OBJECTIVE To explore the impact of health promotion activities to increase case of smear positive tuberculosis.METHODS The following health promotion measures were carried out in 9 counties from Jan 2005 to Dec 2006 in Yuxi,which includes holding training classes for all kinds of pulmonary tuberculosis,flyers/posters,TV or radio programs,propaganda columns,street propaganda etc,collecting patients information and analyzing concerned target.RESULTS From 2005 to 2006,13 928 suspects sought service and 1 042 new smear positive TB cases were detected.The new smear positive registration rate increased from 17.17/105 to 25.19/105.Health investigation shows that the suspects are most from the training doctors who attained the information,covering 68.5 percent,in addition,23 percent of the patients are those who are active seeking medical service patients.The results show that the rate of TB suspects seeking medical service and the registration rate of smear positive TB were significantly higher than those in the same durntion.CONCLUSION The implementation of health promotion acties can increase the fate of TB suspects seeking medical selvice and case detection rate of smear positive tuberculosis,which plays an important role for pulmonary tuberculosis control.


This dissertation is an onomastic study of variation in women's name phrases in official documents in Finland during the period 1780−1930. The aim is to discuss from a socioonomastic perspective both the changeover from patronymics to inherited family names and the use of surnames after marriage (i.e. whether women adopted their husbands' family names or retained their maiden names), before new laws in this area entered into force in Finland in the early 20 th century. In 1920, a law on family names that required fixed names put an end to the use of the patronymic as a person's only surname. After 1929, it was no longer possible for a married woman to retain her maiden name. Methodologically, to explain this development from a socio-onomastic perspective, I have based my study on a syntactic-semantic analysis of the actual name phrases. To be able to demonstrate the extensive material, I have elaborated a scheme to divide the 115 different types of name phrases into 13 main categories. The analysis of the material for Helsinki is based on frequency calculations of the different types of name phrases every thirtieth year, as well as on describing variation in the structure and semantic content of the name phrases, e.g. social variation in the use of titles and epithets. In addition to this, by applying a biographic-genealogical method, I have conducted two case studies of the usage of women's name phrases in the two chosen families. The study is based on parish registers from the period 1780−1929, estate inventory documents from the period 1780−1928, registration forms for liberty of trade from the period 1880−1908, family announcements on newspapers from the period 1829−1888, gravestones from the period 1796−1929 and diaries from the periods 1799−1801 and 1818−1820 providing a corpus of 5 950 name phrases. The syntactic-semantic analysis has revealed the overall picture of various ways of denoting women in official documents. In Helsinki, towards the end of the 19 th century, the use of inherited family names seems to be almost fully developed in official contexts. At the late 19 th century, a patronymic still appears as the only surname of some working-class women whereas in the early 20 th century patronymics were only entered in the parish register as a kind of middle name. In the beginning of the 19 th century, most married women were still registered under their maiden names, with a few exceptions among the bourgeoisie and upper class. The comparative analysis of name phrases in diaries, however, indicates that the use of the husband's family name by married women was a much earlier phenomenon in private contexts than in official documents.


Batio3 doped with Fe formula BaTi1-xFexO3 (x = 0, 0.03, and 0.05) at different percentage ( 0% , 3% , 5% ) was synthesized by two different method namely solid route method and sol gel method. And then sample obtained in both were compared by different characterization .There XRD and P-E characterization was carried out. It is found that in sample of solid route method the average particle size was 0.72 nm to 0.57 nm . But in sample of sol gel method average particle size obtained was between .40 nm to 37 nm. Also XRD pattern of solid route suggest that cubic phase is present in sample of solid route method. but its P-E characterization suggest that it has gotted ferroelectric properties which is not found in cubic phase. Hence sample of solid route method are in tetragonal phase. In sample prepared by solid route method the obtained values of lattice parameter is a = b = 3.994 nm and c = 4.038 nm. In XRD analysis of sample of sol gel method suggest tetragonal crystal structure with lattice parameter a bit greater than those obtained in solid state sample . also its P-E characterization suggest that the sample prepared by sol gel method have less remnant polarization than the sample prepared by solid route method .sample with 3% Fe have gotted 0.49 μC/cm remnant polarization. But in sample of solid route method remnant polarization is found to be 0.44 μC/cm μC/cm. Also on increasing sintering temperature the value of remnant polarization increases. IndexTerms X-ray diffraction, , hysteresis, ferroelectric, remnant polarization


Foreign-capitals realize low cost dilation and localization development strategy energetically recently,joins share numerously and confusedly buys the middle money bank together,with the purpose on entering our banking industrial.It gives China development of banking,but both have brought about opportunity and challenge.


The Strutjet, Aerojet's Rocket Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) concept, was discussed in a previous ISABE paper as an enabling propulsion concept for single stage to orbit applications. This paper describes the technical progress of the Strutjet since 1996 together with a rationale why RBCC engines in general, and the Strutjet in particular. lend themselves uniquely to systems having the ability to expand current space and also open new global "rapid delivery" markets In particular, the paper substantiates the claims why for certain missions RBCC powered vehicles can be operated at higher margins than all rocket systems, and why within the familiy of conceivable RBCC systems the Strutjet excels due to its unique architecture and design features A special emphasis is given to the selection of the engine's ram/scram mode design point because only that mode can add significantly to the mission effective Isp The thrust produced by an airbreathing engine is directly related to the mass of air processed. This air is captured b\ the inlet and compressed to raise the pressure for combustion and subsequent expansion The net accelerating force is the difference between the gross thrust and total vehicle drag (including the spill drag) This total drag is highest at low speeds when the gross thrust is lowest. When the net accelerating force is low. most of the fuel burned is wasted overcoming the vehicle drag. Higher thrust is necessary to perform the mission. One method is to leave the rockets on longer but this results in much higher propellant consumption. A better method is to increase the airbreathing thrust. It can be shown that in the ram/scram mode the thrust is proportional to the product Fct(M) * r|cap. in which Fct(M) is a function decreasing ui th increasing Mach number, and r)iap is the inlet capture efficiency Although Fct(M) is to some degree dependent on the efficiency of the overall ram/scram engine design and its integration into the vehicle, the strongest influence on thrust can be materialized through appropriate manipulation of n, Figure 1 shows the net thrust resulting from \anous design points The engine with the Mach 6 design point produces more than twice the thrust of the Mach 12 design at Mach 6. in the middle of the airbreathing acceleration The thrust does not cross over until after Mach 11. and then it is only slightly better than at the Mach 6 design The vehicle benefits of selecting a lower Mach number design point is illustrated in Figure 2 As shown, both dry weight and takeoff gross weight experience a significant reduction. As part of NASA's Advanced Reusable Technology (ART) program Strutjet technology has been extensively evaluated over its entire operating range. Its design maturity has been continuously improved and desired features, like simple variable geometry and high performance flowpath. have been verified. The paper summarizes the results of these tests and discusses plans how this system could be flight tested once an RBCC flight test bed is available. In addition, .data is now' available which allows the designer, who is challenged to maximize system operabihty and economic feasibility. to choose between hydrogen or hydrocarbon fuels for a variety of application The ability exists now to apply this propulsion system to various vehicles with a multitude of missions.


Cryptographic algorithms play an important role in information security where it ensures the security of data across the network or storage. The generation of Hybrid Cubes (HC) based on permutation and combination of integer numbers are utilized in the construction of encryption and decryption key in the non-binary block cipher. In this study, we extend the hybrid cube encryption algorithm (HiSea) and our earlier Triangular Coordinate Extraction (TCE) technique for HC by increasing the complexity in the mathematical approaches. We proposed a new key generation technique based on TCE for the security of data. In this regard, the Hybrid Cube surface (HCs) is divided into four quarters by the intersection of primary and secondary diagonal and each quarter is rotated by using the rotation points. The overall security of HC is improved by the rotation of HCs and enhanced the complexity in the design of key schedule algorithm. The brute force and entropy test are applied in experimental results which proved that the proposed technique is suitable for implementing a key generation technique and free from any predicted keys pattern.


The paper introduces a new design of Reversing Hydraulic Coupling which is used in combination with a Direct-Drive Clutch to provide an extremely compact marine reversing gearbox, suitable for high power marine propulsion drives. The resulting unit needs a very simple control system and is highly flexible in operation.Copyright © 1979 by ASME


Objective To study female heroin addicts receiving methadone maintenance treatment(MMT)through psycho-social epidemiological surveys.Methods A total of 134 female addicts who volunteered to receive MMT were enrolled into a psycho-social epidemiological survey,their demographic,family and social information was collected,and their psychological health conditions were assessed by anxiety(SAS)and depression(CES-D)scales.Results The average age of female addicts was 27-40 years,the average addiction years was above 10 years,their education level was low(71.69% below middle schooling)The detection rates of anxiety and depression were 25.37% and 61.19% respectively.The scores of anxiety and depression were related to education background(F=4.35,P0.01;F=3.81,P0.01),employment(t=9.02,P0.01)and marriage status,(t=3.55,P0.01),respectively.Conclusion Methadone maintenance treatment largely improves family and social functions of female heroin addicts.However,their anxiety and depression conditions are pessimistic.It is suggested that socialized therapy and socio-psychological interventions be provided to this population group.


Aim After focal cerebral ischemia, intermittent hypoxia therapy (IHT) could be used as a non-invasive method to stabilize and stimulate neurogenesis in the innate stem cell niche in the brain, and disrupt the glial scar around the infarct to increase neuroblast migration in the striatal infarct area. Methods We induced focal cerebral ischemia in Wistar albino rats using the MCAo model. A week later, animals were subjected to intermittent hypoxia (12%O2, 4hr/day) for a period of 14 days. Post-treatment analysis of functional recovery and cellular regeneration was done using immunofluorescence analysis of multiple neuronal cell markers including Doublecortin (DCX), Nestin, and Vimentin among others. Results Observations of GFAP-positive cells revealed that IH treatment facilitates gliogenesis in the infarct striatal region of a rat model of MCAo stroke. The percentage of DCX and GFAP double-positive cells was increased in the IH-treated group. Also, there was a significant difference in the morphology of vimentin-positive cells and microglia cells between the stroke groups. Conclusion These outcomes suggest that exposure of MCAo stroke-affected rats to intermittent hypoxia results in an increase in migrated neuroblasts resulting in a subsequent altered glial scar integrity in the infarct region, thus suggesting an alternative non-invasive method against the common stem cell transplant techniques, to increase endogenous neuroblasts in the infarct area after stroke.


INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 2 I. LESBIAN PARENTING THROUGH FORMER HETEROSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS ..................................................................................... 3 A. The Definition of "Parents" in the Eyes of the Law ..................... 4 B. The Disadvantaged Lesbian Parent .............................................. 5 II. LESBIAN PARENTING THROUGH ADOPTION .......................................... 6 A. The Taiwan Civil Code and Adoption Practices in Taiwan .......... 7 B. The Taoyuan Case of Lesbian Adoption ....................................... 8 1. The Facts of the Taoyuan Case of Lesbian Adoption ............ 8 2. The Best Interest Doctrine and Adoption Cases .................. 10 3. The Results of the Taoyuan Case of Lesbian Adoption ...... 12 C. Reflections on the Taoyuan Case and Lesbian Adoption ........... 13 III. LESBIAN PARENTING THROUGH REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES ....... 15 A. The Legal Recognition of Parenthood Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies ........................................................ 15 B. Circumvention of the Barriers to Legal Parentage Through ART ............................................................................................ 18 IV. THE LATEST LAW-MAKING ACTIVITIES IN TAIWAN ............................ 21 A. The Basic Law for Gender Equality ........................................... 22 B. The Proposed Amendment to the Taiwan Civil Code ................ 24 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 26


Objective: To explore the effects of polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) coating on brain tissue response to implanted electrodes by studying the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP).Methods: Twenty-two Wistar rats were implanted respectively silica gel electrodes(as controls) and PVA coating electrodes in left and right cerebral cortex respectively for self control.The tissue reactivity was observed by HE staining after 4 and 8 weeks,and the expression of GFAP was evaluated by immunohistochemistry.Results: After 4 weeks,there were significant differences in GFAP expression between the two groups at the brain area of 50-100 μm and of 100 μm far from the implanting point(PVAcontrols,P0.05).After 8 weeks,the expression of GFAP in the SG electrodes was significantly higher than that of the PVA coating group at the 0-50 μm,50-100 μm,and 100 μm area(P0.05).In addition,the expression of GFAP after 4 weeks was significantly higher than that after 8 weeks at 50-100 μm and 100 μm(P0.05) respectively in both groups.Conclusion: PVA coating can decrease the expression of GFAP and may improve the biocompatibility.


This study aims to determine the brand image, price perceptions, and purchasing decisions, and to determine the extent to which brand image and price perceptions influence, both partially and simultaneously purchasing decisions for Wardah sunscreen products for college students in the city of Bandung. The research methods that will be used in this research are a descriptive method and an associative method. In this study, the unit of analysis was individuals, namely students in the city of Bandung who used and purchased Wardah sunscreen products. The sample in this study was 100 people. In this study, the sampling technique used was a non-probability technique with a purposive sampling approach. This study uses multiple analysis methods. From the results of this study, it was seen partially with the significance that there was no effect of brand image on purchasing decisions for Wardah sunscreen products for students in the city of Bandung with a significance value of 0.420 and a magnitude of influence of 2.69%. The price perception variable influences the decision to purchase Wardah sunscreen products for students in the city of Bandung with a significance value of 0.000 and a magnitude of influence of 21.2%. Furthermore, it is seen simultaneously with the significant results that there is an influence of brand image variables and price perceptions on the variable purchase decision of Wardah sunscreen products for students in the city of Bandung with a significance value of 0.000 and a magnitude of influence that is equal to 23.9%.


Objective To investigate the method of hepatic artery reconstruction in orthotopic liver transplantation. Methods A retrospective analysis was made for the plastic surgery and reconstructive manner of hepatic artery in 22 cases of orthotopic liver transplantation from Feb. 1999 to Feb.2001. All the anastomosis performed were of the end-to-end type, with running suture of 7/0 or 9/0 Prolene■. Dipyridamole was administered intravenously 10 ml/h in the first week after peration. The graft arterial flow was monitored by Doppler ultrasound. Results One patient developed hepatic artery thrombosis in the 5th day after operative and revascularized by intrarterial declotting with urokinase. One patient had extrahepatic biliary tract stricture and was cured by internal stent. One to 20 months (average 8.6 months) follow-up in 15 patients revealed that the hepatic ar- tery flow remained normal by Doppler ultrasound, cholangiogram showed no extrahepatic biliary tract stricture and serological examinations showed that the function of liver grafts in good condition in these patients. Conclusion In case of anatomical variation in hepatic artery in the liver donor, reconstruction of the artery should be made to faciliate anastomosis and careful manupilation should be made to obtain perfect intima-to-intima anasto- mosis of hepatic artery apposition of end-to-end type.


Within this work we present n-type self-assembled monolayer field-effect transistors (SAMFETs) based on a novel perylene bisimide. The molecule spontaneously forms a covalently fixed monolayer on top of aluminum oxide dielectrics via a phosphonic acid anchor group. Precise studies revealed an amorphous, 2-dimensional semiconducting sheet on top the dielectric. Reliable transistors with electron mobilities on the order of 10 -3 cm 2 /Vs with low hysteresis were achieved on rigid as well on flexible substrates. Furthermore, a flexible NMOS-bias inverter based on SAMFETs is demonstrated for the first time. Flexible N-Type SAMFETs


&NA; Enhancing self‐efficacy, self‐perception, and social support can be an effective way for people with spinal cord injury (SCI) to move forward. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between "moving‐forward behavior" and demographic and disease characteristics, self‐efficacy, self‐perception, and social support among people with SCI. The study was designed as a descriptive‐correlation, cross‐sectional study. The participants were selected using cluster random sampling (n = 210) through the Spinal Injury Association in Taiwan. A statistically significant relationship was found between moving‐forward behavior and age (t = −2.30, p < .05), self‐efficacy (&ggr; = −0.25, p < .01), and self‐perception (&ggr; = −0.39, p < .01). Age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.964, p < .05) and self‐perception (OR = 0.824, p < .05) were both significant predictors of moving‐forward behavior


The neutralization behavior of low-energy Ne[sup +] ions scattered from a compositionally ordered Cu[sub 3]Au(100) surface has been studied over a range of incident energy [ital E][sub 0] from 2.4 to 10 keV. Ion fractions of Ne scattered from Cu atoms in the first, or first two, atom layers exhibited a sharp increase setting in at an [ital E][sub 0] of 4--5 keV, reaching 70% at 10 keV for first-layer scattering. Inelastic energy losses, up to 130 eV, and Auger electron emission from Ne scattered from Cu, were also observed at incident energies above 4 keV. Ne scattered from the Au atoms on the same Cu[sub 3]Au(100) surface showed only the usual velocity-dependent Auger and resonance neutralization. An explanation of the Cu results is given in terms of Ne 2[ital s] vacancy creation during the close collision of Ne, which is neutralized on the inward path, followed by autoionization on the outward path after scattering into the vacuum. Conversely, Ne cannot approach Au closely enough to form an appropriate inner-shell vacancy. This is due to the higher Coulombic repulsion created by the greater charge of the Au nucleus.


This article presents an idea of achieving reliability through Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for industrial power systems. It proposes hybrid approach for predictive and corrective maintenance. It discusses the self-corrective maintenance (SCM) paradigm as hybrid approach for industrial power systems along with condition-based maintenance approach utilizing IIoT to achieve it. As it is well known that industries pay huge penalty for the down time, and suffer to meet reliability demands for years. Study witnesses its cost in millions of dollars yearly for production disruptions. It can be prevented by proactively following the aggressive maintenance schedule. However, it often becomes expensive as part or service may not be utilized for its full life and failure may occur even in middle of maintenance cycle. On the other hand, condition-based maintenance (CBM) helps utilize the full life and prevents the downtime by predicting the failures ahead. This article reviews current maintenance practices followed by industry leaders and a proposal on self-corrective maintenance based on condition of restorable resources. It is about learning the condition of subsystems by itself and taking corrective action when subsystem is not active. This concept helps reduce manual intervention to correct the problem as well as the maintenance cost. This research also covers the self-uncorrectable issues to be handled by proactively following CBM process through IIoT. This hybrid proposal could be a significant gear shift in maintenance direction for general industry as well as power systems. It can be termed as industry's 5th revolution or Industry 5.0.


Load balancing is one of the key targets of the self-organizing network (SON) in LTE-A system. Virtual Cell breathing can virtually change wireless network cell size to adjust system load among system cells. This paper proposes a Load Prediction based Virtual Cell Breathing (LPVCB) scheme for system load balancing. By using system load prediction to reduce the influence of new load access and controlling system handover parameter, the cell individual offset(CIO), to transfer system load among cells, load balancing can be achieved more accurately. Simulation results show that it can improve the system performance.


The article engages a critical analysis of liberal theory in the context of transnational migration. Normative arguments provided by liberal-cosmopolitan and liberal-communitarian authors are contrasted. While sympathetic to such approaches, we argue that traditional liberal theory has attempted to downplay the contingency and resultant ambiguity of many of its moral precepts. Historically contingent borders underpin neat universal categories like "citizen" and "refugee," which fail to reflect the diverse and contested experiences of migration. But such ambiguities need not undermine liberal approaches. Indeed, a proper engagement with the problematic and uncertain realities of migration can provide a spur to a more thoroughgoing ethical praxis. We draw on the philosophical pragmatism of Richard Rorty to outline an approach to migration that remains open to the contingent construction of terms like "migrant,""refugee," and "asylum-seeker." By extending Rorty's concept of sentimental education, we provide an imaginative and politically challenging set of agendas for the ethics of migration.


In recent years, lot of turbine research is focused on the study and optimization of inter-turbine ducts, an aero-engine component for which the design is becoming more challenging due to the turbofan architecture evolution. Starting from the early design phase, the knowledge of the component performance and outlet flow pattern is crucial in the design of the low pressure turbine. To improve prediction, multi-row unsteady simulations are deployed. Unfortunately, some questions arise in the use of these simulations, among others the knowledge of the turbulent boundary conditions and the contribution of the unsteady simulations to the flow solution. In this paper steady and time resolved RANS simulations of a turning inter-turbine duct are investigated. Particularly, two questions are addressed. The first one is the influence of the turbulent quantities boundary conditions in the case of a k–ω Wilcox turbulence model in the flow field solution. The second one is the contribution of the unsteadiness to the mean flow prediction. It will be shown that the mean flow depends on inlet turbulence only if the turbulence length scale is relatively high; otherwise the flow field is almost turbulence-invariant. For the unsteady simulations, unsteadiness modifies the mean flow solution only with low inlet turbulence.


—In this work, we review the methods for location of legacy GSM handsets (MS) based on the network parameters in four groups: Cell Identity (CID), received signal strength methods, time methods and all the methods together using data fusion. Then, we present several computational algorithms that improve the accuracy, with focus on the Data Correlation Method (DCM) or fingerprinting. Considering the study case of Brazil, who intends to design its Mobile Location Estimation System in Emergency Calls, it is analyzed the precision of each method in urban and suburban area in order to subsidize the decision about the specification of the system that will be deployed. The BTS number of each Brazilian Mobile Operator is presented to show how the analysis, in the same System, of all the parameters of all neighbors BTS, independent of which operator, is imperative for Brazilian case.


Research into silicon photonics has many motivations for employing mature CMOS processing technology to fabricate lowcost photonic and electronic integrated devices. High-volume manufacturing for data communication applications is just one example. Recently, we showed the utility of a hybrid silicon evanescent device in building lasers, amplifiers, and photodetectors. This structure combines a silicon waveguide and III-V semiconductor quantum wells to promote efficient light amplification and absorption through the III-V layers. The technique avoids the need for sophisticated alignment between the different substrates. Moreover, it enables production of multiple photonic active devices through a single bonding step, thus distinguishing itself from the individual III-V die attachment method with flip-chip bonding. Lasers,1 amplifiers,2 detectors,3 and racetrack lasers4 are some of the standalone devices that have been built using this approach. Here, we combine photoreceivers with an amplifier and photodetector5 to illustrate the potential of photonic integration. Light detection is a major area of endeavor in silicon photonics. Germanium and silicon germanium, for instance, are good detector materials because of their absorption at the 1.3and 1.5μm telecommunication wavelengths and their CMOS processing compatibility. Among the advances6, 7 made possible by these materials is a photoreceiver integrated with CMOS electronics.8 Silicon evanescent photodetectors are also interesting since their absorption edge can easily be extended beyond the 1600nm regime by engineering III-V quantum wells. In addition, they can be combined with lasers and amplifiers using the same materials and fabrication procedures. Figure 1(a) shows an array of integrated amplifiers and detectors. For a 1.2mm-long structure, the maximum gain is 9.5dB at 300mA. The quantum efficiency of the 100μm detector is 50%. By putting the two together, the responsivity of the reFigure 1. (a) Top view of eight integrated devices with amplifiers (left) and detectors (right). (b) The III-V taper of the amplifier.


Three distinct types of phospholipase A (cid:35) (PLA (cid:35) ) inhibitory proteins (PLI a , PLI b , and PLI c ) were isolated from the blood plasma of the Chinese mamushi, Agkistrodon blomhoffii siniticus . PLI a is an inhibitor that we have already purified and whose amino acid sequence we have already determined [Ohkura, Inoue, Ikeda and Hayashi (1993) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 113 , 413–419]. It inhibited selectively the group-II acidic PLA (cid:35) s from Crotalidae venom. PLI b was a 160-kDa glycoprotein having a trimeric structure composed of 50-kDa subunits. The amino acid sequence of the first 30 amino acids of the N-terminal part of the 50-kDa subunit was determined and found to have no significant homology to that of known proteins. PLI b was a selective


The number of surveillance cameras around the world has increased rapidly over the last couple of years [1]. Currently most of the video material generated by these cameras is examined manually [1]. However, automatic processing and analysis could significantly increase safety, since as a result of this automation security teams can be alerted within a shorter period of time. In this paper, computer vision and deep learning techniques are used to analyze images, and create text descriptions of images that can be send to the police or the owner of the security camera. Specifically, a convolutional neural network is used to extract image features, principal component analysis is used to reduce the dimensionality of the image features, and the resulting image features are then fed into a recurrent neural network or a long short-term memory to generate a text description. Different convolutional neural network architectures are evaluated based on their effectiveness to extract image features for image descriptions. This paper demonstrates that deeper convolutional neural networks (16-18 depth layers) extract more useful image features than less deep convolutional neural networks (8, 10, 12 layers). Our models generate high quality image descriptions, and obtain comparable to state-of-the-art performance on the image description generation task.


The results show the effect on the absorption and transverse strength of a terra cotta body by the addition of various material used as possible fluxes.


The processes of DNA topoisomerization and site-specific recombination are fundamentally similar: DNA cleavage by forming a phospho-protein covalent linkage, DNA topological rearrangement, and DNA ligation coupled with protein regeneration. Type IB DNA topoisomerases are structurally and mechanistically homologous to tyrosine recombinases. Both enzymes nick DNA double helices independent of metal ions, form 3′-phosphotyrosine intermediates, and rearrange the free 5′ ends relative to the uncut strands by swiveling. In contrast, serine recombinases generate 5′-phospho-serine intermediates. A 180° relative rotation of the two halves of a 100 kDa terameric serine recombinase and DNA complex has been proposed as the mechanism of strand exchange. Here I propose an alternative mechanism. Interestingly, the catalytic domain of serine recombinases has structural similarity to the TOPRIM domain, conserved among all Type IA and Type II topoisomerases and responsible for metal binding and DNA cleavage. TOPRIM topoisomerases also cleave DNA to generate 5′-phosphate and 3′-OH groups. Based on the existing biochemical data and crystal structures of topoisomerase II and serine recombinases bound to pre- and post-cleavage DNA, I suggest a strand passage mechanism for DNA recombination by serine recombinases. This mechanism is reminiscent of DNA topoisomerization and does not require subunit rotation.


Open source software (OSS) programs are adopted as embedded systems regarding their server usage, due to their quick delivery, cost reduction, and standardization of systems. Many OSS programs are developed using the peculiar style known as the bazaar method, in which faults are detected and fixed by developers around the world, and the result is then reflected in the next release. Furthermore, the fix time of faults tends to be shorter as the development of the OSS progresses. However, several large-scale open source projects encounter the problem that fault fixing takes much time because the fault corrector cannot handle many fault reports. Therefore, OSS users and project managers need to know the stability degree of open source projects by determining the fault fix time. In this paper, we predict the transition of the fix time in large-scale open source projects. To make the prediction, we use the software reliability growth model based on the Wiener process considering that the fault fix time in open source projects changes depending on various factors such as the fault reporting time and the assignees to fix the faults. In addition, we discuss the assumption that fault fix time data depend on the prediction of the transition in fault fixing time.


Differential evolution (DE) algorithms for software testing usually exhibited limited performance and stability owing to possible premature-convergence-related aging during evolution processes. This paper proposes a new framework comprising an antiaging mechanism, that is, a rebirth strategy with partial memory against aging, for the existing DE algorithm and a specialized fitness function. The results of application of the proposed framework to instantiate three DE algorithms with different mutation schemas indicate that it significantly improved their effectiveness, performance, and stability.


The development of robust and low cost electrocatalysts with highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction capability remains a great challenge for widespread applications in water splitting. Here, spinel NiCo2O4 nanosheets grown on mildly oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been synthesized via a simple one-pot solution method. Compared with pure NiCo2O4, the as-prepared hierarchical NiCo2O4/CNTs composite exhibits superior OER catalytic properties, i.e. a more negative onset potential, a smaller Tafel slope and higher stability, which may be attributed to the enhanced conductivity of the hybrid, originating from the carbon nanotube substrate. Furthermore, the surface Co/Ni ratio of NiCo2O4/CNTs is changed by the synergistic reactivity between oxygen-enriched groups and metal ions, which improves the catalytic performance of NiCo2O4/CNTs. This electrocatalyst with enhanced OER performance may be a promising candidate for water splitting.


We have fabricated silicon field emitter arrays with focusing electrodes by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. After the formation of very sharp tips, the gate electrodes were formed by a CMP process. A very high etching selectivity (>100:1) between the gate electrode and the gate dielectric was used for preventing the tip to be etched off during the CMP. The dishing problem during the CMP process of the gate electrode was solved by forming an oxide masking layer on top of the gate electrode. After the formation of the extracting (first) gate electrode, the second electrode for focusing the electron beam was formed. By the CMP process, a clear-cut gate electrode was easily obtained which was aligned exactly to the tip. The equipotential contours and electron trajectories were simulated for a single emitter that has an extracting gate and a focusing electrode using a two-dimensional finite element method.


This essay surveys the understudied collecting practices of Russel Wright (1903–1976) in and in relation to Southeast Asia during the mid twentieth century, with emphasis on Vietnam. On behalf of the American State Department, from November 1955 to February 1956 Wright travelled throughout Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Hong Kong to assess the region's potential to produce handicraft for export to the United States for domestic consumption. Wright toured sites of handicraft production and collected examples that upon his return to the States he displayed in commercial contexts and about which he published an essay in Interiors. Wright promoted the purchase of Southeast Asian handicraft items and championed an aesthetic that rendered them especially suitable for middle class American homes. Through Russel Wright Associates, in Southeast Asia he established centers to foster the production of handicraft and display and sell the results. Wright's collecting practices relating to Southeast Asia broaden the basis on which traditionally we have valued Wright's significance for American culture while they also alert us to transnational dimensions of historical relationships of American diplomacy and culture.


The present invention provides an apparatus for decontaminating a region. The apparatus comprises a housing defining a chamber therein. The housing has an inlet and an outlet connected to the chamber. The blower carrier gas from the region, through the suction inlet of the housing, through the chamber, circulates let escape to the discharge port of the housing. Atomizer spray of atomized fluid, is introduced into the carrier gas flowing through the chamber. To deflect to a predetermined direction of the carrier gas exiting from the outlet of the chamber, dissipator is disposed against the outlet of the chamber. The dissipator has a heating element. .FIELD 1


Through the treatment of a water supply system in the implementation of the fire pump frequency conversion transformation project,this paper discusses the energy management contract(EMC)model in the application of large chemical enterprises.


In the title complex, {[Fe(C7H3NO4)(C10H8N2)(H2O)]·H2O}n, the divalent iron cation is in the centre of a distorted octahedron formed by three N and three O atoms. Two N atoms belong to the chelating 2,2-bipyridine ligand and the third to the pyridine-3,4-dicarboxylate ligand, while the O atoms belong to monodentate carboxylate groups of two different pyridine-3,4-dicarboxylate ligands and to one water molecule. The connectivity between the FeII cations and the pyridine-3,4-dicarboxylate units gives rise to corrugated layers parallel to the ab plane. The water molecules of crystallization are located between the layers. Medium-strong O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between the water molecules and the layers stabilize the structure.


Abstract This is the first of a two-part study that examines, from the exergy management standpoint, the fundamental thermodynamic requirements for maximizing internal combustion (IC) engine cycle efficiency. The optimal cycle is shown to comprise three distinct engine architectural elements — reactant preparation, combustion, and work extraction from the products — each of which can be analysed separately. This study shows, based on dynamical system optimization, that it is the equilibrium thermodynamics (specifically, the constant-internal energy—volume (UV) product state at the end of combustion) and not chemical kinetics (i.e. reactions taking place during combustion) that ultimately dictates the amount of exergy destroyed due to combustion. The strategy for minimizing this destruction term reduces to carrying out reactions at the highest possible internal energy state — following what may be called the 'extreme state' principle — so as to minimize the corresponding constant-UV entropy change from reactants to equilibrium products. The extreme state principle remains unaltered when system inhomogeneity (from fuel vaporization and mixing with air) and heat loss are accounted for. Based on this optimal combustion strategy, the companion paper examines the remaining elements of the engine cycle (reactant preparation and work extraction) so as to improve overall cycle efficiency.


Pathophysiological conditions such as cerebral ischemia (stroke) trigger the production of new neurons in the hippocampus dentate gyrus. The functional significance of ischemia-induced neurogenesis is believed to be the regeneration of lost cells, thus contributing to post-stroke recovery. However, the cellular signaling mechanisms by which this process is regulated are still under investigation. Recent data from our lab indicate a role for mitogen and stress-activated protein kinases (MSK1/2) in the regulation of hippocampal progenitor cell proliferation after repeated seizure insult. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that MSK1/2 signaling is a regulator of ischemia-induced neurogenesis and neuronal morphological maturation. To test this hypothesis we induced transient ischemia by infusion of the potent vasoconstrictor endothelin-1 into the hippocampus. Following ischemic induction, hippocampal tissue was immunolabeled for bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU, a marker of newly dividing cells) and doublecortin (DCX, a marker for immature neurons). Detailed analysis of the granule cell layer (GCL) of the dentate gyrus indicates delayed maturation of newborn neurons in MSK1/2 null mice compared to wild type (WT) controls. Further, we performed a structural analysis of BrdU-tagged neurons born after ischemia in order to evaluate the maturation of the newly generated neurons, as a measurement of function capability. Taken together, these data suggest that MSK1/2 plays a significant role in the regulation of ischemia-induced neurogenesis and we will further investigate the morphological maturation of the newborn neurons.


The survey found that the curriculum setup of e-commerce specialty of secondary vocational schools haves a trend of convergence with higher vocational schools in Zhejiang province,students and teachers have low evaluation on curriculum,curriculum setup is unreasonable;professional practice conditions is bad,theoretical teaching is out of touch with the job requirements,teaching effectiveness is not high.Accordingly,school personnel training should construct the post-oriented curriculum model of "big business,small electronics";take competency as standard and build modular curriculum structure;take working process as the basis to promote teaching reform;taking school-enterprise cooperation as the fulcrum to built the"dual-qualification "teaching staff.


During the month of August 1984 an experiment was undertaken in the Charlevoix Seismic Zone to test the hypothesis that shear-wave splitting could be observed in a seismically active region. Seismograms, recorded by digital 3-component seismographs, located very close to the epicentres of three earthquakes, showed shear-wave splitting. The amount of splitting was estimated to be 1.6% to 2% of the shear wave velocity from particle motion diagrams. The average azimuth of the direction of polarization was 30°. These observations can be explained by the presence of vertical cracks striking 30° east of north, with a minimum crack density of e = 0.03.


Reproductive biology of the strongspine silverbiddy, Gerres longirostris Lacepede, 1801, was studied by examining 1910 individuals collected fortnightly between May 2012 and January 2014 from the western Arabian Gulf, off Saudi Arabia. The samples were identified as 470 males, 1370 females and 70 undetermined. Maximum length observed was 30 and 40 cm (total length TL) for males and females, respectively. Overall sex ratio of males to females was found to be 1:3.1. This sex ratio was significantly different from the normally expected 1:1 ratio (p<0.05). Males constituted more than 50% of individuals measuring less than 20 cm but this male-bias was not significant (p>0.05). Females were significantly greater than males in all size classes between 20 and 34 cm with high significant difference (p<0.05) from the expected 1:1 ratio between sexes. In length classes more than 34 cm, 100% of the fish were females. Size at first sexual maturity was estimated at 19.1 and 19.8 cm TL for females and males, respectively; all fish were mature at 20.7 cm TL. The spawning season coincided with late spring-early summer; gonadosomatic index (GSI) was highest (8.1-8.7 and 2.7-2.8 for females and males, respectively) in the peak season, May-June. GSI seems to peak in both sexes before 2-3 months of reaching the highest temperature. GSI and water temperature (T) were best expressed by a second-degree polynomial equation for both sexes, indicating that water temperature >30.28°C might not be optimal for reproduction of G. longirostris.


Utilizing a number of results of Dittmann, we investigate the nature of the Yang-Mills field over the eight-dimensional convex set, endowed with the Bures metric, of three-level quantum systems. Parallelling the decomposition of eight-dimensional Euclidean fields by Corrigan, Devchand, Fairlie and Nuyts, as well as Figueoroa-O'Farrill and others, we investigate the properties of self-dual and anti-self-dual four-forms corresponding specifically to our Bures/non-Euclidean context. For any of a number of (nondegenerate) 3 x 3 density matrices, we are able to solve the eigenequation of the associated Hodge * operator with respect to the Bures metric. We obtain sets of (traceless) twenty-eight real eigenvalues, consisting of four singlets and three octets. The associated four-forms are found to exhibit quite simple behaviors, though we are not able to derive them in full generality.


The Bologna Plan adopted by European universities ended the hegemony of an evaluation system exclusively based on the performance of traditional examinations. In this area, with a view to revitalizing grading models in university education, a wide range of evaluation mechanisms has been developed in recent years. Using them, teachers may evaluate the learning levels of their students, including both the specific competences of the taught subject and the transversal competences that help students further develop their professional careers. This article presents a methodology based on a multi-criteria procedure through which students could be evaluated from different points of view, based on different types of evaluation mechanisms that are diversely weighted. Therefore, their levels of learning could be assessed more objectively. This article shows a practical case of applying this methodology, which has been used for the last five years in a course on energy markets taught as part of the Degree in Energy Engineering at the UPV.


Background: The pathology of conduction tissue (CT) and relative arrhythmias in living subjects with cardiac amyloid have never been reported. Aims: To report CT pathology and its arrhythmic correlations in human cardiac amyloidosis. Methods and Results: In 17 out of 45 cardiac amyloid patients, a left ventricular endomyocardial biopsy included conduction tissue sections. It was identified by Aschoff–Monckeberg histologic criteria and positive immunostaining for HCN4. The degree of conduction tissue infiltration was defined as mild when ≤30%, moderate when 30–70% and severe when >70% cell area was replaced. Conduction tissue infiltration was correlated with ventricular arrhythmias, maximal wall thickness and type of amyloid protein. Mild involvement was observed in five cases, moderate in three and severe in nine. Involvement was associated with a parallel infiltration of conduction tissue artery. Conduction infiltration correlated with the severity of arrhythmias (Spearman rho = 0.8, p < 0.001). In particular, major ventricular tachyarrhythmias requiring pharmacologic treatment or ICD implantation occurred in seven patients with severe, one patient with moderate and none with mild conduction tissue infiltration. Pacemaker implantation was required in three patients, with complete conduction section replacement. No significant correlation was observed between the degree of conduction infiltration and age, cardiac wall thickness or type of amyloid protein. Conclusions: Amyloid-associated cardiac arrhythmias correlate with the extent of conduction tissue infiltration. Its involvement is independent from type and severity of amyloidosis, suggesting a variable affinity of amyloid protein to conduction tissue.


Phase shifts induced by the Kerr effect are usually very small at the single-photon level. We propose two circuits for enhancing the cross-Kerr phase shift by applying one- and two-mode quadrature squeezing operators. Our results are based on the vector coherent state theory and can be implemented by physical operations satisfying the commutation relations for generators of the generalized special unitary group, SU(1,1). While the proposed methods could be useful for the realization of quantum optical entangling gates based on Kerr nonlinear media at the single-photon level, they also indicate a general alternative approach to enhance higher-order nonlinearities by applying lower-order nonlinear effects.


In this paper, a combination of the series method and the perturbation theory has been proposed to calculate the elastic buckling stresses of panels with two edges simply supported subjected to the uniform axial stress by considering the linear theory of Donnell as the governing equation. As a parametric study, the effects of changing the radius, length, and sector angles of the panels on the buckling stresses have been investigated and the results have been compared with the finite elements method. Also, to find the buckling stress, a correction factor for the Lorenz formula has been proposed.


The data query service is urgently required in sustainable-storage blockchain, where full nodes store the entire transaction data while light nodes only store block headers. Queries invariably seek data with multiple attributes. However, no existing method provides a unified authenticated data structure (ADS) to support complex query operators (e.g., range queries and data object queries) on multiattribute blockchain data. In this paper, we propose a framework EAQ that effectively supports both fast data queries on multiple attributes and authentication of the query result. We propose a new ADS, called the MR<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{Bloom}$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mrow><mml:mi>B</mml:mi><mml:mi>l</mml:mi><mml:mi>o</mml:mi><mml:mi>o</mml:mi><mml:mi>m</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="yin-ieq1-3263232.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>-tree, based on the Bloom filter (BF) and Merkle R-tree. We prove the decomposability of BFs, which enables the BF to be seamlessly incorporated with the Merkle R-tree. This ADS enables range-level search using multidimensional attribute ranges and object-level search using BFs. This ADS also supports querying and proving inexistent data objects. To reduce storage overhead, we improve the MR<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{Bloom}$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mrow/><mml:mrow><mml:mi>B</mml:mi><mml:mi>l</mml:mi><mml:mi>o</mml:mi><mml:mi>o</mml:mi><mml:mi>m</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="yin-ieq2-3263232.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>-tree using the suppressed BF structure, which constructs only one BF independent of the number of attributes. To manage string attributes, we transform them into discrete numerical attributes using density-based clustering to represent similar items with close numerical values. Experiments show that the proposed framework achieves promising results.


Carcinogens injected into the excretory canal of submandibular gland of Donryu rats revealed the following histologic changes in salivary glands. 20‐Methylcholanthrene induced squamous cell metaplasia, fibrosis in the early stages, and 'benign lymphoepithelial lesion'‐like pattern after 3 months. Dense hyalinization occurred after 4–5 months with so‐called 'mixed tumor'‐like pattern. In the later stages epidermoid carcinoma and fibrosarcoma were observed. 9,10‐Dimethylbenzanthracene caused degenerative change, metaplasia, fibrosis and cell infiltration, and later carcinoma and sarcoma appeared at a high rate. 4‐Nitroquinoline‐N‐oxide led to dense hyalinization and so‐called 'mixed tumor'‐like pattern was observed in many specimens. N‐nitroso‐N‐methyl urethane and N‐methyl‐N‐nitroso‐N'‐nitroguanidine revealed metaplastic changes, fibrosis and lymphoid infiltration. Scarlet red induced remarkable infiltration and aggregation of lymphoid cells, showing benign 'lymphoepithelial' lesion‐like pattern. ACTA PATH. JAP. 25: 1–13, 1975.


In this paper, a detailed finite element model of tracked vehicle gearbox housing is established, the load and structural characteristic is analyzed. According to the boundary condition, constraint condition is applied. The analysis for strength of tracked vehicle gearbox housing is carried out. The nephogram of equivalent stress and displacement is established, and the condition of stress and deformation is obtained under the given load. Weakness of the gearbox housing is put forward, and which provide reference for structural design of housing.


This paper compares the efficiency of the preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) method and the LDLTfactorization for solving a sparse system of linear equations in large‐scale structural analysis with both single‐ and multiple‐load cases. In the PCG method we present an incomplete LDLT preconditioning method that can be used to efficiently solve a system of linear equations with a wide range of matrix conditions, system sizes, and computer memory limitations. The preconditioning method is very flexible, and we can easily balance the size of the preconditioning matrix and the level of the preconditioning that is appropriate for the problem to be solved. For comparison, we use an implementation of a row‐oriented sparse LDLT solution method.


Introduction Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder that results in excessive energy accumulated in adipose tissue causing dysfunction of adipocytes, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Diosgenin (DG), a steroidal saponin produced by several plants, has been reported to have antioxidant activity. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of diosgenin on oxidative stress and inflammation in mice fed with a high-fat diet (HFD). Methods Thirty adult male mice were divided into three groups including the control group, mice fed with a normal diet; the HFD group, mice fed with a high-fat diet for 6 weeks; and the HFD+DG group, mice fed with a high-fat diet and diosgenin daily for 6 weeks. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), malondialdehyde (MDA), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) activities were evaluated. Histopathological changes in the adipose tissues have been investigated. Results Data showed that diosgenin increased TAC activities with a concomitant decrease in MDA levels. As well, DG reduces the TNF and IL-6 levels. The histopathological changes in the adipose tissues due to high-fat consumption were restored upon DG supplementation. Conclusion Our results suggested that diosgenin is a promising agent for regulating obesity by increasing the levels of antioxidants, modifying oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory cytokines, which might prevent the onset of many diseases.


Researchers are often distressed to discover that the data they wanted to use in their landmark study is not configured in a way that is usable by a Statistical Analysis Software Package (SASP). For example, the data needed may come from two or more sources and it may not be clear to the researcher how to get them combined into one analyzable dataset. Fortunately, there is hope. The query facility within database management software (DBMS), such as Microsoft Access, is particularly well-equipped to do the data reconfigurations necessary to get datasets ready for a SASP. Unfortunately, most researchers have either never been exposed to a DBMS or are unaware of the powerful data-transforming queries that they can perform. The purpose of this paper is to introduce researchers to some very helpful and relatively easy to learn techniques for solving common dataset misconfiguration problems. It is presented in three sets of hands-on examples: (1) how to import a dataset from an electronic spreadsheet into a database table, (2) how to use an easy-to-learn DBMS facility called Query-By-Example (QBE) to perform specific data reconfiguration tasks, and (3) how to import the reconfigured dataset from the DBMS into a SASP. The software used is MS Excel, MS Access, and SPSS (originally called Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The examples are presented step-by-step so that the reader can follow along using files downloadable from the authors website


In this paper, I reanalyze Albrecht and Murdock's (1984) POET (Population, Organization, Environment, and Technology) model of part-time farming prevalence using 2002 data and two indicators of part-time farming prevalence: percent of farm operators working 100 days or more off-farm and percent of farm operators whose principal occupation is not farming. I compare the results of analyses using these two measures to one another and to the results produced in Albrecht and Murdock's earlier study using 1978 data. Findings from the anal ysis of 2002 are similar to those produced with 1978 data. However, the findings from the 2002 analyses do differ according to which measure of part-time farming prevalence is used.


We consider a mesoscopic mechanism of the exchange interaction in a system of alternating ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic metallic layers. In the case of small mesoscopic samples the sign and the amplitude of the exchange energy turn out to be random sample specific quantities. They can be changed by applying an external magnetic field, by attaching to the system superconducting electrodes with different phases of the superconducting order parameter and by changing the chemical potential of electrons in the matal with the help of a gate. In the case of square or cubic geometries of the nonmagnetic layer at low temperature the variance of the exchange energy turns out to be sample size independent.


The Poisson-Boltzmann equation is a nonlinear elliptic equation with Dirac distribution sources, which has been widely applied to the prediction of electrostatics potential of biological biomolecular systems in solution. In this paper, we discuss and analysis the virtual element method for the Poisson-Boltzmann equation on general polyhedral meshes. Under the low regularity of the solution of the whole domain, nearly optimal error estimates in both L2-norm and H1-norm for the virtual element approximation are obtained. The numerical experiment on different polyhedral meshes shows the efficiency of the virtual element method and verifies the proposed theoretical prediction.


In the context of speech act, one may ordinarily want to communicate with the other in a natural and coherent manner in order to generate and to give information. Such information delivery in speech is obviously expected to have a desirable adjacency relation within the confines of the communication channel, so that the interlocutors could achieve a very effective discourse of giving and receiving a better response system. This act of turn-taking relation is held supreme in all linguistic situations, but does not so obtain in all communicative situations. Within Ghanaian context, this study seeks to look into various discoursal roles and diversities that the expression 'I'm coming' fulfils in different communicative situations to champion a reflective course of interlocutors. In doing this, the study adopts Wilson and Sperber's (1995) Relevance Theory, which sees every speech event to be dictated by different communicative factors. It also attempts to examine how meaning is derived and interpreted to suit its rightful context of communication in human discourse. Data used for the study was derived from a primary source where the researchers observed the use of 'I'm coming' in different social contexts. The study observes that, in Ghanaian socio-pragmatic contexts, 'I'm coming' could express diverse definitive roles and that, even though, it has become a general expression, it is genuinely used to provide different meanings in different situations.


. Muscle biopsies have been taken by needle blopsy from the femoral muscle of 12 subjects with hyperlipidemia before and during nicotinic acid treatment. No consistent changes were observed in the muscle triglyceride (TG) concentration during nicotinic acid treatment when all subjects were regarded as a group. In subjects with high initial TG values in muscle (40.0–76.1 μmole/g, n=5), however, a decrease and in subjects with initial low values (8.9–14.3 μmole/g, n=7) an increase was observed during nicotinic acid treatment.


What Is A Wife Worth? By Michael H. Minton with Jean Libman Block William Morrow and Company, New York (192 pp.) The subtitle of this book?"The Leading Expert Places a High Dollar Value on Homemaking"?although im modest, accurately reflects its content. Minton, a Chicago-based family lawyer, faithfully and painstaking ly traces the worth of a homemaker from the Industrial Revolution to what he calls the modern "corporate wife." The book, which is directed to a female audience, is highly recommended for those who favor an easy-to read, nontechnical account of how the new equitable distribution statutes affect the recognition of a homemaker spouse's contribution to the family unit. Writing in a "give-em-the-facts," shotgun prose, Minton "valuates" the relevant factors of a homemaker's con tribution. They include tasks performed, home and fami ly size, whether domestic help is employed, and the homemaker's contribution toward the other spouse's business activities and social duties, such as entertaining business colleagues, bosses, and customers. Lawyers seeking a more rigorous case-study approach to the topic along with some useful trial techniques and demonstrative evidence must look elsewhere. Reading What Is A Wife Worth? is like being lost in the library stacks for two hours but emerging with only a handful of worthwhile ideas. Instead, lawyers should read Minton's presentation paper, "Valuing the Homemaker's Ser vices," from the ABA Family Law Section Annual Meeting in Dallas (August 1979) and his trial simula tion?direct examination of a management consultant or industrial psychologist?in "Valuing the Contribution of the Homemaker at Trial," 1 Fair$hare, Number 10, (Oc tober 1981). The book's topic is timely and important and the sub ject of many recent court decisions. See, for example, Finley v. Finley, 422 N.E.2d 289 (Ind. Ct. App. 1981), and Lacey v. Lacey, 273 N.W. 2d 142 (Wis. S. Ct. 1970). In Finley, the court ruled, "both spouses are not required to have engaged in income generating activity in order to


Addition of 1 equiv of polydentate amine or ether donor solvent to hydrocarbon solutions of lithium hexamethydisilazide (LHMDS) yields a variety of complexes with different aggregation states. X-ray crystallographic analyses have been carried out on six new compounds revealing three- and four-coordinate monomers, η1-coordinated mono- and disolvated dimers, and polymers of dimers. PM3 calculations were able to locate minima for a variety of possible structures for the ligands N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine and 1,2-dimethoxyethane. However, the heats of formation from these calculations are found to be unreliable in predicting the relative stabilities of the isomers. Single point ab initio calculations at the 6-31G* level on the PM3 optimized structures give energies which correspond well to the known aggregation states of LHMDS species. Deaggregation from dimers to monomers appears to be driven by a combination of steric, electronic, and chelate effects.


Daily field metabolic rates (FMR) during mid winter of two species of coniferous forest tits, Siberian Tit Parus cinctus and Willow Tit Parus montanus were measured with the doublylabeled water (DLW) technique north of the Arctic circle in Sweden. The Siberian Tit is approximately 10% larger than the Willow Tit. Despite this difference in body mass no significant differences in field metabolic rates between the two species were found in our sample. Both species expended 10-20% less energy than predicted by recently derived allometric equations. Northern populations of Willow Tits had significantly higher FMR


Channa punctatus is commonly known as snake head fi sh of carnivore feeding habit. The cypermethrin pes ticide is widely used in agricultural field for the control o f insect pests and is coming under synthetic pyreth roids which have shown strong pesticidal activity in freshwater tele ost fish, Channa punctatus. The fishes were exposed t sub lethal concentration, 0.04 mg/L (1/10 th of LC50=0.4 mg/L) of cypermethrin for a period of 15, 30 a nd 45 days. Changes on the protein and nucleic acid levels of gill, liver and kidney tissues of Channa punctatus were observe d. The results showed that, the protein content in all the tissues (gill, liver and kidney) have decreased significan tly (p<0.05) when compared to control with the increase in the period of exposure to the toxicant. In the case of nuclei c ac ds, the DNA content was found to increase significantly (p<0.05 ) in gill and liver tissues, but in the kidney, it was found to be in a decreased trend. Whereas, the RNA content of all the tissues (gill, liver and kidney) have decreased ignificantly (p<0.05) when compared to control with the increase in the period of exposure to the toxicant. Biochem ical changes induced by pesticidal stress lead to metabolic dist urbances, retardation of growth and reduction in th e fecundity and longevity of the organism.


Substance-related and addictive disorders are common and psychologists are well-equipped to screen, assess and treat symptoms in their practice. Implementing effective supports and treatments into our daily practice can occur via a range of strategies. While specialist treatments exclusively targeting pathways toward reduction or abstinence are options, they are often not within the scope of many psychologists working in generalist or many mental health settings. Regardless of the perceived barriers for integrating such practice into our work, there are key principles and approaches that can be adopted to improve the outcomes for many clients. Embedding appropriate practice across our clinical work requires an openness to consider evidence-based approaches for all levels of substance-related and addictive disorders.


In an age of fiscal and administrative reform, the army of New Spain stood out as an irredeemable drain on the treasury as well as a nightmare for bureaucrats and military planners. No knowledgeable observer could possibly advocate a continuation of the haphazard defenses of previous decades, but there were very few other points of agreement. From the perspective of the mother country, Mexicans had to recognize the need to defend themselves. The British conquests of Canada, the Floridas, and the temporary occupation of Havana, underscored the dangers and the possibilities of Mexicans losing their possessions and liberties. Naturally, the full burden of military finance and service would fall upon the residents of the viceroyalty, not to mention the growing costs of the annual subsidies (situados) sent to help pay for the defense of less advantaged possessions in the Caribbean, Central America, and the Philippines. The problem was how to prevent the army of New Spain from becoming a voracious consumer of money without offering much in the way of a standing defense force. In 1762 for example, Viceroy Marqués de Cruillas spent 3,398,471 pesos extraordinary funds without managing to get the fortifications at Vercruz into a state of readiness or a proper force to defend them. Most viceroys, inspectors general, and senior staff officers confronted with the task of having to inspect Mexican units catalogued a long list of failures. They described a history of constnatly changing military policies that achieved little other than to waste hundreds of thousands of pesos each decade while entrenching numerous chronic defects.


Vibratory-driving of piles, sheet piles and metallic profiles carries the bad reputation of being noisy and responsible for nuisances and disturbances due to ground vibrations. To try to understand, the propagation of the wave and to check the pertinence of the rules of various countries and Eurocode 3, measurements were carried out on Merville site, North of France. The subsoil consists of dense Flanders clay. All these piles were instrumented. The vibrations transmitted to the ground were recorded continuously. The paper presents the experimental attenuation curves of particle velocities as well as a finite element model to analyse wave propagation in the ground.


Herbicide dissipation in soil typically occurs by physical, chemical, and biological processes, with microbialdegradation ranking first in importance. This paper reviews microbial degradation of herbicides in soil and degradationcharacteristics of the major herbicide classes, with additional discussion of bioremediation of contaminated soils.


Investigation and literature information show that water immerging and the properties of swelling-shrinking to and fro of expansive soils will result in abating of anchorage force of anchored bar in such stratum.As recorded,the anchorage force can be increased for the anchor bar with expanding body.Hereby,a suit of expanding reamer was developed in this paper,whose expanding-retracting system was droved by liquid or air and that was available to liquid and air circulating boring.Some anchor bars with expanding ends were made by the expanding reamer.The conclusion can be drawn by uplift test on anchor bars aforesaid that the expanding ends were not obviously different from the non-expanding ends when the tests had been done before raining,but after raining the anchoring force of the non-expanding ends would decrease to a large extend,but the decrease of expanding ends was little.Such data indicate that the applications of anchored bars with expanding ends in expansive soils are successful.


Previous engine data suggest that slower flame propagation in lean-burn engines could be due to slower flame expansion velocity at lean conditions than at stoichiometric combustion. This paper reports on two classes of model, a quasi-dimensional engine-simulation program and a multidimensional engine-flow and combustion code, used to study this effect in detail and to assess the capabilities of the models to resolve combustion details. The computed flame-speed data from each program differed somewhat in magnitude, but the predicted trends at various equivalence ratios were quite similar. The trends include: (1) The peak in-cylinder burned-gas temperature decreases by about 300 K as the equivalence ratio is decreased from 0.98 to 0.70. (2) Both the laminar flame speed and the flame-propagation speed, the latter computed from the time derivative of flame radius, decrease with decreasing equivalence ratio.


Pushing the size of e-beam lithography pattern to the nanometer range opens up new challenges for lithography apparatus and procedures. In order to achieve highest resolutions, a better understanding and control of the processes taking place on the nanometer scale in e-beam resists is crucial. In this application note, the impact of e-beam exposure on PMMA (poly-methyl methacrylate) is characterized by an in-situ application of attocube's attoAFM III in a Raith eLINE electron beam lithography system (EBL).


The psychological construct broadly known as time perspective is potentially useful in understanding a range of adolescent behaviours, including alcohol use. This study used a person-centred approach to assess the relationship between temporal profiles and alcohol use in a large sample of adolescents from high schools in Northern Ireland.


We congratulate Harries and his colleagues for their timely review article on 'The surgical treatment of snoring' (Harries et al, 1996). A variety of surgical procedures for the treatment of snoring have been described in the literature over the last two or three years and, in addition to Harries, misgivings concerning the lack of standardization apparent from these reports, we would like to add two further worries. These are; firstly the conspicuous lack of a control group in every published study to date on the surgical treatment of snoring, and also the absence of an agreed method for reporting outcomes. If we are to introduce treatment methods for snoring which are acceptable to our purchasers the onus rests upon us as a speciality to demonstrate the efficacy of these techniques. To this end we think it essential that those of us who are involved in the surgical treatment of snoring and sleep apnoea should have an agreed system for reporting results. What we have in mind is something akin to the criteria agreed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery in respect of any treatment of Meniere's disease and indeed of conductive hearing loss (Pearson and Brackman, 1985; Goldenburg and Burliner, 1995). These have helped in ensuring that clinical trials have had a definite focus and we would be interested in hearing the views of other workers in the field of snoring/ sleep apnoea as to how we could agree reporting criteria.


A method of arranging pilot in a mobile communication system in which a working band is divided into a plurality of frequency bands in the direction of the frequency axis, each one of which a bandwidth of predetermined frequency, and is carried out division multiplexing time dividing the operating band subframes in the direction of the time axis, the method comprising: inserting a pilot symbol known on some of the plurality of predetermined frequency bands in a frequency range predetermined reference; and arranging the pilot symbol known to at least another of the plurality of predetermined frequency bands at a smaller interval than the frequency range predetermined reference, wherein said at least one other of the plurality of predetermined frequency bands must be changed between subframes according to a cycle of time known.


Purpose: Low back pain is one of the most common health problems of the world. Very different causes can cause back pain. Approximately 85% of people who are examined for low back pain the cause is not specific. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the knee abnormalities on pain intensity and functional fitness in middle aged men with the chronic nonspecific low back pain. Method: The statistical community of this study includes 30 people of patient's male with nonspecific chronic low back pain in the age range of 30-50 years with one of the abnormalities of genu varum or genu valgum. Results: The research findings were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods (dependent t and independent t tests). The research findings indicate that both the pain and disability of the experimental groups have significantly decreased after applying selected of corrective programs (Stretching muscles and short elements and strengthening weakened muscles). Sitting frog, walking with the inner edges of the legs, pressure to enter the wall with the outer edges of the legs to modify the genu varum. passing legs from one side to another in the form of scissors in liner mode, passing the medicine ball to the wall with the inside of the legs, walking with the outer edges of the legs to modify the genu valgum (p 0.05). Conclusions: According to the results and considering the conditions prevailing on the research samples, it can be concluded that knee abnormalities (genu varum and genu valgum) affected by pain intensity and functional fitness efficacy in nonspecific chronic low back pain patients and Corrective exercises of these abnormalities has had a significant effect on reduce pain and disability index.


The synthesis of some new potentially bioactive 4-thiazolidinone has been undertaken. The required 2-(substituted benzalhydrazinocarbonyl)-3,5-dichloro-benzo(b)thiophene(2) was prepared by reaction of 2-hydrazinocarbonyl-3,5-dichloro benzo(b)thiophene(1) with different aryl aldehyde. The compounds (2) on cyclocondensation with thioglycolic acid under micro wave irradiation as well as In a conventional way yielded the corresponding 4-thiazolidinones (3). The structures of synthesized compounds were deduced on the basis of their elemental analyses and spectral analyses (IR and 1H NLIR). The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity.


The Management Guidelines for Childhood Differentiated Thyroid Cancer by the American Thyroid Association (ATA) Pediatric Thyroid Cancer Task Force1 built up a system for evaluation, treatment, and follow-up of children with papillary carcinoma. For this approach, recommendations based on scientific evidence and expert opinion play a crucial role in identifying patients at risk of persistent cervical disease and/or distant metastases after initial total thyroidectomy with or without lymph node dissection. In our opinion, this issue needs further consideration because of several uncertainties that have to be addressed.


The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different level of concentrate supplementation on the periparturient growth performance of grazing does and their kids in field conditions. A total of thirty goats carrying last trimester of pregnancy were selected and divided randomly into three treatment groups having 10 goats in each and kept in different feeding regimens as follows: Treatment -1 (T0): Control; normal browsing at range system, Treatment - 2 (T1): Control plus daily supplementation @ 200 g concentrate and Treatment - 3 (T2): Control plus daily supplementation @ 300 g concentrate. The concentrate mixture was fed to the does 60 days before the expected date of kidding. Average body weight gain of goats was significantly (P< 0.05) higher in T2 (5.23±0.49 kg) and non significantly in T1 (4.52±0.67 kg) than in T0 (2.32±0.12 kg) during the experiment period of gestation. The kids suckled from T1 and T2 group goats retained higher average daily gain up to three months of age. The average BW gain was significantly (P<0.05) higher in T2 (steamed up) group (8.43 kg) when compared to T0 (control group) (6.86 kg) group. It was concluded that concentrate supplementation improved the periparturient body weight of Sirohi does by increasing the energy status in grazing goats around kidding and the kids from these dams are born with higher body weight.


The mass spectral fragmentation behaviour of N-acyliminopyridinium and isoquinolinium betaines has been investigated. Major fragmentations of the pyridinium betaines can be rationalized in terms of charge localization on the pyridinium nitrogen. The most prominent process is α-cleavage followed by loss of NCO to furnish a pyridine ion. The electron-impact induced fragmentation of N-benzoyliminopyridinium betaine (I) was compared with that of thermolysis. The completely analogous behaviour has been observed in the corresponding isoquinolinium betaines.


A method for determining the concentration of Photofrin in tissues and biological fluids was developed. The procedure is based on the dissolution of biological material with Solvable a commercially available tissue so‐lubilizer, followed by porphyrin‐specific fluorescence detection and measurement. It was found necessary to use a quadratic standard curve for the estimation of unknown Photofrin concentrations. While this method is limited to compounds that are stable in strong base, it has the advantages of being sensitive, rapid and low cost.


This paper examines an originally designed airbag deployment system for use in static experimental testing. It consists of a pressure vessel and valve arrangement with pneumatic and electric controls. A piston functions like a valve when operated and is activated pneumatically to release the air in the tank. Once released, the air fills the attached airbag. The leading edge velocity can be controlled by the initial pressure in the tank, which can range up to 960 kPa. Three different test configurations were studied, which resulted in leading edge deployment speeds of approximately 20 m/s, 40 m/s, and 60 m/s. In experiments using this system, seven types of airbags were tested that differed in their material, coating, and presence of a tether. Data for each series of tests is provided. In addition to cost savings, the primary advantage of this system is its ability to quickly change the internal pressure. For the covering abstract see IRRD 893297.


A description of the early work on experimental observation and study of cosmic ray neutrinos in India is sketched here. This includes experiments to measure the variation of intensity of cosmic ray muons down to great depths underground, the first detectors for neutrino detection, and the consolidation of neutrino data using large scale proton decay experiments. Also included is a brief description of special (Kolar) events recorded in the KGF detectors, that defy explanation on the basis of normal muon or neutrino interactions. Results from the neutrino experiments conducted in other laboratories around the same time period as well as those recorded in all the first-generation proton decay experiments will be reviewed briefly.


Abstract We study the class of random fields having their reproducing kernel Hilbert space isomorphic to a fractional Sobolev space of variable order on ℝ n . Prototypes of this class include multifractional Brownian motion, multifractional free Markov fields, and multifractional Riesz–Bessel motion. The study is carried out using the theory of generalized random fields defined on fractional Sobolev spaces of variable order. Specifically, we consider the class of generalized random fields satisfying a pseudoduality condition of variable order. The factorization of the covariance operator of the pseudodual allows the definition of a white-noise linear filter representation of variable order. In the ordinary case, the Hölder continuity, in the mean-square sense, of the class of random fields introduced is proved, and its mean-square Hölder spectrum is defined in terms of the variable regularity order of the functions in the associated reproducing kernel Hilbert space. The pseudodifferential representation of variable order of the resulting class of multifractal random fields is also defined. Some examples of pseudodifferential models of variable order are then given.


Migrating applications is necessary to provide fault tolerance in a distributed environment. In this paper, we present a new design that enables the heterogeneous migration of a general class of applications. Our approach can handle applications that use pointers. Our design is tailored for the C programming language, but can be adapted for other languages. We chose the C language because it is more difficult to handle than other languages, especially its pointer operations.


The goal of each credit institution is represented by profitability, an objective hardly to be achieved, taking into account that banks are practicing their usual activities within a banking system that hardly tries to recover. The main purpose of this research is to identify the existence of a dependency relationship between return on assets and endogenous factors (growth rate of the loan portfolios; the rate of growth of the provisions and solvency ratio) and the exogenous ones (GDP and inflation rate). The analysis done over the horizon of the last 10 years, a period that includes both economic boom, recession and recovery, illustrated the vulnerability of the credit institution in front of the business environment. The study demonstrated a significant dependence relationship, between return on assets recorded by Carpatica Commercial Bank and the intern determinants, while the variation of the exogenous factors does not explain the variation of ROA recorded by the bank.


Ammonium hydrogen oxalate hemihydrate, NH 4 HC 2 O 4 ,1/2H 2 O exhibits a second order ferroelastic phase transition at T c =145.6 K. The behaviour of some elastic constants with temperature has been studied by Brillouin scattering. We observed that a xz shear deformation of the unit cell is accompanied by a softening of the C 55 elastic constant. The experimental results are in good agreement with a Landau theory which takes into account the simultaneous coupling of a soft optic mode with several deformations. The role of the permanent low temperature shear deformation in the analysis of the data is emphasized Etude de l'evolution des constantes d'elasticite en fonction de la temperature: le cisaillement de la maille suivant xz s'accompagne d'un amolissement de C 55 qui s'annule a T c (transformation ferroelastique). Accord avec la theorie de Landau qui tient compte du couplage simultane d'un mode optique instable avec plusieurs deformations


In the context of modeling route choice behavior, modelers generate objective choice sets by selecting a path generation technique and its parameters according to personal judgments. The current paper proposes an experimental setting and a methodological approach to provide indications about objective judgments for effective route choice set generation. Initially, path generation techniques are implemented within a synthetic network to generate possible subjective choice sets considered by travelers. Next, "true model estimates" and "postulated predicted routes" are assumed from the simulation of a route choice model. Then, objective choice sets are applied for model estimation and results are compared to the "true model estimates". Last, predictions from the simulation of models estimated with objective choice sets are compared to the "postulated predicted routes". Meta-analysis allows synthesizing the effect of judgments on the implementation of path generation techniques, since a large number of models generate a large amount of results that are otherwise difficult to summarize and to process. Meta-analysis estimates suggest that modelers should apply stochastic approaches with the possibility of correcting for unequal sampling probability while maintaining a fairly reasonable level of variance. Estimation of models would greatly improve and the issue of the coverage of observed behavior would not be raised because the correction would cover for adding alternatives not generated.


On major construction works involving large concrete yardage, formwork affects cost more than any other single section of the fob, and it is often the governor which limits speed of construction. It follows that formwork should be developed as far as possible into a routine procedure so that cost is lowered, progress becomes more steady and predictable, and it becomes more of a geared pair with the usually reliable concrete batching, mixing and handling plant. This paper outlines factors influencing design of the shutters, deals in more detail with the handling of shuttering {that is, the lifting and lining), and gives percentage costs for the several parts of the total labour cost of formwork handling.


A public-private partnership (PPP) is an organizational arrangement in which knowledge and resources are pooled in order to realize outcomes. Although PPPs have become common practice in spatial planning and development, there is a continuous search for their ideal organizational form and management. This is fueled by the often poor performance in terms of e.g. time delays and budget overruns. Whilst comparative studies have been conducted into the outcomes of certain organizational forms and management strategies, fewer comparative studies evaluate their combined effects. The goal of this study is to explore what configurations of certain organizational forms and management may produce good outcomes. This is done by conducting a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of survey data of 50 managers involved in urban regeneration companies (URCs) in the Netherlands.


The Middle Eastern District meeting held in Dayton, Ohio, September 23–25, 1947, with headquarters at the Dayton-Biltmore Hotel, is the first such meeting that the District has held since October 1940 when the District met in Cincinnati. A meeting originally planned for October 1942 in Pittsburgh, Pa., was canceled because of war conditions. The District meeting program in the Middle Eastern District was instituted in 1925 when a meeting was held in Washington, D. C. Subsequently, the Cleveland, Bethlehem, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Akron, and Scranton Sections each have sponsored one District meeting, and Baltimore and Cincinnati have sponsored two each. The 1949 Middle Eastern District meeting is scheduled to be held in Washington, D. C, under the sponsorship of the Washington Section in October 1949.


A signaling cascade that includes protein kinase C (PKC), Ras, and MEKK1 regulates involucrin (hINV) gene expression in epidermal keratinocytes (Efimova, T., LaCelle, P., Welter, J. F., and Eckert, R. L. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 24387–24395 and Efimova, T., and Eckert, R. L. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 1601–1607). Because signal transfer downstream of MEKK1 may involve several MAPK kinases (MEKs), it is important to evaluate the regulatory role of each MEK isoform. In the present study we evaluate the role of MEK6 in transmitting this signal. Constitutively active MEK6 (caMEK6) increases hINV promoter activity and increases endogenous hINV levels. The caMEK6-dependent increase in gene expression is inhibited by the p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB203580, and is associated with a marked increase in p38α MAPK activity; JNK and ERK kinases are not activated. In addition, hINV gene expression is inhibited by dominant-negative p38α and increased when caMEK6 and p38α are co-expressed. caMEK6 also activates p38δ, but p38δ inhibits the caMEK6-dependent activation. These results suggest that MEK6 increases hINV gene expression by regulating the balance between activation of p38α, which increases gene expression, and p38δ, which decreases gene expression.


Almost all universities have accessibility plans to ensure equal opportunities, non-discrimination and universal accessibility to persons with disabilities in its facilities and administrative services. Additionally, accessibility skills have been incorporated to curricula so that future professionals in matters related to physical and virtual environments know how to apply the basic concepts of Design for All. However, the increasing number of students with sensory impairment accessing to higher education, along with the growing use of virtual learning environments, requires university professors to know how to provide accessibility features to the didactic contents created for their students. This article discusses the new concept of academic accessibility and shows the results of the ESVI-AL project, part of the Alfa III program of the European Union. Palabras clave Accesibilidad academica. Recursos docentes. Diseno para todos.


Water transport through structured clayey soils may be prone to by-pass flow, a mechanism that may lead to rapid transport of contaminants to ground water. To quantify the significance of low-tension water flow in structured soils, apparent steady-state infiltration rates at water potentials from −0.24 to 0 m were measured using tension infiltrometers on 18 soils of varying texture and structure. Each infiltration measurement was conducted sequentially at −0.24, −0.12, −0.06, −0.03, −0.02, −0.01, and 0 m supply potentials (Ψsupply), all at the same soil location, to separate different size pores effective in transmitting water. Results from 96 soil horizons showed that 76 ± 18% (mean ± SD) of the water fluxes at Ψsupply = 0 m (total water flux) were transmitted through macropores (active at Ψsupply ≥ −0.03 m), although macropores usually constituted a small portion of a soil's total porosity. Mesopores (active at Ψsupply ≥ −0.24 m) contributed 19 ± 13% of total water flux. Micropores dominated the soils' ...


Define the best processing method of compound gaotangping Capsules.L9(34) orthogonal table is decided with three effects: ethanol-processing,water-processing and ethanol precipitated with the amount of barbering hydrochloride as the recorder.The best ethanol-processing method is boiling 3 hours with 3 times 70% ethanol after being put in ethanol for 1 hour.The result above can be used for mass production.


This chapter reviews current views of social stratification in Roman Egypt, then discusses the role, nature, and composition of the various social groups attested in the village of Tebtunis. These include the local elite, consisting of some priestly families and landowners of Hellenic descent or with a strong Hellenized background, members of the numerous professional associations involved in various agricultural and non-agricultural activities, the indigenous population, and slaves. Based on their contractual activity and other contemporary evidence, a close-up analysis is provided for each social group. Socio-economic trends emerge which shed light on the behaviour of the various groups and give us deeper insight into the complex realities of the village, including living standards.


We consider the problem of transmitting at the optimal rate over a rapidly-varying wireless channel with unknown statistics when the feedback about channel quality is very limited. One motivation for this problem is that, in emerging wireless networks, the use of mm Wave bands means that the channel quality can fluctuate rapidly and thus, one cannot rely on full channel-state feedback to make transmission rate decisions. Inspired by related problems in the context of multi-armed bandits, we consider a well-known algorithm called Thompson sampling to address this problem. However, unlike the traditional multi-armed bandit problem, a direct application of Thompson sampling results in a computational and storage complexity that grows exponentially with time. Therefore, we propose an algorithm called Modified Thompson sampling (MTS), whose computational and storage complexity is simply linear in the number of channel states and which achieves at most logarithmic regret as a function of time when compared to an optimal algorithm which knows the probability distribution of the channel states.


Mary Ann Piette, Deputy of LBNL's Building Technologies Department and Director of the Demand Response Research Center, speaks at the Carbon Cycle 2.0 kick-off symposium Feb. 2, 2010. We emit more carbon into the atmosphere than natural processes are able to remove - an imbalance with negative consequences. Carbon Cycle 2.0 is a Berkeley Lab initiative to provide the science needed to restore this balance by integrating the Labs diverse research activities and delivering creative solutions toward a carbon-neutral energy future. http://carboncycle2.lbl.gov/


Due to the ease of handling and availability, and low price, detector tubes are in widespread use for the detection of trace constituents in air since many years. The analytical information is provided in terms of coloured reaction products. Unfortunatley, only a small portion of this information is accessible to visual or optical evaluation. This drawback can be overcome using thin-layer detector tubes. These are glass tubes, the inner surface of which is coated with a thin reactive layer consisting of support material and reagent impregnation. From an air sample aspirated through the tube, the trace to be determined undergoes a gas/solid-phase reaction with this layer thus producing a colour change which is in terms of area and intensity a measure of the reacted trace amount. The colour change is evaluated by remission photometric detection. Reaction systems have been developed for determination of ammonia, acetone, nitrogen dioxide and hydrogen peroxide.


We detected a case of Plasmodium malariae in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The person was an adult male, presented clinically as severe malaria. B lood slide examination by microscopy and pan malarial immunochromatographic test (ICT) revealed the case as Plasmodium malariae infection. The patient presented as severe malaria case for which he was hospitalized and recovered after seven days of quinine treatment. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjmm.v5i2.16936 Bangladesh J Med Microbiol 2011; 05 (02): 30-31


Introduction: Interest on Toxin-Antitoxin (TA) systems has increased dramatically over recent years. It is ubiquitously present in many bacterial genomes including pathogens like MRSA. Several cellular functions of TA systems are proposed like programmed cell death, persister cell formation, biofilm formation etc. However, their exact role in cell physiology remains unclear. Due to the biofilm development the rate of morbidity and mortality of chronic MRSA infections are increasing day by day. Objectives: The aim of the study is to find out biofilm formation and mazEF toxin-antitoxin systems in clinical isolates of MRSA, isolated from tertiary care hospital, Kolkata. Materials and Methods: MRSA isolates were detected for biofilm formation by tube method and simultaneously the presence of mazEF TA gene in these MRSA isolates were evaluated. Results: It was found that 52.47 % MRSA isolates were potent biofilm producers by Tube method and 100 % of the MRSA isolates possessed mazEFgene. Conclusions: The analysis recommended that TA genes are highly prevalent in clinical isolates of MRSA strains. Further to come into any conclusion reverse transcription studies and TA mutants are needed to be constructed in order to find out the exact amount of mazEF expression in all MRSA isolates and rapid detection of biofilm producers is necessary as it may lead to antibiotic resistance & thereby difficulty in treating patients.


Lyophilyzed 19-day-old rat fetuses, implanted next to the periosteum, induced bone growth in mature rats. The initially immature bone matured after three weeks to the pseudo-haversian bone peculiar to the rat. The induced bone remained stable for 12 weeks. With the exception of one contaminated specimen, there was no foreign-body reaction.