Key Points Question Which computerized eye-tracking metrics most accurately differentiate athletes with and without concussion after acute injury? Findings In this cohort study of 34 college-age athletes with concussion and 54 uninjured athletes, 6 eye-tracking measures that reflect slowed visual reaction time had a combined sensitivity of 77.8% and specificity of 92.6% for discriminating between the groups. Meaning These findings suggest that accurate, objective measures of slowed visual reaction time have the potential to improve concussion recognition and reduce the disability associated with underdiagnosis.


The solubility of wollastonite and its Hallimond flotation behavior as a function of dodecylamine concentration and pH are examined. The flotation response is characterized by adsorption and surfac ...


When traditional double-loop control strategy using transient current and voltage control variables is adopted in the inverter and the switching frequency is fixed,voltage output of the system in the case of abrupt loading will descent seriously.Deal with this problem,the paper introduces a three-loop control strategy by adding an RMS voltage value loop,and analyzes the static performance of the system in detail.Based on the above work,the paper also presents us with the hardware circuits and experimental waveforms of the system.


While revising specimens of Philoscia muscorum in the collection of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), one male Philoscia affinis was found which apparently was collected in the UK in 1985. Since Philoscia affinis was not known as a native species for the UK it was uncertain if the specimen was indeed caught in the UK or if the sample was just mislabelled. During a field trip in July 2017 several locations were visited in search of the species. Eventually, Philoscia affinis was found in South East England, which confirms its presence in the UK. Further, the identification, habitat preferences and distribution of Philoscia affinis in the UK and Europe are discussed in this article.


This paper examines valuation effects on the stocks of fifteen participating money-center banks of 774 announcements of syndicated loans, representing announcements of investment decisions for the lenders. The authors find that announcements of LDC loans in the 1970s, especially those to Latin American borrowers, are associated with negative abnormal returns to the lending banks while announcements of loans to U.S. corporate borrowers in the 1980s, especially those for takover finance, are associated with positive abnormal returns. While a number of testable predictions are consistent with the negative abnormal returns for Latin American loans, they explain response to takeover loans with a return-to-liquidity hypothesis. Copyright 1995 by Ohio State University Press.


This paper examines the agrarian decline in Burkina Faso that prompted structural adjustment reforms by the World Bank and the IMF in the early 1980s. Official interventions in the cereals, cotton and fertiliser sectors are examined, and an analysis made of regional impacts of the proposed reforms on producers and consumers. Counter-factual simulations with a multi-region, multi-commodity agricultural sector model are used to evaluate three policies: eliminating input subsidies, increasing official market commodity prices, and reducing food aid imports. Model results show that these reforms would improve agricultural-sector performance, but depend on cotton exports to pay for fertiliser, contrary to government self-sufficiency objectives. Relaxing capacity constraints on official marketing operations would also need to be eliminated to achieve reform objectives.


This paper sets out to summarize major conundrums, and some of their solutions, in pension reform policy of the years ahead, with particular reference to the Asia-Pacific Region, and here again, Japan and Thailand. The repercussions for non-action pertaining to the reform and overhaul of public pension systems go far beyond the realm of social policy and economic development. The twin-issue of old-age poverty and fiscal sustainability of public pension systems -- as they are today -- will, and already has started to, shape and fundamentally alter politics and society in the world, and also the Asia and Pacific Region. This paper hence also puts forward sustainable pension reform strategies, recipes and solutions.


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), part of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), has developed a unique pointing control system for instruments aboard scientific balloon gondolas. The ability to point large telescopes and instruments with arc-second accuracy and stability is highly desired by multiple scientific disciplines, such as Planetary, Earth Science, Heliospheric and Astrophysics, and the availability of a standardized system supplied by NASA alleviates the need for the science user to develop and provide their own system. In addition to the pointing control system, a star tracker has been developed with both daytime and nighttime capability to augment the WASP and provide an absolute pointing reference. The WASP Project has successfully completed five test flights and one operational science mission, and is currently supporting an additional test flight in 2017, along with three science missions with flights scheduled between 2018 and 2020. The WASP system has demonstrated precision pointing and high reliability, and is available to support scientific balloon missions.


Some of the challenges the pharmaceutical industry faces in the current research and development processes are: (1) a lengthy process that takes, on average, approximately 11 years from target identification to the development of a new medicine; (2) an ever increasing costly process; (3) an inefficient process where too many drugs fail before they reach the market because of a lack of efficacy or unacceptable toxicity, as well as postmarketing withdrawal due to rare serious adverse events; (4) drug--drug interactions or toxicity is not uncommon; (5) the increasing difficulty in identifying novel drug targets; and (6) the mode of action for many compounds is often unknown. This is a depressing reality. Where are the improvements in both quality and efficiency often claimed in the drug development process? Why haven't the advances in science and technology made a greater impact? How can improvements in the process reduce the already high cost of drug development generally? To address some of these issues, the pharmaceutical industry is actively exploring the relationships between human genetics and drug responsiveness, susceptibility to disease, and disease severity. While research approaches and emphases may vary from company to company, the overarching goal of the industry is largely consistent: to discover and develop new medicines based on an improved understanding of patient response to drugs (positive or negative) and of diseases etiology. Pharmacogenomic (PGx) methods are aimed at determining the contribution of genetic differences in ADME, drug target, and disease genes to drug response, thereby improving the safety and efficacy of drug therapy through use of genetically guided treatments, an approach called personalized medicine. Personalized medicine is both one of the newest disciplines of medicine currently being used and very much an ongoing work in progress. Many drug companies have incorporated genetic research, such as the collection of genetic samples, into their drug development programs. And while only a few examples of true success stories have emerged during the past few years of research, it is clear that the current landscape is driving us toward a more widespread acceptance of personalized medicine. Currently many questions arise regarding the appropriate implementation of this technology: how can the industry go about delivering true business value while recognizing that the ability to address patients' demand for safer and more efficient novel drugs might be met by engaging this technology more fully. There are


EDITOR–Simini and Bertolini illustrate a major dilemma in modern anaesthetic practice in their two scenarios–firstly, one patient, one anaesthetist and, secondly, one patient, two anaesthetists (one visits, one gives anaesthesia).1 Anaesthetists preferred the first scenario.

Simini in an earlier study asked 165 patients whether they would be less anxious if the same anaesthetist …


Abstract : Contents: A European view of nuclear propulsion; The role of nuclear energy in space flight; Fundamentals of nuclear propulsion; Isotope/thermal thrusters and applications; Fast and moderated reactors and applications of low- power nuclear rockets; Nuclear rockets based on graphite reactors; Technology (applications and development status); Operational considerations, radiation hazards and safety; Nuclear space power systems (reactors, conversion equipment and power systems technology); Advanced technology for large space power systems; Electric propulsion (systems, flight mechanics, power sources, and mission applications).


Summary: In this paper the authors propose the use of generic elements as a viable tool for parametric model-based damage detection. The parameters gained by use of generic substructure are shown to be sensitive features to introduced damage. The proposed scheme is applied to experimental data from thin-walled H-shaped welded frame structure measured in different states of damage.


We present results of a study of 12 dust-reddened quasars with 0.4 < z < 2.21 and reddenings in the range 0.15 < E(B - V) < 1.7. We obtained ACIS-S X-ray spectra of these quasars, estimated the column densities toward them, and hence obtained the gas : dust ratios in the material obscuring the quasar. We detect all but one of the red quasars in the X-rays. Even though there is no obvious correlation between the X-ray-determined column densities of our sources and their optical color or reddening, all of the sources show absorbed X-ray spectra. When we correct the luminosity for absorption, they can be placed among luminous quasars; therefore, our objects belong to the group of high-luminosity analogs of the sources contributing to the X-ray background seen in deep X-ray observations. Such sources are also found in serendipitous shallow X-ray surveys. There is a hint that the mean spectral slope of the red quasar is higher than that of normal, unobscured quasars, which could be an indication for higher accretion rates and/or an evolutionary effect. We investigate the number density of these sources compared to type 2 AGNs based on the X-ray background and estimate how many moderate-luminosity red quasars may be found in deep X-ray fields.


Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD) utilizing the motion of shallow liquid for absorbing and dissipating the vibrational energy is studied with emphasis on liquid motion. A mathematical model based on the nonlinear shallow water wave theory is presented to describe the liquid motion in a rectangular tank. Liquid damping is evaluated semianalytically and is included in the formulation. Mechanical properties of TLD are also experimentally investigated using the shaking table. It is found that the liquid motion in TLD is strongly nonlinear and reveals a hardening-spring property even under small excitation. Good agreements between the simulation and the experimental results are shown when no breaking wave occurs. The model presented in this study is expected to serve as a tool for TLD design.


The observation of carrier‐induced ferromagnetism in bulk phosphorus‐doped Zn1−xMnxTe is reported Using high‐pressure Bridgman growth together with high‐temperature and high‐pressure post‐growth annealing, we were able to overcome the self‐compensation in this material, thus achieving unprecedented concentration of electrically active acceptors. Magnetic susceptibility and magnetic circular dichroism measurements on the system prepared in this way clearly reveal the occurrence of a ferromagnetic sate.


16. ———. 1968. "Ontology in the Tractatus of L. Wittgenstein." Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic no. 9:7-33. "The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus of Ludwig Wittgenstein is a very unclear and ambiguous metaphysical work. Previously, like many formal logicians, I was not interested in the metaphysics of the Tractatus. However, I read in 1966 the text of a monograph by Dr. B. Wolniewicz of the University of Warsaw2 and I changed my mind. I see now that the conceptual scheme of Tractatus and the metaphysical theory contained in it may be reconstructed by formal means. The aim of this paper* is to sketch a formal system or formalized theory which may be considered as a clear, although not complete, reconstruction of the ontology contained in Wittgenstein's Tractatus. It is not easy to say how much I am indebted to Dr. Wolniewicz. I do not know whether he will agree with all theorems and definitions of the formal system presented here. Nevertheless, I must declare that I could not write the present paper without being acquainted with the work of Dr. Wolniewicz. I learned very much from his monograph and from conversations with him. However, when presenting in this paper the formal system of Wittgenstein's ontology I will not refer mostly either to the monograph of Dr. Wolniewicz or to the Tractatus. Also, I will not discuss here the problem of adequacy between my formal 17. Roman Suszko. Selected and annotated bibliography https://www.ontology.co/biblio/suszko-biblio.htm 3 di 18 21/09/2016 22:35 construction and Tractatus. I think that the Wittgenstein was somewhat confused and wrong in certain points. For example, he did not see the clear-cut distinction between language (theory) and metalanguage (metatheory): a confusion between use and mention of expressions." *Presented in Polish at the Conference on History of Logic, April 28-29, 1967, Cracow, Poland. ———. 1968. "A Note Concerning the Theory of Descriptions." Studia Logica no. 22:51-56. Co-author: H. Lewandowski 18. ———. 1968. "Formal Logic and the Development of Knowledge." In Problems in the Philosophy of Science. Proceedings of the International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science, London, 1963. Vol. I, edited by Lakatos, Imre and Musgrave, Alan, 210-222. Amsterdam: North-Holland. Suszko's reply to W. V. Quine and J. Giedymin's discussion notes: pp. 227-230. 19. ———. 1968. "Non-Fregean Logic and Theories." Acta Logica no. 11:105-125. Annals of the University of Bucarest 20. ———. 1969. "Consistency of Some Non-Fregean Theories." Notices of the American Mathematical Society no. 16:506.


To overcome the disadvantages of conventional DGA (dissolved gas-in-oil) analysis using gas chromatography and other electrochemical sensors, initial researches were completed to realize on-line monitoring of dissolved gas-in-oil of power transformers using FTIR (Fourier Transform InfraRed) spectroscopy. Gas cell method is used to determine the characteristic absorption peaks of each diagnostic gas; simple and novel devices and procedures were designed in order to get measurable samples and spectra of mixed diagnostic gases with known concentration are taken using long optical path gas cell. The range of wavelength is estimated to be 3.0-13.9 μm from experimental spectra data. Hence the corresponding sampling frequency range should be in 536-4288 Hz and usable optical materials are suggested. It is concluded that a resolution of 10 cm-1 may well satisfy the monitoring of all diagnostic gases and water content except hydrogen, and the lowest detection limit may be as low as 2×l0-8 to acetylene with a 2.4-meter-long optical length.


Objective:To establish a reversed phase ion-pair HPLC method for the determination of diphenhydra- mine hydrochloride in some kinds of plasters.Methods:Employed Kromasil C_(18)column(150 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm) ,acetonitrile-water-phosphoric acid(52:48:0.05,v/v,contained 10 mmol·L~(-1)Sodium Dodecylsulfate) as mobile phase.Flow rate was 1.0 mL·min~(-1).The detection wavelength was set at 220 nm.The colunm temperature was set at 35℃.Results:Diphenhydramine hydrochloride can be well isolated from other substances.The calibra- tion curve was linear in the range of 0.24-2.4 μg of diphenhydramine hydrochloride with correlation coefficient 0.9999.The average recovery of diphenhydramine hydrochloride was 99.2% ,RSD was 2.2%(n=9).Conclu- sion:The method is specific and accurate for determination of diphenhydramine hydrochloride in plasters.


We combine a GW approach and ab initio Molecular Dynamics (AIMD) simulations to study the impact of thermal effects on transport gap in solid pentacene (C22H14). The dynamic disorder induced by thermal fluctuations is simulated by AIMD, providing the ensemble-averaged density of states (DOS) near the band gap. The GW corrected DOS, averaged over hundreds of snapshots from AIMD simulation containing disordered structures indicates that the edge-to-edge transport gap is 2.1+/-0.04 eV, reduced by ~0.1 eV in contrast to the static 0 K GW calculation. The peak-to-peak gap is found to be 2.7eV in excellent agreement with experiment after corrections for the surface and the Frank-Condon effects and providing fully ab initio agreement with experiment where previous theory required ad hoc Gaussian broadening and temperature corrections.


The authors study the problem of coding spectral information in speech at bit rates in the range of 100-400 b/s using speaker-independent phone-based recognition. Spectral information is coded as a sequence of phonetic events and a sequence of transitions through the corresponding hidden Markov model (HMM)-based phone models. This simple phonetic speech-coding system has been shown to be a promising approach. A simple inventory of phonemes is sufficient for capturing the bulk of the acoustic information.<<ETX>>


This paper proposes Hermes, a container-based preemptive GPU scheduling framework for accelerating hyper-parameter optimization in deep learning (DL) clusters. Hermes accelerates hyper-parameter optimization by time-sharing between DL jobs and prioritizing jobs with more promising hyper-parameter combinations. Hermes's scheduling policy is grounded on the observation that good hyper-parameter combinations converge quickly in the early phases of training. By giving higher priority to fast-converging containers, Hermes's GPU preemption mechanism can accelerate training. This enables users to find optimal hyper-parameters faster without losing the progress of a container. We have implemented Hermes over Kubernetes and compared its performance against existing scheduling frameworks. Experiments show that Hermes reduces the time for hyper-parameter optimization up to 4.04 times against previously proposed scheduling policies such as FIFO, round-robin (RR), and SLAQ, with minimal time-sharing overhead.


Africa continues to be depicted in literature as a marginal contributor to world's knowledge, "silent", "voiceless", yet the continent is host to rare and irreplaceable precolonial manuscripts in its Libraries and Archives. The National Archives of Namibia (NAN) houses remarkable and original handwritten work with high cultural, historical and genealogical research value, written before the formal colonization of the country. These manuscripts and records are largely unknown and under-researched and this perpetuates the knowledge gap in the existing scholarly work that contributes to shaping what is known about Namibia and its people. This paper describes pre-colonial writing in Namibia. It urges scholars to utilize these pre-colonial documents, records and manuscripts as valuable research resources for cultural, genealogy and local history. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––


The article considers color denoting phraseological units with the component of somatism in the Kumyk modern language. These phraseological units are related to a man, the parts and organs of his body, and also include the coloratives in their composition that can so clearly represent the national specificity of language, its uniqueness and originality. Color denoting phraseological units with the component of somatism give imaginative, expressive and emotional characteristics of person's qualities related to his inner world.


Fixture locating errors directly impact the dimensional quality of products in assembly processes. During a production run, fixture locators may deviate from their designed positions and this can possibly lead to defects and quality loss in the final assembled products. Mass production in multi-station assembly processes involves multiple fixtures/stations, which leads to extreme complexity in dimensional control through locator position adjustment. This research aims to develop a systematic methodology for fixture locator adjustment to minimize total production costs in multi-station assembly processes. In this paper, a linear model is derived to describe the complex propagation effect of fixture adjustments throughout all stations in an assembly process. Bayesian estimation with iterative algorithms is used to adaptively estimate the unknown parameters of locator deviation errors during production. An optimal fixture locator adjustment strategy is obtained through dynamic programming based on the given process and product design scheme. A case study is provided to illustrate the implementation procedures and the significance of the proposed methodology.


Abstract The text seeks answers to the questions of what folk inspirations in design mean and whether local identity embedded in traditions can work as a brand able to interpret traditional products and samples and, subsequently, disseminate them by means of strategies used in design. It is a conscious, innovative process that draws creatively on local sources. Today, traditional forms and patterns are naturally present in real craft products as well as kitsch objects created as an expression of the commercialisation of tourism. Attention is also paid to the terms "craft product" and "regional product", their significance and understanding by local manufacturers, users, self-governing bodies, and activities at the given location. The analysis of this topic is based on field research and the results of an internet questionnaire.


Based on the standard FA easily traps in a local optimum, this paper presents a method that the current particle choose the one in its visual field which has the best fitness as the global best particle. The experiment shows the advantaged algorithm has a better global search ability. The paper uses the advantaged FA into the group animation, the particle has good artificial intelligence performance, and can simulate group behavior in an actual way.


The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is a cornerstone of secure network communication, not only for online banking, e-commerce, and social media, but also for industrial communication and cyber-physical systems. Unfortunately, implementing TLS correctly is very challenging, as becomes evident by considering the high frequency of bugfixes filed for many TLS implementations. Given the high significance of TLS, advancing the quality of implementations is a sustained pursuit. We strive to support these efforts by presenting a novel, response-distribution guided fuzzing algorithm for differential testing of black-box TLS implementations. Our algorithm generates highly diverse and mostly-valid TLS stimulation messages, which evoke more behavioral discrepancies in TLS server implementations than other algorithms. We evaluate our algorithm using 37 different TLS implementations and discuss―by means of a case study―how the resulting data allows to assess and improve not only implementations of TLS but also to identify underspecified corner cases. We introduce suspiciousness as a per-implementation metric of anomalous implementation behavior and find that more recent or bug-fixed implementations tend to have a lower suspiciousness score. Our contribution is complementary to existing tools and approaches in the area, and can help reveal implementation flaws and avoid regression. While being presented for TLS, we expect our algorithm's guidance scheme to be applicable and useful also in other contexts. Source code and data is made available for fellow researchers in order to stimulate discussions and invite others to benefit from and advance our work.


Eleven design concepts for vertical (V) and horizontal (H) take-off launch-on-demand manned orbital vehicles are discussed. Attention is given to up to three stages, Mach numbers (sub-, 2, or 3), expendable boosters, drop tanks (DT), and storable (S) or cryogenic fuels. All the concepts feature lifting bodies with circular cross-section and most have a 7 ft diam, 15 ft long payload bay as well as a crew compartment. Expendable elements impose higher costs and in some cases reduce all-azimuth launch capabilities. Single-stage vehicles simplify the logistics whether in H or V configuration. A two-stage H vehicle offers launch offset for the desired orbital plane before firing the rocket engines after take-off and subsonic acceleration. A two-stage fully reusable V form has the second lowest weight of the vehicles studied and an all-azimuth launch capability. Better definition of the prospective mission requirements is needed before choosing among the alternatives.


One kind of device Kara OK, constitute accompanied Kara OK karaoke OK accompaniment part and live part harmony part is played. Collecting a vocal sound pickup scene part. A detector means for analyzing the collected vocal sound field range to detect an actual singing voices belongs. A sound generator means generates karaoke sound and sound OK portion according to the detected range, so that the portion with the karaoke sound OK field and harmony part. A tone generator means and the sound of karaoke OK parallel portion generates the instrumental accompaniment tone karaoke OK portion.


The HPCSA has ceased publishing tariffs since 2008. This has affected the manner in which the HPCSA is able to guide the profession and protect the public with respect to norms against which fees can be charged in terms of Section 53 of the Health Professions Act ( Act No. 56 of 1974). It is no surprise that we have experienced an increasing number of tariff related complaints being referred to the HPCSA/Ombudsman.


Purpose – As ethnic diversity is regarded as a determinant of growth, this study engages in an analysis of diversity as the forte behind better economic performance and where social stability of a nation is necessary to achieve growth. While these factors alone may not be sufficient to achieve growth and maintain social harmony, domestic institutions and good governance are regarded as vital factors. Design/methodology/approach – Differential performances of diverse ethnic groups are most influential contributions of social capital and its growth impact. In this framework there is a larger role of aid to provide security to a nation to achieve its development objectives. An evaluation of ethnic diversity and land issues in Fiji is undertaken with concerns of a market economy, policies and governance. Findings – An examination of the opposing nature of ethnic diversity and land issues in Fiji provides an insight not only of ethnic conflict, but also of the role of aid to solve conflict. A discussion on ethnicity and being equal in the market relates to the reason for equality before identity. The analysis indicates the role foreign aid can play to achieve stability and avoid ethnic conflict for growth in Fiji. Originality/value – The paper indicates the global issues of inequality and conflict and policy implications for Fiji and the nations facing such problems and aid donors' role for growth and development.


The professional dynamic between patients and health care professionals has shifted significantly over time. Whereas patients were previously placed in passive roles within a hierarchical system, they are now expected and encouraged to be involved in decision making. Education in health care is undergoing a similar transition. Four recent articles unpack the potential presence, opportunities and complications associated with a new active role for patients in education, where students learn from patients, rather than using patients to learn.


IntroductionIdentity as a concept has been and still is today a subject of interdisciplinary research. Its definition and delineation is in the center of the scientists' attention such as psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists. Their common point is the ascertainment that identity is nothing more but a conceptual construct which is subject to a continuous and long term procedure of formation under the influence of historical, social, political, and cultural circumstances and facts (Maratou- Alipranti, 2000).On the contrary, the way of identity forming constitutes their point of disagreement. The completely opposite viewpoints feature as a starting point the bipolar frame of «us» - «they». On the basis of this bipolar frame two theories have been developed about the way of identity forming. The first theory gives significance to the «us» and in this case the formation of communal identity materializes by «the inside». It is composed by the group's own members. That is the identity of the group is specified by the way that the individuals realize and define themselves (Cohen, 1982). The second theory approaches the identity formation from «the outside» and its delineation is realized by the others. This means that the communal identity is defined by the way the «others» perceive, delineate and define us (Kellner, 1992). In this theory «the others» consist an important factor in identity delineation since identity is directly related to the common elements which unite a group of people as well as the elements which differentiate them from others (Weeks, 1990).These two approaches of identity formation have met with serious objections and opposition as to their legitimacy and thoroughness. According to Sutton (Sutton, 1994), when the identity delineation is realized with the «others» being the single and exclusive criterion, then its complexity is trapped within bipolar of the type man - woman, me - other. Stokes (1994) and Vrizas (2005) on the other hand, hold that when it is delineated strictly by the very members of the community, then the relationships and conflicts with the «others'» identity are overlooked.Modern scientific views reject the unilateral identity formation and accept a formation model which entails both the «self» and the «other». According to Intzesiloglou (2000) the communal identity is defined both by the idea that the members of a social group have about themselves and the communal «we» as well as the impression the «others» maintain about that specific social group and its members.However, what do we mean precisely and what is the exact meaning we ascribe when we refer to the communal identities? According to Erikson (1974) «...the sense of identity means being one with yourself as you grow up and develop. At the same time it implies a sense of kinship with the concept of a community as an entity unified with its future, its history or its mythology».References to the past make up an important factor for the formation of a group's communal identity as well as the negotiation of its position in the world (Dimitriou-Kotsoni, 1996). The birthplace as memory, and the existence of a common long tradition and cultural continuity not only link the members of a group with mutual bonds, not only express and confirm the existence of a common identity but also enforce its formation (Intzesiloglou, 2000). Moreover when we refer to cultural groups, apart from their common past, the specific way of its integration to the broader Greek society on an economic, cultural and ideological level constitutes an important factor of socio-psychological sense of identity (Vergeti, 1994).The degree of psychological rapport among the members of the team and working for the group are elements that define the content of the common identity. The content of identity is also indirectly dependent on the degree of social cohesion since it affects the degree of rapport among the members of the group. …


Objective Behavioral and psychosocial factors have been associated with a decline of the quality of semen. However, the relationship of depression and physical activity (PA) with semen quality remains unclear. Methods Data were obtained from 587 young male Chinese college students in June 2013. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing life-style factors, the Zung self-rated depression scale, and three items related to PA. They underwent a physical examination and provided a semen sample and a blood sample for reproductive hormones (testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and prolactin). Results Men with high depression scores (n = 63, 10.7%) had lower sperm concentration (M (SD) = 66.9 (74.5) versus 72.6 (56.9) [106/ml], p = .043) and total sperm count (M (SD) = 241.6 (299.7) versus 257.0 (204.0) [106], p = .024) than nondepressed men. Participants with low PA levels (n = 99, 16.9%) had lower total sperm count (M (SD) = 204.4 (153.7) versus 265.8 (225.8) [106/ml], p = .017) than participants with higher activity levels. After adjusting for potential confounders, depressed men had 18.90% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14%–33.47%) lower sperm concentration and 21.84% (95% CI = 3.39%–36.90%) lower total sperm count than nondepressed men. Men with low PA levels had 23.03% (95% CI = 2.80%–46.89%) lower total sperm count than physically active participants. An interaction effect between depression and PA on sperm concentration was detected (p = .033). There were no significant associations of depression and PA with reproductive hormones (p > .05). Conclusions Depression and low levels of PA are associated with lower levels of semen quality, which may have implications for reproductive health.


Disclosed are an agitating lorry and a tank thereof. The agitating lorry comprises a frame and the tank mounted on the frame. The tank comprises a barrel and a roller path disposed on the outer wall of the barrel annularly, the roller path comprises a roller path inner ring and a roller path outer ring, the roller path inner ring is welded on the outer wall of the barrel, and the roller path outer ring is detachably sleeved on the roller path inner ring. As the roller path includes the inner ring and the outer ring which are assembled in an external embedded manner, only the roller path outer ring is worn. Besides, the roller path outer ring is detachably assembled on the roller path inner ring and accordingly can be replaced only by means of detaching a fastener connecting the inner ring with the outer ring, a new roller path outer ring can be mounted on the roller path inner ring, and the agitating lorry and the tank thereof are convenient in repair and greatly reduces repair cost.


This work is an improvement for aeration, an evaluation method for scale inhibitors. Pre-saturated by vapor and CO 2 in a vessel, the air is led to the test water sample in the general manner, and the evaporation lose of the testing water is avoided partially or totally. The air flux, the type of bubbling device, the shape and the length of condensation tube are no longer the important factors affecting the results after the improvement. The new set is more reliable and much easier to be operated.


Carbon management is an important topic for investigation to ensure the accountability of firms in meeting Paris Agreement targets. Transparency and rigorous scrutiny are needed to keep industries on track to accomplish a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. To maintain a healthy environment, and promote human and ecosystem health, it will be vital to limit global warming to below 2 °C. Allianz presents a good example of carbon management as they are a leading insurance firm that utilises the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards to report their greenhouse gas emissions. Allianz has promoted important initiatives such as the Net-Zero Climate Alliance and made an array of pledges that promote net-zero business operations by 2050. In 2020, Allianz reported greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 384,178 tCO2, a 31% reduction in their emissions compared to 2019 figures. Procuring carbon credits is the main mechanism that Allianz has used to reduce their reportable emissions, as well as making investments into renewable energies—wind and solar. This study is limited by the information provided by Allianz and the accuracy in which they have reported their greenhouse gas emissions and emissions reductions. In the last reporting year, Allianz produced the greatest carbon emissions in the EU/USA insurance sector, producing 189,061 tCO2e more than their closest competitor. To achieve net-zero emissions, Allianz will need to increase their investment into carbon offsets and transition to 100% renewable energy use, while concurrently reducing their investment into coal and gas mining industries. This research gives an insight into the greenhouse gas emissions being produced by insurance/investment firms while also detailing the emissions reduction methods that are being employed. This study synthesises scientific literature with business reports to present a detailed account of industry carbon emissions, emissions reductions, and overall progress towards meeting net-zero pledges, in line with Paris Agreement targets. The recommendations made in this study are based on the information provided by Allianz and are designed to be within the scope of what would be possible for this firm. The aim of this study was to determine the actions and issues in the process of carbon management with a specific focus on Allianz. Key objectives of this research are: 1. To determine the net-zero pledges made by Allianz; 2. To determine the carbon emissions and emissions reductions made by Allianz compared to other firms in the sector; and 3. To determine how these emissions reductions have been achieved.


Introduction Nanomaterials find widespread applications in many fields of science and nanotechnology, especially as catalysts in the chemical, bio-nanotechnology, nanoelectronics and pharmaceutical industries. Understanding the physical and chemical properties of nanoscale materials is important, not only because of the fascinating nature of the subject, but also due to their potential applicability in almost every branch of science and technology. Nanostructured materials offer interesting properties, because at the atomic or molecular scale, the physical properties of a material become size dependent due to the quantum confinement and surface states effects. Similarly, patterned nanostructures are very important in fabricating novel electronic, magnetic and photonic devices. For example, molecular printing of nanoparticles is highlighted as a method for creating an organised precursor structure on a substrate surface for locating nanowires and carbon nanotubes. In all the examples, the ability to control the particle size distribution and surface morphology of the nanoparticles is of crucial importance, both from the point of view of fundamental understanding and of the tremendous number of hightech industrial applications in the areas of dye-sensitised solar cells, smart displays and glass windows, chemical, gas and bio sensors, lithium batteries, super capacitors etc. Some common X-ray techniques used for nanomaterials characterisation


Theorists of late modernity discuss the effects of individualization on heterosexual couples. Processes of individualization are understood in terms of the individualized framework of thinking about self and others permeating Western societies. Sociological analyses of therapeutic manuals appoint them as both a symptom and an effect of individualization processes. In popular therapy, Beck and Beck-Gernsheim encounter evidence of individualism and the disappearance of 'scripts for a life together' (protecting 'me' against 'us'), while Anthony Giddens sees potentials for a democratic, pure and gender-equal couple. Their dispute can be settled by analysing constructions of 'the couple' when the therapy manuals are put into action. The case in question is Swedish popular therapy as it appears in TV programmes with 'real' couples. Analyses of the ongoing interactions demonstrate how new scripts for heterosexual couples are emerging, scripts that hold elements of both traditional and late modern societies and relationships. In these, a 'normal fantasy' of the couple is (re)produced, not in the form of traditional authoritarian scripts but in individualized notions of what is a good, normal and happy life, a fantasy that is the responsibility of the individual/couple to complete. Individualized assumptions enable (an indirect) reproduction of stereotypes and inequalities of the genders, e.g. regarding unequal divisions of domestic work, with reference to 'what is best' for a specific individual or couple. The author argues for the necessity of revaluing both understandings of individualization in sociological theories and the 'workings' of individualized narratives on cultural and individual levels.


Objective\ To test the possibility that the vagus nerve is involved in the communication between the immune system and the medullary visceral zone(MVZ). Methods\ Male Sprague\|Dawley rats were received either subdiaphragmatic vagotomy or sham operation.Four weeks later,rats were challenged with pyrogen\|free saline or lippolysaccharide(LPS) by intraperitoneal route,and sacrificed 3hrs later.Medulla sections were processed for Fos immunoreactivity using ABC method. Results\ Intraperitoneal LPS caused robust Fos expression within the MVZ in the sham surgery groups and this response in the MVZ was inhibted in the vagotomized rats. Conclusions\ This study suggested that the abdominal vagus nerve consituted an important immune signaling pathway from immune system to the MVZ,and MVZ was a relay station in the immune\|to\|brain communication.MVZ might play a prominent role in the neuroimmunomodulation via vagus\|to\|MVZ neuroimmunomodulatory pathway.


The current study examined the impact of perceived organizational support (POS), workstressor, and gender on work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC) variables.The participants were 100 lecturers working full-time for a variety of universities in Semarang.T-test and hierarchical regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses. The resultindicated that POS was negatively related to both WFC and FWC. POS exhibited a moderatingeffect of the relationships of stressor and FWC, but not WFC. The result also indicated thatgender did not predict the level of conflict, and not moderated the effect of stressor on bothtypes of the conflict.Keywords: Pos, Stressor, Gender, WFC, FWC


Scientific competence is the basis for the formation of ecological culture of personality. Research has helped to identify the structural components that define this concept, to describe the parameters of the constituent elements. Issues of scientific competence directly define the objectives, content and technological provision of modern science education.


This paper presents an optical see-through head-mounted display (OST-HMD) that can provide a highly immersive augmented reality (AR) environment. Because visibility of objects is degraded by external light and because projection optics cannot represent black color, the reality of AR content is reduced. To solve this problem, we adopted an additional transparent display to adjust the transmittance of exterior light. This adjustment is achieved using a guest–host liquid crystal (GHLC) to provide transparency in the initial state and opacity when voltage is applied. To verify the display's usefulness, we measured ambient contrast ratio (ACR) and color gamut under various ambient light conditions after attaching the GHLC panel to the existing OST-HMD (Microsoft HoloLens). Under typical office illumination, use of the GHLC panel increased the ACR by 4.67 times, and the color gamut by 2.87 times compared to the OST-HMD without it. Under high illumination the panel increased the ACR by 1.54 times and the color gamut by 16.16 times. The proposed method significantly improved the ambient contrast ratio and color expression, and yielded a flexible way to customize existing OST-HMDs by adding a detachable display.


As VOIP gain popularity, more businesses and home users are looking for innovative ways to incorporate this technology into their everyday lives to enhance communications with colleagueS, business associates, friends, and families. In most cases, the piece of equipment and technology they choose for VoIP enablement will dictate the prospect they have with VoIP


The prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria has recently increased dramatically, seriously endangering human health. Herein, amoxicillin (Amoxi)-conjugated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were created as a novel drug delivery system to overcome MDR bacteria. MDR bacteria were isolated from a variety of infection sources. Phenotype, biotype, and 16S rRNA gene analyses were used for isolate identification. Additionally, Juniperus excelsa was used for the production of AuNPs. The conjugation of AuNPs with Amoxi using sodium tri-polyphosphate (TPP) as a linker to produce Amoxi-TPP-AuNPs was studied. The AuNP and Amoxi-TPP-AuNP diameters ranged from 15.99 to 24.71 nm, with spherical and hexagonal shapes. A total of 83% of amoxicillin was released from Amoxi-TPP-AuNPs after 12 h, and after 3 days, 90% of the medication was released. The Amoxi-TPP-AuNPs exhibited superior antibacterial effectiveness against MRSA and MDR E. coli strains. Amoxi-TPP-AuNPs had MICs of 3.6–8 µg mL−1 against the tested bacteria. This is 37.5–83 fold higher compared to values reported in the literature. Amoxi-TPP-AuNPs exhibit a remarkable ability against MRSA and E. coli strains. These results demonstrate the applicability of Amoxi-TPP-AuNPs as a drug delivery system to improve therapeutic action.


Due to the pandemic COVID-19, the government made a regulation called lockdown. This aims to decrease the spreading of COVID-19. Since lockdown had started, people felt so bored where stayed at home for a quiet long period. As a consequence, we realized that people need to go on holiday. We tried to solve the problem by making a virtual tour video. In this case, a virtual tour video is a video recording in which the content is about the tourist attraction that could be watched by viewers. The methods which relevant we used are interview and observation. After doing the survey, we found that the interviewers had pretty satisfied with the video. The implication of the next survey is to increase the virtual tour video's quality.


The invention discloses an air conditioner fresh air system with a centralized heat recovery zone and the independent control function. The air conditioner fresh air system with the centralized heat recovery zone and the independent control function is characterized by comprising a fresh air unit, silent air feeders and electric air valves, wherein the fresh air unit is arranged on a roof surface or is arranged in a dedicated machine room, fresh air is precooled or preheated by a total heat recovery turning wheel and then is processed so that an indoor isenthalpic point can be achieved, the processed fresh air is conveyed to floors through the silent air feeders arranged in suspended ceilings of the floors, and the electric air valves are correspondingly arranged on exhaust ducts of the floors respectively. According to the air conditioner fresh air system with the centralized heat recovery zone and the independent control function, heat recovery and processing are carried out on the fresh air and exhausted air, the amount of the fresh air of the floors is controlled in a decentralized mode, energy is saved, and the area of the machine room is reduced.


Simple PCR amplification using universal rhizobial oligonucleotide primers for intergenic spacer (IGS) regions of 16S-23S ribosomal genes (rDNA) was able to discriminate species, biovars and strains of rhizobial isolates. Six isolates of Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium species from Iceland were analysed in comparison with four isolates from Scandinavia and Siberia. The rhizobia in pure cultures were isolated from nodules of leguminous species in the genera Trifolium, Lathyrus, Lupinus, Astragalus and Thermopsis. The amplified DNA fragments were between 400 and 1400-bp long and all the isolates could be differentiated except one pair of samples. The discrimination of isolates corresponded reasonably well to the rhizobial classification and was independent of their geographic origin. Further analysis was performed by fractionation of the PCR amplified products with restriction endonucleases. Twelve restriction enzymes were used, one at a time. Six of these (i.e. EcoRI, HaeIII, MboI, TaqI, PstI and PvuII) were able to identify all isolates except the pair that could not be differentiated by the PCR amplification. This pair was likely to be of the same genotype. The use of single enzyme digestion provided a simple means to verify rhizobial identification, whereas combinations of two or more restriction enzymes, used simultaneously, maximised resolution of the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) profiles. The genetic distance analysis based on rDNA-RFLP profiles showed two clusters: one of these included essentially R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii and the other, which was a more diverse group, included other species. The rDNA-RFLP used in this study identified rhizobial species and strains, and detected misidentification of some isolates.


In order to understand the complex and constructive relationship between the socially disadvantaged and computer, this study uses the theoretical perspective of poststructuralist feminism and Actor-Network Theory to investigate how students from various social backgrounds in the "Basic Computer" course learn and practice computer. This study as four important findings: 1) Computer training programs provided by the government do not fit into the needs of the socially disadvantaged, 2) Institutionalized computer technologies, learning context and pedagogy are not suitable for every disadvantaged student, 3) Gender-blind computer training programs cannot effectively close the gender digital divide, 4) Gender intersecting with other social forces such as age, economic condition and disability interactively influence students' learning and performance of computer technologies.


Supported chromium catalysts with different support composition are studied by electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR), thermogravimetrical analysis (TGA), and 27Al magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR). With ESR, the presence of C?+ (y-signal) and two types of Cr3+ (6- and B-signals) are observed; however, their concentrations are support-, loading-, and pretreatment-dependent. The C?+ loading increases with the alumina content of the support and can be maximized after moderate reduction temperatures and by using relatively low Cr loadings. Dispersed C13+ (6-signal) is formed by reduction, and its amount increases with A1 content of the support, Cr loading, and reduction temperature. On silicaalumina and alumina it is stable against recalcination. CrzO3-like clusters @-signal) are observed only on Cr/alumina after reduction and recalcination. TGA analysis indicates an increasing interaction strength between Cr and the support from silica over silica-alumina to alumina. The quenchiiig of the 27Al lines by paramagnetic Cr3+ was observed by 27Al MAS-NMR measurements on the recalcined samples. This quenching effect was stronger on the Crlalumina sample than on the Crlsilica-alumina samples, indicating C13+ substitution in octahedral A1 sites. The observed differences in redox behavior and dispersion of Cr between the catalysts are discussed in terms of the support properties and in relation with previous results obtained by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS).


Liaoning traffic construction bid evaluation expert management service is studied,including some contents like expert database management,bid evaluation management,expert extraction,system notification and so on. Based on short message gateway of our province,we developed Liaoning traffic construction bid evaluation expert management system,performed practical application and realized electronic government business,so as to improve the working efficiency.


The main goal of the research was to determine whether the treatment of dye-house wastewater with fl occulation could be effi cient enough for water re-use in further production. A cationic condensation product was chosen for the treatment of industrial mixed wastewater collected in one week in Gorenjska predilnica d. d. Treated water was used for laboratory dyeing of cotton, polyester, polyacrylonitril, polyamide and wool with three diff erent recipes representing light, medium and dark shade. The fabrics were dyed comparatively using technological and treated water under the same conditions. Colourimetric evaluation of dyed samples was done on spectrophotometer DataColour Spectrafl ash SF-600X. Wet fastness and colour fastness to perspiration (acid and alkaline) of diff erently dyed samples were investigated. The results showed a high effi ciency of fl occulation for dye-house wastewater treatment and reuse of treated water in production. The change of colour was acceptable for all dyed samples except cotton light shade. Wet fastness became worse only on cotton but not more than one grade, when comparing the samples dyed in technological and those dyed in cleaned water. The colour fastness to perspiration did not change for polyester and polyacrylonitril; it was worse only for cotton samples.


Having as subject the labor market in the context of the contemporary world's problems, this paper aims to make a theoretical and practical presentation of these concepts, which are relevant for the national and international literature. The first part, dealing with the state-of-the-art of the domain, aims to present these concepts from the perspective of many specialists in this field. The practical part of this article consists in a research based on the presentation of the labor market under the impact of the contemporary world's problems. To support our line of reasoning, in our scientific approach we used a research based on the analysis of secondary sources, and as quantitative methods, we used: the simple linear regression and the public opinion poll. Among the contemporary world's issues analyzed using the quantitative methods were: juvenile delinquency, violence against other peoples and population's poverty rate. The hypothesis of this paper starts from the premise according to which lack of education generates intensification of the contemporary world's problems, especially juvenile delinquency and poverty rate, these two having an impact upon the employment rate of the labor market, because potentially active people are convicted when referring to people above 18 years old and in special educational institutions when referring to people under 18. The most relevant conclusions of the research highlight the fact that between the labor market and the contemporary world's problems there is interdependence, and not giving the appropriate importance to the contemporary world's issues will generate irremediable difficulties in society.


Scyther is an effective tool for security protocol analysis, however it cannot support such protocols with XOR operation mainly due to the decryption unifier(DU) problem. Many security protocols fundamentally depend on the algebraic properties of XOR operators. In this paper, we improve the procedure of DU by making Scyther have the ability of XOR operation in state extension. Meanwhile, and use constraint solving method to compute the attacking XOR terms by generating the type constraints, domain constraints and equation constraints. Based on this method, we successfully detect an attack of NSPK-XOR protocol.


ABSTRACT Purpose: To determine the morphometric parameters of filtration blebs of a valved aqueous humor drainage device. Materials and methods: Orbital magnetic resonances imaging (MRI) was taken after implantation of an Ahmed valve (FP7 model). Outcomes of the analysis were intraocular pressure (IOP) and the bleb's morphometric analysis (volume, height, major and minor axis). Associations between IOP and the imaging-related study variables were explored by Spearman's correlation test. Results: Eleven patients underwent orbital MRI examination. Recordings were taken after a mean of 2.7 months (1-6 months) after surgery. IOP was significantly lower than its preoperative values (17.6 ± 6.4 mm Hg vs 36.1 ± 6.4 mm Hg, p < 0.01). Mean bleb volume was 856.9 ± 261 mm3 and its height, major and minor axis were 5.77 ± 1.9, 14.8 ± 2.9 and 8.14 ± 3.6 mm, respectively. A positive correlation was detected between IOP and mean height (r = 0.77, p = 0.048) and major axis (r = 0.83, p = 0.03). Interestingly, the overall bleb volume was related to IOP levels immediately prior to surgery (r = 0.75, p < 0.01). Additionally, the posterior part of the plate was found to be displaced from the scleral surface in five cases (45%). Conclusion: Ahmed valve's bleb morphology seems to correlate with both the pre- and postoperative IOP, which might suggest a clinical benefit of administering aqueous suppressants pre- as well as postoperatively. The plate of the device may show a significant dislocation from its initial surgical implantation site. How to cite this article: Ferreira J, Fernandes F, Patricio M, Brás A, Rios C, Stalmans I, Pinto LA. Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study on Blebs Morphology of Ahmed Valves. J Curr Glaucoma Pract 2015;9(1):1-5.


Accumulator is an important auxiliary component in the hydraulic system.The classification and function of accumulator are introduced in detail.By comparing the performances and the flow rates between typical hydraulic circuits and those with accumulators,it can be found that the latter have an obvious effect of energy saving.


This paper presents a control scheme combined with CMAC neural network and PID controller for the brushless DC motor. The CMAC neural network control learned continuously and gradually becomes the main effect control. The mathematical model of square-wave PM BLDC motor is adopted and used to build the simulation block models. In a simulation of different circumstances by the conventional PID controller and the combine controller was carried out. The results show the validity of the model and the advantages of CMAC neural networks combine control of BLDC motor system under the sudden changes of torque and velocity signals.


This paper presents the resolution of a practical hydraulic engineering problem thanks to effective numerical tools. A sedimentation study of the lock of Hun (river Meuse, Belgium) is completed using solid transport models integrated in a finite volume free surface flows solver. The silting of the lock entrance is successfully modelled and various layout modifications of the site are tested to predict their effects and to see to what extent they could improve the actual situation. The analysis of the results shows that a regular dredging of the lock entrance is ineluctable.


Capsule The effects of playback use on number of captures, recaptures, fuel load, and age and sex ratios, and so potential bias in stopover studies in migrant Bluethroats was investigated. Playback promoted biases in the number of captures (although this was site-dependent) and fuel load. We strongly advise against the systematic use of playback to sample Bluethroats at constant effort sites or other type of ringing station, especially if studying fuel loads.


The palladium- or nickel-catalyzed carbocyclization of a tetraene substrate proceeds with incorporation of a hydrosilane to yield functionalized ring systems possessing trans-vicinal divinyl substituents on the newly formed ring, one of which is generated as an allylsilane. In one example, tributylstannane is shown to participate in the analogous cyclization reaction. Studies utilizing isotopic labeling, crossover experiments, and competition experiments provide evidence against a mechanism involving the initial hydrosilylation of one of the 1,3-diene subunits


Abstract. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms are a set of methods which allow samples to be generated from generic probability distributions. They have been used to aid the simulation of rare events, the Bayesian system identification of systems which are nonlinear and/or are approached using a Bayesian hierarchical structure and the training of a variety of machine learning algorithms (for example). The current paper discusses the 'ZeroVariance method', which can be used to greatly reduce the sample variance of quantities that are estimated using Monte Carlo methods. The ability of this approach to increase the efficiency of gradient based MCMC methods is illustrated. Finally, a Zero-Variance version of the well-known simulated annealing algorithm is employed. The algorithm is demonstrated on the Bayesian system identification of a nonlinear dynamical system.


The dissertation introduces the human-machine interface of the Automated Box Assemble Machine.The interface is designed by using of KingView 6.53.The interface is very friendly and convenient to operate.Through it,signals are acquired and alarms are analyzed.Parameters are set.It can monitor parameters for dynamic management and print statements.It can realize the scene real-time monitoring and record data.It is flexible.


Disclosed is a system comprising at least one flotsam screen, at least one sliding block, and at least one running wheel for a hydraulic power plant. In said system, it is easy to find the optimal position of the individual parts.


Objective:To rapidly identify P.aeruginosa using PCR technique.Methods:Primers for specific PCR amplification were designed based on the published sequence of the exotoxin A gene of P.aeruginosa.The PCR identification was also examined for its specificity and sensitivity.In addition, a direct PCR using simple-treated template was attempted on P.aeruginosa without DNA extraction step.Results:A single band was obtained on agarose gel electrophoresis only from PCR products that contained genomic DNA of P.aeruginosa.The direct PCR method was also successful with the same band produced from the amplification and whole process was completed within 4 h.Conclusion:The direct PCR amplification targeting at the exotoxin A gene of P.aeruginosa is a rapid, specific, sensitive and relatively simple method for the identification of P.aeruginosa.


The activated sludge process for degradation of organic matter is one of the main processes commonly used in biological wastewater treatment, and aeration in that process stands for a large part of the energy consumed in a plant. Hence, there has been many attempts to optimize the operation of the activated sludge process, which requires a model of the process. The advanced models used has in general their origin in IWA (former IAWQ) activated sludge model no 1 (ASM1). Unfortunately, feasible optimization is limited because several of the most important variables, for example bacterial biomass (XBH), readily biodegradable soluble substrate (SS) and slowly biodegradable particulate substrate (XS), cannot be reliably measured online because of their complexity hiding behind their notation. One way to resolve this problem is to estimate these concentrations using an observer and other online measurements at hand. Here we have developed an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) that estimates the relevant concentrations in the ASM1 based on oxygen measurements and supplied air. For faster convergence, measurements of totally suspended solids in the in uent ows are included in the algorithm. It is concluded that estimation does not work for one stirred tank alone, but when the activated sludge process is described by several tanks in series with oxygen measurements in each of them, the estimates converge. The lter has interesting convergence properties, and to explain these observability properties are investigated. For an implementation of the observer, it is necessary to estimate the oxygen mass transfer function and methods for this are evaluated and further developed. One of these and the EKF were evaluated for the wastewater treatment plant Ryaverket in Göteborg. The EKF is found to be divergent for this plant, which can be explained by the many uncertainties regarding the model. A more simple observer for estimation of the important measure oxygen uptake rate (OUR) was evaluated, and this was found to be convergent for plant data. Optimization of the aeration is considered brie y and is solved for one control variable. Results based on real data are presented.


Vibration strength training was conducted to 10 long jump athletes.Research showed that in the stimulus frequency 30-35Hz,acceleration 25-30 m/s2 conditions,the vibration of the system through 8-week strength training,the experimental group hip flexion and extension muscle flexor muscles with the control group the largest increase in power is very clearly demonstrated than that in the hip flexor maximum work before the experiment was significantly improved in the experimental group the largest power hip flexion and extension muscle growth than the control group.Experimental group,control group,the hip extensor muscle flexion and extension peak torque compared with the first four weeks after four weeks growth in large,growth has slowed down after four weeks,four weeks after the experimental group,the hip flexion and extension peak torque muscle growth rate are higher than the control group.Hip extensor peak torque strength of the relative growth rate is larger than the flexors.


A chorologic study o f the changing c u ltu ra l landscapes of the Musconetcong Valley, New Jersey , was undertaken. The Valley is ty p ic a l, both c u ltu ra lly and p h y s ica lly , of the Highlands, which is th a t po rtion of the Reading Prong of the New England Upland ly ing w ith in the s ta te of New Jersey . Human occupation of the Musconetcong V alley has endured fo r perhaps te n thousand y ears , beginning w ith Paleo-Indians. A boriginal occupance of the region served m ainly to e s ta b lis h i n i t i a l road and farm locatio n s fo r the s e t t le r s of European o rig in and a lso to begin the d e fo re s ta tio n which had a ffec ted most of the lim estone v a lle y by the end o f the e ighteenth century . Both Indian and European generally avoided lo ca tio n s north of the Wisconsin term inal moraine. By the end of the e ighteenth century , s e t t l e r s of northw estern European c u ltu ra l t ra d it io n s had e s tab lish ed the " in i t i a l occupance" of the region, which in la rg e p a r t can s t i l l be seen. E x isting ' fe a tu re s in the reg ion , such as settlem ent types, p roperty l in e s , road alignm ents, and bu ild ing types a l l hark back to e igh teen th century precedent. S tru c tu re s , e sp e c ia lly house and farm bu ild ing types, ind ica te th a t two major streams of d iffu s io n were responsib le fo r the la te e igh teen th-cen tury c u ltu ra l landscape. The dominant stream involvedi the Delaware Valley as a routeway, and included the "I" house, which


The automorphism-group of an infinite graph acts in a natural way on the set of d-fibers (components of the set of rays with respect to the Hausdorff metric). For connected, locally finite, almost transitive graphs the kernel of this action is proved to be the group of bounded automorphisms. This completes a result of Moller, who characterized the bounded automorphisms of connected, locally finite, transitive graphs with infinitely many ends. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


After Pfleiderer, Donau Chemie and Kone the CJEU returned on the topic of the effectiveness of leniency programmes with a key judgment on multijurisdictional leniency applications. The preliminary reference ruling in DHL Express stated how, absent a European Union-wide harmonised system of leniency programmes, the relationship between the leniency application for immunity made to the Commission and a summary application made to an NCA for the same cartel is one of mutual autonomy. According to the CJEU, the purpose of leniency programmes might be impaired by the elimination of uncertainty regarding the exact amount of information that is required to trigger the granting of immunity or reductions of fines. By establishing that unpredictability is one of the intended features of EU leniency policy, the CJEU has once again prioritised the effectiveness of the Commission's investigation over the rights of defence of the undertakings, also at the preliminary stage of the gathering of evidence by means of leniency programmes. This article is aimed at describing how the judgment gave a prominent role to the principle of effectiveness, also in regard to leniency programmes.


Introduction Prevalence of diabetes is increasing rapidly in across the world and India is no exception. In the year 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that India had 32 million diabetic. One of the proven strategies to improve access to healthcare, especially in the areas that are underserved or un-served through public healthcare services, is Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs). Methodology The case study is based on the observation of the facilities and service delivery, desk review of service delivery statistics of the PHC, in-depth interviews with stakeholders. Findings It was observed that the Valam Primary health Centre (PHC) is an excellent example of locally-initiated, village-level PPP model to cater to rural population. It was quite evident from the available records that PHC is having adequate supply of strips and glucometer to perform the investigation to monitor the blood sugar level of diabetic or suspected cases, which was not available even in other PHCs of the same block. Round the clock availability of the diagnostic equipment reflects the commitment of the NGO for providing the optimal diabetes investigation care to the residents in and around Valam PHC level. Recommendation The Valam Diabetic Care Model is an excellent example of locally-initiated PPP model and this kind of model should be encouraged in resource constrain areas.


ABSTRACT This article focuses on the everyday experiences of lesbian asylum claimants in southern Germany who engage in practices of 'mothering from a distance' and/or who decide to have children while their asylum decision is still pending. The aim of this article is to use motherhood as an empirical lens to discuss forms of belonging, stability, and pain at the intersection of gender, sexuality, race, and legal status. The writing of this article draws on empirical case studies featuring two lesbian-identifying mothers from Uganda – Hope and Livia – who are both currently going through the asylum process in Germany. It is argued that experiences around motherhood lay bare the often-invisible emotional journeys of lesbian womxn which have a substantial bearing on their asylum process in Germany. To this end, this article contributes to the nascent scholarship that seeks to amplify the experiences of lesbian womxn within queer asylum scholarship.


New muon g-2 experiment at J-PARC is aimed to conduct the precise measurement of anomalous magnetic moment (g-2) of the muons. In this experiment, the ultra-cold muons created in the muonium target region is reaccelerated to around 300 MeV/c in momentum (210 MeV kinetic energy) to then be injected into the muon g-2 storage ring to measure the decay products depending on the muon spin. The linac has advantage over circular accelerators to shorten the reacceleration time in the limited life time of muon. The muon linac consists of the initial acceleration (to 0.01of v/c), bunchingsection (0.01to 0.08of v/c), low beta section (0.08 to 0.3 of v/c), middle beta section (0.3 to 0.7 of v/c) and high beta section (0.7 to 0.94 of v/c). As a part of the design consideration of this linac, we present the simulation result of initial acceleration and further acceleration of muons with RFQ. An electric fi eld is used to extract the ultra-cold muons from the laser ionization region and RF field is used to create some bunches and to accelerate to higher energies.


Abstract Recently Desvillettes proved that the solutions to the space homogeneous Boltzmann equation possess all moments, provided that the initial data have 2 + ∊ moments in L 1. Here an alternative proof of this statement is presented, together with a proof that the result does not hold for pseudo-Maxwellian molecules. Two implications of the result are discussed: an analogous L p-result and an improved uniqueness result.


The histological structure of cerebellar cortex was observed and expression of RT-97,KGF,Bax proteins in the cerebellar cortex was investigated by immunohistochemistry in Ailurus fulgens.Results showed that cerebellar cortex of A.fulgens consists of molecular layer,Purkinje cell layer and granular layer.RT-97 appeared to express in the Purkinje cell layer,granular cell axon in granular layer and molecular layer as well as medulla.KGF-immunopositive cells were found in all layers.Bax protein was present in the molecular layer,Purkinje cell layer and granular layer.RT-97,KGF and Bax proteins might play different roles in the construction of neuromechanism in cerebellar cortex.


This review aims to present the Quality by Design (QbD) model as a suitable methodology to perform research in the academic Costa Rican institutions that teach Pharmacy. Pubmed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases were screened for original research papers and review papers published not more than ten years ago. Institutional repositories from the different universities were reviewed as well. The QbD model stands out as a great methodology for carrying out research projects regarding Pharmaceutical Sciences, but especially for Industrial Pharmacy, where it has contributed in terms of formulation development, manufacturing, and quality control. Academic research based on this model enables the training and development of practical, scientific, and leadership skills in Industrial Pharmacy students. The generated knowledge can be shared in classrooms, which represents an ideal environment to communicate research results and to foster collaborative work between researchers, professors, and students. Moreover, research performed through a QbD approach increases the confidence shown by the industrial sector and health regulatory authorities in the quality of the research, products, and knowledge that are developed and created in an Academy. As a result, the implementation of the model has allowed the creation, transfer, and materialization of knowledge from the Costa Rican Academy to different local pharmaceutical industries.


This paper presents a comparative analysis of two small-wind axial flux permanent magnet generators, for direct-drive wind energy conversion system. A three-phase dual-rotor ironless-stator axial-flux permanent magnet machine structure with drum winding is compared with a three-phase dual rotor slotless iron core stator TORUS generator. 3D electromagnetic analysis of the designed machines is carried out in terms of standalone operation. The comparative results of the simulations obtained show that the proposed solutions could be an option for the wind power system.


In surveys of pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.] fields at Kawanda Research Station and in those of the Masaka Cooperative Union at Masaka, Uganda, 12 genera of plant parasitic nematodes were found. Helicotylenchus Steiner was the most frequently encountered; it was found in 88.6 and 90.0 percent of the 70 and ten soil samples from Kawanda and Masaka respectively. It was also the most numerous at both sites. Pratylenchus brachyurus (Godfrey) Goodey and Meloidogyne Goeldi were the predominant endoparasitic nematodes encountered at both sites. Also common and numerous at Kawanda were Rotylenchulus reniformis Lindford & Oliveira and species of Scutellonema Andrassy and Tylenchus Bastian. Nematode population densities were correlated with rainfall and past agroecosystems.


Summary Choosing a portable data recorder from the array of machines now becoming available is a challenging and daunting task unless certain procedures are followed. These procedures are discussed in detail and recommendations are made on how to use the recorder most efficiently.


The utility model discloses a child locking switch warning device for an automobile door. The child locking switch warning device comprises a main control module, a child automobile door locking press button and a door lock switch sensing module, wherein the child automobile door locking press button is provided with a background indicating lamp, the main control module controls the door lock switch sensing module connected with an automobile door lock to tightly lock the automobile door through receiving electric signals of the child automobile door locking press button, and meanwhile, the background indicating lamp of the child automobile door locking press button illuminates. In the automobile door locking state, the door lock switch sensing module feeds back electric signals indicating that the lock switch is forcibly opened by people to the main control module, and meanwhile, the warning is realized through the flickering prompting through the background indicating lamp of the child automobile door locking press button. The device prompts adult passengers that the automobile door is in the child locking switch way through voice and mark press buttons so that the forced automobile door opening by brute force is avoided.


The demagnetization process of exchange-coupled Sm(Fe<inf>0.8</inf>Co<inf>0.2</inf>)<inf>12</inf>/α-Fe nanocomposite magnet particles with α-Fe phase coated on the sides of rectangular Sm(Fe<inf>0.8</inf>Co<inf>0.2</inf>)<inf>12</inf> nanoparticles and the effect of Fe phase arrangement on their (BH)<inf>max</inf> are systematically investigated from micromagnetics calculations. The (BH)<inf>max</inf> of the reference model Sm(Fe<inf>0.8</inf>Co<inf>0.2</inf>)<inf>12</inf> particles without Fe layer was 630 kJ/m3. On the other hand, the (BH)<inf>max</inf> of the nanocomposite magnet particle model, in which the four sides of the hard phase are coated with a soft phase, was found to have the highest (BH)<inf>max</inf> of 678 kJ/m3. This result may provide a guideline for designing high-performance magnet particle materials while reducing the use of rare metals.


INTRODUCTION Ulcerative colitis (UC) is the most commonly occurring inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).1 Observational studies have shown increased incidence and prevalence of UC since the mid-20th century, especially in the western world; incidence rates vary between 1.2 to 20 new cases/100,000 population/year and prevalence rates range from 7.6 to 246 /100,000 population.2 Ireland lies within a designated high incidence region for UC.3 The disease generally begins in young adulthood and due to its remitting and relapsing pattern, UC places a heavy burden on patient populations, resulting in reduced quality of life, reduced capacity for work and potentially increasing disability.3,4 UC also has a major impact on health resources. This, the first of two bulletins on IBD, will outline the diagnosis of and current management options for adults with UC in Ireland; a second bulletin will deal with Crohn's disease.


We develop a conceptually simple, flexible, and effective framework (named T-Net) for two-view correspondence learning. Given a set of putative correspondences, we reject outliers and regress the relative pose encoded by the essential matrix, by an end-to-end framework, which is consisted of two novel structures: "−" structure and "|" structure. " − " structure adopts an iterative strategy to learn correspondence features. "|" structure integrates all the features of the iterations and outputs the correspondence weight. In addition, we introduce Permutation-Equivariant Context Squeeze-and-Excitation module, an adapted version of SE module, to process sparse correspondences in a permutation-equivariant way and capture both global and channel-wise contextual information. Extensive experiments on outdoor and indoor scenes show that the proposed T-Net achieves state-of-the-art performance. On outdoor scenes (YFCC100M dataset), T-Net achieves an mAP of 52.28%, a 34.22% precision increase from the best-published result (38.95%). On indoor scenes (SUN3D dataset), T-Net (19.71%) obtains a 21.82% precision increase from the best-published result (16.18%). Source code: https://github.com/x-gb/T-Net.


The objective of this article is to analyze the bonuses performance conditions of the chief executive officer in the largest French companies (by using the CAC 40 companies' 2007 annual report). Among financial economists, the dominant approach to the study of executive compensation is the agency theory. Under this approach boards are assumed to design compensation schemes to provide managers with efficient incentives to maximize shareholder value. Therefore our results show that CEO's are assessed on financial performance based fee (dividend yield, stock price) as suggested by the agency theory, social or environmental considerations are inexistent.


This paper surveys the prospects for continuing professional education (CPE) of library and information science (LIS) professionals in Nigeria using Delta State as a case study. Questionnaire and interview techniques were used to gather data. A total of 51 practitioners made up of professionals and paraprofessionals from academic, public, special libraries and information centres were used in the study. Conclusions based on findings recommend that LIS organisations should be more committed to the CPE of their staff; that practitioners should commit their personal funds to their CPE if their organisations fail to support them and that the professional association (Nigerian Library Association) should develop clear cut programmes for the development of practitioners.


In about 10 years we should have three-dimensional maps of the structure of Earth's interior, from surface to center, with a resolution of a few hundred kilometers, including anisotropy and anelasticity.


A type of cationic polyacrylate emulsion was prepared by means of seeding polymerization. The emulsion copolymer ization was carried out with the core monomers of butyl acrylate (BA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA), the shell monomers of BA, MMA and home-mad e cationic monomer and the initiator of potassium persulphate. The structure of cationic polyacrylate emulsion was characterized. No "C=C " was detected in the structure of cationic polyacrylate emulsion by FT-IR and 1H-NMR, indicating that the polymerization reaction was complete. DSC spectrum showed that there were two glass transition temperatur in the structure of cationic polymer. The core-shell structure of cationic polymer was confirmed by TEM. Many improvements emerged when it was used as leather fin ishing agent. The resultant leathers have more uniform grain and better hand feeling. The mechanical action resistance and waterproofing quality of the coating were also increased.


Abstract: Interleukin (IL)‐2, initially discovered for its mitogenic activity on T cells, also acts on monocytes, resulting in the activation of cytokine production, superoxide production, and tumoricidal activity. Because severe brain damage was observed in IL‐2‐transgenic mice, this cytokine may have some influence(s) on the cells of the CNS. We investigated IL‐2 receptor‐bearing cells in the CNS and found that activated microglia expressed α‐chain mRNA and immunoreactive IL‐2 receptor β‐chain protein in culture. Although microglia did not express IL‐2 receptors under normal culture conditions, they were induced to express these receptors by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in a time‐dependent manner. The IL‐2 receptors were found to be functional because the viability and growth activity of LPS‐treated microglia, but not untreated controls, increased in response to recombinant mouse IL‐2 as determined by a 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide colorimetric assay and bromodeoxyuridine uptake experiment, respectively. These effects of recombinant IL‐2 were blocked by pretreatment with anti‐mouse IL‐2 receptor β‐chain antibody. Our findings suggest that activated microglia in the CNS can respond to this T cell‐derived factor regulating their growth, which may be an important mechanism of communication between nervous and immune systems in physiological and pathological conditions.


Objective:To analyse the imaging appearances and to evaluate the diagnostic value of X-ray,CT and MRI in giant cell tumor of bone.Methods:Seventy-six cases of various giant cell tumor proved by pathology,their imagings features were analyzed.Result:Twenty-nine cases of cystic type had eccentric expanding destruction of bone at the end of long bone extremities.39 cases of osteolytic type had discontinuous cortex of bone and blurred tumor margins.Eight malignant cases had moth eaten destruction of the bone with periosteal reaction and fast-growing soft tissue mass.Liquid-liquid level in MRI imaging were found in 19 cases with aneurysmal bony cyst.In 9 cases there were recurrence,the bony implant area was replaced by tumor tissues.Conclusion:Most of the GCT have typical radiological appearances and there is no difficult in making a correct diagnosis,CT and MRI supply more information and the capability of differential diagnosis may be improved.


Oligochaetes distribute widely in freshwater ecosystem, and some species are used as bioindicators for water quality assessment because they are tolerant to organic enrichment. They are acknowledged for potential for environmental health recovery of organic polluted environment. There are a lot of studies on ecology and toxicity assessment using oligochaetes in aquatic environment. In this study, we reviewed literature on ecotoxicology of aquatic oligochaetes. We searched literature from a database 'google scholar' by using keywords such as aquatic, oligochaete, and toxicity. The literature were summarized according to publication years, species, test methods, and chemicals. We obtained 133 articles published from 1953 to 2015 from the database. Among them, 58 papers (43.6% of total) have been published in 1990s. Three species (Lumnbriculus variegatus, Tubifex tubifex, and Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri) have been used most frequently in the study. Different species displayed different toxicological responses to different toxic chemicals. The results on the ecotoxicological study with aquatic oligochaetes revealed the possibility of the development for early warning system using aquatic oligochaetes to monitor aquatic ecosystem disturbance.


This paper studies the visual representation of local nature in the sacred art developed during the colonial period of Brazilian history. In this period, between the XVIth and the XVIIIth centuries, the visual arts in the country evolved in the context of the Baroque introduced by Catholic missionaries. It was in the decoration of the churches in which the first representations of aspects of local nature, mostly the tropical fruits, appeared in Brazilian visual arts, producing new combinations together with the traditional European phytomorphic ornamentation of acanthus leaves and grapes. This research draws upon texts written by travellers and missionaries during the period to demonstrate how the Europeans interpreted and represented tropical nature and used these representations as part of the Catholic preaching strategy by means of moral and religious allegorization of the New World nature.


Abstract In many studies the values of one or more variables are missing for subsets of the original sample. This article focuses on the problem of obtaining maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) for the parameters of log-linear models under this type of incomplete data. The appropriate systems of equations are presented and the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm (Dempster, Laird, and Rubin 1977) is suggested as one of the possible methods for solving them. The algorithm has certain advantages but other alternatives may be computationally more effective. Tests of fit for log-linear models in the presence of incomplete data are considered. The data from the Protective Services Project for Older Persons (Blenkner, Bloom, and Nielsen 1971; Blenkner, Bloom, and Weber 1974) are used to illustrate the procedures discussed in the article.


Endocrine system is the important system of human body responsible for maintaining the homeostasis and some other physiological functions by releasing hormones from the endocrine gland. Parathyroid gland is one of the important endocrine glandproducing parathyroid hormone. Parathyroid hormone plays an important role in maintaining the calcium and phosphorous metabolism and has a direct influence over the mineralization of bone and teeth. Disorders in parathyroid gland such as hyperparathyroidism and hypoparathyroidism causes altered levels of secretion of parathormone which may cause various symptoms including the oralmanifestations such as brown tumor, loss of bone density, increased caries occurrence rate, high risk of bone fracture etc. The aim of this article is to creating the awareness among the dental professionals about the risk and preventive measures in treating the patients with hyperparathyroidism.


Fish play a major role in the human nutritional system, and farmers need to know the accurate prediction of fish weight in order to optimize the production process and reduce costs. However, existing prediction methods are not efficient. The formulas for calculating fish weight are generally designed for a single species of fish or for species of a similar shape. In this paper, a new hybrid method called SFI-XGBoost is proposed. It combines the VIF (variance inflation factor), PCC (Pearson's correlation coefficient), and XGBoost methods, and it covers different fish species. By applying GridSearchCV validation, normalization, augmentation, and encoding techniques, the obtained results show that SFI-XGBoost is more efficient than simple XGBoost. The model generated by our approach is more generalized, achieving accurate results with a wide variety of species. Using the r2_score evaluation metric, SFI-XGBoost achieves an accuracy rate of 99.94%.


Objective: To express the fusion protein of dengue vi rus capsid(DEN) C and staphylococcal nuclease in Escherichia coli. Methods: The DEN C gene was ligated with SN gene at BamHⅠ site. The fusion gene was then subcloned into the pLEX vector and expressed in E.coli GI724. The recombinant fusion protein was identified by SDS-PAGE and Western blot, and the SN was characterized by TDA method. Results and C onclusions: The fusion protein was effectively expressed. Its relativ e molecular weight was about 27 000. The DEN C protein in the fusion protein was confirmed by Western blot, and the SN was enzymatically active.


The MAAP Accident Response System (MARS) is a userfriendly computer software developed to provide management and engineering staff with the most needed insights, during actual or simulated accidents, of the current and future conditions of the plant based on current plant data and its trends. To demonstrate the reliability of the MARS code in simulatng a plant transient, MARS is being benchmarked with the available reactor pressure vessel (RPV) pressure and level data from the Browns Ferry fire. The MRS software uses the Modular Accident Analysis Program (MAAP) code as its basis to calculate plant response under accident conditions. MARS uses a limited set of plant data to initialize and track the accidnt progression. To perform this benchmark, a simulated set of plant data was constructed based on actual report data containing the information necessary to initialize MARS and keep track of plant system status throughout the accident progression. The initial Browns Ferry fire data were produced by performing a MAAP run to simulate the accident. The remaining accident simulation used actual plant data.


In this paper, a built-in-self-test methodology for spread-spectrum clock generators is presented. It utilizes a multi-phase phase detector to detect the linearity of the frequency variation and the short-term jitter. The methodology is analyzed and simulated. As an all digital design, the hardware overhead is very small


....................................................................................................................................7 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................8 Location of area ................................................................................................................8 Scope of investigation .......................................................................................................8 Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................9 Physiography ............................................................................................................................9 Streams and valleys .........................................................................................................10 Wabash River .........................................................................................................10 Eel River ...............................................................................................................10 Mississinewa River ..................................................................................................10 Big Pipe Creek ......................................................................................................11 Mill Creek .............................................................................................................11 Interstream areas .............................................................................................................11 Till plain ...............................................................................................................11 Packerton moraine ................................................................................................12 Union City moraine ...............................................................................................12 Paleozoic stratigraphy .............................................................................................................14 Silurian system ................................................................................................................14 Mississinewa shale .................................................................................................14 Liston Creek formation .........................................................................................15 Niagaran bioherms ................................................................................................16 Kokomo limestone ................................................................................................17 Devonian system .............................................................................................................18 Pleistocene stratigraphy ...........................................................................................................21 Pre-Wisconsin glaciation .................................................................................................21 Wisconsin glacial deposits ...............................................................................................23 Tazewell substage ............................................................................................................24 Till ........................................................................................................................24 Outwash ................................................................................................................25 Lake silts and clays ................................................................................................27 Undifferentiated sands ...........................................................................................28 Cary substage ..................................................................................................................28 Outwash ................................................................................................................28


C-cut sapphire was implanted with 400 keV Co^+ ions to doses of 3 × 10^17/cm^2 and 5 × 10^17/cm^2 and then annealed in air sequentially at 1273, 1373, and 1473 K. Before and after the annealing, the implanted surfaces were examined by RBS and XRD methods. A nearly homogeneous layer of 350 nm thickness was formed on the surface when sapphire was implanted to a dose of 5 × 10^17/cm^2 and then annealed at 1473 K. For sapphire implanted to a dose of 3 × 10^17/cm^2 and then annealed at 1473 K, the implanted layer had a complex structure: the top surface layer of 70 nm thickness was α-alumina with Co^3+ ions at the substitutional sites and the near-surface layer (70 nm–300 nm) was a mixed phase of CoAl_2O_4 and α -alumina.


High levels of heavy metals in soil can be phytotoxic. Poor plant growth and soil cover caused by metal toxicity can lead to metal mobilization in runoff water and subsequent deposition into nearby bodies of water. In such conditions goal of remediation is to reclaim the site by establishing a vegetative cover to minimize soil erosion and pollution spread. Some of plants extract large concentrations of heavy metals into their roots, translocation the heavy metals to surface biomass. The aim of this study was to evaluate the removal of heavy metals viz; Cd, Cu, Pb, and Mn by root and shoot of different plants in monoculture and diculture. Alfalfa, sunflower and maize were sowed with or without date palm for the natural heavy metals hyper accumulation. Total concentrations of heavy metals in the soils, root and shoot were determined. The results showed copper and manganese in root and shoot did not change statistically differences. Sunflower had more transport pb from root to shoot than alfalfa and maize. Alfalfa with or without date palm had potential to accumulate Cd. All the treatments showed very high BCF values for Cu and Mn which was indicating these treatments retains metals in their roots and limit metal mobility from roots to shoots.