The Concept of High Nature Value (HNV) farmland has been evolving over the last fifteen years in Europe. In the European Union this has been closely linked to the aim of integrating environmental concerns in the Common Agricultural Policy. The idea that nature values, environmental qualities, even cultural heritage are linked to or dependent on farming, also underlies and supports the concept of a multifunctional 'European model of farming' which provides benefits other than food. The 'High Nature Value farming' idea thus ties the preservation of biodiversity and wildlife value of the countryside to the need of safeguarding the continuation of farming in specific areas, with maintenance of specific farming systems associated to the long-term management of these areas. The report presents a method for mapping and characterising High Nature Value Farmland in France on the basis of statistical data and available surveys. The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national. LB N A 2786 EN C


What Systematic behavior screeners are a crucial tool for schools establishing or seeking to improve a supportive social-emotional learning environment. Positive behavior interventions and supports research that uses behavior screening to measure risk of externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression) or internalizing (e.g., anxious) behaviors typically finds 80% of students are at low risk, 15% are at a moderate risk, and 5% are at high risk. Understanding the number of students experiencing these risk levels allows schools to more accurately make decisions about the type, breadth, and intensity of supports to provide. The purpose of this article was to provide both research and a descriptive demonstration of a systematic behavioral screening process and how to use the resulting data to inform practice.


A [1,1,1,1]metacyclophane blocked in the 1,3-alternate conformation and bearing four pyridine units leads, under self-assembly
 conditions in the crystalline phase, to the formation of a fourfold interpenetrated 3-D co-ordination network in the presence of
 silver cations; the 3-D net is generated through the bridging by
 linearly co-ordinated silver cations of consecutive tectons presenting
 a pseudo-tetrahedral
 arrangement of four co-ordination sites.


In sugarcane, moisture stress imposed at the formative phase increased the activity of peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase and IAA oxidase. The peroxidase and IAA oxidase activity doubled during moisture stress condition, while the increase in polyphenol oxidase activity was four fold. The activity of these enzymes reverted to normal level with the relief of stress. There was a concomitant decline in the rate of expansion of young internode with decreasing relative water content and increase in the activity of oxidative enzymes, irrespective of varieties.


Ethnic American ecocriticism refers to the study of the relationship between ethnic American literatures and the physical environment. After a review of ethnic American ecocriticism in China and a comparison with its counterpart in the U.S. as well as the study of ethnic American literatures in China, the present paper highlights the near absence of ethnic American ecocriticism in China and its existing problems and seeks to find out the underlying causes. It is emphasized that advancing ethnic American ecocriticism in both China and abroad means much to the deepening of ecocriticism in China, the U.S. and worldwide.


In the view of Boettke (1998), Coase (1960) casts lights of understanding in a myriad of fields, including, preeminently, property rights theory and the Soviet system of economics. The claim of the present author, in sharp contrast, is that this seminal article of Coase's is a snare and a delusion. It has led economists down a mistaken path for lo this past half century, and Boettke (1998) is but one more unfortunate example of this.


: The goal of this chapter is to assess some representative morphological theories with respect to their compatibility with results coming from psycholinguistic experiments. We will concentrate mainly on the question of whether inflected words are computationally built by the addition of discrete units, called ' morphemes ' , or have to be treated as undecomposable wholes which relate to each other through connections with other words. The issue is compli-cated by two problems: the nature of morphemes as abstract units that anchor phonological and semantic information or symbolic Saussurean units, and the problem of whether inflected forms are decomposable at some level of analysis or must be stored as fully built forms.


It has been shown that steel-concrete composite floor systems can withstand loads and deflections far greater than those calculated by the traditional methods of design under fire conditions. In recent years, there has been considerable research focus directed towards developing the fundamental understanding of the complex behaviour of floor slabs and also improving the methods of analysis. Building on this work, the current paper describes the development and validation of a finite element model, developed using the ABAQUS software, which is capable of simulating the loaddisplacement response until failure. The model can represent the complexities of the behaviour including both the material and geometric nonlinearities and has been developed in five phases, including (i) unrestrained isolated strips (ii) restrained isolated strips (iii) unrestrained slabs (iv) restrained slabs and (v) an arrangement of three by three slab panels. The first four phases have been validated using data from tests on isolated elements and the current paper focuses mainly on the response of unrestrained two-way spanning slabs. The most salient parameters including boundary conditions, continuity and various other material and geometric properties are identified and studied. Comparisons with current design procedures are also discussed. The results of this investigation offer detailed insights into the key factors that govern the ultimate behaviour of buildings with composite floor systems under extreme loading conditions, and provide the essential background to enable the development of more performance-based design expressions.


Upma is a traditional Indian breakfast dish, cooked as a thick porridge from dry roasted semolina. Various seasonings and vegetables are often added during cooking depending on individual preferences. The indigenous instant food products are prepared at home since ages, but due to the availability of wide range of instant food products in recent years, the consumers are more keen to use the products available in the market using convenient packages at reasonable rate (Unika and Jaffar, 2014). Millets are unique among the cereals because of their richness in calcium, dietary fibre, polyphenols, carbohydrates (70-80%) and protein (9-14%). It is a gluten-free cereal an excellent source for people suffering from celiac disease and also rich in phytochemicals which help to lower cholesterol level and reduced cancer risk due to its phytate content (Shadang and Jaganathan, 2014). The nutritional qualities of millet have been well recorded (Hulse et al., 1980), its utilization for food is confined to the traditional consumers in tribal populations, mainly due to nonavailability of consumer friendly, ready-to-use International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 02 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com


Introductory Editorial by Dr Barbara Guinn, Principal Investigator and Senior Research Fellow, University of Southampton, Cancer Sciences Division, University of Southampton, Somers Cancer Research Building, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, SO16 6YD.


The goal of experiments performed in this dissertation was to determine molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac action potential prolongation, induced by acidosis and by the administration of the Class III antiarrhythmic agents clofilium and amiodarone. Kv1.2 and Kv1.5 are two voltage-gated potassium channels expressed in heart that contribute to cardiac action potential repolarization. I found that Kv1.5 channels are blocked at acidic pH while Kvl .2 channels are not. Kvl .5 channels show enhanced C-type inactivation at acidic pH, and accumulation of channels in this inactivated state likely explains pH-dependent block of the channel subtype. A histidine residue in the third extracellular loop of Kv1.5 (H452) accounts for the difference in pHsensitivity between the Kv1.5 and Kv1.2 channels. Mutation of H452 to a neutral glutamine prevents enhanced C-type inactivation of Kv1.5 channels at acidic pH. These data provide insight into the molecular mechanisms subserving increases in cardiac action potential duration induced by acidosis. Class III antian'hythmic agents such as clofilium and amiodarone exert their therapeutic effects by prolonging cardiac action potential duration. I found that Kvl .5 potassium channels are blocked by clofilium in a state-dependent manner, and that structural modifications of clofilium alter properties of Kv1.5 channel block. Clofilium and other quatemary amine analogs seem to bind and unbind primarily from the open channel confomiation, and rapid closing at negative potentials 'Iraps" the charged blocking agents. Conversely, a tertiary amine analog of clofilium appears to access and exit the receptor site in closed as well as open channel states, presumably because the neutral compound can escape from the closed via an altemative hydrophobic pathway inaccessible to the charged compounds. Amiodarone blocks Kvl .2 channels by shifting the voltage-dependence of channel activation to more depolarized voltages. This effect


An advanced system for mud flow measurement while drilling enables detection of fractures and intervals of high permeability within a tight, fractured reservoir via the identification and interpretation of mud micro-losses. The system is based on an electromagnetic flow meter installed on the flow line. This flow meter has a very high accuracy compared to the standard flow measurement system typically used in the field. Standard mud flow detection while drilling only enables a qualitative indication of the flow and it is not sensitive enough to identify subtle flow changes linked to the initial stages of an influx or to the minor fluid loss occurring when a formation fracture is encountered. However, the more direct instantaneous indication of the presence of an open fracture in a well comes from the mud flow variations. The authors have utilized such data in conjunction with offset data from previous wells and existing literature, which indicate the presence of two different sets of fractures with different apertures and densities. An interpretation model was then generated and applied to the well being drilled. The fracture detection capability was enhanced by the analysis of drilling and hydraulic parameters variations recorded also in real-time; their changes were related to changes of the mechanical properties or the rock. Another decisive parameter monitored was the mud gas, since gas variations were often associated with the presence of open fractures in which hydrocarbons were circulating. Two types of fractures were clearly identified using this technique. The system and procedure have been recognized as a valid solution for fractured reservoir characterization; data have been used in a composite log along with other datasets from e-logs, collected after the well was drilled. Furthermore, the system enabled detection of mechanical fractures induced by drilling, which masked the natural open fractures pattern in the e-logs of the offset wells previously drilled in the same basin.


This contribution describes detailed PIV measurements obtained in turbulent boundary layers in order to capture rarely occurring flow reversals within the viscous sublayer, which previously have been observed in both experiments and direct numerical simulations. Due to their confinement to the viscous sublayer along with their rare occurrence on the order of 10^-4, any statistical investigation requires very large data sets exceeding 10^5 samples. In the present investigation, this was achieved by capturing long PIV records using image high magnification near unity. To investigate the influence of Reynolds number and pressure gradient, the measurements were performed in turbulent boundary layers in both zero pressure Gradient (ZPG) and adverse pressure gradient (APG) conditions. The measurements were conducted in the TBL wind tunnel of Lille which features a test section length of 20 m and cross-section of 2x1 m^2. A ramp model placed inside the tunnel introduced APG conditions. Both visual inspection of the raw data and a dedicated processing scheme to retrieve the unsteady wall shear stress were used to quantify the flow reversal events. The occurrence of the self-similar flow reversals was found to weakly depend on the Reynolds numbers in ZPG and roughly doubled in frequency in the APG condition.


The structure of 1RS,4SR,7SR,10RS-(1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclopentadecane)copper(II) tetrachlorozincate, determined at 120 K, is reported: C11H26Cl4CuN4Zn, orthorhombic, P b c a (Hall−P 2ac 2ab); a, 14.0675(7); b, 14.4206(6); c, 18.2106(10) Å. The cation has approximate two-fold symmetry, with the CuN4 group tetrahedrally twisted, with NH groups alternating on opposite sides of the N4 group around the ring. The five-membered chelate rings have gauche conformations and the eight-membered chelate ring has an extended twist conformation. The anion and cation are linked into chains by hydrogen bonds and weak Cu···Cl interactions.


Many software reliability growth models based upon a non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) have been proposed to measure and asses the reliability of a software system quantitatively. Generally, the error detection rate and the fault content function during software testing is considered to be dependent on the elapsed time testing. In this paper we have proposed three software reliability growth models (SRGM's) incorporating the notion of error generation over the time as an extension of the delayed S-shaped software reliability growth model based on a non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP). The model parameters are estimated using the maximum likelihood method for interval domain data and three data sets are provided to illustrate the estimation technique. The proposed model is compared with the existing delayed S-shaped model based on error sum of squares, mean sum of squares, predictive ratio risk and Akaike's information criteria using three different data sets. We show that the proposed models perform satisfactory better than the existing models.


We propose a new method for 5D motion-compensated PET reconstruction, which is based on radial MR data and which compensates for both respiratory and cardiac patient motion. The new method is evaluated for simultaneous 18F-FDG PET/MR acquisitions of four patients with a total acquisition time of 5min per bed position. PET/MR data are sorted into 20 overlapping respiratory phases and 12 overlapping cardiac phases. Respiratory and cardiac motion vector fields are estimated sequentially from MR data employing a novel algorithm, which alternates between MR image reconstruction and motion estimation. For 5D motion-compensated PET reconstruction, the resulting motion vector fields are incorporated into the system matrix. 5D motion-compensated PET images reveal less motion blurring than 3D motion average PET and considerably lower noise levels than 5D double-gated PET reconstructions. Evaluation of the myocardium of the four patients shows a quantitative improvement in terms of SUVmean and contrast when compared to the motion average.


There is no doubt that journalism has gained a foothold in Nigeria as a profession. From the colonial times to the present day, the Nigerian media, as an institution, has proved relevant in the gradual evolution into nationhood of the diverse entities that make up the nation. But one thing is glaring and that is: in spite of the enormous input the Nigerian press has made through an avalanche of sacrifices to the development of the nation, not much scholarly attention is accorded such feats.Emphasis tends to be more on the isolated cases of dysfunctional role the media has played as an institution in the Nigerian society. This paper seeks to redirect intellectual focus to an objective evaluation of the contributions the Nigerian media has made to the development of the country even though, as a caveat, the study does not intend to serve as an alibi for the shortcomings of the press in Nigeria.


Lasers have been used in a wide variety of science fields, from defence to medical science, and have been used to improve materials properties and behaviours. Many of these aspects are discussed in the text. Topics include laser-driven reactions, interaction of mechanisms of laser beams and materials, visible ultra-short laser pulses and the application of laser spectrosopic imaging. There is also a chapter which covers the industrial applications of lasers. This volume hopes to be a reference on developments in the field of laser science and technology.


LINDA BIERSTEKER AND BERYL HERMANUS report on the Early Learning Resource Unit's anti-bias education programme in pre-schools and the effects it has had on teachers and children


The study is motivated by a review of experimental and numerical evidences for the occurrence of bistability and hysteresis in supersonic inlets. By retaining the essential strongly nonlinear behaviors and the dominant system dynamics, a low-order model of the time-dependent behaviors of shock motion is developed to describe the bistability and hysteresis behaviors of shock motion in a supersonic inlet. Assumptions of inviscid and quasi-one-dimensional flow are invoked to ensure an analytic description of the dynamic process. Comparisons between the low-order model and unsteady computational fluid dynamics simulation results show the low-order model has the capability of qualitatively describing the bistability and hysteresis behaviors of shock motion.


ABSTRACT The bacteria-resistant plastic polymer industry is growing rapidly due to promising research on food contamination. The thiol-ene copolymers Eugenol-Trithiol Methylenebisacrylamide (E3TMBA) and Eugenol-Trithiol, Allyl Eugenol (E3TAE) were synthesized via photopolymerization. Both copolymers possess high thermal stability, which is crucial for maintaining their durability when used with high-temperature foods. The copolymers demonstrated a 5.0% mass loss (T5) at 179°C for E3TMBA and 255.9°C for E3TAE, as well as the formation of ash products at above 500°C. Both copolymers have mechanical properties and exhibit antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, enhancing their food packaging potential. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


A compilation of our latest design, simulation, and evaluation efforts regarding the construction of a biomimetic electrostatic imaging platform capable of visualizing submerged objects in a salt-water environment. In our previous work, the position accuracy was no better than 10cm. The imager described here achieves 2.5cm accuracy on the center line and degrades to 5cm accuracy at the peripheral channels.


Opsoclonus, also called `dancing eyes syndrome', is the description given when the eyes conjugately, spontaneously and continuously oscillate in a variety of directions, beyond the patient's control, also in sleep. In children this condition occurs especially in association with neuroblastoma. In adults an occult carcinoma should be excluded, but it can occur as a post-infectious condition, when it is often accompanied by ataxia and myoclonus (Patten, 1996). The opsoclonus]myoclonus syndrome (OMS) is a rare disorder, potentially devastating, and the mechanism of injury is unknown, although evidences suggests immune system dysregulation (Pranzatelli, 1996). There are many reports of OMS in children but there are no large series of cases in adults: from the only review reported in literature prior to 1986, only 58 cases have been studied (Digre, 1986). Since then, some other reports delineate a general consensus: in adults over 40 years of age, there must be a full investigation for underlying malignancy when OMS appears. It has been described as being associated with small cell lung carcinoma, breast cancer, melanoma (Berger and Meheri, 1999) and with non-Hodgkins lymphoma (Ducrocq et al., 1999); in younger adults with a history of a preceding influenza-like illness, viral titres should be obtained as a well as a complete investigation for a drug or toxin exposure. We describe the case of a woman a 38year-old woman, who manifested a cervical uterine neoplasia (IV-B, T4M1N1) (FIGO Cancer Committee, 1986), which was surgically treated with a total evisceration (and renal failure occurred as a consequence) and then with chemotherapy. Twenty days after the operation she developed rapidly a typical OMS syndrome, which completed within few hours, presenting vertigo, cerebellar ataxia, multidirectional involuntary ocular movements and-non-rhythmic axial and segmentary myoclonia. She was in a critical period; she has just begun a rehabilitation program and the visual instability associated with the truncal ataxia determined an immediate interruption of the treatment. This situation caused frustration and depression in the patient. Brain computed tomography (no magnetic resonance could be done, due to the metallic clips from the recent suture) demonstrated discrete anomalies of the white substance, in particular in the pons. We decided to treat her with Gabapentin, 300 mg t.i.d. After 36 h, opsoclonus decreased as well as the segmentary myoclonia. Seventy-two hours after the beginning of the treatment, the patient could sit on her bed and could read her newspaper or watch TV. One week after the beginning of the therapy, she could attend the rehabilitation program, progressively reducing the opsoclonus and decreasing the myoclonus ] which however, seems less sensitive to the treatment ] and she did not manifest any side-effects. Two months after the beginning of the treatment the patient remains asymptomatic from the opsoclonus, whereas there is a little evidence of segmentary, but not disabling, myoclonia. The decision to treat this OMS in a patient with so a poor prognosis seems reasonable, simply to ameliorate her quality of life. The drug choice seems important, considering that it has to obtain the best and most rapid results, it has to possess the lowest inner toxicity and it has to cause the minimum of sideeffects. Data obtained from literature evidences different treatment for OMS, such as immunoadsorption therapy (Batchelor et al., 1998), ACTH (Pranzatelli et al., 1998), combined standard doses of chemotherapy associated with steroids and high doses immunoglobulin (Veneselli et al., 1998), high doses of intravenous methylprednisolone followed by decreasing doses of oral prednisone (Watanabe et al., 1997), immuran (Russo et al., 1997), depakate (Russo et al., 1997), inderal (Russo et al., 1997) and even intravenous chlormethiazole (Vichez et al., 1994). All these therapeutic choices seem reasonable, even considering the high toxicity of the compounds and the high number of side-effects, but they are unbearable in our patient. Therefore we chose Gabapentin, which may act by causing an enhancement of GABAmediated inhibition or by causing a modulation of voltage-dependent ion channels involved in action potential propagation or burst generation. Recent findings (Brown et al., 1996) suggest that Gabapentin pre-incubation increases the non-synaptic release of GABA from glial structure; in this way, Gabapentin causes an increase in the brain GABA synthesis, not limited to the substantia nigra or the corpus striatum, but extended throughout the brain (Taylor, 1995). GABA mediators have been demonstrated to be fundamental in the projections related to the medial vestibular nuclei, responsible for the fixation of the eye position. Baclofen, a GABA-B agonist, may be efficacious in interrupt a periodic alternating nystagmus, provoked by a selective nodule and uvula lesions (Halmagyi et al., 1980; Straube et al., 1991). Gabapentin has been used therefore in the treatment of nystagmus in few cases of patients with multiple sclerosis and in a single event of pontine infarction (Averbuch-Heller et al., 1995). The other aspect which must be considered in the treatment with Gabapentin is the long-term safety and efficacy of this drug, as demonstrated by the establishment of safety in dosages up to 2400 mg/day for periods of up to 2 years, as add-on therapy in patients with medically refractory partial seizures (The US Gabapentin Study Group, 1994). There is no evidence in the literature on Gabapentin use in OMS: the rapid resolution of the symptoms without sideeffects, endorses our choice. Therefore we propose Gabapentin treatment as a possible option in the treatment of opsoclonus]myoclonus.


Abstract : The paper discusses experiments on the reaction of the bryozoan Lepralia pallasiana to variations of water salinity and temperature. The effect of salinity variations on the species was investigated in containers containing Black Sea water with normal salinity (18 o/oo) and reduced salinities 14, 12 and 10 o/oo at the usual temperature in summer (20-24C). The effect of temperature variations on the species was investigated in winter at temperatures 25, 15 and 10C in waters having the salinities of 18, 14, 12, and 10 o/oo. On the basis of the tests it was disclosed that within the salinity range from 18 to 12 o/oo at the usual summer temperature the growth of the bryozoans can be considered as normal, whereas with the salinity of 10 o/oo the growth and gemmation ceases. As to the variations in temperature, it was found that at 15C the growth is greatly retarded and at 10C it ceases. The combined effect of variations in salinity and temperature increased the retardation of growth so that the growth rate of L. pallasiana at a salinity reduced to 12 o/oo and temperature to 15C was 14 times slower than at 25C, but at 10 o/oo and 15C it was 30 times slower than at 18 o/oo.


Objective: To investigate the preliminary parameters of NCTB in inhabitants ≥40 and ≥60 years of age. Methods:To study psychological function NCTB was used. Results: It suggested significant difference in age on anger, vigor, and fatigue of profil of mood status, and there was significant difference in nge and sex on simple reaction time, digit span, Santa Ana, digit symbol, Benton visual retension test, and pursuit aiming test. By analysis of the level of education it showed 3 times higher in males than that in females of≥60 years of ege groups. Conclusion:The primary parameters of NCTB in inhabitants ≥40 and ≥60 years of age wassuggested.


Article Information Gynerium sagittatum (Caña Brava) is used in ethnomedicine to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia without any scientific information on its safety profile after its administration. Evaluate the possible curative effect of methanolic extract of Gynerium sagittatum (GS) on testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats. 36 male rats with an average weight of 300 g ± 50 g and 2.5 months of age were used, 6 random groups of 6 rats each were formed; Group I, blank: with physiological serum 2 mL / Kg every 24 h. for Per Orally (PO), control group II: with olive oil subcutaneous 0.5 mL + testosterone 25 mg (TA), group III: with olive oil subcutaneous 0.5 ml + testosterone 25 mg + extract of Gynerium sagittatum 50 mg/kg PO, group IV: olive oil subcutaneous 0.5 mL + testosterone 25 mg + extract of Gynerium sagittatum 250 mg/kg, Group V: olive oil subcutaneous 0.5 mL + testosterone 25 mg + extract of Gynerium sagittatum 500 mg/kg, Group VI: olive oil subcutaneous 0.5 mL + testosterone 25 mg + Finasteride 0.6 mg/kg. weighed subsequent treatments, and prostate, kidneys, and liver were measured, and a pathological study determined prostate-specific antigen and serum determination of toxicity markers by liver profile. A 99% decrease in the comparative prostate index was observed in control group I, and a better effect was observed at a dose of 500 mg/kg (P <0.004). This study has shown that GS has a beneficial effect on induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats.


Today, research in communication has become a fundamental component, with multiple implications in fields of the greatest importance in the contemporary life. The act of communication, as a domain and object of research, involves various activities, from arts to doctor-patient communication, from informatics processes to history and so on. It is to be underlined, that the "secret" of this universal area is given by the very simple formula, that of being fundamental, indispensable to any act of transmission of a message: sender-message-receptor. The whole domain of social life is included in this fundamental circuit. Naturally, each of these elements occurs in various hypostases. The message may be, as it often is the case, when this relationship is studied, a text, a reality made up and structured exclusively to transmit something to the receptor. But, it may be an object which plays the role of the message, which is meant to transmit a message. Flowers, fruit, gifts given to someone are not an object in themselves, the gift given to the other one, they have the quality of a message, they transmit something to whom they are destined. A message may be a smile or a grimace. By our physiognomy we can transmit a lot, without using language that is the specialized instrument of communication. Postures of the body assumed during a conversation can communicate in their turn. Various social events can also send and receive messages. A certain outfit, a certain private car have, beside their proper utility, the mission to transmit messages - regarding the social status assumed by each social actor. In the relationship doctor- patient, a technique of communication is of an utmost importance. From the doctor's attitude and questions, the patient can understand what his doctor's opinion about his condition is. In a greater and more important measure, the doctor perceives and deciphers what his patient's body can transmit. Without doubt, by the results of a quantitative laboratory evaluation, but also by the non quantifiable messages transmitted by the patient's body. It is related, that a famous doctor could establish the diagnosis, always the correct one, after a simple visual examination of the sick person. Nobody can explain how this could be possible, but it was not guessing, it was the decoding of subtle messages, inaccessible to others. In the same way, experienced civil servants can find out from a glance what the nationality of a person is or if someone is guilty or not. There is also an ability to decode complex ensembles of messages. The common citizen gets information from his favorite newspaper, from TV, from the news on radio or TV etc. In fact, this is the mission of mass media. But, the gifted analysts, having a great capacity of observation "read" the information supplied by mass media in a certain moment and can draw a conclusion regarding a general, global situation characteristic of a community. It is a known fact, that there is a necessity of communication, of knowing the algorithms that make communication possible between computers. …


We report an improved synthetic protocol for hydroxy methyl-derived polysubstituted furans employing Bi(III)-catalyzed dehydrative cycloisomerization of α-hydroxy oxetanyl ketones. This procedure provides rapid access (within 5 min) to highly substituted furans with exceptional functional group diversity, excellent yields, generality, scalability, and operationally simple reaction conditions. Further, it demonstrated the utility of this method in the first enantioselective total synthesis of furyl-hydroquinone-derived biologically potent natural products shikonofurans J, D, E, and C in seven linear steps, starting from readily available building blocks of 2,5-dihydroxy acetophenone and 3-oxetanone employing chiral-phosphoric acid (TRIP)-catalyzed asymmetric prenylation as a key step to induce the chirality.


The presented article is devoted to the tendencies of development of the institution of executive power in Tajikistan, the functioning quality of which saves the power of defining factor of efficiency of the state. The author pays attention to the modern achievements of legal science, which allows clarifying a number of significant features of the considered branch of the government; its consideration has essential value on the formation of a modern model of public administration, equitable to the interests of sustainable development of the country. It is especially underlined that executive power is an objective necessity, expressing the organizing essence of the state; it manifests itself as the power accountable and controllable, responsible and bylaw, owing to which administrative activity gets absolutely new qualities. Focusing attention on the fully developed mechanism of public management in Tajikistan, the author notices that despite essential updating of its structure and acceptance of some significant political and legal documents, it was impossible to reach qualitative improvement in the functioning of public administration. The reasons for such a prosaic situation, according to him, were, firstly, unsatisfactory interaction of official structures with the profile scientific and expert community, secondly, low culture and professionalism in public service. According to the author, similar symptoms can not only cause danger of scornful relation to private interest and apathy of citizens, but also bear essential threats to the legal security of the country. Therefore, with indication of the obvious necessity of strengthening of the human factor role in the government administration the author also supports the empowerment of the position of representative bodies of power (first of all, parliament of the country) by the activity of national administration. Thus, as the author supposes, not only necessary effective and cardinal measures are required for keeping the latter within law, but also it is as important to reorient the executive power on solving the problems connected with its intrinsic mission in the society, namely organization of execution of laws. However, solving this problem in the conditions of present Tajikistan turned out difficult and extremely unordinary, because the existing dominant position of the executive power allows it not only to duplicate other branches of power, but also, using the passive condition of the latter, often to substitute the content of legislative settings with departmental notes or administrative discretions. For this reason, during the reforms more attention should be paid to the procedural activities of the state administration, which allows narrowing the spectrum of administrative discretions and corruption opportunities. In the context of illustration of organizational and legal forms of governance, the author pays attention to the issue that associates with the correct resolution of the subjective relationship of government and executive power, which does not lose its relevance in the administrative and legal literature. With relying on the collected methodological materials, the author justifies his conception of their relations, which makes it possible, firstly, to clearly define the legal status of the main subjects of the executive power as the "bearing rod" of the organizational structure of public administration and, secondly, to determine the place of other state bodies and specific nonexecutive authorities in the strict sense, yet serving the best organization and functioning of the executive branch. Thus, executive power, its organization and functioning turn to be crucial issues of modern state-legal development of Tajikistan. The problem of creation of a scientifically grounded and effective control system continues to remain on the agenda. Public administration needs modernization. Requirements to its activity and quality of services it renders will increase in the process of empowerment of institutes of civil society and formation of the high-grade socially focused market economy. In these conditions, as the author believes, executive bodies, the leading links of national administration, are urged to function in advance, showing bright examples of successful and highly productive management.


In this paper, we describe a curriculum reform project that aims to improve the industrial engineering curriculum through a web-based learning environment that engages students in active and collaborative learning. This environment focuses on engineering problems solving, increased information technology content, and the higher order cognitive skills that are needed to be a successful engineering problem solver. The project has several goals, one of which is to address the need for engineering students to understand how global and societal issues impact the problem solving process and potential solutions. We are addressing this goal by conducting an international team project, where teams consist of students from Iowa State University and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. In particular, a module has been developed for a course in production systems, offered at both universities, where project teams made up of two students from each university were formed to work on a challenging problem with global consequences. In this paper, we describe the design of this module, discuss our experience with this international collaboration, and place it in context of the large curriculum reform project.


Introduction and aims Invasive pneumococcal disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and is significantly more common in patients with open head trauma than the general population. Public Health England recommends that all such patients receive pneumococcal vaccination. Our aim was to assess whether patients presenting with open head trauma were immunised during their admission. Methods We retrospectively audited pneumococcal vaccination administration rate in patients with open head trauma admitted to Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in our large Major Trauma Centre and Tertiary Neurosurgical Unit. This was following a patient presenting with pneumococcal meningitis one year after open head trauma who was not immunised during his index admission. Analysis of digital health records, hospital reporting systems, and pharmacy dispensing for patients admitted to PICU between 01/01/2012 – 01/06/2018 identified 94 patients with major head trauma. 46 were excluded as their skull fracture was closed or notes were unavailable. Results 48 patients had open head trauma. 15 (31%) received pneumococcal immunisation during their admission. 33 (69%) did not. 1 child presented 18 months post injury with devastating pneumococcal meningitis (albeit a strain not covered by the vaccination). Another received a prolonged course of antibiotics during her initial presentation for assumed meningitis (although all cultures were negative). Neither of these were immunised. Conclusion Our administration record was well below expected standards. We have contacted patients who did not receive pneumococcal vaccination and are arranging community administration. We are adding safeguards to ensure eligible patients are immunised at initial presentation. We plan to re-audit our performance 2 years after making these changes.


The objective is to evaluate through a review of relevant studies the relationship between maternal nutrition and fertility in developing countries specifically Bangladesh. Chronic malnutrition is differentiated from famine. Fertility is dependent on the reproductive period and birth intervals. Nutrition may influence fertility through age of menarche age of menopause and the largest effect: the components of the birth interval. Indirect evidence is available to support the notion of nutrition affecting the timing of menarche. Declines over the ages have been associated with dietary improvement. Inconclusive results are available on the relationship between nutrition and menopause. The effects of nutrition are discussed for postpartum amenorrhea intrauterine mortality and fecundability. The conclusions are that maternal nutrition is related to the risk of intrauterine mortality and the probability of conception was unaffected. The magnitude of the effect on fertility of intrauterine mortality is an important consideration. For example in Bangladesh a 50% decrease in fetal mortality associated with a 10 kg increase in maternal weight would decrease the birth interval duration by only 1/2 month. Increases in maternal nutrition contribute to decreases in fetal loss. The effect of fetal loss on the woman and her family is another story of emotional and physical turmoil. Fetal loss is also associated with a risk of infection which could lead to higher maternal mortality. The nutritional effects on amenorrhea do not completely explain the differences. The high frequency of suckling prevents hormonal changes necessary for ovulation. In Bangladesh suckling and maternal malnutrition both extend the duration between births. The mechanism is such that infants may suckle more frequently when mothers are poorly nourished with a decrease in both the volume and fat content of breast milk. When the childs energy input (without breast milk) is controlled for maternal supplementation did not affect the length of postpartum amenorrhea. Policy makers should consider the importance of lactational amenorrhea since it comprises 50% of the birth interval period. When education and nutrition are improved contraception must also be provided.


We studied the optical characteristics correlated with low dielectric constants of low-k SiOCH thin films through ellipsometry. The low-k SiOCH thin films were prepared by CCP-PECVD method using BTMSM(Bis-trimethylsilylmethane) precursors deposited on p-Si wafer. The Si-O-CHx, Si-O-Si, Si-CHx, CHx and Si-H bonding groups were specified by FTIR spectroscopic spectra, and the groups coupled with the nano-porous structural organic/inorganic hybrid-type of SiOCH thin films which has extremely low dielectric constant close to 2.0. The structural groups includes highly dense pore as well as ions in SiOCH thin films affecting to complex refraction characteristics of single layer on the p-Si wafer. The structural complexity originate the complex refractive constants of the films, and resulted the elliptical polarization of the incident linearly polarized light source of Xe-light source in the range from 190 nm to 2100 nm. Phase difference and amplitude ratio between s wave and p wave propagating through SiOCH thin film was studied. After annealing, the amplitude of p wave was reduced more than s wave, and phase difference between p and s wave was also reduced.


Hyla wandae is described from the western edge of the Colombian Ilanos. It seems most closely related to Hyla staufferi, H. parkeri, and H. squalirostris, from which it differs in structural features and color pattern. The mating call of H. wandae is a distinctive series of loud, harsh, regularly repeated notes. Mr. Jerry Glidewell and the senior author collected ten specimens of an apparently unnamed hylid frog in June, July, and August 1969, in Central Colombia. The collecting locality, near Villavicencio, lies at the base of the eastern Andes in what once may have been piedmont forest (Bates, 1948), but is now cleared pasture-land. The frogs were calling from grass clumps and low shrubs around temporary pasture pools. Specimens are deposited in the U. S. National Museum (USNM), The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), Arizona State University (ASU), University of Kansas Museum of Natural History (KU), and American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Hyla wandae, sp. nov. (Fig. 1) Holotype. USNM 192305; 12 km NNE of Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia; elevation about 580 m; 30 July 1969; Jerry R. Glidewell and William F. Pyburn, collectors. Paratypes. USNM 192306-192310 (5 specimens), same data as holotype; UTA 2819, ASU 13129, 13 August 1969, same locality; UTA 2821, 21 June 1969, same locality; KU 131717, 18 km NNE of Villavicencio, 620 m. Diagnosis. Small hylids (males to 26.9 mm snout-vent) of the rubra complex, with 4 dark, dorsolateral stripes; indistinct transverse bars on shanks. Snout pointed; head about as long as wide or slightly longer; tympanum about half of eye diameter; no ulnar or tarsal folds. Digital discs subtruncate, those of finger 3 and 4 and toe 4 about as wide as tympanum; finger webbing virtually lacking; toes about two-thirds webbed, reduced to vestige between toes 1 and 2. Mating call a sequence of short, harsh, regularly repeated buzzes; note duration somewhat greater than interval between notes. Description of Holotype. Adult male, snout-vent length 23.4mm. Head flat, about as wide (7.5mm) as long (7.7mm); dorsal aspect of snout pointed, lateral aspect of snout acutely rounded and projecting beyond lower jaw; snout rather elongate (3.5mm, anterior corner of eye to tip of snout); canthus rounded; loreal region nearly flat (barely concave); nostrils somewhat protuberant, the internarial distance (1.6mm) less than width of upper eyelid (1.9mm); eyes somewhat protuberant, length (2.5mm) almost equal to interorbital distance (2.6mm) and greater than eye (anterior corner) to nostril (posterior edge) (2.2mm); tympanum distinct, small (1.3mm), its diameter about half of eye length; a weak supratympanic fold covers the dorsal edge of the


In his near quarter century on the Court, Justice Clarence Thomas has written extensively on significant issues such as equal protection, religion, and federalism. But in the Court's spring 2015 term, Thomas for the first time wrote substantively on the constitutional separation of powers. For Thomas, the Constitution understood government to possess three distinct types of power—legislative, executive, and judicial—and then constructed the three branches to each exercise its vested power type. I consider how Thomas defined the three powers, as well as how he saw the Constitution creating each branch with the qualities needed to exercise the power given it. All along, I show how Thomas connected separation of powers to the Constitution's larger goal: protecting individual liberty. I then conclude with limitations to Thomas's view and how it, while not achieving total victory, may aid in increasing the Court's fidelity to constitutional norms.


In recent years, with the development of digital technology, digital image processing has been widely and deeply applied in the field of computer graphics. Digital image processing system is a complex real-time system, it from the camera, fax machine and other scanning equipment to obtain image information, after digital transformation, digital image information coding, filtering, enhancement, recovery, compression, storage and other processing, finally generate visual image. This design uses TMS320C6748 as the core processor of the system, SAA7113 as the video decoding chip of the system, CPLD as the sampling controller, DDR2 chip as the external expansion memory. The ROM expansion uses NAND flash memory chip. On the basis of hardware design, combined with software algorithm to complete image processing. The system can be used in information communication, image recognition, news scene and other fields of image processing and transmission. This paper analyzes the hardware structure and data processing algorithm of the system in detail. The experimental results show that the system can not only obtain higher compression ratio, but also reduce the distortion of the reconstructed image. The image processing system has certain practicability.


Content management systems provide a modern method of Web engineering to improve development speed and maintenance effectiveness. Organizations increasingly use these content management systems to leverage their Web applications. However, organizations lack the organizational processes and structure to effectively maintain content management system-based Web applications. In this paper, we provide a framework for the operation and maintenance phase of Web engineering, consisting of guidelines for managing Web content management systems. It includes processes for Web content management on a strategic, tactical, and operational level. The framework is validated through a case study at an inter-municipal cooperative union.


Using the theory of generalized gradients for locally Lipschitz functions, optimality conditions for two-stage problems of stochastic programming with constraints that have to be satisfied almost surely and constraints in integral form are derived. The distribution of the random variable may depend on the decision of the first stage; it is assumed however, that there is a σ-finite measure which dominates all probability measures occurring in the problem.


The invention relates to aqueous compositions for the abrasive treatment of the skin of the human body, especially of the face and/or the neck. Said compositions contain, in a cosmetically and/or dermatologically acceptable excipient, a toxicologically safe nanoparticulate compound of an element of the second to fourth main group, or the second, fourth or eighth subgroup of the periodic system of elements that is poorly soluble in water. Said particles have an average particle size in the range of from 10 to 1000 nm. The inventive compositions bring about an efficient and gentle deep cleansing of the skin.


We have detected the intrinsic size of Sagittarius A*, the Galactic center radio source associated with a supermassive black hole, showing that the short-wavelength radio emission arises from very near the event horizon of the black hole. Radio observations with the Very Long Baseline Array show that the source has a size of 24 ± 2 Schwarzschild radii at 7-millimeter wavelength. In one of eight 7-millimeter epochs, we also detected an increase in the intrinsic size of \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(60_{-17}^{+25}\%\) \end{document}. These observations place a lower limit to the mass density of Sagittarius A* of 1.4 × 104 solar masses per cubic astronomical unit.


This article examines how three Black women educators disrupt oppressive norms in urban schooling through their applications of critical race womanist pedagogy (CRWP). Using narrative excerpts formed from semi-structured interviews exploring how they contend with sociopolitical injustices through their pedagogical choices and actions, CRWP characterizes their daily classroom practices in four ways: (1) teacher reflexivity and student-centered curriculum, (2) authentic and reality-based curriculum, (3) culturally and politically relevant pedagogy, and (4) self-actualization and capacity-oriented approaches. Concretizing enactments of CRWP can inform the work of teachers, teacher educators, and administrators committed to prioritizing student-centered, politicized, academically responsive, and asset-based urban education.


This paper focuses on cultural cisgenderism and its effects on trans people and trans children in particular. Based on a sociological analysis of the key assumptions of the construct of cultural cisgenderism, the author examines how cultural cisgenderism impacts the development of self-preceptions in trans people and trans children, and clearly reveals in detail the different effects of the system of cultural cisgenderism. Cultural cisgenderism is here primarily contrasted with transphobia, in the hope of contributing to a better understanding of the problems that trans people face with cultural cisgenderism.


The growing environmental regulation governs the use of lead by RoHS, WEEE, and then. The electronic industry is moving to replace Pb-bearing solder with Pb-free solder. To use the Pb-free solder, microelectronic industry needs consequently the new reliability appraisal such as the packaging for high temperature process, various mechanical change caused by new solder, and the development of Pb-free sloder for long life of product. The evaluation of solder bar and mechanical properties of joint were performed compared with international standard, and new appraisal standard was established. The solderability and spread ability of Sn-0.7Cu solder material showed up to the standard. Shear test of solder joint using by the solder resulted that the shear strengths after thermal shock or after aging were not much lower than the shear strength of as-soldered and that they were also up to the standard.


We investigate the Banach Lie groupoids and inverse semigroups naturally associated to W*-algebras. We also present statements describing relationship between these groupoids and the Banach Poisson geometry which follows in the canonical way from the W*-algebra structure.


Organizations are constantly reinventing themselves and going through continuous organizational changes what, if mismanaged, can result in bullying. If bullying is mismanaged it can result in disfunctioning organizational processes. The main aim of this research is to develop theoretical framework on how to mitigate the risks of bullying invasion while creating organization's future under high uncertainty. The theoretical analysis of organization's future creation and that of bullying in a context of high uncertainty is undertaken. It is revealed that to cope with the potential "side effects" of continuous strategic changes, organizations need to institutionalize bullying, ensure effective information sharing and communication. JEL Codes: M12, M14, M19.


Person reidentification is aimed at solving the problem of matching and identifying people under the scene of cross cameras. However, due to the complicated changes of different surveillance scenes, the error rate of person reidentification exists greatly. In order to solve this problem and improve the accuracy of person reidentification, a new method is proposed, which is integrated by attention mechanism, hard sample acceleration, and similarity optimization. First, the bilinear channel fusion attention mechanism is introduced to improve the bottleneck of ResNet50 and fine-grained information in the way of multireceptive field feature channel fusion is fully learnt, which enhances the robustness of pedestrian features. Meanwhile, a hard sample selection mechanism is designed on the basis of the P2G optimization model, which can simplify and accelerate picking out hard samples. The hard samples are used as the objects of similarity optimization to realize the compression of the model and the enhancement of the generalization ability. Finally, a local and global feature similarity fusion module is designed, in which the weights of each part are learned through the training process, and the importance of key parts is automatically perceived. Experimental results on Market-1501 and CUHK03 datasets show that, compared with existing methods, the algorithm in this paper can effectively improve the accuracy of person reidentification.


The introduction of ultrabright retroreflective materials may provide the opportunity to develop highway signs with improved conspicuity — especially when viewed in highly complex (i.e., "cluttered") driving environments. In order to investigate this possibility, the glance conspicuity of briefly presented highway signs was examined as a function of sign brightness (bright vs. ultrabright), background scene complexity (low, moderate, high) and age of observer (young vs. old). Glance conspicuity — measured in terms of both reaction time and accuracy — was found to improve as a function of increased sign brightness when viewed against high complexity (but not low complexity) backgrounds. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for improved design of traffic control devices.


During the months of May and June last three batches of monkeys (Cercopithecus), making fourteen in all, were sent to me for experimental purposes. The first lot of four monkeys arrived on May 15th, and on taking their temperatures the following evening it was found that they all had fever varying from 103·8° to 106·4° F. Blood films were taken and examined the following day, but nothing was then found save a rather marked degree of polychromatophilia. That evening, May 17th, the temperature of one of the monkeys was found to be 110·4°, the animal was moribund, and died within two hours. An autopsy was made next morning, but nothing abnormal could be found. That afternoon, in examining a fresh blood preparation, a non-pigmented pear-shaped endocorpuscular body was found. This body was single, pear-shaped when first seen, and gradually changed its shape, becoming first oval and then again pear-shaped but with the thin end now at the opposite extremity. No protrusion of pseudopodia was observed.


Clutch device for timepiece, comprising first and second coaxial rotary mobile parts (1, 2) able to take up a relative axial coupled position in which a rotation of the first mobile part (1) gives rise to a rotation of the second mobile part (2), and a relative axial uncoupled position in which a rotation of the first mobile part (1) does not give rise to a rotation of the second mobile part (2), characterised in that is also comprises a friction element of viscoelastic material (30) intercalated between the mobile parts (1, 2) in order to transmit the rotation of the first mobile part (1) in the coupled position to the second mobile part (2).


system is used in single task applications and it is important in process and control application such as temperature, pressure, flow, weight etc. This paper presents one such applications in which developed a model with objective of measurement and display weight. In this Load cell used as transducer, instrumentation amplifier designed by using OP-07E operational amplifier, microcontroller AT89S52 and ADC 0804 used for data processing .A program written in assembly language to display given weight on 16X2 matrix display. Finally the designed model has tested its working satisfied.


Introduction: Maintaining patient safety is of utmost concern for anesthesia providers. The adductor canal block, a peripheral nerve block identified as a motor-sparing sensory block, may decrease fall risk and associated adverse outcomes seen in total knee arthroplasty patients following femoral nerve block. A large volume of local anesthetic administered in the adductor canal has been questioned due to concern about impaired quadriceps strength if volume extends beyond the adductor canal, causing an unintended femoral nerve block due to spread of local anesthetic into the femoral triangle. Methods: A review of literature was performed on the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL Complete, and Cochrane Collection. Results: A 20 ml volume provides approximately 95% of patients with pain control due to complete distal spread within the adductor canal while ensuring statistically insignificant motor blockade compared to femoral nerve block. Doses of 15 ml no longer provided statistically significant strength preservation 24-hours post-block suggesting volumes less than 20 ml should be avoided. Studies indicate that, although 30 ml volumes may cause proximal spread, the effect on quadriceps strength appears significantly less than that of the femoral nerve block. Conclusions: Volumes of 20 to 30 ml are appropriate for adductor canal blockade.


There is proposed a splitting scheme of the nume rical integration of a system of partial differential equa tion describing a nonstationary drift-diffusion model of a semiconductor plasma, The typical initial-boundary value problem is described. The scheme accuracy is O(T, h/sup 2//sub 1/, h/sup 2//sub 2/).


A few normal problems of maintenance of the DCS system are elaborated. There included the upgrade of EWS and OIS,touching point of the relay to merge,the signal of analog input add isolation device,environment of improvement,the,the change of the way of connecting the line to the thermocouple.


The evaporation dynamics of a binary droplet is established by aligning resonances observed in light scattering with those calculated from an evaporation model. For an ideal solution droplet the size and composition as functions of time are determined with high precision from the observed resonances, and the underlying evaporation model is unquestionably validated by accurately recovering the properties of the individual components of the droplet. The results suggest that experimental resonances, each containing a unique relation between the size parameter and the refractive index, can be used to accurately quantify multicomponent droplet evaporation through complex models.


Introduction: Desmosomal changes, electrical uncoupling, and surviving myocardial bundles embedded in fibrofatty tissue are hallmarks of activation delay in arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C). Currently, generally accepted task force criteria (TFC) are used for clinical diagnosis. We propose additional criteria based on activation delay and ventricular tachycardia (VT) to improve identification of affected individuals.


In this paper, we give a brief introduction about applications of approxiamtion theory of functions in harmonic analysis and wavelet research.We start from Korovkins theorem to introduce applications of test functions in wavelet research. Then we present boundedness of singular integrals by using Jackson approximation.In addition, applications of regular linear summation and approximation in edge detection and inverse Fourier transform are stated. We also introduce some new results in signal reconstruction by sparse data.


Teledyne Imaging, part of Teledyne Technologies, has released a new and innovative CMOS sensor technology, LACera™. LACera, large area CMOS, is a significant step forward in CMOS capabilities for advanced imaging which will enable the next generation of scientific discovery. Exclusively developed by Teledyne Imaging, LACera advanced imaging technology draws on Teledyne's decades of expertise in CMOS sensor and camera development. Applications as diverse as next generation genomics, astronomical photometry, ultra-high-resolution x-ray and electron imaging require CMOS sensors and cameras with low light sensitivity and speed. LACera CMOS technology delivers greater than 90% quantum efficiency and proprietary low noise architecture with up to 18-bit readout – a combination of performance not previously available in wafer scale sensors. The first implementation of LACera in a commercial product is found in the COSMOS™ family of scientific cameras. COSMOS delivers deep-cooled, low-noise performance on a multi-megapixel scale, with global shutter, 18-bit readout, and glow reduction technology. COSMOS addresses many of the challenges of today's CMOS technology by maintaining performance when scaling to larger formats and combining speed and low noise. COSMOS is available from 3k x 3k to 8k x 8k sensor sizes, with large 10 micron pixels for maximum field of view. COSMOS large array cameras provide >90% peak quantum efficiency for high sensitivity and over 50 fps for capturing dynamic events. Other benefits include 0.7 e- read noise for detection of faint objects, and deep cooling to ensure low dark current. An advanced pixel structure allows for true global shutter alongside back-illuminated CMOS. This product introduction session will provide detailed information about LACera and COSMOS. Please join us to hear about this exciting and innovative technology and visit www.largeareaCMOS.com for more information.


Granular cell myoblastoma is an uncommon, benign lesion that occurs most commonly in the tongue. Within the respiratory tract, these lesions appear most frequently in the larynx, occasionally in the bronchus, and rarely in the trachea. The treatment is local excision. Our tracheal case has been observed for eight years without evidence of progression or recurrence, although initial excision was "inadequate." The four other reported cases are reviewed.


For natural circulation,it is shown that parallel flow in the tubes of inverted U-tube team generators can be non-uniform.And reverse flow occurs within some tubes,which can greatly influence the characteristics of natural circulation.Advance in research of non-uniform flow distribution in UTSG under the natural circulation condition is reviewed,including experiment,mechanism analysis,and numerical calculation.According to the analysis on the advantages and disadvantages of those researches,some proposals for the further study are given


The dissertation explores the problem of rigorously quantifying the performance of a fault diagnosis scheme in terms of probabilistic performance metrics. Typically, when the performance of a fault diagnosis scheme is of utmost importance, physical redundancy is used to create a highly reliable system that is easy to analyze. However, in this dissertation, we provide a general framework that applies to more complex analytically redundant or model-based fault diagnosis schemes. For each fault diagnosis problem in this framework, our performance metrics can be computed accurately in polynomial-time.First, we cast the fault diagnosis problem as a sequence of hypothesis tests. At each time, the performance of a fault diagnosis scheme is quantified by the probability that the scheme has chosen the correct hypothesis. The resulting performance metrics are joint probabilities. Using Bayes rule, we decompose these performance metrics into two parts: marginal probabilities that quantify the reliability of the system and conditional probabilities that quantify the performance of the fault diagnosis scheme. These conditional probabilities are used to draw connections between the fault diagnosis and the fields of medical diagnostic testing, signal detection, and general statistical decision theory.Second, we examine the problem of computing the performance metrics efficiently and accurately. To solve this problem, we examine each portion of the fault diagnosis problem and specify a set of sufficient assumptions that guarantee efficient computation. In particular, we provide a detailed characterization of the class of finite-state Markov chains that lead to tractable fault parameter models. To demonstrate that these assumptions enable efficient computation, we provide pseudocode algorithms and prove that their running time is indeed polynomial.Third, we consider fault diagnosis problems involving uncertain systems. The inclusion of uncertainty enlarges the class of systems that may be analyzed with our framework. It also addresses the issue of model mismatch between the actual system and the system used to design the fault diagnosis scheme. For various types of uncertainty, we present convex optimization problems that yield the worst-case performance over the uncertainty set.Finally, we discuss applications of the performance metrics and compute the performance for two fault diagnosis problems. The first problem is based on a simplified air-data sensor model, and the second problem is based on a linearized vertical take-off and landing aircraft model.


Phytoplankton which are present in a variety of aquatic habitats were studied with respect to their species taken for one complete year (2011-2012).The present study was carried out on Narmada river situated in west Nimar of Madhya Pradesh. The plankton were collected, counted and identified by using the method suggested by APHA (1985),Prescott (1969) and fresh water biology. Different class such as Chlorophyceae, Cynophyceae, Tebouxiophyceae, Ulvophyceae and Zygnematophyceae were identified. Ten species of phytoplankton have been collected from various freshwater habitats in the West Nimar. Out of 10 genera Cynophyceae (4),Charophyceae (3), Trebouxiophyceae (1), Ulvophyceae (1) and Zygnematophyceae (1).The study among all these phytoplankton Cynophyceae were recorded as a dominant class in Narmada river. The study was carried out monthly but was tabulated seasonally by using statical method. Result shows that diversity of species Cynophyceae where 40% Charophyceae 30%, Trebouxiophyceae 10%, Ulvophyceae 10% and Zygnematophyceae 10% were composed.


Precipitation kinetics of FeCO3 has been previously studied over a range of temperatures from 50oC to 80oC, leading to the development of an equation predicting FeCO3 precipitation rate. However, this initial equation, which depends mostly on calibrated kinetic constant kr,FeCO3, and activation energy, ∆GFeCO3 , was only validated in 1wt.% NaCl aqueous solution. Further testing had shown an overestimation of FeCO3 precipitation rate occurred when applying the model to solutions containing higher NaCl content, and thus deviating strongly from ideality. In this research, updated expression of both the kinetic constant kr,FeCO3 , and the activation energy, ∆GFeCO3 , were extracted from additional experiments using 3 wt%, 6 wt%, and 9 wt% NaCl solutions at temperatures of 60°C, 70°C, and 80°C. Observations show that strong deviation from solutions ideality affected both parameters. This led to the development a new version of the kinetic model for FeCO3 precipitation valid for a wider range of experimental conditions.


Microarrays are a powerful tool in functional genomics, what allow a simultaneous analysis of the expression level of thousands of genes under different conditions. In order to compare measurements within and across arrays and to correct non-biological variation masking meaningful information, normalization is an essential task prior to any further analysis. Among all the available normalization techniques, LOWESS has proved useful for the normalization of data generated from the two main microarray platforms (two-color arrays and affymetrix chips) due to its ability to remove intensity dependent effects. However, the use of this robust estimator to correct the data without taking account of biological characteristics is a concern often raised by microarray analysts. In addition, powerful software packages are needed to perform such computationally expensive normalization and several parameters need to be fixed in advance, resulting in differently corrected data sets for the different sets of parameters used. Reverse labeling designs are common setups in two-color microarray experiments if comparison between the co-hybridized samples is of interest. Using three different data sets, this paper assesses the effectiveness of dye-swap normalization, a method that makes use of the intrinsic information provided by this type of experimental design. The results show how dye-swap normalization corrects the bias introduced by the different properties of the dyes, removing intensity dependent effects. Furthermore, dye-swap normalization corrects the data accounting for gene-dye effects and the transformation of the data is justified on a biological basis. The results present dye-swap normalization as a valid alternative to normalize two-color microarray data. The paper also reviews the assumptions made and the formulas applied to correct the data using dye-swap normalization. In addition, a generalization of the dye swap normalization formula is implemented to normalize data generated from microarray experiments for which a large proportion of genes are expected to be differentially expressed.∗ The figures and results presented in this paper have been implemented using several Bioconductor packages from R, MATLAB (Mathworks Inc.) and ArrayNorm. A collection of files and supplementary material is available from http://www.sbi.uni-rostock.de


Motivated by adsorbent/liquid-interactive interfacial character, a major study within
this thesis examines lead (Pb) adsorption on activated carbon. Pb was chosen as a
model because it is abundant in aqueous waste, a potential risk factor for both human
health and the environment and the focus of prior scientific investigation.
Convectional techniques for Pb removal in aqueous solutions have inherited
limitations and collateral effects. Adsorption onto solid adsorbent especially activated
carbon, is an excellent strategy to eliminate Pb(II) from solution due to the high
efficiency of adsorption and sorption capacity. On this front, activated carbon (AC)
was prepared by chemical treatment of palm kernel shell (PKS) using H3PO4 and later
modified using citric acid (CA) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA).
The respective physicochemical properties of the AC itself and the modified AC are
identified using FTIR, FESEM, BET surface area and elemental analysis. The
adsorption behavior of modified activated carbon is also put into context by
calculations of interaction potentials through kinetics and isotherm models.
Adsorption in batch method are benchmarked against adsorption in column studies,
where the latter represents a real-world industrial situation and with potential for use
in industries for water treatment. The activated carbon produced were mainly
microporous in nature with BET surface area and pHpzc ranged from 548 m2/g to
1560 m2/g and 2 to 4.5, respectively. AC-600 2:1 exhibited the highest Pb(II) removal
and was subjected to CA and EDTA modification. The adsorption process was
endothermic and spontaneous in nature and the data fitted the pseudo-second order
kinetics and Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity of Pb(II)
was in the sequence of AC-PKS (86.2 mg/g) < AC-CA (103.1 mg/g ) < AC-EDTA
(104.2 mg/g), at 25 ± 1C and pH 5. Chemical reaction and mass transfer at the interface were the rate limiting steps during the adsorption of Pb(II). Both AC-CA and
AC-EDTA showed good regeneration and reusability properties for Pb(II) adsorption.
The result of the competitive adsorption studies, involving Pb(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II)
showed strong antagonism in the multi-ions adsorption with the adsorbents showing
more affinity towards Pb(II). The modified activated carbons also showed better
adsorption performance in removing Pb(II) from electroplating wastewater than from
the river water sample.
In the fixed-bed column studies, both the flow rate and bed height influenced the
column performance; increase in flow rate resulted in early breakthrough and
exhaustion time, though with less adsorption of Pb(II). On the other hand, increased
bed height leads to extended exhaustion time with improved column performance.
Thomas and Yoon-Nelson models successfully modeled the breakthrough curve for
dynamic adsorption of Pb(II) on the modified activated carbon. In conclusion, the
adsorbents can adsorbed Pb(II) in both batch and column studies. The modified ACs
exhibited higher adsorption capacities due to OH, COOH, and NH complexation with
the metal ions. The performance of these adsorbents, benchmarked against other low
cost adsorbents, is promising. These findings illustrate that the metal ion adsorption at
the ionic scale in aqueous environment is through ion exchange, π-π interactions or
complexation reaction.


Aiming at sovling the problems of complexity and substantial experience needed in using HyperWorks to do CAE analysis for enterprise,the structure and development process of HyperWorks CAE process automation system is given based on HyperWorks Process Mananger and Process Studio.CAE process automation system is developed by using the Tcl/Tk programming technology.CAE analysis result of some product parts demonstrates the operability of CAE automation system.It provides a shortcut for designing and analyzing products and reduces the analysis and design cycle of the product eventually.It has a great guiding significance for enterprise development work.


Injuries to upper limb has been on the increase which is invariably associated with significant soft tissue loss requiring a flap cover. Local tissue for covering the wound may not be available in a majority of situations.Hence there is a need to import tissue from a distant source.Most of the time conventional flaps like groin and abdomen flap may not be available . We have utilized the thoraco -abdomen flap taken from the trunk for this purpose. This flap is based on the perforators of the deep inferior epigastric artery which are maximally centred on the periumbilical region.


Larvae of the nematode Phocanema decipiens (Ascaridida: Anisakidae), known as "codworm" in the vernacular, occur in the musculature of some cod and other marine fishes in both hemispheres, particularly in the temperate and polar climatic zones. The natural definitive hosts are Pinnipedia (seals, sea lions, walruses). For many years regarded incapable of surviving in man, recent reports from Japan indicate that in certain circumstances codworm larvae may temporarily invade the human gastric mucosa, producing clinical symptoms. Several nonclinical cases, in which the larval worms were expelled orally or in the feces of humans, have been reported from Canada (1), the USA (5), Greenland (1), and the U.K. (1). The source of human infections was raw, lightly marinated, or insufficiently cooked sea fish. The ability of codworm larvae to penetrate the stomach wall of other mammals has been demonstrated experimentally in rabbits, rats, dogs, and pigs. Natural infection of a dog in Hokkaido has been reported. For t...


BACKGROUND
 Thus far, no Chinese studies have explored knee arthritis symptoms in depth, and there are no adequate data regarding the care seeking behavior of these patients.

 OBJECTIVE
 To collect nationwide data in China via an online survey of people suspected of having knee arthritis, and analyze their symptoms and care seeking behavior.

 METHODS
 Participants were directed to a survey page via a popular health website in China. The measurement tool was a 14-item knee arthritis questionnaire, designed as a 10-point continuous measurement scale, containing 14 symptom items grouped into 3 domains: pain, inflammation, and functioning. For each single item, the respondent rated his/her level of severity as: 'mild' (score 1-3); 'moderate' (4-6); or 'severe' (7-10). Mean scores determined the severity of symptoms for each domain and each respondent. In analyzing correlations between the 14 symptoms, a correlation coefficient of >0.6 was regarded as a strong relationship.

 RESULTS
 A total of 7,956 Chinese patients completed the survey. The correlation coefficient between inflammation and functioning was 0.783, versus 0.630 between pain and inflammation, and 0.693 between pain and functioning. Most of the stronger links were observed between symptoms of the inflammation domain and those of the functioning domain. In the behavior analysis, a longer time to seek treatment was observed in females than in males (p<0.001).

 CONCLUSIONS
 In Chinese people with suspected knee arthritis, inflammation is found correlated with loss of function more strongly than pain. A gap in health care for Chinese patients might exist, delayed treatment and lack of standardized treatment plans being examples.


A one-dimensional ice thickness distribution model is presented to determine the minimum number of ice thicknesses necessary to resolve the area-averaged annual cycles of ice thickness and turbulent fluxes. The baseline case includes 40 ice thickness categories; ice thickness and area, meltwater ponds, ice salinity and age, snow cover, and surface albedo evolve independently for each ice category. A ridging and ice export parameterization, and a coupled one-dimensional ocean mixed layer model are also included. Sensitivity studies indicate that 16 ice thickness categories can accurately resolve the baseline annual cycles of area-averaged ice thickness and the summertime turbulent fluxes in this model, provided that one third of the thickness categories represent ice thinner than 0.8 m. Resolving the distribution of ice in this thickness range is important in simulating the area-averaged ice characteristics. Wintertime values of the turbulent fluxes differ from the baseline by up to 1 W m−2 for fewer than 40 ice thickness categories. The large difference in turbulent fluxes between open water and ice thicker than 1.6 m makes the area-averaged value sensitive to the number of ice thickness categories, since this number can affect the categories that are merged, the categories that melt completely, ice that is ridged, and the resolution of the ice thickness distribution. This makes an accurate simulation of the baseline wintertime turbulent fluxes difficult. Model simulations with fewer than 40 categories provide a reasonable estimate of the baseline response to a surface longwave heat flux perturbation of greater than 5 W m−2. The annually area-averaged ice thickness is within 10 cm. The model response to a heat flux perturbation of less than 5 W m−2 is similar for a wide range of ice thickness categories, since the thickness distribution of ice thinner than 1 m is not affected.


Let G be a complex semi-simple linear algebraic group without G_2 factors, B a Borel subgroup of G and T a maximal torus in B. The flag variety G/B is a projective G-homogeneous variety whose tangent space at the identity coset is isomorphic, as a B-module, to Lie(G)/Lie(B). Recall that if w is an element of the Weyl group W of the pair (G,T), the Schubert variety X(w) in G/B is by definition the closure of the Bruhat cell BwB. In this note we prove that X(w) is non-singular iff the following two conditions hold: 1) its Poincar\'e polynomial is palindromic and 2) the tangent space TE(X(w)) to the set T-stable curves in X(w) through the identity is a $B$-submodule of Lie(G)/Lie(B). This gives two criteria in terms of the combinatorics of W which are necessary and sufficient for X(w) to be smooth: \sum_{x\le w} t^{\ell(x)} is palindromic, and every root of (G,T) in the convex hull of the set of negative roots whose reflection is less than w (in the Bruhat order on W) has the property that its T-weight space (in Lie(G)/Lie(B)) is contained in TE(X(w)). However, as we show by example, these conditions don't characterize the smooth Schubert varieties when G has type G_2.


Location recommendation has attracted increasing attention in recent years. This paper proposes a novel multi-objective framework for location recommendation based on user preference. Under this framework, user preference can be separated into common preference and individual preference. Then two contradictory objective functions are designed to describe these two kinds of preferences. It is difficult to optimize these two objective functions simultaneously. In this paper, a novel multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is proposed to optimize these two objective functions. The proposed algorithm can make a good balance between these two objective functions. Experiments on two real application recommendation scenarios: Foursquare dataset and Gowalla dataset show that the proposed algorithm is effective to recommend locations.


An experimental investigation has been conducted to study the morphology of high-frequency electrohydraulic discharge for a liquid-solution plasma, where the liquid-solution plasma is currently investigated for the fabrication of nanometer-size metal particles and inactivation of bacteria. The fundamental nature and basic characteristics of this new type of plasma is relatively not well investigated. In this paper, this type of liquid-solution plasma was experimentally investigated along with discharge morphology.


This study provides the response of placing a graphene layer along with plasmonic nanoparticles on top of Si substrate, which significantly increases the efficiency of the photo-voltaic (PV) cells. The advantage of using plasmonic nanoparticles has already been studied in previous studies. However, not much study has been done by using graphene layers in conjunction with plasmonic nanoparticles to improve the efficiency of solar cells. The reason behind choosing graphene is because of its high electrical and thermal conductivity, transparency, excellent flexibility, bending stability, and most importantly, thickness of one atom. Another big advantage is that graphene is inexpensive and widely available commercially. Therefore, in this study, the task was to place a layer of graphene on top of the Si substrate and at the top of this layer a single Ag nanoparticle was placed. Then, the optical absorption, short circuit current, open circuit voltage, output power, fill factor and near-field enhancementswere computed. These results due to the presence of a graphene layer below the Ag nanoparticle were compared with the results of placing Ag nanoparticle on top of the Si substrate without the presence of graphene layer. For both the cases, the diameter for Ag nanoparticle was kept at 20nm, 50nm and 100nm, respectively. After comparing these results, it was found that the use of graphene in addition to the plasmonic nanoparticles, as a layer on the Si substrate, significantly improves the efficiency of the PV cells. Further analysis was done by varying the thickness of graphene layer and it was found that the thickness of 2 nm graphene layer yields the optimum efficiency.


Dye effluent has attracted considerable attention from worldwide researchers due to its harm and toxicity in recent years; as a result, the treatment for dye has become one of the focuses in the environmental field. Adsorption has been widely applied in water treatment owing to its various advantages. However, the adsorption behaviors of the new materials, such as the 2D black phosphorus (BP), for pollution were urgently revealed and improved. In this work, BP, black phosphorene (BPR), and sulfonated BPR (BPRS) were prepared by the vapor phase deposition method, liquid-phase exfoliating method, and modification with sulfonation, respectively. The three BP-based materials were characterized and used as adsorbents for the removal of methylene blue (MB) in water. The results showed that the specific surface areas (SSAs) of BP, BPR, and BPRS were only 6.78, 6.92, and 7.72 m2·g−1, respectively. However, the maximum adsorption capacities of BP, BPR, and BPRS for MB could reach up to 84.03, 91.74, and 140.85 mg·g−1, which were higher than other reported materials with large SSAs such as graphene (GP), nanosheet/magnetite, and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). In the process of BP adsorbing MB, wrinkles were generated, and the wrinkles would further induce adsorption. BPR had fewer layers (3–5), more wrinkles, and stronger adsorption capacity (91.74 mg·g−1). The interactions between the BP-based materials and MB might cause the BP-based materials to deform, i.e., to form wrinkles, thereby creating new adsorption sites between layers, and then further inducing adsorption. Although the wrinkles had a certain promotion effect, the adsorption capacity was limited, so the sulfonic acid functional group was introduced to modify BPR to increase its adsorption sites and promote the adsorption effect. These findings could provide a new viewpoint and insight on the adsorption behavior and potential application of the BP-based materials.


A reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of ce- faclor and ceftriaxone cephalosporin antibiotic. The developed method has been validated and applied to mixtures of the commercial formula- tion and spiked human plasma. A mediterranea C 18 column (4.6 × 250 mm) was used with isocratic solvent delivery system and UV-visible detector. Different experimental parameters like solvent composition (acetonitrile: methanol: triethyl amine buffer 1:1:2 (v/v), flow rate of mobile phase (0.6 mLmin −1 ), pH of the buffer (7), and wavelength (260 nm) were optimized for effective separation and resolution of the analyte peaks. The separation was achieved in 6 min with reten- tion times of 4.94 ± 0.056 min and 3.39 ± 0.022 min for cefaclor and ceftriaxone respectively. The linear range for both the studied drugs was found to be 0.5-250 µgmL −1 with r 2 of 0.9987 (cefaclor) and 0.9997 (ceftriaxone). The limit of detection (3.3 σ/S) was found to be 2.34 × 10 −2 µgmL −1 and 1.70 × 10 −2 µgmL −1 , respectively, for cefaclor and ceftriaxone. Similarly limit of quantification (10σ/S) was 7.10 × 10 −2 µgmL −1 for cefaclor and 5.15 × 10 −2 µgmL −1 for ceftriaxone.


Introduction: Aberrant frenal attachment and shallow vestibule in the anterior mandible facilitates plaque accumulation, inflammation, and root exposure of the mandibular central incisors, especially where the "pull syndrome" is noted.

Case Report: A 22 years old systemically healthy female patient complained of slight mobility and increased spacing in relation to lower front teeth. Clinical examination revealed Cairo recession type 2 (RT2) gingival recession in relation to mandibular central incisors and hyperplastic frenum with fan shaped attachment to gingival margin of mandibular central incisors. Frenectomy was performed using conventional surgical technique. After 14 days of surgery 0.5 mm of creeping attachment as well as reduction in recession width at apical level of recession was observed in relation to mandibular central incisors. The achieved clinical results remained stable till 6 months of follow-up.

Conclusion: This case report suggests that frenectomy using conventional surgical technique may yield acceptable clinical outcomes and esthetics in RT2 gingival recession.


Discrepancy between subjective and objective evaluation is one of the annoying issues in speech processing including speech enhancement. Subjective evaluation is ideal, although it is time-consuming with a lot of participants. Then, objective distortion measures have been designed as the substitutes for subjective listening tests. However, each distortion measure is optimized under very restricted condition for the specific application. Therefore, discrepancy between subjective and objective evaluation of noise-reduced speech is often caused in the real world. In this paper, the factor of the discrepancy is investigated in detail by comparing the subjective evaluation with the short-term objective evaluation. Almost all state-of-the-art distortion measures introduce the importance weight in the frequency region. On the other hand, this paper considers the temporal variation of speech distortion to understand the relationship between subjective and objective evaluation of noise-reduced speech. Distribution of short-term speech distortion was prepared using the temporal frames with various lengths. It is found that the skewness of the short-term speech distortion distribution could be a clue for explaining the discrepancy between subjective and objective evaluation. [Work supported by NEDO, Japan]


Pluripotent stem cells can be induced from somatic cells by the transcription factors Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc and Klf4 when co-cultured with mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) feeder cells. To date, the role of the feeder cells in the reprogramming process remains unclear. In this study, using a comparative analysis, we demonstrated that MEF feeder cells did not accelerate reprogramming or increase the frequency of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell colonies. However, feeder conditions did improve the growth of primary iPS colonies and were necessary for passaging the primary colonies after reprogramming was achieved. We further developed a feeder-free culture system for supporting iPS growth and sustaining pluripotency by adding bFGF and activin A (bFA) to the medium. These data will facilitate the generation of human iPS cells without animal feeders for regenerative medicine. Crown Copyright 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Federation for Cell Biology. All rights reserved.


Two aldehyde-modified tetraphenylene derivatives with different functionality are synthesized and exhibit different fluorescence properties. By incorporating tetraphenylene derivatives into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) networks, two elastomers are prepared through dynamic covalent crosslinking. The elastomers show excellent fluorescence properties, mechanical properties, thermal stability as well as self-healing and recycle properties. At the same time, the mechanical properties of the elastomers are influenced by the functionality of the tetraphenylene derivatives and the molecular weight of the PDMS. The self-healing process take place quickly and the recycling process can be carried out by solution processing and hot pressing. It shows the similar tensile properties between the prisitine and healed samples. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Research on heat conduction in periodic nanoporous silicon films has drawn much attention due to its importance for developing highly efficient thermoelectric devices. Here, the thermal transport in two-dimensional (2D) periodic silicon nanoporous films is studied by a phonon Monte Carlo (MC) method and the theoretical analyses based on the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE). It is found that both the cross-plane and the in-plane effective thermal conductivities are significantly reduced when compared to those in the diffusive limit, and decrease with the increasing porosity or the decreasing period length. Importantly, our work reveals a strong anisotropy of the effective thermal conductivity of the 2D periodic nanoporous films; that is, the effective thermal conductivity in the in-plane direction is significantly less than that in the cross-plane direction, due to the anisotropic effects of material removal and pore boundary scattering. Interestingly, even the influence of the specular parameter that de...


The invention relates to a method and a control unit as well as the use of the same for climate control and air purification, for example in animal sheds. It is part of the invention that the control and control utilize adaptive controllers, thereby minimizing manual adjustment and adjustment. In addition, the invention is robust to changes in building conditions and weather, and automatically maintains an optimal climate in the site where the control unit operates.


Direct resonant pumping of the /sup 4/I/sub 11/2/ upper state of the 2.8- mu m Er/sup 3+/:YLF laser at 0.97 mu m is shown to be more efficient than other pumping schemes which have been used for this transition. Upper-state pumping avoids nonradiative losses arising from phonon and self-quenching decays inherent in other pumping schemes. Efficient performance of the 2.8- mu m laser is maintained on condition that extremely shallow pump absorption is avoided. Reduced efficiency for shallow pump absorption is attributed to upconversion loss arising from high pumping rates. >


A case of oral lichen sclerosus et atrophicus is presented The diagnostic difficulties of this condition based on oral lesions alone and its malignant potential are discussed.


: Third World irrigation and drainage systems have experienced major declines recently in both capability and performance. This is due initially to working them well beyond their design capaci-capacities; scouring, sedimentation, and overtopping result. Chronic OM and (b) different levels of O&M spending on canals and drains. Surely those different levels provide differing benefits, in total, and at the margin. Which level is most economic? This paper identifies these latter analytical issues, posits methodologies key to an O&M spending level analysis, and discusses the information base. Particular attention is paid to identifying relevant costs and benefits, and to suggesting supplementary criteria for O&M spending level selection. The paper is an exercise in delineation of an imminently practical area of irrigation engineering economics.


Periodontitis is a common and frequently encountered disease. However, its mechanism is remain unclear. Apoptosis is triggered by special signaling molecules and is a highly regulated form of programmed cell death under control of genes. A larger number of studies approve that apoptosis plays an important role in the progress of periodontitis. Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, one of the main pathogenic bacteria of periodontitis produces several virluence factors. The relationship between virluence factors of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and apoptosis, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and a variety of cells in periodontal tissue was reviewed.


A Continously Embedded Force Doublet over the Particular Region can be Regardedas the Distributing Eigen Strain. this Fact Implies that many Sorts of Inelastic Strain can Bereplaced by the Force Doublet. in the Present Paper, the Force Doublet is Used to Alter the Localconstitutive Relationship. as a Result, a Method for Analyzing the General Inclusion Problem Inwhich the Material Properties of the Inclusion are Not only Different from those of the Matrixmaterial but also can be even a Function of Spacial Coordinate Variables is Proposed. Thetheoretical Background of the Present Analysis is Explained Followed by some Representativenumerical Results.


One of the major problems occurring in many technical applications is the presence of the hysteretic behavior in sensors and actuators, which causes a nonlinear relationship between input and output variables in such devices. Since the nonlinear phenomenon of hysteresis degrades the performance of the piezoelectric materials and piezoelectric drive mechanisms, for example, in positioning control framework, it has to be characterized in order to mitigate the effect of the nonlinearity in the devices. This paper is aimed to characterize and model the hysteresis in typical piezoelectric actuators under load-free and preloaded circumstances incorporating the inertial effect of the system. For this purpose, the piezoelectric actuator is modeled as a mass-spring-damper system, which is expressed in terms of a stop operator as one of the essential yet efficient hysteresis operators in the Prandtl-Ishlinskii (PI) model. The reason of utilizing the stop operator in this study is for the sake of control purposes, as the stop operator plays as the inverse of the play operator in the PI model and can be used in a feed-forward controller scheme to suppress the effect of hysteresis in general control framework. The results reveal that this model exhibits better correspondence to the measurement output compared to that of the classical PI model.