We describe methods to construct digital quantum simulation algorithms for quantum spin systems on a regular lattice with local interactions. In addition to tools such as the Trotter-Suzuki expansion and graph coloring, we also discuss the efficiency gained by parallel execution of an extensive number of commuting terms. We provide resource estimates and quantum circuit elements for the most important cases and classes of spin systems. As resource estimates we indicate the total number of gates N and simulation time T , expressed in terms of the number n of spin 1/2 lattice sites (qubits), target accuracy (cid:15) , and simulated time t . We provide circuit constructions that realize the simulation time T (1) ∝ nt 2 /(cid:15) and T (2 q ) ∝ t 1+ η n η /(cid:15) η for arbitrarily small η = 1 / 2 q for the first-order and higher-order Trotter expansions. We also discuss the potential impact of scaled gates, which have not been fully explored yet.


Abstract Africa has the largest number of land‐locked states in the world, many of them in southern Africa. The article examines the approach of the Law of the Sea Convention to resource exploitation by land‐locked states. A difficult problem for international law has been the reconciliation of the right of land‐locked stales to a share of the surplus of the living resources of the sea with the problem that its exercise requires transit through other sovereign states. The Convention has attempted to achieve this by making transit a matter of right. How the Southern African Development Co‐ordination Conference tackled the issue of co‐operation over fisheries is examined. Access to inland waters have permitted a number of land‐locked states in sub‐Saharan Africa to develop a fishing industry with the potential to make use of their rights under the Convention. The capabilities of a number of these states, including Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, are assessed.


The article is devoted to the study of the political formation of the first in the history of Great Britain Prime Minister Robert Walpole. The factors that influence the choice of the political path of the future statesman are considered. Particular attention is paid to the role of religion, the socio-economic situation and the political situation in England at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries. at the beginning of the career of a young parliamentarian.


Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a tool for investigating ma‹er, where the magnetic processes occurring even on the atomic level are well described. Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) is, among many, a novel and emerging NMR technique, intended to produce image contrast. CEST imaging and spectroscopy uses selective saturation of exchangeable protons to indirectly detect dilute labile protons via bulk water signal changes. 'is o'ers a substantial enhancement of sensitivity, which has led to numerous biomedical applications. In this work a regular CEST pulse sequence is combined with a spoiler recovery (SR) approach, giving a new and faster SR-CEST sequence to create CEST spectra. 'is combination can reduce the spectral acquisition time by more than 70%, without any signi€cant impairment in the quality of the spectra. 'e conventional approach to analyze CEST spectra is a magnetic transfer ratio asymmetry analysis. 'is approach neglects e'ects o‰en concomitant to CEST, such as nuclear Overhauser e'ects and semi-solid macromolecular magnetization transfer. In this work the Bloch-McConnell (BM) equations is least square curve €‹ed to CEST spectra from creatine, myo-inositol and glutamate samples. 'is BM €‹ing separates the CEST e'ect from the concomitant e'ects, and provides several physical characteristics of the CEST agents. 'e estimated parameters of most importance are the exchange rate between the CEST agent and surrounding bulk water, and the concentration of the CEST agent. Both are promising biomarkers for detection of diseases and monitoring e'ects of treatment. 'e CEST spectra to €t in this work was acquired for aqueous samples containing known metabolite concentrations on a 600 MHz NMR spectrometer. For aqueous samples at high static €elds the longitudinal relaxation time T1 of the water protons become very long, leading to long acquisition times. 'e SR-CEST sequence can therefore be particularly useful for these types of samples. 'e BM €‹ing of the SR-CEST spectra and regular CEST spectra provides overall the same estimated parameters as output, and succeeds in separating the di'erent CEST e'ects. Due to the reduced aquisition time, SR-CEST is thus a promising tool for CEST MRI. Improvements in spectral acquisition and BM €‹ing is discussed based on the results


Abstract Precursor analysis is an internationally recognized method for quantifying the safety-relevance of operational events in nuclear power plants. Precursors are operational events in nuclear power plants which had no serious impact, but which could have led to serious impacts, if additional malfunctions had occurred. Examples of such operational events are component failures or transients, for example, the loss of main feedwater. On the basis of the probabilities for the occurrence of additional malfunctions or initiating events precursor analyses determine the probability with which these additional malfunctions during the event occurred would have led to core damage. This conditional probability is a measure for the safety relevance of the operational event occurred. Events, for which the probability of core damages is > 10–6, are internationally classified as "precursor".


In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the United States Supreme Court held that the Boy Scouts had a First Amendment right to expel an assistant Scoutmaster because he was a homosexual. The Court upheld an associational right to interpret broad terms like "moral" and "clean" in the Scout Oath and bylaws to mean "not gay." The Court also upheld a speech right to expel gays: their participation would force the group to express a pro-homosexuality message, which the Scouts wished to avoid. Dale is the doctrinal intersection between the freedom from coerced speech and the freedom of expressive association. This article suggests that those two freedoms are really one in the same. There exists no crisp methodological distinction between the claim that a group is being forced to espouse some message that it does not wish to convey and the claim that a group is being forced to espouse a message that is different from the message the group has chosen to convey. The best way to approach expressive association claims is not to artificially distinguish them from the freedom from compulsory speech. Instead, the former First Amendment right is derivative of the latter. Taken together, these rights insulate individuals and groups from bearing messages with which they disagree. Yet there is no First Amendment right to discriminate based solely on status traits like race, sex, or sexual orientation. Because those traits are not expression, being forced to associate with individuals does not force a group to send a message affirming those individuals' status. The article traces the freedom from government-coerced speech case law and demonstrates how it can be applied to the Scouts' claim in Dale. The argument is that self-identifying oneself as gay, though speech, is not sufficient to render an association with openly gay people as a compelled affirmation of homosexuality. In fact, self-identifying speech is indeterminate, and it is expressed for a variety of reasons in ordinary life. Associating with a person who self-identifies as gay, then, does not coerce a group like the Scouts to say anything; nor does it require the group to change its organizing principles, since those say nothing explicit about homosexuality. Thus, the First Amendment should not insulate the Scouts from anti-discrimination laws.


The packaging market today Smart or active and intelligent packaging was identified as a significant trend in a recent packaging market analysis. Market reports give a good overall view of these potential technologies, which have a strong bearing on developments in inks and coatings for the packaging market. The largest market is active packaging, intelligent packaging includes 50 % RFID. PIRA estimated that the global active and intelligent technology markets would be worth € 2.6 billion by 2010. Current packaging technologies are, in the main, not available in printable form. In addition to the active and intelligent market, there has been significant growth in the barrier and transparent barrier market, which has been identified as another area where printer-converter-applied coatings could resolve unmet market needs. This is not a new concept: polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) barrier coatings, for example, have been used by many printer converters over the years, converting machinery having been modified to make this possible. The volume of various barrier materials produced indicates that there is a significant market for printable coatings, especially where printers do not have their own barrier technologies.


Ruud et al (in press), found that the most important factors in improving stall cleanliness on the basis of fallen faeces into the stall area in free-stalls, in ranked order, were found to be: amount of bedding > 1.0 L, diagonal stall length ≤ 1.96 m, absence of lower head rail, stall length 1.13 m and upper head rail > 0.70 m. Regarding manure transported into the stalls by the cowsfeet contamination, the most important preventive factors in ranked order were: amount of bedding > 0.5 L, soft stall base with > 0.5 L of bedding, brisket locator height ≤ 0.10 m, upper head rail > 1.0 m, concrete stall base and stall width ≤ 1.13 m. This study revealed that detailed construction of the free-stall bedding area is of importance for the cleanliness of the stall surface, and it points at that the cows need space in front to keep the stall clean. Ruud et al (in press) identified that the cows were relatively clean on udder and belly, dirtier on thigh and the rear part of the body and most dirty on the legs. With dirty thighs as the response variable, these variable were found to be important risk factors: A high number of cows per free stall, no use of sawdust as bedding versus use of sawdust, and a low positioned (< 0.85 m above stall floor) upper head rail "enclosing" the front of the stall versus higher. Furthermore, liquid manure versus more consistent manure, less tame cows versus tame cows, a low or high indoor temperature versus 10 to 15 oC, and high relative air humidity versus low relative air humidity were also found to be associated with an increased risk of dirty thighs. From the same material (Osteras et al 2010) found that increased BC was associated with use of AMS, having separate feeding stalls, brisket board more than 183 cm into the stall, no existing brisket board, overstocking compared to number of free-stalls, no use of or excessive use of bedding material, use of mattresses, and watery consistence of the manure. Lowest BC was at relative humidity from 65 to 70 %. These founding illustrate a clear link between BC in bulk milk and the same risk factors as dirty stalls and dirty cows.


This research aimed to determine and evaluate the load carrying capacity of underreamed piles embedded in expansive soils. Eight models of concrete piles were developed to examine the influence of piles' bulb number and length on ultimate load carrying capacity. The piles used in this work had 20 mm stem diameters and 40 mm bulb diameters, and multi-layer soils (expansive soil above dense sand) were used. The piles used in the experiments were divided into two groups, each with four piles. The first group with l/d=14 had all piles embedded in the expansive soil layer and the pile's tip set on dense sand while the other group, with l/d=24, had the pile stems embedded in the expansive soil and all bulbs in the dense sand. Experiments were then done under two conditions: optimum moisture content and soil completely saturated with water, with results that showed that the percentage of ultimate load carrying capacity increased in proportion to the l/d ratio on adding one bulb to a straight shaft pile and then increased slowly for piles with 2 or 3 bulbs in saturation conditions. The percentage of ultimate load carrying capacity increased similarly in optimum moisture content conditions. The results also showed a decrease in ultimate load carrying capacity between the two conditions of tests for piles with the same l/d and the same number of bulbs, however.


Generally, transfer pricing treatments do not reflect direct distinction between the type or size of the entity. SMEs are not able to bear the high administrative burden to comply with transfer pricing rules like as the large entities. Therefore, some European countries introduced specific transfer pricing rules for SMEs or excluded SMEs from transfer pricing rules. Our paper focuses on transfer pricing simplified measurements for SMEs operating in individual NACE sectors in the Czech Republic. The most important sectors, where SMEs operate, represent agriculture, forestry and fishing; manufacturing, construction, professional, scientific and technical activities, accommodation and food, real estate activities, information and communication, and wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles. The aim of paper is to propose transfer pricing rules for SMEs in the context of their specificity in order to reflect sectoral and size-classes differences in the Czech Republic. The proposed rule is in the form of safe harbours whose lower limits start at 2 percentage points and upper limits finish at 24 percentage points depending on the sectors where SMEs operate.


The effectiveness of Trichoderma harzianum in suppressing clubroot of brassicas, which is caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae, was tested on broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica Plenck), in field conditions, in Escagüey, municipality of Rangel, Merida State, Venezuela. The experiment showed that the applications of a biopesticide based on this antagonist had a significant effect on the percentage of health plants and the crop yields, in dependence of the dose used. In addition, the relation benefits/cost was also favorable. These results showed that, for these particular conditions, P. brassicae is an adequate biological alternative to control the clubroot of brassicas, no aggressive to environment and human beings, useful for the transition phase toward a sustainable agriculture, without chemical pesticides.


The paper attempts to analysis logistics functions in value with value engineering principles, and the functions with lower cost-income ratio are incorporated into the engineering analysis object, and also improve its features to enhance value. At last, some methods with reference values are provided for enterprises to improve the performance of logistics operations, to improve service value, and to enhance the core competitiveness.


Device (1) for measurement of a workpiece (2) - with a workpiece holder (4), - with respect to the workpiece holder (4) defined in three spatial directions (xyz) movable measuring probe (9) - with an evaluation circuit (18) via a first measuring line (14) with a measuring probe electrode body (12; 28; 32) and via a second measuring line (7; 7a, 7b, 7c) (with a reference electrode body is 35); 2; 30 - is connected to a DC voltage source (8) connected to the two measuring lines (7, 14), - the evaluation circuit (18) is designed so that it comprises a tunnel current (I) between the two electrode bodies (12, 2; 28, 30; 32, 35) measures, characterized in that the measuring probe (9) has a spherical measurement head (12) which merges with a in the measuring head (12) the measuring head support (13) is connected, wherein the diameter of the measuring head (12) is at least as large as the typical strength (S) of the measuring head support (13) at the transition to ...


This study was an initial effort to examine the applicability of Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM) procedures to measure reading in a language other than English and more specifically, in Hebrew. Participants included a sample of 458 students from grades 1-5 from three elementary schools in Israel, 416 from regular education and 42 students from grades 2-5 who were receiving special services in reading. Students were tested on CBM probes in the winter and spring of the 2002 academic year. Four characteristics of the CBM measure were evaluated: (1) concurrent validity with two reading sub-scales (decoding and comprehension) of the Kaufman-ABC that had been translated and normed in Israel; (2) student outcomes in reading fluency across grades and across time within grades; (3) ability of the measure to discriminate students with and without reading problems and (4) the sensitivity of the measure when used weekly for progress monitoring. Results indicated that moderate to strong correlation coefficients were evident between CBM scores and the K-ABC reading subscales except for grade 4 in the spring. Also, students showed increased growth across grades and across time within the school year, except for a lack of increase from grade 2 to 3 in the spring. Students receiving specialized help for reading scored significantly lower on CBM probes when compared with regular education students. Finally, a gradual week-by-week progress rate in the curriculum comparable to those found with CBM reading in English was also found. Results suggest that the oral reading fluency metric may be applicable to evaluating reading in Hebrew. Implications for the use of the metric in other countries and languages are discussed.


The results of the study on the role of field-protective forest stands and basic cultivation technologies of light chestnut soil in the formation of winter wheat crops on the farmlands of Volgograd region are reported. Experimental data obtained in the course of many years lasting research are suggested. The studies conducted demonstrate that the content of productive moisture in winter wheat crops grown on the forest ameliorated territory was higher than that of crops grown under unprotected field conditions. The amount of water available on the between-stripe space varied depending on its remoteness from the forest belt. While studying the basic soil treatment methods, it was found that under the conditions of dry-steppe zone the technological practices have great influence on the accumulation and retention of moisture in the soil. The use of technologies based on blade loosening of soil contributed to greater accumulation of plants available moisture. It is proved that the microbiological processes on the afforested areas are more active than on the field without protective forest stands, moreover the soil microbiological activity on the winter wheat crops is being increased while approaching to the forest belt. As result of studies it has been revealed that field-protective shelter belts, when combined with soil-protective technologies, contribute to winter wheat yield increases by 10–15%.


Course arrangement is a basic way of realizing training target.Considering the training target of open education,the paper gives reflections on course arrangement from required courses,elective courses,humanistic social science courses,practical teaching steps and additional courses.


Grain yield in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. cv. DK-57] depends in general on the amount of rainfall and irrigation, and atmospheric processes affecting water use. Timing may significantly modify the yield response. The objective of this study was to derive a sorghum drought index (SDI) to express the temporal impacts of climate on grain production. Irrigation (I) and no irrigation (N) treatments were imposed on sorghum during vegetative (GSI), inflorescence (GS2), and grain fill (GS3) growth stages in a randomized, split-factorial block design during two growing seasons in Mead, NE. The soil is Sharpsburg silly clay loam (fine, smectitic, mesic Typic Argiudolls). The irrigation strategy produced eight water treatments ranging from no irrigation in any stage (NNN) to irrigation in each stage (III). Soil water, measured by a neutron meter, was used in plot water balance simulations to estimate evapotranspiration (ET). Ratios of total actual ET (ET a ) and transpiration (T a ) to total potential evapotranspiration (ET p ) were determined for each growth stage. These ratios varied from 0.317 to 0.922 across all stages and treatments. Sensitivity to water availability was depicted by λ exponents in a relative yield model (SDI = Y/Yp = II(ΣETai/ΣETpi) λi , where II indicates multiplication for each growth stage, i = 1 to 3). Yp is the potential yield, taken as 110% of yield in the III treatment. ETa, not Ta, gave the best fit. The indices (λ = 0.04 (GS1), 0.20 (GS2), and 0.18 (GS3)) are smaller for sorghum than for other grain crops, which indicates sorghum is less sensitive to drought. Even so the difference in magnitude between stages is as much as a factor of five, indicating that sorghum is sensitive to the timing of rainfall and irrigation. Validation with independent data for another variety and year was satisfactory (r 2 = 0.78 and d-index of agreement = 0.89). We conclude that the effect of short and long term drought on sorghum production for this variety can be monitored through the use of the newly defined SDI. Perhaps the fact that SDI is normalized with respect to the potential yield, a genetic characteristic, will allow it to be more representative of sorghum, irrespective of variety. This possibility seems to merit further investigation.


The possible associations between the economic and social characteristics of rural communities in New South Wales are examined. The project seeks to assess how important demographic characteristics and community structural characteristics are in the causation of crime. The reports of this project are entitled "A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the relationship between community cohesiveness and rural crime : part 1" and "A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the relationship between community cohesiveness and rural crime : part 2" and were written by Patrick Jobes, Joseph Donnermeyer and Elaine Barclay, with Herb Weinand assisting with Part 1.


In real applications, sometimes, visual recognition may need to rely on incomplete or ambiguous features for a unique decision. Furthermore, the detected features may suffer a lot of uncertainties due to environment changes. In order to solve the problem with ambiguities and uncertainties in one computational framework, we propose a probabilistic 3D object recognition approach using both positive and negative evidences in cluttered environment. First of all, initial feature are selected as parallel and perpendicular line pairs to generate pose hypotheses as the multiple interpretations. Secondly, given a 3D polyhedral object model and the estimated pose, positive and negative evidences can be identified as additional information for probability computation of the multiple interpretations. More specifically, given the estimated pose, followed by visibility test, positive evidence is the feature that should be appeared around the pose, and negative evidence is the feature that should not be appeared due to self-occlusion. Where the probability is computed using Bayesian principle in terms of both likelihood and unlikelihood. The experimental results support the potential of the proposed approach in the real environment.


This paper presents how to find optimized buffer size for VLSI architectures of full-search block matching algorithms. Starting from the DG (dependency graph) analysis, we focus in the problem of reducing the internal buffer size under minimal I/O bandwidth constraint. As a result, a systematic design procedure for buffer optimization is derived to reduce realization cost.


A fundamental contribution of the Bologna Reform to European higher education is the focus on finalities of the educational process. The main aim of higher education is giving knowledge and forming professional competencies to the students for their integration into the labour market. In Romania, the link of higher education and scientific research with the labour market encounters important difficulties: the persistence of the old educational models, the isolation of the educational process in mainly theoretical approaches, far from reality, inefficient nowadays, the resistance to the real change, the superficial implementation of the Bologna reform, the precarious status of practice in curricula, the weak and unconvincing cooperation between universities and employers, the employers' lack of confidence in the Bologna graduates. These difficulties generate problems in the graduates' integration into the labour market, a random process today, under the authority of chance, not of specialization. In the orientation of the academic process towards the labour market, in the growth of the graduates' employability, an efficient and competitive academic management plays a crucial role. By the curricular reform, by collaboration programmes and partnerships with employers, the link of academic education and scientific research with the labour market can become an institutional and systemic reality in the very spirit of the Bologna Process. Key-terms: reform, inefficiency, practice, integration, management. 1 Pragmatic vocation of education and relationship with labor market Lisbon Agenda in 2000, has proposed as a major objective, building, at the European level, Knowledge based Society and Economy. The objective subsumes a large goal, highly demanding and challenging, that the EU economy has to become the most competitive and strongest global economy in the era of globalization, accelerated development of information system, the fierce competition on all levels. The philosophy framework outlined in the Lisbon Agenda place the basis for its knowledge construction, involving, expressly or tacitly, to achieve this objective, the entire system of higher education and scientific research in Europe and thus reveal a vital truth, confirmed historically, that the knowledge at the highest level is acquired, cultivated and developed in universities, higher education institutions in laboratories in research institutes. The higher education system with its institutions is authorized within the development of knowledge. But growing awareness of the standards and requirements of the third millennium, academic education system and process should be reformed. The difficulty lies, on the one hand, the fact that reform of the prestige of an area built on a history of a millennium, conservative par excellence, the values enshrined in the time tested and on behalf of a tradition that is becoming confused with Europe itself, and on moreover, the content and complexity of change a paradigm shift, in other words, a battle with the models established academic tradition, with their transformation in the meaning of efficiency, performance and pragmatism. In order to build knowledge-based society and economy, the Lisbon Agenda has proposed the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA). Both are European Knowledge Area (EKA), a construct that will synthesize in the future intelligence, creativity and innovative power of Europe in the competition for global supremacy in an era of globalization. According to the proposed deadline in the Lisbon Agenda, the European Higher Education Area was launched in 2010 in March in Vienna. Achieving Knowledge-based Economy and Society through academic education and scientific research involving the new paradigm developed through a fundamental reform process: creating a strong link, direct, effective and pragmatic of the two areas with the economic environment. It is a step towards reality, almost a return to education to the model that has generated it, a process of streamline and pragmatic it. The new direction of education, the economic environment, the labor market, says its breakup a traditional model, is the fundamental step from abstract knowledge, theoretical, intuitive and speculative in applied and pragmatic knowledge, for a paradigm where both elements are found knowledge of the abstract and practical, a complex model, inspired by the knowledge needs of the XXI century. Knowledge through education and research is not an experience as per se, an exercise in thinking for generic or hypothetical situations, but a practical way Legal Practice and International Laws ISBN: 978-960-474-291-2 336 of relating to existing domains. In the vision promoted by the Bologna process, academic education is the training of skills, competencies and qualifications for employment and integration of the graduates for their professional development in terms of performance and competitiveness. 2 Employability of the graduates – an European level concern Development of higher education with economic relationship, the integration of graduates into the labor market reform is a priority of the Bologna Process at European level. New conception of academic education built on the principles: student-centered learning and results-oriented, flexible inter-and transdisciplinary curriculum, tailored to the economic environment, innovative methods of teaching, learning, assessment and examination skills training graduates etc. – with the purpose of professional integration of graduates within economic environment. Trends Report 2010, the key document published by EUA, the state is a complex scan of European higher education reform in the Bologna Process. The report has a special value that appears in a historical moment of the Bologna Process and Lisbon Agenda, that a decade of implementation of reform under the auspices of the Bologna Declaration and release in the European Higher Education Area (March 2010, Vienna). The screening of the reform of higher education systems in Europe, it occupies an important place of education academic relationship with the labor market and economic environment, assessed in terms of employability of graduates. The report addresses the issue of employability with particular reference to each of the three cycles of university studies, with emphasis on the first two cycles: bachelor's and master, on which we made brief reference. The document emphasizes that employability is a concern at all levels and represents a special challenge to the undergraduate level. The accurate assessment of the degree of acceptance by employers of new skills after the first cycle is difficult because recent graduates are first generation, few institutions that are seeking employment for their graduates ISCED (International Standard Classification Education) considered together and master license, which limits detailed statistical analysis of employment patterns. The report states that many institutions expect their students to pursue undergraduate studies at Masters and employers more easily accept his graduating from master's and doctoral studies (Trends 2010, 7). While one of the objectives of the three-cycle system of studies is to develop skills in the first cycle and the integration of graduates into the labor market, it presents several difficulties in terms of employability, rather than cycle master studies students who enjoy the confidence and the employers. Regarding the employment of undergraduate and master's graduates, there are countries where the institutions, teachers and students do not trust the value of the first Bologna cycle and expects that employers will not accept its graduates, while the master remains the basic qualification for entry labor market. The paper points conclusively that the labor market entry, the undergraduate acceptance is problematic, especially in the first course was, by tradition, very long and the current cycle (bachelor) is a "cultural shock" for the system. In these circumstances, the report recorded several types of approaches to increase the institutions accepting graduates license by the labor market and to assist students in their career development. Among them we highlight: a special emphasis on general skills acquired at undergraduate level, with emphasis on learning outcomes in a particular program of study, creating an environment that supports entrepreneurship, providing the associations "Alumni" of information on models employment, which will influence the shaping curriculum, involving employers and external experts in reviewing and reshaping curricula, providing counseling and career development of students' employment record of graduates. In the chapter "Future Challenges" in integrating graduates into the labor market, Trends 2010 proposes several measures that should be taken into account by national authorities and institutional leaders. Thus, institutions should develop: career guidance services for graduates of the first cycle, more flexible curricula that integrate mobility periods internships or international curriculum, graduates filing systems at all levels and cooperation with employers for understanding the needs of the labor market. Also at the institutional level, the academy must be convinced by the value of first-degree studies in order to communicate effectively with employers. Keep in mind that employability depends on two key factors namely: the acquisition of knowledge, competences, abilities and skills, economic conditions and labor market, but also secondary factors such as age, gender, discipline, changing attitudes towards lifelong learning, respect for justice, etc. 3 Romanian higher education and relationships with the labor market Romanian Higher Education is committed to the policy and institutional reform, the implementation of the Bologna Process with everything it implies: philosophy, structure, administrative


The micellization process of binary mixtures formed by polyoxyethylene monododecyl ether (C12En; n=12 and 15) and different ionic surfactants, anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cationic hexadecylpyridinium bromide (CPB), was examined by using surface tension and viscosity measurements. Rubingh's nonideal solution theory predicted nonideal mixing and attractive interaction between the constituent surfactants in the mixed micelle. In the single systems, the relative viscosity of nonionic surfactant is greater than that of the ionic surfactant and increases with the increasing level of ethylene oxide. In the mixed surfactant systems, the relative viscosities vary at a mixed molar fraction between 0.2 and 0.3, and then the relative viscosities of mixed systems decrease with the increasing mole fraction of ionic surfactants. The experimental viscosity values show a positive deviation from ideal behavior because of mixed micelle formation and the electroviscous effect. This effect could be suppressed by the addition of NaCl.


Through wild observation,the study researches the flowering dynamics and breeding system of Davidia involucrata Baill by using outcrossing index,ration of pollen and ovule,bagging and other methods.The research showed that mean flowering period of population is 26 days,it is different among years in the same position,also among different posotions in the same year,there is difference between the top and the base branch in the same tree.Inflorescence lasts about 8 to 10 days from initial pollinating to the end,the stigma is longer than the anther in the process of flowering,the pollinating time of male anther is earlier 2 to 3 days than bisexual flower.The stigma receptivity time of bisexual flower is earlier 1 to 2 days than anther dehiscence time of bisexual flower.Because the outcrossing index is 4,the ratio of pollen and ovule is 14 885.2,combined with the test results of artificial bagging and pollination,the study conclude the breeding system belongs to outcrossing,partially self-compatible.Pollen competition may be a factor leading to the low rate of seed setting of Davidia involucrata Baill.


Introduction: The presence of calcifications may be useful for the diagnosis of breast neoplasia. Objective: To determine the association between the characteristics of mammographic calcifications and malignant neoplasia. Methods: Observational, analytical, retrospective of cases and controls. Developed in the Gynecology Breast Pathology Unit. Female patients with mammogram suggestive of malignant neoplasm with a positive malignancy biopsy were included as cases, and 67 patients without histological evidence of malignancy as controls. Results: The average age of the cases was 54.12 years, in the controls 50.34. 50,.9% (59) are older than or equal to 50 years, OR 2.399 95% CI (1.125-5.114) p = 0.022, of these 52.5% (31) had breast cancer. 9.5% (11) had calcifications suspicious of malignancy, the most frequent, the amorphous and the pleomorphic fine. 37.1% (43) of the total cases have the BI-RADS 0 category, 6.9% (8) BI-RADS 1, 8.6% (10) BI-RADS 2, 7.8 % (9) BI-RADS 3, 28.4% (33) BI-RADS 4, 8.6% (10) BI-RADS 5 and 2.6% (3) BI-RADS 6. 72.7% (8) of patients with calcifications suspected of malignancy presented breast cancer. In the bivariate analysis, an OR of 4.163 was obtained. 95% CI (1.043-16.606) p = 0.031. In the multivariate analysis the association remained unchanged regardless of age and BI-RADS. Conclusion: Age 50 years or older and mammographic calcifications suspected of malignancy are associated factors for breast cancer.


This paper presents the Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) Model in Automatic Text Summarization (ATS) on single English document in mobile Android platform. Readers are drowned in information while starved of knowledge. Millions of articles are uploaded into the website every day. Quite often, lengthy text are presented in online articles but shorter summarized texts are preferred by readers. There exists research gap as most of the extractive text summarizations are based on syntactic appearance of words. Thus, the objective of this paper is to investigate the LSA Model by examining the semantic relationship between terms and sentences in a document for text summarization. We intend to shift our research paradigm to summarize text to infer the semantic contextual cues using the co-occurrence of terms in text. The input text documents were downloaded from Document Understanding Conference 2002 dataset. The preliminary results show that the LSA model yields an average F-Score of 0.386 in text summarization.


Corporate sector is thought to be a source for business to star hotels, especially those hotels locate in commercial cities. The business from this segment comprises of transient visit of executives, organization of conferences, training programmes, long stays related to projects and banquet functions including product launches and incentive programmes. For many major business houses these activities are centralized under one department like Administration, Human Resources (HR), Public Relations (PR), Procurements and Facilities. The persons who handle these travel arrangements from these departments are not buying the hotel services, for their own personal use. Instead, these professionals can influence the hotel room purchases of a boss or by guests, for whom the rooms are being booked. These are most often the secretaries and administration staff members. Many of them handle such activities as an additional responsibility to their existing core task like administration, Human resources, Public relations, and Procurement. They are not intermediaries like travel agents, but do all functions similar to the functions of a travel agent. They negotiate for special rates with hotels, according to the entitlements or eligibilities of each traveling executive from their organization; they prepare the empanelled list of hotels in different cities to accommodate their executives and guests; and further more handle the reservations on behalf of the organization. These corporate travel arrangers also go on to the extent of processing the bills, in case if, the company enjoys credit facility with the hotels. The role of these people, the researcher would like to name, 'Informal In house Travel Arrangers' (IHTAs) in the light of their purchase decision, is not studied yet. There have also been no attempts to develop a scale to find the reasons why these IHTAs choose a particular hotel. Consumer decision making models have been explained by many researchers for the last several years now. The discussions in the literature has been primarily on the perspectives of consumer decision making like the 'value perspective', the 'information processing perspective', the 'emotional perspective', and 'cue utilization theory'. There have also been several attempts in the literature to combine various perspectives together. Most of the attempts were revolving around a single perspective, with an emphasis on the chosen perspective discussing other perspectives in its light. Many researchers have done studies on different perspectives and have concluded that no one perspective, explain, fully the decision making process and they commended that; consumer decision making can only be explained based on several perspectives. Almost all the valuable studies in the field suggested that it is a challenge among marketers to have an understanding of human choice, in the current age (where everyone relies on computers), to arrive at decisions based on information supplied. While looking at the literature on decision makers, it has been observed that, they use multiple criteria like reasons, cost benefit calculations and affect, to arrive at their decisions (Weber 1998). Based on these understandings, some researchers suggest that there should be a framework which integrates various perspectives, to explain decision making (e.g. Hansen 2005). He integrated the different perspectives and called it a 'hybrid model' and suggested that decision making can be partly explained with the help of this framework. Thus, only very few attempts were made to model and incorporate different perspectives to explain decision making (Weber et al. 1998). The best attempt can be seen in the argument of Hansen (2005), where he combines the several perspectives and proposes a framework. The combined hybrid model is tested using two experimental designs and he proposes a model. In this model, he combines the several perspectives and argues that each one of the value perspective, the information perspective, the cue utilization theory and the emotional perspective, combines in varied degrees and leads to the buying decision. These combinations in varied proportions lead to the purchase decision. He did not claim that this is a comprehensive model and calls further researches in the area to identify or propose extension models. He specifically calls for researchers to examine the other perspectives, which may have been elusive in his study. This is where the researcher has embarked upon to find the elusive "surrogate factor" for hotel room bookings for guests in luxury hotels. The researcher proposes a new model, which is a hybrid model with a slight extension of Hansen's model and calls it "Surrogate model". This model is a simpler model and it also captures the factors of 'surrogate' buying behavior in the purchase decision. The researcher did not stop with this new theory development by introducing the "Surrogate factor", but also created a scale which can measure the three factors namely, Personal, Cue utilization factor and the Surrogate factor. He also tested the model using exploratory and confirmatory tests. The researcher conceptualized, purchase decision as a second order one-dimensional construct comprising of three important reflective components: Personal, Cue utilization and Surrogate factors. Other hypotheses when tested yielded results that there is no relation between Intention to purchase hotel rooms by IHTA and gender, type of industry represented by the IHTA, the age group they belong, their booking experience, the occurrence of booking activity and the productivity of the company in terms of room bookings for the year. The methodology followed is a 7 step process for developing the IPHRI scale. It sub assumes testing of the proposed model. The steps followed are Step 1 - Construct definition and content domain, Step 2- Item Generation, Step 3-Editing the scale items, Step 4-Pilot study 1, Step 5- Exploratory survey and EFA, Step 6- Pilot study 2 and Step 7-the Confirmatory survey and CFA. The researcher has identified the 3 factors in the EFA as Personal factor, Cue Utilization factor and Surrogate factor. The hypothesis tests proved that the Intention to Purchase Hotel Rooms by In-house Travel Arrangers (IPHRI) scale was a second order construct. It was confirmed that the 3 factors is a linear combination as Factor 1: Personal factor, Factor 2: Cue utilization factor and Factor 3: Surrogate factor. In Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the pattern of loadings of the measurement items on the latent constructs is explicitly specified in the model. The fit of this pre-specified model is examined to determine its convergent and discriminant validities. This factorial validity deals with whether the pattern of loadings of the measurement items corresponds to the theoretically anticipated factors. Once the reliability and the validity test were done, the data that was collected through the confirmatory survey was used to test the hypothesis, H1: The purchase decision is a second order one dimensional construct comprising of three important reflective components: Personal, Cue utilization and Surrogate factors. A value of AVE higher that 0.5 indicates that there is a strong relationship between the constructs as argued by Chin (1995). Therefore the hypothesis is accepted. A set of 28 reliable, valid and parsimonious items were found out in this research which can be used by the hotels to scale the IHTAs as to what factors influence their purchase decisions. The scale is tested for convergent, discriminant and nomological validities, thereby extending and adapting the surrogate construct in purchase decision. The researcher hopes that the above findings will add value to the luxury hotel business. The researcher also hopes that this research will generate some motivation for future researchers to otherwise scant and scarce pool of research in the area of hospitality.


Abstract : A protocol is presented for methods to determine several blood and urine components for a biochemical evaluation of nutritional status. The protocol is an extension of that recommended for nutrition surveys recommended by the Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense. The methods include analyses for the following blood components: vitamins A and C, carotene, hemoglobin, protein, albumin, globulin, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc, and transketolase activity. Also included are methods for determination of urinary thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, N1-methylnicotinamide, vitamin B6, folacin, and creatinine. (Author)


The method of electric inertia simulation is analyzed in this paper.Braking torque in the process of braking is interpreted,the relation between simulated inertia and output torque of the motor is presented when the brake is tested.The brake test rig with the method of mechanical and electric inertia simulation is designed.Experiments prove that the mechanical electric simulation system is obviously superior to purely mechanical inertia brake test rigs which adopt a large quantities of fly wheels,and the level of automation of the test system is enhanced.


The invention discloses a health insurance outpatient clinic big data extraction system and method based on a hadoop platform. The system comprises a data acquisition module, a data storage module, a data cleaning module, a data analyzing and processing module, an Hbase distributed database and a data display module. The data acquisition module is connected with the data storage module, the data storage module is connected with the data analyzing and processing module through the data cleaning module, and a data query and analysis module is respectively connected with the Hbase distributed database and the data display module. The system and method have the advantages that a Hadoop cluster can be formed by thousands of cheap servers, a distributed file system cluster is constructed on large-scale cheap machines, data extraction and analysis cost is reduced to a large extent, and parallel processing can be carried out on outpatient clinic big data. Meanwhile, reliability and security of the data are well guaranteed by means of a transcript storage strategy of an HDFS.


With the success of numerous applications of the Web 2.0 the interest in a web–based support of scientific communities has also gained significant relevance. The concept of Wikis, one building block of the Web 2.0, has shown to be a reasonable infrastructure for sharing and refining any kind of knowledge. The most prominent example is the encyclopedia Wikipedia, but many smaller wiki applications have proved to be beneficial, e.g., the availability of experience management and documentation projects in open– source communities and large enterprises. In this paper, we introduce knowledge wikis that extend the features of a regular wiki by the representation and use of explicit problem–solving knowledge. We motivate the general ideas and benefits of knowledge wikis, and we describe a concrete knowledge wiki implementation. The actual use of a knowledge wiki is demonstrated by two case studies: the first case study reports on the share and reuse of ecological domain knowledge in the context of the BIOLOG project; the second case study describes a knowledge formalization pattern repository taken as a demonstrator from the knowledge engineering domain.


Armenia possesses historical and cultural trajectory embracing more than thirty centuries. Romans, greeks, arabs and turks all invaded Armenia with the objective of conquerting it, besides taking advantage of its stratetig posicion on the commercial route between East and West which crossed Armenia with an established religion, with own alphabet it was able to defend itself and exists until today.


In this paper, photovoltaic (PV) plant module is used for compensating power demand in both cases i.e. standalone and grid connected system. This task is performed by an advanced incremental conductance MPPT algorithm, which provides a current or voltage reference to the converter. The paper provides two simulink based designs; one for standalone system supplying DC load and another for grid connected full-bridge pulse width-modulated inverter that is cascaded and injects synchronized AC current to the grid. In the grid connected system a current controller along with voltage regulator is used to regulate the grid current. A PV module with boost converter is demonstrated for standalone system and for a 100kW grid. Simulation results verify the validity and performance of the circuit operations, MPPT control algorithm. Keywords—Grid, Incremental conductance, MPPT Photovoltaic array, Standalone system.


The real contact angle has been obtained by use of Bashforth-Adams equation.The error source of liquid surface tension measurement by capillary method has been analyzed.Some issues with disputes have been solved.Particular characteristics of capillary method for liquid surface tension measurement have been figured out and discussed.


This report summarizes the results of the qualification testing of the supernate decant pump and controls system to be used for in-tank sludge washing in aging waste tank AZ-101. The test was successful and all components are qualified for installation and use in the tank.


Design, fabrication, and UV-heterodyne characterization of Ni-Si-Ni metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) Schottky barrier photodetectors is reported. Planar detectors were fabricated, with a simple 3-level lithography process on bulk Si, in both simple-gap and interdigitated geometries with gap dimensions from 1 to 5 mu m. Frequency response of these devices was characterized using a CW-laser heterodyne system at 334.5 nm. For a 4.5- mu m interdigitated device, a 3-dB response of 16 GHz is measured, giving 22 GHz when deconvolved from the package/connector. A detailed theoretical model of the photodiode response incorporating effects of carrier transport and device geometry is in excellent agreement with the measurement. This model predicts a 86-GHz 3-dB response for the 1- mu m gap geometry devices.<<ETX>>


As one of the control schemes which overcome model uncertainty, there is a model reference adaptive control. In the conventional adaptive control method, the reference model is designed in advance. However, this reference model should also be essentially re-designed according to characteristic change of a controlled object. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an adaptive I-PD control scheme with variable reference model and show the validity by the numeric simulation.


This project refers to the research, design, and manufacturing of an oxygen aerator prototype for shrimp farming using solar energy. An offline solar system is calculated, designed to drive a 24VDC motor that rotates the propellers to generate oxygen in shrimp ponds. This system is researched for shrimp farming areas without electricity in order to expand shrimp farming capacity for coastal areas. The system can connect to the phone via Bluetooth to transmit the model's parameters to the user interface. An app that connects the phone to the oxygen aerator is also designed to control and monitor data. Solar-powered oxygen aerators for shrimp ponds can help farmers save 2 to 3 times the cost compared to gas and oil-powered oxygen aerators.


Developing, sustaining and enhancing quality culture is the responsibility of any institution. NAAC is an External Quality Agency while IQAC is an Internal Quality Agency. Both need to be balanced. Besides seven criteria, NAAC lays emphasis upon core values, assessment indicators for accreditation. The purpose of this exploration is to analyze the assessment indicators for quality culture in the context of Higher Education. Quality is not accidental, but it is the outcome of continuous and strenuous efforts for excellence. Quality cannot be taught. It has to be ingrained just as a sponge soaks the water. Developing, promoting and sustaining the quality culture is the responsibility of an institution. Higher Education is an instrument for change and development. Higher Education can provide highly skilled manpower, it can contribute to the accentuation of class differences in society. It can also contribute to the quality of life by developing virtues, aptitudes, and attitudes of human society. We, who are in charge of the institutions have to create an atmosphere where the potential of every individual can be put to use to its best level. That is the role and the challenge before the teacher. We must remember "time and tide waits for none" Hence, there is no time for us to lose. It is not difficult for us to see what goals today are worthy of striving. What is needed is not only choice but also faith, not only selection but also devotion, not only well-reasoned discrimination but also dedication.


The single closed loop switching supply has serious disadvantages. The system has slow dynamic response when it is exposed to disturbance. And the disturbance makes the system unstable. Based on the PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) control technique of current mode, an isolating single-ended flyback switching power supply is designed with IC controller UC3842, the small mathematic mode is constructed with the average state method. The compensation and stability analysis is discussed using control theory for this double closed loop flyback converter. The relationship between the system performance and frequency domain characteristic is analyzed. The experimental results show that the advantage of the double closed loop switching power supply lies in rapid current limiting characteristics,low power of the high frequency transformer and power switching transistor,good rapidity and stability of the dynamic response.


The paper introduces the problems existed in current training curriculum in higher vocational colleges as well as the necessity of introducing PBL mode into nursing informatics teaching.Corresponding solutions are put forward based on PBL mode,including constructing nursing informatics training base,establishing practical courses knowledge system as well as training projects based on PBL mode,etc.


[3H]ouabain binding (1.85‐500 nmol/l) was evaluated in resting guinea‐pig papillary muscles at 1.2‐12 mmol K/l. The time course of binding was biphasic. This finding excluded a homogeneous population of non‐interacting binding sites of ouabain, even though the identical susceptibility of both phases to K suggested the occupation of similarly operative receptors. Concomitant with ouabain binding, intracellular Na ion activity (aiNa) increased in the presence of 2.4 or 12 mmol K/l. Occupation of the receptor molecule by ouabain, therefore, conformed to Na‐pump inhibition. Although K antagonized both ouabain binding and its effect on aiNa, the antagonistic effect on aiNa was more pronounced. The reduction of passive Na influx with depolarization as well as the stimulation of the Na pump by K presumably contributed to the antagonistic effect of K. The decrease in aiNa from 8 to 5 mmol/l, when in the absence of ouabain K was raised from 2.4 to 12.0 mmol/l, confirmed the relevance of Na fluxes. Simultaneous changes in aiNa and in the force of rested‐state contractions were apparent upon addition of ouabain. At 2.4 mmol K/l, increase in aiNa raised the force of contraction by constant proportions. At 12 mmol K/l, the inotropic effect produced at comparable values of aiNa was approximately tenfold higher and was susceptible to a change in extracellular Ca concentration. Increase in aiNa, however, was differently effective on force of contraction of low as compared with high values of aiNa. The influence of resting membrane potential on electrogenic Na‐Ca exchange is supposed to interfere with the inotropic effectiveness of aiNa after the cell membrane depolarized from ‐102 mV to ‐65 mV with the increase of K from 2.4 to 12 mmol/l. In view of the role of both membrane potential and aiNa not just a single mechanism appeared to be involved in the control of force of contraction.


This article discusses the study and implementation of the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6, DHCPv6. Nowadays, the study of DHCPv6 is under process. We referred some drafts and protocols to summarize the scheme of DHCPv6, then designed and realized a practical DHCPv6 system based on the client/server architecture for IPv6 network experiment. Besides, we have paid great attention to the security of DHCPv6, and made some study and efforts.


Research and development of the technical system is for safety of pork consumption and respond to security incidents. The use of ear tags, bar codes, electronic labels, such as bio-information technology, the formation of different processes of information collection points as well as the information carrier system and the establishment of the final product from the rapid and timely retrospective, "the source" in the framework of security tracking system; by detecting the production of the whole system data, the establishment of a central database, the development of different aspects of security control the production of electronic modules to form the framework of traceability information systems; made use of all aspects of the production technology and product quality characteristics, traceability system integration framework for the establishment of product quality and safety traceability system.


The velocity distribution in flowing water in the vicinity of the outlet of a vertical jet is measured by means of Micro ADV system. The flow velocity ratio of jet to ambient water flow is 8. The standard ke turbulence flow model is applied to numerically simulate the flow field. The relationships between velocity ratio and vortex center position, point of separation and flow out point of polluted water are deduced from numerical simulation and experimental data.


The Generalist's Corner first appeared in 1997. Jane Halonen eloquently introduced this section of the journal by saying, ''Anyone who has had the responsibility of teaching the first course in the psychology sequence recognizes the impossibility of keeping up with the burgeoning research in our discipline . . . managing the literature in even one or two interest areas is problematic'' (p. 64). Although I (Andrew) had taught the introductory course more than 20 times, when I taught it again this past fall for the first time in 4 years, I was firmly reminded of this truism. The Generalist's Corner will continue its mission to provide teachers of the introductory psychology course with a powerful tool to help them meet this challenge. The column, however, is changing from its familiar interview-style format to one in which leading researchers in various areas of psychology contribute literature reviews in their areas of expertise. These reviews will provide succinct, up-to-date research findings that we hope teachers will find useful as they teach this material in the introductory course. In addition to James Liddle and Todd Shackelford's article on evolutionary psychology in this issue, you will be seeing future columns on such topics as personality, the history of psychology, developmental psychology, and clinical psychology. We hope you will continue to find the Generalist's Corner an asset in teaching the introductory course. Over the past several decades, authors have increasingly incorporated a discussion of evolutionary psychology in their introductory psychology textbooks. With this increasing exposure, however, the percentage of textbooks containing inaccurate information about evolutionary psychology has also increased (Cornwell, Palmer, Guinther, & Davis, 2005). As the relatively young field of evolutionary psychology continues to grow and gain acceptance within the psychological community, it is important to provide students with accurate information about this approach to psychology. In this article, we attempt to aid in this endeavor by describing recent findings generated by evolutionary psychological research, addressing several controversies surrounding evolutionary psychology as well as illustrating ways to summarize the field's core concepts. We hope this information provides instructors with a few new tools and additional knowledge to introduce students to evolutionary psychology.


Project Description There has been a large amount of literature supporting that testosterone levels are associated with hostility, aggression, dominance, and power motivation in males (Mazar &Booth, 1998). Yet, there has been little focus of the biological basis of women's dominance motivation. The male model suggests a role of testosterone in competition and has been applied to females as well. Despite the small number of these studies, there is modest support for a positive association with testosterone and dominance in women (Stanton & Edelstein, 2009). These far from clear findings raise the question of other possible physiological and psychological factors that contribute to female competition and dominance (Stanton & Edelstien, 2009). Estradiol is a steroid hormone that has been positively related to dominance motivation and behavior in women, similar to the role of testosterone and power motivation in men (Stanton & Schultheiss, 2007). Women, like men, with higher motivation for seeking dominance are more affected by the outcome of a challenge (Schultheiss , Wirth, Torges, Pang, Villacorta, &Welsh, 2005). Males with high levels of testosterone show negative behavioral reactions to status loss, which subsequently raises their levels of the stress hormone cortisol A similar finding has been found with women with high levels of estradiol (Stanton & Edelstein, 2009). Many avenues of competition have shown to be good models of the biosocial factors that contribute to status and dominance; from athletic competitions like badminton, to face-to-face looked at mixed-sex dog handlers in a dog agility competition. This environment represents an ideal social setting that includes clear-cut status of winners and losers, high investment in performance, and large public audience of fellow competitors, spectators and judges. All of these factors influence the consequences of winning and losing more noticeably (Metha et al., 2008). The authors hypothesized that the high testosterone levels of the handlers would predict high cortisol levels in the defeated and low cortisol levels in the victor. They found their hypothesis supported this finding in men but not women. A confound of this study is the real world setting and social nature of dog agility competitions (Metha et al, 2008). These types of interactions after competition may play a role in influencing cortisol levels, acting as a buffer to the psychological stress following competition (Metha et al., 2008; Taylor, 2000). Why are women so different then men in their response to stress? An appropriate stress response is a necessity …


Oxidative stress is a disturbance of the balance between the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidants. Oxidative stress is caused by the presence of any of a number of reactive oxygen species, which the cell is unable to counterbalance. The result is damage to one or more biomolecules including DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids. Oxidative stress has been implicated in the natural aging process as well as a variety of disease states, such as neoplastic, metabolic, neurological etc., accompanied by different complications. Risk factors of generation of oxidative stress are oxidizing species, induced by pathologies include alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, diet, gender, geographic location specifically at high altitude and occupation. ROS are composed of superoxide, hydroxyl, peroxyl, hydroperoxyl and alkoxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxide and singlet oxygen and ozone. These compounds produced endogenous in reaction of autooxidation in respiratory chaine of bioobjects. Among exogenous sources of ROS can be listed exposure of pollutants, toxins, heavy metals, drugs with different chemical origin and effects, radiation, electromagnetic fields, alcohol, cigarette smoke, stresses, allergies, dietary factors, temperature and microscopic form of life, such as bacteria, yeasts, viruses etc. The oxidative stress in biological systems is often characterized by increase in the formation of radicals; decrease in small-molecular-weight and lipid soluble antioxidants; disturbance in cellular redox balance; oxidative damage to cellular components (biomacromolecules). The presence of oxidative stress may be tested in one of three ways: direct measurement of the ROS; measurement of the resulting damage to biomolecules; and detection of antioxidant levels. Directly measuring ROS might seem the preferred method, but many reactive oxygen species are extremely unstable and difficult to measure directly. Many markers of damage are extremely stable and therefore provide a more reliable method to measure oxidative stress. Another approach is to measure the levels of antioxidant enzymes and other redox molecules which serve to counterbalance ROS generated in the cell. At the same time, it must emphasize that oxidative stress not only has a cytotoxic effect, but also plays an important role in the modulation of messengers that regulate essential cell membrane functions, which are vital for survival. For prevention of oxidative stress cells produce or uptake antioxidants – substance significantly delays or prevents oxidation of that substrate. Antioxidants may be enzymatic and non-enzymatic in nature in which enzymatic system directly or indirectly help in defence against the ROS. Antioxidants are involved in the prevention of oxidants and ROS formation; exhibits scavenger of ROS; and repairs the oxidized molecules through sources like dietary or consecutive antioxidants. Among non-enzymatic antioxidants distinguished glutathione, α-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, betacarotene, and uric acid; these are mostly considered to be chain-breaking antioxidants in that they interrupt the auto-catalytic spread of radical reactions. Among enzymatic antioxidants most known superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione-SH peroxidase. The significant correlation found between ROS, parameters of oxidative stress and pathology indicate that there is a need in finding of measures of prevention of endoand exogenous factors provoke their generation. There is a need to continue to explore the relationship between free radicals, pathological processes and the complications of them, and to elucidate the mechanisms by which increased oxidative stress accelerates the development of complications, in an effort to expand treatment options. Improvement of complications control seems to be a beneficial factor to decrease oxidative stress. For a better investigation of oxidative stress, it would be wise to supplement the clinical research by determination of special products typical for oxidative stress that let to understand mechanism of some pathological processes more clearly.


This paper investigates the extent to which the outcomes of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise in the UK, determined by peer review, can be explained by a set of quantitative indicators. Three cognate units of assessment are examined in detail: business and management, economics and econometrics, and accounting and finance. The main finding is that each of the three components of research activity (namely, research output, esteem and research environment) is highly correlated with various quantitative indicators. A further finding is that the judgement of the Research Assessment Exercise panels was biased in favour of Russell Group universities. There is also evidence of bias by the economics and econometrics panel. The results support the use of quantitative indicators in the research assessment process, particularly a journal quality index. Requiring the panels to take bibliometric indicators into account should help not only to reduce the workload of panels but also to mitigate the problem of implicit bias.


This illustrated guide covers all the reader needs to know about Japan's national drink. The text explains the history, production, customs, utensils and language of sake, and identifies the best brands and the tastiest side dishes.


All government‐sponsored affirmative action programs raise questions of equal protection under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The FCC's minority and gender licensing preference policies — predicated on the goal of maximizing broadcast content diversity, rather than the remedying of past discrimination — also generate a number of First Amendment issues. This article details the genesis of the policies and their approval by the US Supreme Court, and examines the continuing debate over the FCC's conclusion that minorities and women have unique viewpoints, that race and gender significantly inform programming decisions, and that market forces are unable to provide sufficient program diversity.


Polypeptoid homopolymers and block copolymers undergo thermal transitions in the solid state that can be detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), but so far there is neither consensus on the underpinnings of the observed thermal transitions nor consensus on the expected number of transitions. We synthesized a series of polypeptoid diblock copolymers containing hydrophobic alkyl side chains and hydrophilic ethylene oxide side chains, systematically varying side-chain length (S), backbone main-chain length (N), block copolymer composition (n/m), and N-terminal group, and studied their thermal transitions by a combination of X-ray scattering and DSC. The thermal transitions are largely unaffected by S, N, and n/m but strongly affected by the N-terminal group. Block copolymers with an acetylated N-terminus exhibit two thermal transitions. The low temperature thermal transition is due to a transition from a crystalline phase to a sanidic liquid crystalline mesophase. The molecules adopt planar, boa...


Two-pump parametric devices using highly nonlinear optical fiber are reviewed. Physics of multiple-pump interaction is outlined and performance implications are illustrated. Multiple-band operation of two-pump devices is used for packet- and bit-scale optical switching at 40Gb/s. Generic two- and three-pump architectures are described, with applications in spectral and polarization switching.


Despite numerous studies examining terrestrial or marine heatwaves independently, little work has investigated potential associations between these two types of extreme events. Examination of a limited number of past events suggests that certain co-occurring terrestrial and marine heatwaves have common drivers. Co-occurring events may also interact via local land-sea interactions, thereby altering the likelihood of these events. This study explores possible links between adjacent coastal marine and terrestrial heatwaves around Australia using observation and reanalysis data. We find a significant increase in the number of terrestrial heatwave days in the presence of an adjacent co-occurring marine heatwave along the coastal belt of Australia. In most regions, this increase persists at least 150 km inland. This suggests that processes operating beyond the narrow coastal belt are important in most regions. We also show that synoptic conditions driving a terrestrial heatwave in three locations around Australia are conducive for warming the ocean, which would increase the likelihood of a marine heatwave occurring. However, ocean state must also be conducive to reach MHW conditions. Our findings suggest that co-occurring terrestrial and marine heatwaves co-occur more frequently than chance would dictate, and that large scale synoptics may be conducive to both coastal terrestrial and marine heatwaves.


The present paper, the experiment for aerating and microbial growth were carried out to define the factors involving media selection, such as its density, material, as well as the form. The experiment methods included aerating, oxygenation capacity and filming in water. The experiment set is made of plexiglass. Its diameter is 300 mm and the depth is 2.5 m. The tap water is used as the experiment water. The diameter of the aeration pipe is 3 mm. The results show that the optimum special density of media should be 0.95~0.99 g/cm 3. When media is added to the aeration bank, the oxygenation capacity of the common perforated pipe can be improved. When the adding rate of the media is optimum, the oxygen transfer rate and utilization percent is increased with the adding media amount increasing. What is more, polypropylene proves easier to grow biofilm than polyethylene does with the quality of cylindrical being better than that of spherical.


Membership inference attacks (MIAs) infer whether a specific data record is used for target model training. MIAs have provoked many discussions in the information security community since they give rise to severe data privacy issues, especially for private and sensitive datasets. Knowledge Graphs (KGs), which describe domain-specific subjects and relationships among them, are valuable and sensitive, such as medical KGs constructed from electronic health records. However, the privacy threat to knowledge graphs is critical but rarely explored. In this paper, we conduct the first empirical evaluation of privacy threats to knowledge graphs triggered by knowledge graph embedding methods (KGEs). We propose three types of membership inference attacks: transfer attacks (TAs), prediction loss-based attacks (PLAs), and prediction correctness-based attacks (PCAs), according to attack difficulty levels. In the experiments, we conduct three inference attacks against four standard KGE methods over three benchmark datasets. In addition, we also propose the attacks against medical KG and financial KG. The results demonstrate that the proposed attack methods can easily explore the privacy leakage of knowledge graphs.


HE CATALYTIC reduction of paraand orthonitrophenols to the corresponding aminophenols was investigated over Ni/TiO2 catalysts prepared by reduction method. Hydrazine hydrate in the presence of nickel ions supported on TiO2 was used in the preparation of nanonickel catalyst over rutile and anatase. Further decomposition of the hydrazine hydrate on the nickel atoms surfaces yields nascent hydrogen atoms that efficiently reduce the nitro groups. Many techniques such as XRD, IR, TEM and UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy have been used. TEM shows the formation of nanonickel clusters on TiO2. IR analysis confirms the appearance of the characteristic peaks of only ortho or para aminophenols. The kinetics of reduction reaction was studied. Catalyst recovery and factors affecting the reduction reaction such as phenol concentration, pH, catalyst loading and temperature have been studied. The obtained data and kinetic results show that the conversion percentage reaches 100% within few minutes. The results indicate that the nanonickel loaded over rutile or anatase TiO2 exhibit nearly the same catalytic activity in reduction of nitrophenols but more active than nanonickel in zeolite catalyst.


Recently much work in Machine Learning has concentrated on using expressive representation languages that combine aspects of logic and probability. A whole field has emerged, called Statistical Rel...


INTRODUCTION
To understand the distribution pattern and time trend of unintentional injury mortalities is crucial in order to develop prevention strategies.

METHODS
We analyzed vital statistics data from Canada (excluding Quebec) for 2001 to 2007. Mortality rates were age- and sex-standardized to the 2001 Canadian population. An autoregressive model was used for time-series analysis.

RESULTS
Overall mortality rate steadily decreased but unintentional injury mortality rate was stable over the study period. The three territories had the highest mortality rates. Unintentional injury deaths were less common in children than in youths/adults. After 60, the mortality rate increased steadily with age. Males were more likely to die of unintentional injury, and the male/female ratio peaked in the 25- to 29-year age group. Motor vehicle crashes, falls and poisoning were the three major causes. There was a substantial year after year increase in mortality due to falls. Deaths due to motor vehicle crashes and drowning were more common in summer months, and deaths caused by falls and burns were more common in winter months.

CONCLUSION
The share of unintentional injury among all-cause mortality and the mortality from falls increased in Canada during the period 2001 to 2007.


Thirty-four identified in addition to five unidentified species appertaining to ten genera of zoosporic fungi were identified and isolated from eighty four polluted water samples, which were randomly collected from different polluted sites of the water drainages along the Niles Delta in Lower Egypt. Baiting sesame seeds culture technique was employed at 20±2o C for the recovery of zoosporic fungi. The genera; Pythium and Saprolegnia (8 and 7 zoosporic fungal species, respectively) showed the broadest spectra of species diversity whereas Aqualinderella was only represented by one species ( A. fermentans ). Saprolegnia delica and Dictyuchus carpophorus (the greatest fungal populations) were the most dominant isolated zoosporic fungal species where they were highly occurred especially at the hyper-polluted waters with the heavy metals. These two species could be considered as indicators for the response of the structure and function of microbial communities for water pollution. Several zoosporic fungal species were rarely encountered. Both Aqualinderella fermentans and Pythium rostratum were recovered in moderate frequency of occurrence. Water samples which had high concentrations in heavy metals were the poorest in the species diversity of zoosporic fungi. Despite that, fungal species belonging to the family Saprolegniaceae flourished in hyper polluted water samples whilst those belonging to the family Pythiaceae predominated in more diluted water samples. Also, the prevalent species; S. delica and D. carpophorus were not affected by heavy metals concentrations being as indicators for water pollution with the heavy metals. pH values of the polluted water samples had no influence on the occurrence of zoosporic fungi. Water samples characterized by high organic matter content and low total soluble salts were the richest in zoosporic fungal species.


Managing grid assets is an ongoing task for electricity distribution network operators (DNOs). Deep uncertainties especially in energy sustainability and flexibility make it difficult to forecast future electricity demand and corresponding grid capacity need. This makes long-term asset replacement strategy planning a complex issue. In this paper, a modeling method that uses the 'sub-grid' concept for supporting DNOs developing strategies is presented. It comprises three main parts: modeling the grid (complex system parameters), modeling demand scenarios as load patterns (uncertain input parameters) and modeling the asset replacement strategies of DNOs (multiple control parameters). Each part is introduced with examples. This method will be applied and further developed in case studies.


Empirical study between 2002 and 2004 on decisions of the Victorian Court of Criminal Appeal relating to sentencing appeals - increase in number of Crown appeals - possible reasons - increasing success of Crown appeals - implications for criminal justice system - higher success on the basis of manifest inadequacy for the Crown than for sentenced persons on the same ground of manifest excess - reconsideration of principles concerning Crown appeals.


For investigation of a multipoint explosive emission cathode operation in an external magnetic field an experimental electron source with a grounded cathode was developed. It allows to carry out measurements of currents through the cathode points and probe measurements of the cathode plasma parameters. The following main results were obtained. An increase of the magnetic field leads to an increase of the intensity of the cathode plasma generation and hence to a decrease of the pulse duration. The maximum pulse duration is achieved in the absence of a magnetic field. The pulse duration depends also on the magnitude of the resistance in the circuit of the cathode mask Rm. Optimum pulse duration is achieved for R/sub m/>15 /spl Omega/. Increasing Rm up to several k/spl Omega/ leads to an additional increase of the pulse duration by 15%. At the front of the pulse only around 30% of the cathode fibers operate for any magnitude of an accelerating electrical field. The dynamics of the process of the fiber ignition is determined by the magnitude of the electric field in the accelerating gap. At a maximum (achievable at the facility used in this experiments) electric field strength of 17-18 kV/cm practically all fibers start to operate within 3 us after beginning of the high voltage pulse. The magnetic field does not influence the fiber ignition behavior. The difference between the currents through the cathode fibers is 15-20%. In the absence of a magnetic field the inhomogeneity of the plasma density does not exceed 5%. This testifies good homogeneity of the cathode plasma density, in despite of some inhomogeneity of the currents through the fibers. When a magnetic field is applied, the nonuniformity of the Langmuir probe currents increases up to 15%. Therefore, the magnetic field influences the distribution of the cathode plasma density. Accelerating voltage practically does not influence the homogeneity of the cathode plasma density.


Abstract This study's primary objective is to explore how Jay-Z's song, The Story of O.J. visually and verbally provides a narrative of race in the United States. This analysis examines the music video and lyrics of the artifact for a thorough inquiry of this primary objective. The artifact's use of images in conjunction with verbal messages visually and lyrically elicit strong emotional reactions from viewers. By applying a systematic narrative analysis, this essay examines Jay-Z's rhetoric in "The Story of O.J." music video to investigate its rhetorical appeals. I argue that Jay-Z created an autobiographical narrative exploring American history from a Black perspective highlighting Black resilience while articulating the psychological dangers of reifying the myths of white supremacy structurally embedded in American culture.


Little research has been done regarding the effects of moderate ethanol exposure (PAE) on mammary gland development and subsequent milk production during lactation. Pregnant C57/Bl6J females were exposed to 3 g/kg alcohol (EtOH) from gestational day (GD) 12.5 to 17.5 in two half doses, two hours apart using isocaloric maltodextrin (MD) as controls. Most EtOH litters did not have milkspots at lactation day two (L2) suggesting that dam lactation or pup nursing was negatively affected after PAE. Mammary glands were collected from subsequent EtOH dams on L2 and were found to weigh less than MD dams (p<0.05). Carmine staining of mammary glands revealed decreased density of ducts and tubules compared with MD mammary glands preliminarily suggesting abnormal or delayed maturation. Further investigation using weigh‐suckle‐weigh methods discovered that milk letdown during a bout of nursing was significantly decreased in EtOH compared with MD litters at L2 (p<0.05). Mammary glands, liver, and adipose tissue of dams were collected for histology, fatty acid composition and retinoic acid stores, as numerous studies document the adverse effects of alcohol on vitamin A and fatty acid metabolism. Milk was collected from these dams in order to determine composition, particularly fatty acid, protein, and lactose. H & E staining in EtOH mammary glands revealed collapsed lobules and immature ducts, as well as decreased adipose stores shown by Oil Red O staining. However, retinoic acid and fatty acid composition were unaltered between groups. Although total protein concentration did not differ in the milk, free fatty acid composition was significantly altered (p<0.05), suggesting that PAE interferes with de novo synthesis of fatty acids into milk. Further studies will characterize that pathway after PAE as well as determine the lactose content and protein profile in milk and mammary gland. Hormonal changes will also be investigated because PAE has been shown to affect prolactin and progesterone which are essential for initiation of lactation. These studies are essential for determining how lactation after PAE affects nutrition and growth in populations where it is common for the affected child to remain with the birth mother.


Retroperitoneum follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (FDCS) is an extremely rare neoplasm. The treatment of this disease is not clear. A 49-year-old Chinese female who had been found a 4.4×4 cm retroperitoneum mass by routine physical examination was received radical resection. Pathology revealed an inflammatory pseudotumor-like follicular dendritic cell tumor. After five years follow-up, a new nodule was noted on the tail of pancreas by routine CT evaluation. Re-resection was performed and pathological examination found a spindle-cell tumor with a great quantity of froth histiocytes. Immunohistochemical stains were positive for CD35 and CD21 which suggested it was a recurrent FDCS. Retroperitoneum FDCS is a very rare tumor. Surgical resection may be the first choice for this disease, even for recurrent tumor, if feasible. A relatively good prognosis often is achieved when compared with other malignancy.


The design and planned production of a cost-effective, high-concentration point-focus Si array for utility-scale applications is discussed. Design considerations such as cell assemblies, optics, modules, and arrays are also discussed. The results indicate that the goals of high reliability, low maintenance, long system life, and an installed cost on the order of $2 per peak watt are achievable in the near term.<<ETX>>


By the method of elementary number theory,this paper studies Evans problem.It is proved that a necessary and sufficient condition for △ABC being a primitive Evans triangle with c as its hemline is that the three edges are obtained by the primitive Heron array formula,and the parameters in the formula satisfy(mt+ns)(ms-nt)│2mnst.A class of the primitive Evans triangles are obtained when m=s=k,n=k-1,t=k+1(k∈N+,k ≥2) are required in the primitive Heron array formula.


In this paper, we introduce a simulated annealing algorithm for constrained Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO). When searching in the feasible region, the algorithm behaves like recently proposed Archived Multi-Objective Simulated Annealing (AMOSA) algorithm [1], whereas when operating in the infeasible region, it tries to minimize constraint violation by moving along Approximate Descent Direction (ADD) [2]. An Archive of non-dominated solutions found during the search is maintained. The acceptance probability of a new point is determined by its feasibility status, and its domination status as compared to the current point and the points in the Archive. We report the performance of the proposed algorithm on a set of seven constrained bi-objective test problems (CTP2 to CTP8), which have been known to pose difficulties to existing multi-objective algorithms. A comparative study of current algorithm with the widely used multi-objective evolutionary algorithm NSGA-II has been included.


AIM: To study the effect of IFN-γ inhalation on the anti-infection ability of the lungs in the immunocompromised host. METHODS: The immunological factors in the immunocompromised rats and the immunocompromised rats administrated IFN-γ via aerosol were investigated after 1, 3, 7 days when they were injected Candida albicans via tracheal The Canidda albicans count of the left lung was also determined after 7 days when injecting pathogen. RESULTS: The Canidda albicans count of the left lung in IFN-γ group was significantly less than that of control group. The phagocyting and bactericidal percentages, Ia antigen expression percentages, the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in the culture supernatant of the AM, the activity of IFN-γ and TNF-α in BALF (except the TNF-α on 7 th day) in IFN-γ group were markedly higher than those in control group. The expression of IFN-γ and IL-1β pulmonary tissues in IFN-γ group was higher than that in control group. The expression of TNF-α in IFN-γ group was less than that in control group. The expression of IL-6 was no changes between two groups. The levels of IFN-γ, IL-1β and IL-6 in the blood (except IL-1β on 3 rd day), and the killing ability of the lymphocytes in blood had no difference between two groups. CONCLUSION: Administration of IFN-γ via aerosol obviously enhanced the anti-infection ability of the lungs in the immunocompromised host, but has no influence on the whole body cellular immunity.


Highly stable and highly soluble push-pull heptamethine hemicyanines based on the tricyanofuran electron-accepting group can be prepared on a 15 g scale. The compounds display giant second-order nonlinear figure of merit, μβ of up to 31,000×10(-48) esu, and lead to a poled material with a second-order nonlinear response, r33 of 90 pm V(-1) at 1.06 μm.


I propose in this talk to praise the virtue of modesty. But not just that: I also propose to recommend this virtue as one worth pursuing and maintaining? particularly for philosophers. By some accounts of this virtue, however, in proposing to praise modesty as worthy of pursuit, I show that I must not understand what modesty is. This is because in some accounts, modesty is not at all the sort of virtue that one can reasonably pursue, because it is said to be a virtue of ignorance. A virtue of ignorance, roughly, is one whose possession must be unknown to its possessor: In this view, those who are modest cannot know that they are modest. But if one's goal in a pursuit is the sort of thing that one must not know one has achieved, were one actually to achieve it, it would seem that modesty, if it is a virtue of ignorance, is not the sort of thing that one can reasonably hold as an aim to pursue and achieve.


The isotopic Li-ion exchange occurring in the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) of a graphite electrode is studied by time of flight secondary ions mass spectrometry analysis (ToF-SIMS) of Li isot...


In this work, we theoretically study the charge order and orbital magnetic properties of a new type of antiferromagnetic kagome metal FeGe. Based on first principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we have studied the electronic structures, Fermi-surface quantum fluctuations, as well as phonon properties of the antiferromagnetic kagome metal FeGe. We find that charge density wave emerges in such a system due to a subtle cooperation between electron-electron ($e$-$e$) interactions and electron-phonon couplings, which gives rise to an unusual scenario of interaction-triggered phonon instabilities, and eventually yields a charge density wave (CDW) state. We further show that, in the CDW phase, the ground-state current density distribution exhibits an intriguing star-of-David pattern, leading to flux density modulation. The orbital fluxes (or current loops) in this system emerges as a result of the subtle interplay between magnetism, lattice geometries, charge order, and spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which can be described by a simple, yet universal, tight-binding theory including a Kane-Mele type SOC term and a magnetic exchange interaction. We further study the origin of the peculiar step-edge states in FeGe, which shed light on the topological properties and correlation effects in this new type of kagome antiferromagnetic material.


Most image classification techniques are built on the spectral variability of the data, which is the primary information retrieval mechanism for nadir-acquired images. However, with the advent of simultaneous multi-directional observations, like with the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS), to be launched on the Terra platform in July 1999, the directional variability on the data can also be exploited. The additional information content in the directional data, which is called an angular signature, is expected to be particularly useful in the identification and classification of vegetated land surfaces because it derives from the degree of how much shadowing within a 3D canopy may be detected. The shadow fraction of a vegetated surface element as seen from a particular view direction contains unique information about the canopy structure and architecture when observed from multiple directions; this information does not manifest itself in any spectral signature.


We present a case of the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH) secondary to cisplatin therapy in a patient with advanced-stage large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix. This occurred after the first cycle of cisplatin and then again after the second cycle. Carboplatin was substituted for cisplatin, and there were no further episodes of SIADH.


Based on one-year-period monitoring for Beijing PM_10,the mass levels of PM_10 showed a seasonal variation,with much higher values in winter and spring,lower in summer,and the lowest in autumn.PIXE(Proton Induced X-ray Emission) was used to analyze chemical elements in PM_10.The results show that mass concentration of elements in PM_10 varies from season to season,with the highest percentage in spring and lowest in autumn.Mass concentration of crustal elements,such as Al,Si,Mg,Ca,Fe,reaches the highest in spring.Element S,Cl and Zn from anthropogenic pollution sources reach their highest percentage in winter. Factor analysis indicates that Si,Ca,Al,Fe,Mg and Ti had a high degree of correlation,which means these elements are from the earth crust or soil.S,Zn and Pb are associated with industry pollution.Cl and As might have relationship with combustion.


This paper we firstly analyzed the service condition of the current bilingual teaching materials,meantime combined with the experience of authors during compiling electronic bilingual textbook in genetic engineering,the mode suitable for national bilingual textbook construction was proposed,that is the bilingual teaching conent was written on the basis of characteristics of students and teach-ing syllabus,then the foreign materials were collected,digested and edited according to bilingual teaching conent.


Background In situ cellular reprogramming offers the possibility of regenerating functional cardiomyocytes directly from scar fibroblasts, obviating the challenges of cell implantation. We hypothesized that pretreating scar with gene transfer of the angiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) would enhance the efficacy of this strategy. Methods and Results Gata4, Mef2c, and Tbx5 (GMT) administration via lentiviral transduction was demonstrated to transdifferentiate rat fibroblasts into (induced) cardiomyocytes in vitro by cardiomyocyte marker studies. Fisher 344 rats underwent coronary ligation and intramyocardial administration of an adenovirus encoding all 3 major isoforms of VEGF (AdVEGF‐All6A+) or an AdNull control vector (n=12/group). Lentivirus encoding GMT or a GFP control was administered to each animal 3 weeks later, followed by histologic and echocardiographic analyses. GMT administration reduced the extent of fibrosis by half compared with GFP controls (12±2% vs 24±3%, P<0.01) and reduced the number of myofibroblasts detected in the infarct zone by 4‐fold. GMT‐treated animals also demonstrated greater density of cardiomyocyte‐specific marker beta myosin heavy chain 7+ cells compared with animals receiving GFP with or without VEGF (P<0.01). Ejection fraction was significantly improved after GMT vs GFP administration (12±3% vs −7±3%, P<0.01). Eight (73%) GFP animals but no GMT animals demonstrated decreased ejection fraction during this interval (P<0.01). Also, improvement in ejection fraction was 4‐fold greater in GMT/VEGF vs GMT/null animals (17±2% vs 4±1%, P<0.05). Conclusions VEGF administration to infarcted myocardium enhances the efficacy of GMT‐mediated cellular reprogramming in improving myocardial function and reducing the extent of myocardial fibrosis compared with the use of GMT or VEGF alone.