The ability of benzothiadiazole (BTH), humic acid (HA) and their combination when used as seed soaking to induce systemic resistance against a pathogenic strain of Fusarium oxysporum was examined in four soybean cultivars under greenhouse conditions. Both inducers and their combination were able to protect soybean plants against damping-off and wilt diseases compared with check treatment. These results were confirmed under field conditions in two different locations i. e Minia and New Valley governorates. The tested treatments significantly reduced damping-off and wilt diseases and increased growth parameters, except number of branches plant-1, and seed yield. Application of BTH (0.25) + HA (4 g/l) was the most potent in this respect treatment. Soybean seed soaking in BTH+ HA recorded the highest activities of the testes of oxidative enzymes followed by BTH in the four soybean cultivars. Whereas, HA treatment was recorded the lowest increased of these oxidative enzymes. Also, similar results were obtained in case of total phenol but HA increased the total phenol more than BTH in all tested cultivars.


A glance at FIGURE l a reveals the built-in regulatory features of the physiological process in vertebrates. I t may be noted that the scheme was derived entirely from a study of the individual reaction steps in isolated systems. A complete description would require insertion of additional intermediates, and FIGURE l a is to be taken only as a minimal representation without which (as we shall see later) correct differential diagnosis of disorders in this field simply would not be possible. Thrombin was shown to act as a proteolytic enzyme both l-* on fibrinogen and on fibrin-stabilizing factor (Factor XIII) .t It coordinates the appearance of fibrin with the formation of fibrinoligase from its zymogen. As such, the physiologically important sequence of clotting followed by enzymatic crosslinking is ensured. Clotting in lobster plasma (FIGURE lb ) does not seem to depend on hydrolysis by a thrombin-like enzyme, and the process can be conceived of as a rudimentary shunt of the more complicated system typical for vertebrates. In Homarus, an intracellular transamidase (transglutaminase) functions as the clotting enzyme."-" It is released during clumping of amoebocytes or during damage to muscle tissue. Intracellular compartmentalization of the already active enzyme is apparently the only means of control for preserving the fluidity of lobster plasma. Small synthetic amines which inhibit fibrinol i g a ~ e , ~ also inhibit the lobster enzymeeR These compounds affect only the cross-linking step in vertebrates and do not interfere with the appearance of a clot. When added to lobster plasma, they delay the onset of clotting itself. Although fibrinoligase and the lobster enzyme both belong to a group of enzymes which catalyze the calcium-dependent incorporation of amines into proteins (e.g., putrescine into casein), their specificities for the natural substrates are so different that they cannot be readily interchanged. In a phenomenological


The primary objective of this program is to evaluate the technical feasibility and, in a preliminary fashion, the economic viability of transmitting and storing energy by an open-loop modification of the reversible chemical energy pipeline system known as EVA/ADAM. The work designed to achieve this objective includes: (1) the preliminary design of a nuclear (HTGR) and methane-based open-loop system; (2) evaluation of energy sources as alternatives to those in the preliminary design (e.g., coal gasification and HTGR/LNG); (3) assessment of the feasibility of using existing natural gas pipelines and storage systems for the synthesis gas; (4) assessment of existing methanation technologies and interchangeability of the SNG with natural gas; (5) evaluation of the various alternative energy end-uses for heat, SNG, and electricity; and (6) development of two conceptual designs and evaluation of their economics and environmental impacts.


A boson-fermion correspondence allows an analytic definition of functional super derivative, in particular, and a bosonic functional calculus, in general, on Bargmann Gelfand triples for the second super quantization. A Feynman integral for the super transformation matrix elements in terms of bosonic anti-normal Berezin-Sudarshan symbols is rigorously constructed.


Abstract Selection of a configuration for processes and suppliers in concurrent engineering (CE) environment is a very critical step in the new product development (NPD) process. Significance of this problem is clarified when many of the cost and time parameters are not available, in the early design stage. Therefore, considering simultaneous many of approximate parameters is necessary to develop an efficient product design. This paper proposes a hybrid method to address CE problem involving selection of processes and suppliers in an uncertain. The proposed method integrates multi objective programming and fuzzy AHP to select processes and suppliers, by simultaneous consideration of cost and time of production, quality and safety of the final product. A numerical example is used to illustrate the model and finally, article is ending with expressing some of the limitations and suggestions. This method can be used to develop decision-making systems to determine the optimal production design, in concurrent engineering platform.


Interchangeable terms in philosophy and psychology -as introduced in this article- are supposed to help in clarifying one another in order to provide a better understanding of human intellect. The two intellectual functions of learning; perception and thinking -as illustrated- are capable of describing the process of conceptual learning through which a multi-component image schema or a meaningful whole (gestalt) is constructed in our consciousness. Aristotelian logic, Aristotle mind, definition and syllogism as well as tasawwur and tasdiq can provide features of the frame within which perception/thinking couplet is assumed to fulfill its function. The aim of this mini-review is to highlight the way in which the Intellectual style Inventory (ISI) and the Integrated Model of Mind (IMM) are supposed to introduce the detailed description of how perception/thinking dichotomy actually behaves guided by the latest findings of the scientific research in the different fields dedicated for the study of the human mind.


Microbial isolates from conifer foliage and strawberry were evaluated for biocontrol of Botrytiscinerea Pers.:Fr. in container-grown seedlings of black spruce (Piceamariana (Mill.) B.S.P.). In growth room assays, seedlings were environmentally predisposed to the pathogen and coinoculated with the isolates and B. cinerea. Sporulation incidence of the pathogen was later estimated on needle segments that were cut from the seedlings and incubated on paraquat–chloramphenicol agar medium. The isolates suppressed sporulation by 0–100%. Those of Alternaria, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, yeasts, and bacteria were of low to moderate effectiveness, but those of Gliocladium, Myrothecium, Trichoderma, and Trichothecium were moderately to highly suppressive. In two greenhouse tests, spore suspensions of Gliocladium roseum Link:Bainier and of Myrotheciumverrucaria (Alb. & Schw.) Ditm. ex Stendel. (applied three times) at 2- to 3-week intervals suppressed incidence of B. cinerea by 50–69% and 42–60%, respectively, and were at...


abstract:My approach to religious experience in Paul Ricœur's phenomenology of religion consists in the primordial hypothesis that the basic question of phenomenology can be formulated by virtue of the reality of the experienced thing. The aim of the essay is to show the way Ricœur connected the phenomenological and hermeneutic problematics of Being to the fundamental ethical dimension of phenomenological ontology, that is, the way the fundamental ontology of phenomenology essentially belongs to individual religious questioning. Based on the two poles of the investigation, I will focus on the questions of (1) how religious experiences reflect on reality and (2) how the methodology of phenomenology leads to the wider ontology of theology. According to my hypothesis, the two divergent approaches to religious experiences find their source in the phenomenological reflection on reality, and this reality, in view of the substantially nonreal experience of religiosity, urges the creation of a new ontology in the gift of revelation.


This chapter reports the findings of two surveys taken by players of the video game Rock Band. The purpose of the surveys was to determine what differences, if any, exist between the ways that males and females learn to play the game, are motivated to improve, interact with other players both online and in real life, and interact with other players in online communities for the game. This study suggests that while females do not appear to learn to play this game much differently from males, they are motivated differently and interact with other players differently, and ultimately they have a harder time than males finding a place in the affinity groups that exist for the game, and these findings provide starting points for teachers who intend to use video games and virtual worlds for educational purposes in guarding against creating a "gender gap" between males and females. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2670-6.ch007


Ylinen, Aulis Teachers' readiness for entrepreneurship education at Southern Ostrobothnia upper secondary schools Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2011, 221 p. (Jyväskylä Studies in Business and Economics ISSN 1457-1986; 98) ISBN 978-951-39-4274-8 English summary / Yhteenveto Diss. Entrepreneurship education has officially been a subject in all Finnish schools since the mid1990s. The school institution and teachers have consequently had to reflect on issues related to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education. In the basic curricula, entrepreneurship and its promotion are regarded as a very broad subject, not merely as training that contributes to the launching of individual business activities. The objectives of entrepreneurship education are thus much broader than the general idea of it as instruction on how to start and undertake business activities. The focus is thus on 'internal entrepreneurship', which can be defined as activities based on an inner entrepreneurial spirit. The principal research question is: How ready for entrepreneurship education are general upper secondary level teachers in Southern Ostrobothnia? The data were collected in April and May of 2009 from general upper secondary school teachers in Southern Ostrobothnia (a region in Western Finland). The region has a total of 21 general upper secondary schools. The actual sample consisted of thirteen randomly selected schools (simple random sample). The sample thus covers 62 percent of the region's general upper secondary schools. The excluded schools are rather small and/or the municipalities have been merged into bigger ones. Responses were submitted by 174 teachers, which yields a return rate of 86 percent of the teaching staff. The answers to the research questions can be summarised as follows: The attitudes to entrepreneurship are adopted at home, and according to the respondents, they cannot be influenced much at school. Save for teaching, teachers have little experience of entrepreneurship and other work. Their views regarding entrepreneurship are mainly positive. Teachers' advanced age and several years in office seem to have a negative effect on teaching, particularly on entrepreneurship education as a new subject that is considered somehow odd. Teachers' competences can be grouped into cognitive, conative and affective areas. The conviction that people can adopt entrepreneurship through education is experienced as the most important of the competences. The respondents feel that they have a readiness for cooperation and initiative. Life values, morals and ethics occupy a high level in their evaluations. In enhancing teachers' skills and readiness, it is essential to first find answers to the following questions: Why is it necessary to provide entrepreneurship education? What is entrepreneurship education? How is entrepreneurship education taught? In other words, the focal point is the purpose, content and pedagogical methods of entrepreneurship education. Adopting a thematic entity called 'entrepreneurship education' in school curricula has caused some confusion, which is also visible in this study. The words 'entrepreneurship' and 'entrepreneurship education' have meanings that evoke questions and suspicions among teachers, pupils and their parents. It has thus been suggested that one should come up with a more neutral name. This study provides an overview of the current situation based on the research data – and the situation is not at all comforting. Entrepreneurship education has been promoted as a theme for a couple of decades already, but it seems difficult to integrate it into other subjects. This is why those who implement entrepreneurship education should seriously reflect on how to reform their pedagogical methods.


The normal modes of vibration and their frequencies are calculated for dioptase, a mineral whose crystal structure (space group R3 or C~i ) consists of puckered six-membered silicate rings (Si6Ols) linked by Cu 2§ ions and HaO groups. The calculation employs a valence force potential consisting of central interactions between nearest neighbors and bond-bending interactions centered at the Si 4+ and Cu 2+ ions. The force constants are determined by fitting the calculated frequencies to values obtained by measuring the single-crystal Raman spectra. The calculated frequencies are in reasonable agreement with experiment, permitting assignment of normal modes to the observed spectral frequencies. Considerable mixing of Cu and H20 motions with those of the ring is found for the Raman-active modes below 430 cm-~. The normal modes and frequencies of the hypothetical isolated ring with C3i symmetry are determined by neglecting all interactions between the rings and the surrounding Cu and H20. The identification of normal modes characteristic of the puckered six-membered silicate rings and the effect of the environment on these modes may prove useful in the interpretation of the Raman spectra of amorphous silicates.


A scientometric study of citations and publication data has been made to show the present state of NAA and applied nuclear chemistry as compared to other analytical techniques. 9 refs., 7 tabs.


Flip-chip package and has a production method thereof are disclosed. Flip-chip package wherein through the substrate body, the substrate and the film of the organic oxide including the terminal portion of the metal wiring arranged on the substrate body, anti-organic oxide that covers the solder resist pattern, and the terminal portion having an opening to expose the terminal portion It includes a semiconductor chip having a bump connected to the terminal portions electrically. Forming an easily oxidized film comprising an organic material on the surface of the terminal portion including the copper oxide and has the advantage that the bumps of the semiconductor chip easily as well as to prevent oxidation of a terminal portion can be bonded to the terminal portion.


The MUSIG model and the mono-disperse model are used to simulate the multiphase flow and heat transfer phenomena in a liquid reactor's core model.In simulation with MUSIG model, bubbles in the model is divided into 5 groups and these groups are used to analyze the bubbles' distribution and change in the flow.Luo and Svendsen model and Prince and Blanch model are used to describe the break and aggregation between bubbles.In simulation with mono-disperse model,bubbles in the liquid reactor's core model is considered to have only one size,so the break and aggregation between bubbles are not in consideration.The results of simulation with the two models are compared,and the MUSIG model comparatively tallies with results of experiment.


Prevalence of the onychomycosis increases every year. To optimize treatment the pathogens have to be identified. Mycological examination is currently a gold standard for the diagnosis but other diagnostic tools e.g. molecular genetic techniques are developed. Also many modifications of the standard diagnostic examination, which improve its sensitivity and specificity, are present. In the treatment three main strategies are present now: topical, oral and combination. The new regimens of oral and topical treatment are proposed and new antifungals which were recently developed broaden the treatment possibilities. Despite many protocols, the current treatment rate is still disappointing, and many reasons of the failure are considered. The main one is probably poor penetration of the drug into the affected nail. Pharmacokinetic researches proved that concentrations of the medicine in a healthy nail plate are much higher than in the lesional one. Also relapses and reinfections remain stubborn problems in the management of the onychomycosis.


The English Court of Appeal's decision in British Telecommunications plc v One in a Million case over fraud in domain names and cybersquatting is discussed. Its subsequent adoption in New Zealand without scrutiny is criticized, also highlighting some defects in the judgment.


We present a scalable mobile video Question-Answering system with locally aggregated descriptors and random projection using user-generated videos all around the world for ACM Multimedia 2011 Technicolor challenge: "precise event recognition and description from video excerpts." Our proposed system takes a video excerpt as a query and explores its canonical semantics of that. We collect a public events video dataset containing 7 topics with 1963 YouTube videos to evaluate our proposed system. The experiment results show that our proposed video feature representation outperforms a state-of-the-art near-duplicate retrieval based on color histogram. The signature generated by random projection not only ensures real-time efficiency but also achieves a competitive MAP performance with original feature.


Abstract : It is by now well recognized that most parallel processing systems require a versatile communication facility to pass data (a) between the different processing elements, (b) between and processing elements as a group and the memory modules and (c) between the input/output devices and memory and/or processing elements. This communication capbility is used to exchange data (such as interim results) between processing elements, to rearrange data in memory, and even to rearrange bits within the same parallel word. The term Data Manipulation has been introduced to define this function which must be considered a computer-system building block of equal importance to the processing element array, the high speed memory, the mass storage and the system control. Surprisingly, this fact has not been recognized adequately in the design of several existing parallel-processor systems, with the result that the execution of many important algorithms is slowed down significantly. This report describes the design, construction, installation and performance of a Data Manipulator which, while integrated specifically into a STARAN computer system, is applicable to any other parallel computer architecture.


Odd-frequency superconductivity describes a class of superconducting states where the superconducting gap is an odd function in relative time and Matsubara frequency. We present a group theoretical ...


Pressure transducer is widely used in industry and many other fields. A calibrated pressure transducer can be used to increase the performance of precision instrumentation in mechanical engineering. Calibration is a key way to ensure the pressure transducer with a high accuracy and a good dynamic characteristic. Unfortunately, current method of calibration can only be usually used inside the laboratory where there is a good condition and merely one pressure transducer can be calibrated at one time. Therefore the calibration efficiency could hardly meet the requirement of modern industry and production with a high efficiency. A dynamic and fast calibration technology with a calibration device and a corresponding data processing method is proposed in this paper. The pressure transducer to be calibrated can be placed in a small cavity chamber. The whole calibration process only contains a single loop. The outputs of each calibrated transducer can be recorded automatically by using the control terminal. LabView programming is used for the information acquisition and succeeding data processing. The performance of the repeatability and nonlinear indicators can be figured out directly after the measurement. The pressure transducer can be calibrated simultaneously in the experiment so as to verify the suggested approach. The experimental result also shows that this method can be used effectively to calibrate the pressure transducer in the practical engineering measurement.


The α stable distribution has been suggested as a more appropriate model in the field of Direction of Arrival(DOA) estimation of non-stationary array signals processing. DOA estimation mean-squared error(MSE) of ROC-MUSIC, FLOM-MUSIC based on Fractional Low Order Moment(FLOM) matrices and STF-MUSIC based on Spatial Time-Frequency Matrices(STFDM) was greater in low GNSR α stable distribution environment, resolution was lower. Hence, a new Time-Frequency FLOM-MUSIC(TF-FLOM-MUSIC) method employed FLOM-STFDM was proposed, procedures of algorithm was introduced in this paper. Simulations show that the technique demonstrate the advantages in terms of resolution and MSE than TF-MUSIC and FLOM-MUSIC, was robust.


This study evaluated the use of electron beam irradiation for decontamination of the Korean medicinal herb, Angelica gigas Nakai. Herb samples were irradiated at doses of 2, 8, and 16 kGy, respectively. Populations of microorganisms in Angelica gigas Nakai decreased by 2~3 log cycles at 8 kGy irradiation. Electron beam irradiation caused negligible changes in Hunter color L, a, and b values. Sensory evaluations of Angelica gigas Nakai confirmed that irradiation caused no significant changes in the organoleptic properties of the samples. These results suggest that electron beam-irradiated herbs retain a better microbial safety and sensory qualities, compared with the non-irradiated.


Using a cell designed to study the electronic interactions of gases with illuminated powders, the photoconductance, σ, of a series of oxides (TiO2, ZrO2, V2O5, ZnO, SnO2, Sb2O4, CeO2 and WO3) has been measured at equilibrium under various oxygen pressures PO2(from 7 × 102 down to 0.7 Pa) at room temperature in an attempt to obtain information on the nature of negative oxygen species adsorbed on these illuminated surfaces. For the majority of the samples, the conductance of the non-illuminated part was negligible compared with that of the illuminated layer. In a log–log plot, the slopes of σ against PO2 were very close to –1, –½ or 0. A slope of –1 (found only for TiO2 on the higher-pressure side) and a slope of –½(observed for ZrO2, ZnO and, for part of the pressure range examined, for TiO2, Sb2O4 and CeO2) were interpreted as indicating that O–2 and O– species, respectively, controlled the equilibrium between the free electrons and the gas. SnO2 and WO3 were characterized by a poor relative response to illumination, so that σ variations with PO2 were masked; consequently the measurements failed in determining with certainty the type of adsorbed oxygen species, although the σ sensitivity to initial O2 admission showed the occurrence of ionosorption. The V2O5 sample did not behave as a photosemiconductor. This is consistent with the photocatalytic activities of these samples in propene oxidation (very small for SnO2 and WO3, nil for V2O5). However, no simple correlation exists between the photoconductance variations thus measured and the photocatalytic properties, which shows that the surface densities of electrons and of ionosorbed oxygen species are not the only factors to consider for oxidation reactions.


SDN is a new approach to manage networks with a centralised, global view and control of the network, and a more fine grained and flexible approach to routing and forwarding of data packets. This has shown to achieve significantly increased network efficiency in a range of wired networks. SDN also has a great potential for wireless networks. One of the unique challenges of applying the SDN approach to wireless networks, in contrast to wired networks, is the dynamic nature of wireless links and the uncertainty about their capacity. In order to be able to do optimal routing and traffic engineering with SDN in a wireless network, it is critical to know the capacity of the available wireless links. This paper presents a link capacity estimation mechanism that can be implemented on any OpenFlow SDN controller. For this, we adapted the well-known technique of packet pair/train probing, and developed a method that allows the correction of estimation errors induced by cross traffic. We have implemented a prototype for the Ryu SDN controller, and our emulation-based experimental results show a promising accuracy of our proposed approach.


The correction of instrumental aberration influencing the shape of diffraction lines requires the use of deconvolution processes. Practically, when the half-height line width of the defect functions is not larger than one sixth of the line to be analysed, deconvolution is useless. The deconvolution processes can be easily performed when the width of the defect functions remains smaller than half the line width. For the two rules, graphs are presented that allow one to predict the adequate slit width and the sample thickness used on a X-ray goniometer.


This article describes the energetic analysis of Nelyubino agroecosystem (Tomsk region). It shows that in the new commercial conditions, when subsidy is cut down, farming is reducing spatially very quickly. It has been established that a considerable part of energetic inputs belongs to indirect energy (70% of the total on the average).


The self-join finds all objects in a dataset within a threshold of each other defined by a similarity metric. As such, the self-join is a building block for the field of databases and data mining, and is employed in Big Data applications. In this paper, we advance a GPU-efficient algorithm for the similarity self-join that uses the Euclidean distance metric. The search-and-refine strategy is an efficient approach for low dimensionality datasets, as index searches degrade with increasing dimension (i.e., the curse of dimensionality). Thus, we target the low dimensionality problem, and compare our GPU self-join to a search-and-refine implementation, and a state-of-the-art parallel algorithm. In low dimensionality, there are several unique challenges associated with efficiently solving the self-join problem on the GPU. Low dimensional data often results in higher data densities, causing a significant number of distance calculations and a large result set. As dimensionality increases, index searches become increasingly exhaustive, forming a performance bottleneck. We advance several techniques to overcome these challenges using the GPU. The techniques we propose include a GPU-efficient index that employs a bounded search, a batching scheme to accommodate large result set sizes, and a reduction in distance calculations through duplicate search removal. Our GPU self-join outperforms both search-and-refine and state-of-the-art algorithms.


Successful implementation of lean philosophy in various sectors has inspired many construction manufacturing companies to foster a lean culture and embark on open-ended lean transformation initiatives. This study presents the case of a panelized construction company that has embraced the lean philosophy over the past decade. Experiments undertaken during the process of building a digital twin of the company's production facility to verify the logic underlying the developed model reveal an increase in productivity. Using the same productivity regression models to model framing operations in two different years, the simulation of combined productive and delay times results in an underestimation compared to actual production data from 2013 but an overestimation compared to actual production data from 2017. Moreover, prominent lean changes implemented over the years that are positively correlated with productivity improvement are identified. These include standardizing the design and manufacturing processes, minimizing waste (including Mura, Muda, and material waste), ensuring a continuous flow, balancing the production line, following a just-in-time approach for the delivery of materials and implementing the 5S program. The findings underscore the long-term benefits of adopting lean thinking in construction manufacturing.


Here is an argument for the existence of the most perfect being: 1. There is a concept of a greatest conceivable being (most perfect being, being than which none greater can be conceived, etc.—hereafter I shall sometimes use 'G.C.B.' to represent this notion). 2. This being cannot be conceived of only, as then it would lack existence and so not be the greatest conceivable.


The family Zopheridae Solier consist of members from several previous families, Zopherinae Solier, Monommatinae Blanchard and Colydiinae Erichson, and more than 1,700 described species are placed in the Zopheridae. They are widely distributed in all major biogeographical regions. The zopheridine genus Bitoma Herbst comprise more than 30 species worldwide including four Palaearctic species. A taxonomic study of the genus Bitoma in Korea is presented. The genus Bitoma and its two species, B. crenata (Fabricius) and B. siccana (Pascoe), are new to the Korean Peninsula. A key, diagnoses, habitus photographs, and illustrations of aedeagus of the Korean Bitoma species are provided.


In this paper we find existence results for nonlinear variational inequalities involving a multivalued map. Both cases of a lower semicontinuous multimap and an upper semicontinuous one are considered. We solve the problem using a linearization argument and a suitable continuation principle.


When facing a new object, the human ability for implicitly comparing it to a small set of known objects and analyzing similarities and differences is astonishing due to speed and performance. In this paper, we propose to follow this observation by locally learning mid-level representations and models for every unseen example. Thus, our approach is complementary to the standard procedure of training a single model in advance based on a universal representation, such as a single set of attributes. As an illustrating example, we evaluate our approach for fine-grained recognition of bird species. Experimental results show that already with a simple query function based on color and edge histograms, the resulting image-specific representations are at the same time compact (with respect to dimensionality) and informative (with respect to classification accuracy). 1 Local Learning of Mid-level Representations Local Learning Do we need to know how to differentiate between 20 eagle species, when we currently spot a singing bird? Structuring data into easier sub-problems is known for decades, and usually referred to as divide-and-conquer. However, the majority of our recognition systems are build on flat classification models treating all classes alike. Unfortunately, huge models are strongly correlated with high model capacities, which again results in ill-posed learning problems for moderately sized training data. Although hierarchical models introduce flexibility here, underlying hierarchies are usually based on linguistic relations, e.g., WordNet, which are not necessarily related to visual consistency. Thus, a hierarchy based on visual features seems a plausible solution here. Nonetheless, even such a scheme might still be too rigid for real-world scenarios. Intuitively, an optimal dividing strategy would adapt to every test sample and splits data according to query-specific criteria, i.e., for every test sample, only 'related' training examples are considered for model training, which is known as local learning. An obvious benefit is that only features relevant for distinguishing the visually similar images are used for a classification, guiding model training towards the important aspects of related species. We transfer this idea to the challenging task of fine-grained recognition by learning representations and models from related images only. Our approach is visualized in Fig. 1. ? A. Freytag and E. Rodner were supported by a FIT scholarship from the DAAD. 2 A. Freytag, E. Rodner, J. Denzler Nea res t N eig hbo r Ma tch ing Dis cov ery of Dis crim ina tive Fea tur es score Enc odi ng + Loc al L ear nin g


The aim of this study was to study and optimize the sintering of W-Cu graded composition materials, for first wall of Iter-like thermonuclear reactor application. The graded composition in the material leads to the functionally graded material (FGM). It was shown the interest to use W-Cu FGM to improve the lifetime of plasma facing components (PCF), by performing simplified thermomechanical calculations. To process W-Cu FGM, powder metallurgy route was analyzed and optimized from W-CuO sintering helped specify mixtures. The interest to reduce the oxides on the sintering of W-Cu powder mixtures was highlightied. An optimal heating treatment under He/H2 atmosphere was defined for W-Cu sintering. The effect of the Cu-content on W-Cu sintering helped specify the sintering mechanisms. The study of W-Cu FGM sintering and differential grain size revealed two liquid migration steps. These two steps were confirmed by using a model of capillary pressure calculation.


Pathologic extensions of the intervertebral disk beyond the vertebral end plate margin are categorized as bulges, protrusions, extrusions, or free fragments. A disk bulge results from laxity of and tears within the annulus fibrosis that allow non-focal extension of the nucleus pulposus, with the posterior disk margin forming a smooth, curvilinear contour. Disk bulges are broad-based, circumferential, and may narrow the spinal canal and neural foramen. A disk protrusion, in distinction, is a focal extension or herniation of disk material beyond the posterior end plate margin. Disk protrusions and extrusions are similar but distinct entities, extrusion referring to a protrusion of the nucleus pulposus in which no intact annular fibers remain. Looking at the anatomic appearance, in a protrusion the disk herniation maintains a broad base with the parent disk, whereas with an extrusion there is a narrow base or neck that maintains continuity with the parent disk. This distinction cannot reliably be made in every instance on MR, and thus the term disk protrusion is often reserved for a small herniation and extrusion for a large herniation. It is imperative to distinguish whether a disk herniation is central, paracentral, or foraminal in location. Figure 44.1 A, B demonstrates a disk extrusion at the L4-5 level on sagittal T2 and axial T1WI, respectively. Herniations at


For the coupling transformer in the new bridge-type solid satae fault current iimiter(SSFCL),an analysis and design method were proposed.The finite element analysis(FEA) method of magnetic-circuit coupled field could analyse the transformer's running characteristic accurately.The design methed based on the principle of variable impedance transformer,at the same time the coupling transformer had the current limiter's function.So that the size and cost of the whole current limiter system and the transformer could be reduced greatly,and it has good application prospect.


There are different evaluations of the effects and the influences of the currency reform made by Kuomintang government in 1935. The author thinks that currency reform accepted by law is not only a development in Chinese currency style, but also leads to the formation of the united market in the domestic. And it opens a way to the pre-war economic recovery and development and stimulates agricultural, industry, commercial development, which enhances the country's power and accomplishes the preparation of the war of resistance against Japanese aggression. The currency reform plays a very active and important role in the war of resistance against Japanese aggression.


Electrochemical Discharge Machining (ECDM) as an innovative spark-based micromachining method has been successfully applied for fabricating micro-holes in non-conductive brittle materials such as glass. However, the effects of influencing parameters for attaining accurate structures and dimensions remain to be explored. This paper attempts to analyze the effects of process parameters including applied voltage, tool immersion depth and electrolyte concentration on process outputs such as radial overcut (ROC), material removal rate (MRR), heat affected zone (HAZ) thickness and roundness error (RE) of the holes. In this regard, a set of experiments based on response surface experiment design method were conducted on soda lime glass. The relevant experimental data were used to establish mathematical models for process outputs using the response surface methodology (RSM). The obtained results show that applied voltage significantly increases the ROC, MRR, HAZ and RE. Also, electrolyte concentration has the same effects on mentioned outputs except the ROC. In addition, greater tool immersion depth decreases the MRR and HAZ thickness. The adequacy of the developed mathematical models was also evaluated by an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. The relevant results show the capability of the proposed approach to investigate the ECDM process of glass.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Pools of tissues from the ovaries and oviducts of apparently healthy hens, obtained at a poultry processing plant, were examined for Toxoplasma gondii cysts by the digestion-inoculation technique. Each pool contained organs from ten birds. Twelve pools of a total of 62 were found positive. A subsequent survey of 108 individual hens revealed four with chronic toxoplasma infection; none of 108 shelled eggs taken from these birds was positive for toxoplasma. Three hundred and twenty-seven eggs laid by 16 chickens during the chronic stage of infection produced experimentally with chicken strains of T. gondii were also tested and one positive egg was found. Parasitemia was demonstrated in all experimental birds during the acute stage of infection. All birds had toxoplasma cysts in one or more of the following organs or tissues, when killed 3 to 10 months postinoculation: brain, muscle, ovary, oviduct, kidney, gizzard, and intestine. A recent review by Siim, Biering-S0rensen, and M0ller (1963) on toxoplasmosis in domestic animals summarizes most of the reports on this infection in chickens. To our knowledge, the only additional citations needed to complete their list is a report of a spontaneous case in Argentina (Mayer, 1961), one by Kulasiri (1965) on experimental infection of chickens with an avirulent strain of toxoplasma, and another report of experimental infection by Kinjo (1961) that we have not seen. (One paper cited by Siim et al., by Pande, Shukla, and Sekariah, 1961, on toxoplasma from the eggs of domestic fowl, was subsequently questioned, Science 134: 945, 29 September 1961.) In earlier work done in two laboratories of this Institute and reported by Jones et al. (1959), it was found that the chicken is relatively tolerant to toxoplasmosis. Only very large inocula produced disease in mature birds, or even in young chickens. This was true despite hematogenous spread of the organisms early in the course of infection. Furthermore, when tissues of experimentally infected chickens were examined for residual parasites 4 weeks or longer after inoculation, the brain, liver, lung, or muscles were only occasionally found positive. However, these experimental results were in contrast to the observations of others on disease due to toxoplasmosis in naturally infected chickens (Hepding, 1939; Ericksen and Harboe, 1953; Fankhauser, 1951; Nobrega et al., Received for publication 14 May 1966. * Present address: Division of Biologics Standards, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20014. 1955). Also, while Ericksen and Harboe had not been able experimentally to reproduce the disease they had observed in epidemic form, Geissler (1955) did produce the clinical picture in experimentally infected chickens. The question of the importance of birds in the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis also requires more study. Gibson and Eyles (1957) found infected chickens among other infected animals in an area adjacent to the home of a case of human toxoplasmosis. Kimball and her associates (1959), in a survey of human beings in Minnesota, reported a correlation of dye test positivity and contact with chickens and other birds, although not with the ingestion of raw eggs. Sparapani (1950) found toxoplasma cysts in developing eggs from the ovaries of hens dead of toxoplasmosis. Biering-S0rensen (1956) also found toxoplasma cysts in the ovaries of chickens with disease due to toxoplasma. Geissler demonstrated, by inoculation into mice, toxoplasma in five eggs from experimentally infected hens and also found complement fixing antibodies in the sera of eight chicks hatched from the eggs of such hens. [He claims much more usefulness for the complement fixation test than do Harboe and his co-workers (Ericksen and Harboe, 1953; Harboe and Ericksen, 1954)]. The reports just cited all have dealt with chickens showing overt disease. It seemed worthwhile to us to reexamine the apparently healthy chicken as a natural host of toxoplasma, and to attempt to appraise the possible importance of eggs as a source of infection for other animals.


The technical principles of iron removal with ion exchange and with manganese sand contact oxidation are described. The water quality feature of steam condensed water are described simply. The outlet water qualities,investments and running benefits of the two iron removal techniques have been compared.


The invention alkoxysilyl oligomers (A) and their hydrolysis and condensation products obtainable by polymerization of 100 parts by weight ethylenically unsaturated alkoxy-silane (S), together with 0 to 100 parts by weight of ethylenically unsaturated comonomers (C), Core-shell particles (PA), which bear on their surface oligomer (A), and use of the particles (PA) for the production of composite materials (K).


An asymptotic solution to the Navier-Stokes equation is obtained for the incompressible flow of a viscous fluid past a semi-infinite flat plate when a slip boundary condition is applied at the plate. The results for the shear stress (and hence the slip velocity) on the plate differ basically from those obtained by previous authors who considered the same problem using some form of the Oseen equations.


Korean learners of English as a foreign language affix 'un/nun/i/ga' as Korean subject markers, turning English subjects into Korean subjects. Although this seems to be unproblematic, it is not hard to encounter many inappropriate cases. The reason is that the learners consider subjects in English and Korean only in their functional perspectives. Maintaining the established appropriate system, this study suggests the need to consider other systems in terms of thematic relations, and presents solutions. In other words, turning English subjects into Korean, it is appropriate to affix 'un/nun/i/ga' to the latter subjects when they are assigned a thematic role such as AGENT, EXPERIENCER or THEME. When they are assigned other thematic roles such as INSTRUMENT, CONDITION or GOAL, however, it is grammatical to affix the postposition or conjunction for the roles to them and translate them as adjuncts.


: Foot ulceration is a major cause of morbidity in elderly with diabetes, as osteomyelitis and diabetic gangrene lead to amputation. After undergoing transtibial amputation, patients were referred to Rehabilitation Department for prosthesis prescription and rehabilitation to restore mobility and to successfully reintegrate the patient into community. This study aims to identify the current patient's mobility, independence and mental status following amputations. This study was done between May 2017 and August 2018, four patients above 60 years old were referred to Medical Rehabilitation outpatient clinic as candidates of prosthesis use after unilateral transtibial diabetic amputations. Mobility status, Barthel Index, Mini Mental State Examination and Geriatric Depression Scale were evaluated through medical records and interview. Two patients who completed rehabilitation programs, ambulate with prostheses without obstacles and are mild dependent with current better mental status. Two patients who did not, are moderate dependent ambulating with wheelchair. In conclusion, patients who completed rehabilitation were more independent, ambulatory with prosthesis and have better mental status. Factors such as social living conditions, initial cognitive and independence levels may be considered as functional outcome predictors. Further investigation with better method and larger sample size is needed.


Medical and public health research supports an ongoing need for health promotion in meeting menstrual hygiene needs, including menstrual hygiene management (MHM) education and the adoption of reusable sanitary napkins. This quality improvement project focuses on menstruation education for adolescent girls in rural Tamil Nadu, India and the promotion of reusable sanitary napkins. Results indicate a significant improvement in MHM knowledge, confidence in managing menstruation, adoption of reusable sanitary napkins, and a decrease in missed school days. These findings support global recommendations for health promotion in India.


This problem is urgent indeed as the personal rights of people are often broken during the criminal process. The criminal process has a compulsory nature and different purposes for persons conducting the criminal process and for accused that is why a disputed situation could be created. This article contains historical information about some investigation actions and statistical data characterizing the main violations of the law during conducting of investigation actions


The asymmetrical high‐rise building investigated in this paper is composed of a 299.1‐m‐high tower and a 235.2‐m‐high tower, which are diagonally and rigidly connected by two steel truss systems with the maximum span of 65.43 m. Given the great structural irregularities and complexities, the structural seismic performance is necessary to be investigated. A shaking table test of a 1/45 scaled model is conducted in this study, by which the structural damage pattern and dynamic responses are analyzed. The results show that the connecting trusses and rigid connection joints behave well during strong seismic excitations. The damages concentrate on the connecting floors, and the whole structural damage is slight. Most of the lateral resistance components remain elastic. The structure presents high seismic resistance against strong ground motions. Subsequently, a three‐dimensional finite element model of prototype structure is established and validated by the experimental results. The analyses indicate that performance of the connecting trusses is capable of coordinating translational and torsional deformation of the two towers and making them resist lateral seismic force together even subjected to maximum considered earthquakes. And this performance is still reliable although the high torsional modes are triggered.


In this paper we study the choice of competing technologies with increasing returns occasioned by learning-by-doing and learning-by-using phenomena. We study under what circumstances one technology can achieve a monopoly and eventually take the whole market by formulating a firm's optimal decision problem, when both uncertainty and increasing returns to adoption are present, In contrast with Arthur (1989) we allow agente to learn: the formulation of the decision problem takes into account the revision of the probabilities on the future states of the adoption process, according to a version of the two-armed bandit problem.


The paper presents a comprehensive program of rehabilitation of patients with bullous emphysema and spontaneous pneumothorax and connective tissue dysplasia. To assess its effect 64 patients are examined with first episode of spontaneous pneumothorax before and after the rehabilitation course. As a result the improved lung function and cardiac activity, noted as positive dynamics of the emphysematous changes according to computed tomography, decreased the number of recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax, and improved quality of life indicators.


An optical monitoring technique that will produce an accurate qualitative measurement of simple multi-component optical spectra with a single direct measurement of interferogram phase is described. The analysis of absorption, emission or transmission spectra has proven to be a powerful tool for detecting chemical constituents in gaseous or liquid process streams. The pre-eminent instrument for this is the Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS); however, the high cost and relative fragility of these systems has prevented their widespread incorporation into chemical systems characterization. Using interferometric techniques similar to those used in FTS, but in a dramatically simplified embodiment, this system may provide the wavelength specificity and sensitivity of an FTS, with the low cost and ruggedness of a simple filter radiometer.


NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has released a notice of availability for undeveloped land to potentially support activities in launch operations and support, assembly, testing and processing of space systems, renewable energy, research and development, and vertical launch and landing.


The IT industry is constantly evolving and it's more or less a requirement today for web developers to be familiar with and to be able to develop for all platforms. A technique that has taken hold ...


ABSTRACT Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Emory Ophthalmic Genetics Service (EOGS) adopted a hybrid telehealth-based care model, with patients undergoing a tailored panel of ancillary tests in addition to a video telehealth encounter with the EOGS physician. This study evaluates patient satisfaction with this model and effectiveness of these encounters in producing a clinical and genetic diagnosis. Materials and Methods A trained interviewer administered a 14-question validated patient satisfaction survey to eligible subjects between October 2020 and April 2021. A mean "favorability index" for patient satisfaction was calculated (maximum score = 5). Rates of ancillary testing, completion of genetic testing, and diagnostic accuracy were also assessed, and compared to results from a control group of EOGS patients that underwent in-person visits. Results Twenty-one of 33 eligible patients completed the survey. Nine (42.9%) were female, with mean (± SD) age 51.3 ± 13.6 years. The control group was comprised of 49 subjects, predominantly female (71.4%), with mean age 51.5 ± 15.2 years. The mean (range) favorability index was 4.3 (3.1–5.0). Rates of ancillary testing were lower for the telemedicine group vs. the control group: 38.1% vs. 85.7% (p < .001) for electrophysiology; 42.9% vs. 71.4% (p = .03) for perimetry; and 81.0% vs. 95.9% (p = .04) for fundus imaging. Two (11.1%) and 1 (2.8%) (p = .21) subjects in the telehealth and control groups, respectively, did not complete recommended genetic testing. The clinical diagnosis was compatible with the genetic diagnosis in all subjects. Conclusions Our results suggest high patient satisfaction and diagnostic accuracy with a hybrid telemedicine-based approach for IRD care, despite lower rates of ancillary testing and no in-person examination.


The paper,based on the comparison with the aesthetic appreciation of tradition literature,pictures and sketches the artistic and aesthetic orientation of postmodernism literature from three perspectives:literary characters,narration and language so as to study the aesthetic features of fragmentation.


Association Rule Mining(ARM) is now a well establish data mining tool. In this short paper a review of the wider application of ARM, beyond the processing of simple tabular datasets, is presented concentrating on its application to Text, Image and Graph Mining.


This year's national Match Day results were somewhat encouraging to America's family medicine residency program directors. This year, 73 more training slots in family medicine were offered than last year[1][1] and US seniors filled 98 more positions than in 2009. However, only 7.3% of US medical


CNS readers, upon encountering John Clark's contribution to the recent CNS symposium on Murray Bookchin, may well have thought they had fallen into a mud bath. Actually, it's just the latest installment in Clark's vilification campaign against his former and once-revered mentor, ongoing now for nigh unto fifteen years. The sophomoric mockery, personal insults, ad hominem invective, and pervasive loathing are standard operating procedure on Clark's part*he seems to mistake them for wit. In any case, those interested in Bookchin's reaction to this type of thing may consult a piece he wrote in response to Clark ten years ago*yes, it was happening even then: http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/turning.html.


Model Order Reduction (MOR) plays more and more imp or tant role in complex system simulation, design and control recently. For example , for the large-size space structures, VLSI and MEMS (Micro-ElectroMechanical Systems) etc., in order to shorten the development cost, increase the system co ntrolling accuracy and reduce the complexity of controllers, the reduced order model must be constructed. Even in Virtual Reality (VR), the simulation and d isplay must be in real-time, the model order must be reduced too. The recent advances of MOR research are overviewed in the article. The MOR theor y and methods may be classified as Singular Value decomposition (SVD) based, the Krylov subspace based and others. The merits and demerits of the different meth ods are analyzed, and the existed problems are pointed out. Moreover, the applic ation's fields are overviewed, and the potential applications are forecaste d. After the existed problems analyzed, the future work is described. There are som e problems in the traditional methods such as SVD and Krylov subspace, they are that it's difficult to (1)guarantee the stability of the original system, (2) b e adaptive to nonlinear system, and (3) control the modeling accuracy. The f uture works may be solving the above problems on the foundation of the tradition al methods, and applying other methods such as wavelet or signal compression.


We study the geometry of quartic surfaces in IP^3 that contain a line of the second kind over algebraically closed fields of characteristic different from 2,3. In particular, we correct Segre's claims made for the complex case in 1943.


Abstract : Vinyl ferrocene (I), acryloyl ferrocene (ferrocenyl vinyl ketone) (II), trans-cinnamyl ferrocene (III), and furylacryloyl ferrocene (IV) were synthesized, among which (IV) was unknown in literature, (I) and (II) could be homopolymerized and copolymerized with styrene and methyl methacrylate using ABN as initiator, (III) and (IV) could not be homopolymerized, but could be copolymerized with styrene or methyl methacrylate. (Author)


Internet services are often deployed in multiple (tens to hundreds) of geographically distributed data centers. They rely on Global Traffic Management (GTM) solutions to direct clients to the optimal data center based on a number of criteria like network performance, geographic location, availability, etc.
 The GTM solutions, however, have a fundamental design limitation in their ability to accurately map clients to data centers - they use the IP address of the local DNS resolver (LDNS) used by a client as a proxy for the true client identity, which in some cases causes suboptimal performance. This issue is known as the client-LDNS mismatch problem. We argue that recent proposals to address the problem suffer from serious limitations. We then propose a simple new solution, named ``FQDN extension'', which can solve the client-LDNS mismatch problem completely. We build a prototype system and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution. Using JavaScript, the solution can be deployed immediately for some online services, such as Web search, without modifying either client or local resolver.


A dual-frequency antenna based on the
Sierpinski fractal with two parasitic patches to enhance the
impedance bandwidth is presented. An electrical circuit
model formed by RLC resonators is proposed to learn
about the antenna physical behavior and to achieve the
dual band operation minimizing a trial-and-error
numerical/ measurement proofs. The antenna has been
designed using a MoM commercial code and has been
experimentally tested, obtaining two bands with a
bandwidth around 7%(SWR<2) and similar radiation
pattern and gain.


We investigated the relation between internal friction and magnetism due to a random arrangement of magnetic atoms by using the Mn–Cu–Ni–Fe alloy, called M2052. Its internal friction and dc susceptibility were measured as a function of the temperature from 4.2 K to room temperature. As for the internal friction, two peaks were observed at around 70 K and 270 K; the peak at the lower temperature was shifted by changing the measurement frequency. A comparison of the temperature dependency of the susceptibility and the internal friction indicated that freezing of the magnetic moments of ferromagetic clusters could cause low-temperature internal friction. We confirmed that relaxation related to the internal friction is consistent with magnetic relaxation in random magnetism.


Renewable energy technologies are suitable for off-grid services, serving the remote areas without having to build or extend expensive and complicated grid infrastructure. Therefore hybrid systems using renewable energy sources have become a preferred option. India has good potential of solar and biomass resources. A review of various technologies of solar biomass hybrid systems is made. Findings indicates that hybrid solar biomass power plants will become an increasingly attractive option as steam energy storage methods improve, solar thermal costs decrease and biomass feedstock and fossil fuel prices rise. More focus should be given to making technological improvements to the heat cycle of small scale hybrid plants due to low energy and energetic efficiencies. Hybrid Systems have proved to be the best option to deliver "high quality" community energy services to rural areas at the lowest economic cost, and with maximum social and environmental benefits.


We study the nature of the covariant thermodynamic geometry arising from the free energy of hot QCD. We systematically analyze the underlying equilibrium thermodynamic configurations of the free energy of two- and three-flavor hot QCD with or without the inclusion of thermal fluctuations in the neighborhood of the QCD transition temperature. We show that there exists a well-defined thermodynamic geometric notion for the QCD thermodynamics. The geometry thus obtained has no singularity as an intrinsic Riemannian manifold. We further show that there is a close connection of this geometric approach with the existing studies of correlations and quark number susceptibilities.


An attempt to access in an enantioselective fashion, a highly substituted cyclohexane as required for the northeastern sector of okilactomycin is described. The application of Oppolzer's sultam chemistry, involving in particular an optically and chemically efficient asymmetric conjugate addition of a functionalized allylic Grignard reagent in tandem with ring closing metathesis forms the basis of a direct, highly stereocontrolled route to the cyclohexenylmethanol 10. Ensuing Sharpless epoxidation very efficiently leads to construction of epoxide 11. This intermediate and its benzyl ether were found to undergo regiocontrolled oxirane ring cleavage with cyanide and chloride ions. However, this precedence was not matched when alternative carbon nucleophiles (particularly allyl) were brought into play. Under no circumstances was a desired product detected. The all-equatorial array of substituents on the cyclohexane is likely responsible for the lack of reactivity toward organometallic reagents.


According to "maths optimum value theorem"and difficulty to apply element to the computer, prove the best option of the computer select for use binary coding.


Generally elementary school students tend to like learning activities with different actions and movements and like the use of visual media. Another problem that is often found in elementary school students is having a very short attention span (short attention span), so they are usually easily bored with learning activities after 7-10 minutes. The tendency of using conventional and monotonous methods given by the school to children, apparently still does not motivate students to study English regularly. Therefore, it is necessary to have innovative and creative actions to minimize the anxiety felt by the school, as well as knowing the talents and learning interests of elementary school students in the English language needs which can be applied in daily activities.


Poison frogs resist their own chemical defense Poison frogs produce a neurotoxin that protects them from predation. The frogs, however, run the risk of intoxicating themselves. Studying the frog neurotoxin epibatidine, which binds to acetylcholine receptors, Tarvin et al. found a single amino acid substitution. The substitution changes the configuration of the acetylcholine receptor, so that it decreases its sensitivity to the toxin. But acetylcholine signaling is essential for normal life. Expressing frog receptors in human cells revealed that different amino acid substitutions have occurred in different lineages that allow the frog to resist its own toxins while still letting target neurotransmitters function effectively. Science, this issue p. 1261 Poison frogs have evolved mutations in nicotinic acetylcholine receptor genes that confer toxin resistance. Animals that wield toxins face self-intoxication. Poison frogs have a diverse arsenal of defensive alkaloids that target the nervous system. Among them is epibatidine, a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonist that is lethal at microgram doses. Epibatidine shares a highly conserved binding site with acetylcholine, making it difficult to evolve resistance yet maintain nAChR function. Electrophysiological assays of human and frog nAChR revealed that one amino acid replacement, which evolved three times in poison frogs, decreased epibatidine sensitivity but at a cost of acetylcholine sensitivity. However, receptor functionality was rescued by additional amino acid replacements that differed among poison frog lineages. Our results demonstrate how resistance to agonist toxins can evolve and that such genetic changes propel organisms toward an adaptive peak of chemical defense.


Food allergy and anaphylaxis are known to keep increasing in prevalence for over the years. Various efforts have been made to provide the solutions but they have not been proven very effective while on the other hand technological solution has not yet been much involved to support them. The main problem with food allergy is that people find it hard to access the information of complete ingredients, food-making process, and shared equipment that might be used in the process. The information is regularly needed by people with food allergy to determine whether the food is safe to consume or not. This paper will explain how the problems are solved by designing a food allergy information application using user-centered design (UCD) approach to facilitate the user needs with Gojek application as the study case. The outcome of this research is a high-fidelity prototype of the application. Usability testing is conducted for the prototype by using parameters such as completion rate, System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire, and User Engagement Scale-Short Form (UES-SF) questionnaire with corresponding results of 100% completion rate, 85.4 SUS score, and 4.23 UES-SF score which shows that effectivity and engaging as usability and user experience goals are fulfilled to answer the user needs.


CeO2 nanometer powders of different sizes were prepared at low temperature by pyrolysis of amorphous citrate. XRD patterns show that CeO2 is cubic in structure, space group O-h(5)-F-M3M. TEM indicates that the prepared CeO2 is spherical in shape, and the particle size distribution is in narrow range. It was found that calcination temperature is a more important factor affecting the crystallite size of CeO2 than calcining time, the smaller the particle, the bigger the crystal lattice distortion, the worse the crystal growth. Solubility test of CeO2 in nitric acid reveals that the surface activity of CeO2 decreases with the increasing particle sizes. IR spectra analysis shows that the absorption of Ce-O bond is shifted to higher energy with the decrease of CeO2 particle sizes.


The research objective is to compare the metabolism energy of palm kernel cake (80%) and rice bran (20%) mix fermentation product with the same unfermented product. To compare is used Student-t test. Determination and procedure of metabolism energy refers to Sibbald and Morse (1983) developed method. The results showed that the average metabolism energy content of palm kernel cake (80%) and rice bran (20%) mix fermentation product (2149,33 ±24,90) significantly different (P<0,05) higher than palm kernel cake (80%) and rice bran (20%) mix unfermented product (1836,04 a±19.28) or an increase of 17,06%. Keywords: Palm kernel cake, rice bran, fermentation, metabolism energy.


This paper analyzes the dynamics of the distribution of a population of some of the cultural traits and norms which might be associated to the support for Welfare State as a system for the provision of public goods and as a redistributive mechanism. Cultural traits and norms are acquired through a process of intergenerational cultural transmission and socialization. We emphasize the existence of a two-way causality between the evolution of cultural traits and norms and the political outcomes, which possibly generates, in the Welfare State, multiple self-fulfilling equilibrium paths of cultural evolution, public provision of goods and redistribution. Ideologies related to the public provision of particular goods can be rationalized as coordination mechanisms allowing cultural groups to preserve or shift political power in favor of particular long run profiles of cultural traits and norms.


Multi-hop Question Answering is an agent task for testing the reasoning ability. With the development of pre-trained models, the implicit reasoning ability has been surprisingly improved and can even surpass human performance. However, the nature of the black box hinders the construction of explainable intelligent systems. Several researchers have explored explainable neural-symbolic reasoning methods based on question decomposition techniques. The undifferentiable symbolic operations and the error propagation in the reasoning process lead to poor performance. To alleviate it, we propose a simple yet effective Global Differentiable Learning strategy to explore optimal reasoning paths from the latent probability space so that the model learns to solve intermediate reasoning processes without expert annotations. We further design a Dynamic Adaptive Reasoner to enhance the generalization of unseen questions. Our method achieves 17% improvements in F1-score against BreakRC and shows better interpretability. We take a step forward in building interpretable reasoning methods.


Summary: We investigated the influence of reactive center loop and neighboring residues on protease inhibition and stability of vaspin. We found that while Glu 379 severely depresses activity, Arg 302 as a crucial contact enables moderate inhibitory activity and further hinders vaspin polymerization


Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) seed metastases which eventually kill most of the breast cancer patients; however, CTCs have not been effectively targeted partially due to the unclear cellular and molecular mechanisms. Emerging evidence and our studies demonstrate that CTCs are detectable as singles as well as multicellular clusters in cancer patients; and presence of the latter is associated with unfavorable progression-free survival (PFS) and poor overall survival (OS). Compared to single CTCs, CTC clusters show enriched stemness properties, including enhanced tumorigenic potential and polyclonal metastases, more efficient mammosphere formation, and upregulated expression of CD44 and stemness-related signaling pathways. Using intravital multiphoton microscopic imaging of patient-derived-xenograft (PDX) models and mouse tumor models, we found that clustered tumor cells in migration and circulation resulted from aggregation of individual tumor cells rather than collective migration and cohesive shedding. Molecularly, the intercellular CD44-CD44 homophilic interactions are essential for the multicellular CTC aggregation, recruitment of downstream PAK2, and activation of the FAK signaling. Depletion of CD44 or antibody-mediated blockade of CD44 interactions effectively prevent tumor cell aggregation and abolish polyclonal metastases. In addition to CD44, we have identified other surface receptors and adhesion molecules which also contribute to CTC cluster formation. Our studies highlight that CTC clusters, whose presence is correlated with a poor prognosis of breast cancer patients, can serve as a liquid biopsy-based biomarker as well as novel therapeutic targets of polyclonal metastasis. Citation Format: H Liu. CTC Clusters, Cancer Stemness, and New Treatment Strategies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr TS2-1.


ABSTRACT In the United States, state and federal programs, rules, and legislation attempt to address the social, economic, and environmental impacts of food waste. Research on the efficacy of these interventions rely on a variety of grey literature resources. Grey literature is valuable to policy research but may be overlooked because it is not published commercially and is often deemed unauthoritative. This review focuses on the use of grey literature in food waste law and policy scholarship to identify the most used sources and to determine what, if any, archiving strategies authors use. Recommendations for librarians and researchers are discussed. This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.


Suicide prevention researchers who work with individuals at high risk of suicide or are exposed to details of suicide attempts and deaths may experience negative impacts on their own well-being. This is not unlike the experiences of mental health providers, where repeated exposure to clients' difficult experiences has long been identified as an occupational risk (Molnar et al., 2017). However, there have been few studies evaluating how exposure to details of suicide-related behavior impacts researcher well-being. This gap in the literature is worrisome, as researchers' mental health and well-being might be negatively impacted by repeated exposure to graphic details of suicide, discussing the often-painful experiences that lead to suicide attempts, and managing potential crises that arise during research activities. Left unaddressed, this repeated exposure may lead to negative outcomes for those working in the suicide prevention field and potentially the success of the field as a whole. In this editorial, we argue for the importance of including coping support in suicide prevention research. We begin by reviewing definitions of terms that have been previously used to discuss harms associated with exposure to another's difficult mental health experiences: vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout. We then discuss a subset of the extant literature regarding the impact of suicide prevention research activities on research staff. We conclude with a discussion of future directions for research and practice, including the implementation of a novel intervention to address mental health distress among researchers at our facility. Definitions and Current Constructs


In this article, we introduce a class of the generalized mixed additive, quadratic and quartic functional equations and obtain their common solutions. We also investigate the stability of such modified functional equations in the non-Archimedean normed spaces by a fixed point method.


After the main part of a GRB, its fireball continuously expands. With the hydrodynamic equations for the postburst fireball, the authors study the distribution of electrons, which changes with time. The equations are solved numerically and the relations of the flux density of Optical afterglow in R band as well as the X-ray afterglow with time have been obtained. The results fit the observations quite well. Finally the shortcomings of the fireball+blast model are discussed.


Abstract Background Influenza virus infection is frequently characterized by a complex clinical behavior and outcomes can be fatal. There are many published scoring methods aimed for pulmonary infections and sepsis severity nevertheless they lack adequate sensitivity and specificity in patients with Influenza. Methods From 2013 to 2018, hospitalized patients from five hospitals from the Christus Muguerza health group from Monterrey, Mexico who had a positive rapid influenza-test and/or positive PCR for Influenza virus were enrolled. Risk factors for severity and mortality were evaluated calculating odds ratio with a binary logistic regression model and were adjusted for other factors. The new index was then compared with pneumonia severity scores by assessing area under the curve(AUC), sensitivity and specificity. Results We analyzed data from 125 patients hospitalized with confirmed Influenza infection. Less than 1% had received the corresponding seasonal influenza vaccine. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HT) were the most prevalent comorbidities. Odds ratios were significant for age > 65 years, body mass index (BMI) > 30, T2D, HT, pulsoximetry < 90%, respiratory rate > 22 per minute, altered mental status, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) > 19 mg/dL, elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and an abnormal chest X-ray. The FluMex score was applied to a control group of 125 admitted patients with confirmed Influenza infection. AUC was 0.63 (CI 95%, 0.52–0.74; P < 0.05) for severity and 0.90 (IC 95%, 0.83–0.97; P < 0.05) for mortality, showing better predictive performance than other pneumonia and sepsis scores such as CURB-65, PSI, CROMI, SIRS, SOFA, qSOFA and ILI (Table 1). Conclusion The FluMex scoring system can be a useful tool for patients with suspected Influenza infection in predicting severity and mortality, helping to improve care and resource management. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


Gastric cancer has a poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of several clinicopathological variables on outcome in a series of 297 Western patients undergoing surgical resection for gastric adenocarcinoma.


Objective To investigate the application value of continuous glucose monitoring system(CGMS) on gestational diabetes mellitus patients(GDM).Methods Thirty pregnant women underwent 50 g glucose challenge test(GCT) and a oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT) were divided into three groups: normal GCT group,abnormal GCT group and GDM group,with 10 cases in each group.All of the patients recieved the CGMS test to monitor the blood glucose excursion for 3 days.Results The overall coefficient of blood glucose excursions,mean fasting blood glucose level,mean postprandial blood glucose level,extent of preprandial and postprandial blood glucose increment,and incidence of hypoglycemic and hyperglycaemic events were significantly higher in GDM group than those in other two groups(P all0.05).Conclusion CGMS can accurately reflect the blood glucose excursions in GDM,and improve the compliance of diet treatment,exercise treatment and drug treatment of patients.It has important value in improvihg the prognosis.


Abstract The lipid-based colloidal carriers, such as nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs), solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), nanocapsules, liposomes, and microemulsion, are the latest and significant entrants in the development of drug delivery systems owing to their myriad advantages. The NLCs are second-generation SLNs having unstructured matrix, have high drug loading, and provide long-term drug stability in comparison to SLNs and other colloidal systems, which show lower drug loading and experience burst release/drug expulsion during storage. This review is aimed to summarize the formulation development and optimization strategies for NLCs as reported in the literature collected from authentic databases. Various types of NLCs, formulation components, methods of preparation, characterization parameters, optimization (statistical designs) strategies, toxicity, regulatory aspects, and their applications in oral, parenteral, ocular, pulmonary, nose-to-brain, tumor targeting, and transdermal drug delivery have been dealt in detail. Patents granted on the NLCs have also been enlisted.


Alcohol marketing, promotion and sponsorship are widespread in most of the world today. Alcohol marketing is evolving constantly and utilizes multiple channels, including youth-oriented radio, television, sports events and popular music concerts, websites, social media, mobile phones and product placements in movies and TV shows. Marketers are moving increasingly to digital and social media, where efforts at regulation have fallen far behind industry innovations in producing audience engagement and brand ambassadorship. Alcohol is a psychoactive substance with numerous negative consequences to the health and wellbeing of consumers as well as others affected by drinkers' behavior. With the advent of recent restrictions on tobacco marketing as a result of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, no other legal product with such potential for harm is as promoted and advertised in the world. Most countries have no statutory legislation regulating the exposure of children or adults to alcohol marketing, so they must rely only upon self-regulatory codes developed and implemented by the alcohol industry [1]. Harmful use of alcohol is increasing among young people and women in some regions of the world, especially in the Americas region [2,3]. Given the causal role of harmful use of alcohol in negative health outcomes to drinkers and others (regardless of their drinking status), the promotion of alcohol consumption by means of marketing needs to be controlled by governments as part of their duty to protect the health of their populations, particularly among the most vulnerable groups. In 2010, the World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted the Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol (WHA 63.13)[4]. Among the guiding principles of the Global Strategy, three are particularly relevant to alcohol marketing control. The first is that preventing and reducing the harmful use of alcohol is a public health priority; another is the importance of protecting populations at high risk of alcohol-attributable harm; and the third is that children, teenagers and adults who choose not to drink alcoholic beverages have the right to be supported in their non-drinking behavior and protected from pressures to drink. TheWorld Health Organization's [4] global strategy has 10 areas for policy action, including one on marketing of alcoholic beverages (area 6). For this area, the policy options and interventions include: (a) Setting regulatory or coregulatory frameworks, preferably with a legislative basis, and supported when appropriate by self-regulatory measures, for alcohol marketing by: (i) regulating the content and the volume of marketing; (ii) regulating direct or indirect marketing in certain or all media; (iii) regulating sponsorship activities that promote alcoholic beverages; (iv) restricting or banning promotions in connection with activities targeting young people; and (v) regulating new forms of alcohol marketing techniques, for instance social media. (b) Development by public agencies or independent bodies of effective systems of surveillance ofmarketingof alcohol products. (c) Setting up effective administrative and deterrence systems for infringements on marketing restrictions. Many governments have attempted to protect young people in particular from inappropriate exposure to alcohol marketing through regulations. Thesehave ranged from totalmarketing bans tovoluntary self-regulationusing industry codes of practice [5]. Thus far, however, the industry's codes of practice have been ineffective in protecting individuals from potentially harmful exposure [6]. In 2011, the Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) adopted a regional plan of action in line with the WHO Global Alcohol Strategy. PAHO then created a regional network of focal points responsible for alcohol issues in Ministries of Health in order to discuss gaps and establish priorities. In two meetings of the network, held in 2012 and 2014, alcohol marketing regulation was identified as a priority for action and further technical guidance. In line with the above initiatives, PAHO organized an exploratory meeting in January 2015 to discuss the situation in the Region and globally, and to consider possibilities for moving forward in assistingMember States [3]. Because of the global nature of alcoholmarketing, participants from several regions of the world came together to review relevant experience, evidence and policies. The information shared at the meeting was considered to be of such relevance to a global audience that participants agreed to submit their background manuscripts to a peer-reviewed journal. This Supplement to Addiction now presents this collection of 13 papers and one editorial comment [7].


Abstract Diaphragm walls are used either to support excavation walls on site or prevent water move through the ground. The observations recorded following excavation and planning of diaphragm walls demonstrate that concrete outside the reinforcement cage is of a poorer quality than the one inside the cage. These disorders are mainly chimneys of water upwelling. To prevent their appearance on project sites, the concrete used for the realisation of diaphragm walls must meet the requirement of EN-1538 and EN-206/CN. Despite of this requirement, some diaphragm walls present disorders. This study stands on conducted on site and completed in the laboratory. Test results showed that the bleed water yield value of 24.4 ml, conducted using a press filter (Bauer) prescribed in the recommendations is too high. A limit of 15 ml of the relative volume of water is porposed with the press filter conducted during 5 min at 5-bar.


Problem/Condition: Hysterectomy is the second most frequently performed surgical procedure, after cesarean section, for women of reproductive age in the United States. Approximately 600,000 hysterectomies are performed annually in the United States, and approximately 20 million U.S. women have had a hysterectomy. Reporting Period Covered: This report covers data from 1994 through 1999 Description of System: Estimates of the population of U.S. female, civilian residents were used to compute rates for this study. Population denominators were obtained from the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) was the data source for this report. NHDS is conducted by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. NHDS is an annual, multistage probability sample of short-stay patients (those hospitalized <30 days) discharged from nonfederal hospitals in the United States. Results and Interpretation: From 1994 through 1999, an estimated 3,525,237 hysterectomies were performed among U.S. women aged >15 years, and the overall hysterectomy rate for U.S. female, civilian residents was 5.5 per 1,000 women. Although statistically significant increases for hysterectomy rates were observed from 1994 (5.1/1,000) through 1998 (5.8/1,000), the increase was limited and the curve remained nearly flat. Women aged 40–44 years had a significantly higher hysterectomy rate compared with any other age group. During the study period, 52% of all hysterectomies were performed among women aged <44 years. In addition, hysterectomy rates per 1,000 in women aged 45–54 years increased significantly, from 8.9 in 1994 to 10 in 1999. The overall hysterectomy rate for women living in the South was 6.5 per 1,000, which was significantly higher than the rate among women who lived in either the Northeast (4.3) or the West (4.8) but not significantly higher than the rate among women who lived in the Midwest (5.4). Uterine leiomyoma, endometriosis, and uterine prolapse were the most frequent diagnoses for women aged >15 years. The percentage of uterine leiomyoma as a primary diagnosis for hysterectomy increased 10.2% for white women, 7.8% for black women, and 23% for women of other races. Among women who had a hysterectomy during the study period, 55% also had a bilateral oophorectomy. The proportion of all vaginal hysterectomies with concomitant laparoscopy (LAVH) increased significantly, from 13% in 1994 to 28% in 1999. During this same period, the percentage of cases of LAVH with concomitant bilateral oophorectomy increased significantly, from 20.4% in 1994 to 42.5% in 1999. Public Health Actions: Continued monitoring of hysterectomy trends will be necessary to evaluate differences in hysterectomy rates by age, most commonly associated diagnoses, whether leiomyomata as a primary discharge diagnosis continues to increase, and whether the increase in LAVH that occurred during the previous decade continues. 2 MMWR July 12, 2002


Teacher talk in the English class is both the instructional medium and the language input for students.The authenticity of teacher talk in the English class is a must no matter whether it works as instructional medium or as language input;it refers to situational authenticity,linguistic authenticity and content authenticity,and it is characterized by timeliness,consistency,purpose,and comprehensibility and can accelerate learning of English;it is represented by colloquialism,negotiation,feedback and transformation.In classroom teaching,teachers are expected to create a real-life situation for language input,to increase true discourse for teaching purposes,and to ensure content authenticity for linguistic competence.


The purpose of this study is to figure out current situation of safety education to improve safety awareness and practice in Korean school students....


The NH4+···NCX···NCY (X = F, Cl, and Br; Y = H, F, and OH) complexes are theoretically investigated to find ways to enhance the halogen-bond interaction. Cooperative effects are observed when a cha...


In this paper, I will focus on Chomsky's interpretation of the notion of reference. I will summarize Chomsky's criticisms against the externalist interpretation of such notion, and I will then focus on the internalist (and syntactic) interpretation that the MIT linguist provides. Then I will focus on the relation between the internalist interpretation and the notion of truth, discussing in particular Casalegno and Hinzen's objections: I will point out that truth does not represent a particular problem for the internalized reference. Finally, I will show how Chomsky explains, inside the internalist perspective, the phenomenon of communication. In Conclusions, I will sketch two important points.


This reflection is an attempt to understand interstate partnership in bid to thwart global terrorism as a challenge in the post-cold war era. Terrorism attacks seem to have attracted global attention in the aftermath of 9/11 twin tower of the world trade center attack in the New York city. Global war on terror is a multi-dimensional, multi-faceted war led by USA with the main objective of protecting its interests globally. The horn of Africa is considered one of the safe haven for training and executing these attacks globally due to inherent prevailing circumstances in this region. Kenya has been a terrorist targetdue to its perceived closeness with the USA. The study adopted a mixed approach to reach its logical conclusion. It was found that; unemployment, USA coordination from Nairobi, internal politics, prolonged and severe inter-state conflicts in the region, geography and proximity to the gulf are the main challenges facing these partners in counterterrorism. The study concludes that for counterterrorism to succeed there is need to address the challenges and forge a close partnership among all stakeholders for a safer region.


The control of tilt angle for nematic liquid crystal (NLC) with negative and positive dielectric anisotropy on the rubbed homeotropic polyimide (PI) using baking method by hot plate equipment was investigated. LC tilt angle decreased with increasing baking temperature and time. Especially, the low LC tilt angle of positive type NLC (Δ>0) on the rubbed homeotropic PI surface by increasing temperature and time was measured. The tilt angle of positive type NLC(Δ>0) is smaller than that of the negative type (Δ>0) on rubbed PI with increasing baking temperature and time. We consider that the tilt angle of NLC is decreased due to increasing the steric interaction between horizon component of permittivity


The need for the development of standard errors of seasonally adjusted data as published by statistical bureaus has a long standing. The President's Conmittee to Appraise Employment and Unemployment Statistics (1962) reconnended: "that estimates of the standard errors of seasonally adjusted data be prepared and published as soon as the technical problems have been solved". Seventeen years later, the National Commission on Employment and Unemployment Statistics(1979) reemphasized the importance of standard errors for seasonally adjusted series and urged the Census Bureau to undertake research to develop them. In response to this goal, Wolter and Monsour (1981) developed a procedure based on the linear filters of the Method II-X-ll-variant (Shiskin, Young and Musgrave, 1967) to calculate the variance of seasonally adjusted data. These authors considered two situations, one, where the components were assumed as deterministic and thus only the sample variability contributes to the variance of the seasonally adjusted value; and, two, where the components are assumed to be stochastic processes and the nonstationary part of the time series is removed by fitting a polynomial in time. This procedure offered a simplified approximation to the variance of the X-II estimates given the two assumpticns on the kind of variability that affected the data ~nd the fact that the linear filters themselves are an approximation of what the method really does to actual series. With the same kind of reasoning, Burridge and ~allis (1984) developed unobserved-components models of the ARIMA type that approximate d~e seasonal adjustment filters used by the X-II variant and derived measures of vari~qce using d~e Kalman filter (Burridge and Wallis, 1985). Similarly, measures of the asymptotic variance could be calculated from the ARIMA model developed by Cleveland and Tiao (1976) as an approxin~tion of the symmetric filters of the X-II variant. Hillmer (1985) made a major contribution for computing variances of the components estimat::s from model based procedures such as Hillmer and Tiao (1982) and BuzTnan (1980); and generalized Pierce (1980) results for the revision of current seasonally adjusted data. Hillmer (1985) calculated the total variance as the sun of the cct-~ditional asymptotic variance (from the case in which a doubly infinite realization is available) and the variance from the forecasts and backcasts values that are needed to replace the missing observations from the future and d~e past when dealing with actual series. The studies concerned with measures of variance of seasonally adjusted data by the X-ll-variant approached the problem from the viewpoint of its linear filters. These linear filters, however, are approximations of what the method really does under the assumptions of: (I) additive decomposition, (2) no treatment of extreme values, (3) no tradingday variations and (4) only the filters of the default option are applied to estimate the seasonal and trend-cycle components. The main purpose of this paper is to present a new procedure that approximates the mean square errors (MSE) of the unobserved-components and their changes as really estimated from actual data by the X-II-ARIMA method (Dagum, 1980) which is applied by most statistical bureaus, with or without the ARIMA extrapolations. Section 2 introduces the models assumed for the unobserved-conponents, trend-cycle, seasonality and irregular and discusses the relationship between the models and the various filters of the X-II-ARIMA method. Section 3 gives a brief description of the estimation procedure for the unobserved components. Section 4 analyses the results for two seasonally adjusted series, one adfdtively and the other multiplicatively. Section 5 gives the conclusions.


The smart home of the elderly presents new challenges to the user interface design, interactive experience and barrier free use of its control terminal, especially the adaptability of the elderly. Based on this, this paper first analyses the composition and function of smart home based on the elderly group, then studies the control realization of smart home based on the elderly, and finally gives the computer user interface design strategy and practice of smart home based on the elderly.


Mixing gases into liquids provides technical problems for the process engineer, as foams are all too often formed. This article looks at research designed to minimise frothing.


We report the crystal growth and structural and electronic properties of superconducting, van der Waals layered PtTe. Easily cleavable crystals with a plate-like morphology consistent with the layered structure were grown from a platinum rich flux. A consistent determination of $T_c = 0.57$ K is made from the onset of diamagnetism, the zero of resistivity, and the midpoint of the heat capacity jump. The observed behavior is consistent with type-II superconductivity, with upper critical field at $T=0$ estimated using the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg theory to be 143 and 65 Oe for fields out of and in the plane, respectively. The heat capacity discontinuity is close to the weak coupling BCS value. Density functional theory calculations and analysis of the electronic structure finds that PtTe is a topological semimetal with numerous surface states, but suggests the superconducting state itself may be topologically trivial. Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy reveals a normal-state Fermi surface in remarkable agreement with theory, and confirms the overall topological nature of the material by experimental identification of the surface bands. Together, these findings identify PtTe as an interesting example of a cleavable, topological, and superconducting material.


Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes) is popular pathogen caused various infectious disease. This study was conducted to find out the recent clinical characteristics of S. pyogenes isolates from vaginal discharge at Japanese hospital. S. pyogenes was identified by standard laboratory procedure. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by microdilution assay according to CLSI recommendation. Total 61 S. pyogenes were isolated from vaginal discharge. The major age incidence among 0 - 10 years age group was 14 (23%), among 21 - 30 years age group, 7 (11.5%), among 31 - 40 years age group, 13 (21.3%), among 51 - 60 years age group, 8 (13.1%), and among 61 - 70 years age group, 11 (18%). The numbers of ciprofloxacin and clarithromycin no-susceptible S. pyogenes from 0 - 10, 31 - 40, and 61-70 years age group were higher than those from other groups. The numbers of clindamycin and minocycline no susceptible S. pyogenes from 0 - 10, and 21 - 40 years age group were higher than those from other group. Furthermore, our study revealed that clarithromycin was completely ineffective in 21 - 30 years age group (p < 0.05). As the numbers of under and not less than 13 year age group were 15, and 46, respectively, the number of adult cases was higher than the number of child cases. Clarithromycin no-susceptible rate was highest and minocycline no-susceptible rate was lowest in both group. There was no significant difference of antimicrobial susceptible trends between under and not less than 13 year age groups. Our study suggests the need for continuous epidemiological surveillance of vaginal discharge associated S. pyogenes because the trend of infectious disease epidemiology is always changing drastically.


We present a theoretical study to explain the ferroelectric phase transition of polymers which has been experimentally observed in copolymers of vinylidene fluoride and trifluoroethylene. The phase transition of these copolymers changes its thermodynamic character from a first order phase transition to a diffuse transition with a decrease in a mole fraction of vinylidene fluoride. This fact has been confirmed experimentally by observing temperature hystereses seen as differences between transition temperatures in the heating process and cooling one. The ferroelectric spontaneous polarization of this polymer is formed by a cooperative orientation of dipoles belonging mainly to a vinylidene fluoride part in linear chains with a planar zigzag conformation. In order to represent these interesting ferroelectric phenomena, we examine a three-states model whose element can take three values of the dipole moment as +u, -u, 0. Monte Carlo simulation of this model reveals the physical essence of the ferroelectric characters described above.