A field study carried out at Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow to study efficiency of herbicides in Sugarcane plant crop and also their effect on subsequent ratoon revealed that uncontrolled growth of weeds in sugarcane reduced cane yield by 40 per cent. Application of diuron and metribuzin in moist soil resulted in 12% higher weed controlefficiency than their application in dry soil. Use of herbicides increased sugarcane yield by 23 per cent over.weedy•check. Subsequent ratoon crop, also showed beneficial effects on account of weed control measures applied to plant crop and manual hoeing had superiority over chemical weeding.


This research held in PLN Pekanbaru Area. This research held in order to analyze the effect of reward, organizational culture and organizational structure to organizational effectiveness. Population are all employees, consist of 62 people. Considering the number limitation so sampling method used is census that covers all employee as the respondents.Variables used are reward, organizational culture and organizational structure as independent and organizational effectiveness as dependent. Data analyzed by using descriptive analysis and multiple regression analysis by using SPSS 19 for windows.Result of this study shows that reward, organizational culture and organizational structure significantly effect on organizational effectiveness. Partially, reward and organizational structure shows positive and significant effect on organizational effectiveness, while organizational culture gives no significant effect.It is recommended to company to adjust the normative incentives with the inflation growth and provide additional tools for each division. The culture of effective and efficient process and enhance the public service motivation and accountability need to be overcome. It is also recommended to place the right man in the position and expand the human resource division. Keywords: Reward, Organizational Culture, Structure, and Effectiveness


A criterion for chaos in quantum spectra developed by Heller et al. is applied to the vibration‐rotation spectrum at about 8000 cm−1 of the X 1A1 state of formaldehyde. It is found that the observed increase in complexity in the spectrum as the angular momentum quantum numbers are increased corresponds nonetheless with decreasingly stochastic behavior. This can be understood in terms of an available phase space volume that expands more rapidly than the occupied phase space volume in J increases.


Although canine distemper is en-zootic worldwide and has a wide host range, there are no reports of canine distemper virus in crab-eating foxes (Cerdocyon thous) that provide information on virus phylogeny and histopathologic lesions. The objective of this study is report and describe canine distemper in a crab-eating fox (C. thous), with a focus on the phylogeny of the virus strain and the histopathologic lesions in the animal.


This paper is concerned with the problem of how effective social interaction arises from individual social action and mind. The need to study the individual social mind suggests a move towards the notion of sociological agents who can model their social environment, as opposed to acting socially within it. This does not constrain such social behaviour; on the contrary, we argue that it provides the requisite information and understanding for such behaviour to be effective. We argue that effective social agents must be sociological in modelling agents and agent relationships. In this paper, we show how an existing agent framework leads naturally to the enumeration of a map of inter-agent relationships that can be modelled and exploited by sociological agents to enable more effective operation.


The objective of the study is to evaluate the effect of labour strikes patient satisfaction in secondary Health Institutions in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study is cross-sectional descriptive study of 508 respondents form outpatient department, laboratory department, pharmacy department, Ante-Natal and Post-Natal clinic and ART clinic at the 7 secondary health institutions in CRS spread across 3 senatorial districts in the state between January and February 2018 using semi structured; selfadministered, closedand open-ended questionnaires that were divided into different sections each. Raw data were entered EpiDataTM and exported for analysis using the SPSS software version 20. The data were cleaned and validated for use. Frequency tables were produced and associations between categorical variables were determined using chi squared test at a significance level of P<0.05. Meanwhile, the negative effects of strikes are generally highly felt among all patients with no statistical significant difference whether employed, unemployed or retired (P>0.05). One of the effects of health workers' strike is that strikes increase death rates and the result showed that regardless of patient's education level, patients are fully aware that one of the effects of frequent strikes is increase in death rate (P>0.05). The result indicates that there is statistical significant difference in respondents' responses between those without formal education, non-graduates and graduates. i.e. the higher the level of education, the higher the awareness that labour strikes affect the duty of health workers and have effect on patient's attendance, poor healthcare performance and cause patients' dissatisfaction (P<0.05).


Ab initio computations are carried out to study the activity of alpha-and beta-positions metabolites of nitrosamines. Full geometric structure optimization has been done for all reactants, intermediates and transition states. The activation energies, vibrational frequencies and intrinsic reaction coordinate calculation are also performed. The results show that the activity of beta-position is higher than alpha-position. For simulating the reaction in cellular environment, a series of computations are performed in water at the same level. The results reveal that the activity of beta-position is enhanced stronger than alpha-position by solvent effect. It can be deduced that beta-electrophilic center may be the first one which alkylates on one of the DNA strands and then alpha-electrophilic center may alkylate on the other. These can explain the alkylation process of nitrosamines that would induce the crosslinks between the DNA complementary base pairs and initiate cancer finally.


The bridging phenyl group in a fluorescent phenoxazine-benzothiazole donor-acceptor dyad is replaced by either a naphthalene or a thiophene moiety to probe the influence of a more extended conjugated system...


Hunter AM, Leuchter AF, Cook IA, Abrams M. Brain functional changes (QEEG cordance) and worsening suicidal ideation and mood symptoms during antidepressant treatment.


Ball-flower-like and leaf-like Y2O3 materials were prepared by means of a template synthesis.XRD pattern shows the Y2O3 is cubic.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) image of leaf-like material reveals that there are slots in the lateral leaves.Wettability studies reveal the film surface shows the super-hydrophilic property of ball-flower-like Y2O3 and the super-hydrophobic property of leaf-like Y2O3,respectively.


Background: Cervical cancer remains a major public health challenge in low and middle-income countries including India. However, if detected early, it is preventable and curable. Objective: The present study aimed to ascertain the sociodemographic and clinical profile of cervical cancer patients visiting a tertiary cancer center. Methodology: A retrospective study was carried out at the Delhi State Cancer Institute, New Delhi. The study population included 136 women who were diagnosed with cervical cancer. A pretested data extraction sheet was used as the study tool for collecting information from the inpatient records. Descriptive analysis and chi-square test were performed and the level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results: A total of 136 cervical cancer patients with mean age of 46 ± 9.85 and mean BMI of 23.78 ± 5.03, were studied retrospectively. About 36.8% of patients were aged between 40-49 years and 57.4% were illiterate. While 40.4% of the patients belonged to FIGO stage II, 27.2% had FIGO stage III cancer. Majority (63.2%) of patients were diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), while the rest were adenocarcinoma (25%) and adenosquamous (11.8%). Clinical stage of cancer was found to be significantly associated with educational status (p=0.03) and dietary practices (p=.007). Conclusion: Our study found higher percentage of women with stage II and III cervical lesions and reaffirms the importance of education and healthy diet in early detection and prevention of cervical cancer. Therefore, it is suggested that accelerated population awareness and screening, incorporating digital innovations including vaccination programs are mandatory.


A real‐time polymerase chain reaction assay was initially developed in China to detect mumps genome. The primers and TaqMan‐MGB probe were selected from regions of the hemagglutinin gene of mumps virus. The primers and probe for the real‐time PCR were evaluated by both laboratories in China and in the UK using three different pieces of equipment, LightCycler (Roche), MJ DNA Engine Option® 2 (BIO‐RAD) and TaqMan (ABI Prism) on different samples. The reaction was performed with either a one‐step (China) or two‐step (UK) process. The sensitivity (10 copies) was estimated using a serial dilution of constructed mumps‐plasmid DNA and a linear standard curve was obtained between 10 and 107 DNA copies/reaction, which can be used to quantify viral loads. The detection limit on cell culture‐grown virus was approximately 2 pfu/ml with a two‐step assay on TaqMan, which was equivalent to the sensitivity of the nested PCR routinely used in the UK. The specificity was proved by testing a range of respiratory viruses and several genotypes of mumps strains. The concentration of primers and probe is 22 pmol and 6.25 or 7 pmol respectively for a 25 µl reaction. The assay took 3 hr from viral RNA extraction to complete the detection using any of the three pieces of equipment. Three hundred forty‐one (35 in China and 306 in the UK) clinical specimens were tested, the results showing that this real‐time PCR assay is suitable for rapid and accurate detection of mumps virus RNA in various types of clinical specimens. J. Med. Virol. 79:1761–1767, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The Dien Bien Phu (DBP) fault zone is one of the most seismically active fault systems in the Indochina, extending over a distance of some 150 km from the border between Yunnan, China and Vietnam through NW Vietnam into Laos. The faults are characterized by strike-slip and oblique-slip, with dipping angle of 60°~70° to the west in the northern part and 70°~°80 (even to 90°) in the southern part of the fault zone. Three Neogene basins resulting from various mechanisms formed along the fault zone, e.g. Chan Nua, Lai Chau, and Dien Bien Phu basins. Field investigation and interpretation to the EMT images in the DBP fault zone reveals two stages of tectonic development of the fault zone: an early stage characterized by dextral and reverse-dextral strike-slip faulting and a late stage characterized by sinistral strike-slip faulting. Various offset degrees of sinistral slip, judged from the features of water system on both sides of the fault, suggest a relatively stronger activity of the western block that is so-called active block, compared to the eastern one. Based on the ETM image analysis and field survey in Jinping, Southern Yunnan, China and Laichau, Vietnam, we found that the northern DBP fault zone may be linked with the Sanjiahe fault zone, which is similar to the DBP fault zone in structural characteristics and evolution, and even approaches the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone. Geometrically and kinematically, the DBP fault and the recently dextral Red River fault zone form a conjugate shear due to a stress field of EW extension and NS compression.


The performance of the envelope-constrained filters designed by the newly developed adaptive algorithms may deteriorate when the input signal is contaminated by noise. The average window with a growing window size, and the exponentially weighted average window are presented. It is shown that the noise-induced bias in the augmented cost function will be reduced because applying such an averaging scheme helps increase values of the signal-to-noise ratio at the filter input channel. With this, the noise effect on the adaptive envelope-constrained filters can be depressed. Simulation results are given to illustrate the improved performance of the adaptive envelope-constrained filters designed in conjunction with the average window.


[1] We develop mathematical models to investigate anhydrite precipitation in hydrothermal recharge zones at ocean ridge axes. We first consider constant flow during hydrothermal recharge to estimate the depth, the depth interval over which anhydrite precipitation would occur, and the initial rate of porosity reduction. We find that the smaller the downward mass flux, the shallower and more broadly distributed the region of precipitation. For values of downward mass flux similar to that for high-temperature black smoker systems, the porosity would be clogged significantly in a matter of months to years depending upon the initial porosity. We then consider anhydrite precipitation in a buoyancy-driven single-pass model in which the reduction in permeability resulting from anhydrite precipitation exerts a feedback on the flow rate. This model gives results similar to the constant flow model for the initial depth, depth interval, and rate of porosity reduction. The effect of the permeability clogging on the flow rate, however, is twofold. First, the zone of anhydrite precipitation shallows and broadens as the flow rate decreases, thus allowing deeply deposited anhydrite to be preserved temporarily. Second, if the recharge area of the same size as the discharge area, anhydrite precipitation rapidly reduces the flow rate and the heat output of the hydrothermal system. If the initial porosity of the recharge zone is 1%, the area of the recharge zone must be ∼10–100 times that of the discharge zone to maintain near steady state conditions for time periods of decades to hundreds of years. This result implies that recharge zones may be quite large and extend off axis as well as along axis.


Symmetrical Follicular Navus.-H. W. ALLEN, D. M. E. C., a boy aged 11, has lesions of both upper eyelids and inner canthi, present for eight years and recently increasing in number. Family history.-Two brothers. No history of navi or of mental affections. Present condition.-There are symmetrical grouped lesions on the inner side of both upper eyelids and inner canthi. These consist of a collection of more or less superficial cysts, some of which produce hemispherical elevation of the surface without any evidence of umbilication. A few of the cysts produce comedones, from which, sebaceous material may be expressed. The average size of the cysts is about that of a pin's head. Report on biopsy.-There are cysts in the corium, lined by one or more layers of small epithelial cells, which towards the centre show a tendency to degeneration. The cysts contain sebaceous material. Strands and lobules of proliferating cells with commencing central degeneration are also seen. Diagnosis.-This case is almost certainly one of the group of symmetrical follicular ninvi (Savatard) of the face, which are characterized by onset in childhood with aggravation at p-uberty, and by histological appearances suggesting epithelial proliferation, gland formation, and even occasionally hair development, in ectopic pilo-sebaceous elements. The ciliary glands (Moll's) are probably the ectopic elements in this case; they are apocrine in character. The term " epithelioma adenoides cysticum " applies to many of the group of symmetrical follicular neevi, and may be used to cover the now almost obsolete term "adenoma sebaceum of the Balzer type"; the case described belongs, I think, to the epithelioma adenoides cysticum group. It has been suggested that the case is one of ordinary milium, but clinically it differs from milium in that it is not a purely superficial lesion, and the pin-headsized cysts do not contain the small horny plugs characteristic of milium. -However milium itself is probably only one of the types of " symmetrical follicular neevus


The primary processes in photosynthesis occur in pigment-protein complex called reaction centers. The Chloroflexus aurantiacus (C. aurantiacus) reaction center is the smallest functionally active reaction center which has been isolated so far: it is composed of only two protein subunits, instead of four in Rhodopseudomonas viridis and three in Rhodobacter sphaeroides. As in the reaction centers of purple bacteria, the primary donor P is a dimer of bacteriochlorophyll (Bchl). In contrast, the different pigment composition (3 Bchl:3 Bphe) together with spectroscopic data (1,2), suggest that the accessory Bchl (BM)on the inactive M branch in reaction centers from purple bacteria, has been replaced by a bacteriopheophytin (Bphe) in C. aurantiacus reaction centers.


The "trade relations" executive is a relatively new figure in the dramatis personae of American business. His function has been the subject, on the one hand, of a growing awareness of the value of his role in the complex free enterprise system of today, and, on the other hand, of concern about whether his activities are consonant with federal antitrust laws as they may apply to "reciprocity" reciprocal arrangements involving buying and selling. The 1966 District Court decision in United States v. General Dynamics Corporation1 underscores the fact that reciprocal buy-sell arrangements may violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act. And in the wake of this decision, the government has brought suit against General Tire and Rubber Company and its subsidiaries,2 charging violations of both Sections 1 and 2 of the Act in a complaint which cites the existence of a Trade Relations Department and a trade relations program in the course of its allegations concerning the offenses charged.3 Some have concluded from all this that there may be doubt about the wisdom of having a trade relations department at all and argue that its very existence may be evidence of sin. A distinguished antitrust lawyer, Mr. Wallace L. Kaapcke of the San Francisco bar, has said that one result of the General Dynamics dicta about reciprocity may be the withering away of trade relations departments in American businesses.4 The writers, however, believe that to convene the pallbearers for the trade relations executive is premature. Even if we accept what Mr. Kaapcke has called the "quasi per se" rule of the General Dynamics case (and this is not necessarily what courts in the future are going to do), and even if the government should prove to the hilt all of its allegations in the General Tire case, it does not follow that American corporations should unanimously abolish their trade relations departments and assign their trade relations executives to running the company cafeteria. Before conclusions can be drawn, it is in order to ex-


Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is currently used to side scan sonar, doppler velocimetry and inertial navigation devices and other equipment-based integrated navigation program navigation. The side scan sonar can generate the underwater acoustical image in real time and match it with the feature database through the image matching algorithm to filter the navigation data. Aiming at the characteristics of underwater acoustic image data, the method of drawing underwater acoustic image is described. In order to integrate the feature matching of the underwater acoustic image into the integrated navigation, this paper introduces the SIFT feature matching algorithm to improve the characteristics of the underwater acoustic image and introduces the discriminant condition based on the least squares method. After the matching criterion is introduced, the improved SIFT feature matching algorithm is greatly improved when the landmark matching is achieved, and the occurrence of false matching is avoided. Finally, the real experimental data obtained by the side-scan sonar equipment are verified by the algorithm, and the satisfactory results are obtained.


Water and land management decisions require consideration of multiple factors. Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) provides a structured, auditable and transparent tool that helps inform and add rigour to multioption decisions. MCDA was used in a payment for ecosystem services (PES) project to evaluate options for delivering good ecological status in Tortworth Brook, Gloucestershire, UK. Following a process of stakeholder engagement, final options considered were: (1) doing nothing; (2) modifying existing sewage treatment works; (3) a single integrated constructed wetland (ICW) targeting multiple ecosystem service outcomes; and (4) catchment wide multiple ICWs. The analysis concluded that the 'do nothing' option and modifying the existing works are both likely to provide poor utility and value for money. Both ICW options offered the greatest utility in terms of optimising the benefits to all stakeholders.


Ground fissure is one of the main hazards in regional geological activities. The activity of Qixian ground fissures are mainly affected by many factors .such as earthquake , geomorphic features, strata and rock properties, decline of groundwater level and amount of ground subsidence. In this paper, the genetic mechanism of ground fissures was discussed and the countermeasures of the ground fissures were proposed according to the characteristics and the present situation of QiXian ground fissures. which are give away fixture recharging and special disposal .The result will has an important significance for further studying the genetic of ground fissures and provide the basis for local government to decrease the loss of the ground fissures.


: The synthesis of carboxymethyl starch from breadfruit starch (Artocarpuscommunis) has been done through the etherification reaction with monochloroacetate. The first stage is the isolation of starch from the fruits of breadfruit fruits, where the results of FTIR analyzed obtained spectra with 3402, 2931, 1080, 1018 cm-1 waves indicating the presence of O-H, C-H stretching and C-O-C bonds, illustrating that the compound is a starch compound. The second stage is the etherification process with monochloroacetate using NaOH reagent and isopropanol as solvent. The carboxymethylation process using monochloroacetate was carried out with variations in the addition of monochloroacetate 1.5; 3; 4.5; 6; 7.5 grams and 90 times variations; 120; 150 minutes and neutralization using 2N CH 3 COOH. The resultant carboxymethyl starch shows the appearance of peaks at the wavenumbers 1604 cm-1 and 1419 cm-1 in the analysis using FTIR spectroscopy showing the presence of carbonyl groups. Then the carboxymethyl starch produced was calculated by degrees of substitution and SEM analysis was performed. The highest degree of substitution was 1.8412 in weight gain of 6 grams of monochloroacetic acid with reaction time of 2 hours and obtained a rougher surface shape due to the presence of granules and a more unified appearance.


Digital forensics reports typically document the search process that has led to a conclusion, the primary means to verify the report is to repeat the search process. We believe that, as a result, the Trusted Computing Base for digital forensics is unnecessarily large and opaque. We advocate the use of forensic certificates as intermediate artifacts between search and verification. Because a forensic certificate has a precise semantics, it can be verified without knowledge of the search process and forensic tools used to create it. In addition, this precision opens up avenues for the analysis of forensic specifications. We present a case study using the specification of a deleted file. We propose a verification architecture that addresses the enormous size of digital forensics data sets. As a proof of concept, we consider a computer intrusion case study, drawn from the Honey net project. Our Coq formalization yields a verifiable certificate of the correctness of the underlying forensic analysis.


Many researchers have confirmed a correlation between the built environment and physical activity. However, most studies are based on the objective characteristics of the built environment, and seldom involve the residents' subjective perception. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the subjective and objective characteristics of the built environment and physical activity at the community scale. Data consists of that collected from a social survey, Points of Interest (POI), the road network, and land use in Fuzhou, China. The duration of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) within a week is used to represent the general physical activity of residents. Security perception is introduced as an intermediary variable. SPSS software is used for factor analysis and Amos software for statistical analysis. Structural equations are set up to analyse the relationship between these variables. The final results show that: (1) The objective characteristics of the built environment have no direct impact on the development of leisure MVPA, but it can indirectly affect leisure MVPA through residents' subjective perception of the built environment; (2) The subjective perception of residents has a significant impact on the duration of MVPA, the subjective perception of humanized space has a direct impact on the duration of MVPA, and destination accessibility and urban environment maintenance has an indirect impact through community public security perception; and (3) The individuals' attributes such as gender and self-evaluated socioeconomic status have negative effects on the duration of leisure MVPA, and an individual's love of sports has a positive effect on MVPA.


Aims. We studied the abundance of HCN, H 13 CN, and HN 13 C in a sample of prestellar cores, in order to search for speci es associated with high density gas. Methods. We used the IRAM 30m radiotelescope to observe along the major and the minor axes of L1498, L1521E, and TMC 2, three cores chosen on the basis of their CO depletion properties. We mapped the J = 1→ 0 transition of HCN, H 13 CN, and HN 13 C towards the source sample plus the J = 1 → 0 transition of N2H + and the J = 2 → 1 transition of C 18 O in TMC 2. We used two different radiative transfer codes, making use of recent collis ional rate calculations, in order to determine more accurat ely the excitation temperature, leading to a more exact evaluation of the column densities and abundances. Results. We find that the optical depths of both H 13 CN(1−0) and HN 13 C(1−0) are non-negligible, allowing us to estimate excitation temperatures for these transitions in many positions in the three sources. The observed excitation temperatures are consistent with recent computations of the collisional rates for these spec ies and they correlate with hydrogen column density inferred from dust emission. We conclude that HCN and HNC are relatively abundant in the high density zone, n(H2)∼ 10 5 cm −3 , where CO is depleted. The relative abundance [HNC]/[HCN] differs from unity by at most 30% consistent with chemical expectations. The three hyperfine satellites of HCN(1−0) are optically thick in the regions mapped, but the profiles become increasingly skewed to the blue (L1498 and TMC 2) or red (L1521E) with increasing optical depth suggesting absorption by foreground layers.


In the Westernized world the daily dietary caloric requirements are roughly provided as follows: 40% from carbohydrates, 40% from fats, and 20% from proteins. In some populations in developing countries the daily caloric contribution from carbohydrate is even higher due to its readily available sources and relatively low cost. Glucose, the principal product of carbohydrate digestion, passes through a series of enzymatic steps first in the non-oxidative glycolytic pathway (from glucose to pyruvate) followed by efficient oxidative metabolism via the tricarboxylic acid cycle (from acetyl-CoA to CO2 and H2O) to harness a portion of its potential energy as ATP. Interestingly, these two major pathways are directly linked by the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) localized in the mitochondrial matrix (Fig. 1). In the fed state acetyl-CoA generated from pyruvate (derived mostly from glucose and some dietary amino acids) is also utilized for the biosynthesis of lipids such as long chain fatty acids and cholesterol by lipogenic tissues (such as liver and adipose tissues and under special conditions in mammary glands during lactation and in the brain during the prenatal and early postnatal development). Additionally, amino acids from excess dietary protein are metabolized by several specialized reactions or pathways generating intermediates that have to be ultimately converted to pyruvate first and then to acetylCoA via PDC either for complete oxidation to CO2 and H2O or for lipogenesis. PDC is the only known reaction in most eukaryotes to generate acetyl-CoA (two-carbon compound) from pyruvate (three-carbon compound). Since this is a physiologically irreversible reaction and since there is no other known reaction or pathway to convert the two-carbon compound to pyruvate (or its equivalent) for the synthesis of glucose in animals, the flux through PDC is tightly regulated to meet the specific metabolic and energetic needs of different tissues during the fed and fasting (starvation) states. This is accomplished by covalent modification of the ratelimiting component of the complex involving sophisticated interplay among the components of the complex and allosteric modulations by acetyl-CoA and NADH, the products of the reaction (and also of fatty acid oxidation). It is evident from these simple considerations that PDC plays a key role as a gatekeeper of both caloric and glucose homeostasis in mammals. In this review, we will discuss recent developments concerning the structure-function relationship of this multienzyme complex from various organisms with emphasis on regulatory aspects of the mammalian complex. Detailed accounts of various aspects of this complex can be found in several excellent reviews [1–11].


The legal principle articulating that "the land dominates the sea" constitutes a fundamental legal principle under general international law, which requires coastal states to have sovereignty over the land, from which all of their maritime rights stem. Under current international law of the sea, this principle constitutes the most challenging legal obstacle for coastal states to maintain their entitlement over their maritime zones in the event of losing their territories due to sea level rise. In departing from the current international law of the sea, the author explores the possibility of using the doctrine of historic waters as a legal basis for coastal states to safeguard their sovereignty and sovereign rights over their maritime zones as they stand nowadays, regardless of the disappearance of their landmass. It briefly assesses the doctrine of historic waters and recent international practice, particularly the case law of the International Court of Justice and the United States of America. It identifies the relevant legal requirements that coastal states would have to fulfill in order to be able to claim in the future an historic title over their maritime zones that would have been previously governed by current international law of the sea.


211e 3. Park E, Lewis K, Alghoul MS. Comparison of efficacy and complications among various spacer grafts in the treatment of lower eyelid retraction: A systematic review. Aesthet Surg J. 2017;37:743–754. 4. Sullivan SA, Dailey RA. Graft contraction: A comparison of acellular dermis versus hard palate mucosa in lower eyelid surgery. Ophthalmic Plast Reconstr Surg. 2003;19:14–24. 5. Yoon MK, McCulley TJ. Autologous dermal grafts as posterior lamellar spacers in the management of lower eyelid retraction. Ophthalmic Plast Reconstr Surg. 2014;30:64–68.


The paper analyzes aspects related to books and memory, in Francois Truffault's Fahrenheit 451. It discusses issues related to the prohibition and destruction of books by totalitarian regimes. It emphasizes Montag's trajectory through the movie and his transformation into a book protector and point out characteristics of the society portrayed in the film, specially its fondness for the image and for the oral information.


With the rapid development of smartphones in recent years, we have witnessed an exponential growth of the number of mobile apps. Considering the security and management issues, network operators need to have a clear visibility into the apps running in the network. To this end, this paper presents a novel approach to generating the fingerprints for mobile apps from network traffic. The fingerprints that characterize the unique behaviors of specific mobile apps can be used to identify mobile apps from the real network traffic. In order to handle the large volume of traffic efficiently, we use non‐negative matrix factorization (NMF) to perform traffic analysis to cluster similar network traffic into groups. Then, access patterns of individual apps that are extracted from each group can be used as fingerprints distinguishing apps from others uniquely. The experimental evaluations show that the proposed approach can identify the mobile apps from random and mixed network traffic with high precision. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper presents the results of resistance measurements made on Series 65. This series is composed of two groups of hard chine planing hulls with widely different planforms. Within each of the groups, the length-beam ratio and the deadrise are varied. The results are incorporated with those from Series 62 to form a comprehensive compilation of planing craft experimental data. The results are analyzed and compared with predictions from the equations for prismatic surfaces developed by Savitsky.


The semantic meaning of "identity" has gone through some parallel transformations in both Chinese and English contexts.Accompanying this,there is a shift of research focus from "identity" study to "identification" study in cultural studies.The thesis will point out that this shift of focus is influenced by the post-modern concept of "identity".


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the immune complex (IC) diseases in which lymphoid germinal centers (GCs) are found in the synovial tissue. Simultaneously, patients with RA often show swelling of lymph nodes. The morphology and function of the lymph node GCs in patients with RA is not clear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in morphology and immunoreactions to complement (C) components, their receptors, and lgM‐rheumatoid factor (RF) between synovial GCs and lymph‐node GCs in RA. Furthermore, the relationship between these immuno‐reactive substances and follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) in GCs was investigated. The tissues examined were 41 RA synovial specimens, seven RA lymph nodes with massive lymphadenopathy, and 10 non‐RA lymph nodes. The number of synovial GCs was relatively decreased in comparison with lymph‐node GCs in RA, and the diameter of each synovial GC was smaller than that of each lymph‐node GC. The synovial GCs were edematous and less cellular, and moreover, those from RF‐seronegative cases were smaller than those from RF seropositive cases. On the other hand, the lymph‐node GCs in RA were larger, more cellular and hyperplastic, but contained more tingible‐body macro‐phages (TBMs) and neutrophils. In the GCs of both synovial tissues and lymph nodes in RA, early C components (C1q, C4, C3c, C3d), IgM RF, and C3b receptor (C3bR) and C3d receptor (C3dR) were expressed as a lacy network by light microscopy, and were demonstrated on the surfaces of FDCs and lymphocytes, and in the intercellular spaces by electron microscopy. Furthermore, immuno‐staining for dendritic reticulum cells (DRC, DAKO DRC1) was observed in a lacy pattern by light microscopy and on the cell surface of FDCs by electron microscopy. In the GCs of non‐RA lymph nodes, early C components, C3bR, C3dR, and DRC showed a similar reaction pattern, but IgMRF did not. Consequently, no marked difference in immunoreactions in the GCs, except for the immunoreactions of late C components, was found between synovial tissues and lymph nodes in RA. On the basis of these findings, we discuss the possibility of the presence of a RF‐IC.


Fluorescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were synthesized using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as both the carbon source and solvent in various atmospheres including air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen by following a microwave irradiation method. The CQDs were characterized by performing ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. We found that different reaction atmospheres yielded significantly different reaction rates and properties of the CQDs. In particular, including oxygen in the synthesis of the CQDs clearly shortened the reaction time, significantly enhanced the photoluminescence (PL) intensity and quantum yield (PLQY) of the CQDs, and extended their average lifetime. The PLQY and fluorescence lifetime of the CQDs were improved from 5.78% and 2.4 ns, respectively, when synthesized in a medium open to air to 7.84% and 3.0 ns, respectively, when synthesized in an O2 atmosphere. The CQDs synthesized using microwave irradiation showed strong blue fluorescence under ultraviolet light.


Objective:To observe the effect on the relapse rate of the ocular myasthenia gravis(ocular MG)treated by Yiqi Tuoxie decoction.Method:Seventy-one in treatment group took Yiqi Tuoxie decoction and 36 in control group took Buzhong Yiqi decoction.The two groups both used low dose of prednison for short-term treatment.The clinical effect and the relapse rate were observed after 2 months and 2 years.Results:In treatment group the effect rate was 83.72% and 86.11% in control group.The relapse rates were repectively 25.35% and 55.56% in treatment group and control group.The difference between two groups was statistically significant.Conclusion:The relapse rate of the ocular MG treated by Yiqi Tuoxie decoction can be obviously decreased and the effect is superior to that in the contorl group which uses Buzhong Yiqi decoction.


J D HARRISON AND D L MORRIS (Department of Surgery, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham) AIDS is becoming an increasing problem in medical practice and although the spread of AIDS by a contaminated endoscope has not been reported, it is a possibility due to the presence of blood, gastric juice and saliva on the endoscope and within its channels. We have evaluated a new negative pressure chamber biopsy channel valve designed by one of the authors (DLM) to reduce the aerosol emission during insertion and removal of the biopsy forceps, thus protecting medical and nursing personnel. In order to compare the efficacy of the new valve with a standard Olympus valve, a balloon containing 10 ml 0-5% indigocarmine solution was secured over the end of an OES 010 gastroscope such that its tip was always submerged in dye solution. The biopsy forceps were then passed through the centre of a 180 mm sheet of filter paper which was held in contact with the valve exit whilst the forceps were passed into and back out of the dye solution five times with each valve. The area of the dye on the paper was then measured in each case. The median (range) area in square millimetres for the standard valve was 4968.7 (1261-8-9175), whilst for the new suction valve the area was 5-4 (1.4-9.2); Mann Whitney U=0-00, p=0-012. We conclude that the new valve is a highly efficacious means of reducing emission of biological fluids from endoscopes.


Medication adherence is one of the leading factors that can make the difference between life and death, especially for patients managing chronic conditions. These issues have driven a recent wave of research, including the development of smart pill bottles that monitor when a pill is extracted. The goal of my PhD research is to develop systems that can identify who has taken the pill and when. To do so, we have designed different generations of smart pill bottles and associated algorithms for enabling several applications. We use 3D-printed pill bottles equipped with a magnetic switch sensor and an accelerometer. The bottles are carefully designed to minimize power consumption and we devise new machine learning-based techniques that use the accelerometer data generated during bottle interaction (pill extraction) to capture the user gesture that is extracting the pill. Our work can be classified into 3 core thrust areas: 1) User identification using smart pill bottle systems. 2) Adaptive learning techniques for user identification across multiple smart pill bottles. 3) Latent conditions monitoring using smart pill bottles.


The Audit Commission (1993) provides clear evidence that communication in the NHS is far from well. In order to study communication between acute general hospitals and patients the Audit Commission, taking the patient's point of view, focused on four major illnesses: breast cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia, stroke, and rheumatoid arthritis.


This article presents a theoretical study of sensor activity of nanosystems based on carbon nanotubes modified with functional groups (carboxyl, aminogen, nitrogroup) for some metal atoms and ions. Calculations have been performed within the frameworks of a molecular cluster model with the use of the semiempirical MNDO method and the density functional theory DFT. The mechanism of functional group binding to the open border of single−walled zig− zag carbon nanotubes leading to the formation of chemically active sensors on their basis has been investigated. Main geometric and electron energy characteristics of the resultant systems have been defined. Interaction of the sensors so synthesized with atoms and ions of some metals, e.g. potassium, sodium and lithium, has been analyzed.


Failure under dynamic mechanical stresses caused by impact and drop loading is a critical concern for reliability of surface mount components in portable electronic products. This study focuses on drop-induced failures in system-in-package (SIP) COTS Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) components that are mounted on PWAs. In particular, we are interested in the effects of secondary impacts that can occur between the PWB and neighboring structures (such as the product case, battery packs, displays or other adjacent PWBs) in portable electronic products. Drop tests are conducted under highly accelerated drop conditions with ultra-high accelerations (10,000-30,000 Gs) that generate stress levels well beyond those expected in actual use, or in conventional qualification tests. Furthermore, secondary impacts are allowed between the test specimen and the fixture, resulting in additional amplifications of stress and accelerations. Due to the geometric complexity, a hierarchical, multi-scale global-local modeling approach is used to assess the stress levels at critical failure sites in the MEMS. The modeling is based on 3D transient Finite element analysis (FEA).


range of -14F to 16F, and icing exposure times of 6, 10, 12, and 22.5 minutes. Ice shape traces were obtained at four inlet circumferential stations corresponding to 0 (inlet upper lip), 90, 180, and 270. Inlet leading edge ice shapes were computed with the LEWICE3D ice accretion code for the conditions investigated during the icing tunnel tests. The experimental and LEWICE3D ice shapes were compared to assess the performance of LEWICE3D in computing inlet ice accretion characteristics. Experimental and LEWICE3D ice shapes were found to be in good overall agreement, in terms of ice shape size, horn features, and icing limits, for six out of the nine cases presented in this paper. For the remaining three cases, however, the LEWICE3D shapes exhibited considerable differences with the experimental shapes.


Background Numerous studies have reported a gradual decline in the practice of physical exercise with age, confirming high dropout rates in the adolescent period. The aim of this study was to investigate the motivation or barriers that lead to greater or lesser adherence to physical exercise among children and adolescents. Methods In this study, 1,081 individuals volunteered to participate [239 children (age: 10.89 ± .66 years) and 842 adolescents (age: 14.9 ± 1.75 years)]. For this purpose, we used the Self-Report on Motivation for Exercising (AMPEF) and Self-Report on Barriers to Exercising (ABPEF) questionnaires. Results The most significant motivational factors in the practice of physical exercise (in both children and adolescents) are competition, social recognition and challenge (t = -16.02, p < .001), prevention and positive health (t = 5.24, p < .001) and affiliation, fun and well-being (t = -19.54, p < .001), while the barriers focus on fatigue and laziness (t = -13.20, p < .001) and body image and physical-social anxiety (t = -5.71, p < .001). It is also observed that adolescents showed significantly higher motivation than children and greater presence of barriers in the practice of physical exercise. Conclusions The age is a determining variable to include in preventive and intervention programs for the practice of physical exercise.


We study the fermion number induced by nontrivial topological configurations in the O(3) nonlinear {sigma} model in 2+1 dimensions. We consider a scalar background configuration that adiabatically evolves from the normal vacuum to a soliton of winding number unity. The appearance of zero-energy modes is analyzed as a function of the relative magnitudes of the fermion mass scale {ital m}{sub {ital f}} and the inverse of the soliton width, 1/{rho}{sub {ital s}}. We find a single energy-level crossing whenever {ital m}{sub {ital f}}{gt}1/{rho}{sub {ital s}}, implying that, as in the case of the O(4) {sigma} model in four dimensions, the soliton carries the fermion number of any sufficiently heavy fermion. We also show the existence of states with fractional fermion number, {ital Q}{sub GS}={plus minus}1/2.


Adult celiac disease (nontropical sprue or idiopathic steatorrhea) is manifested clinically by steatorrhea and deficiencies produced by intestinal malabsorption. Diarrhea and weight loss are often prominent symptoms. Celiac disease in childhood is probably the same disorder. In 1950, Dicke1reported clinical improvement in childhood celiac disease when wheat and rye flour were removed from the diet. Further studies2have shown that wheat, rye, barley, and oat gluten contain an offending agent. Subsequently, the efficacy of the gluten-free diet in the treatment of celiac disease has been confirmed in adults3-5as well as in children.6,7Clinical remissions are reported in 80%8to 93% of adult patients.9Some patients, although clinically improved, have residual evidence of abnormal intestinal function. Green et al.10in 1959 described 10 patients in clinical remission on a gluten-free diet, who had persistent steatorrhea by chemical determination. This is a report


The utility model relates to a fixed ball valve which comprises valve covers, a valve body, a sphere, valve seats and a support plate, wherein the valve body is provided with a valve cavity used for mounting the sphere; the sphere is arranged in the valve cavity; the valve covers are mounted on the two sides of the valve body respectively; the valve seats are mounted between the sphere and the two valve covers; the support plate is connected with one side, facing towards the valve cavity, of each valve cover in a one-to-one correspondence manner, and located in the valve cavity; and the lower end of the sphere is supported on the support plate. The sphere is supported via the support plate, so that the fixed ball valve is not required to adopt a lower cover to support the sphere like that in the prior art, the number of external leakage points is decreased, the sealing reliability is improved, and the fixed ball valve has the characteristics of simple structure and low cost.


17088 Background: Irinotecan (I) has an active role and potential as a radiosensitizing agent in patients with NSCLC. SWOG 9504 established the concept of "consolidation" chemotherapy with 3 cycles of docetaxel (D) after chemo/radiation (CRXT). We evaluated the efficacy and safety of administering weekly doses of carboplatin/irinotecan (CI) concomitantly with radiation therapy followed by D chemotherapy for patients (pts) with stages IIIA/B NSCLC.

METHODS
We have enrolled 23 pts, treatment included: C: (AUC = 2) and I: 30 mg/m2, weekly concomitant with radiation therapy, and D: 75 mg/m2 every 3 weeks for 3 times after CRXT was finished. The daily administered dose of radiation was 1.8 Gy, 5 days a week for 5 weeks, 25 fractions, (45 Gy) to the primary tumor and mediastinum (primary planning target volume: PPTV. After 45 Gy, the primary tumor and involved nodal metastasis (secondary planning target volume: SPTV) was boosted at 2 Gy per day to 18 Gy in 9 fractions. The total dose given was 63 Gy in 35 fractions over seven weeks. Evaluation of response has been done with RECIST criteria.

RESULTS
Median age is 55 years (range: 42-78), 18 (78%) of the pts are female, 17 (74%) are white, 13 (57%) are Hispanic, and 14 (65%) had an ECOG 1. Most common histologies are poorly differentiated and squamous cell carcinomas: 14 pts (61%), and half of the pts are stage IIIB. 111 weeks of CI and 39 cycles of D have been administered and we have documented 22 grade 3/4 adverse events (AE) among them: 4 pts pneumonia (17%), 3 pts radiation pneumonitis (13%), 2 pts: dehydration o neutropenia o dyspnea (9%) and 1 pt with diarrhea, nausea and vomiting (4.5%). No grade 4 neutropenia, esophagitis or diarrhea was reported. 12 severe AE were reported including: 2 pts with pneumonia (9%), 2 pts with dehydration (9%), and 2 pts with radiation pneumonitis (9%) requiring hospitalization. The rest of SAE were unrelated to therapy. Data for response is available in 18 pts. A partial response was seen in 10 pts (56%), and stable disease in 6 pts (33%). 2 pts are ineligible for response. Median survival (and PFS) has not been reached and it will be presented in the meeting.

CONCLUSIONS
CI administered with radiation therapy and followed by D is safe and efficacious in the treatment of stage III NSCLC. [Table: see text].


This study evaluates the performance of the three latest video codecs H.265/MPEG-HEVC, H.264/MPEGAVC and VP9. The evaluation is based on both subjective and objective quality metrics. The assessment metric Double Stimulus Impairment Scale (DSIS) is used to evaluate the subjective quality of the compressed video sequences. The Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) metricis used for the objective evaluation. Moreover, this work studies the effect of frame rate and resolution on the encoders' performance. The extensive number of experiments are conducted with similar encoding configurations for the three studied encoders. The evaluation results show that H.265/MPEG-HEVC provides superior bitrate saving capabilities compared to H.264 and VP9. However, VP9 shows lower encoding time than H.265/MPEG-HEVC but higher encoding time compared to H.264.


This article describes a conceptual approach to the concept of the teaching portfolio and its use in higher education. The concept of the teaching portfolio involves a certain ambiguity, due to the wide variety of objectives for which it can be used. Therefore, it is necessary to make a conceptual delimitation of the teaching portfolio, as well as the diverse types which exist. Once the reference of the term has been defined, the article studies the possibilities of use that these teaching portfolios offer the faculty. Finally, the article establishes four principles to guide the effective use of these portfolios as a formative instrument: the profession of teaching, reflection and processes of metacognition, evaluation as tool for teaching improvement, and support systems such as mentoring.


Abstract Introduction : Increasing Information and recognize its values in personal and professional life for each person brings challenges and barriers that how people can access to information  and it  is necessary for them to obtain some special skills in information seeking process. This study aimed to examine information seeking of Mazandaran Medical Science University Nursing Student's and identified their barriers to access to information. Materials and Methods : This is applied and survey-descriptive (Sectional) study. Statistical populations include all Nursing student of Mazandaran medical science university (faculty of nursing in Sari and Behshahr). We use self-questionnaire that made in 5 sections, to collect data and use SPSS and Statistical test to analysis them. Findings : Findings show that most important motivation of examined student to access and search their own information was "do homework (Educational Activities)". We funded that "Books" and "Journals" with average of 4.10 and 3.91 and also "General search engines" identified as the most important resources and channels to access to information. "University equipment problems" mentioned by nursing student as the most challenges in their information seeking process. Conclusion : This study shows that nursing students needs to receive information from the formal and valid channels because of quality and quantity incrassating of suitable information, related to their personal, educational, and professional life. Planning and making policy by management and masters of Mazandaran Medical Science University can be useful for student access to information with developing of information channels.


The authors discussed the computational condition of Bingham fluid and the development of two-phase turbulent model, the authors imported some reasonable hypothesis and set up a model of treating with pulp fibre suspensions on the k-e turbulent model and the wall function that be used to predict problem near the wall,and approached the scheme of the simulation.The numerical computations were performed for two-phase turbulent of pulp fibre suspensions in a straight circular pipe, proved that the flow core was existent(r/R=0~0.2), it demonstrated the correctness of slip-diffusion continuous medium model from the distributing of velocity of fluid and solid, also explained the phenomenon of "the resistance minish" from the compare of the different initiate turbulent intensity.


Metallurgical by-products, primarily blast furnace slag and steel slag, have ranked among important alternative sources of fill as well as of material for the structural layers in highways. Main hazards of metallurgical by-products are closely connected to their chemical and mineralogical composition and they can be resulted in volume changes. Fears from possible deformations similar to the D47 motorway meant that metallurgical by-products were excluded from several public tenders of road construction. Comparison of blast furnace slag, steel slag and other metallurgical by products parameters allow us to define the most hazardous material as steelworks waste. Linear swelling of steelwork waste achieves more than 40% at 75°C and swelling pressure was higher than 1.5 MPa. Compositional heterogeneity of steelworks waste makes it difficult to establish the long-term behaviour of this material. At the present time we cannot ascertain which maximum values can be reached by deformation and what are the swelling pressures acting on the material while the volume changes are in progress.


A new strategy to produce stable barcodes using biological self-assembly of streptavidin- and biotin-functionalized quantum dots is reported. Such systems are of potential use in multiplexed immunoassay and nucleic acid hybridization assays.


Since 2002, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-National Metrology Laboratory (CSIR-NML, South Africa) and the Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA, Argentina) have each submitted a further sample of known activity of 60Co to the International Reference System (SIR) for activity comparison at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures. The values of the activity submitted were about 210 kBq and 640 kBq respectively. Main text. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by Section II of the Consultative Committee for Ionizing Radiation (CCRI(II)), comparison identifier BIPM.RI(II)-K1.Co-60, according to the provisions of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA).


It is known, that angiographic contrast media have an anticoagulant activity in vitro. The purpose of the present study was, to investigate this effect in vivo. The catheter was introduced percutaneously according to Seldinger into the femoral artery. The prothrombin time, activated thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time, reptilase time, fibrinogen, plasminogen, antithrombin III, platelets, fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP), haematocrit and contrast media concentration were studied in a series of 50 patients before and following abdominal aorto-arteriographic procedures up to 6 hours. Thrombin time and reptilase time were prolonged significantly 30 and 60 minutes after angiography. There was a correlation between clotting tiies and contrast media concentrations. Prothrombin time, APTT, and platelet counts remained unchanged. Fibrinogen, plasminogen,and antithrombin III levels showed a significant reduction after 30 minutes. FDP concentrations were increased significantly up to 6 hours, there was no correlation between contrast media concentrations and split products. The results were corrected for contrast media dilution according to the haematocrit. No thromboembolic complication was observed. The results suggest that angiographic procedure may initiate an intravascular coagulation with an activation of the fibrinolytic system. In addition the contrast media showed an inhibition of fibrin polymerization in vivo.


This report presents an asset prioritization methodology implemented by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) when it began planning for an upgrade of its aging water and sewer infrastructure assets. The report discusses the step‐by‐step risk mitigation program.


Context : Rhabdomyolysis is a serious clinical syndrome that results from damage to skeletal muscles. Common causes include drugs, crush injuries, seizures, heat, exertion, and infection. Viral infections, particularly Influenza A, have been recognized as a cause of rhabdomyolysis. Case Report: Our report describes a 58-year-old male who presented with viral pneumonia secondary to Influenza A virus infection. His hospital course was complicated by acute renal failure secondary to rhabdomyolysis, which was attributed to an overwhelming viremia. We discuss the differential diagnosis of rhabdomyolysis and review the literature for cases of Influenza A-related rhabdomyolysis. We also discuss the proposed mechanisms for the condition. Conclusion : The scope of clinical manifestations of Influenza A infection extends beyond pulmonary syndromes. Rhabdomyolysis is being increasingly recognized as a complication of Influenza A infection with considerable morbidity and mortality.


Purpose: Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is the top rival of 2D mammography. Two common approaches to DBT are continuous and step‐and‐shoot tube motion; presenting problems with source motion blur and long scan time, respectively. Stationary DBT (s‐DBT) has the potential to overcome both issues. We recently developed an s‐DBT scanner utilizing a CNT(carbon nanotube) x‐ray source array, and demonstrated its enhanced spatial resolution and faster scanning speed. This work explores the possibility of expanding the capabilities of current CNT s‐DBT technology to 2D mammography when necessary. Methods: A testing chamber was configured to mimic the most recent iteration of the s‐DBT technology. Simulations of heat loading on the tungsten anode were conducted to predict the maximum power the anode could withstand. The minimum goal was to test if a single CNTcathode could output 50mAs in 4s, giving similar exposure of one traditional 2D view. Further testing explored the current limits of the cathodes.Results: Results show that a single CNTcathode can easily reach the minimum requirement for a 2D mammographyimage and can reliably administer up to 50mAs with a 3 second pulse width at 35kVp, which is an equivalent exposure to one 2D mammographyimage.Conclusions: A single CNTcathode in the electrode configuration of the current s‐DBT design can successfully administer enough current to perform a 2D mammography screening image. The heat loading on the anode was sufficient for this purpose, with the limiting factor being the current design of the CNTcathodes. This work is supported by the National Cancer Institute through the Carolina Center for CancerNanotechnology Excellence under grant number U54CA119343 and R01CA134598, the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and University Cancer Research Fund at UNC


A compact 2.45 GHz receiver module for wireless charging at far distance has been developed. The module consists of receiving antenna array, rectifier and power management circuit. The design, fabrication and testing of the receiving antenna, rectifier and power management circuits will be described. By integrating the 3 by 4 rectenna array and the power management circuit, the total weight of the complete module is around 500 g, making it feasible to mount on any system with rechargeable battery. Its functionality to receive and convert the microwave power to DC power for charging an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) battery is demonstrated. Using the developed system and through careful experimental study, the feasibility of charging a UAV battery at varying distance of 1 to 4 m is studied. It is demonstrated that at a test distance of 2m, the UAV battery can be turned on and its power charging mode is activated, under the illumination of microwave through a horn transmitting antenna when its transmitting power is about 130W. By increasing the distance to 4m, the UAV battery can be turned on and power charging mode is activated the transmitting power reaches about 170W. At a closer distance of 1m, the maximum charging current of 190mA is achievable when the transmitting power is 500W, which is the maximum output power limit of the power amplifier. According to the test results of the receiver module and theoretical calculation, it can be estimated that a transmitting power of 12kW is needed to charge the UAV's battery under the flying mode at the distance of 4 m.


Investigation of driver's physical fitness is an important research topic in accident prevention and intelligent driver monitoring system. Visual attention is one of physical fitness indicators that can be measured quantitatively. Driving simulator can be used to support observation of visual attention and behavior of the driver. On the other side, biomedical effect of driving simulator namely visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) is actively investigated to encourage appropriate usage of the simulator. However, there is no information on how sleep deprivation and day-night difference provoke VIMS and affect visual attention during simulation. In this paper, we present a novel investigation on effect of sleep deprivation and day-night difference on VIMS and visual attention using simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ) and eye tracking. Statistical analysis on SSQ data shows that day-night difference and sleep deprivation induce symptoms of nausea (F(2,22)=5.825, p<;0.05), oculomotor (F(2,22)=12.657, p<;0.05), and disorientation (F(2,22)=8.270, p<;0.05) significantly. Results of eye tracking analysis show that sleep deprivation and day-night difference affect visual attention significantly (F(2,22)=3.904, p<;0.05). Experimental results suggest that driving simulation is better used in day-time to minimize VIMS. Furthermore, proper night rest beforehand and good room illumination are important to support physical fitness during day-time driving.


One kind of magnetic field detection device comprises at least element (11) a member made of a hard magnetic material bonded (12) and a member (13) made of a soft magnetic material and a semiconductor material, and in the semiconductor material element (15) (11) in the driving current (I), characterized in that: said element (12) made of a hard magnetic material and element made of soft magnetic material (13) disposed in the plane of the semiconductor member made of a material (11).


We investigated the psychological effects of UHDTV viewing. UHDTV not only increased the spatio-temporal resolution but also expanded the color gamut and dynamic range. Although the introduction of a wide color gamut (WCG) and high dynamic range (HDR) made it possible to express more faithful images, it is unknown how it contributes to the viewer's benefit. We verified the image impression enhancement effect due to the introduction of HDR and WCG through a subjective evaluation test. The results indicated that the two factors work additively for impression enhancement and HDR appears to be the dominant factor.


Analysis of the chemokine analogs synthesised on a terpolymer-polystyrene, N-vinylpyrrolidone, 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate crosslinked resin (PS-NVP-HDDA) showed it can be used a good solid support for the chemical synthesis of polypeptides. The polymer with a good swelling character and chemical resistance was synthesised by the radical aqueous suspension polymerisation technique. HPLC analysis of the crude peptides synthesised on PS-NVP-HDDA resin showed that it is a better substitute for most of the currently available polymer support for peptide synthesis.
HIGHLIGHTS

This article includes the synthesis of modularly modified analogs of E2/NS1 peptides
The synthesized peptide is IIe-Phe-Thr-Tyr-His-Phe-Asn-Ser-Ser-Ser-Gly-Cys(Acm)-Pro-Glu-Ala-Asp-Leu-Asp- Cys(Acm)-Arg-Ser-Lys-Leu-Arg
The peptide is synthesized on a chemically and mechanically stable terpolymer of 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate, N-vinylpyrrolidone on styrene support
The polymer exhibited a good swelling character and chemical resistance
The peptide was synthesized with great purity

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


A method and apparatus for carbon capture and storage in seawater, applicable in reducing carbon dioxide emissions for coastal power plants and fossil fuel-burning marine facilities such as marine vessels. Utilizing the principle that a certain amount of carbon dioxide can be dissolved into seawater and the ocean is capable of storing a massive amount of carbon dioxide, seawater is used to rinse a fossil fuel exhaust gas so that carbon dioxide in the exhaust gas is dissolved into the seawater for carbon capture, and then, the seawater in which carbon dioxide from the exhaust gas is dissolved and, insofar that the pH value is controlled in compliance with criteria of relevant international regulations and technical standards, discharged into the ocean to implement carbon storage.


The present invention relates to a high heat input welding high strength steel with high toughness gas shielded welding wire. The chemical components and their contents wire is: C is 0.02 ~ 0.12wt%, Mn of 1.00 ~ 2.50wt%, Si of 0.05 ~ 0.50wt%, Ti of 0.03 ~ 0.30wt%, Zr of 0.03 ~ 0.30wt%, B of 0.001 ~ 0.004wt%, Cr≤0.50wt%, S≤0.025wt%, P≤0.025wt%, the balance being Fe and unavoidable impurities. According to the above ingredients, a converter or electric arc furnace using molten iron, or steel scrap or scrap iron and steel refining and adjusting the steel composition was then cast as a billet, then rolled to a conventional process and cold drawn into wire rod . The present invention has a simple composition and low cost characteristics; carried out using the welding material good toughness of the weld, the weld metal of high tensile strength and meet the conditions at large heat HSLA steel 100 ~ 400kJ / cm of welding.


A very great number of cult places were spread over the island of Cyprus during the Achaemenid period, some of them in the urban centers or in the vicinity, others in the country. However, due to the scarcity of ancient texts and inscriptions, the main evidence is given by the votive offerings, especially statues and figurines in stone and terracotta. A specific question for this period is the presence of cult places or chapels in the palace of the local kings. The case of Vouni, which is well known since the Swedish excavations, has to be compared now with Amathus, where a small part of the palace has been excavated by the mission of the French School at Athens. In both palaces we can observe some evidence of cult practices in a kind of propylon out of the palace and other in small chapels inside the main buildings.


Objective To investigate the expression and significance of Ezrin in human brain astrocytoma.MethodExpression of Ezrin in normal human brain tissues of 10 autopsies and tissues of 107 human astrocytomas was examined by immunohistochemical staining.The analysis of clinicopathologic data was performed to reveal the association between the expression of Ezrin and prognosis of patients.Results The expression of Ezrin was significantly higher in human astrocytoma tissues than that in normal brain tissues(P <0.05).In 107 cases of human astrocytomas,the Ezrin expression of 96 cases(89.7%)were positive.The increase of the expression of Ezrin was correlated positively with tumor grades (r =0.551,P<0.01).The analysis of clinicopathologic data revealed that the postoperative tumor-free survival time was significantly different between the group with strong positive Ezrin expression and another group with weak positive and negative Ezrin expression (X~2 = 29.85,P = 0.000).Conclusions Ezrin immunoreactivity is significantly associated with the malignancy of human astrocytoma.Enhanced ezrin expression maybe play an important role in the development of astrocytoma.Ezrin may provide a useful tool for grading of astrocytoma,and maybe a valuable molecular marker of the prognosis.

Key words:
Astrocytoma; Ezrin gene; Prognosis


Landraces play an important role in agricultural sustainability, food security and the future crop improvement.  Systematic information about agricultural evolution of crops is crucial for the implementation of effective conservation and utilization strategies. Unlike Europe and North America, historical data of crops is less complete in other parts of the world, especially for regions where high diversity of crop genetic resources, such as Chile. In order to contribute to the understanding of Chilean genetic resources dynamics and their conservation, we present the case of tomato landraces, particularly the Limachino tomato. Through an extensive literature review, an overview is presented regarding the tomato origin and diversification, in situ conservation status, the role of the genetic resource's units and the importance of the integration of the small-scale commercially-oriented tomato farmers in the modern Chile to advance towards a more effective and sustainable landraces conservation.


Ultrasonic guided wave inspection technique in anchorage quality of steel bolt embedded in epoxy was investigated experimentally.According to dispersion curves derived from theoretical prediction,high-order longitudinal guided wave modes which were suitable for anchorage quality inspection of steel bolt embedded in epoxy and their excitation frequencies were chosen.In the experiments,a 22 mm diameter and 2 800 mm length steel bolt was embedded in epoxy layer with gradually increasing length.Based on pulse echo method,first end-reflected signals of high-order longitudinal guided wave modes were received in the anchorage structure under the condition of gradually increasing length of epoxy layer.Experimental results showed that there was an approximate linear decrease of the peak-to-peak amplitudes of received first end-reflected waves of high-order longitudinal guided wave modes with the increase of embedded length of the bolt.


Abstract Background Tuberculosis (TB) of the gastrointestinal tract and any other organ within the abdominal cavity is abdominal TB, and most guidelines recommend the same six‐month regimen used for pulmonary TB for people with this diagnosis. However, some physicians are concerned whether a six‐month treatment regimen is long enough to prevent relapse of the disease, particularly in people with gastrointestinal TB, which may sometimes cause antituberculous drugs to be poorly absorbed. On the other hand, longer regimens are associated with poor adherence, which could increase relapse, contribute to drug resistance developing, and increase costs to patients and health providers. Objectives To compare six‐month versus longer drug regimens to treat people that have abdominal TB. Search methods We searched the following electronic databases up to 2 September 2016: the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group Specialized Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, Embase (accessed via OvidSP), LILACS, INDMED, and the South Asian Database of Controlled Clinical Trials. We searched the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) and ClinicalTrials.gov for ongoing trials. We also checked article reference lists. Selection criteria We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared six‐month regimens versus longer regimens that consisted of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol to treat adults and children that had abdominal TB. The primary outcomes were relapse, with a minimum of six‐month follow‐up after completion of antituberculous treatment (ATT), and clinical cure at the end of ATT. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently selected trials, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias in the included trials. For analysis of dichotomous outcomes, we used risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Where appropriate, we pooled data from the included trials in meta‐analyses. We assessed the quality of the evidence using the GRADE approach. Main results We included three RCTs, with 328 participants, that compared six‐month regimens with nine‐month regimens to treat adults with intestinal and peritoneal TB. All trials were conducted in Asia, and excluded people with HIV, those with co‐morbidities and those who had received ATT in the previous five years. Antituberculous regimens were based on isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol, and these drugs were administered daily or thrice weekly under a directly observed therapy programme. The median duration of follow‐up after completion of treatment was between 12 and 39 months. Relapse was uncommon, with two cases among 140 participants treated for six months, and no events among 129 participants treated for nine months. The small number of participants means we do not know whether or not there is a difference in risk of relapse between the two regimens (very low quality evidence). At the end of therapy, there was probably no difference in the proportion of participants that achieved clinical cure between six‐month and nine‐month regimens (RR 1.02, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.08; 294 participants, 3 trials, moderate quality evidence). For death, there were 2/150 (1.3%) in the six‐month group and 4/144 (2.8%) in the nine‐month group. All deaths occurred in the first four months of treatment, so was not linked to the duration of treatment in the included trials. Similarly, the number of participants that defaulted from treatment was small in both groups, and there may be no difference between them (RR 0.50, 95% CI 0.10 to 2.59; 294 participants, 3 trials, low quality evidence). Only one trial reported on adherence to treatment, with only one participant allocated to the nine‐month regimen presenting poor adherence to treatment. We do not know whether six‐month regimens are associated with fewer people experiencing adverse events that lead to treatment interruption (RR 0.53, 95% CI 0.18 to 1.55; 318 participants, 3 trials, very low quality evidence). Authors' conclusions We found no evidence to suggest that six‐month treatment regimens are inadequate for treating people that have intestinal and peritoneal TB, but numbers are small. We did not find any incremental benefits of nine‐month regimens regarding relapse at the end of follow‐up, or clinical cure at the end of therapy, but our confidence in the relapse estimate is very low because of size of the trials. Further research is required to make confident conclusions regarding the safety of six‐month treatment for people with abdominal TB. Larger studies that include HIV‐positive people, with long follow‐up for detecting relapse with reliability, would help improve our knowledge around this therapeutic question. 2 April 2019 Up to date All studies incorporated from most recent search All eligible published studies found in the last search (2 Sep, 2016) were included


An absolute reflectance spectrometer was designed. The instrument is based on an Apple II microcomputer which automates data acquisition, curve fitting, Kramers-Kronig integration, and data plotting. In this system, both the positions of the sample and the detectors are fixed during measurement. The reference and sample signals are detected by scanning a mirror which is engaged with a precise stepping motor. The computer controls all the peripheral instruments; therefore the need of continuous attention to the gain control, frequency scanning, and mirror adjustment is eliminated. Versatile software allows the collected data to be easily manipulated and analyzed. >


Yeast floccultion results from surface expression of specific proteins (lectins). Two flocculation phenotypes were suggested by physiological and biochemical tests, whereas genetic data suggested a larger number of mechanisms of flocculation. After reviewing the biochemistry, physiology and genetics of flocculation, a new hypothesis combining the data available from these different sources, is proposed.


Automatic opinion mining of web 2.0 texts is critical for understanding people's viewpoints and assisting them in making informed decisions. Trained machines perform well in the same domain to predict the sentiment polarity but performance decreases drastically when the same machine is applied directly to other domains. Creating a labeled data for every field is an expensive and inefficient procedure. We introduce a framework to determine the domain-independent words in both domains by employing feature extraction techniques to bridge the gap across the domains. To train a classifier and analyze the sentiment polarity of the target domain, we employed these features. The experimental results are compared with different existing state-of-art approaches and evaluate the execution and effectiveness of the suggested framework.


Objective To explore the surgical procedures,safety and clinical effects of laparoscopic incisional hernia neoplasty with the application of patches.Methods Laparoscopic patch neoplasty had been operated on 15 cases of abdominal incisional hernia from May 2008 to May 2009.Results Laparoscopic abdominal adhesions were released and patches were fixed,and incisional hernia repair surgeries were successfully performed on 14 cases.One case was converted to open incisional hernia due to the dense adhesions among intestines,abdominal wall and hernia ring.Ten cases had abdominal repair regional ache(71.4 %),4 cases had serous swelling between hernia rings and patches(28.6 %),and no case had intestinal fistula,death,or surgery-related infection.After postoperative follow-up for 3 to 12 months with an average of 7.5 months,there was no recurrence.Conclusion Most of abdominal incisional hernia can be repaired by hernia staler and fixed patches which had the stitches through the full thickness of abdominal wall,and latent hernia can be found simultaneously.It is a safe and effective minimally invasive surgical method,worthy to be popularized in clinical practice.


From a disciplinary angle, horror could be viewed as a more imaginative, illegitimate brother of anthropology, or rather, its more poetic, kindred soul. Much like horror, the anthropological way of thinking is preoccupied by matters of the alien, the otherworldly, the hidden and the marginal. The two angles of viewing people and their world intersect in a number of common issues, starting with questions of the body and embodiment, through the relationship between an individual and the community and the community toward otherness, to the basic questions of people's spiritual and posthumous lives. Yet, horror as a specific artistic genre has not been researched enough within an anthropological framework, perhaps because it offers artistic and not strictly scientific answers to questions posed by anthropology. In this thematic issue of Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology, for the first time in Serbian anthropology an opportunity arose to publish a collection of scientific texts about the horror genre in one place. Authors who generously submitted their papers for this thematic issue have shown that horror stories can be interpreted in a number of ways which demand a degree of interdisciplinarity, but without ever leaving the familiar framework of the anthropological focus. However, the analysis of horror stories is not common within our discipline. Why is this?


In the quest to make deep learning systems more capable, a number of more complex, more computationally expensive and memory intensive algorithms have been proposed. This switchover glosses over the capabilities of many of the simpler systems or modules within them to adequately address current and future problems. This has led to some of the deep learning research being inaccessible to researchers who don't possess top-of-the-line hardware. The use of simple feed forward networks has not been explicitly explored in the current transformer-based vision-language field. In this paper, we use a series of feed-forward layers to encode image features, and caption embeddings, alleviating some of the effects of the computational complexities that accompany the use of the self-attention mechanism and limit its application in long sequence task scenarios. We demonstrate that a decoder does not require masking for conditional short sequence generation where the task is not only dependent on the previously generated sequence, but another input such as image features. We perform an empirical and qualitative analysis of the use of linear transforms in place of self-attention layers in vision-language models, and obtain competitive results on the MSCOCO dataset. Our best feed-forward model obtains average scores of over 90% of the current state-of-the-art pre-trained Oscar model in the conventional image captioning metrics. We also demonstrate that the proposed models take less time training and use less memory at larger batch sizes and longer sequence lengths.


The highly publicized deaths of research participants Ellen Roche and Jesse Gelsinger are stark reminders that risk is inherent in medical research and while untoward outcomes are infrequent when compared to individual and societal benefits, injury and even death will happen. Who is responsible for the welfare of research subjects and what are they owed? Why were they put at risk to begin with? Are obligations, if any, to research subjects dependent on the type of study in which they participate, in recognition that there may be personal benefit from participation in some studies? The issue of injury resulting from participation in research and answers to questions such as those just posed were last considered in depth nearly 20 years ago by the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research.


way clutch of roller type, comprising: an outer race (1) having a cavity (4) with a cam surface (12) formed on an inner surface, said outer race (1) an annular projection (13) an axial edge of an inner circumferential surface thereof dela; an inner race (2) separate radial side inner diameter with respect to the outer race (1), arranged concentric to demodo be relatively rotatable, and having an outer peripheral surface of bearing ring (11); a series of rollers (3) arranged on the cavity (4), engageable with the cam surface (12) for transmitirpares of forces between the outer race (1) and inner race (2); a cage (6) having a cylindrical part (10) and a flange part (17) extending from the piezacilindrica (10) toward the outer diameter direction and is engaged with the annular projection (13), and having a window (18) arranged in the cylindrical part (10) for retaining the plurality of rollers (3); a spring (5) disposed in the cavity (4), one end (15) which is retained in the outer race (1) to force rollers (3) in the direction of engagement with the cam surface (12); wherein the cage (6) is rotatable relative to the outer race (1), and wherein the other end (16) of the spring (4) estaacoplado to an axial end of the roller (3) for supporting the roller (3 ) part between a body part (20) delmuelle (5) and the other end (16) of the spring (5) urging the roller (3).


The knowledge of the tridimensional structure of the sequen ce required in heparin for binding to antithrombin III (AT) is essential for the understanding of the molecular basis of the anticoagulant and antithrombotic activity of this glycosamino glycan. This problem was approached by a combined experimental (chemical synthesis and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, "NMR") and theoretical (force field calculations) study of the pentasaccha ride I reproducing the minimal sequence for high affinity binding to AT. NMR data (interproton coupling constants and nuclear-Over hauser-enhancement) were used to test a number of possible con formation of I proposed on the basis of-molecular energy calcu lation. In particular, these studies, confirming the results obtained by force field calculations, showed that the sulfated iduronic residue (Is) conformation is an equilibrium between the chair 1c~, and the skew boat .2.s 0 and permitted to discard models with the Is residue in the alternate chair 4c 1. It is of inte rest that the relative population of the 1 c 4 and Zs 0 conformers of I in sequence I (40:60) is reversed witn respect to that fauna for the same residue in the regular sequences of heparin (60:40), such a reversal being largely associated with electro static interactions caused by the unique 3-0-sulfo group ot the preceding amino sugar residue. The most favoured models of I are characterized by a cluster of anionic groups including all the sulfate groups proposed as essential for full expression of the activity (full line square on the formula) but one (dotted line square on the formula), plus the carboxylate group of the glucu ronic acid residue. contrast to the marked !-independent enhancement by AT-H26 of the bimolecular rate constant ranging from 4000 to 200-fold at I 0.15 and 0.3, respectively. These results are consistent with a primary ionic strength-independent contribution of the AT conformational change to heparin enhancement of factor Xa but not thrombin neutralization by AT, with an ionic strength-dependent component for both reactions, compatible with a differential role for a protease-heparin interaction. Supported by grant HL-30237 ocurred during cloning and that there is only one complete copy of the vWf gene in the human haploid genome. Similar analyses of DNA from vWf-expressing endothelial cells and non-expressing white blood cells suggests that no major rearrangements are associated with vWf gene expression. Finally, cross hybridization patterns among seven mammalian species suggests a strong conservation of genomic sequences encoding the plasma portion of vWf, but a lower degree of conservation of sequences encoding the N terminal region of provWf.


Taxus mairei is one of the Tertiary relic species and an endemic to China,being one of the state-protected one-grade rare and endangered plants,and distributed mainly alongside Yangzi River valley,in Nanling Mountains and some mountains in Guangdong,Guangxi,Jiangxi,Henan,Shaanxi,Gansu,Taiwan and Shanxi etc.The eco-environmental characteristics of Taxuus marirei areas are that heat energy is efficiency,climate is warmer and moisture.The endangered reasons for T.marei are involved with:(1)Its quantities of seeds produced from a plant annual is fewer, the germination ratio of the seeds and the survivor ratio of the juvenile are very lower, (2) the population of T. mareis is in competition with the other plants for various resources is disadvantageous, (3) its geographical distribution has some limitations, (4) it needs a relative special habitat, i. e. moisture habitat and warmer climate and (5) the intervention of human activities is severity, including several cutting, gopher utilization and the destroy of habitat for T. mareis. Furthermore, the strategies for the conservation and sustainable utilization of T. mairei are discussed, respectively.


Objective: We aimed to investigate the associations between the neurological manifestations of vitamin D deficiency and bone profile as well as the levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Methodology: We conducted a case series on patients with vitamin D deficiency who were followed up at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah between January 2010 and December 2011. We collected patients' demographic data and gathered information on etiological factors for vitamin D deficiency as well as clinical presentations (typical, neurological and rheumatological) and radiological findings. The t-test was used to determine whether there was an association between the neurological manifestations of vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D levels and bone profile. Results: We enrolled 60 patients with vitamin D deficiency. Of these, 44 (73.3%) had neurological presentations, namely progressive muscle weakness and proximal weakness, which was observed more often than distal weakness. In addition, gait disturbances were observed in 61.7% of all patients with neurological and rheumatological presentations. There was no significant association between neurological and rheumatological manifestations and bone profile or vitamin D levels. We found a significant association between difficulty in walking and the levels of serum calcium and phosphate (P = 0.043 and 0.037, respectively). Conclusion: Neurological and rheumatologic manifestations of vitamin D deficiency are not associated with 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels or bone profile.


Article Type: Conceptual Paper Purpose—Globalization is altering business processes as well as producing increasingly serious and challenging questions. It has dramatically increased the demand for transport, also for shipping worldwide, and has had negative impacts on the natural environment. This paper aims to reveal the priorities, searching for solutions for sustainable development, in terms of both the environment and the economy, to further improve the safety and quality standards of the shipping operation. Design, Methodology, Approach—The analysis examines safety in shipping, which has traditionally focused largely around technical improvements, regulations, procedures, competence and management systems, all of which are essential elements in ensuring a safe and reliable shipping industry. Findings—The analysis shows that if maritime shipping and the full life cycle of the shipping companies' operations are viewed as a whole, questions of sustainability begin to emerge. Safety is more than quality assets, procedures and management systems. Practical Implications—The investigation examines corporate social responsibility as a voluntary undertaking that many companies, in increasing volume, are starting to adopt in their operations. Companies have begun to realize that in the long run they can gain more benefits, both monetary and nonmonetary, if they go beyond merely complying with the regulations and engage in voluntary social responsibility activities. Originality, Value—The development of a conceptual framework that incorporates


In order to determine if carbon–luffa hybrid composites are appropriate for
 automotive applications, this study gives a thorough mechanical evaluation of
 such materials. A potential path to improving the performance of automotive
 components is provided by combining the remarkable strength and stiffness of
 carbon fibers with the lightweight and environmentally friendly qualities of
 luffa fibers. The mechanical characteristics of the hybrid composites were
 characterized using a variety of experimental examinations, including tensile,
 flexural, and impact testing, and contrasted to those of traditional materials
 often used in the automobile sector. The composite containing 85% epoxy and 15%
 carbon fibers displayed the best tensile strength among the examined samples,
 reaching 168.58 MPa. However, 85% epoxy, 7.5% luffa, and 7.5% carbon fibers had
 a remarkable bending strength of 110.25 MPa. Notably, the B-type specimens
 distinguished themselves from the others with their low void content of 0.72%
 and low moisture absorption. The study's findings offer important information on
 the viability of using carbon–luffa hybrid composites as lightweight,
 high-performance substitutes in various automotive applications, advancing the
 development of environmentally friendly automobile design and production.


This project primarily addresses the design and implementation of fuzzy logic based
controller for obstacles avoidance robot. Some techniques, sensors and controller
have been applied to fulfill the requirements of the robot. The robot able to interact
with an unknown environment using a reactive strategy determined by the sensors
information. The obstacle avoidance controller is a two inputs and two outputs
system. The inputs are two proximity measurement of the obstacles distance, and the
outputs are the velocities of the two wheels. The robot is driven by two independent
DC motors. The ultrasonic sensors are mounted at left, front and right side of the
mobile robot. It can detect the obstacles within the range 3 cm to 300 cm. The
kinematic model was developed to control the movement of the robot's wheels. The
detection of the obstacles by the sensors activates the controller which simply
attempts to avoid the robot with the obstacles. Once the robot avoids the obstacles,
the robot will keep sense for the new environment. Based on these signals, the
controller control the velocity of left and right wheels thus making the robot to move
forward and turning at the same time, i.e., the robot avoid the obstacle by turn left
with left motor velocity is 6.57 cm/s, right motor velocity is 8.29 cm/s and angular
velocity is 0.066154 rad/s when the obstacle detected from left sensor is 100 cm,
right sensor is 100 cm and front sensor is 50 cm. Different obstacles distance
orientation also been tested and the robot response is working as expected.


The relevance of this work stems from the urgent need for the modern development of the Ukrainian railway transport and the acceleration of Ukraine's integration into the European railway transportation. Currently, the most effective way to travel across borders between countries with different track gauges is the use of gauge-changeable wheelsets, a system that can change from one gauge to another when moving through special gauge changing facilities. The use of cars with gauge-changeable wheelsets on the Ukrainian and European railways calls for assuring a good compatibility of the wheel-rail pair on tracks of both gauges. The goal of this work was to develop a unified wheel profile for the operation on the domestic and European railways and predict the safety of cars with that wheel profile, the ride quality, and processes of wheel-rail dynamic interaction for tracks with different parameters. Use was made of methods of deformable solid mechanics, statistical dynamics, and numerical integration. A family of wheel profiles was constructed, and the effectiveness of their use in passenger car wheelsets on the Ukrainian (1520 mm gauge) and European (1435 mm gauge) railways was evaluated. For each profile, the spatial problem of wheel?rail contact was solved, and the interaction parameters were analyzed, including the dimensions and location of the contact patches. Calculations were also made for a car negotiating a circular curve of a small radius (R = 300 m) and moving at different speeds on tangent track sections. The choice among the constructed profiles was made according to two criteria: wheel flange wear and car dynamic stability. Based on the studies conducted, a new wear-resistant wheel profile, ITM-73EP, was proposed. Its use in gauge-changeable wheelsets of passenger cars will provide reasonable indices of wheel–rail interaction both on the Ukrainian and on the European railways without sacrificing car dynamic performance.


The study aims to analyze the financial behavior of the Jordanian pharmaceutical industry companies listed in Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) during the period 2005-2015. The study examines the relationship between funding sources and the Return on Equity (ROE) in order to reach conclusions and to make recommendations to enhance the performance of the Jordanian pharmaceutical industry companies. The Generalized Least Square (GLS) test and Hausman test are used to estimate the fixed effects and random effects model. The random effects model proved to be more suitable for testing the impact of the financial behavior on the profitability of the Jordanian pharmaceutical industry as measured by ROE. The study results showed that the financing through equity has a positive and significance effect on the ROE, which explains the fact that the Jordanian pharmaceutical companies mainly depend on equity financing by 67%. The study recommended that the Jordanian pharmaceutical companies should make an effort to finance its capital increase, assets increase and expansion by financing through equity sources.