Various forms of carbon are known to perform well as biomaterials in a variety of applications and an improved understanding of their interactions with biomolecules, cells, and tissues is of interest for improving and tailoring their performance. Nanoplasmonic sensing (NPS) has emerged as a powerful technique for studying the thermodynamics and kinetics of interfacial reactions. In this work, the in situ adsorption of two proteins, bovine serum albumin and fibrinogen, were studied at carbon surfaces with differing chemical and optical properties using nanoplasmonic sensors. The carbon material was deposited as a thin film onto NPS surfaces consisting of 100 nm Au nanodisks with a localized plasmon absorption peak in the visible region. Carbon films were fully characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometry. Two types of material were investigated: amorphous carbon (a-C), with high graphitic content and high optical absorptivity, and hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H), with low graphitic content and high optical transparency. The optical response of the Au/carbon NPS elements was modeled using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, yielding simulated analytical sensitivities that compare well with those observed experimentally at the two carbon surfaces. Protein adsorption was investigated on a-C and a-C:H, and the protein layer thicknesses were obtained from FDTD simulations of the expected response, yielding values in the 1.8−3.3 nm range. A comparison of the results at a-C and a-C:H indicates that in both cases fibrinogen layers are thicker than those formed by albumin by up to 80%. ■ INTRODUCTION Carbon coatings, such as amorphous carbon (a-C) and hydrogen-doped carbon (a-C:H), have emerged as good biomaterials and have been integrated into several biodevices like catheters, stents, sensors, medical guidewires, surgical needles, orthopedic implants, and prostheses. The success of carbon coatings in biological applications is partly due to a combination of physical/chemical properties that underpins their good performance, such as chemical inertness, low frictional coefficient, and high wear resistance. However, the durability, functionality, and bioresponse of artificial materials in vivo are limited by their interaction with blood and tissue. The competitive adsorption of plasma proteins (such as albumin and fibrinogen) occurring at an early stage after implantation, is considered to have a crucial effect in determining the response of the host when in contact with biomaterials. For this reason, much effort has been dedicated to the description of protein adsorption and/or binding at carbon surfaces with different physical and chemical properties by using both in situ and ex situ methods. However, only a few of the techniques applied to these studies are able to monitor dynamic interactions in situ, within a fluid environment that may be tailored to model likely conditions encountered in vivo. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) has been recognized as a powerful and advantageous label-less method for studying the thermodynamics and kinetics of interfacial interactions in situ. SPR modes are hybrid modes of the free electrons of a metal and the electromagnetic field. These modes are confined at a metal−dielectric interface, propagate along it, and are extremely sensitive to interfacial changes in dielectric properties, such as those that arise from adsorption, binding, or cell adhesion events. Thin metal films are necessary to support surface plasmons in sensing applications, and the majority of commercial instruments currently used for quantitative analysis and screening rely on this type of sensing element. More recently, nanoplasmonic sensing (NPS) based on the physical phenomenon of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) has emerged as a valuable alternative. In LSPR modes, light interacts with particles much smaller than Received: February 22, 2017 Revised: April 6, 2017 Published: April 11, 2017 Article pubs.acs.org/Langmuir © 2017 American Chemical Society 4198 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b00612 Langmuir 2017, 33, 4198−4206 the incident wavelength, leading to a hybrid confined mode with a characteristic resonant frequency that depends on optical properties of the metal and dielectric and on nanoparticle geometry. LSPR can be leveraged for biological and chemical sensing by monitoring the wavelength shifts of the characteristic resonance, which take place in response to changes in the local refractive index. Compared to conventional SPR, NPS offers advantages such as a lower sensitivity to bulk changes, the ability to modulate the optical operating range through careful nanostructure design, and greater hardware flexibility and simplicity. Technical developments in the large-scale fabrication of nanoscale metallic structures have been key to the exploitation of LSPR, resulting in increased interest in LSPR sensing strategies. This work describes the application of NPS to in situ studies of the carbon−bio interface. SPR methods have found limited applications so far for the study of interfacial events at carbon surfaces in biological media because of the requirement of metal surfaces for sustaining SPR modes. Lockett et al. demonstrated, however, that it is possible to sustain SPR modes at the carbon−liquid interface via deposition of thin carbon coatings of optimized thickness onto Au SPR sensors, a strategy that had previously proven viable for the study of interactions at polymeric surfaces. Metal/carbon sensing platforms have since led to SPR sensing of DNA binding, cell binding, protein adsorption, and immunosensing at carbon surfaces, whereby the authors demonstrated that SPR is a viable method for monitoring carbon−biomolecule interactions. However, few experimental studies report a comparison of different carbon surfaces under comparable conditions, partly because of the broad variability of the optical properties of carbon materials, which adds complexity to the analysis of SPR data from metal/carbon/biomolecule multilayers. Notably, Saitoh and co-workers presented a comparative SPR study of albumin adsorption at hydrogenated carbons with different chemical composition but pointed out that a quantitative determination of the thickness of adsorbed layers from angle shift data using Fresnel equations is challenging due to strong correlation in the multilayer model between thickness and optical constants. In this work, NPS was used in combination with ellipsometry and computational methods to estimate the thickness of the protein layer at two carbon substrates with differing optical properties. To our knowledge NPS has not been used for the study of interactions at carbon coatings; herein, we apply a recently reported NPS method developed by Kasemo et al. based on Au nanodisk sensing elements. Studies of interfacial chemistry on this NPS platform have been typically carried out using sensors coated with thin films of dielectrics, such as metal oxides or silica, which ensure a homogeneous surface chemistry and allow flexibility in terms of the chemical reactions under study. Previous work by Cho and co-workers using biomolecules has reported a detailed study of the effect of dielectric coatings on interfacial chemistry and sensitivity. In this work, the applicability of these nanostructured sensors to the study of protein adsorption at carbon surfaces in real time is demonstrated. Carbon coatings differ from typical oxide spacer layers, as their optical properties can vary significantly with electronic behavior that spans the semimetallic semiconductor−insulator range. Two types of carbon with differing composition were chosen to investigate the effect of carbon chemistry on protein adsorption: a-C, a graphitic carbon, and aC:H, a hydrogenated, polymer-like, and sp-rich carbon. The two plasma proteins used, albumin and fibrinogen, were chosen because of their importance for understanding the response of biomaterials after implantation. A quantitative modeling of NPS results was carried out using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method for determining protein layer thickness, and finally, predictions from FDTD methods were correlated to results from complementary spectroscopic and microscopic methods. ■ EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Chemicals and Materials. Ethylene glycol (99.8%), methanol (semiconductor grade), bovine serum albumin (BSA, ≥96%), fibrinogen from bovine plasma (Fib, 65−85% protein), and phosphate saline buffer tablets (PBS, 0.01 M, 0.0027 M KCl and 0.137 M NaCl, pH 7.4) were purchased from Sigma and used without further purification. B-doped Si wafers were purchased from MicroChemicals (5−10 Ohms), and NPS sensor chips were purchased from Insplorion AB. Millipore water was used for all experiments. Substrate Preparation. Amorphous carbon films were prepared via DC magnetron sputtering (Torr International, Inc.) at a base pressure ≤2 × 10−6 mbar and a deposition pressure of 7 × 10−3 mbar as previously described. Two distinct films were prepared by varying the H2/Ar gas ratio: one type of film was sputtered using Ar and shall be referred to as a-C from here onward; the second type of film was sputtered using 10% H2 in Ar, resulting in a hydrogen-doped material referred to as a-C:H. Silicon wafers were cleaned in piranha solution prior to deposition (H2SO4/H2O2 in a 3:1 ratio; Warning! Piranha solution is a strong oxidant and reacts violently with organic materials and presents an explosion danger; all work should be performed under a fume hood). For spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterization, samples were deposited on clean Si wafers. For infrared reflectance absorbance spectroscopy (IRRAS) measurements, Si wafers were first coated with an optically thick (∼450 nm) Ti layer via DC magnetron sputtering, and subsequently with either a-C or a-C:H films of approximately 70 and 40


Objective To study the resistance and the resistant change of Staphylococcus au reus to fusidic acid.Methods The minimal inhibitory concentration(MIC) of 220 S.aureus strains in 2007 and 260 S.aureus strains in 2010 were determined against fusidic acid by agar dilution method.The sensitivity to other antibiotics was determined in disc-diffusion method.Results The rate of resistance of 480 S.aureus strains to fusidic acid were 1.3%.The MIC50 and MIC90 were 0.25mg/L and 0.5 mg/L,respectively,between 2007 and 2010.No strains were resistant to vancomycin.The rate of resistance of strains in 2007 to meticillin was 57.8% and it was 76.9% in 2010.Conclusion Fusidic acid appears to have fine antimicrobial activity against S.aureus,and the activiity hasn't change in 2007 and 2010.


Timothy Wilson: EFFECTS OF SILICA BASED BIOMATERIALS ON BONE MARROW DERIVED CELLS—Material aspects of bone regeneration Department of Medical Biochemistry and Genetics, University of Turku, and Turku Clinical Biomaterials Center, Turku, Finland Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, Ser. D, Medica-Odontologica, 2010, Turku, Finland Silica based biomaterials, such as melt-derived bioactive glasses and sol-gel glasses, have been used for a long time in bone healing applications because of their ability to form hydroxyapatite and to stimulate stem cell proliferation and differentiation. In this study, bone marrow derived cells were cultured with bioactive glass and sol-gel silica, and seeded into porous polymer composite scaffolds that were then implanted femorally and subcutaneously in rats to monitor their migration inside host tissue. Bone marrow derived cells were also injected intraperitoneally. Transplanted cells migrated to various tissues inside the host, including the lung, liver spleen, thymus and bone marrow. The method of transplantation affected the time frame of cell migration, with intraperitoneal injection being the fastest and femoral implantation the slowest, but not the target tissues of migration. Transplanted donor cells had a limited lifetime in the host and were later eliminated from all tested tissues. Bioactive glass, however, affected the implanted cells negatively. When it was present in the scaffold no donor cells were found in any of the tested host tissues. Bioactive glass S53P4 was found to support both osteoblastic and osteoclastic phenotype of bone marrow derived cells, but it was resistant to the resorbing effect of osteoclastic bone marrow derived cells, showing that bioactive glass is rather dissolved through physicochemical reactions than resorbed by cells. Fast-dissolving silica sol gel in microparticulate form was found to increase collagen formation by bone marrow derived cells, while slow dissolving silica microparticles enhanced their proliferation, suggesting that the dissolution rate of silica controls the response of bone marrow derived cells.


The prevalence of lung cancer is high in Taiwan. For patients with early-stage lung cancer, surgical resection is the standard treatment. In clinical practice, some patients are poor surgical candidates because of old-age, poor cardiopulmonary functional reserve or other comorbid diseases. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been used to treat hepatocellular carcinoma for a decade with good results, and recently, it has been utilized for local control of lung cancers. We report an elderly patient with early-stage adenocarcinoma of the lung. Her comorbid conditions of diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis and poor cardiopulmonary function made the risk of surgery high and unacceptable. The patient was treated with RFA and was followed up for 1 year with a good response. RFA-related complications such as pneumothorax, hemoptysis, pain and pleural effusion are readily handled clinically. The efficiency of RFA depends on tumor size. A tumor diameter of less than 3 cm yields good local control. Computed tomography and positron emission tomography are usually used to evaluate the treatment outcome. RFA is a minimally invasive treatment, and preserves the patient's pulmonary function. Repeat treatments are also possible.


Hybrid dc circuit breakers (HCBs) are vital equipment in dc grid systems. However, HCBs are usually costly since massive full-controlled power semiconductors are required to withstand high surge voltage and current stresses during current interrupting. Thyristors are good alternatives in realizing HCBs in view of their low cost and high current carrying capability; however, turning off the thyristor fast and reliably is a challenging task. In this article, a novel HCB topology is proposed, of which the solid-state part is realized by hybrid connection of thyristors and insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) half-bridge submodules. The use of IGBT half-bridges provides a negative voltage across the thyristors to turn them off; accordingly, thyristors withstand a major of turn-off surge voltage instead of IGBTs. By this means, a low-cost HCB can be established while maintaining a high breaking speed. Besides, fast reclose and rebreak function is provided by the proposed topology. Operation principle and design consideration of the novel HCB topology are analyzed in detail, and the effectiveness of the proposed HCB is verified by both software simulation and downscaled experimental results.


The article analyzes the changes in the economies of the Visegrad group over the past decade. The dynamics of the main indicators, including indicators of the industry structure and employment structure, as well as the world economic (global) competitiveness of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, are considered. The issue of the innovation sphere of the «four», its features against the background of pan-European trends, is touched upon. The main factors and limitations of development of these countries are highlighted. The main characteristics of the Visegrad model and its impact on the participating countries are identified.


Global climate change has surpassed the category of common environment problem and become an important factor of consideration in international political and economical diplomacis relations.The execution of "Kyoto Protocol"and accelerating process of the negotiation on climate change have greatly challenged our future economic and social development.The article analyzed this and thought that the claim on developing countries to promise the obligation to reduce and limit discharge of carbon dioxide grows day by day,but our country is coming into the industrialization metaphase and the ability to cope with climate change is relatively feeble.So,this article put forward some considerations on tackling global climate change:(1) to adequately understand the import and severity of the global climate change problem and grasp well the international negotiation process;(2) quicken the steps to institute the country's strategy to adapt to and mitigate climate change,and take measures,which are fit for the situation of our country,to deal with climate warming actively;(3) to strengthen the ability construction in the climate change field and improve our ability to participate in the global climate change action;(4) fully use the international cooperation mechanism to improve our technology level and economic ability of solving climate change problems.


a rather ornate parlor car at the end of some utilitarian freight cars carrying valuable loads. The value of the train is not thereby lessened. At the end of his work (pp. 312, 346, 353) Dc Roover is anxious to prove that there was deposit creation in the Low Countries in medieval times and that therefore there were business cycles. The mere existence of the overdraft device is not evidence of deposit creation, as he contends. Neither the premise nor the conclusion seems to be justified on the data cited or otherwise available. Nineteenth<entury writers prior to Endemann wrote freely of the shortcomings of scholastic moralists and canon lawyers without knowing any of them by name let alone having read their works. Since some beginning has been made in the study of this vast mass of data, many statements made by those who have not read it sound very foolish. Mr. dc Roover refers to two pieces of work by persons who have grounds for an opinion—Nelson and McLaughlin—but his own archiac views seem to have been affected by neither. His statement on page 10 seems to be quite without relation to any historical facts or situations. The Church is presented as misguided in enforcing the doctrine and as equally misguided in not enforcing it. The observations on pages 150-52 are singularly infelicitous. In contrast to his use of constructive imagination in business situations, De Roover can see no explanation of any evil connected with money lending except the dumb intransigeance of churchmen. In our fair commonwealth, there is an unknown large amount of smuggling, bootlegging, income-tax evasion, and commercial bribery. Not all of it is due to dumb Congressmen. A few other factors may be allowed. But things apparently were simpler in medieval Bruges.


Most of the cassava production areas in Indonesia are on marginal soils, which are characterized by a low content of nutrients and organic matter, and are susceptable to erosion. Increasing the nutrients and organic matter content as well as controlling erosion is needed to maintain soil productivity. Soil erosion, the main cause of soil degradation, could be reduced effectively by such cultural practices as contour ridging, the planting of contour hedgerows of forage crops, and intercropping cassava with upland rice or peanut. The organic matter content of soil could be increased by applying organic fertilizers such as cattle manure and mulch. Contour hedgerows of forage crops planted in cassava fields will reduce erosion effectively, while the pruning of the forage crops is a potential source of feed for ruminants. Using the prunings of forages of Gliricidia, Leucaena, elephant grass, and the residues of food crops such as cassava leaves, cassava root skin, rice straw and maize stalks as feed of ruminants is able to increase their weight significantly. The ruminants are main organic manure producers and are used for soil preparation. Therefore, the development of this integrated crop-livestock system is advised to maintain soil fertility and increase its productivity. On the other hand, the production of cassava leaves, which is estimated to be 1.5 million tonnes per year, is an excellent protein supplement in the rations of ruminants. The main problems of cassava leaves are their low neutral-detergent fiber (NDF) and hight HCN contents. NDF can be increased by supplementing with elephant grass or napier grass, while HCN can be reduced by chopping the harvested leaves and letting them wilt for 24 hours before feeding. INTRODUCTION Most cassava production areas in Indonesia are located on marginal mountainous soil on Java island and undulating Ultisols of the other islands. These soils are characterized by their low contents of nutrients and organic matter; they also tend to be susceptible to erosion (Wargiono,1995). Erosion and the low contents of nutrients and organic matter are the main factors affecting the productivity of crops. Therefore, controlling erosion by growing contour hedgerows of forage crops and increasing both soil nutrients and organic matter by establishing integrated crop-livestock systems is the way to maintain the sustainability of cassava-based farming systems. Most farmers in these areas have limited capital and labor; it is estimated that they have on average 1.1 to 2.2 ruminants/household (Table 1). A cheap and effective way of controlling erosion, suitable for most soils and farmers, is the planting of contour barrier strips of grasses such as elephant grass, vetiver grass, napier grass, or the planting of contour hedgerows of Leucaena and Gliricidia. Another advantage of these practices is that grasses and prunings of Leucaena and Gliricidia can be used for either ruminant feeding or for mulch, which is able to supply aditional N to the crops and inprove the soil organic matter content as well as their physical characteristics (Wargiono, 1995). 1 Central Research Institute for Food Crops, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. 2 Central Research Institute for Animal Science, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia.


2′,3,3″,5,5′,5″-Hexa-tert
-butyl-1,1′:4′,1″-terphenyl-4,4″-dioxyl 3c and
3,3q′,5,5q′-tetra-tert-
butyl-1,1′:4′,1″:4″,1‴:4‴,1
q′-quinquephenyl-4,4q′-dioxyl 3e, obtained
by oxidation of the corresponding biphenols 1c and 1e, show thermally
excited triplet spin states.


Abstract The propagation length L of long-range surface optic waves in islandized Ag films sandwiched by identical dielectrics at a wavelength of 632·8 nm has been measured. Two measurement methods were adopted: (i) an attenuated total reflection (ATR) method, and (ii) a method involving measuring the spatial distribution of the reflected intensity in an ATR geometry. By using both methods, a value for L of ∼480 μm was obtained for a mass thickness of 2·7 nm.


Objectives:Raoultella terrigena (formerly Klebsiella terrigena) is an environmental gram-negative rod. It may cause infections in humans, especially in the elderly and immunosuppressed patients. Moreover, this organism tends to be multi-drug resistant, limiting treatment options. Evidence on clinical presentation and outcomes of this infection is limited. We conducted this study to see its various clinical features, available treatment options, and associated clinical impacts of the R.terrigena infections. Methodology:We conducted a cross-sectional study on all adult patients with clinical specimens positive for Raoultella terrigena at a 700-bedded tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, between January 2013 to December 2018. Results:There were 58 patients with R.terrigena in different cultures specimens identified. Amongst them n=12 (22.6%) were colonizers. The median age was 61.5 years (IQR=28), and most were male (60.9%). The most common infection site was the respiratory tract in 28.3%, followed by urinary tract infections, 26%, and central line-associated infections at 26.1%. Amongst infected cases, 37% were in septic shock, and of which 76.5% required vasopressors. 45.7% had respiratory failure requiring non-invasive ventilation in 47.6%, and mechanical ventilation in 52.4%. The previous history of multidrug-resistant organisms was present in 67.4% of patients and the history of prior antibiotics use within the last six months was present in 78.3%. 91.3% of isolates were resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam and meropenem, 65.2% were resistant to colistemethate. Eight patients lost to follow up. The majority of patients treated with combination therapy (n=31, 81.6%) and meropenem plus colistemethate was the most commonly used combination (n=11, 44%). The overall mortality rate was 44.7%. Conclusion: R.terrigena is a highly drug-resistant organism with a high mortality rate and causes hospital-acquired respiratory tract infections in most patients.


. This paper deals with the chemotaxis system with nonlinear signal secretion (cid:40) u t =∇· ( D ( u ) ∇ u − S ( u ) ∇ v ), x ∈ Ω , t > 0, v t = ∆ v − v + g ( u ), x ∈ Ω , t > 0, under homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions in a bounded domain Ω ⊂ (cid:82) n ( n ≥ 2). The di ff usion function D ( s ) ∈ C 2 ([0, ∞ )) and the chemotactic sensitivity function S ( s ) ∈ C 2 ([0, ∞ )) are given by D ( s ) ≥ C d (1 + s ) − α and0 < S ( s ) ≤ C s s (1 + s ) β − 1 forall s ≥ 0with C d , C s > 0and α , β ∈ (cid:82) .Thenonlinearsignalsecretion function g ( s ) ∈ C 1 ([0, ∞ )) is supposed to satisfy g ( s ) ≤ C g s γ for all s ≥ 0 with C g , γ > 0. Global boundedness of solution is established under the specific conditions: 0 < γ ≤ 1 and α + β < min (cid:189) 1 + 1 n ,1 + 2 n − γ (cid:190) . The purpose of this work is to remove the upper bound of the di ff usion condition assumed in [9], and we also give the necessary constraint α + β < 1 + 1 n , which is ignored in [9, Theorem 1.1].


Dental remains of Australopithecus afarensis recovered from the Pliocene Hadar Formation, Ethiopia (1974–1977) are described anatomically. Descriptions are accompanied by illustrations and measurements.


This study aims to determine the difference in the mean learning outcomes of mathematics students through model of problem-based learning with the mean mathematics student learning outcomes through the model jigsaw cooperative, and which is higher than both. The population of this study is all students of class VII Mts Miftahul Ulum Gisting which amounted to 56 students. The Sample of this research is the class VII.2 amounted to 23 students as experimental class and class VII.1 amounted to 23 students as control class. Based on the result of hypothesis testing, there are differences in mean learning outcomes between the empirical class and control class, and the average learning outcome of the experimental class is higher than the control class. K eywords : Problem Based Learning, Learning Outcomes


The aim of this paper is to propose a nonlinear approach in modeling and estimation for non-Gaussian discrete-index reciprocal processes. The sub-class of the finite-states processes is taken under consideration. Such a class of processes seems to be a suitable setup in many applications, and in particular it appears well suited for image-processing. For this class of processes a stochastic realization is shown to exist in the form of a fixed-degree polynomial model. In this perspective the present paper extends to a non-Gaussian case some, well known in the literature, representation results about Gaussian reciprocal processes


Differentially private synthetic data provide a powerful mechanism to enable data analysis while protecting sensitive information about individuals. However, when the data lie in a high-dimensional space, the accuracy of the synthetic data suffers from the curse of dimensionality. In this paper, we propose a differentially private algorithm to generate low-dimensional synthetic data efficiently from a high-dimensional dataset with a utility guarantee with respect to the Wasserstein distance. A key step of our algorithm is a private principal component analysis (PCA) procedure with a near-optimal accuracy bound that circumvents the curse of dimensionality. Different from the standard perturbation analysis using the Davis-Kahan theorem, our analysis of private PCA works without assuming the spectral gap for the sample covariance matrix.


Transformers is one of the key equipment of the power system. Power rating of the transformers varies from KVA to several hundreds of MVA. The transformer is expensive equipment of the power system. Failures of transformer usually lead to substantial profit loss to the utility, potential environmental damage, explosion and fire hazards and expensive repairing or replacement costs, thus, it is desirable that the maximum service life of transformer is required. Condition monitoring of transformer can help to increase the life of the transformer and reduce the maintenance cost. Online monitoring is the record of significant data of a transformer and analysis of data and including the history of the transformer. In this paper percent the different techniques adopted for condition monitoring of transformer.


Purpose
The purpose of this opinion piece is to present a case for the potential of positive autoethnography (PosAE) as a new autoethnographic approach.

Design/methodology/approach
This work resulted from on-going discussions between the authors as to the practicalities and benefits of associating the qualitative approach of autoethnography with the field of positive psychology.

Findings
PosAE is proposed to encourage writers to actively reflect on the importance for themselves, and their readers, of including positive narrative elements, prospective visions and exploratory trajectories in their work.

Research limitations/implications
This research builds on existing research that has included positive psychology in autoethnography. As positive psychology is grounded in empirical research, the authors are suggesting that PosAE is allied to pragmatic autoethnography.

Practical implications
PosAE offers to facilitate positive thought, affect and strategies that could improve well-being. For example, some people struggling with serious health issues, and those helping them, may find it useful for articulating conditions and envisioning, even experiencing, positive change.

Social implications
With so many lives impacted by mental health issues globally, and with rapidly changing societies struggling to provide stability and purpose, an autoethnography that provides tools such as PERMA (Positive emotions, Engagement, Positive Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishments/Achievements) to communicate the positive seems timely.

Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time the creation of an autoethnographic approach explicitly linked to positive psychology has been proposed.


A ceramic artist from the UK developed her techniques using a low smoke paper kiln. In these techniques she uses paper and small pieces of wood to put around the kiln and set alight.


This qualitative study on Sudanese refugees' lived experiences and perceptions of transnationalism involved face-to-face in-depth interviewing with a sample of 21 adult Southern Sudanese refugees who immigrated to San Diego in the 1990s. Through inductive analysis, the author sought an understanding of the nature and motivations of the refugees' transnational family ties. Findings reveal the relational and affective aspects of these ties and show how social conditions and cultural imperatives drive the motivations and meanings. The author discusses the transnational behaviors of the Southern Sudanese within the context of forced migration and the Sudanese cultural value system. The author also discusses the role of trust, access, and relational context as they relate to research among refugee communities.


The interactions (including weak interactions) between dienophiles and dienes play an important role in the Diels-Alder reaction. To elucidate the influence of these interactions on the reactivity, a popular DFT functional and a variational DFT functional corrected with dispersion terms are used to investigate different substituent groups incorporated on the dienophiles and dienes. The bond order is used to track the trajectory of the cycloaddition reaction. The deformation/interaction model is used to obtain the interaction energy from the reactant complex to the inflection point until reaching the saddle point. The interaction energy initially increases with a decrease in the interatomic distance, reaching a maximum value, but then decreases when the dienophiles and dienes come closer. Reduced density gradient and chemical energy component analysis are used to analyse the interaction. Traditional transition state theory and variational transition state theory are used to obtain the reaction rates. The influence of tunneling on the reaction rate is also discussed.


Sublimating extraction and pyrohydrolysis of zirconium tetrafluoride from Algoma baddeleite-zirconium ores processed with ammonium hydrofluoride were studied. The possibility was considered of extracting zirconium from a concentrate in high yield by ZrF 4 sublimation in an inert atmosphere and producing Zr(IV) oxide by pyrohydrolytic decomposition of the sublimation product.


A coupled Darcy-Stokes model was developed to estimate equivalent permeability(EP) of fractured-vuggy media(FVM) according to the structure property of FVM and the fluid flow characteristics in different-scale voids.The generalized cubic law considering bedrock permeability and equivalent permeability tensor of single-fractured porous media were derived.The pretreatment technique of fractured porous media(FPM) was developed.Thus the vug-fracture-matrix coupled flow problem was converted into the vug-matrix problem.The equivalent permeability and permeability characteristics of different FVMs were analyzed.The results show that the EP of FVM was affected by the existence of fractures and vugs in various degrees.The EP of porous media with single circle vug is linear with the matrix permeability.The pretreatment technique of FPM can enhance the computation efficiency.


ABSTRACT Current standards, based on cell culture assay, indicate that poliovirus is inactivated by 0.5 mg of free chlorine per liter after 2 min; however, integrated cell culture-PCR detected viruses for up to 8 min of exposure to the same chlorine concentration, requiring 10 min for complete inactivation. Thus, the contact time for chlorine disinfection of poliovirus is up to five times greater than previously thought.


A series of four instrument test flights was conducted during July 1981 in preparation for the NASA Global Tropospheric Experiment. The purpose of the flights was to demonstrate the feasibility and value of simultaneously measuring several specific atmospheric pollutants over a 25 deg latitudinal range. Carbon monoxide and methane grab samples were obtained simultaneously with nearly continuous in situ ozone and remote ozone and aerosol optical radar measurements. The sampling platform was a NASA Electra, a four engine turboprop aircraft. Attention is given to CO and CH4 sample collection and analysis, ozone measurement methods, the aerosol measurement method, an interpretation of the optical radar display, and a synergistic consideration of results.


Knowledge of N-point correlation functions for all N allows one to invert and obtain the probability distribution of mass fluctuations in a fixed volume. I apply this to the hierarchical sequence of higher order correlations with dimensionless amplitudes suggested by the BBGKY equations. The resulting distribution is significantly non-Gaussian, even for quite small mean square fluctuations. The qualitative and to some degree quantitative results are to a large degree independent of the exact sequence of amplitudes. An ensemble of such models compared with N-body simulations fails in detail to account for the low-density frequency distribution. Subject headings: cosmology-galaxies: clustering-numerical methods


Purpose –The purpose of this case study is to examine direct investment in commercial real estate from the perspective of the individual. While most research is dominated by studies concerning direct investment by institutions (REITs, pension funds, etc.), the bulk of direct investment in commercial property is still conducted by individuals. Design/methodology/approach -The paper presents accounting and financial data from the original purchase, management and disposal of a small-scale office building. Cash flows, returns and risks are measured and analyzed. Findings -The case demonstrates that successful direct investments may be characterized by short-term time horizons involving older, small-scale properties. Practical implications -This case illustrates the non-academic nature of real world direct investment in commercial property. The case demonstrates that emotion and good timing are just as important to a successful venture as are cash flows and thorough risk estimates. The case also shows that successful direct investment in commercial property may be limited to smaller, older properties held for short-term time horizons. Originality/value -This case study is unique because it identifies the property, the investor, the purchase price, the operating revenues and the sale price and net proceeds. Most case studies conceal many of these facts in order to preserve anonymity.


Abstract Direct syntheses of indium tellurides InTe and In 0.878 Te were carried out in a calorimetric bomb. The energies of formation of these compounds were found not to be significantly different. The standard molar enthalpy of formation of InTe was found to be -(71.2 ± 0.4) kJ·mol -1 .


The invention discloses a low-melting-point compound suspension. The low-melting-point compound suspension comprises the following components in parts by weight: 5 to 55 parts of a low-melting-point compound, 1 to 7 parts of a moisturizing agent, 2 to 5 parts of a dispersant, 0.5 to 3 parts of a stabilizing agent, 2 to 6 parts of an anti-freezing agent, 0.1 to 0.5 part of a preservation, 1 to 8 parts of a thickening agent, 0.1 to 0.5 part of an anti-foaming agent, 1 to 15 parts of a special auxiliary agent, and the balance of water; the low-melting-point compound is a compound with the melting point between 35 and 70 DEG C; the auxiliary agent comprises the following components in parts by weight: 8 to 40 parts of isooctyl alcohol polyoxyethylene ether, 8 to 30 parts of calcium dodecyl benzene sulfonate, 6 to 20 parts of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, 6 to 18 parts of octanol, and 3 to 5 parts of liquid paraffin. The invention also discloses a preparation method for the suspension. The preparation method comprises the following steps: mixing uniformly, grinding, adding the thickening agent and stirring uniformly. The low-melting-point compound suspension is high in fluidity, obvious in medicinal effect, easy to prepare, and low in production cost.


A first minimum LC and a second minimum LC were selected with the aid of computer simulation for the fabrication of high contrast LCDs. The contrast ratio in normally white and normally black modes are both higher than 100:1. These LCDs can be used in direct view and projection applications.


Abstract Knight shifts K and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation times T 1 of the 125Te nucleus in the liuid Te-Tl system have been measured as a function of concentration in the range Te100 to Te30Tl70, and where possible as a function of temperature also. At 750 K, the shift measured with respect to solid tellurium decreases from +0.38% to −0.08% across this composition range whereas T 1 remains at approximately 200 μs over most of the range. Correlation of the temperature dependences of total magnetic susceptibility and Knight shift shows that changes in K are principally due to changes in density of states at the Fermi level rather than in the electronic wavefunction at tellurium nuclei. In the region near Te30Tl70 where the density of states is low, T 1 is considerably shorter than that predicted from the Korringa relation and the observed shift. This is interpreted as due to partial localization of the conduction electrons.


ABSTRACT We use a choice experiment to evaluate a hypothetical irrigation water pricing regime in Karnataka State, India. The proposed regime includes increasing the availability of water in the dry season, increasing irrigation frequency, water sharing with downstream water users, set against the introduction of a semi-volumetric irrigation price. The majority of farmers chose the status quo (SQ) option. Given the large heterogeneity in farmers' SQ water availability, irrigation practices and current water tax payments, the SQ could not be given a unique baseline interpretation. This poses a potential problem for choice model estimation. By coding the individual SQ situation of farmers, we observed considerable increase in the explanatory power of the choice experiment models. The results may be of general interest for choice experiments of environmental goods and services with heterogeneous spatial distribution, heterogeneous respondents and/or contentious policies that are expected to elicit considerable SQ response.


Abstract 15-Keto-13, 14-trans-prostaglandin B1 methyl ester, 13,14-trans-prostaglandin B1 methyl ester, 13,14-cis-prostaglandin B1 methyl ester, 13,14-dihydro-prostaglandin B1 methyl ester and 13,14-dehydro-prostaglandin B1 are organic intermediates used in the synthesis of prostaglandin Bx, a polymeric derivative of 15-keto-prostaglandin B1 methyl ester. PGBx has been shown to protect laboratory animals against cardiogenic shock, cerebral ischemia and hypoxia. A normal phase, high performance liquid chromatographic analysis is presented which permits the identification and quantitation of these PGB1 intermediates.


This paper discusses a lock-free FIFO queue data structure that is presented in [3]. The algorithm supports multiple producers and multiple consumers and weak memory models. It has been designed to be cache-aware and work directly on weak memory models. It utilizes the cache behavior in concert with lazy updates of shared data, and a dynamic lock-free memory management scheme to decrease unnecessary synchronization and increase performance. Experiments on an 8-way multi-core platform show significantly better performance for the algorithm compared to previous fast lock-free queue algorithms.


The solubilities of adipic acid in cyclohexanol + cyclohexanone mixtures from 303.0 to 353.0 K and in cyclohexanone + cyclohexane mixtures from 303.0 to 378.5 K were determined using a titration and an in situ ATR-FTIR method. The averaged relative deviation between two methods at given temperatures was less than 2%. The solubility of adipic acid in cyclohexanone + cyclohexane mixtures increases with increasing mass fraction of cyclohexanone in the mixtures at given temperatures. However, the solubility of adipic acid in cyclohexanol + cyclohexanone mixtures reaches the maximum at cyclohexanone mass fraction of 0.4. The experimental data were well correlated by Apelblat equation and λh equation. The thermodynamics functions of the dissolution process were calculated by van't Hoff equation.


Population growth in urban areas is a wordwide-generated difficulty and requires of tactics to counteract its effects. Smart cities are seen as an excellent solution to this problem, because they generate viable solutions to rely on technology to manage various aspects within which the urban environment is included. This paper presents a review of research involving urban management in smart cities. Analyzing the role that urban management accomplishes in smart cities, which shows that urban management supported by ICT visibly cooperates in shaping smart cities managing to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants.


This paper,based on the influencing factors of innovation diffusion theory about innovation diffusion,communication process,perception property and individual innovation,puts forward the application strategy of postgraduate excellent courses diffusion from the aspects of highlighting innovation property,promoting curriculum application,expanding innovation diffusion channels.


This research target is to know the influence financial and non financial motivate of either through direct and also indirectly to spirit of job and work performance of employees at White Rose of Hotel Legian-Kuta. Sample used at this research is all population members (186 peoples). From 186 questioners propagated and reassembled in the reality which responded and used competent to analyze in this research as much 157 questioners (84.4 %). Examination analysis the multivariate, data questioner used as much 154 questioners, this matter caused data which initially as much 157 the have to be reduced as much 3 unit, where the data distribution is not normally and represent the data outlier. This research used a technique analyze like: assumption test analyze the multivariate (test the outlier data, test the normality data, test of multicollinearity or singularity), test the validity and reliabilities, and conduct the path analysis constructively computer programmed of AMOS 4.0 and SPSS 11.5 for windows. Finding at research indicate that the financial and non financial motivate have an effect on direct positively and significant to spirit of job at White Rose of Hotel Legian-Kuta, others the spirit of employees job have an effect on direct positively and significant to work performance of employees. Other finding can be expressed that financial motivate own the direct influence positively and significant to work performance of employees, but in reality non financial motivate more share to increase work performance of employees through spirit of job compared to by financial motivate. Key word : influence financial motivate; non financial motivate; spirit of job; work performance of employees.


In the present study, solid film of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrenesulfonate, (PEDOT:PSS) has been prepared by casting its aqueous solution at room temperature and are characterized by using X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimeter. The temperature-dependent behavior of the ac and dc conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS film has been investigated. The temperature dependence and scan rate dependence of J-V characteristic curves have been tested. The study of frequency dependence of ac conductivity in a wide range of temperature up to 443 K, indicates that the dominant conduction mechanism in PEDOT:PSS film is Overlapping-Large Polaron Tunneling (OLPT). The study of the electrical conduction with applied voltage shows a reversible negative differential resistance (NDR) through the turnover point (T.O.P) for Cu/PEDOT:PSS/Cu device. Threshold current density, Jth, and threshold voltage, Vth at T.O.P as well as NDR are strongly affected by ambient temperature up to 383K and scan rate up to 3V/sec. The turnover behavior has been explained according to a competition between high conduction due to schottky emission and NDR due to field-induced of electrical polarization in conduction paths.


The slow unimolecular reactions undergone by three isomers of C4H9O+ are explained in terms of a simple 'mechanistic' approach. For two such isomer, protonated butanone and protonated isobutyraldehyde equilibration via a pinacol-type rearrangement precedes dissociation. The third isomer, protonated butyraldehyde, reacts differently because the energy needed to cause isomerisation of this to the other ions is greater than that needed to dissociate any of the three isomers considered. Extension of the analysis, using the potential surface approach, explains the non-occurrence of some mechanistically plausible reactions (e.g. C3H6 loss) and results of deuterium labelling studies.


This paper describes Ada95 bindings for HDF4 and HDF5, the current versions of the NCSA Hierarchical Data Format (HDF). These self-describing file formats are intended for storage of large, diverse collections of scientific data and for retrieving subsets of these data. The libraries also support data compression, chunking of large arrays, and automatic conversion of vendor-specific binary formats for a variety of data types.


We evaluate in this work the hydrodynamic transport coefficients of a granular binary mixture in d dimensions. In order to eliminate the observed disagreement (for strong dissipation) between computer simulations and previously calculated theoretical transport coefficients for a monocomponent gas, we obtain explicit expressions of the seven Navier-Stokes transport coefficients with the use of a new Sonine approach in the Chapman-Enskog theory. Our new approach consists in replacing, where appropriate in the Chapman-Enskog procedure, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution weight function (used in the standard first Sonine approximation) by the homogeneous cooling state distribution for each species. The rationale for doing this lies in the fact that, as it is well known, the non-Maxwellian contributions to the distribution function of the granular mixture become more important in the range of strong dissipation we are interested in. The form of the transport coefficients is quite common in both standard and modified Sonine approximations, the distinction appearing in the explicit form of the different collision frequencies associated with the transport coefficients. Additionally, we numerically solve by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method the inelastic Boltzmann equation to get the diffusion and the shear viscosity coefficients for two and three dimensions. As in the case of a monocomponent gas, the modified approximation improves the estimates of the standard one at strong dissipation, showing again the accuracy of this method in the whole range of values of the coefficients of restitution.


A one-dimensional model is considered in which an increasingly large electric field is induced by a rapidly evolving magnetic field. In the case of solar flares, energies are estimated to which protons and electrons may be directly accelerated by such an induced electric field.


We have measured the laser-induced fluorescence excitation spectra of the 3 1P10←3 1S0 transition of Mg atoms solvated in helium nanodroplets. The observed blue shifts and line broadenings mirror the shifts and broadenings observed in studies of Mg atoms solvated in bulk liquid helium. This similarity allows us to conclude that Mg atoms reside in the interior of the helium droplet. The 3 1P10←3 1S0 transition shows a splitting which we attribute to a quadrupolelike deformation of the cavity which forms around the solute atom after excitation. Temporal evolution of the fluorescence from the solvated 3 1P10 Mg yields a longer lifetime (2.39±0.05 ns) than found in vacuum (1.99±0.08 ns). This difference can be accounted for quantitatively by evaluation of the anisotropic distribution of the helium density in the neighborhood of the excited Mg atom. The question of solvation vs surface location for the guest atoms is also discussed in light of the model of Ancilotto et al. [F. Ancilotto, P. B. Lerner, and M. W...


Background: Public hospitals account for approximately 80% of the health system resources while producing only 20% of the public sector's output. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the current administration structure (strengths, weaknesses, solutions, and proposed models) of Iranian public hospitals. Methods: This study is qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. The required data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 58 national experts in the field of hospital management who were selected based on the purposive sampling method. Data were analyzed using the conventional content analysis method. Results: Nine main themes and 34 sub-themes were identified in the weaknesses. The strengths contained four main themes and 16 sub-themes. The proposed solutions had five main themes and 22 sub-themes, and the proposed models from the experts' points of view were composed of four main themes and six sub-themes. The important weaknesses were low commitment and motivation, poor financial management and budgeting, and centralized decision-making and management. The strengths included strong infrastructure, extensive service delivery, government support, and positive social functions. The most important proposed solutions were complying with the requirements of structural reform, development of related assessment indicators, public-private partnership, payment system reform, delegation, manpower management, hospital organizational structure, and reform of the tariff system. Finally, the model of the Board of Trustees, while maintaining government ownership but observing the legal requirements of this structure, was the main suggestion of experts on reforming the structure of the administration of public hospitals in Iran. Conclusions: According to the expert's opinions, the current structure of Iranian public hospitals has many problems. Managers and policymakers can make the necessary corrections based on the solutions and models proposed in this study.


We report on work on speaker diarization of telephone conversations which was begun at the Robust Speaker Recognition Workshop held at Johns Hopkins University in 2008. Three diarization systems were developed and experiments were conducted using the summed-channel telephone data from the 2008 NIST speaker recognition evaluation. The systems are a Baseline agglomerative clustering system, a Streaming system which uses speaker factors for speaker change point detection and traditional methods for speaker clustering, and a Variational Bayes system designed to exploit a large number of speaker factors as in state of the art speaker recognition systems. The Variational Bayes system proved to be the most effective, achieving a diarization error rate of 1.0% on the summed-channel data. This represents an 85% reduction in errors compared with the Baseline agglomerative clustering system. An interesting aspect of the Variational Bayes approach is that it implicitly performs speaker clustering in a way which avoids making premature hard decisions. This type of soft speaker clustering can be incorporated into other diarization systems (although causality has to be sacrificed in the case of the Streaming system). With this modification, the Baseline system achieved a diarization error rate of 3.5% (a 50% reduction in errors).


This paper proposes a target position estimation method in short range using multiple antennas and frequencies. It is shown that the position estimation accuracy is improved by increasing the spacing adjacent to the radiating element and utilizing the plural frequencies.


Interest in the Reiter strain of Treponema pallidum, a nonpathogenic, cultivatable, anaerobic spirochete, has been stimulated by the demonstration that the organism possesses four antigens; one, a thermolabile protein, being group specific for treponemes (D'Alessandro et al., 1949). This antigen has recently been employed in a Reiter protein complement fixation test for syphilis (Cannefax and Garson, 1957). Studies comparing the results of the Reiter protein complement fixation tests, the T. pallidum complement fixation test, and the T. pallidum immobilization test on syphilitic sera show, in general, that the Reiter protein complement fixation test antigen has a specificity and sensitivity comparable to the T. pallidum complement fixation and T. pallidum immobilization test antigens (D'Alessandro and Dardanoni, 1953; Cannefax and Garson, 1957; Rein et al., 1957; De Bruijn, 1957; De Bruijn and Bekker, 1957; Miller et al., 1958). Of the three tests mentioned above (Reiter protein complement fixation, T. pallidum complement fixation, and T. pallidum immobilization), the antigen for the Reiter protein complement fixation test is most readily available since the organism from which it is extracted can be conveniently cultivated in large quantities. Several media have been used in the past for the cultivation of the Reiter treponeme (Reiter, 1926; Little and SubbaRow, 1945; Whiteley and Frazier, 1948; Gelperin, 1949; Rose and Morton, 1952; Gastinel et al., 1956). All are complex in composition, generally consisting of peptone, tissue extracts or serum, a reducing agent, such as thioglycolate, and other supplements. Extensive studies on the nutritional requirements of


into a group of threads that are scheduled for execution based on the availability of the data needed for their computations. Thread size is limited to the number of consecutive instructions that can be performed without needing to reference a memory location. Examples of multithreading hardware systems include the HEP [25], the J-Machine [8], Monsoon [21], *T [20], and Tera [1]. Unfortunately, because multithreaded architectures require special-purpose chip designs, they have difficulty in competing with the ever-increasing performance of commodity components, particularly microprocessors. Thus, of the machines mentioned above, only the Tera is still commercially viable. Software multithreading is achieved by multiplexing several threads atop a single processor. From this definition it might appear that the standard Unix operating system [4] exhibits software multithreading in that it multiplexes a number of processes atop a single processor. However, the difference between Unix and software multithreading lies in the definitions of processes and threads. A Unix process is defined to include both a sequential unit of computation and an address space in which the computation takes place. Each process therefore maintains its own set of address mapping tables, and a context switch between two processes involves changing these tables, as well as the context of the computation. A thread, on the other hand, is defined only as a sequential unit of computation; there is no notion of an address space within a thread. Rather, one or more threads execute within an address space provided by the operating system. A context switch between threads involves only changing the context of the computations, and is therefore often termed to be lightweight with respect to a context switch between two processes. In terms of speed, a context switch between two lightweight threads is often two orders of magnitude faster than a context switch between two Unix processes. Another design question for software multithreading is whether the threads are implemented by the operating system in kernel space, also known as kernel-level threads, or in user space, also known as user-level threads. Kernel threads have the advantage of being tightly integrated with the scheduling and interrupt-handling facilities, but have JOURNAL OF PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING 37, 1–4 (1996) ARTICLE NO. 0103


Transmission Security for many satellite communications systems involves encryption and also techniques to deny an adversary traffic flow analysis capability. A known approach for providing traffic flow security in reservation-based multiple access systems involves the use of "dummy" bursts to fill in any gaps in the actual traffic flow. However, in contention-based systems this approach would unnecessarily limit user capacity in the channel. In this paper we present a technique that provides traffic flow security without a significant reduction in overall user network capacity. We describe how this technique can be applied to many different satellite network systems, and also to terrestrial ad-hoc radio networks that use contention-based access.


Received 1 August 2007; published 1 February 2008Spin and orbital electron correlations are known to be important when treating the high-temperature phaseof plutonium within the framework of density-functional theory DFT . One of the more successful attempts tomodel -Pu with this approach P. Soderlind, Europhys. Lett.


Aims Valve calcification (VC) is a widespread complication in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients on hemodialysis. VC is an active process with the involvement of in situ osteogenic transition of valve interstitial cells (VICs). VC is accompanied by the activation of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway, but the role of HIF activation in the calcification process remains undiscovered. Methods and result Using in vitro and in vivo approaches we addressed the role of HIF activation in osteogenic transition of VICs and CKD-associated VC. Elevation of osteogenic (Runx2, Sox9) and HIF activation markers (HIF-1α and HIF-2α) and VC occurred in adenine-induced CKD mice. High phosphate (Pi) induced upregulation of osteogenic (Runx2, alkaline-phosphatase, Sox9, osteocalcin) and hypoxia markers (HIF-1α, HIF-2α, Glut-1), and calcification in VICs. Down-regulation of HIF-1α and HIF-2α inhibited, whereas further activation of HIF pathway by hypoxic exposure (1% O2) or hypoxia mimetics (desferrioxamine, CoCl2, Daprodustat (DPD)) promoted Pi-induced calcification of VICs. Pi augmented the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and decreased viability of VICs, whose effects were further exacerbated by hypoxia. N-acetyl cysteine inhibited Pi-induced ROS production, cell death and calcification under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. DPD treatment corrected anemia but promoted VC in the CKD mice model. Conclusions HIF activation plays a fundamental role in Pi-induced osteogenic transition of VICs and CKD-induced VC. The cellular mechanism involves stabilization of HIF-1α and HIF-2α, increased ROS production and cell death. Targeting the HIF pathways may thus be investigated as a therapeutic approach to attenuate VC. Translational perspective One in four hemodialysis-dependent CKD patients on DPD treatment experience a major cardiovascular event during a 2.5-year follow-up period. This work provides a possible explanation for this phenomenon and should initiate further studies to address whether DPD-mediated acceleration of valve calcification triggers the unbeneficial effect of DPD.


This study quantifies the pore wall spacing and shape factor of lightweight cement-based foam pore structure and investigates its correlation with density, pozzolan, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity. The lightweight cement-based foam mixtures were prepared for the densities of 800–400 kg/m3 and by replacing cement with fly ash, silica fume, and metakaolin up to 20 % by mass. The nondestructive technique of X-ray microtomography was used for quantifying the pore structure parameters. In addition, the transient plane heat source technique was used to evaluate the thermal conductivity of these mixtures. The results show that the optimal pore wall spacing increases from 0.28 to 0.55 mm as the density rises from 400 to 800 kg/m3. It was observed that the median pore wall spacing (SP50) values increases as the cast density get higher. While the reduction in thermal conductivity was noticed for lower SP50 values. Furthermore, incorporating pozzolanic admixtures at higher cement replacement ratios affects the pore wall spacing. Moreover, spherically shaped pores were found in all mixtures.


Therefore, to ensure the ability of Western mills to meet the demands of foreign markets, Western Wood Products Association and APHIS have entered into agreements which allow WWPA to specify inspection methods and issue certificates and documentation on lumber shipments originating at Association mills and destined for foreign countries. This paper describes the kiln drying/heat treating certification program developed by WWPA and APHIS for the European lumber market.


Implementation of housing allowances is an integral part of Russia's programme of systematic rent increases on state and municipal rental units which began in 1994. Because housing allowances constitute the country's first income-tested programme, its performance transcends the housing sector. Rents are being increased in steps to cover full operating costs by the middle of the current decade. Primary administrative responsibility for the programme rests at the local level. Since the rate at which rents increase is determined by each municipality, progress varies. Arguably, the quality of the programme's administration may influence acceptance of both the programme and broader economic and political reforms. Reported here are the results of a first-time assessment of the practices of local housing allowances offices (HAOs) who administer the programme. Field work included on-site reviews at 17 HAOs and analysis of about 1200 files of programme beneficiaries. For administrative practices covering such areas as the presence of written job descriptions, written guidelines for intake workers, generation of reports for higher-level authorities and setting standards for the routine review of files of applicants determined to be eligible for benefits, applicants rejected and time during which processing of approved cases should be completed, HAOs had a fair record. Generally, 2-4 of the studied offices failed the standards set out in the paper. However, frequent instances of incomplete record-keeping about HAO operations limit our conclusions and highlight an area definitely needing improvement. On the other hand, and important for programme credibility, errors in computing subsidies paid to beneficiaries were found to be universally very low. Overall, HAO performance is adequate but highly variable and improvements are clearly needed. The results can be interpreted as being consistent with HAO staff acceptance of housing allowances as a legitimate replacement for the previous broad entitlement to benefits that worked through controlled rents in state housing. The adequate operation of HAOs should work to strengthen popular support of broader economic and political reforms.


Current treatment strategy for advanced prostate cancer is to suppress androgen receptor (AR) by castration and antiandrogens. However, several clinically relevant AR mutations cause insensitivity to current antiandrogens and convert them into agonists. We aim to identify full AR antagonists even for AR mutants. As crystal structure of AR ligand‐binding domain (LBD) at antagonistic form is not available, we decided to learn from estrogen receptor (ER) antagonism: (i) We built a structural model of wild‐type AR‐LBD complexed with antiandrogen bicalutamide (wild type/bicalutamide) using ERα‐LBD/hydroxytamoxifen structure as the template for helix‐12. (ii) By comparative structural analysis of 24 ERα‐LBD complexes, we found residues D351 and L354 at helix‐3 adopt unique conformations, and distance between them is a marker of ERα‐LBD/antagonist complexes. The AR residues corresponding to D351 and L354 are E709 and L712, respectively. We found distance between E709 and L712 of the wild type/bicalutamide model is substantially different from that of AR‐LBD/agonist complexes, suggesting this distance could be a marker of antagonistic AR‐LBD, which was supported by molecular dynamics simulations. Based on the wild type/bicalutamide model, we discovered compound 3 is a novel antiandrogen effective against the wild type and T877A‐, W741C‐, and H874Y‐mutated androgen receptors. We found compound 3 has dual functions, inhibiting androgen receptor and IKKβ.


22- and 43-GHz continuum observations of the radio galaxy Centaurus A made with the Itapetinga Radio Telescope are presented. The overall structure of the inner lobes agrees well with radio maps made at lower frequencies. In particular, the radio spectra of the lobes (NE and SW) can be fitted by a power law with spectral index − 0.7 from 80 MHz to 43 GHz. A new feature at 43 GHz is identified as the radio counterpart of the extended far-infrared emission from the dust lane


Who Undergo Electrical Cardioversion To the Editor: We read with interest the study by Madrid et al1 in a recent issue of Circulation. They investigated the role of pretreatment with amiodarone alone or combined with irbesartan in patients with long-lasting persistent atrial fibrillation, and concluded that adding irbesartan to amiodarone reduces recurrences. Nonetheless, some points should be stressed. They reported no significant difference in the baseline concomitant medication between the two groups. However, the percentage of both -blockers, and calcium-channel blockers, is higher in the irbesartan group (15% versus 7%, P 0.09, and 9% versus 5%, P 0.3, respectively). Because both decrease intracellular calcium, we believe that both medications should be considered together. When Tieleman et al2 first demonstrated the role of calciumlowering drugs in reducing recurrences of atrial fibrillation after electrical cardioversion, the proportion of patients taking calcium antagonists or -blockers before cardioversion was of borderline significance (P 0.06 and P 0.08, respectively). When considering the overall intracellular calcium-lowering drugs, the proportion became significant (P 0.04). Arranging the Madrid et al data in a similar way, the percentage of calcium-lowering drugs might become statistically significantly lower in the amiodarone group. This could explain part of the lower recurrence rate of atrial fibrillation in the irbesartan group. Moreover, the findings that most of the benefit of irbesartan occurred during the first 2 months after cardioversion supports our hypothesis that the higher prevalence of calcium lowering drugs in the irbesartan group plays a role in the benefit of irbesartan. As we and other groups have demonstrated, calcium-lowering drugs significantly decrease the early recurrence of atrial fibrillation,2,3 whereas an angiotensin I type 1 receptor blocker is expected to improve the structural remodeling during a period of months.4


A detailed analytical study was made to investigate the effects of fuselage cross section (circular and elliptical) and the structural arrangement (integral and nonintegral tanks) on aircraft performance. The vehicle was a 200 passenger, liquid hydrogen fueled Mach 6 transport designed to meet a range goal of 9.26 Mn (5000 NM). A variety of trade studies were conducted in the area of configuration arrangement, structural design, and active cooling design in order to maximize the performance of each of three point design aircraft: (1) circular wing-body with nonintegral tanks, (2) circular wing-body with integral tanks and (3) elliptical blended wing-body with integral tanks. Aircraft range and weight were used as the basis for comparison. The resulting design and performance characteristics show that the blended body integral tank aircraft weights the least and has the greatest range capability, however, producibility and maintainability factors favor nonintegral tank concepts.


Background Gas production from a gas hydrate reservoir is associated with phase transitions in the process of decomposition of a gas hydrate into liquid and gas and is implemented by various methods. The decomposition of gas hydrate occurs due to increase in temperature, depressurization (decrease in pressure), use of inhibitors, exposure by microwave electromagnetic radiation, etc. Aims and Objectives Aims and Objectives Research the process of gas hydrate decomposition in a radial model setting using the example of methane hydrate. Methods Math modeling. Results The article presents the results of numerical modeling of gas hydrates decomposition in a high-frequency electromagnetic field. The results of a numerical experiment of the decomposition process are presented, and the temperature and pressure distributions, as well as the dependence on the permeability coefficient, are shown. The distributions of temperature and pressure of the formation are also presented, the dependences of the position of the phase transition boundary on the parameters of the medium and the source of microwave radiation are studied.


This study aimed to investigate the relationship between immediate incomplete stent apposition (ISA) detected by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and midterm stent failure.


ABSTRACT Objective We evaluated extratemporal metabolic changes with phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 31 P-MRS) in patients with unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). Method 31 P-MRS of 33 patients with unilateral MTS was compared with 31 controls. The voxels were selected in the anterior, posterior insula-basal ganglia (AIBG, PIBG) and frontal lobes (FL). Relative values of phosphodiesters- PDE, phosphomonoesters-PME, inorganic phosphate - Pi, phosphocreatine- PCr, total adenosine triphosphate [ATP t = γ- + a- + b-ATP] and the ratios PCr/ATP t, PCr/γ-ATP, PCr/Pi and PME/PDE were obtained. Results We found energetic abnormalities in the MTS patients compared to the controls with Pi reduction bilaterally in the AIBG and ipsilaterally in the PIBG and the contralateral FL; there was also decreased PCr/γ-ATP in the ipsilateral AIBG and PIBG. Increased ATP T in the contralateral AIBG and increased γ-ATP in the ipsilateral PIBG were detected. Conclusion Widespread energy dysfunction was detected in patients with unilateral MTS.


: This study explored the morphological characteristics and effects of pollination methods on fruit set and characteristics in four red pitaya (Hylocereus spp.) clones. The distinctive morphological recognition and classification among pitaya clones were confirmed by the stem, flower and fruit features. The fruit production season was indicated from the beginning of May to the end of August, the beginning of September with 6-7 flowering cycles per year. The floral stage took from 15-19 days and fruit duration spent 30–32 days. VN White, fully self-compatible, obtained high fruit set rates (80.0-90.5 %) in all pollination treatments and the maximum fruit weight (402.6 g) in hand self- and (403.4 g) in open-pollination. Chaozhou 5 was partially self-compatible while Orejona and F11 were completely self-incompatible. Hand cross-pollination increased significantly fruit set (95.8; 88.4 and 90.2 %) and fruit weight (374.2; 281.8 and 416.3 g) in Chaozhou 5, Orejona, and F11, respectively. TSS contents were not much influenced by pollination methods.


We consider a communication system with noiseless feedback where the channel is not known to the encoder or the decoder. The channel belongs to a known family of channels and remains constant over time. Using the noiseless feedback, the encoder can learn the channel over time and communicate at a rate equal to the capacity of the actual realization of the channel. Thus, not knowing the channel does not affect capacity. However, analyzing the error exponent (for variable length coding) is more challenging. Tchamkerten and Telatar (2006) showed that for certain families of channels, not knowing the channel does not change the error exponent; for other families, not knowing the channel results in a strict decrease in the error exponent. In general, the error exponent is not known. It is also known that simple training based schemes have poor error exponent behavior. In this paper, we show that a smart training based scheme can achieve an error exponent which is a multiplicative factor less than the error exponent for known channel. This shows that contrary to popular belief, smart training based schemes preserve the main advantage of feedback — an error exponent with non-zero slope at rates close to capacity.


In response to increasing demands for traffic law enforcement, the Swiss company Multanova AG has developed its MultaStar system, based on a modular concept, which provides maximum flexibility to meet various enforcement needs. It is built round a CAN-Bus system, and can be upgraded as new modules and technologies are developed, such as those using radar and satellites. Its modules include a master controller, a power supply, a camera, a detector loop, a data interface, and a traffic light. A hand-held unit can set its basic functions, and a portable computer with Windows software can enter special functions. Its camera automatically records violations on 35mm black-and-white or colour film, and an automatic flash unit will be switched on if necessary. The camera takes a clear picture of the event, and also captures the driver's face in case positive identification is required by law. The MultaStar installation in San Francisco photographs any vehicle passing through a red light, and measures its speed when it crosses the junction. Two induction loops in the road sense the presence of a passing vehicle, and capture this event. Two photographs are taken of each vehicle violating a red light. The films are retrieved and processed daily, and analysed by an automatic computer system, which produces citation tickets. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 890291.


7 cases comprised of one Mehsana calf and two HF cross calves with atresia ani along with rectovaginal fistula while remaining 4 had atresia ani in kids. The cases of atresia ani were observed within 1-3 days of age while cases of atresia ani with rectovaginal fistula presented 1-2 months age. Animals with atresia ani having straining for defecation with mild distention of abdomen and bulging on anal site with absence of anal opening; In calves with atresia ani with rectovaginal fistula had straining for defecation and passing of faeces from vagina. All the cases were treated successfully with surgical management. All animals responded well and recovered without any complications.


Maintaining participant engagement in longitudinal surveys has been a key focus of survey research, and has implications for the quality of response and cost of administration. This paper presents new research measuring the impact of the design of between-wave keeping-in-touch mailings on response to the mailing and subsequent wave of a longitudinal survey. Three design attributes of the mailings were randomly implemented: the form of response request (whether respondents were asked to respond only if their address had changed, or in all cases to confirm or update their address); the newsletter included with the mailing (contrasting a newsletter with content tailored to respondent characteristics with a general newsletter and no newsletter); and the outgoing postage used (stamped or franked). The experiments were fielded on a new longitudinal study, the English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Panel Survey (CSJPS), and took place between waves one and two. Fieldwork for both waves was conducted by Ipsos MORI face-to-face interviewers. Our main finding was that the tailored newsletter was associated with a significant increase in the wave-two response rate. However, in relation to response to the request, the tailored newsletter, or sending no newsletter at all, were equally effective at inducing response, and significantly better than the general newsletter. We also found that, in relation to the form of request, the 'change of address' request was as effective as the more costly 'confirmation' request. Findings are discussed with reference to the design of keeping-in-touch mailings for longitudinal surveys.


This chapter details the first central thesis of the book, its principal text-critical argument: that Melchizedek originally appeared in the text of Gen. 14 as the king of Sodom, but that this text was altered to Shalem to distance the patriarch Abram from the city that would come to represent God's destruction of perversity and inhospitality. The chapter proceeds step by step through the redaction process of the word Sodom to Shalem. The chapter then discusses the death of Beraʿ, the king of Sodom, and how later literature altered the account of his death so that he could reappear later in the story, thereby causing Melchizedek to appear as someone other than the heir to the throne of Sodom. The chapter concludes with a thorough grammatical examination of Gen. 14 demonstrating that verse 18 was manipulated and wrongly interpreted to understand Melchizedek and the king of Sodom as separate individuals.


Zinc and its alloys have played an important role in the fields of ship manufacturing, construction industries, as well as our daily life. However, their applications are largely restricted due to poor performances under extreme conditions. Meanwhile, the slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) have been widely applied due to their excellent water-repellent, anti-corrosion and anti-icing properties. Herein, SLIPS based on a ZnO nanotube substrate was fabricated via a hydrothermal process, low surface energy modification and lubricant oil infusion, successively. The slippery Zn surface showed a low sliding angle of about 5° to water droplets after infusing lubricants into vacancies among ZnO nanotubes (NTs). More importantly, the slippery Zn surface exhibited superior omniphobicity for liquids with a wide range of surface tensions. Furthermore, the fabricated SLIPS exhibited outstanding slippery stability after several physical and chemical tests such as scratching, wiping and strong acid/alkali immersion. In addition, the anti-corrosion, anti-icing and anti-fouling properties have important significance for extending the practical applications of the slippery Zn surface. Therefore, the slippery Zn surface is expected to be an efficient method for enhancing the physical and chemical stability, anti-corrosion, anti-icing and anti-fouling properties of zinc and its alloys and can expand their applications in the anti-fouling and self-cleaning of automobiles, ships and construction industries under extreme environments.


The focus of this article is a critical analysis of the regulatory window of the experimental legal regime in the field of digital innovation. Its distinctive features are distinguished: its secondary nature in relation to the basic legal regulation, its ordinariness, its voluntary extension to business entities, its expansive or neutral influence on the scope of their legal capacity, its certainty in terms of time and the circle of persons. It is noted that the implementation of the experimental legal regime in the direction of the financial market has certain features, which is manifested in the possibility of establishing additional conditions for the experimental legal regime, separating its secondary regulatory window, giving the Bank of Russia the functions of an authorized body, etc. Next, the mechanism for establishing an experimental legal regime is outlined, in which five consecutive stages are distinguished: the introduction of an initiative proposal to the Ministry of Economic Development (or the Bank of Russia); consideration of the initiative proposal by the authorized body with the participation of the business community, branch ministries and the highest authority of the subject of the Russian Federation (optional); the establishment of an experimental legal regime by the Government of the Russian Federation; implementation and monitoring of the experimental legal regime, as well as evaluation of its effectiveness and efficiency. In conclusion, the norms of the experimental legal regime, potentially tending to corruption-causing factors, are identified and ways to improve legislation are proposed.


This research aims to examine the impact of the Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB) on the Islamic bank soundness. This research also will test whether the political system of the country is a moderating variable on the relationship of SSB on Islamic bank soundness. The study uses moderated regression analysis with the period 2012-2016 which includes 99 Islamic banks from 17 countries. The political system for this study is measured by the political or legal system implemented, whether this is a democractic system, the legal sharia law system, or a hybrid. Using 384 firm-year, the results show that stronger SSB characteristic only increases the capital adequacy ratio. The strength SSB characteristic does not have an impact on the Islamic bank soundness measurements (asset quality, management efficiency, earning and liquidity). The moderated variable of the Sharia law legal system or hybrid is only proven in the influencing the strength of the SSB characteristic on the capital adequacy ratio model, and not for other ratios. The implication of the research is that a country with a Sharia law legal system or a hybrid is better equipped to increase the qualification of the SSB characteristics to increase their capital.


This paper examines the predictability of US international competitiveness. It divides the forecasting problem into two parts: the aggregate trade balance and the commodity composition of the trade balance. The aggregate trade balance is expressed in terms of GNP growth, comparative production costs, and the import elasticity. Empirical relationships are derived between aggregate export performance and import elasticity. The commodity composition of trade is expressed in terms of the level of industrial development. Conceptual work is needed to analyze policy-oriented issues such as trade barriers, tariff policies and technology transfer. 4 references, 7 figures.


The invention discloses an electric single-beam crane. The electric single-beam crane comprises a main beam, wherein cross beams are mounted at the two ends of the main beam; walking wheels fitting longitudinal tracks are mounted at the two ends of the cross beams; walking motors in transmission connection with the walking wheels are mounted on the cross beams; a transverse track is arranged at the lower end of the main beam; an electric block bracket is in rolling mounting on the transverse track; and a lifting motor is mounted on the electric block bracket, and is connected with a traction rope and an electric appliance control device. Due to a lap form, the connection between the main beam and the end beams is more stable, the bending stress resistance is stronger, and the lifting capacity is improved.


The four elements of the lower hind foot (calcaneus, metatarsal, naviculo-cuboid, and tibia) were tested for use as age-independent proxies of body size in white-tailed deer using known aged specimens from Ft. Hood Texas. Statistical analysis indicates that the calcaneum and the tibia are good proxies of age-independent body size in white-tailed deer. In addition to expanding the list of elements that can be used for studies of age-independent body size, these elements can also be used to age faunal remains to an ordinal scale of juveniles and adults. This is useful for research regarding prehistoric prey populations; as a single element can be used to determine prey body size and age simultaneously, which are the two variables used to assess changes in human subsistence practices via the archaeological remains of their prey.


Metal stereolithography machine (1) is the powder layer forming portion 2, a light beam (L) irradiation section (3), the correction imparted to the correction that is the basis for the correction of a light beam irradiation position mark the target (4) for irradiating the , and an imaging camera 5 for picking up the position of the correction mark. Correction target (4), it is dissolved when the light beam (L) is irradiated, is made of a material that is the through hole. Modelling on the plate (23), wit the correction target (4), by irradiating a light beam (L) to pass through the correction target (4) gives the correction mark (7). Next, the image pickup by the correction mark (7) by the imaging camera (5) measuring the position of the correction mark (7), and performs the correction of the irradiated position. Since the correction mark (7) is formed through, the contrast is clear can be easily corrected in the position of irradiation tends to the position of the correction mark (7) measured, a light beam (L).


Far-field speech recognition is an essential technique for man-machine interactions. It aims to enable smart devices to recognize distant human speech. This technology is applied to many scenarios such as smart home appliances (smart loudspeaker, smart TV) and meeting transcription. Despite the significant advancement made in robust and far-field speech recognition after the introduction of deep neural network based acoustic models, the far-field speech recognition remains a challenging task due to various factors such as background noise, reverberation and even human voice interference. In this paper, we describe several technical advances for improving the performance of large-scale far-field speech recognition, including simulated data generation, improvements on front-end modules and neural network based acoustic models. Experimental results on several Mandarin Chinese speech recognition tasks have demonstrated that the combination of these technical advances can significantly outperform the conventional models.


In this paper, a new wavelet based de-noising method for noisy chaotic signal using the trajectory parallel measure method is proposed. As the chaotic signal is similar to noise, the traditional de-noising criterion based on the noise variance is not successful when applying to noisy chaotic signal filtering and prediction. In order to reduce the observation noise, the threshold can be determined based on whether the signal is chaotic or close to noise using the trajectory parallel measure. Further, the method is applied to the prediction problem of chaotic signal. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, it is demonstrated that the observation noise component is effectively reduced compared with the traditional method in the numerical experiments. The usefulness for chaotic signal prediction is also examined in the simulations.


Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrid) is a crucial sugar and energy crop that provides majority of the raw material for sugar and ethanol production globally. Drought represents one of the most critical constraints of sugarcane production in the subtropical parts of China. SEVEN IN ABSENTIA (SINA) act as an important E3 ubiquitin ligase and play a significant role in plant stress responses. However, the characteristics of the sugarcane SINA gene family have not been previously studied currently. Here, we identified 15 SsSINA in Saccharum spontaneum, 5 ShSINA in Saccharum spp. hybrid and 6 SbSINA in Sorghum bicolor based on their conserved N□terminal RING and C-terminal SINA domains, and these genes were distributed into three phylogenetic groups (I, □ and □). Collinearity analysis showed a close genetic relationship between the SINA genes of S. spontaneum and S. bicolor. The cis-regulatory elements in the promoter regions of the SINA genes were involved in a variety of plant physiological responses. Further, we identified a SINA gene SsSINA1a that significantly induced by drought stress. Overexpression of SsSINA1a enhanced drought tolerance in Arabidopsis through reducing leaf water loss rate. These finding indicate that SsSINA1a mediates plant drought tolerance and this study provides a new potential candidate gene for sugarcane drought-resistant breeding.


Objective To study the fingerprint of Radix Stephaniae Tetrandrae by HPLC. Methods HPLC condition: column Shimadzu VP-ODS (250 mm×4.6 mm); the mobile phase was acetonotrile with 0.1% phosphoric acid and the gradient elution mode was applied in chromatographic separation; the detective wavelength was 282 nm; fangchinoline was used as the reference compound. Results HPLC Fingerprint of Radix Stephaniae Tetrandra was established and the similarity of the fingerprint was compared. Conclusion The method is simple, accurate, and can be used to control the quality of Radix Stephaniae Tetrandrae availably.


From inception the Seventh-day Adventist Church has taken Jesus' command to take the gospel to every nation, tribe, language, and people very seriously. A century and a half later we can only praise God for the results. The Adventist Church is the most widespread Protestant ecclesial body with over 16 million members in 203 countries and areas of the world, and with ministries that span 891 languages, including nearly 8,000 schools of all levels and over 65,000 churches (Vyhmeister 2000:1, 2; Ryan 2007:ix-xiii). Yet, even as Christians celebrate the goodness of God, it is clear that challenges remain. Significant non-Christian population groups, especially within the 10/40 Window, remain largely un-reached (Wagner, Peters, and Wilson 1995:17; Ryan 2007:x). Traditional evangelistic approaches so successful in other contexts have failed to make a substantial impact resulting in small numbers of conversions. Historical and practical considerations mean that Christianity may be viewed with suspicion and as a potential threat to the established order of society. As a consequence, even the few who accept the Advent message are often ostracized by their communities thus limiting their potential to make a further impact for the gospel. In an attempt to break the impasse, missiologists have developed various models of contextualization whereby the gospel can be presented in language and forms that are recognizable and acceptable by the groups being evangelized (Hulbert and Mulholland 1975:85-86). John Travis developed the C1-C6 spectrum to categorize contextual approaches which we summarize here. C1 is a typical church congregation transplanted from another country that uses the language of the culture of origin. C2 is a C1 congregation that uses the local language but makes no at-


Condenser is one of the major components of the power plant, so it is necessary to operate the condenser efficiently under the various operating condition to increase the overall efficiency of the power plant. The present study focuses on the optimum inlet temperature of cooling water during condensation of saturated water vapor within a shell and tube condenser, through minimization of exergy destruction. First, the relevant exergy destruction is mathematically derived and expressed as a function of operating temperatures and mass flow rates of both vapor and coolant. The optimization problem is defined subjected to condensation of the entire vapor mass flow and it is solved using the program in MAT Lab. To find out the overall heat transfer coefficient, Bell Delaware method is used. Optimum inlet temperature of cooling water is calculated under the various operating condition of the steam condenser to determine the variation of exergy destruction and exergy efficiency at different condenser pressures, various mass flow rates of steam and cooling water with effect of atmospheric temperature is also considered. It is found that optimum cooling water temperature decrease with decrease of condenser pressure. As the upstream mass flow rate increase, the optimum coolant temperature and exergy efficiency decreases. It is found that there is no effect of atmospheric temperature on the optimum temperature of cooling water. With increase of cooling water flow rate, higher exergy efficiency can be obtained. Pressure drop is also increased with increase of cooling water flow rate, so pressured drop is also calculated and compared with permissible limit.


We say that a sentence A is a permissive consequence of a set of premises ! whenever, if all the premises of ! hold up to some standard, then A holds to some weaker standard. In this paper, we focus on a three-valued version of this notion, which we call strict-to-tolerant consequence, and discuss its fruitfulness toward a unified treatment of the paradoxes of vagueness and self-referential truth. For vagueness, st-consequence supports the principle of tolerance; for truth, it supports the requisit of transparency. Permissive consequence is non-transitive, however, but this feature is argued to be an essential component to the understanding of paradoxical reasoning in cases involving vagueness or self-reference.


To clarify the role of the expression of adhesive molecules [CD44 (standard form) and sialyl Lewis A (sialyl Lea)] on hepatic metastasis, 108 advanced gastric carcinomas and 94 advanced colorectal carcinomas were investigated immunohistochemically. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that CD44 expression and lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer and CD44 and sialyl Lea expression in colorectal cancer were significantly related to hepatic metastasis. The incidence of hepatic metastasis was highest in patients with the expression of both CD44 and sialyl Lea. The expression of CD44 standard form as well as sialyl Lea may have a major role as adhesion molecules in the process of hepatic metastasis.


Introduction: Thrombocytopenia is a commonly encountered condition with varying aetiologies ranging from infective to chronic conditions and malignancies. Knowledge of causes and pattern of disease is helpful in management of cases. Aims & objectives: The present study was conducted to assess the causes, clinical profile and findings of laboratory investigations of patients suffering from thrombocytopenia . Material & Methods: The present cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted upon 99 patients suffering from thrombocytopenia. Detailed clinical history, physical examination and reports of laboratory investigations were noted. Results: 34.3% patients belonged to the age group of 21-30 years. 57.6% of them were males. Thrombocytopenia was mild (1,00,000-1,50,000) in 24.2% patients, moderate (50,000-1,00,000) in 52.5% and severe (<50,000) in 23.2%. Dengue accounted for 31.3% cases, malaria for 16.2%, enteric fever for 7.1% and septicaemia for 3%. Megaloblastic anaemia was responsible in 24.2% cases. Most common site for bleeding was skin and mucous membrane where bleeding manifested in the form of petechiae, purpura and ecchymosis (18.2%). Conclusion: Knowledge of causes and pattern of disease is helpful in management of cases.


A coexisting solid−liquid (s−l) system of nitromethane is created by surface-induced melting. A nitromethane crystal with a free surface is simulated by molecular dynamics (MD) in the constant-volume and -energy (NVE) ensemble for initial conditions generated by short MD simulations of the constant-volume and -temperature (NVT) ensemble at temperatures slightly above the melting point. Melting starts at the surface, initiating a solid−liquid interface, and the temperature drops as the system moves toward a state of equilibrium in which the solid and liquid phases coexist. The temperature at which the coexisting solid and liquid reach equilibrium is taken to be the melting point. The melting points of crystals with exposed (100), (010), and (001) crystallographic faces are predicted to be 238, 245, and 242 K, respectively. The predicted melting points are in good agreement with experiment (244.7 K) and previous simulations. The approach to equilibrium during the NVE simulation is monitored by calculating t...