tested the feasibility, advantages, and can be used onnew admissions process SMAK SMK Padang.


Chrysanthemum coronarium L. is one of the most important medicinal plants cultivated in East Asia. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of ammonium ion on the yield and effective components of the plant grown in a deep floating technique (DFT) system under greenhouse conditions. Our results indicated that growth characteristics and the dry weight of leaves of C. coronarium L. decreased significantly with increasing ammonium concentration in nutrient solution. The maximum flowerhead yield was achieved in 1.8 mM of ammonium. Contents of sesquiterpene lactones were increased by increasing ammonium concentration, but yields were decreased by ammonium treatment. Maximum yields of sesquiterpene lactones were achieved in 3.1 mM ammonium concentration (r=0.976***). A highly negative correlation (r=-0.804***) was observed between sesquiterpene lactone contents and nitrogen content in the flower part. Essential oil yields decreased with increasing ammonium treatment and a high correlation was observed (r=0.865, p<0.001) between essential oil content and nitrogen content in leaves. terpenes are synthesized from acetyl CoA via the chlorophyll. It also reacts as a cofactor for the mevalonic aicd pathway and are derived from the union of chloroplast ribosome (A 70S), which is responsible 5-carbon elements that have the branched carbon for the biosynthesis of large subunits of ribulose- skeleton of isoprene . The consumption of herbal 1, 5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase and enzymes that (2) medicine is continuously increasing throughout the world participate in CO fixation . The calcium content in the and many active components have been isolated from plant tissue of basil has a higher correlation with the herbs. The leaves of Chrysanthemum coronarium L. are essential oil terpene concentration than with nitrogen rich in minerals, and the flowerheads have a strong content . Soil application of only phosphate and aromatic odor due to the presence of essential oils, nitrogen plus phosphate fertilizer has reduced the primarily monoterpenoid and sequiterpenoid concentrations of terpenoid lactones in Ginkgo compounds . Bioactive terpenes, such a s seedling . Nitrogen limiting conditions increase volatile (3)


A middle aged female patient suffering from the symptoms of migraines headache, slurred speech and loss of memory from 4-5 months was treated with the Ayurvedic  medicines for 1 ½ months and the symptoms of the patient were subsided. Patient was treated on the line of Shiroroga (Ardhavbedhaka) and the effect of the treatment was very good. Patient recovered completely.


—This paper presents the latest outcomes proposed by the authors within the context of an industrial research project aimed to the analysis of behaviors of individuals suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. It presents the experimental setup used to monitor subjects during standard exercises. A set of low-cost cameras for video surveillance, together with dedicated processing for exact people skeletonization, are used to collect information about subjects' motor skills. These steps are the main basis for the next investigations which will be aimed to semantic analysis for the estimation of disease progress.


From the survey of archival literature of the relevant area concepts, we try to show in
this paper the concept of authenticity of records generated by electronic means to
demonstrate that they can be trusted and reliable records to testify shares and rights
arising. For this, the initiative of the Technical Chamber of Electronic Documents
(CTDE), under the National Council on Archives (CONARQ), through Resolution n.°
37, of 19 December 2012, in order to demonstrate the relevance of authenticity in the
current scenario facing the archival information and communication technology (ICT).


SWy-2 (Wyoming), STx-1 (Texas), and SAz-1 (Cheto, Arizona) montmorillonite and Sap-Ca saponite (California) were treated with different amounts of 12 M HCl and 1 M tetramethylammonium (TMA(+)) chloride solution at room temperature. The catalytic activity of these hybrid acid-activated organoclays (AAOCs) was directly measured using the isomerization of alpha-pinene at 120 degrees C for 1 h to yield camphene, limonene, and other minor products and compared to clays acid-treated in the absence of TMA(+) cations. The total conversion for the isomerization of cc-pinene was excellent for AAOCs formed from SWy-2 (88%) and STx-1 (73%), moderate for Sap-Ca (50%), and low for SAz-1 (20%). Samples treated with TMA(+) alone did not exhibit any marked catalytic activity. Acid-treated Sap-Ca and STx-1, which contained no TMA(+) cations were also effective catalysts for the isomerization process. TMA(+) cations were unexpectedly resistant to exchange by protons.


Dynamic response of gravity type retaining wall under seismic load is a topic of considerable research for the last 90 years or more. The concept of deriving dynamic pressure based on rigid body mechanics as proposed by Mononobe and Okabe (M-O method) in 1929 continues to dominate the majority of the codes around the world, although it is reported in a number of cases that the M-O method underestimates the response in many cases. Although the M-O method was originally derived for cohesion less soil yet it is used frequently in deriving pressure for other general soil conditions also, like c-φ soil, c-φ soil with surcharge, etc. This article is an attempt to predict the response of a gravity wall having a generalized backfill (i.e., c-φ soil with surcharge q and that could also be partially saturated) considering its structural deformation as well as the effect of dynamic soil structure interaction (DSSI), a phenomenon which is often ignored in practice. The results are finally compared with a 2-D finite element analysis carried out in ANSYS to check its validity.


: The present study examines tidal and seasonal circulation dynamics in the coral reefs, Berau Continental Shelf, East Kalimantan which exist multiple reef passages by using analysis field data and a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The predicted M2 tidal currents, velocities, salinity profiles and sea surface elevation show a good agreement with observed. The model results demonstrate the reef-scale circulation patterns on tidal to monsoonal variation. On the seasonal timescale, the circulation patterns strongly reflect the Monsoon seasonality. The coral reefs exposed by river plume when southwesterly wind prevailed. In this period, the vertical structure of salinity displays a thin stratified water column. The velocity profiles exhibit a classical estuarine circulation with outflow at the top layer and inflow at the bottom layer. For the tidal periods, the tidal currents present complex structures at the reef passages and exhibit the tidal eddies generated by irregularities reef gaps. The flow in the centre of the reef passage is often opposed to the flow near the reef boundaries. A mixed vertically water column occurs during spring tide. During neap tide, the water column structures form a thin stratified on top layer and a classical estuarine circulation for velocity profiles. At the cross-section of reef passages, the lateral velocities develop the two-cell circulation with upward flow at reef shores and an axial convergence (downward flow) at mid-reef passage during flood and reverse pattern during ebb. At the reef slope of continental shelf edge, the model results suggest an upward flow that generated by a Bernoulli effect during flood tide, which may be lifting the nutrient-rich water to the reef passage.


Introduction: The relationships between serum magnesium(Mg) levels and body composition or clinical outcomes of incident dialysis patients remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible correlations between magnesium and bio-electrical impedance variables, a method of determining body composition in two groups of hemodialysis(HD) and peritoneal dialysis(PD) patients. Methods: This prospective observational study examined the relationships between Serum Mg levels and Bio-impedance variables including total body fat, body cell mass, extra cellular mass, total body water (TBW), intra and extra cellular water (ICW and ECW), ECW/ICW and phase angle (PA) in incident 38 HD and 34 PD patients since December of 2012 in Mashhad Imam Reza Hospital dialysis center. The correlation between Mg and bio-impedance variables was assessed applying the student test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: the average concentration of serum Mg was 1.22 mmol/L in HD patients and 1.20 mmol/L in PD patients which is well above the reference range in normal population. the average amount of body water and also ICW in patients were significantly higher than HD patients. Our statistical analysis showed no significant relation between serum Mg and Bio-electrical impedance variables in HD patients, however in PD patients, a statistically significant correlation was found between serum Mg and ECW (r = 0.48, p = 0.02), ICW (r =- 0.48, p = 0.02), and ECW/ICW (r = 0.43, p = 0.02). Conclusion: we speculated that there is a link between serum Mg level and intravascular and extravascular water content in PD patients, however we cannot prove any correlation between serum Mg level and Bio-impedance variables in such patients. This could be considered as a sign of Mg role in healthy cell function in PD patients.


Introduction. Toxaphene is resistant to degration and has been known as persistent bioaccumulator. In oder to understand the persistence and degradation phenomena of toxaphene in soil a series of tests were run.
Methods. All experiments for dry and moist soil were conducted with 10 to 20 kg soil samples, contained in plastic tubs. The experiment was carried out in two parts. The five samples studied in each part are described below. Part I: "Dry samples". Soil control I soil amended with 10 percent gin trash/soil amended with 25 percent gin trash/soil amended with 10 percent gin trash and treated with 500 ppm toxaphene and soil treated with 500 ppm toxaphene. These samples were kept dry during the entire experimental period. Part II: "Moist samples". The samples were the same as described in part I, but they were kept moist by addition of water weekly during the experimental period.
Periodically twenty grams of soil were analyzed using a gas chromatograph.
Results. Chromatograms of dry and moist samples from soil containers (Part I and II) analyzed up to 12 months after initiation of the experiments showed that no toxaphene degradation or dissipation had occurred. GLC profiles of extracts of 12 months soil samples were identical to those of 0 dry samples and almost 100 percent of toxaphene was recovered in all samples after one year regardless of whether samples were dry or moist I amended or not.
Discussion. The results suggest that toxaphene dose not undergo degradation in soil" under aerobic condition, so it can be a persistent insecticide in soil under environmental condition.


Recent changes in deregulation and technology have made banking one of the most competitive sectors in the global economy. Within this background, corporate image management has gained importance as a way of differentiating companies. This paper aims to develop a scale to analyse the corporate image in banking. Derived from a review of the literature, a scale with the most cited dimensions of analysis is developed. This scale is then tested by means of an empirical study of 450 individuals, where dimensionality, reliability and validity requirements are confirmed. Both theoretical and managerial implications are presented.


Walnut is a widely consumed, nutritive and healthy crop in the world. China, the US, and Iran are the leading countries of walnut production, and Turkey is among the main producers ranking fourth with 180.000 tons of production rate. Walnut green husk is a valuable agricultural by-product that is commonly used in traditional medicine for alleviating pain and treating skin diseases related to its antioxidant properties and health benefits. This study aimed to find the effect of solvent type on extraction of bioactive compounds and to predict the extraction effects in rapid and reliable method such as Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Solvent efficiency was evaluated using different polarity solvents such as water, methanol, ethanol, acetone and aqueous solutions of methanol, ethanol and acetone for the extraction of walnut green husks. Analysis of variance results revealed that there was a significant difference among the total phenolic contents and antioxidant activities of different extracts. Antimicrobial activity analysis demonstrated that water extracts showed higher activity against Staphylococcus aureus. According to the results of partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis to predict the total phenol content and antioxidant capacity of extracts, R values of calibration and cross validation models were higher than 97% with root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC) and root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) values ranging from 3.03 to 5.35. It can be concluded that PLS models had high predictive capability.


A detailed discussion on the philological and methodological problems facing scholars in reconstructing this lost Euripidean play on the basis of the few surviving fragments.


The invention relates to a touch control display device, which comprises a receiving device, a display device and a transmitting device, wherein the display device is provided with a display surface used for displaying an image and a back face which is opposite to the display surface; the transmitting device is arranged on one side of the back face of the display device; the transmitting device comprises a plurality of first transmitters and a plurality of second transmitters; the first transmitters are used for transmitting a plurality of first light beams which are parallel; the second transmitters are used for transmitting a plurality of second light beams which are parallel; the first light beams are provided with a first transmitting direction; the second light beams are provided with a second transmitting direction; and the first light beams and the second light beams are transmitted to the back face of the display device obliquely. The touch control display device can be used for sensing the position, which corresponds to a touch control piece, of the touch control display device without enabling the touch control piece to contact the light emitting surface of the touch control display device.


ABSTRACT This paper is devoted to calibrate smooth local volatility surface under jump-diffusion processes. This calibration problem is posed as an inverse problem: given a finite set of observed European option prices, find a local volatility function such that the theoretical option prices matches the observed ones optimally with respect to a prescribed performance criterion. Firstly, we obtain an Euler-Lagrange equation for the calibration problem using Tikhonov regularization method. Then we solve the Euler–Lagrange equation using an iterative algorithm and obtain the volatility. Finally, numerical experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Mentoring is all the rage in education. Peer mentoring among middle schoolers, high schoolers, and college students. Cooperating teachers mentoring student teachers. Expert mentoring of novice or early-career teachers. Career mentoring of doctoral students by faculty. Mentoring of tenure-track faculty by senior faculty. These various forms or stages of mentoring provide an educative-translative bridge between the hard knowledge and explicit skills associated with formal curricula/policy and the soft knowledge and implicit skills developed in spaces that lie outside of formal curricula/policy. Put more simply, effective mentoring allows an individual to connect common knowledge (what and how) to common sense (why) and people of common interest (who). While built into formal mentoring systems, this connectivity also is the stuff of informal mentoring – hallway conversations before or after class, drop-in meetings during office hours, or other exchanges of a more spontaneous, serendipitous, or authentic nature. I am particularly interested in considering the potential value of informal mentoring situated within higher education academic contexts or workplace environments. Academic mentoring may be defined as "an apprenticeship model of education where a faculty member imparts knowledge, provides support, and offers guidance to a student protégé on academic as well as non-academic issues," while workplace mentoring occurs in an organizational setting with "a supervisor, someone else within the organization but outside of the protégé's chain of command, or an individual in another organization" serving as the mentor (Eby, Allen, Evans, Ng, & DuBois, 2008, p. 255). Music teacher educators are in a position to engage in both forms of mentoring—providing academic mentoring for undergraduate or graduate students and workplace mentoring for faculty peers. Eby et al. (2013) identified many benefits that accrue from academic and workplace mentoring programs/experiences. Academic mentoring fosters psychological


Joanna Harrison and Jessica Lonsdale helped organise a funday, where they shaved their heads raising £540 for the Mummy's Star Charity.


An improved mixed genetic simulated annealing algorithm(MGASA) was presented,which combined the advantages of GA and SA,and avoided the problem of combination explosion.A new category style was adopted,and the stability and integrity of molecule can be judged easily.That resolved the problem of molecular combination.The results of an example showed that the fitness values were larger than those in literature.The CAMD method in this paper has a high level of accuracy and can be used in practical chemical processes.


In this paper, a trajectory pre-compensation algorithm is proposed for improving the path accuracy of 6 D.O.F. industrial robots. Via the analysis for the dynamic behavior of robot motion, a prediction model of path deviation is derived and applied to implement path pre-compensation scheme. The scheme is not only easy compatible with the interface of industry control platform, but also is low computation complexity. The proposed method is experimentally validated on the ITRI A-type industrial robot.


Unobtainable access blood flow using the Transonic HD01 monitor is often accompanied by the ''unusual curve'' error message in native vessel fistulas. The literature does not mention this phenomenon, except as noted below. In our experience, unobtainable access flow should prompt consideration of three situations. 1. Are the dialysis needles in a single venous segment of the access? Since the ultrasound dilution technique used by the Transonic device requires the passage and detection of a saline bolus, cannulating different venous segments of a native vessel fistula can produce an ''unusual curve'' error message. In theory, when the needles are in different vessels, the estimate of access flow obtained would be very high, greatly overestimating the true Qa. We have not yet recognized a case where an erroneously high Qa has been displayed in this situation—an error message seems to appear instead. 2. Is there an intra-access stenosis? A stenosis between the needles can produce very low access flow rates (Qa < 50 mL/min) without access recirculation. The ''unusual curve'' error message is occasionally displayed in this situation, although the explanation is unclear. We speculate that the very sluggish flow results in dilution curves that are morphologically different than in accesses without stenoses. Since the stenosis is between the needles, there may not be any detectable access recirculation, which is often a clue to very low Qa in native vessel fistulas. 3. Is there a stenosis elsewhere in the access, with secondary collateralization? Fistulas with stenoses in the primary draining vein often develop extensive collateral circulation, which can receive the majority of the flow through the fistula as the stenosis becomes more severe. Although we cannot explain the underlying physiology, this occasionally seems to result in the ''unusual curve'' message. It may be that such a situation is analogous to situation 1, above. We suggest attempting to determine whether the needles are actually in a single venous segment, using careful physical examination with a tourniquet applied. Needling technique and location should then be optimized, and the study repeated. If access flows still cannot be measured, we recommend angiography. Our recent article evaluated the positive predictive value of unobtainable Qa for angiographic stenosis and found it to be 100% in native vessel fistulas (1). We have collected additional data since this study was published and found that 82% of patients (9 of 11) with fistulas and persistently unobtainableQa had stenosis on angiogram. We have not come across this problem in polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts, although our experience is limited.


The sustained penetration of wind and solar generation is conducive to alleviating the energy crisis and environmental pollution. However, the finite capacity of transmission corridor limits the delivery of remote renewables and leads to curtailment. Energy storage plays an important role in renewables accommodation and improving equipment utilization, and shared energy storage can magnify the benefits through a temporal and spatial complementary. This paper proposes an online dispatch approach of energy storage shared by multiple renewable plants. The uncertainty and non-anticipativity issue are addressed via a two-stage decision-making process. The day-ahead scheduling determines the allowable energy and power levels of shared energy storage; the real-time online dispatch decides the wait-and-see strategies of charging and discharging power based on a single-period optimization model constrained by the pre-scheduled bounds. The case study verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Leprosy (Hensen's Disease) is an infectious disease that progressively deteriorates over time and is associated with mycobacterium leprae (M.leprae). Although human-to-human transmission is the primary source of infection, three other species can carry and (rarely) transfer M.leprae to humans: chimpanzees, mangabey monkeys, and nine-banded armadillos. The early signs and symptoms of leprosy are very subtle and occur slowly (usually over years), which includes; numbness (loss of temperature sensation), skin lesions, weakness, anesthesia, paralysis, epistaxis, skin bumps, deformity (face, hand and foot), eye damage (dryness and reduced blinking), loss of digit, enlarged earlobes, conjunctivitis and Iridocyclitis. In this paper, the traditional procedure of the medical diagnosis of Leprosy employed by physicians is expressed using Fuzzy classifier. The proposed expert system eliminates uncertainty and imprecision associated with the diagnosis of Leprosy.


View from the Doncaster Tower, looking west along Doncaster Road, Doncaster, Victoria, towards the intersection of Elgar Road, Tram Road and Williamsons Road. Buildings visible include Clay's house, an estate agent's office, Serpell's shop, Tower Hotel, Lauer's shop, Laurie Smith's house in Elgar Road, Edwin Wilson's house (also in Elgar Road), and other buildings in the distance (Photograph mounted with caption)


City planning failed to consider the whole layout of the restaurant industry and building design was the main reason for pollution complaints.Attention of catering industry planning was the fundamental way to solve catering pollution.There were three aspects should be considered in the catering planning for the city building: a mandatory requirement for all new residential buildings which was strictly prohibited any catering unit in residential district and allocate a certain area as a place to operate the restaurant industry;food pollution control should be taken into account while architectural design;planning department should also improve urban planning,such as,lay off certain areas or streets for restaurants.


Several research teams working on integrated land use, transportation and environmental modelling have begun an international collaboration to develop an Open Platform for Urban Simulation (OPUS). The initiative is creating an Open Source platform that simulates land use, activitybased travel demand, and dynamic traffic assignment, and that can be extended by users and adapted to alternative modelling applications. This paper summarizes the objectives and design of OPUS, and describes a framework for extending the system through packages contributed by the user community.


The working and the various advantages of the book group of the library of the Hospital for Special Care (HSC) are discussed. The meetings of the group are shown to be conducted on a monthly basis to discuss different books that are then read by various people.


The laser has been used for many years for range or distance measurement. Laser technology has produced very accurate measurements in many applications including precise machine processing and quality control functions. The addition of optics to broaden the laser beam for illumination, a video camera for area imaging, an intensifier for gating, and control electronics for timing forms the basic laser illuminated range gated video system. This unique technology can be exploited for unique imaging solutions. This paper explores the intensified gated CCD video camera as applied to the technology of laser illuminated range gated video.


An eco-friendly management strategy for this disease, Eucalyptus globules and Pseudomonas fluorescens were tested individually and in combination against Sarocladium oryzae under pot culture conditions. Among the various treatments tested, the plants treated with combination of P.fluorescens (seed treatment @ 10g/kg and foliar spray @1.0kg/ha) and foliar spray with E. globules extract @ 10% conc. recorded minimum sheath rot disease incidence and maximum biometrics of rice. Also the same treatment recorded induction of higher levels of defense enzymes and PR proteins confirming the role of ISR in the disease suppression.


This essay describes a course, "Reading and Writing Poetry in English," taught from 2014 to 2018 at Chuo University. Unlike many other poetry writing courses designed for second-language (S2) students in Japan, this course focused on form in poetry over more self-expressive, content-focused approaches. In a content-based approach, students are encouraged to think of poetry as a means of expressing their ideas and emotions (i.e. content); in a form-based approach, the game-like nature of poetry is emphasised, students being taught to recognise and analyse poetic techniques and encouraged to use those techniques (irrespective of content) in their own writing. These two approaches are not mutually exclusive, however the formal approach may be advantageous when students are unfamiliar with both English and creative writing. The essay gives comprehensive examples of classroom activities and samples of student work.


At present, there are many factors affecting customer's choice when they decide on what to buy in a fuzzy environment. In the current customer's market, everyone wants things that are affordable but of high quality. Taking this into consideration, it becomes very important for each business to make a competent marketing strategic decision. They must be aware of the customer's thoughts to expand their market share and outdo their competitors. Clearly, the market still has a lot of factors to consider. Therefore, the critical issue is to identify with the customer's thoughts and construct a Customer's Choice Behavior Model (CCBM) for solving this problem of Customer's Choice. In this paper, a framework that considers customer's choice behavior, applies the graph-theory-based fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (Fuzzy DEMATEL) approach combined with Fuzzy Multiple Criteria Decision Making (FMCDM) is proposed. First, fuzzy DEMATEL is used to find the key factors and attributes in building the structure relations of an ideal Customer's Choice Behavior. Then, FMCDM is demonstrated to evaluate whether the firm's performance and customer's satisfaction have differences or not. Empirical studies of Lexus and BMW are illustrated to show how well Lexus' sales is doing, whether or not they had satisfied Customers' needs, and determine the magnitude of the gap between them in order to correct this with the right strategy.


We treated 8 cases of obstructive jaundice caused by cholelith and benign strcture usung PTCS from 1991 to 1997. All the patientys were postoperation of blle duct,most of the cases had been more than one operation,with other serious diseases and poor operative endurance. We also treated 2 cases failed in the treatment of POC and EST. All the cholelith in 8 cases were removed and the stricture of bile duct and the obstructive jaundice were released. We also discussed the indicationes for PTCS and come technique problems in removal of cholelith and treatment of biliary stricture.


Big data is a powerful tool offering the potential of new insights into areas as diverse as social ills, meteorology, genomics, complex physics simulations, and biological and environmental research. Contrarily, big data may be seen also as a troublesome manifestation of the power of state and corporations. The rise of big data has made the study of systems biology possible. Life scientists are beginning to collect immense datasets. A result of access to the newfound data is a new science that examines not just the characteristics of isolated parts of cells and organisms but properties that may not even show up at the parts level. Systems problems are emerging in all areas of biology and medicine. Living systems are dynamic and complex. At the molecular level, even the simplest bacterium is astoundingly complex. At all points, there are multiple interactions. Nearly all processes are nonlinear. One of the most remarkable qualities of life is the ability to create and maintain order. The big questions before us are what enables biological systems to be linked together and to preserve order. Answers will lead to the development of predictive and actionable models for the study of biology and disease. We are all practitioners of medicine, a discipline to which Lewis Thomas, the great 20th century physician, scientist and observer gave the name – the youngest science [2]. From the 1920s when he accompanied his general practitioner father on daily rounds through the years in medical school and later in practice, teaching and research, Thomas watched medicine evolve from an art into a sophisticated life science. Observation was the fundamental approach for both learning and teaching medicine. Today, the products of that observation might be called 'data' or 'information' – terms that are similar but not interchangeable. 'Data' is the Latin plural of 'datum', defined in English as facts and statistics collected for reference or analysis. In modern expression, 'data' is often used as a mass


SOmEK thirty years ago George Bernard Shaw, the famous English author and playwright, published a play entitled "The Doctor's Dilemma," which, like Moliere's play, "Le MWdecin malgre lui," has had a long and successful run on the stage. As in most of Shaw's published plays there is here a preface as long as the play itself in which the author condemns in wild but witty phrases current social conventions, and advocates Shavian Socialism as a cure-all. In "The Doctor's Dilemma" his unreal and emotional attack on medicine and science in general has just enough of truth in it to make it take with the general public. He denounces current medical ethics, pours contempt on the conscience of doctors, their assumed infallibility , their mercenary motives, their craze for surgical operations. He declares that doctors are not scien-1 Address at the graduation exercises in medicine, University of Pennsylvania, December 22, 1943. tists, but pill dispensers and saw-bones; he denounces vivisection, and goes so far as to declare that bacteriology is a superstition, vaccination a craze, inoculations a public peril, and that doctors in general are animated with primitive savage and cruel motives. Finally the only remedy for this sad state of affairs is the "social solution" or the socialization of medicine. The public, who see only the play on the stage and do not read the preface of the printed book, miss much of this diatribe, but they see Dr. Ridgeon of the play and his apprentice acting the part of Satan in the tangled human relations of greed vs. generosity, lust vs. love and murder vs. mercy. My purpose in calling attention on this occasion to this and other absurd misrepresentations and exaggerations of the lack of ethics on the part of medical men is to contrast the high level of genuine medical


Despite the sharp decline in residential real estate prices in several regions of the United States over the past few years, the Middle East experienced a significant escalation in residential housing costs over the same period. This escalation has led to several social and economic problems, including public dissatisfaction with government policies. The housing cost escalation could be attributed to a number of factors, including the rise of oil prices that typically leads to sharp hikes in inflation rates. The main objective of this research is to identify the factors that lead to housing cost escalation, rank them according to their significance, and investigate the best strategies to address them in the short- and long-terms. The study focuses on Riyadh city as a case study to apply the proposed methodology, which includes identifying possible factors from the literature, conducting surveys, and interviews; soliciting evaluation as to the impact of these factors; and conducting quantitative statistical analysis to compare the impact of the factors. The most impacting factors are identified in order to facilitate further investigation of their effects and propose strategies to address these effects. This should prove useful to other cities experiencing similar trends as it presents a systematic replicable approach to identify the cause and effect of housing cost escalation.


A molecular dynamics simulation has been made to study the dependence of sputtering yield on the ion incident angle in the wurtzite-type GaN(0001) surface with the Cl-adsorbed layer. Angular dependence of the sputtering yield is calculated for a wide range of very oblique (10 degrees) to perpendicular (90 degrees) 250 eV Ar incidence. Sputtering yields for Ga and N atoms show maximum values of 0.63 and 0.20 at 50 degrees, respectively.


Based on a comparison of HOPE VI and Big Cities Policy in the United States and the Netherlands, we argue that despite major differences in context, there has been a convergence in regeneration strategies in the two countries. In both countries the neighbourhoods look better, are safer and have a better reputation. However, in the Netherlands shopping facilities have improved more than in the United States. In both countries, most of the original residents have a better quality of life after than before the policies were implemented, whether they live on-site or have relocated. However, the needs of multi-problem families are not being met by either HOPE VI or Big Cities Policy. Finally, there is no evidence that the original residents have become more self-sufficient in either country as a result of the regeneration.


This thesis analyses factual instance and the law in effect from a case.The thesis points out that the delivery condition of commercial building is check and accept up to grade.But if the party assumpsit in addition that referring the register table for check and,accept up to grade is another term according to the assumpsit.


The probability of a virus infecting a health care professional's computer is minimal if prevention is used. However, all office personnel who access the computer must be educated with what to look for, what to do and what not to do when a computer virus is suspect.


To illustrate the root characteristics of high-yielding rice and provide further experimental base for the genetic improvement of rice root traits, the population of 204 recombinant inbred lines (RILs, F_(12), F_(13)) derived from Zhenshan 97/Minghui 63, an elite Indica hybrid rice combination in China, was solution-cultured and the relationship between yield formation and root morphological and physiological traits was systematically analyzed. The results showed as follows: (1) The major root characters which significantly affected grain yield in RIL population were: root activity per plant, root activity per spikelet, root dry weight per plant, length of the longest adventitious root, length of mode roots, length and thickness per adventitious root, among which root activity per plant had the most significant effect on grain yield. Raising root activity per plant, root dry weight per plant, length of the longest adventitious root and thickness per adventitious root resulted in significant increase of grain yield in RILs, while increase in root activity per spikelet, length per adventitious root and length of mode roots could lead to obvious decrease of grain yield in this population.(2) Grain yield of high-yielding lines in RIL population could be enhanced by raising root dry weight per plant, dry weight per adventitious root, root dry weight per unit length and root activity per plant. Raising root activity per spikelet could significantly increase grain yield of high-yielding lines but decrease grain yield of low-yielding lines in RIL population. Root dry weight per plant had a positive correlation with grain yield in high-yielding lines, while the number of adventitious roots per plant had the same important effect on grain yield in low-yielding lines.


Taking the pile unit and the soil unit for force analysis,the basic differential equations were established.The equivalent stiffness coefficients of the pile and the unit thickness of soil around each pile were developed,taking into account the pile group effect and the interaction between the pile and the soil in the load transfer method.Based on the relation between pile-soil-cushion and boundary conditions,the pile-soil stress ratio and the influence of important parameters were obtained.In the meantime,the pile group effect and the soil lateral pressure were taken into account in the proposed method.The pile-soil stress ratio calculated agrees well with those measured from the model test of pile foundation,showing the rationality of the approach and guiding significance in engineering practice.


OBJECTIVE
Breath sound parameters have been suggested to be a new biomarker of airway conditions in asthmatic patients. We investigated new breath sound parameters to determine their utility for evaluating asthmatic children.

METHODS
Fifty-seven children (mean age, 9.0 years, 6-16 years) were included in the present study. The new breath sound parameters, the area under the curve (AUC)>1,000 Hz (A1000 [dBm·Hz]) and the ratio of the A1000 to the total AUC at 100 Hz to the highest frequency of the dBm power spectrum (AT) (A1000/AT [%]) were measured before and after β2 agonist inhalation. Spirography and the forced oscillation technique were also used to evaluate all subjects.

RESULTS
The value of A1000 was negatively correlated with the FEV1 (p=0.028). The increase in the ΔFEV1 was correlated with the decrease in the ΔA1000 (p=0.001) and the ΔA1000/AT (p=0.036).

CONCLUSIONS
The A1000 indicates the airway condition, and the ΔA1000 and the ΔA1000/AT well describe the dilatation of the airways. These parameters are useful for the assessment of bronchial reversibility in asthmatic children.


Objective To explore the clinical and imaging feature of cerebral infarction caused by spontaneous cerebrovascular dissections.Methods The clinical,cerebrovascular ultrasonography and imaging date from seven patients with cerebral infarction caused by spontaneous cerebrovascular dissections confirmed by digital subtraction angiography were analyzed retrospectively.Results There were three male and four female cases aged from 33 to 52 years with average of 42.9±6.6.Six patients had pain in homolateral head and neck as first symptom.Two patients had TIA before cerebral infarction.Four patients with anterior-circulation infarction showed hemiparalysis,among which one showed paroxysmal blurred vision of right eye.Three patients with posterior-circulation infarction.Two complained with dizziness,and speech unclealy while one showed Wallenberg syndrome.Computed tomography angiogram were finished in two cases and the severe stenosis accompanied localized extension of the right ICA or the left VA were shown respectively.One case had a cervical vertebrae MRI scanning and the right vertebral artery appeared as a linear filling defect with a double lumen.Internal cervical artery dissections occured in cervical segment(three case) and petrous segment(one case).The sites of vertebral artery(VA) dissections were V2 segment in two cases and V4 segment in one case.DSA showed severe stenosis(string sign) with localized extension,a flame-shaped occlusion,a dissecting aneurysm,a segmental stenosis proximal to a dissecting aneurysm(string-and-pearl sign).Anticoagulant therapy was given in 5 patients and antiplatelet treatment was given in 2.NIHSS was from 0 score to 9 scores(average score 2.9±3.3) on the admission and from 0 score to 6 scores(average score 1.1±2.3) on discharge.After follow up of 3~12 months,Modified Rankin Scale scores were 0 in five cases and 1 in one case and 2 in one case.Conclusion Cerebral infarction caused by spontaneous cerebrovascular dissections often occurres in young people without common risks of atherogenesis.The main manifestations are ischemic stroke with pain in homolateral head and neck.Digital subtraction angiography is gold standard.MR or CTA combinds with vascular ultrasonography is helpful for confirmed diagnosis.Early diagnosis is important for identification risk.Appropriate anticoagulant therapy or antiplatelet treatment may have favorable outcome.


NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission was launched in January 2015 carrying two instruments on-board: an L-band radar and an L-band radiometer. This satellite will soon provide global measurements of surface soil moisture as well as of freeze/thaw state at three different spatial resolutions: 36 km (radiometer only product, higher soil moisture accuracy but coarser resolution), 3 km (radar only product, less accurate soil moisture but higher resolution), and 9 km (combined radarradiometer product). In this study, the early SMAP soil moisture products at those different spatial resolutions are validated against area-averaged soil moisture measurements from cosmic ray probes (CRP) from the Australian CRP network (known as CosmOz, cosmoz.csiro.au). The main focus area will be a semi-arid grassland in the region of Yanco (New South Wales, Australia) which is one of the core SMAP validation sites worldwide, and is supported by in-situ point observations from several OzNet soil moisture monitoring stations as well as one CRP system. With this set-up, the spatial relationship of the soil moisture as observed by the CRP with the surrounding environment can be captured and provides an insight into the spatial representativeness of the CRP measurements themselves. The comparison is extended to different CosmOz systems across Australia to assess the performance of early SMAP soil moisture products under varying land cover, soil type and climate conditions.


PEDOT nanowires of different size and morphology were successfully synthesized in aqueous solution via lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition (LPNE) in order to establish a direct relationship between the synthesis conditions and the properties. Optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are utilized to characterize the size, morphology and electrochemical properties of the resulting PEDOT nanowires. Optical microscopy and AFM show that the various electrodeposition parameters (deposition methods, deposition voltage, deposition time, template size, etc.) have a great impact on the materials properties of the prepared nanowires. EIS measurement demonstrates that those nanowires exhibit exceptional capacitive property compared to that of commercial capacitors and polymer dispersion capacitors.


Atypical teratoid/rhaboid tumors (AT/RTs) and extracranial malignant rhabdoid tumors are highly malignant neoplasms with a dismal prognosis. These tumors predominantly affect infants and targeted, adjuvant treatment approaches would be highly desirable.


An implementing method of Web virtual instruments is introduced, in which the Web virtual instruments server is constructed by data dynamic exchange between LabVIEW7.0 DDE module and JAVA programs, and the client is implemented by JAVA Applet technology, which makes users supervise and control the remote instruments through the browser without any additional software on client computer.


From the extensive investigations of Dr. Fuller Albright has emerged our present-day understanding of the pathologic physiology of the clinical syndromes related to the functional states of the parathyroid glands (1). The clinical and biochemical manifestations of hyper- and hypoparathyroidism have been well documented in the medical literature, and the perplexities regarding these two conditions have for the most part been resolved. The nomenclature in connection with hypoparathyroidism has, however, become more complicated and confusing following the introduction of such neologic terms as pseudohypoparathyroidism in 1942 (2) and pseudo-pseudohypoparathyroidism in 1952 (3) by Albright and his co-workers. The classical picture of hypoparathyroidism is that of a clinical state of tetany due to disturbances of calcium and phosphorus metabolism. The biochemical changes may be depicted as follows: (a) increased renal tubular re-absorption of phosphorus; (b) decreased urinary excretion of phosphorus; (c) eleva...


The relationship between choice of which gender is drawn first on the DAP and measures of sex-role identification was investigated in 34 schizophrenic and 34 normally functioning male Ss. The results indicated no significant relationship between choice of gender and sex-role identification scores, thus questioning the usefulness of gender choice as a criterion of sex-role identification. Clinicians should be extremely cautious in assigning interpretive significance to choice of gender on the DAP as reflecting sex-role identification.


A correct performed spirometry is of importance for diagnosis and indicators can be used to assess some aspects of performance quality. The aim was to investigate differences in quality indicators after education and introduction of quality criteria among spirometry operators in primary care. Subjects and methods: All operators performing at least five spirometry sessions per year during the two periods 2009-2011 and 2014 in one region in Sweden were included in the study. Operators received two days of education and quality criteria according to ATS/ERS 2005 were introduced. Data were collected from a central database and comprised back-extrapolated volume (BEV) 1 and FVC (the highest value minus the second highest value) of ≤150 mL. Results: Results from 18 operators are presented as the mean percentage of all tests per operator meeting the criteria, from the first period (2009-2011; 2 903 spirometry sessions) to the second (2014; 1 249 sessions): Start of test; BEV from 86.2% to 87.8% (+1.6%, not significant (NS)), end of test; FET 65.6% to 74.0% (+8.4%, p=0.020). Repeatability of FEV 1 88.9% to 92.9% (+4.0%, p=0.017), and repeatability of FVC 78.6% to 82.1% (+3.5%, NS). Conclusions: Fulfilment of quality criteria increased significantly for the indicators FET and repeatability of FEV 1 between the periods. Education in spirometry and introduction of quality criteria as intervention could have effect on indicators. To further increase quality of spirometry, an intervention with individual operator feed-back is planned to be performed.


This volume reprints these articles: "A Group of Provincial Manuscripts from the Twelfth Century"; "Two Illuminated Manuscripts at the Monastery of Saint Neophytos: Issues of Their Cypriot Attribution"; "Gospel Frontispieces from the Comnenian Period"; "Illumi nated Musical Manuscripts in Byzantium: A Note on the Late Twelfth Century"; "Dimin utive Byzantine Manuscripts"; "Correlative Spaces: Art, Identity, and Appropriation in Lusignan Cyprus"; "Art in the Court of the Lusignan Kings"; "Icon-Tact: Byzantium and the Art of Cilician Armenia"; "A Palaiologan Funerary Icon from Gothic Cyprus"; "Thoughts on Seeing Christ Helkomenos: An Icon from Pelendri"; and "Byzantines and Italians in Cyprus: Images from Art."


A method for setting the temperature of a heat process plate is provided to set the temperature of a heat process plate properly or in a short interval of time by precisely estimating the process state of a substrate after the temperature setting of the heat process plate is varied. With respect to a substrate(W) having undergone a series of substrate processes including a heat process, the process state of the substrate is measured. From the measured process state of the substrate, a component improved by variation of a temperature correction value in each region of a heat process plate is subtracted to calculate the process state of the substrate after the temperature correction value of the heat process plate is varied. The improved component is obtained from a formula indicated by Za=-1xalphaxF(T) wherein Za is an improved component, alpha is a conversion coefficient of an in-plane temperature variation quantity and the process state of the substrate, F(T) is a function of a temperature correction value and the in-plane temperature variation quantity in each region of the heat process plate, and T is a temperature correction value in each region of the heat process plate. The series of substrate processes can be a process for forming a resist pattern on the substrate during a photolithography process.


This entry provides an overview of a selection of electronic language corpora that are avail-able for the study of English at the time of writ-ing (early 2010), including information about their availability and pricing as well as any specific corpus tools that are required to ac-cess the data, where applicable.

Keywords:

methods;
computational methods and data processing;
corpus


Changes of attitude to history after the system transformation in 1989 as noted in surveys are changes of attitude to the past understood both as the memory of history of the social group and as what happened before. In the first case, it is the changes of what one remembers; in the second, of how one remembers. I present them in the following points: I. 1. 1. Decline of interest in history, 2 Shortening the time horizon, 3. Interest in local social history, 4. Interest in family history. II 1 Individualism, 2. Corporeality, sensuality, 3 Commercialization.


It is shown that in the Thirring model there exists a more general definition of the current than the usual one, which leads to a one-parameter family of renormalised solutions of the model. The set of vector currents obtained in this way yields many possible quantisations of the model, and in particular a quantisation with a finite renormalisation. It is also shown that with such a definition of the current the conformal dimension of the two-point function is not fixed.


Introduction:Aloe megalacanthaBaker is an endemic plant growing in Ethiopia. It is commonly used by traditional healers in the eastern and northern parts of the country to treat various ailments. Aim: The present study was aimed at investigating the effects of Aloe megalacanthaBaker leaf latex on testicular histopathology and hormonal profiles of adult male Sprague Dawley rats. Methodology:Adult male Sprague Dawleyrats were randomly divided into four groups of six rats each. GroupI received 0.5ml distilled water. Groups II, III, and IV were treated with doses of 200mg, 400mg,and 600mg per kilogram body weight per dayofAloemegalacanthaleaf latex orally using gavage for 28 days(sub-acute treatment). Assessments of testicular histopathology, sperm analysis, and hormonal assays were performed to evaluate the contraceptive effect of the leaf latex. Results: Thisstudy revealed thatAloe megalacanthaBaker leaf latex induces vascular, cellular, and structural changes in the testesat all doses. The mean values of testosterone and luteinizing hormones weresignificantly decreased in rats treated at 400mg/kg and 600mg/kgof leaf latex compared with the control group. The concentration of follicle-stimulating hormone levels also decreased significantly at 600mg/kg/daydosing of the leaf latex when compared with the control group. Increased morphological abnormality of sperm cells accompanied by a dose-dependent significant reduction of sperm count and motility were also observed in the study. Conclusions:Aloe megalacanthaBaker could affect male rats by altering histoarchitecture of the testes, lowering hormone levels, increasing abnormal sperm morphology, reducing sperm concentration, and decreasing sperm motility. It could, therefore, act asa contraceptive or antifertility agent.


Accessibility has conventionally been measured and evaluated ignoring the user-perspective in favor for focus on travel time and distance to a number of pre-determined destinations. Acknowledging this gap, we recently developed a scale for perceived accessibility PAC (Lättman, Friman, & Olsson 2016) aimed at capturing the individual perspective of accessibility within a certain travel mode. In this paper, we 1) further develop the PAC measure of perceived accessibility in order to capture the perceived accessibility of the individuals' actual daily travel 2) compare residents' perceived accessibility to the objective accessibility level for the same residential area, and 3) compare levels of perceived accessibility between residential areas and main travel modes. Data from 2711 residents of Malmö, Sweden show that perceived accessibility is consistently higher than objective accessibility across 13 residential areas, with minor differences in levels of perceived accessibility between areas. Surprisingly, bicycle users rate their accessibility significantly higher than those who mainly use the car or public transport for daily travel, contrary to objective accessibility assumptions. These differences point at the importance of including perceived accessibility as a complementary tool when planning for and evaluating the transport systems.


A wide-range analog signal delay has been developed that can provide delays from 1-999 ms of a signal sampled 1000 times per second with an 8-bit (1 part in 256) resolution. It is intended for use with relatively low-frequency signals that arise in physiologic measurements that are strictly bandlimited to frequencies less than 500 Hz.


Literature on battered woman syndrome is examined with a view to validating the use of the word 'syndrome'. It is concluded that there is now sufficient information to justify its serious consideration as a form of post-traumatic stress disorder, as that diagnosis is defined in DSM IV: and that this has significance for the legal defence of battered women who react aggressively towards their abusers.


must be regarded as seminal. A few minor criticisms, however, may be in order. First, it would have been wiser for the author to have emphasized in more detail the basic changes that took place in Roman ships and shipping in the Mediterranean during the third century, when the important grain trade from Egypt to Italy came to an end. Second, Unger underplays the vital role of seapower and maritime trade in the Eastern MediterraneanBlack Sea area thanks to the sudden appearance of the great metropolis of Constantinople during the fourth and fifth centuries. Third, more needs to be made of Moslem shipping both from 1000 to 1250 AD, and during the Ottoman revival of the sixteenth century. Some of the recent insights of Andrew Hess on Ottoman seapower need to be included in this narrative. In the fourth place the author should accord more thorough treatment to the salt trade of the Mediterranean and the ships engaged in it from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, as presented in Jean-Claude Hocquet's recent study Le Sel et la fortune de Venise (Lille, 1979). And last of all, I would have wished less emphasis upon galleys and more on bulk transport by small vessels and large ships of various types in the late medieval Mediterranean, since galleys and luxury trades were simply the frosting on the maritime commercial cake in these waters. These, however, are minor matters and the author is to be congratulated for producing a book which for years to come will influence the way we view European ships and the goods carried in them during medieval and early modern times.


Biosynthesis of nanoparticles is considered to be an environment-friendly and cost-effective process. Ions (typically positively charged/anionic moieties) are absorbed to the surface of microorganisms due to the presence of negative charge on the cell wall resulting in the formation of metal particles (usually nanoparticles) on the surface of these cells. In this entry, some important aspects of nanoparticle formation by the employment of microalgae and cyanobacteria have been reviewed. After a short definition of nanoparticles and their biosynthesis, different types of nanoparticles produced by cyanobacteria and microalgae are presented. The ability of the marine microorganisms to form nanoparticles with favorable physicochemical and morphological properties in ideal sizes has opened up a novel approach to nanoparticle synthesis.


Abstract The availability of new, high intensity, cold and thermal neutron sources has opened the possibility to perform high precision fundamental neutron physics experiments, including measurements that study the hadronic weak interaction and standard model test measurements, using neutron beta decay. The observables in these experiments are usually correlated with the direction of neutron polarization and are often very small (10−8 → 10−6). Mott-Schwinger scattering of polarized neutrons can produce spin dependent beam steering which has the potential to produce significant systematic effects for these experiments. An accurate calculation of this process for neutral atoms and basic molecules has not been carried out for low energy neutrons. In this work, we derive a general expression for the electromagnetic (Mott-Schwinger) contributions to the analyzing power for low-energy neutron scattering. We obtain numerical results for 11 nuclei in the range of A = 1 to A = 208 and provide a series of graphs for easy reference and interpolation between A values. We also estimate the contribution of spin-dependent nucleon-nucleon forces and apply our results to determine the analyzing power of parahydrogen. Numerical calculations are performed to determine the analyzing power for the parahydrogen molecule and are compared to results obtained using analytical expressions.


This article explores how the Tunisian revolution was articulated on Twitter; it does so through a detailed analysis of a sample of more than 100,000 tweets posted between 18 December 2010 and 15 January 2011 with the hashtag #sidibouzid. In addition to this analysis nine active #sidibouzid users were interviewed. This examination shows that #sidibouzid constituted a global communication space in which different public audiences were strategically addressed through a variety of languages. How key users employed the different languages and the platform itself depended very much on their particular position in the Arab diaspora network.


Mathematics is one of the fields of science that is very important for humans because all science is related to mathematics. One of the skills that should be learned and developed in mathematics is mathematical problem-solving ability. Problem-solving ability is highly needed because humans are always used in everyday life, both in education and daily life. In fact, students' problem-solving abilities are lacking. This is because mathematical problems created by teachers are not based on indicators of problem-solving ability. Triangle is the important material of two-dimensional figures in elementary school. Teachers need to explain the basic concept of a triangle so that students can master a more difficult concept of a triangle. Dynamic mathematics software can help students grasp the concept of triangles. This study used a quantitative method. This study is a comparison between classes using Hawgent and using conventional methods. The subjects in this study were 72 seventh-grade students in Cianjur, Indonesia. Data were collected based on the results of the pre-test and post-test problem-solving ability. Based on the study results, the class using Hawgent is more good than the class that using the traditional method. Hawgent has been proven to help students understand triangle material.


Background Laughter has been reported to have various health benefits. However, data on the long-term effects of laughter interventions on diabetes are limited. This study aimed to investigate whether laughter yoga can improve glycemic control among individuals with type 2 diabetes. Methods In a single-center, randomized controlled trial, 42 participants with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group. The intervention consisted of a 12-week laughter yoga program. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), body weight, waist circumference, psychological factors, and sleep duration were evaluated at baseline and week 12. Results Intention-to-treat analysis showed that participants in the laughter yoga group experienced significant improvements in HbA1c levels (between-group difference: −0.31%; 95% CI −0.54, −0.09) and positive affect scores (between-group difference: 0.62 points; 95% CI 0.003, 1.23). Sleep duration tended to increase in the laughter yoga group with a between-group difference of 0.4 hours (95% CI −0.05, 0.86; P = 0.080). The mean attendance rate for laughter yoga program was high (92.9%). Conclusions A 12-week laughter yoga program is feasible for individuals with type 2 diabetes and improves glycemic control. These findings suggest that having fun could be a self-care intervention. Further studies with larger numbers of participants are warranted to better evaluate the effects of laughter yoga. Clinical trial registration http://www.chinadrugtrials.org.cn, identifier UMIN000047164.


We show that many of the key ideas of quantum field theory can be illustrated simply and straightforwardly by using toy models in (0 + 1) dimensions. Because quantum field theory in (0 + 1) dimensions is equivalent to quantum mechanics, these models allow us to use techniques from quantum mechanics to gain insight into quantum field theory. In addition, working in (0 + 1) dimensions considerably simplifies the mathematics, allowing the physical concepts involved to be exhibited more clearly.


The polls released by YouGov and all other pollsters prior to the 2015 UK general election significantly overestimated Labour support and underestimated Conservative support. For example, YouGov's final pre-election poll, fielded 4–6 May and released on Wednesday afternoon on the eve of the election, had Labour and Conservatives tied at 34%. In fact, Conservatives won with 37.7% of the vote, well ahead of Labour at 31.2%. The purpose of this report is to understand why we were wrong and what could be done to fix it.


Among a variety of adaptive designs, stage-wise design, especially, two-stage design is an important one because patient responses are not available immediately but are available in batches or in termittently insome situations. In this paper, by Bayesian method, the general formula of asymptotical optimal worth is given,meanwhile the length of some optimal designs at first stage concerning two-stage trials in several important cases has been obtained.


The main objective of the present research is to formulate a set of pertinent recommendations regarding the efficient adjustment of the principles and instruments of strategic management to the particularities of the SMEs. Thus, the authors intend to clarify the aspects referring to matters such as: the manner of defining the organizational vision and objectives; the drawing up of the strategic options regarding the needed resources (financial, material, human); the understanding of the clients and also of the market extension; the evaluating of the performances, etc. Another field of interest that is also going to be discussed refers to aspects related to the implementation of the strategic plan and to its control. The authors' suggestions are described through practical or hypothetical examples that are meant to illustrate the manner how these proposals may be implemented most efficiently in the practice of the SMEs.


Screening tests using three commercial coatings (Jocoat, HI-15, and RT-1A) on the nickel-base alloy NASA WAZ-20 were performed by cyclic exposure in a Mach 1 burner facility. These tests showed Jocoated WAZ-20 to have the best cracking resistance. The thermal fatigue resistance of Jocoated WAZ-20 in both the random polycrystalline and directionally solidified polycrystalline forms relative to that of other superalloys was then evaluated in a fluidized-bed facility. This investigation showed that Jocoated random polycrystalline WAZ-20 ranked approximately in midrange in thermal fatigue life. The thermal fatigue life of directionally solidified Jocoated WAZ-20 was shorter than that of other directionally solidified alloys but still longer than that of all alloys in the random polycrystalline form.


Service Oriented Infrastructures (SOI) build upon previous advancements in Distributed Systems, Grid Computing, Cloud Computing, Virtualization, SOA, and technologies alike. Capabilities merged under the banner of SOI offer a solution that serves long-standing business needs, but also meets increasing demand for infrastructures, enabling the fast and flexible deployment of new services. However, typical current SOI realizations, e.g., Grid or Cloud solutions, do not take the network infrastructure, necessary for flawless service interaction, sufficiently into consideration. In most cases, those frameworks focus on providing huge and extremely divisible applications with hardware resources possibly distributed over several provider domains. They manage just computing related resources like CPU and RAM or Storage (e.g. Amazon Web Services), but network connectivity is typically taken for granted while network Quality of Service (QoS) aspects (e.g., jitter, delay) of the data exchange is usually not considered. Consequently, the data exchange between changeably deployed components cannot be comprehensively treated. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-827-9.ch012


Background: Steroids can alleviate symptoms long enough for the patient to stop the compulsive pruritus-scratch cycle and allow for healing excoriated perianal skin, owing to potent anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative effects. This systematic review was designed to evaluate the use of topical steroids for the treatment of primary pruritus ani.Methods: Studies were retrieved after searching the electronic databases Medline, Google Scholar, and Co-chrane Central. The search terms, pruritus ani, anal itching, idiopathic pruritus ani, primary pruritus ani and topical steroids were used. Outcomes were efficacy in reduction of pruritus and side-effects.Results: A total of 7 studies met our inclusion criteria accounting for 181 total of cases of primary pruritus ani treated with topical steroids between 1982 and 2007. On regard of the 181 cases, mean age of patients ranged from 35.4 to 49.5 years old, and similar proportion of males (51.6%) and females (48.4%) was found. Mean duration of symptoms (pruritus ani) varies widely among the studies, with a minimum 5.2 weeks to a maximum 6.5 years. The majority of studies employed hydrocortisone ointment at different concentrations (0.25% and 1%) as the primary therapy. On regard of the overall effectiveness of topical steroid therapy in patients with primary pruritus ani, it ranges between 73.9% to 100%. Few or no side effects were reported in the studies.Conclusions: This systematic review found a lack of high-quality studies on the efficacy of topical steroids in the treatment of primary pruritus ani.


Till to-day there are very few concordant and discordant twin pairs known with regard to chondrodysplasy. We describe here a family in which as well the mother as also her both twin daughters are affected with this disturbance of development. The monozygosity of the sisters is beyond all doubt.


3061 Background: The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) has been targeted as a breast cancer-associated antigen by T cell-based immunotherapeutical strategies. Until now several vaccination studies against HER2 which is overexpressed in about 25% of breast cancer were performed but the objective response rate achieved was only low. The goal of our studies is the adoptive transfer of primary T cells transduced with a HER2-specific T cell receptor (TCR) for patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer. Methods: CD8+ T cells isolated from an HLA-A2- donor were stimulated with allogeneic HLA-A2+ dendritic cells (DC) pulsed with the peptide HER2369–377 known to be naturally presented with HLA-A2. HER2369–377 specific T cells were screened via ELISpot and FACS sorting, respectively, cloned and further tested in 51Chromium release assays (51CRA) and ELISA using the corresponding HER3 and HER4 peptides pulsed on as well as HER2-, HER3- and HER4 overexpressing cell lines. Retroviral vectors contain...


It takes a special person to work with Aboriginal students, one who understands that the most important concern of families is a child's wellbeing and that the three most important things in a child's life are family, family and family. Mark Doecke explains.


1998 looks like a good year for seismic retrofits on bridges in California's Bay Area. The second Carquiniz bridge is nearing a contract letting, the East Bay bridge project was recently let, San Mateo has been let, and the West Bay bridge will be let in 1998. Some work for the North Approach of the Golden Gate bridge has been let, and the South Approach may be let in 1998 as well. There are also plans to retrofit the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, the Coronado bridge, and the Benicia-Martinez bridge; and to replace the first Carquiniz bridge. Bridges can be retrofitted either to resist movement or dynamically, to accommodate it. The $7-million project at Caltrans' Cold Springs Canyon Bridge near Santa Barbara is an example of a static resistance retrofit. The project was awarded in December 1996 and will be complete in March 1998.