Culture may particularly influence community attitudes towards mental illness, when the illness itself is shaped by a cultural context. To explore the influence of culture-specific, religious symptoms on Orthodox Jewish community attitudes, the authors compared the attitudes of 169 Orthodox Jews, who randomly viewed one of two vignettes describing either religious or nonreligious obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Results indicate that though participants were equally likely to perceive both vignettes as mental illness, they were less likely to endorse psychological/medical explanatory models and help-seeking, and conversely more likely to endorse social–religious explanations, religious help-seeking, and stigma in relation to religious OCD. Nevertheless, psychological/medical models and help-seeking were more strongly endorsed for both religious and nonreligious OCD. Beyond implications for Orthodox Jewish community actions, these findings suggest that attitudes towards mental illness may depend on how symptoms relate to community culture. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Introduction: Urolithiasis is quite a common disorder affecting around two million people in India every year. Minimally invasive therapies are effective treatment measures in most of the cases. However, a watchful waiting approach with pharmacotherapy promotes the expulsion of stones in a shorter time. We hereby review the efficacy and safety of silodosin, a selective α-1A adrenoceptor antagonist, in medical expulsive therapy for the management of urolithiasis based on the evidences in Indian population. Methods: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) keywords which were used to systematically search electronic databases: PubMed/Medline, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar from their inception to February 2020 were "Silodosin", "Ureteral calculi", "Medical expulsive therapy", "India", "randomised controlled trials" and "prospective observational studies". A total of 29 relevant studies could be found and were included in our analysis. Results: The primary outcomes considered were the stone expulsion rate (SER) and stone expulsion time (SET) along with pain episodes and safety outcomes like orthostatic hypotension and retrograde ejaculation. Eight studies with a total of 1064 patients were identified as evidences considering Indian population which compared silodosin with controls like tamsulosin or tadalafil. Conclusions: Silodosin is highly effective in Indian population for increasing stone expulsion for those with ureteral stones (distal ureteral stones with diameter ≥5 mm and ≤10 mm) with shorter expulsion times along with fewer episodes of pain. It is also effective in post-lithotripsy for accentuating clearance rate and curtailing time to passage of the stones.


Advances in biochemical technologies, such as synthesizing and sequencing devices, have fueled manifold recent experiments on archival digital data storage using DNA. In this paper we review and analyze recent results on information-theoretic aspects of such storage systems. The discussion focuses on a channel model that incorporates the main properties of DNA-based data storage. Namely, the user data is synthesized many times onto a large number of short-length DNA strands. The receiver then draws strands from the stored sequences in an uncontrollable manner. Since the synthesis and sequencing are prone to errors, a received sequence can differ from its original strand, and their relationship is described by a probabilistic channel. Recently, the capacity of this channel was derived for the case of substitution errors inside the sequences. We review the main techniques used to prove a coding theorem and its converse, showing the achievability of the capacity and the fact that it cannot be exceeded. We further provide an intuitive interpretation of the capacity formula for relevant channel parameters, compare with sub-optimal decoding methods, and conclude with a discussion on cost-efficiency.


The effect of chilling on light dependence of photosynthetic and chlorophyll a fluorescence characteristics in two maize genotypes CE 704 and CE 810 grown in a glasshouse during spring and autumn was studied. In spring, the net photosynthetic rate (P N ) of CE 704 plants was not affected by chilling under moderate irradiance but it was strongly affected under a saturating one. This indicates that efficiency of photosynthetic apparatus was not affected by chil ling but its capacity was decreased. Contrary to CE 704, CE 810 plants were not affected by chilling under saturating irradiance. In autumn, CE 704 plants adapted to chilling and no statistically significant differencies in P N and Fv/Fm between chilled and control plants in the whole range of irradiance were found. Enhanced activity of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) in chilled CE 704 plants under saturating irradiance corresponded with an increased level of xanthophyll cycle pigments and an increased deepoxidation state of these pigments.


The Big Four firm will offer business support to fledgling companies, with a specific focus around its My Financepartner offering which offers a low-cost subscription service providing business advisory services.


Studies of holoplanktonic polychaetes in the Tropical Eastern Pacific have focused on their systematics and distribution however, population responses related to climate variability are non-existent. Therefore, the present work described for the first time the influence of the climatic variability 2004-2012 on the holoplanktonic polychaetes populations, as well as their relationship to environmental variables. Species of the Alciopidae, Lopadorrhynchidae and Iospilidae families were identified from 85 samples collected in the Pacific Basin of Colombia, contrasting them with the presence of ENSO, and correlating them with the environmental variables of temperature, salinity and chlorophyll-α concentration. Of the 14 species identified, only Lopadorrhynchus cf. henseni and L. cf. brevis increased their densities under El Nino and correlated positively with temperature. Rhynchonereella cf. petersii correlated negatively with temperature; while R. cf. gracilis and Pelagobia cf. longicirrata were positively correlated with chlorophyll-α concentration and salinity, respectively. Additionally, with the first description of the environmental ranges of the 14 species identified for the Colombian Pacific basin, it was found that the most commons species presented broader environmental ranges. The results from the current research are consistent with previous studies in other regions of the Pacific and latitudes. The responses of the organisms suggest trophic and mobility trends that were not known for tropical holoplanktonic polychaete species.


Purpose: We report a case of visual loss after the injection of poly-L-lactic acid filler into the right forehead area for cosmeticpurposes. Case summary: A 46-year-old female patient visited our clinic due to sudden visual disturbance and dysesthesia on the rightforehead and cheek. Her best correct...


OBJECTIVES
This study sought to test the putative link between social phobia and sexual functioning.

METHODS
Three groups consisting of 106 social phobic, 164 sexually dysfunctional and 111 normal participants were assessed in terms of sexual functioning, social anxiety, social functioning and general psychopathology.

RESULTS
Although social phobic men were less sexually active than normal men, they were as sexually satisfied. Social phobic women were alike their normal counterparts in all respects.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, social phobic individuals were not more prone to report sexual problems than normal individuals despite reporting the severest levels of social anxiety. Theoretically, our results are best understood as supporting an interpersonal conception of social phobia and a related socio-cultural perspective regarding sexual roles.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the past 15 years of research and development (R&D) on the role of virtual environments (VEs) as an orientation and mobility (O&M) aid to enhance skills and to train people who are blind or newly blind. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes and examines studies of 21 VE systems developed specifically to help people who are blind improve their O&M skills. These VE systems, equipped to supply appropriate perceptual and conceptual spatial information through haptic and auditory sensorial channels, are mainly focussed on two goals: helping congenitally blind or late blind persons to collect spatial information in advance and supporting people who are newly blind in practicing their O&M skills during rehabilitation. The R&D studies represented in these 21 studies were examined along three dimensions: descriptive information, system, and research. Findings – This paper highlights weaknesses and strengths of VE systems that have been developed in the...


effective in distinguishing between Li-ion batteries composed of either single-crystal NMC811 (SC-NMC811) or polycrystalline NMC811 (PC-NMC811) electrodes. Cells composed of PC-NMC811 electrodes had a higher degree of gas evolution compared to cells containing SC-NMC811 electrodes. Cells composed of PC-NMC811 electrodes also underwent larger changes in the acoustic signal ' s time-of-flight (ToF) during constant current cycling at a range of C-rates indicating expansion, fracture or dislocation of the reflective interfaces inside the cell. In addition, X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) has been used to confirm significant morphological differences between SC-NMC811 electrodes and PC-NMC811 electrodes including the electrode ' s particle size distribution (PSD) that is suggested to have an effect on acoustic signal interaction with these electrode interfaces.


Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) has been implicated in cardiovascular complications. CKD results in decreased filtration and a concomitant increase in uremic toxins. Uremic toxins are a by‐product of organic molecules, including two prominent amino acid derivatives, namely Indoxyl sulfate (IS) obtained from tryptophan and p‐Cresyl sulfate from tyrosine. Of these uremic toxins, IS has been shown to be highly potent, and implicated in exacerbation of multiple cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of IS during vascular injury and specific contributions of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells (VSMCs) remain unclear.


BACKGROUND: Ciliary dysfunction underlies the pathogenesis of both heterotaxy syndrome and primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), often with overlapping genetic variants. OBJECTIVE: This case series aims to describe genetic testing and postoperative outcomes for infants with heterotaxy-associated congenital heart disease (H-CHD) with pathogenic variants in genes associated with ciliary structure or function. METHODS: Infants who underwent surgery for H-CHD between 2017 and 2022 were included in this single-center review. The results of genetic testing, microarray or sequencing-based tests, were reviewed. Baseline clinical data and postoperative outcomes are summarized for individuals with variants in ciliary genes. RESULTS: Of 32 infants who underwent surgery, 12 had sequencing-based testing. A genetic variant associated with ciliopathy was reported in 10 of 12 infants (83%), 3 (25%) were diagnostic of PCD and 2 (17%) were considered possibly diagnostic. Infants with variants in ciliary genes had high prevalence of postoperative respiratory complications, however a relationship between genetic test results and respiratory complications could not be proven. All infants with a genetic diagnosis of PCD showed clinical symptoms of PCD on follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Sequencing-based testing has high detection rate for PCD in infants with H-CHD and may be valuable given their increased risk of respiratory complications after surgery.


The present investigation was conducted to determine the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Lepidium meyenii, " Red Maca " on lipid peroxidation induced by acrylamide in erythrocyte membrane of Rattus norvegicus var. albinus. The random distribution was performed in the following groups: White, Control I and II, Problem IA and IB and Problem IIA and IIB with 6 specimens for each group, respectively. Hydroalcoholic root extract of Lepidium meyenii at doses 1g/Kg/dia for Problem IA and IB and 2g/kg/dia for Problem IIA and IIB was administered for one month, while the White group only received food and water ad libitum, and Control Group I and II received placebo ( 0.9 % NaCl ). Lipid peroxidation was induced with acrylamide 4mg/kg/dia all groups except the White group. On day 14 after induction with acrylamide, was taken blood sample by cardiac puncture to the specimens of Control group I, Problem IA and IIA. By completing the 28th after induction was taken blood sample specimens of the other groups. Lipoperoxidation was determined as levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) expressed in nmol / mL using the colorimetric method of thiobarbituric acid (TBARS ) at 532 nm wavelength substances . We conclude that the dose of hydroalcoholic extract 2g/kg/dia Lepidium meyenii, " Maca Red " has greater antioxidant effect (p < 0.05)


more hope for inter-regional approaches within more cohesive groups of countries. Tumlir's interesting comment goes on to suggest that many areas of international economic diplomacy could be more profitably rel. egated to domestic judicial or quasi-judicial processes, conducted by statutory bodies holding public hearings. In part in, Rainer Hellmann also points to regional groups as more likely to succeed where the nation-state in larger international groups may not. Eric Gabus and Alden Lank express somewhat different views on the power of multinationals, while Victoria Curzon suggests a possible resolution to this thorny question, by pointing out that the challenge which the multinationals pose to states is to use state sovereignty better than in the past. Gerard Curzon's introduction examines the basis for the criticisms of multinationals and contrasts this with their potential for improving material well-being. In being prepared to admit both possibilities, this study develops some more useful points of policy than those which unreservedly come down on one or the other side of the debate.


Iron (Fe) is an essential element for all organisms. Fe deficiency can limit plant production and cause anaemia in humans. The improvement of Fe homoeostasis could resolve both problems. Fe homoeostasis in Aegilops tauschii, the D genome donor of bread wheat, is not fully understood. Here, we analysed physiological traits in 42 accessions of Ae. tauschii associated with Fe homoeostasis, i.e. mugineic acid family phytosiderophores (MAs), phenylamides, SPAD values and metal concentrations. All traits showed diversity, suggesting the presence of candidate genes in the Ae. tauschii accessions, which could improve Fe homoeostasis in bread wheat. All accessions mainly produced and secreted mainly 2′-deoxymugineic acid among MAs, but eight of them secreted unknown products from their roots under Fe deficiency. It was revealed that 15 kinds of phenylamides and 2 kinds of bread wheat phytoalexins were produced in Fe-deficient roots of Ae. tauschii. Multivariate and principal component analyses showed that chlorophyll content was correlated with shoot Fe concentration. Genome-wide association study analysis associated several genomic markers with the variations in each trait analysed. Our results suggest that Ae. tauschii has alleles that could improve Fe homoeostasis to generate Fe-deficiency-tolerant or Fe-biofortified bread wheat.


In recent years then has been significant interest in conformal, low-profile, very wideband antennas. To this end various configurations of log-periodic antenna structures have been developed, mostly consisting of planar logarithmic spirals, toothed planar and wire structures, and the ubiquitous dipole array. Unfortunately, none of these designs easily lend themselves to low-profile, conformal mounting. A log-periodic antenna structure more suited to this type of mounting has been developed by Greiser and is called the log-periodic folded slot array (LPFSA). Accurate knowledge of the radiation patterns and impedance characteristics would facilitate the development and optimization of a design procedure for the LPFSA. The purpose of this investigation is to gain a more complete understanding of the LPFSA, with the goal of developing an optimized design procedure.<<ETX>>


During the storage and using process, laser gyroscope zero bias will drift due to influence of temperature, vibration and other environmental factors. This paper uses FMMEA method to analyze the reason for the variation of the laser gyros parameters. Using learning mechanisms of BP neural network to train the model with zero bias data and establish a relationship between zero bias value and the time. According to the given zero bias threshold and the acquired neural network model, fault time can be predicted. This paper also uses radial basis network and time series analysis to establish the reasoning algorithm between zero bias and laser gyro navigation fault. The results show that, for laser gyroscope zero bias data, neural network method has higher fitting precision than time series analysis, and can achieve good reasoning model, also the prediction is more close to the real fault time.


To investigate the effects of the transection of facial nerve on motoneuron survival as well as expression of c-jun. 84 SD rats were performed as model of proximal(high position) or distal(low position) facial nerve transected groups. The rate of survival of motoneurons and expression of c-jun were observed after axotomy. Expression of c-jun increased at 12 h after axotomy and maintained in high level for 60 d in the distal transected group. Compared the expression of c-jun to the distal transected group, expression of c-jun or the time maintained was obviously decreased in the proximal group. The rate of survival of motoneuron was obviously higher in the distal group than in the proximal group.


In the case of nonlinear eddy,the fractional calculus is applied to the crack fault diagnosis of rotor system,and then compared with the vibration characteristics of cracked rotor system with traditional integer order damping.The simulation results show that more abundant the information of crack fault in the fractional damping cracked rotor system can be obtained by adjusting the fractional order.Therefore,the fractional calculus can be better applied to the crack fault diagnosis of the rotor system.


The rhizosphere, directly influenced by root systems of plant, plays a significant role in plant-microbe interactions, which in turn directly affect the plants. In this work, the dynamic characteristics of rhizosphere bacterial communities during the growth period of cultivated strawberry
 (Fragaria×ananassa 'Hongyan') were investigated, and the dominant bacterial species in different growth stages were identified. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) was employed to obtain operational taxonomic unit (OTU) abundance, bacterial community diversity,
 and abundance of rhizosphere bacteria at five growth stages of strawberry: growth period (A1.1), budding period (A2.2), flowering period (AB3.2), fruiting period (AB4.1) and mature fruit period (AB5.2). The composition and abundance of bacterial communities structure were analyzed using the
 unweighted pair group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA) cluster analysis. The result indicated that, in the flowering stage the bacterial community exhibited the highest diversity and richness, while the bud stage had the least. The flowering stage showed a greater specific bacteria species
 in the strawberry rhizosphere, followed by growth, mature and harvest stages, and the lowest in the bud stage. The main dominant phyla were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria, accounting for over 70% of the total bacterial abundance. The main dominant genera
 were Alcanivorax, Kaistobacter, Marinobacter and Candidatus Nitrososphaera. The bacterial abundance similarity was relatively high in the growth and harvest stages, as well as in flowering and mature stages, while it differed greatly from that of the bud stage. In conclusion,
 the difference in bacterial diversity between bud stage and flowering stage was the greatest, with the Chao1 index and Shannon index increased by 79.35 and 6.74%, respectively. The rhizosphere bacterial community richness and diversity were highest at the flowering stage (AB3.2), with 198
 specific OTUs accounting for 7.48% of the total OTUs. At the phylum level, the bacterial abundance of Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria were greatly affected by the developmental stage. These findings suggest that the bacterial diversity of strawberry rhizosphere
 will change with the growth stage.


For many decades, the scientific community of medical professionals has wondered if there is a correlation between cough and gastroesophageal reflux. This problem is relevant for doctors of various specialties. The importance of this issue is due to practical application since it determines the tactics of diagnosis and treatment both for cough and gastroesophageal reflux. The article provides an analysis of Russian and foreign literature data, based on which we can conclude that there is a correlation between gastroesophageal reflux (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and cough.


With conscious methodology involved and clear, logical analysis approach adopted, scholar Feng You\|lan, one of the founders of \!New Rational Philosophy\", refreshes the conception of Chinese traditional philosophy and at the same time, presents the Chinese philosophy history with an academic and modern image. Furthermore, special attention has been paid to the combination of \!positive method\" and \!negative method\", integration of \!logical analysis\" and \!intuition\" towards the re\|establishment of metaphysics. However, the introduction of \!negative method\" results in the tense relationship of \!New Rational Philosophy\" internally. \!Negative method\" alone can not escape from the paradox shared with \!positive method\" in building up the metaphysics. Consequently, \!New Treatise on the Methodology of Metaphysics\" breaks through the limitation of \!New Rational Philosophy\", concerning the pure speculation. It has, so far, been a deep\|researching issue on how to integrate rational, logical method with intuition. In conclusion, dialectical logic plays a far more basic role.


In this paper we discuss the two construction strategies: decomposition and composition (''top-down'' and ''bottom-up'' ). We consider the concepts of subsystems and aggregates as developed in the DELTA project, which may assist us when using the two construction strategies. We discuss some of the difficulties which may arise, and make a preliminary proposal for an aggregate concept, usable in both SIMULA and DELTA.


A research to improve the properties of lithium metal electrode by pretreating it with 1,3-dioxolane was analyzed.An optimal proposal of surface treatment was found by orthogonal experiment.The properties of lithium metal electrode treated and untreated with 1,3-dioxolane were compared with each other.It was found that the cycle life and utilization rate were improved greatly after pretreating.And the discharge voltage plateau increased by about 100 mV.


What is the relation of organizational norms and personal values to community involvement and career choices? Results from a national survey of middle-level production managers indicate that most managers perceive their companies as having a policy encouraging community involvement. However, less than a third of the managers perceive norms concerning transfers. A strong relation exists between organizational norms encouraging involvement and managers' participation in community affairs. Values, though less important than norms, nonetheless help in understanding attitudes toward community involvement and actual involvement. While norms prescribing participation and transfers are in themselves independent, their influence through attitudes towards participation indicate that managers who follow norms and get involved in community organizations are less likely than their counterparts to opt for a community transfer.


INTRODUCTION: Alveolar bone deficiency is one of most common problems encountered with oral rehabilitation. Many bone augmentation techniques have been documented, one of them is augmentation by bone grafting and barrier membranes, ceramic membrane proved efficiency in guided bone regeneration due to enhanced properties. AIM OF THIS STUDY: Evaluation of bone surface area under perforated ceramic membrane in relation to non perforated ceramic membrane. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 14 mongrel dogs divided into two equal groups, study group used bone graft, cortical perforation and perforated ceramic membrane, control group used bone graft, cortical perforation and non perforated ceramic membrane, follow up for 12 weeks and sacrification was done retrieving ceramic mebrane with samples of new bone which histologically prepared for histomorphometric analysis. Results: By histological evaluation more cellularity and vascularity, better trabecular arrangement and lesser granulation tissues were noted under perfor ated ceramic group. By histomorphometric analysis statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05 and higher bone surface area with mean value of 40.09 ± 3.50 associated with perforated group in comparison with mean value of 19.92 ± 3.63 associated with non perforated ceramic membrane group. CONCLUSION: Perforated ceramic membrane is comparable to occlusive one in terms of higher bone surface area, reduced granulation tissues and favorable blood supply.


The high prevalence rate, high disability rate and high suicide rate of depression seriously affect the quality of life of patients. Medication is the first choice of treatment for the disease. In the course of clinical antidepressant treatment, there are obvious gender differences in the pharmacodynamics of antidepressant drugs. This phenomenon may be related to differences in brain structure, personality and hormone levels between men and women, but the specific causes and mechanisms have not yet reached a unified conclusion. This article reviews the pharmacodynamics of antidepressant drugs and the causes of gender heterogeneity.


Edna St. Vincent Millay was a magazine celebrity in the 1920s. Vanity Fair trumpeted her poetic skill and her loveliness in its presentation of her poetry and biography. The October 1921 issue cast Millay both as an artist of sentiment, the traditional nineteenth-century province of feminine influence, and a representa tive modern girl: "The Most Poignant Lyricist of the Modern Genera tion."1 As Sandra Gilbert observes, Millay mocked her own reputation for romanticism.2 She addresses her celebrity in a November 1922 col umn signed with her nom de plume Nancy Boyd: "the girl sitting at the next table was Edna St. Vincent Millay . . . eating an enormous plate of sauerkraut and sausages . . . Such a shock. I had always imagined her so ethereal."3 Though many may have "imagined her ethereal," the public image of Millay as a modern girl with unabashed appetites and ironic self-appraisal was also central to her literary reputation. Her 1922 volume of light verse, A Few Figs From Thistles, included poems that would number among her most quoted and anthologized, includ ing "First Fig," "Recuerdo," and "I think I should have loved you presently." Her epigrammatic style and personal focus in these verses repre sented a departure from the high seriousness and cosmic concerns of a poem like "Renascence," which marked her entrance into the na tional literary scene through a contest run by St. Nicholas magazine. Her adult engagement with midtown magazine culture as represented by Vanity Fair?the quipping style this magazine encouraged and the gendered types it employed to market a sophisticated lifestyle? explains in part her development of this comic aesthetic. Further, her periodical work provides an ironic commentary on the gender tensions found within intellectual and print culture in New York in the 1920s. In Making Love Modern: The Intimate Public Worlds of New York's Lit erary Women, Nina Miller explores Millay's self-conscious manipulation


Separate-confinement-heterostructure single-quantum-well (SCH-SQW) InGaAsP/InGaP structures were grown on a (100) GaAs substrate by liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) and then buried-heterostructure (BH) lasers were fabricated after mesa etching. The output power of laser diodes could be cw-operated near 50 mW without any kink in the transverse single mode. The measured values of a charateristic temperature T0 for BH InGaAsP/InGaP lasers were around 100 K for ∼500 µm cavity length. This relatively low value compared to the AlGaAs/GaAs quantum-well lasers could be better explained in terms of carrier leakage over the heterojunction barrier rather than Auger recombination which is intrinsic to quaternary semiconductor materials.


Objective: To investigate the effect of Buyang Huanwu Decoction on Na+,K+,Mg2+,Ca2+ contents in the brains of rats.Methods: ICP-MS was used to detemine the Na+,K+,Mg2+,Ca2+ contents.Results: The Ca2+ contents in the brains of mice were decreased.The contents of Na+,K+ and Mg2+ were increased.Conclusion: The function of Buyang Huanwu Decoction is related with the ionic reforming action of Na+,K+,Mg2+and Ca2+.


The application of a methodology for integrated energy-emissions control planning in a large Swedish community is described. The procedural aspects of the methodology have been discussed elsewhere, the description therefore concentrates on the technical analysis of the community energy system and the joint tasks of developing this system and controlling the emissions from it. Examples of technical issues that have been investigated are: local electricity production through cogeneration, the impact on emissions and on the local electricity production of the introduction of natural gas, conflicts between cogeneration and heat production from municipal waste incineration and between cogeneration and energy conservation in areas with district heating, local emissions budgets accounting for the emissions associated with import and export of electricity to or from the community, and the effects of different emissions control policy instruments such as 'bubbling' or emissions fees. The most important tool for the technical analysis is the IEA-MARKAL technical energy system model.


Groundwater induced land subsidence is a growing problem worldwide and has been documented in places like Mexico, Jakarta, Tehran, and China. India is the largest user of groundwater and pumps more than the USA and China combined. The National capital region(NCR) of India, due to rapid urbanization and illegal extraction, is facing severe groundwater depletion of the order of 0.5m-2m per year and is declared as a critical zone by the government of India. The looming crisis of groundwater depletion and supporting hydrogeology makes this region prone to land surface deformation.


As current trends in immigration to the United States continue, many communities face unprecedented linguistic and demographic shifts. Communities are challenged to make sense of their new immigrant neighbors, and accounts of who immigrants are and how they will affect the community circulate at the level of national public discourse as well as locally. These categorizations can affect how immigrant groups are treated in the community, how immigrant students are taught in schools, and can eventually affect students' chances for success after graduation. This paper explores how circulating storylines about Mexican immigrants in the community of New Marshall 1 are [re]produced, modified, or transformed in a local high school and English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Once mostly white and African-American, New Marshall is now home to a rapidly growing Mexican immigrant community, and the young Mexican English language learner is now a common student "type" in local schools. Various perceptions of who the Mexicans are circulate throughout New Marshall, with institutional reproduction of these categories being especially powerful. We use ethnographic and discourse analytic methods to examine how one ESL teacher identifies and positions her Mexican students, how they take up or resist these positionings, and how these positions are related to characterizations of Mexicans in storylines that circulate in the larger community. We then consider how these positionings may come to bear upon these students' academic trajectories.


The fact that the data owners outsource their da ta to external service providers introduces many security and privacy issu e . Among them, the most significant research questions relate to data confi de t ality and user privacy. Encryption was regarded as a solution for data conf ide tiality. The privacy of a user is characterized by the query he poses to the server and its result. We explore the techniques to execute the SQL query ove r th encrypted data without revealing to the server any information abo ut the query such as the query type or the query pattern, and its result. By implementing all the relational operators by using the unique selection operator on the server-side database with a constant number of elements in each time of selection, our proposal can defeat against the statistical attacks of the untrusted server compromising data confidentiality and user privacy. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that our proposal less affects the sys tem's performance and is applicable in the real world.


The novel palladium metalated derivatives of 5,5′-[8,8′-di(thiooctyloxy)-4,4′-phenyl)]-10,10′,15,15′,20,20′-hexakis(4,4′-t-butylphenyl)diporphyrin and 5,5′-[8,8′-di(thiooctyloxy)-4,4′-phenyl)]- 10,10′,15,15′,20,20′-hexakis(3,3′,4,4′,5,5′-hexakisdecyloxyphenyl)diporphyrin, 1 and 2 respectively, have been synthesized and deposited to form self-assembled monolayer (SAM) films on gold-coated glass slides that served as substrates. The SAM films have been characterised by RAIR spectroscopy. Excitation of the molecules within the films has been achieved using the evanescent field arising when the glass substrate was used as a waveguide. Luminescence spectroscopy detected both fluorescence and phosphorescence emission from the SAM films under an argon atmosphere. Quenching of the phosphorescence emission by dioxygen was investigated for both films. Greater reproducibility of data was achieved from the SAM films of compound 2. The phosphorescence quenching from these films followed the Stern–Volmer relationship.


During summer 1974, a small geological party organized by Professor P. E. Brown of the University of Aberdeen was able to work in a hitherto unvisited group of mountains lying between Christian IV's Gletscher and Sorgenfri Gletscher, near the Watkins Mountains in east Greenland. The area lies only about 65 km from Kangerdlugssuak and was seen through binoculars by Wager and others in the 1930's. It was also photographed from the air in 1933 by the British Arctic Air Route Expedition with an Eagle III camera, and copies of these photographs are available.


This paper presents a reliable control design technique for linear, time-invariant, multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems with degraded actuators and sensors. The degradation defined in this paper ranges from normal operational conditions to complete failure of actuators and sensors. We derive linear matrix inequality (LMI) conditions ensuring robust stability of the system using static state feedback. The potential of the proposed technique has been demonstrated by an example of three coupled inverted pendulums. Keywords—linear matrix inequality; static state feedback; MIMO; degradation.


Graph embedding techniques are useful to characterize spectral signature relations for hyperspectral images. However, such images consists of disjoint classes due to spatial details that are often ignored by existing graph computing tools. Robust parameter estimation is a challenge for kernel functions that compute such graphs. Finding a corresponding high quality coordinate system to map signature relations remains an open research question. We answer positively on these challenges by first proposing a kernel function of spatial and spectral information in computing neighborhood graphs. Secondly, the study exploits the force field interpretation from mechanics and devise a unifying nonlinear graph embedding framework. The generalized framework leads to novel unsupervised multidimensional artificial field embedding techniques that rely on the simple additive assumption of pair-dependent attraction and repulsion functions. The formulations capture long range and short range distance related effects often associated with living organisms and help to establish algorithmic properties that mimic mutual behavior for the purpose of dimensionality reduction. The main benefits from the proposed models includes the ability to preserve the local topology of data and produce quality visualizations i.e. maintaining disjoint meaningful neighborhoods. As part of evaluation, visualization, gradient field trajectories, and semisupervised classification experiments are conducted for image scenes acquired by multiple sensors at various spatial resolutions over different types of objects. The results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed embedding framework over various widely used methods.


Objective The study was performed to evaluate the effect of health education on schistosomiasis control for fishermen and boatmen in Nanjing areas. Methods Before and after the health education and intervention, the awareness rates of corresponding knowledge and the correct behavior rates on schistosomiasis control in fishermen and boatmen were surveyed by questionnaire. Results The awareness rates of corresponding knowledge on schistosomiasis control in fishermen and boatmen were 62% and 94.2%(χ2=575.23, P0.01) before and after the health education and intervention. The proportions of the boats with direct river defecation were 92% and 51%(χ2=85.47, P0.01) before and after the health education and intervention. The proportions of fishermen and boatmen who were willing to use public toilets were 84% and 97.7%(χ2=36.7, P0.01) before and after the health education and intervention. The proportions of those who were willing to be tested for schistosomiasis were 33% and 71.4%(χ2=96.92, P0.01) before and after the health education and intervention. Conclusion The awareness rates of corresponding knowledge and the correct behavior rates on schistosomiasis control in fishermen and boatmen were increased after the health education and intervention. However, there are still a large number of fishermen and boatmen who defecate directly into river. So health education and intervention on defecation behavior still need to be reinforced.


PLR 201825007, which says the conversion of a multigenerational income trust to a unitrust, with an ordering rule allocating realized gains to income, does not impair the status of the trust as exempt from the generation-skipping transfer tax, is wrongly decided.


We report a coherent combining of four slab laser amplifiers with high beam quality. The long strip laser beam is reshaped into a square beam using adjustable beam expander which removes the enormous astigmatism aberration. A filling ratio of 90% is achieved by two-dimensional splicing. A compact optical system with high sampling frequency is designed to detect the pointing direction of lasers. Fast steering mirror (FSM) driven by piezoelectric ceramics is applied in laser stabilizing. Thanks to the closed loop pointing control, the root mean square error of the optical axis is significantly reduced to be less than 2 microradians. The piston phases of the lasers are locked by an active phase control system based on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) using stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. When the total output power of four lasers is 400W, the in-phase peak intensity of the far field spot is increased by a factor of 3.8, reaching 95% of the ideal case. The beam quality of the combined beam is improved by CBC from 1.52x diffraction limit (DL) to 1.26x DL. When the output power is increased to 805W, the phase locking and pointing control still work stably. The results suggest that CBC of solid-state lasers with higher energy could be achieved by using the techniques presented here.


Findings from prior research in various content domains have indicated that Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) attendees earned higher final grades than non-attendees. However, what makes PASS effective remains unknown; for example, PASS could improve short-term retention but hinder long-term maintenance of course content given that some methods that facilitate short-term retention of information hurt long-term retention. Of additional interest was what predicts students' attendance in PASS. We tracked 75 introductory psychology students' short- and long-term retention of course content via unit quizzes and a cumulative final exam, respectively, to determine if PASS attendance improved both types of retention. Results indicated that PASS attendees had significantly higher academic self-efficacy and final grades than non-attendees. Attendees outperformed non-attendees on three of the six quizzes and on the cumulative final exam, supporting both the short- and long-term effectiveness of PASS.


The concept of venture capital originated in the US in 1946. A number of new technologies which could be commercially exploited had come up after the Second World War and funds given for such ventures were called venture capital investment. Though the venture capital movement has been in existence for more than three decades in India, it has only recently gained momentum. New ventures found it difficult to get funding from the banks as they did not have any collateral to offer. Hence, venture capital industry was started in India to fund such enterprises. Gujarat Venture Finance Limited (GVFL) was set up by the World Bank in 1990. Till date, it has funded 56 companies from all over the country. GVFL supports only technology-oriented companies. Funding is provided in stages. The money given at the seed or early stage is called angel funding. This paper documents how GVFL funded and nurtured a venture called Permionics which was involved in manufacturing an innovative water filter and helped it to grow into a commercially viable enterprise. This was not smooth sailing and the venture did not take off initially as the project required a lot of product innovation and market research for its feasibility. However, the venture capitalist persisted with the efforts in making the venture successful as he had faith in the product. Thus, he went beyond hand-holding and helped in the company's promotional effort, getting expert advice, solving internal disputes, coordinating strategic tie-ups, etc. After some trial and error, the product was finally relaunched and was a great success. The main conclusions emerging from this paper are: A venture capitalist's contribution is not just funding an enterprise but also seeing to its proper functioning. A venture capitalist provides necessary linkages to the entrepreneur for the growth of the enterprise. A venture capitalist not only provides moral support but also helps in forming the company. He is more of a partner than an outsider. A good venture capitalist sees the enterprise through its ups and downs until it becomes a commercially successful venture.


Efficient reliable multicast transport reducing the receiver processing overhead and allowing seamless continuation of the multicast service in case of handover is a challenge of today broadband infrastructures including content and mobile networks, The focus of this paper are protocol mechanisms aimed at scalable reliable point-to-multipoint content delivery from access routers to the attached multiple receivers in heterogeneous mobile IPv6 environment. In particular, the access router assistance of reliable content delivery is described, which includes the following tasks: Obtaining of data required by mobile multicast receivers based on interaction with the content network; Multicasting to mobile nodes using appropriate reliable multicast transport mechanisms; Support of the seamless handover of mobile multicast group members. The design issues and signalling overhead of the proposed scalable reliable multicast transport service including strategies for avoiding implosion and exposure is discussed. Important design concepts of the proposed protocol are: Access router assisted error control to mobile receivers using NACK-based retransmission scheme; Handover loss repair; Optimised receiver processing by using of dedicated channels for processing of retransmissions and handover repair; Scalable rate based multicast flow control for reliable transport services with minimum QoS guarantee. The scalable reliable multicast transport for mobile IPv6 is integrated into mobile IPv6 architecture based on the standard Internet multicast services using multicast listening (MLDv2) and routing (PIM-SM) protocols. The seamless handover is supported by context transfer between access routers, which allows the rapid re-establishment of multicast group membership and reliable transfer operations of the mobile node. The protocol is developed for the multimedia mobile broadcast Ipv6 environment of EU IST DAIDALOS project [1].


Vascular function declines in women after menopause, and has been characterized by a reduction in brachial artery flow‐mediated dilation (FMD). Low‐flow‐mediated constriction (L‐FMC) is an assessment of resting arterial tone that serves as a complementary measure of vascular function. Although L‐FMC has been shown to be reduced in certain diseased populations such as coronary artery disease, to our knowledge it is unknown if L‐FMC is altered with age/menopause. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that postmenopausal women (PMW) have reduced L‐FMC values compared to young women (YW). We assessed vascular function in 16 PMW (59±1 years, 24±1 kg/m2) and 19 YW (21±1 years, 23±1 kg/m2). Longitudinal images of the brachial artery were acquired using ultrasound (GE Logic P5). A blood pressure cuff was placed just distal to the olecranon process and inflated to 200mmHg for five minutes. Images were recorded continuously during baseline (1‐minute), cuff occlusion (5‐ minutes), and cuff release (2‐minutes). L‐FMC was calculated as a percent change from baseline diameter to the average diameter during the last 30 seconds of cuff occlusion. FMD was calculated as a percent change from baseline diameter to peak diameter following cuff release. Total vessel reactivity was calculated as the sum of the absolute value of L‐FMC and FMD. All women were normotensive, although PMW had higher resting mean arterial pressure (PMW: 90±2 mmHg, YW: 82±2 mmHg; P<0.01). L‐FMC was reduced in PMW compared to YW (PMW: −1.67±0.36% vs YW: −2.84±0.35%; P=0.03). FMD was lower in PMW compared to YW (PMW: 5.47±0.54% vs YW: 7.33±0.53%; P=0.02). Total vessel reactivity was also lower in PMW (PMW: 7.32±0.67% vs YW: 10.17±0.57%; P<0.01). Consistent with previous findings, PMW have lower FMD values compared to YW. In addition, PMW also have reduced L‐FMC compared to YW. These findings suggest that L‐FMC may be a useful measure of vascular function with healthy aging.


This paper introduced the remote control circuits of the electrical machinery and power designed from two respects. These circuits had safe and reliable, concise and practical characteristics, received the good result in practical application.


This research and development aims to: 1) investigate the social studies learning media of motion comic on multicultural values in the materials of independence proclamation. This research and development utilized the Borg Gall model. The stages of development were: 1) gathering information; 2) planning; 3) developing product; 4) validating. The results of this study indicate that all aspects of the assessment obtain good results. According to learning media material experts, Motion Comic gets a percentage of 98% and is in the very good category, which is very feasible to use. The multicultural values contained in the motion comics include tolerance, respect and appreciation, learning to live in differences, conflict resolution, mutual trust and maintaining mutual understanding and respect.


Observations of near-surface coastal currents were made off the Northern California coast during CODE by using 164 current-following drifters. These observations are used to describe the two-dimensional structure of the mean surface flow and the scales of its variability. The mean flow is a broad equatorward current, strongly sheared only within 10 km of the shore, and a mean offshore flow producing an average divergence ∇H·u ≈ 3 × 10−6 s−1. Divergence is uniformly distributed across the shelf, but variation of the alongshore flow causes an upwelling center near Point Arena. The spatial correlation scale is less than 40 km in both the alongshore and across-shelf directions, even though 55% of the surface kinetic energy is described by a single mode with gradual across-shelf variation and an alongshore wavelength of the order 200 km. The surface flow is well correlated with flow at 30-m depth. The Lagrangian time scale (≈1.5 day) is significantly shorter than the Eulerian time scale (≈5 days), indicating that the flow is dominated by highly nonlinear quasi-stationary eddies. Drifter displacements indicate that the mean lateral eddy transport of passive scalars can be described by an anisotropic and inhomogeneous eddy diffusivity, but this diffusivity cannot be used to relate eddy Reynolds stresses and the mean shear. Analysis of two-particle separations, which determine the size of dispersing property clouds, shows that dispersal cannot be described by a scale-dependent diffusivity and indicates the importance of small-scale convergences in retarding dispersal. Over the entire 100-km by 50-km region the surface layer heat budget is dominated by upwelling cooling and surface heating, with onshore eddy heat flux playing a smaller role. Substantial convergence of the alongshore eddy heat flux is apparently required to balance upwelling cooling in the upwelling center. Drifters are found to have a Lagrangian mean acceleration caused by eddy processes. Analysis of this acceleration and of the horizontal flow contributions to the eddy Reynolds stress allows examination of the importance of eddy processes in the mean momentum budget. While the alongshore flow must be in approximate geostrophic balance, there is a clear pattern to the eddy forcing, which appears to be important in the alongshore momentum equation.


Wavelet analysis is applied as a tool for the examination of magnetic dipole ($M1$) strength distributions in $\mathit{pf}$-shell nuclei by the extraction of wavelet scales. Results from the analysis of theoretical $M1$ strength distributions calculated with the KB3G interaction are compared to experimental data from ($e,{e}^{'}$) experiments and good agreement of the deduced wavelet scales is observed. This provides further insight into the nature of the scales from the model results. The influence of the number of Lanczos iterations on the development and stability of scales and the role of the model space in terms of the truncation level are studied. Moreover, differences in the scales of spin and orbital parts of the $M1$ strength are investigated, as is the use of different effective interactions (KB3G, GXPF1, and FPD6).


In this paper, we present and evaluate experimentally a stego-key steganographic method operating in the frequency domain of digital images and an information hiding protocol based on this method. According to this protocol, the two communicating parties share a set of candidate cover images and a secret key, which is divided into two subkeys needed by the stego-key steganographic method. The first one is used for hiding the hidden message size while the second one is used to guide the message hiding process. After the selection of the cover image, the message embedding method can utilize one of three schemes for the collection of appropriate image blocks, based on the Discrete Cosine Transform coefficients, in which the message can be hidden with minimal visual image distortion. The recovery of the hidden message is possible even if the cover image is subjected to the JPEG (lossy) image encoding standard. The use of the keys in the embedding process makes the method especially robust as the attacker has two challenges to overcome in order to extract the hidden message, i.e. the extraction of the message size and, then, the extraction of the hidden message itself. We provide experimental evidence demonstrating the efficiency of the proposed cover block selection schemes of the embedding and disembedding methods both in terms of image distortion as well as robustness under image compression. A Secret Key Information Hiding in Digital Images Protocol based on Steganographic Methods in Image Frequency Domain Publication History: Received: October 31, 2016 Accepted: June 28, 2017 Published: June 30, 2017


This study investigates the effects of the material properties and the fatigue behaviors in the SM490A material butt weld specimens due to the heat-treatment and the grinding. In the fatigue behavior, the heat-treatment affects the fatigue life. The S-N curves of both matrix specimen and butt weld specimen are reversed at some cycle by the existence or nonexistence of heat-treatment. The grinding on the bead makes the fatigue limit decrease in the all specimens. But the reinforcement removed, the fatigue limit increases at the high cycle. Also, this study investigates the fatigue life estimation by examining butt weld bead profiles. The butt weld beads, which are welded by semi-robot method, have non-uniform bead profiles described by and h. The stress concentration factors , are changed by each different and h from 1.395 to 2.863. Hence, the sensitivity of is changed by each and h. As becomes lower and and h become higher, increases. The fatigue life can he estimated very closely for the AAY specimens without residual stress using only butt weld bead profiles. But, fur the AAN specimens with residual stress, the fatigue life must be estimated by considering both the weld bead profiles and the residual stress data.


A silica nanoparticle(SiO2 NP)-deposited capillary fabricated by liquid phase deposition(LPD) followed by modification with octadecyl groups was introduced as the separation medium in open tubular capillary electrochromatography(OTCEC).Two groups of nonpolar compounds,polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) and benzene derivatives,were selected to evaluate its separation performance.Hydrophobic interaction was concluded to be the main retention mechanism,and the retention factors of the analytes were increased with the increase in deposition times.Furthermore,the capillary coating fabricated by LPD was demonstrated to be reproducible and stable.


A biopsy needle guide in accordance with the invention is configured for attachment to an ultrasound transducer. The biopsy needle guide is arranged in two sections, an inner attachment block and an outer attachment block. The inner attachment block includes (i) a coupler which attaches the inner attachment block to the ultrasound transducer and (ii) a first engagement structure which extends from a surface thereof. The outer attachment block includes a biopsy needle guide through hole and a second engagement structure. The second engagement structure releasably mates with the first engagement structure even when the inner attachment block is covered by a sterile film sheath.


The present study investigates personality dimensions and learning styles of four talented foreign language learners. As both foreign language teachers and learners face the difficulties associated with language learning on a regular basis, it may be important to find certain behavioral patterns that could serve as guidelines in making the process more comfortable and effective for all parties. The instruments used in the research were the MBTI test to identify participants' orientation on personality dimensions and Kolb's Learning Style Inventory to examine their learning style preferences. The aim of the research was to explore the idea of any commonalities in personality profiles of talented language learners as well as in the learning styles they prefer to apply. The research results suggest that no specific psychological type was identified within the group of participants even though they all scored high on personality dimensions Thinking and Judging. On the measures of preferred learning styles they all scored high on the abstract conceptualization dimension and two learner types were distinguished: Assimilators and Convergers. The conclusion is that learners' different psychological types and learning styles require a more specific teaching approach that would cater for their individual needs.


The present study aims to examine the decision of the AgRg in Special Appeal n. 919.189 and, therefore, the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice's (STJ) provision no 381, since this is the main ground of the decision. We intend to demonstrate that the analysis of issues ex officio by Judge or Court, when it comes to consumer relations, does not offend the principles of the "reasonable opportunity to present its case", broad defense and due process of law. Finally we propose a reflection on the incompatibility of Provision 381 with the system of fundamental rights, which leads to the conclusion that this provision represents a real setback to the effectiveness of the fundamental right of consumer protection.


Objective To assess the value of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of ovarian pregnancy (OP). Methods The characteristics of transvaginal ultrasound and color Doppler flow imaging of 38 cases of OP were reviewed, whose diagnoses were confirmed by operations and pathologic findings. Results Twenty eight cases(~73.7 %) were correctly diagnosed by ultrasound, nine cases(~23.7 %) were misdiagnosed either as lutein cysts or as tubal pregnancy, one case(~2.6 %) was missed by ultrasound examination. According to ultrasound findings, 24 cases(~63.2 %) were diagnosed as type of gestational sac, 14(~36.8 %) cases as type of complex mass. Conclusions Ultrasonography plays an important role in diagnosing OP, especially in earlier OP of the gestational sac type.


The article deals with marital legal personality, personal and property rights of spouses. It explains such notions as marriage, validation of legal consequences of marriage contracted in office of vital records, and covers the possibility of actual marital relationships legal validity.


The invention relates to a composition and its specific composition and a method for marking surfaces of road z. As a strip of a road with a color with great performance and increased night visibility.


We propose a model for a relativistic many-body system at finite temperature in the framework of thermo field dynamics, which is a real-time formalism of finite-temperature field theory. Our model contains the scalar (\ensuremath{\sigma}) and the vector (\ensuremath{\omega}) mesons as well as the Dirac nucleon. The full propagator and self-energy for each particle are presented in terms of spectral representations. The Feynman rules for a perturbation expansion are shown. They are applied to the study of collective modes in hot and dense matter within the random-phase approximation. The dispersion relations of the longitudinal and transverse collective modes in the meson branch are calculated. We also estimate the effective meson mass which is defined as the energy needed to create one meson at rest in extreme matter. The effects of vacuum fluctuations are also examined. They contribute a fair amount to the collective modes through the effective nucleon mass.


Abstract With the expansion and development of Internet, management of traffic and performance are increasingly important and urgent. The demand for multimedia real-time services continues to grow rapidly, bringing forth enormous challenges in the management of their supporting networks. This paper deals with one method of measurement of multimedia network traffic and performance, by means of which network managers can real time analyse network traffic, monitor the traffic distribution and decode protocols in the 7-layer. They can make trend analysis and anticipation of network use. So network managers will play an active role in multimedia network management, problem analysis and recommendation of solutions so as to eliminate hidden problems.


The four generic names are recognized as new junior synonyms (Psiloposoma Frey = Scoliocephalus Becker; Neohydrellia Malloch = Hyadina Haliday; Pseudopelina Miyagi = Trimerogastra Hendel; Centromeromyia Frey = Scatophila Becker). Fifteen new synonyms in 5 genera have been suggested and 17 new combinations in 14 genera of Ephydridae are provided. Scatella lutosa var. rufipes Strobl and two subspecies of Halmopota are given species status. Eleleides chloris Cresson, Nostima flavitarsis Canz. and Menegh., and Discocerina mera are recorded for the first time from Oriental and Neotropical Region respectively. Notiphila opacula Zetterstedt, 1860 is removed from Ephydridae to Pelomyiella in Tethinidae. Six lectotypes in Allotrichoma, Diclasiopa, Scoliocephalus, and Discomyza are designated.


Center symmetry plane three connecting rod is studied. This model can be used to describe the movement of satellite with symmetry solar pane in outer space with weak gravitation. Since the system is nonintegrable, in general, the movement of such system is complicated. The Lagrange motion equation of the system is established, and synchronous movement is studied.Exact solution of synchronous movement is presented and movement disciplinarian is studied. It proved that under certain condition, it exist periodic motion. Results will be helpful to analysis the complicity of near synchronous movement of the system.


Neutronics analysis results from Phase II of the TFTR Lithium Blanket Module (LBM) program are reported. Principal activities were analyses of new coverplate and protective plate designs; updating of the MCNP Monte Carlo model of TFTR/LBM; and performing new reference calculations for D-D and D-T plasmas. The new protective plate was found to reduce LBM responses by 20%. Updating the model included a new tally structure in which the LBM is divided into 92 volume elements corresponding to foil locations. A new version of the MCNP surface-source routine was used, along with the latest pointwise cross sections. All flux, tritium and foil responses are stored at NMFECC and are available for comparison with measurements, when the experimental program gets underway.


Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common pediatric, intra-abdominal, extracranial, solid tumor derived from nervous tissue. This malignant neoplasm occurs at an annual rate of 9.1 cases per 1 million American children younger than 15 years and is found more frequently in boys. The median age at diagnosis is 2 years for both sexes, with most cases being diagnosed by the age of 5 years. Metastatic disease is often found at presentation and represents about 70% of all newly diagnosed cases.


The Tulare Lake Basin was capable of sustaining a large number of aboriginal inhabitants. This conclusion is based on a refined reconstruction of the aboriginal environment and a reevaluation of aboriginal subsistence ecology. In addition to demonstrating a larger carrying capacity than heretofore recognized, the paper challenges some long-held assumptions concerning demographic restraints on California Indians and their adaptation to the environment.


Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is the air quality within and around buildings and structures, particularly regarding building occupants' health and comfort. IAQ assessments were performed using an objective measurement of molecular gaseous pollutants to determine the IAQ profile in the hospital's critical areas. It also analyses the effects on patients in different environments and the sources that result in deviations from approved criteria. This comparative study is aimed to investigate the concentration of different compounds in different critical departments in the hospital and propose solutions to the related problem as an improvement in indoor air quality. The data was compared with the standards and regulations. It was found that the TVOC level in the CCU department, specifically in the fluoroscopy room, has exceeded the allowable limit. A few suggestions have been raised to lower the exceeded value. The risks and symptoms held by the occupants in the hospital buildings if they face poor indoor air quality were discussed. Further study can be conducted to relate the short and long-term health issues among medical staff to poor indoor air quality.


Past research has shown that negative stiffness may be used to good effect in mitigating the response of seismically excited structures. This has led to the emergence of several new negative stiffness devices of varying sizes, complexity, effectiveness, and practicality. In this study, a passive negative stiffness device composed of curved leaf springs using geometric nonlinearity is presented. The proposed device is designed to be simple and compact so as to be easily installed and exhibits approximately constant negative stiffness over a large range of displacements. Beyond these displacements, the negative stiffness produced by the device increases, which can help to limit the transmission of large damper forces at peak structure displacements. At displacements approaching the deformation limit of the device, the device produces positive stiffness so that stability of the structure is ensured. The objective of the research presented herein is to investigate the basic behavior of the device. Shaking table tests on specimens consisting of a vibrating part and the prototype passive negative stiffness device subjected to sinusoidal and simulated earthquake waves were conducted. The results revealed that the specimens exhibited negative restoring force characteristics, and due to the effect of the negative stiffness, an increase in the apparent period was demonstrated. Moreover, reduction of the response acceleration was shown without remarkable increase of the response displacement under the simulated earthquake inputs. Also, a numerical analysis to simulate the shake table testing and evaluate the control effect for a full‐scale building model was carried out.


Autism spectrum disorder is a social developmental disorder with a worldwide incidence of approximately 1 in 132 children [1]. While reviews on the anaesthetic management of patients with autism focus on techniques to improve compliance during induction of anaesthesia, interaction between anaesthetic agents and drug therapy for autism are not often considered [2]. Risperidone is a second generation atypical anti-psychotic drug commonly used for the management of behavioural symptoms in autism. It is a serotonin and dopamine antagonist that also antagonises α1 and α2 adrenergic receptors and can cause orthostatic hypotension [3]. We report a case of recurrent refractory intra-operative hypotension in a paediatric patient with autism who was taking risperidone.


Sumary:A report on a conference organised by the Greek Heritage Foundation emphasising the continuity of Greek culture from antiquity to the present day.


Objective: The paper scrutinizes the importance of structural analysis and its role in defining the leadership style. Methods: The 2-3 managers from three different levels of management were interviewed with the help of questionnaires. Results: The structural analysis plays a crucial role in defining the different types of leadership style in the organization. Conclusion: The paper provides preface indication that six ego states and the interactions between individuals categorize the leadership style in the organization. Implication: The structural analysis has significant impact on leadership style. Originality/value: The paper reports that structural analysis is a significant tool to improve the leadership style.


We propose a photon mapping-based technique for the efficient rendering of urban landscapes. Unlike traditional photon mapping approaches, we accumulate the photon energy into a collection of 2D photon buffers encoding the incoming radiance for a superset of the surfaces contributing to the current image. We define an implicit parameterization to map surface points onto photon buffer locations. This is achieved through a cylindrical projection for the building blocks plus an orthogonal projection for the terrain. An adaptive scheme is used to adapt the resolution of the photon buffers to the viewing conditions. Our customized photon mapping algorithm combines multiple acceleration strategies to provide efficient rendering during walkthroughs and flythroughs with minimal temporal artifacts. To the best of our knowledge, the algorithm we present in this paper is the first one to address the problem of interactive global illumination for large urban landscapes.


Objective To study the clinical significance of the level of serum HVEM in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma.Method Serum HVEM levels were determined in 41 patients with primary hepatic carcinoma and in 48 controls.Results The serum HVEM levels in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma [(81.2±22.8)μg/L] were significantly higher than those in healthy controls [(39.9±22.3)μg/L],P0.05.There was correlation between the serum HVEM levels and the serum AFP levels in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma.The serum HVEM levels in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma of grade Ⅲ/Ⅳ[(102.1±55.8)μg/L] was higher than that in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma of grade Ⅰ/Ⅱ[(58.5±30.1)μg/L],P0.05.The serum HVEM levels in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma before surgical treatment [(98.7±38.5)μg/L] was higher than that in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma after surgical treatment [(74.8±27.4)μg/L],P0.05.Conclusion A high level of serum sHVEM in primary hepatic carcinoma has a positive relationship to pathological types,surgical treatment and other serum markers of primary hepatic carcinoma,which reveals that serum HVEM plays an important role in cancer generation and development.Measurement of serum HVEM provided useful information for diagnosis and evaluation of primary hepatic carcinoma.


Estimating the position of a source given the signals received at a sensor array is a basic problem in the fields of acoustics and geophysics. Of interest is how to place the sensors so that the source can be most accurately localized. The Cramer-Rao bound is used as a gauge of the accuracy of source position estimators. A simple geometric interpretation of the Cramer-Rao bound is developed, and subject to geometric constraints, sensor arrangements minimizing bound variance are found. Carter's optimal arrays yielding minimum range, bearing, and position bound variance subject to the constraint that the sensors lie along a line segment are reproduced without tedious algebraic manipulations or computer-aided maximization. The bound variance of the optimal arrays is seen to be roughly a factor of three smaller than that of commonly used uniformly spaced arrays.<<ETX>>


Based on the current status of rice production,processing and consumption in Japan,the development orienta-tion of rice production,processing,circulation and consumption is pointed out in the situation of worldwide grain supply shortage.The future research direction of rice development and processing in Japan is discussed in the aspects of sys-tematization,commodity additional value,by-product utilization and multiple usage of rice.


A method by which a terminal receives a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) in a wireless communication system comprises the steps of: receiving control information including information for indicating whether a resource for a CSI-RS is allocated in a specific subframe; and receiving, in a downlink control zone, the CSI-RS on the basis of the control information, when a data zone of the specific subframe is allocated to a downlink data zone and the control information indicates that the resource for the CSI-RS is allocated in the specific subframe.


The last decade has witnessed a tremendous growth of web services as a major technology for sharing data, computing resources, and programs on the web. With the increasing adoption and presence of web services, design of novel approaches for effective web service recommendation to satisfy users' potential requirements has become of paramount importance. Service-oriented computing and Web services are becoming more and more popular, enabling organizations to use the Web as a market for selling their own Web services and consuming existing Web services from others. Nevertheless, with the increasing adoption and presence of Web services, it becomes more difficult to find the most appropriate Web service that satisfies both users' functional and nonfunctional requirements. QoS values are important criteria for service selection or recommendation. Most of the former works in web service selection and recommendation treat the QoS values as constants. However, QoS values of a service as perceived by a given user are intrinsically random variables because QoS value prediction can never be precise and there are always some unobserved random effects. Web services are not always able to fulfill customer requirements on their own, so in those cases it can choose to make a composition of web services. However, this is a complex problem since it must take into account the large number of available services, performance requirements, and other factors related to quality of service (QoS). With the fast development of Web services in service oriented systems, the requirement of efficient Quality of Service (QoS) evaluation methods becomes strong. However, many QoS values are unknown in reality. Therefore, it is necessary to predict the unknown QoS values of Web services based on the obtainable QoS values.


Two previously reported methods for the determination of the ionization rate of (Z)-arylazo alkyl ethers by using x-naphtholate ions as a trapping agent are compared. A new method, which uses thiophenolate ions to trap the free diazonium ions formed in this ionization, is reported. This method is recommended in preference to the earlier methods because it includes a correction for the effect of the ionic strength of the solution on the rate of ionization. Rates measured by the thiophenolate method are consequently lower than those measured by either of the two previous methods. The advantages and disadvantages of the new method are discussed. The magnitude of salt effects and substituent effects on the ionization of (Z)- and (E)-arylazo alkyl ethers are compared.


A front‐end of an electronic CAD synthesis system is described. The synthesis system accepts a behavioural description of a digital system design written in VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) and produces the physical hardware, at the register transfer level, needed for realizing the specified behaviour. The synthesis system comprises three major subsystems: process‐graph analyser, design representation and the MIMOLA synthesis system. The process‐graph analyser is an optimization and parallelization tool. We show how optimizing techniques used for compilers are adapted to perform a similar optimization function for hardware synthesis. We present techniques that extend the parallelization of the sequential programs concept for doing control state partitioning. The technique is new because of the unique synthesis model that MIMOLA uses. Finally, we show how to integrate these concepts using a suitable intermediate behavioural representation called the process graph.


Laboratory and numerical experiments are underway to generate, and subsequently suppress, oscillatory thermocapillary convection in a thin layer of silicone oil. The laboratory experiments have succeeded in characterizing the flow state in a limited range of Bond number-Marangoni number space of interest, identifying states of i) steady, unicellular, thermocapillary convection; i ) steady, multicellular, thermocapillary convection; and i i i ) oscillatory thermocapillary convection. Comparisons between experimental results and stability computations for a related basic state will be made.


Aim. Studying management communicative practices to identify communicative technologies as means of influencing the addressee. Methods. The study is based on the intent-analysis method and communicative-diagnostic method, questionnaire and comparative method were also used to study communication in an organization. Results. The research identified a set of communicative influence means, regularly used in organizational practice for implementing management goals. These techniques got their definition in terms of their belonging to one or another regular communication system communication technology. Attitude to the means of various communication technologies and methods of interaction in the professional practice of different professional groups, in particular civil servants and representatives of the advertising business is identified. Scientific novelty. Scientific novelty is to reveal regular communication tools of influence in professional practice, to consider these techniques as components of the integral existing systems communication technologies, to identify communication priorities in different occupational groups, to establish connections between these priorities and specifics of professional thinking, value paradigm prevailing in certain occupational group.


Until recently, considerable evidence suggested that treatments which lastingly improved anxiety disorders succeeded because they included some form of systematic exposure to the feared stimulus (imaginal, live, vicarious, rapid, slow, continuous, intermittent) ([Marks, 1973][1]). In many randomised


Constant-amplitude and programme-fatigue tests were carried out on unnotched specimens, central-hole specimens and riveted lap joints. Several comparisons between the results for different manufactures were made and scatter was studied. Data from the literature and correlations with other properties were analysed. Similar comparative test series regarding macro-crack propagation and residual strength were carried out previously.


Recurrent neural networks are powerful tools giving excellent results in various tasks, including Natural Language Processing tasks. In this paper, we use Gated Recurrent Unit, a recurrent neural network implementing a simple gating mechanism in order to improve the diacritization process of Arabic. Evaluation of Gated Recurrent Unit for diacritization is performed in comparison with the state-of-the art results obtained with Long-Short term memory a powerful RNN architecture giving the best-known results in diacritization. Evaluation covers two performance aspects, Error rate and training runtime.


In Germany the requirements for strategic HR operations are predominantly to be found in large enterprises, the aim being an increased contribution to added value. As far as German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are concerned however, this subject seems to hardly exist. Theories of knowledge-based competition focus on internal resources as the source of value creation. To this end an analysis is carried out that leads to an identification of predictors for a strategic HR architecture for SMEs. This architecture is then intended to enable optimum use of internal resources and thus contribute to the company's success. To achieve this, the status quo must first be analysed of how the strategic landscape of HR departments in German SMEs is structured. In this context, a qualitative survey of 60 personal interviews with HR managers, executives and HR consultants is conducted. This paper outlines the results and discusses the implications accordingly.


We prove that the Calogero - Sutherland model with reflections (the model) possesses a property of duality relating the eigenfunctions of two Hamiltonians with different coupling constants. We obtain a generating function for their polynomial eigenfunctions, the generalized Jacobi polynomials. The symmetry of the wavefunctions for certain particular cases (associated with the root systems of the classical Lie groups , and ) is also discussed.


This study was undertaken to investigate the outcome of using the activity based learning method on the development of writing skills of students of grade 6. The study used pretest post-test equivalent group design. 50 students were randomly selected from a government school as sample for this study. They were divided into experimental and control groups based on the scores they achieved in pre-test. Students in the experimentalgroup received instruction through activity based method of learning. In contrast, the traditional method of teaching writing was used for teaching the control group. A comparison of pre- and post-test scores on writing measure evidenced that the experimental group performed better that the control group on writing post-test. It was concluded that activities helped enhance the writing skills of the experimental group. This finding suggests that students of elementary level should be engaged in activity based learning to enhance their writing skills.


The wireless sensor network is expected to provide various data sensing services by employing the advantage of dense deployment. Energy efficiency is an important criterion for many applications since the sensor nodes are generally budgeted by limited battery. In this paper, we are concerned with the node scheduling problem to provide the required services for the service-oriented wireless sensor network. We firstly propose an Energy-aware Centralized Heuristic Scheme (ECHS) for the problem in which an energy-aware benefit function is used to determine active sensor nodes and rotate sensor nodes by periodically reconstructing the scheduling scheme. We also present an Energy-aware Distributed Heuristic Scheme (EDHS) as the distributed version. Extensive simulation is performed to evaluate the proposed schemes, and the results show that the two schemes have better performance compared with related works.


BS>The electrodisintegration cross section for 400-Mev electrons on H/ sup 3/ and He/sup 3/ were calculated using the Born approximation for the motion of the electrons and allowing both nucleon-deuteron and three-nucleon disintegrations. The contributions due to these two processes were found to be comparable for both nuclei, assuming the processes to be uncoupled. The cross sections for both processes were found to be essentially the sum of the cross sections for elastic scattering off the free fragments multiplied by a function characterizing the momentum distribution of the fragment in the ground state of the target nucleons. The effects of the final-state interactions between the fragments were considered and found to reduce the cross sections appreciably relative to the result obtained by neglecting these interactions. (auth)


Often, government agencies and survey organizations know the population counts or percentages for some of the variables in a survey. These may be available from auxiliary sources, for example administrative databases or other high‐quality surveys. We present and illustrate a model‐based framework for leveraging such auxiliary marginal information when handling unit and item nonresponse. We show how one can use the margins to specify different missingness mechanisms for each type of nonresponse. We use the framework to impute missing values in voter turnout in a subset of data from the US Current Population Survey. In doing so, we examine the sensitivity of results to different assumptions about the unit and item nonresponse.


Impacts from global climate change on society and economy in China and Chinese Climate system are summarized.The extreme climate accident is resulted from the combined action from both human activities and natural climate periodic changes.The adaptable measures that we should have are based on the idea of regretless.The disaster mitigation and prevention should be normalization.Finally,the suggestions on disaster mitigation and prevention in Yunnan are pointed out.


A series of measurements of the infra red emission of the atmosphere has been made at Kew Observatory with Dines and Linke-Fuessner radiometers. Precautions necessary during the calibration and use of these instruments are discussed, the results obtained with them compared, and the accuracy of the measurements assessed.

Computation of the atmospheric emission by Elsasser's method is discussed, and compared with the experimental results. It is suggested that the divergence found is due to over-estimation of the emissivity of water vapour in the presence of carbon dioxide by Elsasser, together with the presence of a variable additional component of radiation of from 0 to 8 per cent of the total. Some comments are made on the possible origin of this radiation. A modification of the method of F. A. Brooks is used to derive values of water vapour emissivity from the measurements, and by combining these with the laboratory values of Elsasser and Brooks an emissivity curve is obtained which differs from that now generally accepted. This is used to compute the water vapour radiation, and the construction of an empirical radiation chart is described.

Finally it is shown that the outward radiation of the ground may be obtained from the reading of an ordinary thermometer, and that by combining this with an estimate of atmospheric emission based on routine upper air data, the net infra red radiation of the surface may be estimated with an accuracy better than 15 per cent.


Nyirih tradition is one of popular traditions in Indonesia, a country with a diverse ethnic groups, cultures, and languages. The traditions are potential to be explored and used as contextual learning materials. This research aims to analyze the relationship between science (physics, biology, and chemistry) on the use of Betel leaf in the Nyirih tradition. This research used an ethnoscience approach, an approach which raises various cultures in a society to become a science learning topic, so that it would be easier for students to integrate various material in science learning with the real-life  contexts. It was a qualitative research using the study literature type which consists of several steps, namely: (1) determining the topic, (2) gathering materials as references, (3) making an introduction, (4) determining the method, (5) discussing the findings, and (6) making a conclusion. The results suggest that the use of Betel leaf in Nyirih tradition could become an interesting topic in explaining several concepts in science.


During the operation of repository of high-level radioactive waste, waste package and engineered barrier will be transported from aboveground facility to underground facility, then be emplaced at a certain place of the repository. From the view point of operation safety and radiation safety through this process, technical feasibility for a variety of options for remote handling and remote emplacement of the waste package and engineered barrier must be provided at this moment in our repository program in Japan. In this study, several EBS concepts, especially for different types of buffer material – block, monolith, insitu compaction, pellet, and pre-assemble (pre-fabrication) – were combined with two emplacement concepts –vertical and horizontal-. Then key technical issues of these different remote operation methods from aboveground facility to underground facility were classified into hard- and soft-ware element. According to the key technical issues, priority and methodology of investigation and performance test for remote handling and remote emplacement were settled. In this paper the following two concepts were mainly discussed. For the block type buffer material, forming method and condition were investigated. Through a thick/ near full-scaled bentonite block forming test, a relationship between compaction pressure and density distribution of bentonite was confirmed, and a scale effect of full scale block forming was discussed. A vacuum suction cup was applied to lift the formed block, and several lifting properties and condition were evaluated. Degradation phenomena of formed bentonite block were also investigated under exposure condition of high-temperature with high humidity air, and relation between water content ratio and degradation phenomena was discussed. For the pre-assembled EBS concept, an air pressure used mechanism was investigated the applicability and property to lift and to transport in the underground drift for the heavily assembled module.


Ultrastructural investigations of glycanase treatments of cell wall material from industrial by-products was carried out with the enzyme-thiocarbohydrazide-silver protein technique (ETAg). Driselase, gamanase and an experimental enzyme preparation were used. Car bohydrate hydrolysis was found in cell walls and cell contents in 1-2 cell layers at the surface of 0.2 mm plant particles. Enzyme activity was detected to some extend inside unlignified and lignified cell walls. The absence of any reaction in some sublayers of the cell wall was indicative for, either the absence of polysaccharide substrate or a very tied interaction of cell wall components preventing enzymic activity or the absence of typical enzymes in crude preparations. The ETAg-technique can be usefull to provide information about structural limitations of poorly degradable plant materials.


The M1 zinc metalloproteases ERAP1, ERAP2, and IRAP play a role in HLA-I antigen presentation by refining the peptidome either in the ER (ERAP1 and ERAP2) or in the endosomes (IRAP). They have also been entrusted with other, although less defined, functions such as the regulation of the angiotensin system and blood pressure. In humans, ERAP1 and IRAP are commonly expressed. ERAP2 instead has evolved under balancing selection that maintains two haplotypes, one of which undergoing RNA splicing leading to nonsense-mediated decay and loss of protein. Hence, likewise in rodents, wherein the ERAP2 gene is missing, about a quarter of the human population does not express ERAP2. We report here that macrophages, but not monocytes or other mononuclear blood cells, express and secrete an ERAP2 shorter form independent of the haplotype. The generation of this "short" ERAP2 is due to an autocatalytic cleavage within a distinctive structural motif and requires an acidic micro-environment. Remarkably, ERAP2 "short" binds IRAP and the two molecules are co-expressed in the endosomes as well as in the cell membrane. Of note, the same phenomenon could be observed in some cancer cells. These data prompt us to reconsider the role of ERAP2, which might have been maintained in humans due to fulfilling a relevant function in its "short" form.


In 1991, the year when the Cold War ended, Saskia Sassen observed that "the geography and composition of the global economy has changed so as to produce a complex duality: a spatially dispersed, yet globally integrated organization of economic activities." She finds that "the combination of spatial dispersal and global integration has created a new strategic role for major cities." The global cities, such as New York, London, Tokyo, began to play broad managerial roles in overall economy by concentrating in financial and legal service industry.


Here we demonstrate that stop‐gaps can arise in "shuffled lattices" dielectric structures even for maximally possible degree of disorder in such structures. Sharp minima of densities of states are observed in spectral regions corresponding to band‐gaps of unperturbed structures. Stop‐gaps do survive even when "shuffled lattice" sites are randomly filled with scatterers.


In this paper, a behavioral modeling methodology to predict ElectroStatic-Discharge (ESD) failures at system level is proposed and validated. The proposed models enable time domain simulation to determine voltage and current waveforms inside and outside an IC during ESD events in order to predict the susceptibility of an electronic system to ESD. Very-high-speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language - Analog and Mixed Signals (VHDL-AMS) is used as the description language. The purpose of this methodology is based on the improvement of Input Output Buffer Information Specification (IBIS) models widely used in signal integrity (SI) simulation. In this paper the additional information required to be added to IBIS files is described, and comparison between simulations and measurements are exposed.


Infrared thermo graphic detector for non-contact temperature measurement is used in this project. Infrared thermometers will give an accurate temperature measurement if the emissivity of the thermometer is adjusted to fit with the emissivity of the measured material. Therefore, to use the infrared to measure the temperature of electrical arch furnaces (EAF) transformer at steel industry, the optimal emissivity of this thermometer must be determined. However the emissivity of the bus bars in the transformer at which the temperature is measured is unknown. Therefore this study is conducted to determine the optimal emissivity of the infrared thermometer to get the accurate temperature measurement. Its application the radiometric thermo graphic system VarioCAM head for control and monitoring of the steel industrial process is installed and this emissivity is set up.


The COVID-19 pandemic prompted concern about the wellbeing of older people, however, there have also been accounts of increased sense of community in response to the disruption of established routines. To explore how older people experienced lockdown in Aotearoa/New Zealand, we analysed 635 written comments on the 2020 wave of the Health, Work and Retirement longitudinal survey of people aged 55–85 years. Using narrative genre analysis, we discuss two narratives of lockdown: a narrative of lockdown as 'idyllic' and a 'dystopian' narrative of distrust. Using the idyllic narrative, people described pleasant activities and linked these stories to earlier times when community life was less time-pressured and people were more connected to one another. The dystopian narrative was used to describe politicians and the media as untrustworthy and to depict new vulnerabilities created by the rules of lockdown. These narrative genres provide different positions for older people. In the idyllic narrative, older people are treasured and supported by younger community members, whereas in the dystopian narrative older people feel abandoned and manipulated. These genres draw on possible late-life futures that are familiar to older people: either treasured or discarded. Identifying these narrative genres reveals the different vulnerabilities older people experience. This information can be used to support older people to experience security and to flourish in uncertain times.


Permethrin Microemulsion, Nanoemulsion & Emulsifiable concentrate was formulated using biodiesel waste as an active dissolving solvent or as a carrier solvent. Process of stable emulsion development was optimized for parameters such as non-ionic surfactants concentration in micro and nanoemulsion and anionic surfactant concentration in emulsifiable concentration with high physical and chemical stability. Permethrin was analyzed by Gas chromatography using ECD and physical stability of emulsions was optimized in terms of shelf life of the product. The permethrin microemulsion (ME), Nanoemulsion (NE) and emulsifiable concentrate (EC) containing biodiesel waste of 20-100 ppm gave 30-90% mortality rates against Periplaneta americana (Order: Blattodea, Family: Blattidae) within 24 hours. The LD 50 (Lethal dose) values recorded for the microemulsion, nanoemulsion and emulsifiable concentrate were 6.7646,10.385 & 46.7289 with biodiesel waste as a solvent or carriers for above formulations.


A modification is suggested to the computational algorithm for inners in [1], [2] in order to lessen the roundoff errors arising in computer calculations taking into consideration fixed structure of sparseness of left triangle of zeros without destroying the inners of original matrix.


The detection of extra-solar planets made by direct imaging is an extremely challenging goal for astronomers due to the possibility to access the physical properties of planets and not only their existence. Using 8 m class telescopes joint with dedicated techniques (such as Simultaneous Differential Imaging aiming to suppress the speckle noise) it is possible, at present, to attain detection limit of 9–11 mag at 0.5 arcsec i.e. to access 3–10 M$_{J}$ planets orbiting around young (100–200 Myr) nearby and late type stars. Searches for extra-solar planets carried out with the present technology are quite fundamental and critical not only for discovery of planets but also because it permits us to put constraints on theories of planets formation and migration. Besides, our understandings of the performances of sophisticated techniques such as the SDI is fundamental to plan new observational strategies, new generation instruments and telescopes. Speckles noise is, indeed, the main source of noise for observations in the NIR and visible and our ability in suppressing it is not so easily scaled at different parameters space. In this contribution I will present the main results that we obtained in on-going searches for planets carried out with NACO and NACO/SDI in the last years. A particular attention will be dedicated in comparing different observational strategies and in the employment of image processing techniques for recognizing, in an automatic way, planet features in deep images obtained with ground-based telescopes and AO facilities.