This work aimed to study the response of growing female NZW rabbits to quantitative feed restriction (FR) at 60% of ad-libitum applied and the effect of adding either copper sulfate (CuSO4) and/or sodium bicarbonate (NaHCo3) to drinking water on performance and hepatic expression of apolipoprotein (apoA1), lipoprotein (cholesteryl ester transfer protein CETP, hepatic lipase HL) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1) during the summer period. Over the fattening period, rabbits fed AL during RES period (28-49 day of age) were significantly higher in most growth performance (GP) than RES-group, but all hepatic expression of genes tested decreased in feed restrictions group when compared to control on the other hand, adding either CuSO4 or NaHCo3 to drinking water slightly insignificant increase the expression of all the tested gens. When RES. rabbits fed freely after restriction (49-84 days of age). Logically, feed intake (FI) was significantly increased for AL group during FR period while, it was nearly similar, but FCE was more favorable for RES group throughout the whole period. Also, performance index (PI) was significantly higher for RES-groups. All values of carcass traits were significantly affected by FR. However, adding either CuSO4 or NaHCo3 to drinking water decreased GP during FR period. It can be concluded that FR had no significant effect on GP and slight decrease in gene expression for IGF-1 and lipoprotein gens, so it can applied FR to produce at slaughter age, rabbits with the same LBW of rabbits fed AL. Also, CuSO4 or NaHCo3 in drinking water is more practical to alleviate of heat load under the summer condition of Egypt.


Abstract This paper offers a rejoinder to Dustin, Schmalz, and Allen's recent publication, Sticks and Stones…: Embracing Discomfort to Enhance Learning. We redress issues of power and ethics both present in and absent from their manuscript, and assert that it represents an inappropriate use of professorial power. We offer apologies to the students affected, and leverage bell hooks' "teaching to transgress" to open space for more intentional, mindful, and productive attention to power dynamics in the classroom.


Viterbi detectors are at the heart of the data detection in magnetic recording. They are used to detect the user bits read from the disk that are impaired by intersymbol interference and noise. However, the non-linear, recursive nature of the Viterbi algorithm makes the implementation for magnetic recording with data throughputs in excess of 1 Gb/s non-trivial. This paper will survey various Viterbi detector architectures that allow keeping pace with the speed dynamics of the storage industry.


Funding for translation of the Bulletin into Spanish at this meeting has been provided by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs. Funding for the translation of this Bulletin into French has been provided by the International Organization of the Francophonie (IOF). The opinions expressed in the Bulletin are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD or other donors. Excerpts from the Bulletin may be used in non-commercial publications with appropriate academic citation. The sixth meeting of the Ad hoc Open-ended Intersessional Working Group on Article 8(j) and related provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was held from 2-6 November 2009 in Montreal, Canada. Over 300 participants attended the meeting, including 97 parties, approximately 80 indigenous and local community representatives, six intergovernmental organizations and 18 non-governmental organizations. At the end of the week-long meeting, the Working Group on Article 8(j) adopted recommendations on: mechanisms to promote the participation of indigenous and local communities; the development of sui generis systems for the protection of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices; elements of an ethical code of conduct to ensure respect for the cultural and intellectual heritage of indigenous and local communities; and a multi-year programme of work on the implementation of Article 8(j) and related provisions. The Working Group's recommendations will be submitted to the tenth meeting of the Delegates also adopted " views " on the international ABS regime, based on elements from the expert reports on traditional knowledge and compliance that received the " broadest support " from the experts, for transmission to the eighth meeting of the Ad hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS), to be held from 9-15 November 2009, in Montreal. Tkariwaié:ri – the Mohawk term for the " right way of doing things " – pervaded the sixth session of the Article 8(j) Working Group, which was characterized by a constructive and congenial atmosphere. Delegates worked hard towards concluding negotiations on the ethical code, expressing detailed views on ABS, and devising an ambitious work programme focusing not only on traditional knowledge but also on sustainable use. Overall this week's constructive debates and concrete results confirmed the important contribution that the Working Group can make to the three objectives of the Convention. The CBD entered into force on 29 December 1993. There are currently 192 parties to the Convention, which aims to …


Phage λ propagation in Escherichia coli host cells requires transcription antitermination on the λ chromosome mediated by λN protein and four host Nus factors, NusA, B, E (ribosomal S10) and G. Interaction of E. coli NusB:NusE heterodimer with the single stranded BoxA motif of λnutL or λnutR RNA is crucial for this reaction. Similarly, binding of NusB:NusE to a BoxA motif is essential to suppress transcription termination in the ribosomal RNA (rrn) operons. We used fluorescence anisotropy to measure the binding properties of NusB and of NusB:NusE heterodimer to BoxA-containing RNAs differing in length and sequence. Our results demonstrate that BoxA is necessary and sufficient for binding. We also studied the gain-of-function D118N NusB mutant that allows λ growth in nusA1 or nusE71 mutants. In vivo λ burst-size determinations, CD thermal unfolding measurements and X-ray crystallography of this as well as various other NusB D118 mutants showed the importance of size and polarity of amino acid 118 for RNA binding and other interactions. Our work suggests that the affinity of the NusB:NusE complex to BoxA RNA is precisely tuned to maximize control of transcription termination.


The 6 th Supplement to the Ph.Eur. 5 th edition contains the methods for the total viable aerobic count in pharmaceutical preparations, harmonised with the regulations in the USA and Japan. This revised text of the test includes numerous modifications compared to the previous paragraph of the Ph.Eur. 5 th edition: • The number of samples is clearly defined. • There are new regulations concerning the amount used for the test In case of a small amount of active substance or if the preparation contains only a small amount of active substance. • Prescribed as obligatory are the nutritive media: Casein soya bean digest agar for the Total Aerobic Microbial Count and Sabouraud-dextrose agar (without addition of antibiotics) for the Total Combined Yeasts/Mould Count. • Control of nutrient media: The growth-promotion qualities have to be tested on each batch of ready-prepared medium and each batch of medium, prepared either from dehydrated medium or from the Ingredients described. The frequency of the test of media sterility Is not clearly prescribed. • Regulations for incubation: Casein soya bean digest agar 3 to 5 days at 30 to 35 °C and Sabouraud-dextrose agar 5 to 7 days at 20 to 25 °C. • Evaluation: The limitation of the number of colonies in case of membrane filtration is missing (up to now max. 100 CFU/filter); the count in case of plate count method Is limited to < 250 bacteria, < 50 fungi resp. (previously < 300 bacteria, < 100 fungi resp.). • Interpretation of results introduction of factor 2 instead of factor 5. • The recovery rate during the method validation is fixed at 50 % (previously 20 %).


Firstly, I will advise you to have one session with your dentist to learn right technique of brushing method, no matter at what type of age group you are, learning is never late. Because you don't know what type of brushing method you required, Dentist will guide you according to your current teeth situation, Gum, bone and of course your age and habit, lastly your nature of food you are eating, like soft, hard, watery, sticky.


The three-page Agreement on the following pages has been drafted by Bob Projansky, a New York lawyer, after my extensive discussions and correspondence with over 500 artists, dealers, collectors, museum people, critics and others involved in the day-to-day workings of the international art world. The Agreement has been designed to remedy some generally acknowledged inequities in the art world, particularly artists' lack of control over the use of their work and participation in its economics after they no longer own it. The Agreement form has been written with special awareness of the current ordinary practices and economic realities of the art world, particularly its private, cash and informal nature, with careful regard for the interests and motives of all concerned. It is expected to be the standard form for the transfer and sale of all contemporary art and has been made as fair, simple and useful as possible. It can be used either as presented here or slightly altered to fit your specific situation. If you have questions as regards any part of the agreement, you should consult your attorney.


An experimental study has been conducted in a cold-state test rig to analyze the characteristics of chirp signals for temperature measurement of power plant boilers using acoustic pyrometry,while a series of hot-state experiments carried out on a 300 MW boiler.For comparison purposes,the gas temperature was simultaneously measured with an armoured thermocouple.Results show that the linear chirp signal may be taken as sound source signal for temperature measurement of power plant boilers,of which the optimum frequency range is found to be 500-3 000 Hz;the narrower the frequency range,the worse the estimation results of time delay by cross-correlation algorithm;the most appropriate cycle of frequency sweeping is 0.1 s.The proved application of linear chirp signal in acoustic pyrometry system of a 300 MW boiler may serve as a reference for future study of acoustic pyrometry for power plant boilers.


In the oil-refining system of Chinese Jilin Petroleum Chemical Limited Company,the gas heat exchanger of cat head is an important equipment.It concerns the production efficiency of the entire system.Before the tube plate and pipe and housing of heat exchanger adopt ordinary material production,its material is 20R,16Mn and 20 steels respectively.Its enduring stress,corrosive resisting and erasion resisting a little ability to differ from comparatively.Often arises corrosion and leaks,seriously affect normal production,after testing again and again,we discover that change to the housing and pipe and tube plate of heat exchanger the duplex stainless steel 2205 are rear,corrode and leak phenomenon to get improvement,to guarantee the operation of the equipment.


This volume argues that "the God who fights" is only on God's side; the God of the Bible acts as both protector and adversary. The author points out that Christ embraced both conquest and defeat and the Christian life likewise embraces both victory and defeat.


Detached Eddy Simulations are performed for unsteady three-dimensional supersonic turbulent flow over an open L/D = 5 cavity at free-stream Mach number of 1.19. Numerical results are obtained from the explicit solution and Shear-Stress-Transport based simulations using the 3 rd order Roe scheme. Computational results are presented for the unsteady vortex and shock structures. The acoustic response of the cavity is presented in the form of pressure fluctuations and sound pressure level spectra. The computational results are compared to existing experimental data and to results obtained from twodimensional Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes with algebraic turbulence model.


A novel hybrid material constructed from 2D graphene nanosheets (GNS) and 1D vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) nanowires was successfully fabricated via a very simple green approach. The ultralong V2O5 single crystalline nanowires were supported on the transparent GNS substrate and exhibited excellent electrochemical properties. When used as a cathode material of lithium-ion batteries, the composite material revealed high initial discharge capacities and exceptional rate capacities. For instance, at the lower current density of 50 mA g−1, an initial specific discharge capacity of 412 mAh g−1 could be achieved; when the current density was increased to 1600 mA g−1, the composite still delivered 316 mAh g−1lithium ions. The good performance of the composite resulted from its unique nano-scaled V2O5 wires with short diffusion pathway for lithium ions and the excellent electrical conductivity of GNS. Note that the fabrication approach in the present work is environmental friendly without any strong reduction and oxidation reagents, or causing the generation of toxic gas during the fabrication process. We believe that this green approach may open up the possibility of fabricating more novel structured graphene-based functional materials.


Physics for Freedom: Opening the Cosmos for Those Inside Alexandra Latshaw Photo of San Quentin Prison from the San Quentin Prison Newspaper San Quentin inmate Aly Tamboura recounts answer- ing his mother and close friend in the visiting room. -Yes, I am taking Physics in prison. Tamboura recalls the experience of learning a new language of science: "I am learning the same language used by nearly all of the well known scientists like Newton, Einstein and Galileo… Who would have thought that the thousands of calculations the brain makes when running to catch a fly ball on a baseball field could be jotted down on a chalkboard in a lan- guage I can understand?" (Tamboura, 2008). San Quentin State Prison is located on the north waterfront of San Francisco Bay in Marin County. The all male prison is famous for its many notable inmates from Charles Manson to Merle Haggard, high profile media events like Johnny Cash concerts, and its grisly role as exclusive site for California state executions. Designated by The New York Times as the largest death row in the western hemisphere (Nieves, 2011) it is also the only prison in California to offer inmates college level classes inside. The Prison University Project (PUP) is a non profit organization that, collaborating with Patten Universi- ty in Oakland, offers college courses to inmates at San Quentin. PUP started in 1996 following the enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which denies prisoners federal Pell Grants during incarceration. Written by then-Senator Joseph Biden and signed into law by President Clinton in 1994, the bill led to the demise of nearly all of the country's more than 300 prison higher education programs (Henry, 2011, Marks, 1997). Students at San Quentin Prison (an official exten- sion site of Patten University) earn their Associate degree in about three and a half years, typically taking two courses per semester in addition to working full time prison jobs ranging from landscaping to laundry. The program is tuition free. Over 300 inmates are cur- rently enrolled and any prisoner classified as part of the general population with a record of good behav- ior is eligible to participate. The general population is roughly 1,800 men (Sheff, 2004) and includes those serving time for murder. This group does not include those on death row. Figure 1. Serving for a three-strikes conviction, Jonathan Wilson graduates from the Prison University Project at age 46. B erkeley S cientific J ournal • S ave or D estroy • S pring 2012 • V olume 16 • I ssue 2 • 1 B S J You're taking Physics in prison?


Abstract : This set of training guidelines focuses on issues to be addressed by the training program of a software organization comprised of multiple software projects. While much of the content of the guidelines is equally applicable to training plans for individual projects, this document presumes a coordinated function providing training across software projects.


Model plays very important role in Decision Support System(DSS).How to integrate models and improve models collaboration have always been the key research spot in DSS field.Model parameters′ representation and matching are the core problems in model integration Due to the difficulties in describing the semantic of the input,output parameters,the intelligence,extensibility,openness and understanding of automatic model integration are not satisfied and need to be improved.An ontology-based program-logic-mix(PLM)model representation is proposed,which is easily-implemented,reasoning-supported,has high openness and extensibility.Ontology is used to describe the semantics of parameters.Based on this semantic match,model integration strategies are designed to create understandable decision problem solutions.Formal definition of model integration is given and relevant theorems are proved.


Multilevel inverters are popular for renewable energy applications. This paper presents a technique for harmonic elimination in a five level cascaded H-Bridge multilevel inverter. The technique is based on computation of switching angles using Chebyshev polynomials. The method involves simple mathematical calculations to arrive at the desired switching angles for harmonic elimination. In this paper, Chebyshev polynomials are utilized to calculate the switching angles for eliminating the 3rd and 5th harmonic in a five level multilevel inverter system for a modulation index of 0.8. The work evaluates the reduction in the total harmonic distortion of the five level inverter system by eliminating specific harmonic from the multilevel inverter system. Further, a comparison is established to evaluate the power quality of a selective harmonic eliminated system with a conventional five level multi carrier based pulse width modulated inverter. MATLAB-SIMULINK environment is used to verify the simulation results.


Recent earthquakes near highly populated cities have reminded the world and engineers about the destructive capabilities of an earthquake event. This is especially true in the design of reinforced concrete bridge columns that need to survive an event to maintain life safety and provide operational capacity along major lifelines to provide immediate assistance to the regions affected. The research presented within this document examines the current state of practice and looks for ways to improve the design methodologies prior to an event that highlights unforeseen consequences. This is accomplished through a series of analytical and experimental studies that include: (1) the development of a new simplified method for the lateral load response of columns continuously supported on drilled shafts; (2) the behavior of concrete and soil when subjected to frozen conditions; and (3) the impacts of current methodologies for the establishment of transverse confinement reinforcement on the seismic response of reinforced concrete bridge columns. A new approach is discussed within that defines an equivalent cantilever supported by a flexible base using a set of three springs for the establishing the lateral load response of columns continuously supported on drilled shafts in non-cohesive soils. This is an extension of the work presented in Appendix A in order to provide a consistent approach for both cohesive and non-cohesive soils that may be encountered near a bridge site. The effective height of the system was defined as the distance from column tip to the point of maximum moment to identify a critical design location for the establishment of transverse confinement reinforcement. The new method was found to adequately capture the response when


A large yield of deuterons in proton-nuclear interactions at T >> 1 Bev can be accounted for in the peripheral interactions of primary protons with nuclel. Deuterons are generated in inelastlc nucleon-nucleon interactions. (auth)


Land tenure can be used as an illustration of equity control of the main production factors in the agricultural sector. Changes in agricultural land tenure structure will affect agricultural production (farming) both in terms of efficiency and farm income, while the pattern of land ownership represents the state ownership of the main production factors in agricultural production. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors that influence the choice of tenure to the use of inputs, attitudes, motivation, work ethic, production and income. The research location is determined by using purposive sampling method, i.e. selecting the study area based on the characteristics or specific reasons are deemed to have a close relationship with the problems examined. The selected area in this study was Sigi District where became one of the centers of rice production, furthermore Subdistrict Gumbasa have been selected because as one of the centers of rice production also has the status of land tenure are more varied in Sigi District. The District Gumbasa selectived 2 Villages where has the highest number of rice farmers such as the Pakuli and Kalawara Village. Respondents in this study amounted to 99 respondents. Factors that affect the status of tenure choice can significantly increase the probability of tenure including the production, input prices, output prices, household income and work ethic, while the factors that were not affect the land tenure were motivation, use of labor and attitudes of farmers. Key Words: Rice, Logit, And Land Tenure.


The article presents the methodology of conducting research on temperature distribution in the cutting zone for orthogonal turning without the use of a cooling liquid. AISI 321 austenitic steel was chosen as the workpiece material to be tested, while TNMA160408 carbide inserts, with a flat rake face made of H10F carbide, were chosen as the cutting edges. The research used infrared imaging, which still poses many research problems. The author's own method of calibration of the measurement chain is also presented. In addition, the most common causes of inaccuracies in thermovision measurements of cutting temperatures are discussed. The obtained temperature distribution maps were related to the average contact temperature determined by the method of natural thermocouple – chips/rake face.


The study of hypernuclei in violent relativistic collisions of ion and other particle with nuclei open new opportunities for nuclear/particle physics and astrophysics. We review the main processes leading to the production of hypernuclei in these reactions: There are the disintegration of large excited hyper-residues (target- and projectile-like remnants with captured hyperons) and the coalescence of hyperons with other baryons into light clusters. We use the transport, coalescence and statistical models to describe the whole process, and demonstrate the advantages of these reactions. A broad distribution of predicted hypernuclei in masses and isospin allows for investigating properties of the exotic hypernuclei and hypermatter. We point at the abundant production of multi-strange nuclei and moderately excited hypernuclear matter. The realistic estimates of hypernuclei yields in various collisions are presented. Many processes well known in normal reactions, such as evaporation, fission, multifragmentation, and Fermi-break-up are generalized and calculated for the case of excited hypermatter. We suggest also a novel method for investigation of the hyperon binding energies directly from experimental measurements of the hypernuclei yields.The study of hypernuclei in violent relativistic collisions of ion and other particle with nuclei open new opportunities for nuclear/particle physics and astrophysics. We review the main processes leading to the production of hypernuclei in these reactions: There are the disintegration of large excited hyper-residues (target- and projectile-like remnants with captured hyperons) and the coalescence of hyperons with other baryons into light clusters. We use the transport, coalescence and statistical models to describe the whole process, and demonstrate the advantages of these reactions. A broad distribution of predicted hypernuclei in masses and isospin allows for investigating properties of the exotic hypernuclei and hypermatter. We point at the abundant production of multi-strange nuclei and moderately excited hypernuclear matter. The realistic estimates of hypernuclei yields in various collisions are presented. Many processes well known in normal reactions, such as evaporation, fission, multifragmentatio...


"Culture" is generally regarded as a population's shared array of traditions, transmitted between individuals by processes of social learning, and which may persist from one generation to later ones. If we consider genetic material to provide the primary system of inheritance in living things, then social learning—learning from others—provides a second inheritance system in those species of animals that have the cognitive capacity to learn in this way. Once it was thought that cultural traditions inherited in this way were unique to, and defining of, our own species. This view was challenged by research arising particularly in the middle of the 20th century, which revealed evidence of the spread of innovations in the behavior of nonhuman species, generating traditions that passed from one generation to the next. Early examples included regional birdsong dialects and novel foraging techniques in Japanese macaque monkeys. Research over the last seventy years or so has accumulated a wealth of evidence that animal traditions exist in many aspects of behavior, from migration to mate choice and predator avoidance, and in numerous taxa including fish, birds, and mammals. Social learning has also been well documented in insects, although the existence of traditions in the wild remains less clear. Once such a second inheritance system does emerge, supporting the transmission of behavioral traditions, the potential exists for a second system of evolution—cultural evolution—which can be defined most simply as changes in culture over time. As in the case of organic evolution based on genetic inheritance, imperfect copying and sampling error may be sufficient to cause evolutionary changes, known as drift. Alternatively, some innovations may prove to be more adaptive than others, in which case we can expect the essential Darwinian processes of variation, selection, and inheritance to generate some directional cultural evolution. Both drift and Darwinian evolution have long been evident in human cultural evolution, but evidence has begun to accumulate for them also in nonhuman species. Humans additionally display cumulative culture, in which some form of progress builds cumulatively on the achievements of previous generations. Examples are legion, from the evolution of wheeled vehicles to languages and religions. A currently contentious issue is whether such cumulative cultural evolution is unique to our species, or is shared in some ways with others. Other current areas of uncertainty include which cognitive mechanisms underlie animal social learning and whether the precision of animal social learning can support long-lasting traditions; the degree to which animal cultures extend broadly enough across behavioral repertoires, or deeply enough in the complexity of individual traits, to be usefully compared to those of humans; and whether culture creates selection pressures that are long lasting enough to shape animals' genomes. In general, while it is very clear that human culture is more extensive than in any other species, there is less agreement about which qualitative differences in psychological and cultural processes are responsible for this gulf.


For countable amenable finitely generated torsion‐free G , we prove inequalities relating μ(v) and μ(w) for any measure of maximal entropy μ on a G ‐subshift and any words v,w where the extender set of v is contained in the extender set of w . Our main results are two generalizations of a theorem of Meyerovitch (Ergodic Theory Dynam. Systems 33 (2013) 934–953): the first applies to all such v,w when G=Z , and the second to v,w with the same shape for any G . As a consequence of our results we give new and simpler proofs of several facts about synchronized subshifts (including a result from Thomsen, Ergodic Theory Dynam. Systems 26 (2006) 1235–1256) and we answer a question of Climenhaga.


Growing internationalization of economic activity has corroded the capacity of national institutions to regulate work and employment. In this changing context, established international institutions have generally not proved adequate to the resulting challenge. New initiatives have emerged to address the growing regulatory gap at the international level, variously aimed at cross-border flows of capital, labor, goods, and services. Most of these initiatives entail the addition of new institutional arrangements and regulation at the international level alongside, and not in place of, national frameworks. The resulting multilevel arrangements raise particular governance challenges. The solutions conventionally proposed neglect the role of power relations in shaping arrangements and hence their contested nature. This research and policy article examines the academic research on internationalization and work and employment regulation at the national level, the response of established international institutions, and the rise of new regulatory initiatives at the international level. It applies and modifies Streeck and Thelen's framework for analyzing different types of gradual change and elaborates ways forward for new, multilevel arrangements that take account of power relations.


Different subgroups of egg‐allergic patients were established according to differences in allergic symptoms provoked by hen's egg white, total IgE‐level, RAST (radioallergosorbent test) results to egg white, and age. In each group the pattern of specific IgE‐antibodies to individual allergens in the egg white, determined by means of crossed radioimmuno‐electrophoresis (CRIE), was compared with the pattern in a control group. The RAST value to egg white was found to exert the strongest influence on the CRIE results. A few statistically singificant differences in CRIE results to cetain allergens were also observed in other pairs of subgroups of egg‐allergic patients. Possible explanations for this are discussed. It was concluded that CRIE studies of allergens in mixed protein solutions, using a series of sera from allergic patients, will most probably give the same results and the same classification of the allergens independent of the characteristica of the patients from which the sera were collected. However, it should be emphasized that the CRIE series must include a sufficient number of patients with high RAST values to the allergen in question. Otherwise some allergens may be missed and the classification of the allergens may be different.


This paper examines whether bank capital ratios and default risk are associated with the gender of the bank's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairperson of the board. Given the documented gender-based differences in conservatism and risk tolerance, we postulate that female CEOs and board Chairs should assess risks more conservatively, and thereby hold higher levels of equity capital and reduce the likelihood of bank failure during periods of market stress. Using a large panel of U.S. commercial banks, we document that banks with female CEOs hold more conservative levels of capital after controlling for the bank's asset risk and other attributes. Furthermore, while neither CEO nor Chair gender is related to bank failure in general, we find strong evidence that smaller banks with female CEOs and board Chairs were less likely to fail during the financial crisis. Overall, our findings are consistent with the view that gender-based behavioral differences may affect corporate decisions.


The realization of scale economies for an enterprise is an important sign for the rationalization of industrial structure.This piece studies the sizes of Chinese enterprises and their structures from a positive perspective,and makes a comment on and analysis of the theories,advanced since the implementation of the reform and open door policy,and the practice with respect to economies of scale of Chinese enterprises.The author of the piece also points out although a big gap still exists between the scale economies of Chinese enterprises and that of the advanced countries,but the former are developing toward rationalization.


The development of cardio-oncology as a clinical field has been driven by improved therapeutics resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of cancer survivors (≈15 500 000 in the United States alone) many of whom experience cardiovascular complications related to their cancer treatments.1 Both traditional and targeted therapies can affect the cardiovascular system, resulting in hypertension, heart failure, myocarditis, arrhythmias, vascular disease, and thrombosis. Although recurrence of cancer is the eventual cause of death in many cancer survivors, cardiovascular disease is responsible for substantial morbidity and mortality in this population. Thus, effective means of mitigating cardiovascular complications of cancer therapies would have substantial impact on health. Unfortunately, definitive strategies to predict, prevent, monitor, and treat chemotherapy-induced cardiovascular syndromes are currently lacking for several reasons. First, mechanistically distinct cancer therapies can cause heterogeneous cardiovascular sequelae. Second, molecular mechanisms that mediate these syndromes are poorly understood. Last, evidence-based knowledge pertaining to some of the most important clinical questions is not yet available. Because of this situation, most clinical guidelines are based on consensus statements.

To illustrate how gaps in basic and clinical knowledge may combine to produce suboptimal disease models on which to base diagnosis and treatment strategies, consider the concept of type I versus type II cardiomyopathy.2 This paradigm was introduced in 2005 to contrast heart failure syndromes resulting from doxorubicin and trastuzumab. …


(a well-established system of proven benefit) to an experimental, unproven project . . .". All of us recognize the limitation of health care resources. If, however, this is going to become a reason to veto all clinical innovation, then medicine in Canada as a progressive science is certainly in trouble. Medical science has only progressed when imaginative individuals have been bold enough to try alternative approaches. Modem congenital heart surgery would not exist if resources had not been committed over the past three decades to "experimental, unproven projects". It is particularly troubling when such a statement comes from an organization like the Canadian Paediatric Society, with its commitment to the advancement of medical care.


After a review of a compact formulation of degenerate and quasidegenerate perturbation theory and the related effective Hamiltonians, a new analysis of the Foldy–Wouthuysen (FW) transformation as a sequence of two transformations is given, where the first transformation decouples electronic from positronic states, while the second transformation reestablishes the normalization. It is then shown that other transformations are possible which share the first part with the FW transformation, but which differ in the second part, by choosing different model spaces. The notorious singularities of the FW transformation in the presence of a Coulomb potential are entirely due to the second step, where the model space is that of all electronic states. Direct perturbation theory as well as its quasidegenerate generalization result as special cases with model spaces related to eigenfunctions of the nonrelativistic Hamiltonian. Additional flexibility results from the option between a unitary transformation and a transformation in intermediate normalization. Nonperturbative alternatives to the perturbation expansion are discussed. The new formalism is particularly useful for the application of direct perturbation theory to relativistic multiconfiguration SCF theory.


1PG STUDENT, DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, SRI RAMAKRISHNA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, COIMBATORE, TAMIL NADU 2DR R.N UMA,HEAD OF DEPARTMENT, DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, SRI RAMAKRISHNA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, COIMBATORE, TAMIL NADU ----------------------------------------------------------------------------***-------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT: In the construction industry there is a necessity for improving the construction efficiency through adopting innovative methods. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) help in increasing the client satisfaction by reducing coordination errors and provide a greater understanding among project participants in terms of better handling issues and requirements. Construction projects are faced with many challenges that must not be ignored or underestimated. Some of the wicked problems and challenges such as understanding how one decision will impact decisions in other areas; problem of addressing the risk due to dynamic and uncertainty existing in the environment; resolving conflict where there are competing claims resulting both good and bad outcomes from the same value system are required to be well managed, if required using innovative methods such as using ICT and software packages. Therefore Objective of this research is to explore and describe the use and applications of information and communication technologies in construction industry. It involves examining the current trends of ICT based construction practices and also to assess the potential for its improvement by way of innovation.


Confocal microscopy is the method of choice in biological 3D-imaging, however, the axial resolution is limited to ~500 nm. During the last decade it has been successfully demonstrated that the axial resolution can be substantially improved with 4Pi microscopy. We report a 4Pi microscope realized as a fast beam scanning system consisting of a 4Pi-module linked to a state-of-the-art confocal microscope. As a result, the advantages of the confocal system such as scanning, sensitive multicolor detection and imaging speed are combined with the superior resolution of 4Pi microscopy. This novel microscope is eminently suited for biological applications. It is designed both for single-photon and for two-photon picosecond excitation, and also enables joint coherent illumination and detection, i.e. 4Pi type C. The superior PSF and OTF of the system enable 80 nm axial resolution in cells mounted in aqueous media. We present the optical design of the system and demonstrate an up to 7-fold improved optical sectioning in live cells.


A single-line play robot (SLPR) is designed and developed for playing balancing on a rope in the air. SLPR is actuated by several ducted fans to generate lateral forces for balancing and logitudinal forces for movements. Control is done by regulating air power. Detecting angles is important that sensor fusion of a complementary filtering method is utilized to estimate the angle accurately. Experimental studies of balancing and driving control of SLPR are performed.


In the framework of chiral perturbation theory we investigate whether, in the presence of nucleons, a many-particle system may lower its energy density by changing its mesonic vacuum from a homogeneous to a spiral configuration. Numerical values for the critical particle number densities for the spiral configuration to occur are given. They lie in the region of nuclear matter density where the applicability of chiral perturbation theory should be checked carefully.


This thesis deals with the development and study of algorithms for planning optimal motions for anthropomorphic systems, which are underactuated and highly redundant systems, such as humanoid robots and digital actors. Randomized motion planners and optimal control methods are proposed and discussed. A first contribution concerns the use of an efficient graph search algorithm in order to optimize walk trajectories that were previously obtained for a bounding-box representation of the system using randomized motion planners. The second contribution develops the use of constrained randomized motion planners in order to plan in a generic way whole-body motions that involve both walking and manipulation. Finally we develop an algorithmic approach which combines constrained randomized motion planners and optimal control methods; this approach allows the generation of dynamic, fast and collision-free motions for anthropomorphic systems in the presence of obstacles.


The present invention relates to an aqueous dispersion of silicone rubber particle, a silicone rubber particle, and cosmetics. A purpose of the present invention is to provide an aqueous dispersion of silicone elastomer particles which provides a stable emulsion and silicone elastomer particle, wherein a polyoxyethylene alkyl ether which has an alkyl group having a large number of carbon atoms is used as a surfactant, and a silicone rubber particle. The present invention provides an aqueous dispersion comprising (A) silicone elastomer particles having a 90% volume cumulative diameter (D90) of 0.3 to 20 [mu]m in an amount of 5 to 80 mass %, (B) at least one polyoxyethylene alkyl ether having an alkyl group having 18 carbon atoms in an amount of 0.01 to 15 mass %, wherein the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) of the polyoxyethylene alkyl ether is 12.8 to 15.1, and (C) water in an amount of 19 to 94 mass %, each mass % being based on a total mass of the aqueous dispersion. Further, the present invention provides a material comprising at least one of the (B) polyoxyethylene alkyl ether attached to surfaces of the (A) silicone elastomer particles, and a cosmetic comprising the aqueous dispersion or the material.


Generally, electromagnetic energy radiated to free space or received electromagnetic energy by free space; its propagation form is spherical wave or cylinder wave. According to spherical wave propagation characteristics, it will cause many phenomenons, as phase error or signal loss, if we made spherical wave or cylinder wave become to plane wave, it should be improved drawback as the foregoing, this is main purpose that to manufacture lens antenna in this paper. In this paper, the parallel-metal-sheet lens is presented and designed. It is demonstrated by experiments that the newly designed parallel-metal-sheet lens possesses the effect of increasing directive gain of feed antennas approximately by 5.6 dBi and correct phase error of feed antenna. But the metal of parallel-metal-sheet lens is aluminium, so improves its structure, is added the aluminums foil to and replaced the metal aluminum by the dragon of Poly Finally, using traditional Luneberg lens and parallel metal-sheet lens antenna to design the least novel lens antenna, as simulated and measured result, it prove the correct phase error of characteristics of novel lens antenna and traditional Luneberg lens are the same.


The purpose of the present bibliography is to call attention to Soviet periodicals and newspapers which frequently publish articles on Africa. The bibliography represents a tiny fraction of the 4,500 periodicals (magazines, learned papers, bulletins) and 8,500 newspapers in the Soviet Union. It is also but a fraction of the 80 periodicals and 34 newspapers found to have published material on Africa in 1967. It is, hopefully, a compact, yet extensive enough listing of titles which will be most useful to specialists in African affairs.


A survey on tubing corrosion case history,which was induced by waters with low H2S and medium CO2 from gas wells in a gas field.While a review on the relevant operation parameters of production was also made.In order to understand the corrosion phenomenon of tubing steel in the field,series of corrosion test of tubing steel in well liquors was also conducted.The results demonstrate that the main factors responsible to the corrosion are the high brine content of well water,specific partial pressure of H2S and CO2 as well as the parameters of complex environments of wells.Then several measures such as surface treatment of tubing and new inhibitors etc.were proposed to solve the corrosion problems.


FE836, a 15-page fact sheet by Carlene Thissen and Fritz Roka, is a compilation of the non-governmental organizations that serve farmworkers in Florida. Published by the UF Department of Food and Resource Economics, July 2010.


As part of the Canadian Coastal Sediment Study an evaluation of field techniques for the measurement of longshore sediment transport was conducted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at Pte. Sapin, N.B. in 1983 and Stanhope Beach, P.E.I, in 1984. Three general techniques were evaluated: volume measurement of sand accumulation in a breakwater trap, radioactive sand tracing and suspended load measurements, derived from water/sediment samplers and various optical suspended sediment monitors. Support instrumentation included electromagnetic current meters and wave pressure transducers. Useful data were collected with each technique and were evaluated in terms of ease of field implementation, validity of assumptions and measurement accuracy.


In terms of observational analysis and numerical simulations,study is performed of thesynergistic effects of the tropical Indian Ocean and Pacific SSTA on the atmosphere in northern win-ter.It turns out that the SSTA features show in-phase variation for the Indian Ocean and the central/eastern Pacific at low latitudes and anti-phase change compared with that in the neighborhood of thewestern Pacific"warming pool".When negative SSTA in the western Pacific and positive SSTA inthe central/eastern Pacific and the Indian Ocean are available,the 500 hPa height anomaly exhibits awave train of a positive-negative-positive anomaly following a great-circle path emanating from thesubtropical western Pacific via the NW portion to North America,with enhanced westerly jet overmidlatitude East Asia and the NW Pacific,and v.v.The comparison to the results from the numeri-cal modeling of the tropical western Pacific SSTA reveals the importance of the synergistic effects ofthe oceans on atmospheric circulations.


potassium tellurite was added to plain nutrient broth and used as an enrichment medium. The materials to be cultured, nasal swabs, straw, feces, etc., were added directly to the broth and incubated 6 to 24 hours at 37 C. A loopful of this material was then plated on plain tryptose agar and incubated for 20 to 24 hours at 37 C. Examination of the plates with the aid of the dissecting microscope revealed the absence or presence of Listeria. With this method nearly pure cultures of Listeria could be obtained providing the number of micrococci in the material was not too great. With this technique it was possible to isolate Listeria in nearly pure culture from the feces of a rabbit that for 21 days received a broth culture of Listeria as the sole source of fluid intake. Acetic acid added to deep brain medium to make concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1 per cent also proved effective in the higher levels when exposed to conditions similar to those previously described.


details of their headdresses (infulae, vittae, sufbula) as well as their ndspots, predominantly within the Atrium Vestae in the Roman Forum. Since the Vestals were required to serve for thirty years — and could choose to extend their term — the portraits range considerably in the age of those depicted, from very youthful and idealized images (for example, Cat. 2) to decidedly mature (Cat. 3) and even elderly (Cat. 11). The mature and elderly images are indeed among the most visually striking works within the corpus and offer a refreshing change from the often more youthful and generic images of empresses of this period. It is noteworthy, however, that even with the Vestals, the bodies (where preserved) remain more conventionally idealized, although L. argues that their incense-burning poses are more active than those of other Roman female statue types (243). The question of the meaning of physiognomic resemblances between Vestals and imperial women is both the most interesting aspect of the book and, likely, its most controversial point. L.'s interpretation is stated most succinctly and unequivocally in a discussion of a Hadrianic Vestal statue that resembles Matidia the Elder, niece of Trajan and mother of Sabina: 'Such physiognomic similarity was a powerful political tool by which the Vestals could both claim and reinforce connections to their patrons among the imperial women' (121–2). Caution is necessary here. It is true that we have abundant literary documentation for ties between Vestals and the powerful women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (28–30). It is also clear that the extant Vestal portraits can be very close in physiognomy to those of imperial women, and in some cases, men (e.g. Cat. 1, with Trajan's close-set eyes and sunken cheeks, 129). However, there are no preserved literary sources documenting alliances with imperial women during the second to third centuries, the period within which all extant portraits date. In addition, the fact that the Vestals' portraits can resemble those of emperors, or imperial women like Crispina who held power only very briey (Cat. 10, 143–5), suggests that we should be wary of reconstructing close political alliances with empresses from physiognomic resemblance alone. Such differences of interpretation aside, this is a clear, closely observed book on a well-dened and important topic, in essence a microhistory of imperial art. It makes a contribution to our understanding of the representation of women in the Roman world, and also suggests how — some forty years after pioneering works such as Natalie Kampen, Images and Status of RomanWorkingWomen: Second and Third Century Reliefs from Ostia (1976) — there is still much that remains to be done.


Abstract Purpose Obesity may alter the severity of infection with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Age may impact the association between body weight and severity of COVID‐19 in patients with obesity. The aim of the study was to examine the association between obesity and severity of infection in a Danish cohort hospitalized with COVID‐19 in the initial wave of the pandemic. Patients and methods Based on data from the nationwide, clinical database: COVID‐DK, risks of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), and mortality were compared among patients with and without obesity. Interaction with age was examined and we used Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting regression for confounder adjustment. Results Among 524 patients, 142 (27%) were admitted to the ICU, 112 (21%) required IMV, and 109 (21%) died. Compared to COVID‐19 patients without obesity, patients with obesity displayed a non‐significant increased risk of ICU admission (Relative Risk [RR] 1.19, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.88; 1.60), IMV (RR 1.23, CI 0.86; 1.75) and mortality (RR 1.21, CI 0.84; 1.75). COVID‐19 patients with obesity, <60 years had highly increased risk of ICU admission (RR 1.92, CI 1.14; 3.24) and IMV (RR 1.95, CI 1.09; 3.49). Conclusions In hospitalized COVID‐19 patients, obesity conferred an approximately 20% increased risk for ICU admission, IMV, and death, although these relationships did not reach statistical significance. COVID‐19 patients with obesity and <60 years had an almost doubled risk of ICU admission and IMV.


New wiring transformed ENIAC into a versatile stored-program computer. Rewiring Internet of Things infrastructures into a general-purpose computing fabric can similarly change how modern computation interfaces with our environment.


Under complicated electromagnetism environment, it is effective to raise the effect of anti-interference by networking the radar sets of different frequencies and systems. This paper built the nonlinear programming model of quantitative analysis by researching the problems of radar net anti-interference effect, and blended the thought of simulated annealing algorithm with genetic algorithm for improvement to solve models and give the anti-interference strategies of radar net.


At one time or another, most people have dreamed of having the ability to fly (without technological assistance), of never having to have to age or die, or of having bodies and minds that transcend human limitations. Yet in the end people move on with their lives, trying to learn to deal with the realities of finitude and mortality. This is necessary, given the lack of means to significantly alter biological constraints. Yet new technologies may soon begin to enable people to transcend such limitations. With such technologies, however, come questions about the appropriateness of actually pursuing and employing them to experience greatly extended longevity—perhaps even some form of physical immortality—and to re-engineer the human body to expand its functional capacity. Transhumanism and posthumanism are worldviews, or philosophies, that strongly favor an affirmative reply to these questions and that look forward to the day when homo sapiens have been replaced by biologically and technologically superior beings.


It is a reasonable assumption that the induction of malignant lymphoproliferative diseases is an event triggered during physiological activities of lymphoid tissue; i.e., it represents an abnormal result of the normal immune response. This concept, which is supported by both experimental results and clinical experience, must now allow for the rapidly growing body of evidence that oncogenic viruses are etiologic in many kinds of tumors, including malignant lymphoproliferative disease. For example, oncogenic RNA viruses have been implicated in almost all examples of experimentally induced and spontaneous lymphomas and leukemias of rodents. Thus, any experimental model of these disorders must take into account the role of oncogenic viruses. The graft versus host reaction is a condition which incites in the graft an immunologically specific reaction to antigens in the host. Under certain circumstances this reaction culminates as a malignant lymphoma (1). Moreover, there is recent evidence that during this kind of immune response latent oncogenic viruses are activated (5). The graft versus host reaction is unique in this regard, because no other immune response thus far tested activates latent oncogenic viruses. In this presentation I wish to illustrate these findings and to speculate on the broader significance of the graft versus host reaction. Graft versus host reactions are most easily induced by the administration of spleen cells from inbred mice to their F I hybrids. In this situation, the hybrid recipient is genetically unable to respond to parental antigens and accepts the graft without any conditioning. By contrast, immunocytes in the spleen cell inoculum respond to antigens in the hybrid, thereby initiating the graft versus host reaction. Acute graft versus host reactions occur in infant or x-irradiated recipients, and they are rapidly fatal. Very chronic graft versus host reactions develop when mature recipients are used, and it is these animals which develop malignant lymphomas. The neoplastic transformation is preceded by a sustained hyperplasia of lymphoid tissue, most notable in the spleen, but also present in lymph nodes. Histologically, the lymphoid tissue is initially reactive and contains numerous « activated» lymphocytes; it then takes on a very pleomorphic appearance, which is difficult to diagnose. The final stage is a typical lymphoma. This phenomenon has been studied in a large variety of donor-recipient combinations. The result of this analysis demonstrates that at least 3 conditions


A model is proposed for surface scattering of electromagnetic waves which combines the effects of scatterer bunching and Poisson number fluctuations due to a restricted number of scatterers lying within the illuminated region. The fluctuating scatterer density is assumed to take the form of Gaussian noise analogous to thermal radiation, whose properties are well known. The model compares favourably with the successful K-distribution models. It also indicates one approach by which the effects of surface correlations in the scatterer density can be investigated.


There was a long historical process of Britain's colonial withdrawl.This process was the fundamental result of colonial democratic movement and has some characteristics of "non-colonization".But the positions of these two factors were different,the former was the key factor which dominated the process of the latter,the latter was one kind of policy or a hidden colonial trick,which were manifested in some colonies,particular in Malaya.On the eve of the rising of Malayan national independence,Britain took a series of colonial tricks to keep its own great benefit first delaying and deferring Malayan independence,then cultivating local govemment and its leaders who should have good feeling towards Britain.


By the end of the 1980s it had become apparent that, with regard to the new cul tural terms of engagement in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein was miles ahead of any other party. The cultural institutions and policies that flowed from the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 played to strengths that Sinn F?in had developed out of a long tradition during which its culture was located outside of?and in opposition to?the representational and institutional structures of the Stor mont regime and the British state.1 The central and best-known of these developments is Sinn F?in s champi oning of the revival of the Irish language in West Belfast. Funding for Irish language schools was introduced in 1983, and significant British government support for Irish-language initiatives in republican constituencies continues to this day.2 Irish-language development also provided the pretext for attracting capital investment and the construction of cultural centers like the Culturlann McAdam ? Fiach on the Falls Road and the ill-fated T? Ch?lainn center in Mul


The application of paclobutrazol (PBZ) by irrigation system to induce the flowering of mango may be an economically and environmentally more efficient practice. The objective of this work is to determine the most efficient dose of PBZ to be applied by irrigation system to manage the production and quality of fruits of the mango cultivar 'Tommy Atkins' in the middle region of the Sao Francisco Valley. The experimental design was randomized blocks with five paclobutrazol doses applied by irrigation system (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 g a.i. -1 , linear canopy) and an additional treatment (control) with the application of a dose using the conventional form (2.0 g a.i. -1 linear canopy applied manually by haul), and four replications. The variables analyzed were number of panicles, panicle length, number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight, production per plant, economic viability, and qualitative characteristics of fruits. The application of paclobutrazol by irrigation system is more efficient than the conventional application, in which the dose 1.4 g a.i. -1 linear canopy provided a greater number of fruits and a greater production per plant. The highest content of total soluble solids in fruits was obtained at the dose 1.3 g a.i. -1 linear canopy, and acidity decreased as the applied dose of PBZ increased. Regarding the economic analysis, the results show that the application of PBZ by irrigation system increases the revenue by R$ 5,328.00 per hectare in comparison with the conventional application.


Background Eating habits are a major concern with regard to the health status of university students. This study aimed to identify patterns of eating habits among undergraduate medical students and to investigate their relationship to sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and psychological factors. Methods This cross-sectional study included 378 undergraduate medical students aged 19–26 from the Faculty of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Students were in their second through sixth academic year. Data were gathered with a self-administered questionnaire encompassing questions on sociodemographics, eating habits, and psychological factors. Results Eating habits score was much lower among students who were smokers, lived in rented places, lived alone, had separated parents, and did not exercise regularly. In multivariate analysis, multiple psychological factors, such as living alone and stressed, were found to be associated with eating patterns. Conclusion A majority of undergraduate medical students had unhealthy eating patterns, and socioeconomic and psychological elements were significantly affecting eating patterns.


… might there exist a remarkable analogy between this usable and secure system and the ancient alchemists' philosopher's stone?Auguste Kerckho!s La Cryptographie Militaire, 1883This article describes the unique challenges facing usable security research and design, and introduces three proposals for addressing these. For all intents and purposes security design is currently a craft, where quality is dependent on individuals and their ability, rather than on principles and engineering.However, the wide variety of di!erent skills necessary to design secure and usable systems is unlikely to be mastered by many individuals, requiring an unlikely combination of insight and education. Psychology, economics and cryptography have very little in common, and yet all have a role to play in the field of usable security. To address these concerns, three proposals are presented here: aWRDGRSWDSULQFLSOHGGHVLJQframework for usable security and privacy,aWRVXSSRUWDUHVHDUFKHQYLURQPHQWwhere skills and knowledge can be pooled and shared, andaWRJXLGHDQGLQIRUPWKHSULQFLSOHVthat underpin the educational curriculum of future security engineers and researchers.


The choroidal circulation is crucial in supplying nutrients as well as oxygen to the outer retina. The capillaries of the choriocapillaris are fenestrated and have a high protein permeability that allows the establishment of a high oncotic pressure, presumably contributing to movement of fluid out of the retina through the stroma to the sclera. The pores of the choriocapillaris are facing the RPE. Bruchs membrane acts as a sieve depending on the amount and chemical properties of the deposited waste products. The accumulation of fluid under the RPE or within the retina implies a tight Bruchs membrane. Lipids as result of the the outer segment turn over accumulate and decrease the permeability of Bruchs membrane precluding the evacuation of the waste products and initiate a vicious circle. Active transport by the RPE is impaired. The tight junctions of the RPE are ruptured, the fluid irruption into the retina results in the disorganisation of the outer layers of the retina. A progressive breakdown of all defense mechanisms especially the reabsorbtion pump tips over the balance. The mechanismsm of the restauration are partially known. All choroidal diseases can induce these featuree and clinicians may analyze the resulting steps


Abstract This article reports findings from an assessment of the effectiveness of privately administered 'structured on-site training' (SOST) programs funded by the California Employment Training Panel. It reports on the characteristics of SOST programs that increased trainees' competitiveness in the internal and external labor markets. In addition, it provides implications for on-the-job training (OJT) programs that are funded privately and offers additional implications unique to OJT funded with public dollars.


Purpose: Taxo l (P ac litaxe l) is a new generation o f chem otherapeutic drug proven to be effec tive in the treatm ent o f m any cancers. In th is study , to further dem onstra te the d ifferentia l e ffec t o f the tum or sup pressor gene, p53, on the Taxo l-induced apoptosis in osteogen ic sarcom a cell lines, w e used p53-defected SaO S2 cells and w ild type p53-expressed U 2O S cells . Materials and Methods: The cell v iab ility w as m easured by the XTT assay. To exam ine w hether the differen tia l expressions o f p53, in U 2O S and S aO S 2 cells , w ere assoc iated w ith Taxo l-induced apoptos is , D N A fragm enta tion assays w ere perfo rm ed on both cyto so lic and genom ic D N A . S ince the c leavage o f po ly (A D P -ribose) po lym erase (P A R P ) is prim arily respons ib le for apoptosis , the c leavage o f P A R P , and the expression of cyclin B 1, po lo-like kinase, B ax, B cl-xL, B cl-2 in U 2O S and S aO S 2 ce lls w ere com pared by W estern b lo t ana lyses. Results: The cell v iability of the p53-defected SaO S2 cells w as m arked ly decreased w ith Taxo l treatm ent. W hereas , th e ce ll v iab ilities d ue to 6 -m ercap topu rine an d ad riam yc in w ere n o d iffe ren t b e tw een th e U 2O S and SaOS2 cells. Treatm ent with Taxol induced a ladderlike pattern of D N A fragm ents, w hich is a b iochem ical hallm ark of apoptosis, consisting of m ultiples of approxim ately 180-200 base pairs, in a dose-dependent m anner in the S aO S 2 ce lls , bu t ins ign ificantly w ith the U2O S cells. W hen the cells w ere treated w ith Taxol, the 89 kD a cleavage product o f PA R P c learly appeared as a function o f tim e in the S aO S 2 cells , but not in the U 2O S cells. The Taxol-induced apoptosis in p53 defected-osteogenic sarcom a cells w as associated w ith the P A R P cleavage as a resu lt of the increased activ ity o f caspase 3 , and the h igh expressions o f cyclin B 1 and P LK . B ax , as a proapopto tic fac tor, w as increased in the S aO S 2cells , but the B cl-xL and B c l-2 w ere decreased w hen the cells w ere exposed to 10μM Taxol. Conclusion: From these results, it w as concluded that p53-defected S aO S 2 cells are m uch m ore sens itive to Taxo l-induced apoptosis than p53-expressed U 2O S cells . (Cancer Research and Treatm ent 2003;35:148-153)


In this paper, a CELP speech coding scheme based on mel-generalized cepstral analysis is proposed. In this scheme, speech spectra can be represented by mel-generalized cepstra, the representation accuracy of the zero and poles of the spectra can be varied continuously from all-pole model to cepstral model, and perceptual characteristics of humans regarding the frequency resolution can be considered. The encoding and decoding processes of the proposed method are expected to be suitable for human perception since perceptual weighting and postfiltering operations can be performed through mel-generalized cepstral coefficients. The proposed scheme and the conventional CELP scheme based on linear prediction were compared subjectively for a bit rate of 4 kbit/s. The results showed that the proposed scheme outperforms the conventional method by about 2 dB for an equivalent Q value. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electron Comm Jpn Pt 3, 83(5): 32-41 2000


Electrolyte bottle monitoring has become difficult
due to tight schedules most especially during these pandemic
times that have left health workers with little or no time. Improper
monitoring of electrolyte bottles can result into serious
life-threatening risks. We intend to design a reusable electrolyte
level sensor using Ultrasonic sensor and Arduino Nano. The
project will have a transmitter circuit that will use Rf
communication to send the data to receiver circuit for processing.
The transmitter circuit has an ultrasonic sensor that will be used
to measure the distance of electrolyte level in bottle. The data is
then sent wirelessly to the receiver circuit where percentage of the
electrolyte level is shown on LCD module. If it shows 100%
electrolyte consumed, then an alarm is sent off alerting the health
worker in charge. It is also our aim to develop an electrolyte level
detector that is reusable, efficient and most importantly affordable
for health care industries. Building such a monitoring system, will
reduce patient hazards and also improve health care service
delivery in terms of accuracy. Health care workers will not need to
constantly or manually assess the level of electrolyte left in the
bottle most especially during night shifts. Air particles or bubbles
can enter the patient's blood stream if electrolyte bottle gets empty
and still attached to patient. If these particles enter, it can result
into immediate death. With further developments, it can be
upgraded to send message to a doctor/nurse's phone, along with
the patient's room number and other specifications.


Commercial γ-Al2O3 were used as support of Pd catalysts.The effects of active metal components of Pd/γ-Al2O3 catalysts on the catalytic activity and stability for the C9 petroleum resin hydrogenation were investigated,and modified Pd catalysts were characterized in detail by N2 adsorption,XRD(X-ray diffraction),SEM(Scanning Electron Microscope),TEM(transmission electron microscopy),NH3-TPD(temperature-programmed desorption) techniques.The experimental results indicated that Mg-modified γ-Al2O3 support has stable magnesia alumina spinel(MgAl2O4) structure at matrices γ-Al2O3 surface layer,it is demonstrated that the existence of MgAl2O4 spinel can decrease total amount of both strong acid sites and weak acid sites remarkably.It is extraordinary avail for preventing catalyst carbon deposit.At the same time,Pd-Pt bi-component catalyst also enhanced the resistance to sulfur poisoning.


Introduction: Severe hypersensitivity reactions of lamotrigine are very uncommon conditions. We present this case of rapid development of toxic epidermal necrolysis. Case Report: A 37 yearold female of bipolar affective disorder on lamotrigine presented with acute skin eruptions with fever which involved almost whole body in next 710 days. There was massive peeling of the skin involving more than 50% of the body surface. Discussion: The case was diagnosed as lamotrigine induced toxic epidermal necrolysis and treated conservatively. Conclusion: Watchfulness of the clinicians and educating the patient about the doses schedule and adverse reaction of lamotrigine is key to prevent severe cutaneous reactions.


By means of the explicit nonlinear dynamic finite element computer code LS-DYNA,the nucleation and growth of void in aluminum with a preexisting flaw under plate impact loading have been investigated.The results are as follows:firstly,the void nucleation occurs from the boundary of the preexisting flaw and the ductile matrix,and once the voids have been nucleated,they grow linearly through the localized plastic deformation;secondly,the growth rate of void radius increases linearly with the shock loading amplitude;thirdly,the yield strength and the size of the preexisting flaw have an obvious influence on the relative growth rate of void;finally,if the threshold stress of the void growth is set as 3.5 times of the yield strength,the simulation results agree reasonably well with the theoretical results,which is helpful for the further understanding of the void growth dynamic behavior.


Scabies is a highly contagious disease caused by Sarcoptes scabiei which burrows into stratum corneum of host's skin. In this study, after optimizing vaccination schedule, a vaccination trial is comprised of three test groups of rabbits (n = 10/group) by immunization with (1) rSsCLP5; (2) rSsCLP12; or (3) a mixture of rSsCLP5 and rSsCLP12, three biological replicates groups (n = 10/group) and three control groups (n = 10/group). Levels of specific IgG, total IgE and cytokines in sera were detected and histopathologically analyzed as indicators of vaccine effects. The results showed that 85% (17/20) of rabbits exhibited no detectable skin lesions of S. scabiei infestation in mixed protein groups compared to single protein groups with 75% (15/20) and 70% (14/20), respectively. Moreover, the deworming rates of mixed groups are increased by 10%–20% compared with that of single groups. Each of six groups immunized with rSsCLP displayed significant increases of specific IgG, total IgE, IL-10, and TNF-α. The degree of skin damage in test groups also significantly lower than that of control groups. Thus, purified rSsCLP5 and rSsCLP12 subunit cocktail vaccine induced robust immune protection and could significantly decrease mite populations to reduce the direct transmission between rabbits.


The design of an equal-ripple modulator for regulator systems with type o plants is presented in this paper. The goal of this design is to produce an equal-ripple steady-state response. To conserve the control effort, rids modulator drives the system output towards the desired level and lets it relax naturally to the zero-state. A number of systems using this modulator were simulated on a digital computer and the results are presented. It can be seen from these results, that the modulator achieves an equal.ripple steady-state response regardless of system parameter values. To employ the modulator in a control system requires only a noncritical choice of the pulse height and width. Large pulse sizes will decrease the transient rise time but will increase the magnitude of the steady-state error. As the modulator threshold level is obtained recursively from information gained from the system error, it possesses "adaptive" qualities. Therefore, it particularly recommends itself to situations in which system parameter variations are expectecd.


Dynamically changing customer demands request manufacturers to make quality products with cheaper prices and shorter delivery. To survive in the global market, the manufacturing industry of today needs to be equipped with advanced technologies including IT as well as substantial infrastructure. Under this situation, we found that "collaboration" is the right answer for manufacturers to survive by strengthening relations between companies instead of competing against each other. For facilitating collaboration among Korean SMEs, we performed i-Manufacturing project from 2005. Through this project, we applied IT into the conventional manufacturing industry by developing business models and collaboration systems. In this paper, we introduce collaborative production management model and system including shop floor control.


Abstract A change in the cost structure in the Danish municipalities seems to have occurred bringing in a larger fixed element in the cost function and making unit costs higher in small municipalities than in large. The paper examines the hypothesis that small municipalities in their reaction to their higher unit costs for management make a trade-off between raising expenditures and the tax level, on the one hand, and reducing the quality of the production, on the other. Using accounting data for 1980, 1990 and 2000 it is shown that the expenditure structure has shifted since 1980 so that small municipalities now exhibit higher unit expenditures than larger municipalities. However, there also seems to be a quality substituting effect in the small municipalities as a reaction to the higher unit costs. From data based on a questionnaire to the chief executives in all municipalities indications of weak political and administrative leadership in the small municipalities are demonstrated. We find that population size and administrative capacity explain significant differences in municipal understanding of the consequences of the central government regulation defining the conditions for the local production of services.


Electrical circuits that represent complex impedance connected to the plates of piezo element affect the frequency response function of compound electromechanical systems. The external network consisting of inductance results in absorbing a certain frequency of vibrations. The performance can significantly be increased using negative capacitance. All the negative impedance elements are achievable via semi‐passive way with the use of an electronic gyrator realized by operational amplifiers that require power supply. Its performance is limited due to the maximum voltage operational amplifiers can produce. The higher excitation forces require higher output voltages of amplifiers. The aim of the paper is to present the relation between the required voltage on synthetic impedance and force excitation in 1DOF vibrating system regarding parameters of piezo element and mechanical system for absorbing case. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


The residual stress induced by pack aging has been an important problem i n the electronic packaging and assembly.Silicon pie zoresistive sensor is applied here t o in -situ record the curing stress evolution for different adhesives and the distributions of the re sidual stress.Results indicate that lower residual stress will be ob tained when an organic adhesive with lower thermal expansion co -efficient is employed to bond the chi p.This method can be used as a referen ce to select an ideal ad -hesive for COB(Chip on Board)packages.


Since cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) was introduced to the dental profession in the 1990s, dental practitioners have entered a new era in radiographic imaging. Producing a threedimensional (3-D) image more quickly and easily than the conventional medical CT, and providing more information than 2-D imaging, the cone beam CT provides accurate multi-planar 3-D imaging that specifically suits dental imaging needs across all specialties (Bourgeois, 2007). Some dentists who do not have inoffice CBCT capability have referred patients out to hospitals or imaging centers for medical CT scans. However, compared to the traditional medical CT, the advantages of using CBCT for imaging the maxillofacial area are numerous: increased accuracy, reduced scan times, reduced exposure to radiation, and cost (Cho, et al, 2008).


This paper proposed and evaluates a QOS routing policy in packets topology and irregular traffic of communications network called K-shortest Widest paths Q-Routing. The technique used for the evaluation signals of reinforcement is Q-learning. Compared to standard Q-Routing, the exploration of paths is limited to K best non loop paths in term of hops number (number of routers in a path) leading to a substantial reduction of convergence time. In this work a proposal for routing which improves the delay factor and is based on the Reinforcement Learning is Concerned . The simplest policy is the shortest-path algorithm, which always routes packets through the path with the minimum number of hops. This policy is not always good because some intermediate nodes, falling in a popular route, might have large queues. In such cases it would be better to send the packet through another route that may be longer in terms of hops but results in shorter delivery time. Hence as the traffic builds up at some popular routes , alternative routes must be chosen to keep the average packet delivery time low. This is the key motivation for adaptive packet routing strategies that learn alternate routes through exploration as the current routing policy begins to lead to degraded performance. We use Q-Learning as the Reinforcement Learning technique and introduce K-Shortest idea into the Learning Process. The proposed algorithm are applied to two different topologies. The OPNET is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The algorithm evaluation is done for two traffic Conditions, namely low load and high load.


Background: Satisfaction with televisits across age groups has not been well studied. Aim: To evaluate patient satisfaction with remote diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) throughout adulthood. Methods: Surveys were administered electronically to patients with type 1 (T1D) or type 2 diabetes who had completed at least one remote education visit. Televisits were conducted without charge by a CDCES who had no prior relationship with the patient. If there was no response to the emailed survey within one week or an email address was unavailable the survey was conducted by phone. Survey questions used a 5-point Likert scale (1-strongly disagree to 5-strongly agree). Data were analyzed using t-test to assess differences in means, and Pearson correlation coefficients to assess relationship between Likert scaled items and age. SPSS v. 27 was used. Results: N=200 surveys were completed (45 by email, 155 by phone). Response rate was 37.9%. Mean age 52.5 years (range 21-82), 56% female, 78.5% T1D, 45.5% private insurance, 36% Medicare, 18% Medicaid, mean HbA1c 8.0% (SD 1.6). Correlation between mean score and age are shown in the table. Medicaid recipients were more likely to agree with "In the past, cost was a barrier to receiving diabetes education" compared to those with private insurance (p=0.005). Conclusions: Satisfaction with remote DSMES was less in older adults. Studies of remote DSMES tailored to older adults are needed. Disclosure C. Feuerstein-simon: None. M. Greenfield: None. P. Saha: None. R. S. Weinstock: Research Support; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Diasome Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Insulet Corporation, Kowa Research Institute, Inc., Medtronic, Tolerion, Inc. Funding The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; T1D Exchange QI Learning Collaborative


We performed a detailed study of the emission spectra of a hot-hole cyclotron p-germanium laser. The laser was operated in crossed electric and magnetic fields, which were parallel to two different (110) axes of the germanium crystal. Using a high-resolution Fabry-Perot spectrometer a broadening of the laser line was found. A band structure analysis made it possible to understand the observed feature. The line broadening is explained by the inhomogeneity of the electric field inside the crystal, which leads to slight deviations of the resonance frequency in different places. We manufactured a non-rectangular shaped laser crystal for enhancing the electric field homogeneity. Our first results show that the new laser configuration leads to a narrowing of the laser line.


The methods that Serial Dual DAC TLC5618A is controlled with PORT 1 of 80C196KC Micro-controller and serial communication protocol is simulated with software are introduced. The hardware interfacing diagram and timing diagram of TLC5618A and the Micro-controller 80C196KC, TLC5618A control bits configuration, applied notice are presented. The software implement programs such as: send start signal, write a bit, write nominated address control bits and data bits, DACA and DACB outputs change at the same time are presented. The application of the interface technology in AC speed regulation experiment device is introduced.


Objective: To investigate the influence of renal lymph circulation disorder on renal function and structure in rats.Methods: Fortyeight male Wister rats were randomly divided into two groups,twenty-four in each: the sham operation group(the control group) and the renal lymph ligation group(the model group).Six rats in each group were sacrificed at 1,2,4 and 8 weeks after operation.Renal tissues were determined by PAS and Masson staining,and renal lesions were determined by semiquantitative scores.The ultra-structure of the renal tissues was determined by an electron microscope.Results: Renal disfunction and tubulointerstitial fibrosis were found in the model group.Tubular damage and tubulointerstitial fibrosis were remarkably aggravated in the model group compared with the control group(P0.01 and P0.05,respectively).Mitochondrion cavitation,mesenterium insertion and foot cell fusion were found in the model group by an electron microscope.Conclusion: These results indicate that a disorder of renal lymph circulation leads to chronic renal failure and structural lesions,especially for tubulointerstitial fibrosis.


Without doubt the 2010 Soccer World Cup event, to be staged in South Africa in the next four years, is regarded as everything to everybody. It has been argued that South Africa has a wonderful opportunity to ensure that the 2010 Soccer World Cup (SWC) conform to the principle of sustainable development. The politicians see it as an opportunity to create jobs and improve the sorry state of unemployment in South Africa. The local administrator sees it as a chance to develop and improve the local infrastructure, mainly relating to roads, housing and water provision. The educationist sees it as an opening for initiating and teaching new learnerships associated with sports, recreation and tourism. Furthermore, it is common knowledge that for South Africa, and KwaZulu-Natal in particular, to succeed in hosting the 2010 World Cup tourists and provide good tourism service delivery, the visiting soccer tourists have to be protected and supported as "the geese that lay the golden eggs". In other words, the soccer tourist must be assured of safety and security at all tourist destinations throughout South Africa. If say a section of KwaZulu-Natal were to have a lapse in safety and security, then the whole country and international soccer community would be seriously disadvantaged.


The invention discloses a low-high temperature combined normal-pressure powder coal gasification furnace and a gasification technological method. The low-high temperature combined normal-pressure powder coal gasification furnace adopts the structure that a high-temperature gasification furnace is communicated to the one end of a gas pipe of which the other end is communicated with a low-temperature gasification furnace; the high-temperature gasification furnace has a vertical cylindrical furnace body; a gas outlet pipe is arranged at the lower part of the cylindrical furnace body. As the low-temperature gasification furnace and the high-temperature gasification furnace are combined together, powder coal, which does not reacts at the moment and is carried by gas from the low-temperature gasification furnace, reacts with a gasifying agent again in the high-temperature gasification furnace, organic materials in coal gas are decomposed completely, and the vast majority of carbon dioxide in feed gas is converted into carbon monoxide, dust in the coal gas is dissolved completely, carbon in the dust is recovered almost completely. The content of effective gas in outlet coal gas of the high-temperature gasification furnace can reach 78 to 85 percent, the carbon content of slag is about 0.5 percent, the carbon use ratio is larger than or equal to 99 percent. The low-high temperature combined normal-pressure powder coal gasification furnace and the gasification technological method have the advantages that the coal gas cost is reduced greatly; the economic benefit is considerable; the environmental problem of dust pollution is solved thoroughly.


This paper presents an attempt at the application of catastrophe theory to the stability analysis of J-controlled crack growth in three-point bending specimens. By introducing the solutions of J-integral in the completely yielding state for the ideal plastic material, the critical condition of losing stability for the crack propagation in the specimen is obtained, based on the cusp catastrophe theory. The process of the crack growth from geometrical sense is described.


Biography of King Mu of West Zhou Dynasty which was produced during the period of Warring States is the first work of Chinese classical novels. It is neither a myth nor a legend. Using king Mu's itineration as its content, this biography is such a literary work created by imitating the style of chronicle. Although this biography is crude and simple, it already contains various features of novel, such as fiction, exaggeration, the trend to make characters imagelike, structure with union and the tension of arts etc. It is full of ideals and romances, and has the character of great epics. 


AbstractThe changing global climate poses a new threat to amphibian populations since amphibian growth and development are strongly influenced by temperature. In general, low temperature reduces their physiological processes, decreasing development and growth rates. However, metamorphs of some amphibian species may be larger than their conspecifics grown at high temperatures. The increased temperature can reduce the metamorphic size in some species, whereas in other species, high temperatures accelerate growth with no changes in body size at metamorphosis. In order to test the influence of water temperature on larval growth, development and survival of the green toad Bufo viridis, 200 eggs were raised separately at two different water temperatures (18 and 21 °C) for the period of 16 weeks. The results show that the larvae reared at high temperature reached metamorphosis significantly faster (86.58 ± 13.47 days) than those reared at low temperature (105.4 ± 7.83 days). However, the larvae reared at high te...


Today, most of the OECD member countries faced with high budget deficits. This case brings up the discussions on priority of reducing the budget deficits using expenditure or taxes to the agenda. For this reason, the relationship between public expenditure and public revenue has a great importance for policy makers. In this study the causality relationship between public expenditure and public revenue are investigated based on 34 OECD member countries annual data over 1994-2007 period. Empirical results of this study mainly support the positive relationship between public expenditures and tax revenues. Moreover, the results of Holtz-Eakin causality tests indicate the unidirectional causality running from tax revenues to public expenditures and the validity of tax-spend hypothesis for OECD member countries. Our findings are inconsistent with the traditional view that increasing tax revenues can be reduced budget deficits.


In the first place,t he essay points out the characte r of Yudafu's novel in psychological description—self—feeling and confl ict i n mind,taking a great number of psychological description out of《Chenlun》as exam ples,analyzing and proving character and finding it's origin out.


The cooperative finance is one of the essential part of the modern financial system. No matter in developed countries or in developing countries, the practice of their development of economy and finance suggest that, cooperative finance, relative to the far-flung and independent rural economy, villages and towns economy and community economy, plays an important role in providing financial service to develop production and to improve living conditions, etc. According to the present status in China, the 20 years since the open policies and reform have sped up our industrialization and urbanization, but the "two-tier economic structure " has not been fundamentally changed. Therefore, the rural cooperative finance would have a wider room to develop. Thus it's not only a matter of theory research but also an application of the theory to study the rural cooperative finance and its development.


In recent papers, the connection between Toeplitz-like matrices, Vandermonde matrices, and Cauchy matrices is analyzed. Especially every Toeplitz matrix can be written as a Cauchy matrix by means of the Fourier or Sine transform. This gives rise to the formulation of new stable direct solvers for linear Toeplitz systems. Also for iterative methods the transformation of a Toeplitz matrix into a Cauchy matrix allows a new view on fast transform based preconditioning for Toeplitz-like matrices. In this paper we will display some theoretical and practical applications of this new development.


To improve the sound insulation performance of laminated glass in high speed trains, it is beneficial to study the relationship between the characteristics of interlayer films and the acoustical performance. In addition to those of conventional PVB (polyvinyl butyral), the dynamic mechanical properties of PVB derivatives and PC (polycarbonate), which are candidates for interlayer films, were analyzed. We assumed that PVB-HEMU, which has a glass transition temperature (T g ) around room temperature and a large tan δ (loss tangent) value, can be made to damp efficiently. The damping capability was tested utilizing sound transmission loss measurement and simulation under the identical structure of laminated glass in high speed trains. We also built a database for analysis of relations between interlayer film characteristics and acoustical performance; this was followed by the determination of sound transmission loss using the intensity technique and FEA.


For more than 30 years, I have worked with nonprofit organizations. For 26 of those years, I have served as a consultant to nonprofit organizations not only in the United States, but also in Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia. During this time I have witnessed firsthand the profound effect that vision — and visionary leaders — can have not merely on their organizations and communities, but on our world.


T annual Belgian Society of Cardiology Young Inves tigator Award of €6500 for investigators <35 years of age recognises basic and clinical research that is original and unpublished and has been performed in a Belgian institution. It aims to encourage young physicians and research fellows. The focus each year alternates between clinical and basic research. Applicants submit a 1-page abstract and a 3to 5page scientific article describing their aims, methods, and results. The board of the Belgian Society of Cardiology (see http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/116/25/F145) reviews the entries and accepts 3 abstracts for a 15-minute presentation at the Belgian Society of Cardiology annual meeting, followed by a formal discussion. Articles are judged on innovation, originality, scientific merit, and relevance. Recipients of the Belgian Society of Cardiology Young Investigator Award describe the research that led to their award to Jennifer Taylor, BSc, MSc, MPhil. Awards: The Belgian Society of Cardiology Young Investigator Award


The article presents the research's results in the field of multifunctional ceramic materials synthesis for metallurgical, machine‑tool and other branches related to the metal treatment, their alloys and products from them; current trends and tendencies associated with the production of goods from such materials. The information on expanding the local raw material sources for the production of ceramics with the involvement of local enterprises is provided. In addition, the prospects for the industrial potential development to produce such goods are observed.


Pumping water is one of the most popular technologies of solar energy for irrigation or drinking water supply. Its performance depends on the characteristics of the site (sunlight, ambient temperature, geographical obstacles), on the performance of the modules, as well as, on the characteristics of other equipment (converter and pump). The optimal sizing of a photovoltaic water pumping system makes it possible to guarantee the satisfaction of the water demand throughout the irrigation period and to model the electrical energy needs to supply the pump to irrigate the crops and water livestock. This paper proposed a novel algorithm for dimensioning the elements of an autonomous photovoltaic system equipped with irrigation water storage. The proposed algorithm determines the optimal surface area of the photovoltaic modules and the electrical power necessary to satisfy the water requirement for irrigation in the observed time. The results obtained from the proposed algorithm for optimal sizing are compared to calculation scenarios to show better results. A case study from the Fez-Meknes region in Morocco has been selected for applying the optimal sizing algorithm.


A novel organic-inorganic hybrid nanocapsule was synt he sized by mini-emulsion copolymerization of styrene and 3-trimethoxysilyl propy l methacrylate (MPS) on the well dispersed octane droplet templates.The morpholo gy was characterized by transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and atom force mic roscopy(AFM).The microstructure parameters were characterized by gas adsorption instrument.The wall of the capsules was found to have microporous structures.Acc ording to these characteristics, a penetration model was established by using th e percolation theory.The penetration diffusion coefficient was dependent on poro sity and tortuosity.The kinetics of the penetration process was studied with ult raviolet-spectrophotometer and diffusion coefficient and tortuosity were calcul ated.Diffusion velocity increased with the increase of MPS content in capsules d ue to larger porosity;tortuosity was less in the cresol red-methanol system tha n in the anthracene-tetrahydrofuran system; and tortuosity nearly did not chang e with the MPS content in capsules. All these results were consistent with the p ercolation theory. The loading of the anthracene was also proved by infrared spe ctrometry, and the release diffusion coefficient was much smaller than that of l oading, but did not change with the MPS content in capsules.


Multilayer (TiO$_2$)$_m$/(VO$_2$)$_n$ nanostructures ($d^1$ - $d^0$ interfaces with no polar discontinuity) show a metal-insulator transition with respect to the VO$_2$ layer thickness in first principles calculations. For $n$ $\geq$ 5 layers, the system becomes metallic, while being insulating for $n$ = 1 and 2. The metal-insulator transition occurs through a semi-Dirac point phase for $n$ = 3 and 4, in which the Fermi surface is point-like and the electrons behave as massless along the zone diagonal in k-space and as massive fermions along the perpendicular direction. We provide an analysis of the evolution of the electronic structure through this unprecedented insulator-to-metal transition, and identify it as resulting from quantum confinement producing a non-intuitive orbital ordering on the V $d^1$ ions, rather than being a specific oxide interface effect. Spin-orbit coupling does not destroy the semi-Dirac point for the calculated ground state, where the spins are aligned along the rutile c-axis, but it does open a substantial gap if the spins lie in the basal plane.