The 2nd SIGIR Workshop on Crowdsourcing for Information Retrieval (CIR 2011) was held on July 28, 2011 in Beijing, China, in conjunction with the 34th Annual ACM SIGIR Conference1. The workshop brought together researchers and practitioners to disseminate recent advances in theory, empirical methods, and novel applications of crowdsourcing for information retrieval (IR). The workshop program included three invited talks, a panel discussion entitled Beyond the Lab: State-of-the-Art and Open Challenges in Practical Crowdsourcing, and presentation of nine refereed research papers and one demonstration paper. A Best Paper Award, sponored by Microsoft Bing, was awarded to Jun Wang and Bei Yu for their paper entitled Labeling Images with Queries: A Recall-based Image Retrieval Game Approach. A Crowdsourcing Challenge contest was also announced prior to the workshop, sponsored by CrowdFlower. The contest offered both seed funding and advanced technical support for the winner to use CrowdFlower's services for innovative work. Workshop organizers selected Mark Smucker as the winner based on his proposal entitled: The Crowd vs. the Lab: A Comparison of Crowd-Sourced and University Laboratory Participant Behavior. Proceedings of the workshop are available online2 [15].


Objective:To understand the factors influencing the seeking of medical treatment through investigating patients and parents with chief complaint of six-year molar and to provide references for early prevention and treatment.Methods:Clinical examination was performed on 300 patients with six-year molars and the condition of six-year molars was recorded.The reason for seeking medical treatment,awareness of relevant knowledge of six-year molar and the population sociological features were investigated by questionnaires.Results:The urban and rural distribution,educational level and the knowledge structure of the parents were the influencing factors of seeking medical treatment.Conclusion:Various channels should be applied to popularize oral health knowledge,narrow the urban-rural gap and educational gap so that everyone will pay more attention on early prevention and treatment of six-year moral.


Oxidopyrylium cycloadducts derived from maltol and aryl acetylenes undergo acid-mediated rearrangements to generate aryl-substituted 2-methoxyphenol (guaiacol) derivatives. Specifically, the cycloadducts react with boron trichloride to form 2-methoxy-5-arylphenol molecules, and with methane sulfonate to form 2-methoxy-4-aryl-6-methylphenol molecules.


This paper focuses on the practices of Serbian-language interpreters and translators who work mostly outside Serbia. This paper firstly describes attributes pertaining to interpreting and translation in mainly Anglophone countries, as well as the norms that interpreters and translators typically follow for professional and ethical reasons. Of particular interest is the status of Serbian in the provision of interpreting/translation services in overseas countries and how Serbian-language interpreters and translators position themselves vis-a-vis the interpreting/translation sector, now that this language is widely-accepted as a distinct language.Twenty-six informants were questioned of whom 13 held interpreter or translator accreditation for Serbian only, while 13 held accreditation for Serbian in addition to Croatian and/or Bosnian. Research results show that there are differences between the two groups in regard to readiness to consider interpreting or translation assignments with outdated or unofficial language designations. Almost all informants followed common norms in relation to checking the languge of interlocutors' speech or that of a text as well as accepting assignments in a language for which they do not have accreditation. Interpreters and translators for the Serbian language represent an interesting sample group as they are well-versed in both specialist as well as lay attitudes towards the Serbian language.


We have studied the influence of III/N flux ratio and growth temperature on structural and optical properties of high Al-content, around 50–60%, AlGaN alloy layers grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. In a first part, based on structural analysis by Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy, we establish that a III/N flux ratio slightly above 1 produces layers with low amount of structural defects. In a second part, we study the effect of growth temperature on structural and optical properties of layers grown with previously determined optimal III/N flux ratio. We find that optimal growth temperatures for Al0.50Ga0.50N layers with compositional homogeneity related with narrow UV photoluminescence properties are in the low temperature range for growing GaN layers, i.e., 650–680 °C. We propose that lowering Ga adatom diffusion on the surface favors random incorporation of both Ga and Al adatoms on wurtzite crystallographic sites leading to the formation of an homogeneous alloy.


This paper demonstrated some preliminary results on the joining of Chemical Vapor Deposited CVD SiC ceramics by microwave assisted Self-propagation High temperature Synthesis( SHS) of compacted Ni-Al mixtures.With the atomic ration of 1 ∶ 1.The influence of reaction products on the mechanical strength of CVD SiC ceramic joints has been investigated.The reaction layer with the thickness of about 300 μm is porous,and the interface is continuous.The occurrence of micro-cracks in the interfacial area is attributed to the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion(CTE) mismatch between CVD SiC and Ni-Al intermetallic compounds.Due to the complexity and highly disequilibrium of the SHS reaction,it 's hardly to control the reaction products.The XRD analysis shows that different Ni-Al intermetallic compounds and oxide has been synthesized in the joints,but no residual Ni or Al element in the joint is detected.The oxide will seriously deteriorate the joint strength and lead to the large strength deviation.


A and anti-depressants are widely used to manage a variety of neuropathic pain conditions. Using wellestablished evidence based medicine approach a resume will be given of the development of overviews to summarize systematic reviews and make information more accessible to practitioners.The session will discuss the randomized controlled trial literature and present the results of two major Cochrane overviews on these classes of medicines. These show that not all anti-epileptics or anti-depressants are equal and that some of the mainstays of neuropathic pain treatments such as carbamazepine are largely unsupported by good quality evidence. The session will end with a view of the flaws in many of the published randomized trials together with some suggestions for grading evidence in order to stimulate higher quality research into effectiveness.


ABSTRACT South Africa is home to a large number of refugees and asylum seekers from across the African continent. While South Africa promotes the concept of 'self-settling', one of the greatest challenges refugees face is securing a livelihood and accessing formal employment. The article presents some of the findings of a qualitative study researching the perceptions and experiences of female refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Zimbabwe with regard to their daily life experiences and survival strategies. In this article, specific attention is given to the factors that impede refugee women's access to formal employment and how these women respond in terms of identifying survival strategies, which in most cases propel them into the informal sector and precarious work. The findings are discussed in terms of three sets of factors that shed light on the ability or inability of the respondents to access employment or generate an income in South Africa. These are: opportunity structures in the host society; institutional responses to refugees; and human capital.


Work has been completed on utilizing mathematical optimization techniques to optimize out-of-core nuclear fuel management decisions. The objective of such optimization is to minimize the levelized fuel cycle cost over some planning horizon. Typical decision variables include feed enrichments and number of assemblies, burnable poison requirements, and burned fuel to reinsert for every cycle in the planning horizon. Engineering constraints imposed consist of such items as discharge burnup limits, maximum enrichment limit, and target cycle energy productions. Earlier the authors reported on the development of the OCEON code, which employs the integer Monte Carlo Programming method as the mathematical optimization method. The discharge burnpups, and feed enrichment and burnable poison requirements are evaluated, initially employing a linear reactivity core physics model and refined using a coarse mesh nodal model. The economic evaluation is completed using a modification of the CINCAS methodology. Interest now is to assess the need for stochastic optimization, which will account for cost components and cycle energy production uncertainties. The implication of the present studies is that stochastic optimization in regard to cost component uncertainties need not be completed since deterministic optimization will identify nearly the same family of near-optimum cycling schemes.


Abstract: In his 2009 interview with Edward Janus, Truman Graf traced his childhood on a Wisconsin dairy farm and his long career in the state?s dairy industry. He described obstacles facing his father and other farmers in the 1920s and through the Great Depression, while also detailing New Deal relief programs. Graf related his personal background to his career at UW-Madison and beyond, focusing primarily on cooperatives, milk pricing, and milk promotion. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the UW-Madison Oral History Program.
Keywords: agriculture; dairy farming; Manitowoc County; cows; Carnation; the Depression; cooperatives; Lake to Lake cooperative; Federal Land Grant Program; the New Deal; World War II; threshing; Negro league baseball; progressive farming; conservation; radio; Art Murphy; Federal Milk Order Program; milk orders; Battle of Cemetery Hill; UW-Madison College of Agriculture; National Farmers Organization (NFO); Rudy Froker; Cliff Hardin; Truman Torgerson; George Ruppel; Babcock test; supply and demand; Lyman McKee; Navy Air Corps; whey.


TFT combined flexible material as main insulation material for a new class H low voltage motors came into China before long.Compared with NHN combined flexible material,properties of TFT combined flexible material as main insulation material of class H low voltage motors are discussed and researched in the article.


Three-dimensional microstructures, electrochemical micro-reactors, plastic-injection molds, and cylindrical network structures, were fabricated by three sequential processes: aluminum anodizing, laser irradiation, electroplating or elctroless-plating. In the fabrication of the plastic injection mold, aluminum blocks carved by the electric discharge machining were covered with hard anodic oxide films, and then irradiated with a pulsed Nd-YAG laser at the carved area to remove the anodic oxide film locally. Finally, relatively thick Ni-P alloy layers were deposited on the film-removed surface by electroless-plating. In the fabrication of the electrochemical micro-reactor, through-holes, grooves, and square depressions were formed by laser irradiation on the surface of anodized aluminum plates, and gold thin layers were deposited on the bottom of the depressions. The electrochemical micro-reactor with a volume of 1 ml showed good performance in the measurements of cyclic voltammograms. Cylindrical network structures were fabricated, using cylindrical aluminum pipes. The aluminum pipe was covered with porous anodic oxide films, and then irradiated with a pulsed Nd-YAG laser in a Ni plating solution to remove the oxide film locally by rotating and moving up / down with an XYZq stage. Nickel was electroplated at the film-removed area before removing the aluminum substrate and anodic oxide films in NaOH solutions.


The condition for step flow growth of Si on the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface has been investigated using low energy electron microscopy (LEEM). The critical terrace width for step flow growth was found to be independent of the azimuthal direction. This is consistent with isotropic diffusion and step flow kinetics. The dependence of the critical terrace width upon temperature for fixed incident flux (0.1 monolayer/minute) has also been measured. The square of the critical terrace width exhibits an Arrhenius behavior between 750 and 80 K with prefactor A = 7.0 × 1019 nm2 and activation energy E = 2.05 eV. These values are significantly larger than those determined by Iwanari et al. [J. Cryst. Growth119, 241 (1992)] at lower temperatures and similar flux. Possible origins of this discrepancy, including the validity of the Arrhenius description, are discussed.


ABSTRACT Seventeen historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) had the unique distinction of being designated land-grant institutions in 1890. There is surprisingly little information in the library literature describing the state of automation in academic libraries and even less about the state of automation in the seventeen historically black land-grant universities. The authors designed a questionnaire that would serve as the instrument for a base survey of the state of automation in these libraries. The results of this survey are presented in the following article.


ABSTRACT The emerging four-dimensional (4D) additive manufacturing (AM) has evolved from passive 3D printed objects to active ones, where materials and structures react to environmental stimulus. While nature is often the inspiration in fabricating static structures, it also plays a vital role in 4D printing. In order to survive and protect themselves from harsh environments, both plants and animals are equipped with unique movements and locomotion. However, the process of fabricating bioinspired 4D structures is complex and challenging. This review provides an overview of nature-inspired actuation to the realisation by 4D printing. Firstly, an understanding of nature actuations is briefly depicted. Next, the processes involved in the fabrication of 4D printed parts are described. Lastly, the challenges and potential applications are discussed.


From the construction"the function space,the attached space"and so on the angle of view,to pays great attention to the ecology and the sustainable construction space shape carries on the analysis and the induction,proposed "gathers the courtyard space,drifts the space"and so on 8 kind of ecology and the shape altogether splendor space formal languages.


From the definitions of risk and risk distribution, risk factors of venture-capital investing in high and new science technology projects are in detail analyzed. The united and conditioned probability distribution of risk factors and corresponding risk distribution are in theory discussed. It can provide a reliable theory basis for risk analysis of venture-capital investing and is of certain application value.


Two dimensional "pruned" Fast Fourier Transform algortims are proposed and compared on the basis of their arithmetic complxity for the case when the input image exhibits large zero regions. The superiority of pruned vector-radix 4 technique over pruned vector- radix 2and radix -2 algorithms is verified, while pruned radix-2 row-column can be of interest for very small nonzero subimages.


Keywords: NFT, copyright, virtual assets, nonfungible tokens.
This article is devoted to the study of non-fungible tokens (NFT) as a new tool, which due to its technical features is unique and unrepeatable and has recently been widely used by art collectors. This article attempts to define the legal understanding of nonfungible tokens from the perspective of civil law, as well as copyrights. In order to achieve this goal, the article identifies the main legally important components of theNFT creation process, which not least determine the place in the system of objects of law. This article defines certain approaches to the understanding of virtual (digital) property in relation to the category of crypto-asset (virtual asset) under Ukrainian law, as a result of which the position about the possibility of attributing NFT for certain conditions is substantiated. The position about the possible obligatory nature ofNFT is substantiated. The possibility of obtaining copyright on the work in connection with which NFT is created, as well as the emergence of resale right is analysed.It is concluded that NFT is not a work, and is not the result of acquiring intellectual property rights, but can only certify property rights. NFT can be secured by a property right of claim, for example concerning the transfer of a property, including the original work of art, the image of which is used for such NFT. NFT is not a separate copyright object, as technically, it is only a metadata associated with a digital file — a digital copy of a copyright or related rights object. The use of the copyrighted work on NFT can be lawfully executed only with the permission of the copyright holder. The use of the NFT copyright may be deemed unlawful under certain conditions, which requires separate permission from the copyright holder.


A teleparallel geometry is an n-dimensional manifold equipped with a frame basis and an independent spin connection. For such a geometry, the curvature tensor vanishes and the torsion tensor is non-zero. A straightforward approach to characterizing teleparallel geometries is to compute scalar polynomial invariants constructed from the torsion tensor and its covariant derivatives. An open question has been whether the set of all scalar polynomial torsion invariants, $\mathcal{I}_T$ uniquely characterize a given teleparallel geometry. In this paper we show that the answer is no and construct the most general class of teleparallel geometries in four dimensions which cannot be characterized by $\mathcal{I}_T$. As a corollary we determine all teleparallel geometries which have vanishing scalar polynomial torsion invariants.


Objective To discuss the possibility of self-drilling micro-implants with immediate,continuous orthodontic loading and histological reaction of surrounding tissue.Methods Twenty-eight Ti-alloy miniscrew implants were placed in an interradicular area of buccal side of maxilla and mandible in two dogs.Twenty were immediately loaded with a 2 N force activated by nickel-titanium coil springs for nine weeks and eight with no loading as controls.Undecalcified sections of implants and surrounding tissue were studied with general light and fluorescent light microscope.Results All implants had initial stability.One was loosened at grade 2 and one was broken during the fourth week.Histological analyses revealed ossouintegration of implants and surrounding bone.Modeling and remodeling were more active in study group.Conclusion Self-drilling micro-implants can be used as orthodontic anchorage in the maxilla and thin cortical bone area of the mandible.


The "war on terrorism" led the United States to overhaul its immigration and border policies to prevent future terrorist entry, and some other countries have emulated these measures. The main effects of these new policies have been on temporary, nonimmigrant travel rather than on permanent immigration.

Keywords:

Al Qaeda;
immigration;
terrorism


In this paper, we consider multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) based on block-diagonalization (BD) precoding with limited feedback in the downlink of a cellular network. Non-codebook based MU-MIMO is already considered in LTE Advanced (LTE Rel. 10) as an important technology to improve the average cell spectral efficiency. Still, channel state information (CSI) feedback and downlink signaling are mainly designed for single-user MIMO in LTE, with simple modifications to support MU-MIMO in LTE-A. Thus, MU-MIMO improvements are a hot topic for LTE Rel. 12 and beyond. With BD precoding, the eNodeB transmits multiple data streams interference-free to multiple user-equipments (UEs) in parallel. When BD is based on limited feedback CSI, residual multi-user interference cannot be avoided. If the number of receive antennas per UE is larger than the number of data streams per UE, CSI feedback can be optimized to minimize the effect of multi-user interference. Additionally, the users can exploit the excess antennas to cancel residual multi-user interference. Assuming varying degrees of knowledge about the interference at the UEs, we propose different receive antenna combiners and CSI feedback algorithms, and compare their performance by means of link-level simulations.


The vortex state which arises from a projection of SU(2) to $Z_2$ gauge theory is studied at finite temperatures with a special emphasis on the deconfinement phase transition.


Mental health e-coaches and technology-delivered services are showing considerable benefits to foster mental health literacy, monitor symptoms, favour self-management of different mental health conditions and scaffold positive behaviours. However, adherence to these systems is usually low and generally declines over time. There exists a recent body of work addressing engagement with mental health technology with the aim to understand the factors that influence sustained use and inform the design of systems that are able to generate sufficient engagement to attain their expected results. This paper explores the different facets of engagement in mental health e-coaches, including aspects related to the estimation of system use from log data, effective engagement, user experience, motivation, incentives, user expectations, peer support and the specific challenges of technologies addressed to mental health.


In this paper, we propose a lightweight mutual authentication and inter-cloud redeemable payment protocol which allows IoT devices to subscribe with their home cloud service providers for roaming coverage. More precisely, such devices acquire authenticated payment tokens in order to benefit from the computation offloading services from edge nodes deployed by foreign cloud service providers. Hence, IoT devices are continuously serviced even when outside of their home cloud providers coverage. The protocol makes use of tree of secrets, hash chains, and Merkle trees. It requires sharing a Merkle tree root and a 128-bit secret key for constructing the tree of secrets among cloud admins. Our protocol provides mutual authentication, confidentiality, and easy charge redemption from the home server. For $N$ subscribed IoT devices, the storage at the hosting clouds is limited to $2 \times (N_{s}\ +1)\times 16$ bytes and $32\times Log{N}$ bytes for the IoT device, where $N_{s}$ is the maximum number of devices served by the IoT gateway per payment redemption period.


The importance of top management commitment for the success of major change initiatives such as Toyota Production System and TQM has been emphasized in literature, while the role of boards, has been in less focus. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the board of directors affects the long-term sustainability of major organizational change.
This study is based on three case studies of the diffusion of complex organizational innovations such as Scania Production System (SPS) and Total Quality Management (TQM). The first case is from the health care industry in the public sector, the second from the automotive industry and the third from the steel industry. Findings from these case studies were then compared to literature on success and failures of major change programs.
As Beer (2003) commented, a TQM transformation is a long-term process requiring a fundamental shift in management practice and culture. In the best of all worlds, a committed high quality management can contribute to sustain such change processes. In our case studies, top management commitment was key for the adoption, implementation and sustainability of complex organizational innovations such as SPS and TQM. However, a committed top management does not "last for ever" – in the 'world of organisations' leaders are replaced and the very units that are in focus are being restructured, merged or sold, which deeply affect the long term change processes. One of the cases studied have been able to keep stability in leadership and has successfully developed their organization to best practice in the world (the company in the automotive industry). The other two cases, however, have ceased to exist the way they "used to be" when they started their implementation of the innovation TQM – At the down-turn of a business cycle a new CEO was hired to the steel company, with the task of cost cutting and turning the company more profitable. The hospital became part of a merger leading to the formation of the largest hospital in Northern Europe. The managing director and key personnel left the hospital and today the present management has put up ambitious goals for processes (e.g. the fractured thigh-bone operation process) which are identical to the ones that were reached already 10 years ago, but through the turmoil of reorganisation the way to reach these goals was partly forgotten and the competences needed for process improvement had been dispersed. This pattern is however not unique (cf. Book, 2006) and the issue of sustaining change long term falls back on the governance structure – on boards and owners. If they don't understand the essence and complexity of organisational changes such as Scania/Toyota Production System, Lean Production, Six Sigma och TQM, (all 'organisational innovations' consisting of essentially the same ideas and practices) – then the risk is that committed leaders are replaced with new ambitious leaders who are given new directions by boards, which basically leads to the destruction of ambitious change processes before their full potential benefits have been realized.
This study focus on the role of the Boards in sustaining major organizational change programs. As the importance of the board has not been emphasized in literature about organizational change, this study provides additional insights into the conditions for long- term sustainability of organizational change.


Previous work shows directors' and officers' (D&O) liability coverage provides insight into a firm's risk-taking and governance. We develop a theoretical model to show how CEO overconfidence impacts D&O insurance decisions. We find firms with overconfident CEOs have a lower demand for D&O insurance. Using an options-based measure for CEO overconfidence, we test this model and find that firms with overconfident CEOs have a lower demand for D&O insurance. This effect holds when controlling for litigation risk, CEO characteristics, firm characteristics, and corporate governance. This work gives insight on how CEO overconfidence impacts corporate risk through the D&O insurance decision.


A suitability modifier and its contents in ABS(basis formulas) adhesive were preferred for improving bonding performance of the adhesive,which was used between Eu(uncured EPDM insulation) and Ev(vulcanized EPDM insulation) interface when the carbon nanotubes(CNTs),silane coupler(WD),N-bromosuccinimide(NBS),N-chlorosuccinimide(NCS),glycidyl methacrylate(GMA) and adhesion promoter(ZC) were respectively used as modifiers of ABS adhesive.The results showed that the adhesive modified by ZC had well bonding performance,storage stability and thermal aging resistance.Its bonding strength was more than 3.5 MPa.


This paper proposed a nonlinear finite element model to investigate mechanism and behavior of the concrete columns confined with metal sheet. Three dimensional modeling was chosen. Concrete was modeled using the Drucker-Prager yield criterion and a softening function, whereas the Von-Mises yield criterion was chosen for metal sheet. Between both materials, a set of interface elements was inserted to represent layers of the bonding material. The results showed that the finite element model could model the behaviors that were observed from the laboratory experiments, and could capture the mechanisms that were not noticed in the laboratory experiment as well.


: The aim of this study was to determine the productivity aspects (production and reproduction) of Bali cattle based on agroecosystems that include pasture, agriculture, plantation and forest on Timor Island. Therefore, from January-December 2018, research on the performance of Bali cattle production-based agroecosystem was conducted. The research location was chosen purposively representing agroecosystems of pasture, agriculture, plantation and forest. The number of respondents was 5-10% of the number of cattle farmers in each agroecosystem that had >10 Bali cattle. The respondents were interviewed using a questionnaire prepared. Field observations were also conducted to measure the performance of Bali cattle production. The data analysis used the Importance-Performance Analysis method which was processed through a computerized SPSS program and the results were explained descriptively. The results of this study indicated that the level of importance and performance of Bali cattle in the pasture, agriculture, plantation and forest agroecosystems showed the same conditions where the performance (productivity) of Bali cattle in each agroecosystem was good for such attributes as body weight, calf crop, and conception rate. Meanwhile, the attributes that need to be


We studied the effect of muscular work on the parameters of external respiration and hemodynamics of the lower extremities of athletes and untrained persons. The study involved 40 men aged 18-20. Athletes under the influence of muscle work show an increase in the forced vital capacity of lungs in 1 second, maximum expiratory flow and forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of the forced vital capacity of lungs, while the forced expiratory time and the forced vital capacity of lungs was not significantly changed. In the control group, however, after the load growth is observed of such indicators as the forced vital capacity of lungs and forced expiratory time. The study of circulation of the lower limbs showed that the load test PWC170 causes the increase of of arterial blood flow intensity indicators such as the rheographic index, the amplitude-frequency performance and rapid blood flow indices. At the same time there is a reduction of the venous component, dicrotic and diastolic indexes with the increase of the venous outflow. In the leg muscles of athletes after the load test PWC170 we observed a decline in the intensity of both arterial and venous blood flows. In the control group the thigh muscles after the load test PWC170 do not show a significant increase of the rheographic index, the amplitude-frequency characteristic and dicrotic index. In calf muscles after exercise, on the contrary, there is an increase of intensity of arterial blood flow and increased venous outflow. Apparently, during the exercise on a bicycle ergometer muscles of the hips are mainly involved, and it is in this area that the intensity of arterial blood flow is higher. The decrease reflects the venous congestion in the pelvic area the result of constraint poses in a bicycle seat. Athletes' blood circulatory system reaction is optimal: it increases the blood flow in the thigh area where muscles are involved in performing the load. In the calf we observe a decrease in blood flow. Untrained persons show increased blood flow in all parts of the lower limbs and is not consistent with the distribution of muscle activity, which makes the reaction of the circulatory system to the load less effective. To sum up, it can be noted that exercise causes increased functioning of circulatory and respiratory systems, but the nature of the reaction of these systems to the load for trained and untrained individuals is fundamentally different. Athletes' reaction of the respiratory system is intense, it especially enhances the speed of the air passage via pneumatic routes, while untrained persons' reaction of the respiratory system is of extensive nature it shows in increased volumes. The reaction of the zonal blood flow of athletes differentiated it occurs mainly in the muscles involved in performing the load. In case of untrained individuals, by contrast, increased blood flow occurs in the whole limb. The results indicate that an important component of physiological mechanisms of endurance is differentiation of regulatory mechanisms of circulatory and respiratory systems.


Contrary to the normative emphasis on the rule of equality in the deliberation literature, little has been known about empirical consequences of the rule of equality, especially when applied in online discussions where political disagreement is prevalent. Given that hostile gender-related discussions have been noticeably increasing in South Korea, we investigated whether applying deliberative rules, especially cross-cutting exposure and equality, can improve gender-issue discussion quality and foster mutual understanding and healthy political engagement. For this purpose, we designed an online experiment involving moderated deliberations on the abolition of the national abortion ban via KakaoTalk, the most popular messenger platform in South Korea. The deliberative qualities of online discussions in terms of rationality and civility were assessed in a more objective and unobtrusive way: a content analysis of actual conversation transcripts. Participatory intention for gender issue-related activities and civic attitudes were also measured. Results indicate the equality rule can help to promote normatively desirable outcomes in discussions with disagreeing others while the positive effects of cross-cutting exposure were found limited. When combined with the rule of equality, hearing the other side meaningfully enhanced the deliberative qualities and participatory intentions of discussants.


The activated sludge treatment system for treating municipal wastewater presents an interesting application of system dynamics modeling. This paper presents such a modeling approach to the strategy formulation of the treatment system in order to economically control effluent quality. First, factorial designs are carried out on the simulation results to identify factors that significantly affect effluent quality. Thereafter, open-loop control (both constant and timevarying), output feedback control, and output-integrated feedback control strategies have been applied. Statistical tests of significance indicate that the strategy of output feedback control has the maximum potential, in both summer and winter, to achieve the dual objectives of maintaining effluent quality within acceptable limits and minimizing aerator energy. Principles Underlying the Activated Sludge Treatment System The process of Activated Sludge Treatment System (Fig. 1) is the most widely employed technique today it for treatment of municipal wastewater. The influent stream of municipal wastewater, rich in soluble organic compounds (known as substrate or food for the bacteria), enters the reactor (known as aeration tank). Bacteria feed on the organic waste present in the water. Aeration is done by mechanical means providing the much needed oxygen required for the growth of bacteria in the tank. Figure 1: Schematic Diagram of Activated Sludge Treatment System. The sewage stream loaded with biomass goes out of the aeration tank and reaches the clarifier. The clarifier allows the biomass to flocculate and settle down, due to gravity, as sludge. The sludge contains live biomass. It is re-circulated, in a controlled manner, to the aeration tank so as to maintain the biomass concentration in the tank at a desired level. The excess sludge, which is not re-circulated, is withdrawn from the clarifier and put to sludge drying beds for future use as manures. The clarified supernatant stream goes out of the system as treated effluent. Researchers have developed a number of models for studying and understanding the wastewater treatment process. These models can be broadly categorized as (1) Component level models and (2) Comprehensive models. Component-level models pertain to sub-areas such as 'substrate removal process' (Novak 1974, Lawrence and McCarty 1974), 'biomass growth process' (Grady and Roper, Jr. 1974, Gaudy, Jr., et al. 1974, Grady et al. 1986) and Monod 1949), 'oxygen transfer, dissolved oxygen consumption, and oxygen assimilation process' (Bliss and Barnas 1986, Picionreanu, et al. 1997), and 'clarification process' (Ford and Eckenfelder 1967). Comprehensive models pertain to the functioning of the whole treatment system and can be classified as analytical models (Ford and Eckenfelder 1967, Roper, Jr. and Grady, Jr. 1978, Smeers and Tyteca 1984, Uber, et al. 1985, Tang, et al. 1987, Zhao, et al. 1999, and Anderson, et al. 2000), simulation models (Busby and Andrews 1975, Barton and Mckeown 1986, and Anderson, et al. (2000)), and system dynamics models (Das, et al. 1995, 1997 and Clemson, et al. 1995). But for Anderson, et al. (2000), none of the studies reported above has designed any control strategy for the output quality exceedences. Clemson, et al. (1995) have developed a system dynamics model for wastewater treatment plant and have used Taguchi methods in conducting sensitivity analysis. But their model considers neither the biological process of growth of microorganism nor the process of oxygenation. It also does not try to design a strategy for effluent quality control. The present work presents a comprehensive system dynamics model for wastewater treatment plant by using the tools, techniques and concepts of design of experiments, statistical quality control, and modern control theory in order to decide the number of aerators to use and design the sludge re-circulation policy while maintaining the effluent quality within acceptable limits. A Dynamic Model for the Treatment System Four physical flows can be distinguished in an activated sludge plant: (1) Flow of Liquid, (2) Flow of Biomass, (3) Flow of Substrate or Pollutants, and (4) Flow of Dissolved Oxygen.


OeBB-Infrastruktur Betrieb AG's role in operating ARGE Corridor X, a partnership of ten railways along Pan-European Corridor X, is described. The organisation of ARGE Corridor X is outlined. The partnership launched eight market projects at the beginning of 2006. These projects are described: cutting running times in timetables; establishing a corridor X product catalogue; providing a Corridor X network statement; assessment and exploitation of market potentials; assessment of available infrastructure capacity; coordination of infrastructure investments; cutting stops in border stations; and establishing one stop shops. The role of ARGE Corridor X in research projects (Infraclear, Catiemon and Integrail) co-funded by the European Commission is outlined. The new Rolling Motorway Service (ROLA) between Wels (Austria) and Halkali (Turkey) is described. The new locomotives obtained by Slovenian Railways and the OeBB group are discussed.


To develop a two-layer prestressed long-span subway station,a nonlinear seismic numerical simulation of the soil-subway interaction system was conducted,applying the plasticdamage constitutive model to describe the nonlinear and fatigue characteristics of concrete under cyclic loading and taking into account the structural damping and initial stress of the soil-structure interaction system due to the gravity and prestress of reinforced concrete. The destruction process,destruction forms and destruction locations were analyzed after the simulation. The results indicated that the dynamic shear stress concentrates in the external bottom of side walls near to the baseboard,then the mid-span and the upper root of the top board and level board,which can spread fast and even form penetrated cracks in some parts. The dynamic tensile and compression damage emerges easily in the vertical direction of side walls near to the baseboard,and it also emerges easily in the horizontal direction of the top board and level board. The dynamic shear stress concentrates in turn in the junction between side walls and the top board as well as the baseboard. Side walls near to the baseboard and the root of the top board are key parts of a frame for safety where failure tends to occur earlier.


A fascinating aspect of Rydberg atoms is their ability to form huge but very weakly bound molecules with a ground state atom, only held together by a scattering process between the latter and the Rydberg electron. Beyond the usual way of creating such molecules by laser excitation from two ground state atoms with a distance of less than the Rydberg radius, we demonstrate that Rydberg molecules can also be formed by capturing an initially faraway ground state atom when it comes in contact with a Rydberg atom. To demonstrate this effect, we investigate the scattering process between the Rydberg electron and the ground state atom within a semiclassical framework. In this picture capturing results from a dissipative finite-mass correction term in the classical equations of motion. We show that and under which conditions the capturing takes place. PACS numbers: 34.50.Cx, 34.20.Cf Semiclassical model for the formation of Rydberg molecules 2


The study tests the performance persistence of domestic closed-end funds by two criteria: net asset value performance and market price performance.The empirical results of the study indicate that while there is no significant evidence for net asset value performance persistence,the evidence for market price return reversal is strong during the sampled period.


In cardiac myocytes, clusters of type-2 ryanodine receptors (RyR2s) release Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) via a positive feedback mechanism where fluxed Ca2+ activates nearby RyRs. While the general principles of this are understood, less is known about how single-RyR gating properties define the RyR group dynamics in an array of many channels. Here, we examine this using simulations with three models of RyR gating that have identical open probabilities. The commonly-used two-state Markov gating model produces frequent, large, and long Ca2+ release events because the single exponential that defines its open time (OT) and closed time (CT) distributions reproduces the experimental data poorly. In contrast, simulations that utilize complete single-channel OT and CT distributions fit with multiple exponentials produce infrequent Ca2+ release events with far fewer open RyRs. Moreover, when experimentally-measured correlations between single-channel OTs and CTs are included, Ca2+ release events become even smaller. This occurs because the correlations produce a small but consistent bias against recruiting more RyRs to open during the middle of a Ca2+ release event, between the initiation and termination phases (which are unaltered compared to the uncorrelated simulations). Beyond the effects of full OT and CT distributions and OT/CT correlations on SR Ca2+ release, we also show that Ca2+ release events can terminate spontaneously without any reduction in SR [Ca2+] or physical coupling between RyRs when Ca2+ flux is below a threshold value. This both supports and extends the pernicious attrition/induction decay hypothesis that SR Ca2+ release events terminate below a threshold Ca2+ flux. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE This work provides insights into RyR2-mediated Ca2+ release by a cluster of RyRs interacting only via their fluxed Ca2+. It is shown that: 1) common proxies like the single-RyR open probability versus cytosolic [Ca2+] curve and mean open or closed times are poor predictors of SR Ca2+ release dynamics; 2) Ca2+ release events can self-terminate below a flux threshold without any physical coupling between channels; 3) commonly-used two-state Markov gating models can produce qualitatively different Ca2+ release events (larger and longer) compared to simulations where complete single-channel open and closed time distributions are used; 4) correlations between a RyR's open times and previous closed duration (and vice versa) significantly limit Ca2+ release by tamping down the number of open RyRs.


This analysis was prepared for the 'Bioterrorism: Historical contexts, long-term consequences' conference held at the Department of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, on 8 May 2002. A revised version was presented at the panel 'A plagued future? Emerging diseases, bioweapons, and other anticipated microbial horrors' at the 2002 American Anthropological Association Meetings, 23 November. I thank meeting participants for their comments, as well as Nick King, Joe Masco and the anonymous referees for AT. I am indebted to colleagues D.A. Henderson, Tara O'Toole, Tom Inglesby and Michael Mair for their reflections on the humanitarian and public policy dilemmas posed by bioweapons, and to Onora Lien and Ari Schuler for research assistance.


One species of Microtabella , Microtabella interrupta , is widespread and has been known since the 19th Century but it has a convoluted taxonomic history leaving it presently the only species in the genus. The name interrupta derives from the chain-forming habit and the plastids being confined to a portion of the cell by a set of distinctively distended septa. This character makes it very easy to identify and very easy to overlook similar species, especially because the tabulate frustules are most often seen in girdle view. I found specimens of a new taxon that had these characters and was distinguished with difficulty in girdle view by the coarser striae on the copulae and the recurved edges of the septa. However, in valve view Microtabella rhombica n. sp. has a much broader, rhombic outline. Ultrastructural differences include a more elongated apical pore field with a prominent spine, biseriate striae on the copulae and a different form of the ligule (a raised bar on the last copula). Like Microtabella interrupta , the mature epitheca of Microtabella rhombica comprises numerous copulae with nearly flat septa, two copulae with distended septa and four hyaline pleurae that lack septa. This species could well be widespread but, as with other monospecific genera in which there is a strong distinguishing character, care must be taken to look beyond the outstanding feature.


The aims of the research was to know ability of fungi catalisator, i.e. Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma viridae, and Chaetomium sp. to increase composting process and decrease C/N ratio content. The experiments used grass as carbon source, cow dung as nitrogen source, and A. niger, T. viridae, and Chaetomium sp. as catalisator. The result showed that the activators accelerated the compost maturity process. The compost was contained phosphate solubilizing fungi (± 10 cell/g), phosphate solubilizing bacteria (± 10 cell/g), and nitrogen fixing bacteria (± 10 cell/g). The C/N ratio of compost was 8.90. © 2005 Jurusan Biologi FMIPA UNS Surakarta


Objective To observe the therapeutic effect and side effects of Vp 16 intraperitoneal chemotherepy in the treatment of refractory malignant ascites.Methods Thirty two cases or refractory malignant ascites were treated with Vp 16 300~400mg IP every 3~4 weeds.Results The overall effective rate was 56.3% in the 32 patients,among whom CR was observed in three patients and PR in 15 patients.The main side effects were neutropenia(68.8%),hair losing(50%) and nausea/vomiting (43.8%).Conclusion Vp 16 intraperitoneal chemotherapy is an effective treatment for patients with refractory malignant ascites and has a manageable toxicity.


Pumping well dynamometer is designed for the needs of oil field automated transformation.By adopting the NXP JN5139-Z01-Mxx as main chip,the acceleration sensor ADXL202 and pressure sensors INA122U are used as sensor chip.The paper introduces the application of acceleration,and pressure sensor in terms of hardware and software.Finally,a special algorithm is used to get the displacement and load of the wells.It has been proved that this system is energy-saving,stable and accurate,which has been successfully used in the Jiangsu Oilfield automation of oil system.


Multi-character recognition in arbitrary photographs on mobile platform is difficult, in terms of both accuracy and real-time performance. In this paper, we focus on the domain of hand-written multi-digit recognition. Convolutional neural network (CNN) is the state-of-the-art solution for object recognition, and presents a workload that is both compute and data intensive. To reduce the workload, we train a shallow CNN offline, achieving 99.07% top-1 accuracy. And we utilize preprocessing and segmentation to reduce input image size fed into CNN. For CNN implementation on the mobile platform, we adopt and modify DeepBeliefSDK to support batching fully-connected layers. On NVIDIA SHIELD tablet, the application processes a frame and extracts 32 digits in approximately 60ms, and batching the fully-connected layers reduces the CNN runtime by another 12%.


According to the principle of total potential energy with stationary value in elastic system dynamics and the "setting in right position" rule for formulating system matrixes,the coupling vibration equation of vehicle-bridge system is established,considering the deformation of the continuous beam concrete-filled steel tube arch bridge deck generated by the creep and temperature,and making the deformation overlaps the track irregularities in the form of combinational curves.The computer simulation is adopted to establish the dynamic FEM model of vehicle-bridge system and the effect of deck creep and temperature deformation on coupling vibration of vehicle-bridge system is researched.The results show that track irregularities caused by the deck creep and temperature deformation influence the load decrement rate of wheel weight,the vertical acceleration and the vertical Sperling index so obviously that track irregularities need to be considered,when the safety and driving comfort of vehicle on the bridge is evaluated,especially for the high-speed trains.


Insulin glargine 100 units/ml (Gla‐100) has become a standard of care in diabetes treatment over the past decade, providing 24‐h basal insulin coverage after once‐daily subcutaneous injection for many people with diabetes, with a well‐established efficacy and safety profile. New insulin glargine 300 units/ml (Gla‐300) is a basal insulin that provides the same number of units as Gla‐100 in a third of the volume. Compared with Gla‐100, Gla‐300 has shown more constant and prolonged pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) profiles. This review summarizes the findings from the EDITION series of clinical trials that investigated Gla‐300 in individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Overall, Gla‐300 has been shown to achieve similar glycaemic control with less, or similar, nocturnal hypoglycaemia compared with Gla‐100, and a trend towards lower hypoglycaemia at any time of day. The EDITION series of clinical trials also provides some evidence for less weight gain with Gla‐300 than with Gla‐100. In addition, the PK/PD profiles of Gla‐300 may allow more flexibility in the timing of doses, improving convenience; thus, Gla‐300 could offer several positive features for individuals with diabetes requiring basal insulin therapy.


Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is an independent risk factor for poor outcome after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and is multifactorial in etiology. While prior studies have suggested a role for matrix metalloproteinase‐9 (MMP‐9) in early brain injury after SAH, its contribution to the pathophysiology of DCI is unclear.


The serious phenomenon about scientific brain Drain has been paid widespread attention to in the world since USSR broke up. The main reasons are the low wages and instability life. Scientific brain drain has caused seriously economic loss and scientists ageing, especially technological innovation capability decrease sharply. Russian government has eased the brain drain problem by formulating relevant laws and regulations, a subvention system and so on in the past decade. Russian scientific brain drain phenomenon gives an important warning to the Chinese.


Frequent itemsets mining is an active research problem in the domain of data mining and knowledge discovery. With the advances in database technology and an exponential increase in data to be stored, there is a need for efficient approaches that can quickly extract useful information from such large datasets. Frequent Itemsets (FIs) mining is a data mining task to find itemsets in a transactional database which occur together above a certain frequency. Finding these FIs usually requires multiple passes over the databases; therefore, making efficient algorithms crucial for mining FIs. This work presents a graph-based approach for representing a complete transactional database. The proposed graph-based representation enables the storing of all relevant information (for extracting FIs) of the database in one pass. Later, an algorithm that extracts the FIs from the graph-based structure is presented. Experimental results are reported comparing the proposed approach with 17 related FIs mining methods using six benchmark datasets. Results show that the proposed approach performs better than others in terms of time.


Objectives/Goals The purpose of this project is to revolutionize the idea of using sensors instead of joy sticking a ride to places like mars or finding new terrain for people like scientists and U.S Military agents that are navigating through unknown areas. My objective is to use mathematics and the language of Parallax Stamp to decode the artificial intelligence behind the robots in which one has a tactile, touch sensory detection embedded in its hardware and software and the other photo transistors, light sensors embedded in its software and hardware, in which then is tested in a challenge of efficiency and a race against time. The first question I asked myself was, What mechanism, the robot with the tactile or the robot with the photo transistors can complete the obstacle course more efficiently and at a quicker time? After completing the first step in the scientific method, I thought up a hypothesis in which was based on the idea that the mechanism with the photo transistors would complete the course better than the other robot. Methods/Materials I began to develop this project by using the scientific method. After figuring out the use of this project, my hypothesis and research, I began to build the two robots. In the lightest and most basic terms, both of the robots consist of adrinos, micro controllers, two servos per robot, and battery packs. After developing the robots and completing small hardware installments such as resistors, LED bulbs and etc, I began to develop the software for the robots. The final steps in my process of developing this project was to design and build my obstacle course. Results My hypothesis was based on the idea that the mechanism with the photo transistors would complete the course faster, but it turned out the results indicated that the tactile sensors completed it faster and more efficiently. The tactile AKA whisker sensors completed the obstacle course in 34.19 seconds and the photocell sensory device took 49.38 seconds showing a clear winner the tactile sensory detection system! Conclusions/Discussion In conclusion, this experiment helped me as a student and a young engineer to realize that if something can be made easier, in this case testing out different sensors to find the more efficient one to use instead of a human in controls, why not use it. I drew conclusions from my results and learned that the tactile sensors would help a lot in navigating through any kinds of terrain.


Infrastructure as an asset class has commanded increasing attention from investors and the financial press over the past two years. Major asset sales in the UK - most notably of ports and water utilities such as Thames Water - and ongoing attention on road infrastructure in the United States and Europe, has been met with increased competition for assets, not from 'trade buyers' (such as utility companies) but from investment banks and asset managers. The asset manager model for infrastructure, where a sponsoring manager - usually but not always an investment bank - establishes a separate publicly traded entity to own infrastructure assets while contracting out management functions to the sponsor, was pioneered by Australia's Macquarie Group Limited (known until recently as Macquarie Bank). Even as the managed infrastructure model has grown in popularity, at least among potential and actual asset managers, there are some signs of investor unease with the existing model. At the basis of these concerns is the unique governance structure that has emerged among publicly traded infrastructure vehicles. This paper initially outlines the main features of infrastructure assets. It then explains the importance of distinguishing between infrastructure assets and infrastructure funds. The predictable, and steadily growing, cash flow associated with infrastructure assets is commonly highlighted as a basis for providing an attractive, and steady, yield. However, the yield delivered by several infrastructure funds is sourced from operating cash flows of the fund's assets and from capital. The paper then summarizes the key features of the infrastructure fund model, pioneered by Macquarie. It then highlights a range of investment-related concerns with the infrastructure model: a series of issues related to the sustainability of the model; a danger of overpaying for assets; fee structures that provide an incentive to increase a fund's size without sufficient regard to returns; and accounting practices that have the capacity to provide an overly robust picture of a fund's profitability. The paper then describes a series of governance concerns with the infrastructure model. For instance, the existence of 'special shares' in some funds which entitle the external manager to appoint a majority of the fund's directors. The paper concludes with a series of reform proposals.


For "Molecular Genetic Improvements of Cyanobacteria to Enhance the Industrial Potential of the Microbe: A Review" by Johnson et al. (Biotechnology Progress, 32(6), November/December 2016; DOI 10.1002/btpr.2358), the authors request the following correction. In the caption for Figure 3, the acronym for FAD is incorrectly identified as "flavin adenine dinucleotide". It should be "fatty aldehyde decarbonylase". The authors apologize for the error. Received: 14 April 2020 Accepted: 20 April 2020


The mathematical model of aerobic wastewater treatment is built. It takes into account the interaction between bacteria and biologically oxidative matter. An appropriate solution to the problem of the model is obtained. The approximate values of optimal settings of the process are determined. The influence of the main parameters of the effectiveness of biological treatment is considered. Based on the calculation, an algorithm of process control and automation system of treatment facilities was designed.


It is challenging to design an efficient lossy compression scheme for complicated sources based on block codes, especially to approach the theoretical distortion-rate limit. In this paper, a lossy compression scheme is proposed for Gaussian and Laplacian sources. In this scheme, a new route using "transformation-quantization" was designed to replace the conventional "quantization-compression". The proposed scheme utilizes neural networks for transformation and lossy protograph low-density parity-check codes for quantization. To ensure the system's feasibility, some problems existing in the neural networks were resolved, including parameter updating and the propagation optimization. Simulation results demonstrated good distortion-rate performance.


This paper studies the impacts of temperature variation on U.S. crop insurance. We construct a county-level panel of U.S. crop insurance losses, liabilities, temperature, and precipitation during the period 1989-2014. We find that the ratio of losses to liabilities (LLR) begin to increase significantly at 30 ‰ for corn and 33 ‰ for soybeans. These findings are similar to the estimated impacts of temperature on yield found in previous studies. In a 1 ‰ uniform warming scenario, the LLR, which in the long-run is equal to the actuarially fair premium rate, increases by 24% in corn and 6.5% in soybeans. Using detailed information on the causes associated with insurance losses, we further decompose the impact of temperature on the LLR into heat, drought, excess moisture, and freeze related claims. We find that at extreme temperatures drought is the largest source of insurance losses. Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the 2017 Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, July 30-August 1 *Edward D. Perry (firstname.lastname@example.com) is an Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Jisang Yu (firstname.lastname@example.com) is an Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, and Jesse Tack (firstname.lastname@example.com) is an Associate Professor, Deparment of Agricultural Economics, all at Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506. Copyright 2017 by Perry, Yu, and Tack. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies.


Effects of electrode potential and Cl- content in water on stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of solution-annealed nitrogen-containing stainless steels 304NG and 316LN in high temperature water environ- ments at 250℃ were studied by using slow strain rate test and high temperature electrode potential control technology. Results showed that, for steel in each water environment, the susceptibility to SCC increased with the increasing of potential and there was a minimum potential for SCC (EC) below which no SCC oc-curred. The EC decreased with the rise of Cl- content in water, that is, the environmental range suitable for SCC increased. In the solution containing 5mg/L Cl-, the EC of 304NG was in the range of 0 ~ +200mV(SHE) above which transgranular SCC occurred, which means that this steel may exhibit SCC at such Cl- content when the water contained high content of oxygen. When Cl- content was increased to 50 mg/L, EC decreased to less than -700 mV(SHE), which means that this steel may exhibit SCC at such Cl- content even when the oxygen in water has been well eliminated. 316LN exhibited higher resistance to SCC than 304NG, as its EC was in the range of +300 ~ +400mV(SHE). The main cracking of 316LN was transgranular.


We reported recently that interleukin (IL)-1 exposure resulted in a prolonged increase in MUC5AC mucin production in normal, well differentiated, human tracheobronchial epithelial (NHTBE) cell cultures, without significantly increasing MUC5AC mRNA (Am J Physiol 286:L320–L330, 2004). The goal of the present study was to elucidate the signaling pathways involved in IL-1 –induced MUC5AC production. We found that IL-1 increased cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA expression and prostaglandin (PG) E2 production and that the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib suppressed IL-1 –induced MUC5AC production. Addition of exogenous PGE2 to NHTBE cultures also increased MUC5AC production and IL-1 –induced Muc5ac hypersecretion in tracheas from wild-type but not from COX2 / mice. NHTBE cells expressed all four E-prostanoid (EP) receptor subtypes and misoprostol, an EP2 and EP4 agonist, increased MUC5AC production, whereas sulprostone, an EP1 and EP3 agonist, did not. Furthermore, specific protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitors blocked IL-1 and PGE2induced MUC5AC production. However, neither inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor 4-(3-chloroanilino)-6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline HCl (AG-1478) or EGFR blocking antibody nor inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase/P-38 mitogen activated protein kinases with specific inhibitors blocked IL-1 stimulation of MUC5AC mucin production. We also observed that tumor necrosis factor (TNF), platelet activating factor (PAF), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced COX-2 and increased MUC5AC production that was blocked by celecoxib, suggesting a common signaling pathway of inflammatory mediator-induced MUC5AC production in NHTBE cells. We conclude that the induction of MUC5AC by IL-1 , TNF, PAF, and LPS involves COX-2– generated PGE2, activation of EP2 and/or EP4 receptor(s), and cAMPPKA–mediated signaling. Mucins are heavily glycosylated, high molecular weight glycoproteins produced by the epithelia of the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and reproductive tracts. They are responsible for the viscoelastic properties and hydrophilicity of secreted mucus and provide lubrication and protection of the epithelial lining (Rose and Gendler, 1997). The airways are constantly exposed to a variety of environmental toxicants, including particulate matter and microbial pathogens. Mucociliary clearance involves trapping inhaled particles and bacteria in the mucus layer and transporting them from the lung via the actions of ciliary beating. Dysregulation of any component of the mucociliary clearance mechanism can lead to airway damage. Increased production of mucus, which commonly occurs in diseases of the respiratory tract involving inflammation, can cause airway narrowing and obstruction, thus impeding airflow. Thirteen mucin genes have been reported (Rose and Gendler, 1997). However, in airway secretions, the products of the MUC5AC and MUC5B genes seem to be the predominant polymeric mucins (Kirkham et al., 2002). In the adult human 1 Present address: College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. 2 Present address: Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. ABBREVIATIONS: IL, interleukin; COX, cyclooxygenase; PG, prostaglandin; EP, E prostanoid receptor; NHTBE, normal human tracheobronchial epithelial; PKA, protein kinase A; EGF, epidermal growth factor; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase; MAP, mitogen-activated protein; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; PAF, platelet activating factor; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; IFN, interferon; TGF, transforming growth factor; SC-560, 5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3-(trifluoromethyl)-1-pyrazole; PD98059, 2 -amino-3 -methoxyflavone; U0126, 1,4-diamino-2,3dicyano-1,4-bis(2-aminophynyltio)butadiene; RT, reverse transcriptase; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; EGFr, epidermal growth factor receptor; SB203580, 4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(4-methylsulfinylphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)1H-imidazole; WT, wild type; H89, N-[2(4-bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinoline; AG-1478, 4-(3 -chloroanilino)-6,7-dimethoxy-quinazoline; FP, prostanoid F receptor. 0026-895X/04/6602-337–346 MOLECULAR PHARMACOLOGY Vol. 66, No. 2 U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright 3100/1167789 Mol Pharmacol 66:337–346, 2004 Printed in U.S.A. 337 at A PE T Jornals on O cber 3, 2017 m oharm .aspeurnals.org D ow nladed from airway, MUC5B mucin is mainly produced in mucous cells of the submucosal glands and in the glandular ducts, whereas MUC5AC mucin is considered to be the product of goblet cells lining the airway (Buisine et al., 1999). During the course of airway inflammatory disease, different cell types invade the airway, releasing a variety of cytokines, growth factors, eicosanoids, and free radicals, resulting in a marked increase in the number of goblet cells, an increase in MUC5AC mRNA, and overproduction of mucin (Fahy, 2001). Many studies have been conducted to elucidate the role of various cytokines in mucus hypersecretion (for review, see Jeffery and Zhu, 2002). IL-1 is a proinflammatory cytokine that is secreted by immune cells in response to bacterial or viral challenges (Dinarello, 1997) and has been shown to play a role in airway diseases characterized by increased mucus production (Kadota et al., 1996). IL-1 regulates a variety of genes and gene products including the gene encoding the COX-2 enzyme that results in the production of bioactive prostaglandins (Smith et al., 2000). Prostaglandins (PGs) are lipid mediators that are involved in many physiological and pathophysiological processes, including inflammatory airway diseases (Sugimoto et al., 2000). PGE2, one of the major PGs produced, exerts its biological effects by binding to specific cell surface receptors, designated EP (for E-prostanoid). Four different EP-receptors have been identified, named EP1 to EP4, and several splice variants of the EP3-receptor are known (Narumiya and Fitzgerald, 2001). The EP3 and EP4 receptors seem to be the major subtypes in lung tissue (Sugimoto et al., 2000). Activation of EP receptors leads to well defined alterations in intracellular calcium and cAMP concentrations; e.g., cAMP is raised by EP2 and EP4, whereas intracellular calcium is increased after EP1 and EP3 activation. In addition, activation of the EP3 receptor may also decrease cAMP (Sugimoto et al., 2000). Thus, many different physiological processes are regulated by PGE2 activation of specific receptor subtypes. Recent studies from our laboratory showed that IL-1 increased MUC5AC (but not MUC5B) mucin production and coordinately increased fluid secretion in well differentiated, normal human tracheobronchial epithelial (NHTBE) cell cultures (Gray et al., 2004). In these studies, it was also found that IL-1 did not significantly increase MUC5AC mRNA levels but caused a prolonged, substantial increase in MUC5AC mucin production. We would like to emphasize that the present study as well as previous studies were not designed to measure the secretagogue effects of IL-1 and other inflammatory mediators; rather, they were designed to measure cytokine-stimulated sustained production and release of MUC5AC mucin. In the present study, NHTBE cell cultures were exposed to IL-1 and the signaling pathway between COX-2 induction and MUC5AC production was investigated. While this work was in progress, Kim et al. (2002), using the human, tumorigenic lung cell line, NCI H-292, described the IL-1 signaling pathway leading to COX-2 induction and subsequent production of MUC5AC. Aside from our work, emphasizing events downstream of COX-2, and that of Kim et al. (2002), focusing on events upstream of COX-2, it seems that significant differences between NHTBE cells and NCI H-292 cells also exist. Our studies demonstrate that in cultured NHTBE cells, IL-1 stimulates MUC5AC production by a COX2/PGE2-dependent mechanism. We show that NHTBE cells express the four known EP receptors and that the EP2/EP4 receptors (but not the EP/EP3 receptors), cAMP, and PKA are involved in the IL-1 –stimulated MUC5AC production. An important finding of this study is that the EGF receptor, which has been reported to play a critical role in the up-regulation of MUC5AC expression induced by several inflammatory mediators (Nadel, 2001), is not involved in IL-1 –stimulated MUC5AC mucin production of NHTBE cells. This finding is further supported by the fact that ERK and p38 MAP kinase inhibitors did not block the IL-1 effect. Finally, we present evidence that TNF, PAF, and LPS also stimulate MUC5AC mucin production by a COX2/PGE2-dependent mechanism. Materials and Methods


Over the last years, there has been a growing interest in the effects of stress on the immune system. The immunomodulative effects of acute stress are often documented (i.e., Teshima, Sogawa, Kiwara, Nagata, Ago, Nakagawa (1987)), whereas the influence of chronic stress is less clear. Monjan & Collector (1977) report that acute exposure to noise stimuli decreases, chronic exposure increases immune function compared to the baseline level. The immunomodulative effects are accompanied by an increased corticosterone release after acute exposure to noise, and a decreased release after chronic exposure to noise. In this study, we examined whether acute exposure to unpredictable noise periods differs from chronic exposure on its effect on splenic lymphocyte population and plasma corticosterone concentration. Female mice of the C57/BL6 strain were subjected to a daily auditory stressor for one week or four weeks. The mice were 9 to 10 weeks old at the beginning of the experiment. They were housed in groups of five animals and maintained on a 12-hour light/l2-hour dark cycle with free access to food and water. The mice of the experimental groups were exposed daily to broad band noise at about l00dB. Noise stimuli of 20-second duration were presented on an average of every three minutes during a six-hour period around midnight. The intervals between the noise stimuli were randomly chosen (range 30 to 330 seconds). The control animals were exposed only to the normal animal room activity for either one or four weeks. Percentages of Thy+-cells and of Lyt-1.2+ cells present in the total number of splenic lymphocytes were determined using cytotoxic assay (Cedarlane, Hornby, Ontario, Canada). Plasma corticosterone was measured by radio-immuno-assay (Radioassay Systems Laboratories, Carson, California, USA). In order to rule out possible effects of the bleeding order on corticosterone level, only mice sacrified within four minutes after the first mouse in a cage were included in the analysis. Exposure to unpredictable noise periods for a week clearly decreased both Thy+and Lyt-l.2+-lymphocytes, while after four weeks, no effects could be found (Table


Objective To investigate nursing cooperation during gastric coronary vein embolization procedure with NBCA glue. Methods Perioperative nuusing experience in 36 hepatic cirrhosis patients complicated with esophagus-gastric fundus vein varicose rupture and hemorrhea who had undergone gastric coronary vein embolization procedure was retrospectively summarized. Results Operations in all 36 cases had been successful,with no severe complication due to inadequate nursing cooperation. Conclusions Gastric coronary vein embolization operation utilizing NBCA glue is a safe and effective method of hemostasis,skilled and elaborative nursing cooperation is an important component ensuring a smooth and effective operation.

Key words:
NBCA glue; Gastric coronary vein; Embolization operation; Nursing cooperation


ABSTRACT
 Based on qualitative data on students' approach to reading this paper argues that student learning be significantly improved by facilitating reading to unfold as a method of inquiry. Identifying how students currently orient and interact with texts and further what learning outcomes reading affords we develop the concept of 'Text-Centred Reading' (TCR), which contrasts models such as inquiry-based-learning. TCR differs from established concepts in the literature, emphasizing that the interest orienting the reader's focus is decisive for her learning. In paraphrasing the model of 'Teacher-centered-teaching', the concept criticizes the prevailing framing of reading in higher education as outmoded. Drawing on an earlier study of how researchers read and learn through reading, we discuss how students' learning can improve if reading is taught and supported as a method of inquiry. Finally we suggest that in confronting specific challenges related to this endeavor inspiration can be drawn from 'Inquiry-Based Learning' (IBL) frameworks.


The capabilities of silver catalysts with different particle sizes for oxygen activation were systematically studied by O-17 solid-state NMR. The observation of O-17 signal at around 0 ppm for silver catalysts indicates that silver activates O-17(2) molecules and that subsequent formation of active O-17 species leads to the oxygen exchange with the mesoporous SiO2 supports. The initial appearances of the O-17 signals at different temperatures for three silver catalysts show that oxygen activation strongly depends on the size of Ag particle. Their ability of activating oxygen molecules is in the order Ag-3/MCM-41 > Ag-5/SBA-15 > Ag-10/SBA-15. Ag-3/MCM-41 is able to activate oxygen molecules and facilitates the oxygen exchange with the support even at room temperature. Although the NMR signal of active O-17 species on silver catalysts is not observed directly, the approach described in this work can be used to indirectly determine the conditions on which the active oxygen species can be produced during catalytic oxidation reactions. The silver catalysts can also be used for O-17 enrichment of the oxide-based materials under mild conditions.


We investigate the strength of the coupling of the electronic states with the electromagnetic field in ZnO nanospheres, taking into account the retardation effect. We show that the coupling strength is particularly strong: the bulk properties are so enhanced that the radiative decay time can reach some 200 ps for quantum dot sizes of some 30 nm.


Conclusion The partial hydrogenation of the alcohol-soluble fraction of lard, leading to the complete or almost complete destruction of the linoleic acid contained therein, does not diminish the effectiveness of the fat with respect to the lowering of the abnormal respiratory quotients of rats on a fat-deficient diet. Further indication is thereby given that the carbohydrate factor postulated as present in natural fats is not linoleic acid, the lack of which in the diet of rats has been found to produce other deficiency symptoms. One of us reported 1 that extremely small amounts of fats have an influence on metabolism greatly in excess of their effect as fat per se because of a possible new dietary factor present in the fats. Evans and Burr 2 announced the discovery of a syndrome characterized by subnormal growth and retardation or suppression of ovulation, which developed in rats maintained on a fat-deficient diet. Burr and Burr 3 described additional symptoms of this fat deficiency disease in rats as scaly skin, necrotic tail, and hemorrhagic kidneys, and recognized 4 the fat-contained dietary factor as linoleic acid. A cooperative investigation by one of us (W) with Dr. Burr indicated that while linoleic acid is curative for the abnormalities described by Evans and Burr and Burr, it is not curative for the metabolic abnormality described by Wesson. 5 In the present paper, a comparison is made of the effects of an active natural fat containing linoleic acid on this abnormal metabolism before and after hydrogenation. If hydrogenation does not modify the activity of this fat, a further indication is thereby obtained that linoleic acid is not the active constituent of the fat with respect to carbohydrate metabolism. The symptom of a deranged metabolism that appears in rats maintained on a diet deficient in fat consists of an abnormal tendency to form fat from carbohydrate, which may be alleviated by small amounts of an active fat. 6 This abnormal tendency to form fat from carbohydrate is detected by means of respiratory quotient determinations obtained during the 6 hours following the feeding of a definite amount of carbohydrate. The normal tendency to form fat from carbohydrate due to over-filling of the glycogen stores is avoided by a preliminary 18–20 hour fast. Reference is made to preceding papers 6 ,7 for details of the fat-deficient diet, procedure, and previous findings.


This work addresses the critical problem of authentication in mobile ad hoc networks. It includes a new approach based on the Zero-Knowledge cryptographic paradigm where two different security levels are defined. The first level is characterized by the use of an NP-complete graph problem to describe an Access Control Protocol, while the highest level corresponds to a Group Authentication Protocol based on a hard-on-average graph problem. The main goal of the proposal is to balance security strength and network performance. Therefore, both protocols are scalable and decentralized, and their requirements of communication, storage and computation are limited.


For the purpose of orthodontic treatment of children with congenital cleft lip and palate, various orthodontic constructions are used. The use of removable appliances indicated for narrowing or shortening of the dental arches, anomalies of the individual teeth position. The question of determining the magnitude of force reactions around special devices (clasps) that are designed to fix appliances on teeth during treatment, under the conditions of the specificity of the development of the upper jaw and the impact of surgical interventions on it, requires detailing, which determined the purpose of this research. A three-dimensional 3D simulation model was created based on digital data of the spatial geometry of a sample of orthodontic appliance used for orthodontic treatment of children with congenital unilateral cleft lip and palate. Mathematical modeling methods were used to study the stress-deformed state of the appliance and estimate the magnitudes and distribution of the amplitudes of force reactions around its fasteners (clasps). Force reactions around of the supports of the orthodontic appliance when the screw is rotated from 0° to 360° (axial movement by 1 mm) are unevenly distributed, with a minimum value of force amplitudes of 10.3 N and a maximum of 30.9 N. It was noted that in the area of fasteners (clasps) placed more distally, the values are higher (30.9 N and 27.6 N) than in the medially placed fasteners (10.3 N and 12.5 N). It is also worth noting that on the side of the base of the appliance, which corresponds to the location of the small fragment of the jaw, the values of the force amplitudes are greater (30.9 N and 12.5 N) than on the side of the large fragment (27.6 N and 10.3 N). A significant dependence of the values of force reactions on the stiffness characteristics of the jaw and the type of force transmission from the orthodontic appliance to its areas was established.

Keywords: 3D simulation model, force reactions, clasps.


Here we report the tunable electrical properties and chemical sensor of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) networkbased devices with a functionalization technique. Formation of highly aligned SWCNT structures is made on SiO2/Si substrates using a template-based fluidic assembly process. We present a Platinum (Pt)-nanocluster decoration technique that reduces the resistivity of SWCNT network-based devices. This indicates the conversion of the semiconducting SWCNTs into metallic ones. In addition, we present the Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) gas detection by a redox reaction based on SWCNT networks functionalized with 2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) as a catalyst. We summarize current changes of devices resulting from the redox reactions in the presence of H2S. The semiconducting (s)-SWCNT device functionalized with TEMPO shows high gas response of 420% at 60% humidity level compared to 140% gas response without TEMPO functionalization, which is about 3 times higher than bare s-SWCNT sensor at the same RH. These results reflect promising perspectives for real-time monitoring of H2S gases with high gas response and low power consumption.


Lotus ( Nelumbo ) is one of the top ten flowers in China, which has high ornamental, edible and medicinal value. Lotus has a been cultivated for thousands of years. Through discovery and cultivation, more than 4,000 cultivars have been recorded. However, the information related to lotus breeding is quite scattered, and the related genetic rules and trait formation mechanisms are still poorly understood, which has caused a greater impact on lotus genetic breeding. This article systematically introduces lotus germplasm resources, including wild species and cultivated species, summarizes lotus breeding methods and breeding directions, and focuses on the latest progress in the isolation and functional identification of structural and regulatory genes related to important horticultural traits. Prospects for the protection and utilization of lotus resources, breeding and industrialization are reported.


Excess heeling in container ships often occurs in the process of unbalanced marine cargo loading and unloading, which is a great restriction to rapid loading work and is even detrimental to the security of the ship. In order to increase the loading and unloading speed, as well as ensure the container ship's safety during the process of container stevedoring, this paper investigates two different controller design scenarios for the high efficiency anti-heeling system employed in the container ship. One is a valve switched anti-heeling system with a logic controller and the other is a reversible pump anti-heeling system with a PID controller. Simulation is conducted to illustrate each controller's performance in terms of following the input command and rejecting external heeling moment disturbance. Methods of tuning the related coefficients for controllers in the list control system are given in searching of a sound system's response to loading and unloading work. Simulation results can also be utilized to choose among different types of anti-heeling systems, as well as each individual device, such as valve and pump.


This paper presents the investigation on durability of concrete with the usage of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) as alternate to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and Granulated Blast Furnace Slag(GBFS) as substitute to fine aggregate and the combination of both. Durability Tests were conducted to assess the durability characteristics of concrete and the results were compared with that of the reference concrete. Three sets of replacements were carried out. In the first set cement was replaced with GGBFS, in the second set fine aggregate was replaced with GBFS and a combination of both GGBFS and GBFS was used in the third set. Replacement percentages used for three sets were 0%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, and 55%. GGBFS was in the powdered form and GBFS in the granular form. Durability properties of concrete were compared for the optimum replacements of concrete. According to the test results durability properties were more in combination replacements. Test results showed that durable concrete with combination replacement of both GGBFS and GBFS can be produced. This more durable concrete can be used in marine structure constructions.


This Ph.D. thesis focuses on studying magnetization dynamics of magnetic materials on sub-picosecond timescales using terahertz (THz) radiation either as excitation or as a sensitive probe. At the beginning of the thesis, coherent excitations of spin precession are studied in thin films of ferrimagnetic Mn3-xGa Heusler alloys using THz emission spectroscopy. In this study, precise tunability of the THz emission frequency from these films is shown, which makes them highly promising candidates for future wireless communication technologies. Furthermore, the frequency dependence of THz driven ultra-fast demagnetization in conducting ferromagnetic CoFeB thin films is investigated. The ultra-fast demagnetization shows a peak behavior around 0.5 THz which is explained as a competition between the efficiency of Elliot-Yafet type spin scattering and the electron scattering in a Drude like model. This study will help to understand the microscopic mechanisms responsible for demagnetization taking place on sub-picosecond timescales. At the end of the thesis, magnon modes in insulating NiO have been studied with resonant excitation utilizing the magnetic field of the THz transients. This study reveals two magnon modes which are distinguished by their different characteristic magnetic field dependencies. The field dependence of these magnon modes is explained using an eight sub-lattice model. In general, the results presented in this thesis shed light on the field of ultra-fast magnetization dynamics at THz frequencies and are believed to provide a pathway to deepen our knowledge of magnetization dynamics at speeds which are technologically relevant for efficient spintronics devices.


References Brodie, W. 005. A description of the autumn multispecies surveys in SA + Divisions 3KLMNO from 1995004. NAFO SCR DOC. 05/08, Serial No. 5083, 1 pp. Colbourne, E.B., and Kulka, D. 004. A preliminary investigation of the effects of ocean climate variations on the spring distribution and abundance of thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata) in NAFO divisions 3LNO and subdivision 3Ps. NAFO SCR Doc. 04/ 9, Serial No. 4978, 1 pp. Colbourne, E.B., and Murphy, E.F. 005. Physical oceanographic conditions in NAFO Division 3P during 005 possible influences on the distribution and abundance of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). DFO CSAS Res. Doc. 005/065. Colbourne, E.B., Craig, J., Fitzpatrick, C., Senciall, D., Stead, P., and Bailey, W. 006. An assessment of the physical oceanographic environment on the Newfoundland and Labrador Shelf during 005. DFO CSAS Res. Doc. 006/030. DFO. 006. 005 State of the ocean: physical oceanographic conditions in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region. DFO CSAS Sci. Advis. Rep. 006/018. Harrison, G., Colbourne, E.B., Gilbert, D., and Petrie, B. 004. Oceanographic observations and data products derived from large-scale fish and environmental surveys in the Atlantic zone. AZMP Bulletin PMZA 4: 173. Therriault, J.-C., Petrie, B., Pepin, P., Gagnon, J., Gregory, D., Helbig, J., Herman, A., Lefaivre, D., Mitchel, M., Pelchat, B., Runge, J., and Sameoto, D. 1998. Proposal for a Northwest Atlantic Zonal Monitoring Program. Can. Tech. Rep. Hydrogr. Ocean Sci. 194, vii + 57 pp.


. The extended Riemann hypothesis states that all of the nontrivial zeros of the Dedekind zeta function are on the critical line ℜ ( s ) = 1 / 2. In this paper we study an even entire function by Li's integral representation of the Dedekind xi function. We obtain the inequality for its coefficients by the result of Coffey. We set up its product given by the Hadamard's factorization theorem. We discover all of the zeros of this function are on the critical line ℜ ( s ) = 0. With use of the obtained result, we prove that the extended Riemann hypothesis is true.


The myth that women had equal rights and were emancipated in the Soviet Union masks the reality that the Soviet state, like all totalitarian states, is a manifestation of patriarchal ideology. The true democratization of Russian society requires the rejection of masculinist ideology and constitutes one of the most important social and cultural challenges.


Bhandare, P. et al. (1993). "Multivariate Determination of Glucose in Whole Blood Using Partial Least-Squares and Artificiatl Neural Networks Based on Mid-Infrared Spec troscopy," Appl. Spectr, 47(8): 1214-1221. Heise, H.M. et al. (1989). "Multivariate Determination of Glucose in Whole Blood by Attenuated Total Reflection Infrared Spectroscopy," Anal Chem. 61:2009-2015. Hiese, H.M. et al. (1998). "Clinical Chemistry and Near Infrared Spectroscopy: Technology for Non-Invasive Glu cose Monitoring." J. Near Infrared Spectrosc. 6:349-359. (List continued on next page.) Primary Examiner Eric F. Winakur ASSistant Examiner Matthew Kreman (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm Morrison & Foerster LLP (57) ABSTRACT


e16549 Background: The classic adjuvant treatment for high-risk endometrial cancer is RT. Several phase III trials explored the role of CT, as single treatment or added to RT sequentially (ST) or concurrently (CR), but design heterogeneity hampers conclusions. We report the results of a single-institution protocol with adjuvant CT + RT for advanced stages or type II histologies. Key points: (1) ST and CR permitted. (2) CT used pre-, post- and/or during RT: carboplatin AUC 5 + paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 (150 during RT) Q3W, 4-6 cycles ("carbotaxol"). (3) since 2010, cisplatin 50 mg/m2 was used for CR (on day 1 and 28 of RT). CR was preceded/followed by carbotaxol. Methods: All patients (PT) included in the protocol between 1/2005 and 9/2011 were retrospectively revised. Endpoints were survival and toxicity grade 3-4. Kaplan Meier and Fisher test were used. Conclusions: CR-carbotaxol showed a longer progression-free and overall survival than ST without reaching statistical significance (log rank, p= 0.14 and p=0....


The Infrared (IR) Physical Layer definition for the Electronic Industries Association's (EIAs) Consumer Electronic Bus (CEBus) standard was circulated for comment and vote in the early part of 1990 and was approved after alteration to reflect some of the comments. The author describes the IR Physical Layer specification and some of the network implications of using IR. It is noted that the CEBus IR system represents an effective method of achieving single-room remote control and access to the housewide network. No new technology is used; the standard simply extends current product development trends to provide a method of IR communication which is orthogonal to existing systems. The multiple levels of complexity allow the most cost-effective implementation for the application. >


This article expounds how to use the information-based new media platform to create and organize diversified educational activities for party members, so as to improve the enthusiasm of party members to participate in the activities. The design of the interactive education mode of ideological and political theory courses under the network platform is extremely necessary. The necessity of the model, the definition of its connotation, and the implementation strategy are some of the main issues that need to be discussed. We integrate different types of data such as social networks, biological networks, technical networks and other data to further provide the comprehensive modelling of therelated studies, and through the discussions, the performance is then validated to be efficient.


In recent years,accompanying with large-scale development on coal mine resources in Taozao mining area of Zaozhuang city,more and more bad influences to groundwater resources and ecological environment have been created by drainage.A great deal of draining water leaks into karst water through the bare limestone or the "open window",and Qingliangquan water source has been polluted.According to analysis on mine pit draining water volume,water quality and present exploration condition,it is regarded that plugging water pollution among strata and controlling pit draining channels are effective countermeasures for protecting water source pollution.


A new campus tracking system to solve the problem of campus thefts based on IoT is presented in this paper. The data of RFID tags was collected by FRID reader and transmitted over short distance by ZigBee. Then the data was transferred to PC, which was connected to ZigBee coordinator node and transferred to the user or administrator through campus network at last. The user or administrator landed tracking system to select items by the entrance guard system or not. Therefor valuables were ensured in security and the thief would be blocked. If the thief forced the goods out entrance guard system, Beidou navigation chip embedded objects would be opened, and goods would be tracked with the Beidou navigation system. Experimental results show that the system can manage campus valuables intelligently.


A question asking for respondents' sex is one of the standard sociodemographic characteristics collected in a survey. Until now, it typically consisted of a simple question (e.g., "Are you…?") with two answer categories ("male" and "female"). In 2019, Germany implemented the additional sex designation divers for intersex people. In survey methodology, this has led to an ongoing discussion how to include a third category in questionnaires. We investigate respondents' understanding of the third category, and whether introducing it affects data quality. Moreover, we investigate the understanding of the German term Geschlecht for sex and gender. To answer our research questions, we implemented different question wordings asking for sex/gender in a non-probability-based online panel in Germany and combined them with open-ended questions. Findings and implications for surveys are discussed.


Open-cathode fuel cells use air cooling to effectively reduce system cost. However, due to the challenging hygrothermal environment, they generally suffer from low performance compared to conventional, liquid-cooled cells. A pre-validated, three-dimensional computational model is used in the present work to determine the effects of different sub-component designs, namely the polymeric membrane, composition of the cathode catalyst layer (CCL), and structure of the cathode microporous layer (CMPL), on the performance of an open-cathode fuel cell. This comprehensive parametric study performed on a total of 90 cases shows the increment in current density to be 7% and 31% by improvising the membrane and CCL design, respectively, at 0.6 V. A steep increase of 87% is also achieved by strategically modifying the CMPL design at 0.4 V operation. An overall increment of 119% and 131% in current density is achieved for the best membrane electrode assembly (MEA) design at 0.6 and 0.4 V, respectively, as compared to the baseline design. These improvements are achieved by collective improvements in kinetics, oxygen mass transport, ohmic resistance, self-heating, and water retention in the ionomer phase. The proposed MEA design could facilitate open-cathode fuel cell stacks with 2× higher power output or 56% lower weight and materials cost for a given power demand.


Objectives: 1) Recognize that data mining is useful to analyze multiple patient and tumor factors and make predictions about outcome in head and neck cancer patients. Methods: Retrospective study of 124 patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated at a tertiary care institution from 2000-2009 for whom 2 year outcome was known. Data was collected from the medical chart. PASW Modeler was used to analyze the data. The outcome measurement was overall 2 year survival. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) values (false positive rate (FPR), true positive rate (TPR)) were calculated for each outcome predictor model. Results: For the entire group, overall two year survival was 82%. The models used to predict survival were p16 status, Stage IV status and PASW Modeler Decision Tree analysis. ROC values for each model were as follows: p16 training 0.56, 0.74; p16 validation 0.25, 0.83. Stage IV training 0.83, 0.73; Stage IV validation 0.75, 0.61. Decision Tree training 0.00, 0.88; Decision Tree validation 0.75, 0.78. Conclusions: Data mining shows promise in making outcome predictions in patients with head and neck cancer. This study shows that data mining performs better than outcome prediction using a stage-based model. Although the ROC curve analysis for the Decision Tree training set was excellent, the validation set fell below the p16 validation set. We suspect that this may be due to the small size of our data set. To overcome this downfall, we will discuss the results from a K-fold cross-validation process which sequentially uses all the data in the validation set.