Describes the integrated application of network communication technology, serial communication technology, real-time communication technology. The formation of the network for mobile robot audio and video surveillance. Using client/server (C/S) architecture, Server-side accept the control request of the client; Achieve the transmission of the server-side and client-side data and control commands, With real-time communication technology (RTC) to complete the capture, Transmission and playback of audio and video, Access the environmental information of realistic remotely, To monitor the function of; Supplemented by serial communication technology and under-Machine Communication, Get installed on the robot's sensor information, Using the technology of network communication socket to achieve the remote communication of client and server-side. The formations of SCM, Servers, handle processing of Client-side line. The completion of specific functions of each module, teamwork, to achieve the control functions of remote monitoring.


With the background of increasing problems of urban traffic congestion and pollution, and the great dependence on public transport for access and mobility, many developing city authorities are searching for cost- effective ways of providing mass transit facilities. Metro systems have been constructed in some 20 developing cities over the last 20 years, and systems are being actively planned in others. During the same period, some cities (including a few which have built metros) have adopted a less costly approach to enhancing mass transit provision, giving priority to buses in order to increase effective public transport capacity. This paper examines the potential for such high performance bus systems in Less Developed Countries, based on case-study material gathered as part of the research programme of the Overseas Unit of the Transport and Road Research Laboratory. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 853181.


The Moravian-Silesian Carpathians are the westernmost member of the Western Carpathians in the south-eastern part of the Czech Republic. The small northern part of the Vienna Basin reaches into the Moravian-Silesian Carpathians from Austria and Slovakia. Extensive low-angled footslope surfaces are reported from many parts of the Moravian-Silesian Carpathians and Vienna Basin. Cryopediments (W a k o 1963) are gently inclined erosion surfaces developed at the foot of valley sides or marginal slopes of highlands and mountains by cryogenic processes in cold climates of the periglacial morphogenetic zone, mostly with the presence of permafrost. Cryopediments are rock-cut transportation surfaces which truncate geologic boundaries. Cryopediments develop due to the activity of a range of cryogenic processes whereby frost action, nivation and other processes extend the cryopediment upslope by a process of cryopediment back-scarp retreat. The geological conditions of the Moravian-Silesian Carpathians and Vienna Basin required the presence of Pleistocene permafrost during the origin and formation of cryopediments.


Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is the direct energy exchange between two‐component fluorescent molecules. FRET methods utilize chemically linked molecules or unlinked fluorescent molecules such as fluoresscent protein–protein interactions. FRET is therefore a powerful indicator of molecular proximity, but standardized determination of FRET efficiency is challenged when investigating natural (chemically unlinked) interactions. In this paper, we have examined the interactions of tumor necrosis factor receptor‐1 (TNFR1) molecules expressed as recombinant C‐terminal fusion proteins of cyan, yellow, or red fluorescent protein (‐CFP, ‐YFP, or ‐RFP) to evaluate two‐molecule chemically unlinked FRET by flow cytometry. We demonstrate three independent FRET pairs of TNFR1 CFP→YFP (FRET‐1), YFP→RFP (FRET‐2) and CFP→RFP (FRET‐3), by comparing TNFR1+TNFR1 with non‐interacting TNFR1+CD27 proteins, on both LSR‐II and Fortessa X‐20 cytometers. We describe genuine FRET activities reflecting TNFR1 homotypic interactions. The FRET events can be visualized during sample acquisition via the use of "spiked" FRET donor cells, together with TNFR1+TNFR1 co‐transfected cells, as FRET channel mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) overlays. FRET events can also be indicated by comparing concatenated files of cells expressing either FRET positive events (TNFR1+TNFR1) or FRET negative events (TNFR1+CD27) to generate single‐cell scatter plots showing loss of FRET donor brightness. Robust determination of FRET efficiency is then confirmed at the single‐cell level by applying matrix calculations based on the measurements of FRET, using donor, acceptor, and FRET fluorescent intensities (I), detector channel emission coefficient (S), fluorescent protein extinction coefficients (ε) and the α factor. In this TNFR1‐based system the mean CFP→YFP FRET‐1 efficiency is 0.43 (LSR‐II) and 0.41 (Fortessa X‐20), the mean YFP→RFP FRET‐2 efficiency is 0.30 (LSR‐II) and 0.29 (Fortessa X‐20), and the mean CFP→RFP FRET‐3 efficiency is 0.56 (LSR‐II) and 0.54 (Fortessa X‐20). This study also embraces multi‐dimensional clustering using t‐SNE, Fit‐SNE, UMAP, Tri‐Map and PaCMAP to further demonstrate FRET. These approaches establish a robust system for standardized detection of chemically unlinked TNFR1 homotypic interactions with three individual FRET pairs.


Cochlear microphonic potentials were recorded from the Mongolian gerbil in response to low‐frequency auditory stimuli. Provided that contamination of the potentials by the phase‐locked neurophonic is avoided, these recordings can be interpreted "as if recorded from a single outer hair cell". It is found that the instantaneous I/O‐curves resemble the well‐known Boltzmann activation curve. The dynamic aspect of the I/O‐curves does reveal hysteresis and a level‐dependent gain that is not observed in static measures of these curves. We explore a model that simulates CM generation from hair cell populations, but find it inadequate to reproduce the data. Rather, there seem to be fast, adaptive mechanisms probably at the level of the transduction channels themselves.


Disruptive behaviors can be defined as aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors, and examples of such behaviors may include lying, cheating, displaying lack of guilt/remorse, stealing, swearing, arguing, being mean to others, destroying one's own personal property or that of others, and getting into fights with others (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). It is estimated that 10 million children who are identified as having disruptive behaviors will not receive the mental health services they need (Mental Health America, 2010). This gap in services is in part due to insufficient family resources, lack of access to care, and a shortage of identified quality services for children (Mental Health America, 2010; President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, 2003; U.S. Public Health Service, 2000). Because children spend a significant number of hours each day in school, school personnel such as school counselors or school-based counselors have been tasked with providing interventions that meet the mental health needs of children requiring services, such as those with disruptive behaviors (President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, 2003).


Severe fluctuations in exchange rates and the resulting wide spread unreliability is one of the weakening factors in foreign trade, investment and national production and can impact severely on financial institutions' performance. Management of the exchange rate in the country's economy has always been one of the major challenges for economic policy makers and at all courses in academic circles and Iran economic policy, challenging discussions have been excited about how to determine the exchange rate. Bank is one of the most important financial institutions, in this study we want to investigate the effect of exchange rate fluctuations on the financial performance of the accepted banks in Tehran Stock Exchange. Panel EGLS model was applied to study the impact of USD and EUR rate fluctuations on the Bank's financial performance. The statistical community of the study are the accepted banks in Tehran Stock Exchange, which has been accepted from 2008, the sample of study includes 10 banks. In order to conduct this research, four main hypotheses and three sub-hypotheses were formed. Results show that Changes in USD and EUR affected the financial measures used in this study, negative relation with return on equity indices, return on assets and the different types of bank deposits and has positive relation with the index of different types of bank receivables.


The microstructure of the C f/SiC composites, prepared by precursor conversion hot pressing sintering with polycarbosilane (PCS) as precursor and binder and AlN Y 2O 3 as additives, was investigated using XRD, HRTEM and SEM. The results showed that Y 2O 3 reacted with the pyrolytic products of the PCS and the oxides on the surface of the AlN and SiC grains, forming the liquid phase assisting in the densification of the composites, and the fine SiC AlN solid solution was formed between AlN and the PCS through reaction dissolution precipitation at the grain boundaries and the fiber/matrix interface. Due to the presence of the carbon rich fiber/matrix interphase with a certain of SiC AlN solid solution, a desirable fiber/matrix interfacial bonding was obtained, which facilitated the debonding and pullout of the fibers. As a result, the composite exhibited excellent mechanical properties.


Intra‐atrial conduction abnormalities are associated with the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) and cause morphological changes of the unipolar atrial electrogram (U‐AEGM). This study examined the impact of different atrial programmed electrical stimulation (APES) protocols on U‐AEGM morphology to identify the most optimal APES protocol provoking conduction abnormalities.


We enhance the Multi layer Perceptron to map a feature vector not only from the original d-dimensional feature space, but from an intermediate implicit Hilbert feature space in which kernels calculate inner products. The kernel substitutes the usual inner product between weight vectors and the input vector (or the feature vector of the hidden layer). The objective is to boost the generalization capability of this universal function approximator even more. Classification experiments with standard Machine Learning data sets are shown. We are able to improve the classification accuracy performance criterion for certain kernel types and their intrinsic parameters for the majority of the data sets.


We determined for the first time whether individual differences in cardiovascular (CV) measures are observed after repeated baseline and recovery sleep (prior to and after exposure to total sleep deprivation) as well as the stability of such responses across 4-month and 8-month long-duration studies.

 We conducted a five-day experiment twice (at months 2 and 4) in a 4-month study (N=6 healthy adults; 3 females), and a similar five-day experiment three times (at months 2, 4, and 8) in an 8-month study (N=5 healthy adults; 2 females). During these repeated experiments, CV measures were collected via echocardiography at three assessment time points: 1) after two baseline 8h time in bed (TIB) nights (BL); 2) after a night of total sleep deprivation (TSD); and 3) after two recovery nights of 8-10h TIB (REC). Seated stroke volume (SV), heart rate (HR), cardiac index (CI), left ventricular ejection time (LVET), and systemic vascular resistance index (SVRI) were collected. Data did not significantly differ between the two studies and therefore were pooled together for analysis (N=11). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) assessed the stability of CV measures after BL and REC. Spearman's rho assessed the relative rank of individuals' averaged BL and REC responses across CV measures.

 BL ICCs (0.821-0.944) and REC ICCs (0.806-0.869) comparing months 2 and 4 for all CV measures were almost perfect. The ICCs comparing BL vs. REC measures at month 2 (0.816-0.969) and at month 4 (0.816-0.927) for all CV measures were similarly almost perfect. In the 8-month sample subset, BL ICCs (0.693-939) and REC ICCs (0.770-960) comparing months 2, 4 and 8 for all CV measures were substantial to almost perfect. The ICCs comparing BL vs. REC measures at month 8 for all CV measures were fair to almost perfect (0.314-0.960). Individuals also exhibited significant consistency of responses within CV measures across 2 months and 4 months during BL and REC.

 This is the first demonstration of remarkable robust phenotypic stability of a number of cardiovascular measures across repeated baseline and recovery sleep and across various CV measures in long-duration studies.

 NASA grants NNX14AN49G and 80NSSC20K0243 (NG)


Bloomberg, Warner, Jr. The Age of Automation: Its Effects on Human Welfare. New York: League for Industrial Democracy, 1955. Pp. 39. $0.35. Bok, Derek Curtis. The First Three Years of the Schuman Plan. ("Princeton Studies in International Finance," No. 5.) Princeton, N.J.: International Finance Section, Princeton University, 1955. Pp. 79. $0.25. Brown, Robert E. Middle-Class Democracy and the Revolution in Massachusetts, 1691-1780. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1955. Pp. ix+ 558. $6.00. Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of Maryland. The European Coal and Steel Community, Part I. ("Studies in Business and Economics," Vol. IX, No. 3.) College Park: The author, 1955. Pp. 20. Cattaneo, Carlo. Scritti economici. With a Preface by Alberto Bertolino. 3 vols. Florence: Felice Le Monnier, 1956. Pp. 1380. L. 4,500. Clark, Jere W. The Market Structure of West Virginia Industry: A Study of Rail Freight Shipments, 1948-1952. Morgantown: Bureau of Business Research, West Virginia University, 1955. Pp. v+37. Corson, John J., and McConnell, John W. Economic Needs of Older People. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1956. Pp. xvii+533. $4.50. Cottrell, Fred. Energy and Society: The Relation between Energy, Social Change, and Economic Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1955. Pp. xix+330. $6.00. Council on Industrial Health, American Medical Association. Some Monetary Aspects of Workmen's Compensation. Chicago, Ill.: American Medical Association, 1955. Pp. 96. Creamer, Daniel. Personal Income during Business Cycles. ("National Bureau of Economic Research Studies in Business Cycles," No. 6.) Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1956. Pp. xxx+166. $4.00. Dain, Floyd Russell. Every House a Frontier: Detroit's Economic Progress, 1815-1825. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne University Press, 1956. Pp. vii+ 163. $3.50. Derber, Milton. Labor-Management Relations at the Plant Level under Industry-wide Bargaining: A Study of the Engineering (Metal-working) Industry in Birmingham, England. Urbana: Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Illinois, 1955. Pp. 130. $2.50, cloth; $2.00, paper. Dickinson, Robert E. The Population Problem of Southern Italy: An Essay in Social Geography. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1955. Pp. xi+116. $3.00. Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States, Vol. II: From the Founding of the American Federation of Labor to the Emergence of American Imperialism. New York: International Publishers, 1956. Pp. 480. $5.00. Forte, Francesco. Note sulla natura economics e sugli effetti delle imposte sul valore aggiunto. Milan: Istituto di Scienze economiche e statistiche, 1955. Pp. 40. L. 400. Fourasti6, Jean. La Prevision 9conomique au service de l'entreprise t de la nation. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1955. Pp. viii+151. Fr. 600. Fusfeld, Daniel R. The Economic Thought of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Origins of the New Deal. New York: Columbia University Press, 1956. Pp. 337. $5.00. Galbraith, John Kenneth, et al. Marketing Efficiency in Puerto Rico. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1955. Pp. xi+204. $4.50. Ganguli, B. N. Economic Development in New China. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1955. Pp. 92. $0.80. Giddens, Paul H. Standard Oil Company (Indiana). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1956. Pp. xvii+741. $7.50. Goldsmith, Raymond W., Brady, Dorothy S., and Mendershausen, Horst. A Study of Saving in the United States, Vol. III: Special Studies. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1956. Pp. xix+476. $8.50. Gopal, M. H. Indian Economy since Independence: Financial Policy of the Indian Union, 1947-53. Delhi: University Press, 1955. Pp. 133. Horowitz, Martin, and Benjamin, Hazel C. A Trade Union Library, 1955. ("Bibliographical Series," No. 84.) Princeton, N.J.: Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University, 1955. Pp. vi+58. $1.50. James, IEmile. Histoire sommaire de la pensge 6conomique. Paris: Editions Montchrestien, 1955. Pp. 335. Fr. 1,320. Kahle, Olga. Die frachtkostenmassige Lage der schleswig-holsteinischen Landund Erndhrungswirtschaft im ibergebietlichen Versand ihrer Produktionsiberschitse. ("Kieler Studien," No. 37.) Kiel: Institut fur Weltwirtschaft, 1955. Pp. xi+131. DM. 12. Lecht, Leonard A. Experience under Railway Labor Legislation. New York: Columbia University Press, 1955. Pp. viii+254. $4.25. Lundberg, Erik (ed.), assisted by A. D. Knox. The Business Cycle in the Post-war World. (Proceedings of a Conference held by the International Economic Association, Oxford, September, 1952.)


The study offers conclusions on research aimed at the transmission of religious messages through the media. The main research question, if media language is able to communicate religious messages, is analyzed by the author through the antique topoi, common ideas, fundamental convictions, on which the communicated messages are based and which guarantee their transmitting to the recipient and the effect on his or her thinking and doing. The author compares the topoi of the original religious messages in the church media and the religious messages processed in the secular media. She comes to certain findings as to their clear difference and synthesizes the derived topoi to related groups. There she indicates the main points of contradiction, the concurrence of the religious and media communicators, and offers certain starting points for thinking over the most effective forms of religious communication in the media.


Objective:To investigate the effects of lipopolysaccharides(LPS) on the expression of IL-6 mRNA in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Methods:Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from whole blood treated with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and stimulated by LPS. Total RNA extracted from the PBMC was reversely transcripted to cDNA,which used as templates for hot-start PCR amplification of IL-6. Sandwich hybridization occurs between IL-6 amplicon,capture probe and detection probe. The hybridization signals were detected utilizing avidin-horseradish peroxidase and its substracts. Specific IL-6 primers and probes were designed using Primer Premier 5.0 software.Results:LPS is an effective inducer which can increase IL-6 mRNA. Expression of IL-6 mRNA is positively correlated with the concentration of LPS. Abundance of IL-6 mRNA varied with the time of LPS*0*8s stimulation and peaked at 4 h.Conclusion:LPS can enhance the expression of IL-6 mRNA in human PBMC.


Experimental measurements of the optical amplitude and phase modulation from an injection-locked VCSEL at 1550 nm are reported. The use of a coherent optical demodulation technique, using a 90° optical hybrid, balanced photodiodes, and a high-speed oscilloscope, has enabled the complete modulation response to be recorded as a function of time. The VCSEL's response to current modulation was examined under various experimental parameters: over a wide frequency range, from kilohertz to gigahertz, for small and large current modulation and for different bias currents. Low-frequency (<;1 MHz) current modulation leads to temperature modulation, where the injection-locked VCSEL acts predominantly as a phase modulator, with a maximum depth of phase modulation, β, of 0.34 π rad. In the high-frequency (>100 MHz) electronic modulation regime, the VCSEL produces significant amplitude and phase modulation, with a maximum depth of amplitude modulation, m, of 35% and β = 0.47 π rad. The VCSEL's thermal response is much more efficient (requires less RF power) in producing phase modulation than its electronic response. The detailed experimental data on the optical phase modulation response of an injection-locked VCSEL are reported for the first time here and are useful for its many applications.


Mt. Hamiguitan Range in Davao Oriental, Mindanao Island, Philippines is the only protected area with pygmy forest and a priority site for protection and conservation. This range harbors different vegetation types such as agroecosystem, dipterocarp, montane and mossy forests . This study was conducted to determine the diversity of trees and shrubs along vegetation types. Transect walk and 16 sampling plots of 20 x 20 m were established in the different vegetation types. Specimens collected were classified and identified using the Flora Malesiana and type images. Assessment of the status was determined based on International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Findings of the study revealed, 223 species of trees with 141 genera and 71 families, while 46 species of shrubs with 26 genera and 21 families. Respective to the vegetation types, the pygmy forest obtained a comparatively high diversity value for trees and shrubs followed by montane forest. The high species importance value (SIV) of Diospyros philippinensis for trees and Medinilla apoensis for shrubs indicates that these species have an important role in regulating the stability of the ecosystem. Species similarities of trees and shrubs were highest between the montane and pygmy forests. The tree profile of this vegetation type is different due to the ultramafic substrate causing the dwarfism of trees in the pygmy forest, thus, given higher priority for protection and conservation.


E-commerce is one of the popular systems for buying and selling the products. In comment section of products that they have purchased, customer express their opinion based on the quality of product, the attitude of vendor, the delivery of product etc. This information acts as a reference for the new customers, whether they have bought the product or not. To evaluate the users' comments, sentiment analysis is played important roles where this approach not only focuses on the product itself but also the features of product itself. In this work, We have calculated the score /rating of user's sentiment for Amazon products i.e. Mobile phone; by taking the comments from the review section of product which is implied by some words or phrases, are very significant and meaningful to express users' opinion. This approach performs sentiment analysis using lexicon based approach with the help of Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) and compare the result with the Amazon's own product rating. The experimental results prove the effectiveness of the approach


In this joint interview, Geza Kardos describes his early life in a small village outside of Kormend, Hungary. His family were labeled as class aliens because they owned property. Mr. Kardos worked in Zalaegerszeg, Budapest, Kormend. He cycled to Austria border with nothing (forced to leave due to class alien status). He talks about the refugee camp that he stayed in before getting on a boat to Canada. The first Christmas in Canada was difficult. He received a letter from his father in Hamilton. Mr. Kardos talks about Canadian immigration, and ESL classes. He go tmarried, and worked in Wawa and then in Hamilton factories. Mr. Kardos discusses Hungarian Communism at length (Kulaks, the regime AVO, house searches Nagy Imre kormany, Maleter). His children speak Hungarian, and one son has even returned to Hungary. Mr Kardos talks about how fifty years after the revolution, the '56 revolt is not addressed in Hungary in the context it deserves. He says that the west gave no assistance, and that oil was more important than people. Mr. Kardos talks about the reprisals: new dictatorship in Hungary 2005-2006, and also his Hungarian-Canadian identity. He is involved with a seniors group, literature, scouts, and an active member in the Hamilton1956 memorial.


The problem of finding software-related bugs in SoC projects is that, before the SoC returns from the fab, everything has to be run on software simulations or hardware emulators. The emulator is typically faster than a workstation-based simulation but is still orders of magnitude slower than the final, manufactured hardware.


In the last period a dynamic and accentuated development of the embedded systems takes place. More and more embedded systems can be found. The connection of the embedded systems in networks became a necessity. The connection can be with or without physical wires. The ad-hoc networks are a special category of wireless networks. In their classical form they do not have an infrastructure, all the nodes are mobile and do not have any predetermined roles. In this paper a new ad hoc network structure, called Hierarchical Ad Hoc Network, is described. It consists in a server from which different users can access mobile nodes through a level of partially mobile nodes (base stations) connected to Internet. Each mobile node is in the coverage area of a base station. The topology of the proposed ad hoc network is continuously modified because any node can leave the coverage area of a base station and enter the coverage area of another base station. An application is described consisting in a Hierarchical Ad Hoc Network for sending messages by different users to one, part or all of mobile devices from a delimited space.


The blockchain-based traceability system (BTS) can reduce product losses in the perishable goods market, which yields a loss-reduction effect, and offer authentic information, which triggers a premium effect. In a dual-channel perishable goods supply chain (DPGSC), including one supplier and retailer each, the supplier can operate the price of the direct channel, different or non-different from that of the traditional channel. To study the adoption of BTS in the supplier-led DPGSC, we employed a game-theoretical model to capture BTS adoption strategy under the differential and non-differential pricing policies and proposed an improved cost-sharing contract to boost the DPGSC performance. The results indicated that both the supplier and the retailer are willing to improve product quality, broaden the saleable region, and lower the production cost. The adoption of BTS mainly depends on the losses-reduction effect, premium effect, production cost, and tag cost, which is affected more by the premium effect than by the loss-reduction effect. Furthermore, their adoption is not always easier when the production cost is higher. Except for symmetric base demands, they benefit asynchronously from BTS. Synchronised adoptions can be realised only when the improved cost-sharing contract generates more profits and introduces excess momentum. Highlights Blockchain-based traceability system handles product losses and forged information Adoption decision-making processes under two different pricing policies are studied In the adoption process, the premium effect outweighs the loss-reduction effect Contract may introduce insufficient momentum, excess momentum, or new inefficiency Once excess momentum is formed, supply chain members' adoptions become synchronised


Abstract
 This article discusses the alluring topic of olfactory learning, which is often touched on in the literature but is rarely employed. I argue that olfactory learning, at its best, is achieved in contact with living nature, as in the plethora of scents that can be encountered and discussed in ecological context in a forest. An expected outcome is enhanced sensory awareness of the living environment.


True Random Number Generators (TRNGs) create a hardware-based, non-deterministic noise that is used for generating keys, initialization vectors, and nonces in a variety of applications requiring cryptographic protection. A compromised TRNG may lead to a system-wide loss of security. In this brief, we show that an attack combining power analysis with bitstream modification is capable of classifying the output bits of a TRNG implemented in FPGAs from a single power measurement. We demonstrate the attack on the example of an open source AIS-20/31 compliant ring oscillator-based TRNG implemented in Xilinx Artix-7 28nm FPGAs. The combined attack opens a new attack vector which makes possible what is not achievable with pure bitstream modification or side-channel analysis.


The paucity of non-agricultural paid employment, and under utilization of female labour in Uganda, and other sub-Saharan African countries, is often seen to be the next major obstacle to further poverty reduction and development in the region. Despite this there have been few empirical investigations that examine the key determinants of labour market participation for the region. By using nationally representative household data from Uganda this paper identifies some of the key supply side determinants of participation.


The utility model relates to an adapter shell structure for switching the signals between the peripheral device and the motherboard, comprising a shell, a circuit board contained in the shell, a tip connector that is electrically connected with the circuit board and a flexible flat cable, wherein the shell is formed by buckling an upper shell and a lower shell and a plurality of locking projections are formed at the opening place that is close to the rear end inside the upper and lower shells; and the locking projections can be simultaneously resisted against the upper surface and the lower surface of the flexible flat cable, thereby steadily locating the flexible flat cable and further providing the effects of a flexible assembly and a mobile manufacture by means of the flexible flat cable.


Bernoulli's principle states that an increase in the speed of a fluid is directly related to the decrease in the fluid's potential energy. Many engineers refer to Bernoulli's equations to calculate the pressure of a system. The objective of this undergraduate research endeavor is to illustrate the accuracy of his theory and apply it to one of the most common fluid systems in residential homes, a pump pipe system. The research team consisted of a diverse body of undergraduate students with different educational and cultural backgrounds. Completing this objective further improved every member's problem solving, communication skills, self-confidence, ability to rationalize and transcribe physical phenomena as well visually express them to rest of the engineering community. The findings of this research showed a relationship between various parameters such as, pipe length, pipe roughness, diameter, and specific gravity of the liquid.


History of Portugal encompasses the stretch from her earliest times to her first empire in South America, and to her decline in the early nineteenth century, before the rise of her third empire in Africa.


This letter presents a novel device concept of split-current magnetic sensor that is fully compatible with silicon-on-insulator(SOI) FinFET technology. The fabricated dual-gate four-terminal device brings a step change in SOI integrated sensor capabilities, and its measured current-related relative sensitivity is as high as 3400% <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{T}^{-1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at 2 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{A}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of total supply current. The device's very high sensitivity is attributed to its novel current conduction phenomena and the internal magnetic deflection enhancement loop demonstrated using 3-D TCAD numerical simulations. This new magnetic sensor is a very promising candidate for the next generation of magnetic sensitive smart-power integrated circuits.


A method and structure of searching a database containing hypertext documents comprising searching the database using a query to produce a set of hypertext documents; and geometrically clustering the set of hypertext documents into various clusters using a toric k-means similarity measure such that documents within each cluster are similar to each other, wherein the clustering has a linear-time complexity in producing the set of hypertext documents, wherein the similarity measure comprises a weighted sum of maximized individual components of the set of hypertext documents, and wherein the clustering is based upon words contained in each hypertext document, out-links from each hypertext document, and in-links to each hypertext document.


The issue of principals' health and well-being has been recognised for at least the last five years as National and State levels in Australia, and within the State, private and independent school system (Lacey, 2007). Researchers have also linked well-being to work performance. This paper explores the concerns principals may have about viewing innovatively their own Subjective Well-Being as being vitally important to their work performance. Principals are encouraged to place their subjective well-being at the forefront of conversations with the Dialogical Self. The Dialogical Self is a constructionist psychology theory where the 'self' may consist of numerous 'selves', any of which may interact with the others in a dialogical manner, almost like the different perspectives you consider when thinking something through.


Using density functional theory calculations we investigate the electronic structure of graphene doped by deposition of foreign atoms. We demonstrate that, as the charge transfer to the graphene layer increases, the band structure of the pristine graphene sheet is substantially affected. This is particularly relevant when Ca atoms are deposed on graphene at $\mathrm{Ca}{\mathrm{C}}_{6}$ stoichiometry. Similarly to what happens in superconducting graphite intercalated compounds, a Ca band occurs at the Fermi level. Its hybridization with the C states generates a strong nonlinearity in one of the ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{*}$ bands below the Fermi level, at energies comparable to the graphene ${E}_{2g}$ phonon frequency. This strong nonlinearity, and not many-body effects as previously proposed, explains the large and anisotropic values of the apparent electron-phonon coupling measured in angular resolved photoemission.


Background: Increased plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is a driving force of atherosclerosis. Hepatic LDL receptor (LDL-R) expression confers atheroprotection by removing cholesterol from the blood stream. Genetic studies of SIRT1 have predominantly shown to have beneficial effects in metabolic diseases. However, its role in atherosclerosis and lipid metabolism remains controversial.

Purpose: We compared the effects of pharmacological SIRT1 activation on lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE-/-) and LDL-R knockout (LDL-R-/-) mice.

Methods: We placed male ApoE-/- or LDL-R-/- mice on a high-cholesterol diet (1.25% w/w) or the same diet supplemented with the SIRT1 activator SRT3025 (3.18g/kg diet; Sirtris, Cambridge, MA, USA) for 12 weeks and then assessed plasma lipids and cytokines, severity of aortic atherosclerosis, hepatic lipid content and hepatic expression of genes involved in inflammation and lipid homeostasis. In addition, we assessed the effects of SRT3025 on LDL-R expression in hepatic AML12 cells in vitro.

Results: ApoE-/- mice treated with SRT3025 showed less atherosclerosis and steato-hepatitis and had lower levels of plasma cholesterol (LDL- and total cholesterol), TNFα, MCP-1, and IL-6 compared with placebo-treated control mice. LDL-R expression was increased 10-fold in drug-treated ApoE-/- mice. Corresponding SRT3025 experiments in LDL-R-/- mice revealed a loss of atheroprotection without a decrease in plasma cholesterol. In vitro SIRT1 activator treatment of hepatic AML12 cells induced LDL-R expression; this increase was abolished after SIRT1 knockdown.

Conclusions: Pharmacological SIRT1 activation confers atheroprotection through increased hepatic LDL-R protein expression and decreased plasma LDL cholesterol. Our findings identify induction of hepatic LDL-R expression as a novel downstream effect of SIRT1 activity and highlight the potential of SIRT1 activation as an anti-atherosclerotic strategy.


The study was undertaken to evaluate improvement in diastolic function by measuring peak filling rate (PFR) of left ventricle in 57 patients (pts) undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Twenty seven patients had coronary artery disease (CAD) but no history of myocardial infarction (MI) (Group 1). Twenty three patients had documented (MI) but no aneurysms (Group 2). Group 3 had 7 patients with CAD and aneurysms. The pre and post operative ejection fraction (EF) and PFR were calculated from the time activity curve of resting gated cardiac studies performed so that the time per frame was 0.03 sec. The authors conclude that PFR is a more sensitive index than EF in evaluating the post-operative improvement in ventricular function in patients undergoing CABG especially in patients with normal wall motion and normal ejection fraction and will be a useful index to use for the follow-up of these patients. Improvement in PFR correlated well with the post-operative course of the patients. All patients who decreased thin PFR had a complicated post-op-course.


A greenfield installation of an all-optical system that adjusts to the in force regulation in one-family housings is developed. The reproduction of the final section of the access network, it offers a spatial and descriptive vision of the


In this paper we consider the following problem: Given a set @@@@ of <italic>n</italic> (possibly intersecting) line segments in the plane, preprocess them so that, given a query ray <italic>&rgr;</italic> emanating from a point <italic>p</italic>, we can quickly compute the intersection point &PHgr;(@@@@, <italic>&rgr;</italic>) of <italic>&rgr;</italic> with a segment of @@@@ that lies nearest to <italic>p</italic>. We present an algorithm that preprocesses @@@@, in time <italic>&Ogr;</italic>(<italic>n</italic><supscrpt>3/2</supscrpt> log<supscrpt>ω</supscrpt> <italic>n</italic>), into a data structure of size <italic>&Ogr;</italic>(<italic>n</italic>α(<italic>n</italic>) log<supscrpt>4</supscrpt> <italic>n</italic>), so that for a query ray <italic>&rgr;</italic>, &PHgr;(@@@@, <italic>&rgr;</italic>) can be computed in <italic>&Ogr;</italic>(√<italic>n</italic>log<supscrpt>3</supscrpt> <italic>n</italic>), where ω is a constant < 4.3 and α(<italic>n</italic>) is a functional inverse of Ackermann's function. If the given segments are non-intersecting, the storage goes down to <italic>&Ogr;</italic>(<italic>n</italic>log<supscrpt>3</supscrpt> <italic>n</italic>) and the query time is only <italic>&Ogr;</italic>(√<italic>n</italic> log<supscrpt>2</supscrpt> <italic>n</italic>). The main tool that we use is spanning trees with low stabbing number, i.e. with the property that no line intersects more than <italic>&Ogr;</italic>(√<italic>n</italic>) edges of the tree. Using such trees we obtain faster algorithms for several other problems, including implicit point location, polygon containment and implicit hidden surface removal.


The utility model relates to a close absorbing exhaust hood, which mainly consists of an outer casing, a wind rotor, an air inlet, an air inlet halftone, a motor, a gas skirt and an air course; the lower of the outer casing has a cant on which the gas skirt is positioned; the gas skirt has the air inlet; the air course is positioned at the lower of the outer casing, in which the wind rotor is arranged; the central axis of the wind rotor is horizontal laid, which is fixedly connected to the output shaft of the motor through a driving gear. The fan system of the close absorbing exhaust hood is arranged at the positioned lower than the mounting position of a prior European exhaust hood by 150 mm to 250 mm, the air inlet of the fan system is closer to a lampblack source, so as to add the pumping effect and enlarge the positive pumping area and have an absorbing ratio more than 99 percent. At the same time, as the air course is positioned at the lower of the outer casing and the wind rotor is positioned in the air course, thus unloading, maintenance and cleaning are all operated in the horizontal direction; and once the air inlet halftone is unloaded, the wind rotor is directly maintained and the mounting process is very convenient.


Viscosity measurements have been performed on three binary hydrocarbon mixtures at atmospheric pressure in the temperature range 15-70°C. The binary mixtures reported are n-dodecane-n-hexane, n-dodecane-benzene, and n-dodecane-cyclohexane at n-dodecane mole fractions of 1.0, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25, and 0. The viscosities of the pure liquids are described by a modified Arrhenius equation and the mixtures by a modified Grundberg and Nissan equation with a standard deviation in fit of 0.4% or less


Heavy metal is one of the widespread environmental contaminants in Indonesian coastal waters. These heavy metals have a potential negative impact on the aquatic organism and the people who consumed it. Most seaweed cultivation in Indonesia is located in urbanized estuaries, cultivated seaweed can accumulate contaminants such as heavy metals. This study focuses on the analysis of heavy metals such as lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in Gracilaria sp. and Eucheuma cottonii from various cultivation areas in Java, Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to find out whether seaweed can pose a potential risk to consumers and know the source of heavy metal contamination. The Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) method was used to determine the heavy metal level in seaweed. These results indicate generally that heavy metal contents of seaweeds cultivated urbanized estuaries should be monitored since accumulation appears to be site-dependent. Seaweed that cultivated in locations around the industry with poor waste management has an impact on higher levels of heavy metal.


An interview with the Stiff Gins, which is made up of Nardi Simpson, from Yuwaalaraay people with roots in Sydney's inner west and country New South Wales, and Kaleena Briggs from the Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta people, is a vocal duo known for their stunning harmonies, is presented. The two young, proud and exceptionally talented black women draw on their friendship and their strong ties to family and community as a basis for contesting official forms of history and generating new forms of historical imagination.


Pollution with different types is one of the major problems that threaten our planet. Very large amounts of pollutants are emitted worldwide and cause to the health of the humans and the environment, which will cause a decrease in resources for sustainable development of the planet. It is therefore essential to seek scientific solutions to reduce these hazardous emissions. In this context, the development of new materials to detect and clean up liquid and gas emissions from all sources is inevitable. The rare earth oxides have been used for many years to improve the reactivity, selectivity and stability of the catalysts. These oxides include cerium and bismuth oxide, which have been electrodeposited on several substrates under galvanostatic condition from aqueous solutions. The X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies revealed that as deposited films are nanocristalline, and the films are porous and the surface morphology changes with variation of several parameters (Current, substrate...).


The creep-fatigue resistance of turbine rotor seriously affects the reliability performance and service lifetime of aircraft engine. Creep-fatigue reliability assessment is an effective measure to quantify the uncertain creep-fatigue damage and evaluate the creep-fatigue reliable life for turbine rotor. To improve the modeling accuracy and simulation efficiency of creep-fatigue reliability assessment, a multi-surrogate collaboration approach (MSCA) is proposed by absorbing the strengths of the proposed dynamic neural network surrogate (DNNS) into distributed collaborative strategy. The creep-fatigue reliability assessment of a typical turbine rotor is regarded as one case to estimate the presented MSCA with respect to the fluctuations of multi-physical variables and the variabilities of multi-model parameters. The assessment results reveal that the creep-fatigue reliable life of turbine rotor under reliability degree of 0.998 7 is 629 cycles, and the fatigue strength coefficient and holding creep time play a leading role on creep-fatigue reliable life since their effect probabilities of 27 % and 19 %, respectively. Comparison of various methods (direct Monte Carlo simulation, response surface, neural network surrogate, DNNS) shows that the presented MSCA holds high efficiency and accuracy in creep-fatigue reliability assessment of turbine rotor.


e24160Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are the main drugs for immunotherapy. Their efficacy comes at the expense of adverse events including immune-related adverse events (IRAEs). Th...


We present a diagnostic technique based on optical diffraction imaging to detect orientation of defects during self-assembly of photonic crystals. This will be useful to evaluate various methods currently being tried to minimize the defects.


A recurrence relationship allows structure factors to be rapidly calculated for a trial structure translated to alternative sites in the unit cell.


A catch–survey analysis was developed for 11 Tanner crab stocks in Southeast Alaska. The models were applied to pot survey and commercial catch data time series ranging from 1999–2005 to 1978–2005, depending on the availability of data for each stock. The models fit the pot survey data very well for 9 out of 11 stocks. The models estimated absolute abundance for mature and legal males and relative abundance for mature females. The trends of absolute male abundance estimates differed among some stocks, and there was no a consistent pattern of male recruitment to the model for all 11 Tanner crab stocks. Mature male abundance and recruitment to the model declined during recent years for several stocks. Although legal harvest rates have been lower during the recent 10 years than for the previous period, overall harvest rates are still very high for some stocks. Authors: Jie Zheng is a fisheries scientist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Commercial Fisheries, P.O. Box 115526, Juneau, Alaska 99811-5526. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com. JAnet M. ruMble and gretchen h. bishop are fishery biologists with the Southeast Regional Office, P.O. Box 110024, Juneau, AK 99811-0024. Acknowledgments: This report is funded in part by a cooperative agreement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its sub-agencies. We thank Doug Woodby and Kyle Hebert of Alaska Department of Fish and Game for initiating this project, John Clark for helping to standardize pot survey indices, and an anonymous reviewer for the helpful comments. This is contribution PP-246 of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Commercial Fisheries, Juneau. InTRoDUCTIon Tanner crabs Chionoecetes bairdi support a small and relatively stable fishery in Southeast Alaska. The directed pot fishery began in the 1960s, and the catch peaked at over 3 million lb in the 1981/1982 season and has fluctuated between 1 and 3 million lb since then (Bishop and Stratman 2006). The season length for this fishery has gone from year-round in the 1960s and 1970s to only a few days in recent years. In addition to size and sex limits, the fishery has been regulated by limited entry for pot gear, a vessel pot limit, and a guideline harvest level of 2 million lb since the 1981/1982 season. Tanner crabs occur in many bays and inside waters of Southeast Alaska. No comprehensive study of stock identification has been conducted. Because Tanner crabs distribute discretely within the inside waters of Southeast Alaska, and survey-area-specific management measures have been taken, we assume, for the purpose of this study, that Tanner crabs within each survey area constitute a discrete stock. Many Tanner crab stocks in Southeast Alaska have been surveyed annually during summer or fall since 1979. Yet the survey data have not been modeled to obtain abundance estimates. In this study, we conducted catch–survey analyses for 11 stocks for which survey data are available. DATA AnD METHoDS


The rheological properties of arrowroot starch suspension (2-6%) were investigated with a tube viscometer. The starch suspensions of less , 4% showed a dilatant behavior with no yield stress at the temperature range of . However, the starch suspension of 6% concentration showed a pseudoplastic behavior at . The consistency index was exponentially increased with the increase of the starch concentration. The activation energy of flow of the starch suspensions was 0.370-0.399 kcal/mole at and 28-60 kcal/mole at .


This paper studies a novel temporal data index framework that can realize the functions of balanced tree and unbalanced tree and apply it to the corresponding situations. First, as opposed to the conventional algebra-based model, the paper proposes the concept of temporal quasi-order and discusses the data structure on which the framework is established. Second, it researches the operations of the index framework that can accomplish the querying schema for "one time, one set" and the dynamic management mechanism of incremental updating. Third, the index framework is applied to the mode of temporal data indexing with balanced tree and unbalanced tree, and the latter is mainly used for application interfaces with temporal XML and moving object data. The cooperation between the time information and data ontology is then studied deliberately. Finally, simulations are designed to compare the index framework with some related works, and the results support its feasibility and efficiency. Supported by mathematical principles and focusing on configuration of integration between the data ontology and time constraints, the framework is suitable for normal situations such as temporal relation or temporal object relation, which are based on balanced tree and may be considered as general index schemas for some new types of temporal data such as XML, object-oriented, and moving object data. The results of this paper are significant for theoretical research and practical applications.


Background: Age may affect treatment outcome in trials of mild probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). Objective: We examined age as a moderator of outcome in an exploratory study of deep brain stimulation targeting the fornix (DBS-f) region in participants with AD. Methods: Forty-two participants were implanted with DBS electrodes and randomized to double-blind DBS-f stimulation ("on") or sham DBS-f ("off") for 12 months. Results: The intervention was safe and well tolerated. However, the selected clinical measures did not differentiate between the "on" and "off" groups in the intent to treat (ITT) population. There was a significant age by time interaction with the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale; ADAS-cog-13 (p = 0.028). Six of the 12 enrolled participants < 65 years old (50%) markedly declined on the ADAS-cog-13 versus only 6.7%of the 30 participants≥65 years old regardless of treatment assignment (p = 0.005). While not significant, post-hoc analyses favored DBS-f "off" versus "on" over 12 months in the < 65 age group but favored DBS-f "on" versus "off" in the≥65 age group on all clinical metrics. On the integrated Alzheimer's Disease rating scale (iADRS), the effect size contrasting DBS-f "on" versus "off" changed from +0.2 (favoring "off") in the < 65 group to –0.52 (favoring "on") in the≥65 age group. Conclusion: The findings highlight issues with subject selection in clinical trials for AD. Faster disease progression in younger AD participants with different AD sub-types may influence the results. Biomarker confirmation and genotyping to differentiate AD subtypes is important for future clinical trials.


Based on the principles of the electric actuators and the problems existed in the field applications,this paper mainly introduces the design outline of the position adjusting type modules used as the technical transformation of the electric actuators.


Contractile function was examined in both isolated cardiomyocytes and hearts subjected to ischaemic injury. We found that DRRSAb (0.125-2.0 mM) concentration-dependently stimulated the activity of NKA in rat or mouse kidney tissues. Moreover, DRRSAb increased the amplitudes of cell shortening and electrically induced (Ca 2+ )i tran- sients in rat or mouse cardiac myocytes. These effects were significantly attenuated by blockade of either extracellu- lar signal regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) with PD98059 or Src with herbimycin A, suggesting a role of ERK1/2 and Src kinases in the positive inotropic effect of DRRSAb. More importantly, DRRSAb significantly increased cell survival rates for at least 24 h after isolating from the heart. Activation of NKA also protected hearts against ischaemic injury in both cardiomyocytes and isolated hearts. The protective effect was reversed by blockade of ERK1/2 or phos- phoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt but not by inhibition of protein kinase C. The involvement of ERK1/2 and PI3K/Akt was further confirmed by examining the phosphorylation of these kinases with western blot analysis. Conclusion Activation of NKA with DRRSAb induces both positive inotropic and cardioprotective effects via stimulation of Src/ PI3K/Akt/ERK1/2 pathways. The unique properties of DRRSAb may make NKA antibody a promising drug to treat heart failure.


In this paper a bioeconomic simulation of the U.S. fisheries for silver hake, Merluccius bilinearis, is presented. The model design combines elements of age-structured population and harvest yield models with economics of the silver hake fishery. The analysis evaluates both biological and economic effects of interest to managers, such as future yields or rebuilding of parental stock, as well as future revenues and net returns to vessels. The bioeconomic model is used to evaluate the economic implications of tradeoffs between alternative selection patterns in the U.S. Atlantic silver hake fishery. Throughout the study, a selection pattern is defined as the suite of age-specific selection coefficients that are applied to a fish population over time. The results indicate that shifting fishing pressure to younger age classes could result in short-run gains in economic value that may not be sustainable due to longer run declines in biomass, hence lowered fishery yield and value. By contrast, strategies to delay age at first capture may improve economic value over current levels with only modest reductions in short-run fishery yield.


Transient absorption signals observed after picosecond laser excitation of Methylene Blue (MB+) bound to double-stranded polydeoxyguanylic-deoxycytidylic acid {poly[d(G–C)]·poly[d(G–C)]} are assigned to the dye's singlet excited state reacting with a lifetime of 4 ps to form the electron-transfer product (MB˙·G˙+˙) which itself decays with a lifetime of 130 ps.


Aims. We demonstrate that reliable photometric distances of stellar clusters, and more generally of stars, can be obtained using pseudomagnitudes and rough spectral type without having to correct for visual absorption.
Methods. We determine the mean absolute pseudomagnitude of all spectral (sub)types between B and K. Distances are computed from the difference between the star's observed pseudomagnitude and its spectral type's absolute pseudomagnitude. We compare the distances of 30 open clusters thus derived against the distances derived from TGAS parallaxes.
Results. Our computed distances, up to distance modulus 12, agree within 0.1 mag rms with those obtained from TGAS parallaxes, proving excellent distance estimates. We show additionally that there are actually two markedly different distances in the cluster NGC 2264.
Conclusions. We suggest that the pseudomagnitude distance estimation method, which is easy to perform, can be routinely used in all large-scale surveys where statistical distances on a set of stars, such as an open cluster, are required.


As Chairman of the Health Committee, I extend to you a very hearty greeting. I hope that by meeting together to discuss questions which vitally affect our people's health, we may encourage each other to put into practice those high ideals which, as administrators, we must possess, if we appreciate the responsibility of our important positions as public representatives. At no time in our nation's history have Local Authorities been confronted with so many financial and grave responsibilities as at the present day ; nor at any period has the Ministry of Health asked us to carry out so many varied and onerous duties as now.


Taking five straight cylinder Chinese cabbage varieties as materials, major nutrients and mineral elements of blade and petiole were measured. The results showed that different varieties of straight cylinder Chinese cabbage all contained rich protein, Vc and soluble sugar, and there were significant difference among them. The content of protein, Vc and soluble sugar in blade were higher than that in petiole. The content of protein and Vc in blade of rosette leaf were the highest, in blade of within leaf were the lowest. The content of protein, Vc and soluble sugar in petiole of within leaf were the highest, in petiole of rosette leaf were the lowest. The content of Vc in Xinxiang 903 was the highest. The content of protein and soluble sugar in Tianjinqingmaye were the highest. Ca and P content in five varieties were the highest, Ca, P, Fe and Mn in outside leaf were higher than that in inside leaf of the same variety.


This paper presents phase equilibrium data for the clathrate hydrates formed in two three-component systemsa difluoromethane + cyclopentane + water system and a difluoromethane + tetra-n-butylammonium bromide + water system. The vapor + liquid + liquid + hydrate four-phase equilibrium in the former system was measured at pressures from 0.027 MPa to 1.544 MPa and at temperatures from 280.45 K to 299.75 K, while the vapor + liquid + hydrate three-phase equilibrium in the latter system was measured at pressures from 0.175 MPa to 1.215 MPa and temperatures from 286.45 K to 289.95 K. The pressure in the former four-phase equilibrium was found to be lower than that in the two-component difluoromethane + water system by an extent from 0.3 MPa to 0.9 MPa over the temperature range from 280.45 K to 294.1 K, the upper quadruple point for the two-component system. The three-phase equilibrium pressure of the difluoromethane + tetra-n-butylammonium bromide + water system has a strong temperature dependency such that, ...


An expert system service that deals with public problems or wide ranges of users basically requires an alternative medium, which is accessible. This paper proposes interface expansion for Web and WAP based expert system consulting application using an Android application interface. An open and accessible web service is developed to provide an access to the Android application to reach the knowledge base in the form of a decision tree stored in a particular database. The Android application employs HTTP for accessing data in a JSON format through web service. Then, the consultation mechanism would run interactively following an available path in the decision tree model from initial symptom identification to reach a conclusion.


A patient with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome had psoriatic plaques that were congruent with the vitiliginous lesions. Other manifestations of the Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome in this patient were bilateral uveitis, poliosis, alopecia, and canities. Dysacousia was absent.


Given a set of dictionary filters, the most widely used formulation of the convolutional sparse coding (CSC) problem is Convolutional BPDN (CBPDN), in which an image is represented as a sum over a set of convolutions of coefficient maps; usually, the coefficient maps are ℓ<inf>1</inf>-norm penalized in order to enforce a sparse solution. Recent theoretical results, have provided meaningful guarantees for the success of popular ℓ<inf>1</inf>-norm penalized CSC algorithms in the noiseless case. However, experimental results related to the ℓ<inf>0</inf>-norm penalized CSC case have not been addressed.In this paper we propose a two-step ℓ<inf>0</inf>-norm penalized CSC (ℓ<inf>0</inf>-CSC) algorithm, which outperforms (convergence rate, reconstruction performance and sparsity) known solutions to the ℓ<inf>0</inf>-CSC problem. Furthermore, our proposed algorithm, which is a convolutional extension of our previous work [1], originally develop for the ℓ<inf>0</inf> regularized optimization problem, includes an escape strategy to avoid being trapped in a saddle points or in inferior local solutions, which are common in nonconvex optimization problems, such those that use the ℓ<inf>0</inf>-norm as the penalty function.


Abstract: Methyl bromide (MeBr) is an effective pre-plant soil fumigant, highly efficient herbicide, nematicide, insecticide, and fungicide, and it is used for many high-input, high-value crops to control soil pests. Being identified as a substance that depletes the ozone layer, MeBr was scheduled under the Montreal Protocol to be completely phased-out by 2005 in developed countries and 2015 in developing countries. Ozone is often used to disinfect drinking water and wastewater due to its oxidizing properties (Van Leeuwen 1996; Van Leeuwen et al. 2003). In this paper, ozone was experimented on three soil pests: Fusarium oxysporum, Phytophthora sojae and nematodes, to test its potential as an alternative to methyl bromide in soil disinfection. Samples of conidial suspensions of F. oxysporum treated with ozone, resulted in total killing of the pathogen with a dose as low as 0.84 mgO 3 /L at high ozone gas concentrations, while 31.8 mgO 3 /L killed 41% of spores in suspension at a lower gas concentration. These findings reveal the importance of gas-phase concentration (GPC), which means that at higher GPC (using oxygen as ozone carrier) the ozonation is much more efficient in killing the pathogen. The bioassay on Phytophthora resulted in 100% inhibition of the disease at a dose of 0.47 mgO 3 /kg soil. The ozonation of nematode-infected soil showed that ozone LD50 on nematodes is less than 0.5 mgO 3 /kg soil. The findings of this research imply that ozone might be an efficient and sustainable alternative to MeBr, especially that it degenerates quickly into oxygen, an environmentally-safe, non-toxic residue.


For those who wish to escape the penalty of "tunnel vision" that past myths and Kuhnian conceptions of paradigm succession appear to exact, American Structuralism is especially timely and interesting. It traces the development of the organized structure of language study in the United States, showing the changing, often remote, relationships between the actual history whose outlines emerge from documentary evidence, and the image of that history to be found in most writings of linguists and others.


The poems of Du Fu mentioned the children in many poems, although only a few of his poems to the children. Those moving poems reflect the life experiences of his own. They revealed the (A.D.695-905) and can be regarded as a mirror of that times. Most of all, he in his poems and placed great promise on them in the dark


What are the limits to religious expression in Muslim majority countries? This paper presents evidence from 47 predominantly Islamic countries to demonstrate that non-Muslim and Muslim minority groups are subject to repression and discrimination in both secular and religious states. Examining the structure of religious regulation in Muslim countries, I argue that religious discrimination and repression results from a combination of selective use of Islamic law and the nature of power relations. Certain Islamic traditions can be interpreted intolerantly, while competition over the distribution of resources and control of the state contribute to the unequal treatment of both Muslim and non-Muslim minorities. Intolerance of Muslim groups is a result of state-centered policies that attempt to control all aspects of religious expression by formulating a single official version of Islam.


During formation of plexiform neurofibroma (PN), a complex tumor microenvironment (TME) develops, with recruitment of other cell types being critical for growth and progression. Approximately 10% of PN can undergo transformation into malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) which is a substantial cause of mortality in older teenagers and young adults. We sought to apply single cell transcriptomic analysis to PN and MPNST to provide a clearer understanding of the complex TME and how this contributes to transformation and disease progression. Due to the cohesive cellularity of PN, single-cell RNA-sequencing is difficult and may result in a loss of detection of critical cellular subpopulations. Single-nuclei RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) is an alternative approach that can be applied to fibrous and bulk frozen tissues, such as NF1-associated PN. Our initial snRNA-seq analysis of PN indicates that PN have a TME comprised of a variety of cellular subpopulations, with the predominant fraction being fibroblast-like cells. snRNA-seq analysis of MPNST also shows high cellular heterogeneity, including distinct fibroblast-like subpopulations distinct from PN fibroblast clusters, increased proliferating populations and antigen presenting cells. MPNST cluster separately from PN, suggesting an evolutionary shift in tumor biology. We are currently validating our findings using Visium spatial transcriptomic profiling, allowing us to apply TME architectural context to the PN and MPNST subpopulations identified by snRNA-seq. These techniques provide a deeper understanding of the complex cellular heterogeneity of human PN and MPNST that has not previously been used to describe the TME of these tumors. The mechanisms of tumorigenesis and malignancy described can provide targets for novel therapies ultimately benefitting patients with these devastating tumors of childhood and early adulthood.


The invention provides a metadata distributed storage method applicable to a cloud storage system. The method comprises the following steps: carrying out signature operation on a data block through an SHA-1 (secure hash algorithm-1); carrying out distributed storage on the calculated data block; and carrying out mixed storage on the data block and metadata through a mapping method. With the adoption of the metadata distributed storage method applicable to the cloud storage system disclosed by the invention, the problem that the traditional metadata storage needs a special metadata server is solved, and the storage of the metadata and the storage of block data can be directly merged, so that the safety and expandability of the metadata are improved, and the problem that a whole storage network cannot be used by single point failure of the metadata is avoided.


What does it truly take to provide excellent library service to children? The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has outlined seven core competencies - skills that are building blocks for professional development for children's librarians. In this practical guide, three children's services experts bring these skills to life. Use this primer to develop and sharpen skills and access resources to improve professionalism and skills in: knowledge of the client group; administration and management; communication; materials and collection development; programming; and, advocacy, public relations, and networking.


The collision strengths for low-energy electron excitation of OI from the ground level to the 2p3(4S)3p 3P and 5P excited levels have been calculated using the distorted wave Born-Oppenheimer approximation, and the 5P collision strength using the exchange-distorted wave Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Difficulty with the orthogonality properties of the radial functions of the 3p orbitals leads to an investigation of the approximate atomic wave functions used in the calculations. A comparison of fine-structure separations suggests that for the 3P excited level a single-configuration Hartree-Fock wave function with one parent term is insufficiently accurate for the calculation of these collision strengths. A similar comparison leads to an improved estimate of the 5P collision strength, though various corrections to the estimate might modify it within wide bounds. A method of calculating certain exchange integrals is described. It is concluded that before calculating collision cross sections for similar processes, great care should be taken to ensure that the atomic wave functions are sufficiently accurate.


Nitric oxide has been proposed to be transported by hemoglobin as a third respiratory gas and to elicit vasodilation by an oxygen-linked (allosteric) mechanism. For hemoglobin to transport nitric oxide bioactivity it must capture nitric oxide as iron nitrosyl hemoglobin rather than destroy it by dioxygenation. Once bound to the heme iron, nitric oxide has been reported to migrate reversibly from the heme group of hemoglobin to the β-93 cysteinyl residue, in response to an oxygen saturation-dependent conformational change, to form an S-nitrosothiol. However, such a transfer requires redox chemistry with oxidation of the nitric oxide or β-93 cysteinyl residue. In this article, we examine the ability of nitric oxide to undergo this intramolecular transfer by cycling human hemoglobin between oxygenated and deoxygenated states. Under various conditions, we found no evidence for intramolecular transfer of nitric oxide from either cysteine to heme or heme to cysteine. In addition, we observed that contaminating nitrite can lead to formation of iron nitrosyl hemoglobin in deoxygenated hemoglobin preparations and a radical in oxygenated hemoglobin preparations. Using 15N-labeled nitrite, we clearly demonstrate that nitrite chemistry could explain previously reported results that suggested apparent nitric oxide cycling from heme to thiol. Consistent with our results from these experiments conducted in vitro, we found no arterial/venous gradient of iron nitrosyl hemoglobin detectable by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. Our results do not support a role for allosterically controlled intramolecular transfer of nitric oxide in hemoglobin as a function of oxygen saturation.


Guinea pig peritoneal macrophages, when activated for cytotoxicity by the calcium ionophore A23187 or lipopolysaccharide, produce a cytotoxic factor [macrophage cytotoxic factor (MO-CF)] that is not blocked by catalase or protease inhibitors. Fractionation of culture supernates containing MO-CF by gel filtration revealed one peak of cytotoxic activity of Mr 45,000, the same as guinea pig lymphotoxin (LT). Antiserum prepared against purified guinea pig LT completely neutralized the cytotoxic activity of MO-CF. In addition, the cytotoxic factor in guinea pig tumor necrosis serum was found to have a Mr of 45,000 and was neutralized by anti-LT. Thus, MOb-CF is physicochemically and immunochemically similar to LT and tumor necrosis factor, if not identical. To investigate the role of MO-CF in macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity, anti-LT was added to A23187or lipopolysaccharide-activated macrophages before addition of L929 target cells. In 10 of 16 experiments, the inhibition of macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity was 100%. In the others, cytotoxicity was blocked partially, the lowest inhibition being 49%. The effectiveness of inhibition appeared to be inversely related to the intensity of macrophage activation. These results indicate that MyCF plays a significant role in macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity but involvement of another mechanism cannot be excluded. Extracellular cytotoxic reactions mediated by macrophages have been attributed to a number of substances from these cells, such as metabolites of oxygen, the enzymes arginase and neutral protease, complement fragment C3a, a membrane-associated toxic substance, and the cytotoxic factor in tumor necrosis serum (TNS) (1-6). The relevance of some of these substances appears to depend on the mode of activation and on the design of the cytotoxic system (7-9). As reviewed in detail in the Discussion, a number of investigators have studied soluble factors from lymphocytes and macrophages that appear similar to lymphotoxin (LT). Also, their possible relationship to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) has been noted. In previous studies, we have shown that mouse macrophages, when activated for tumor cytotoxicity by A23187 or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), produce a cytotoxic factor [macrophage cytotoxic factor (M4)-CF)] of Mr 45,000, which has properties resembling those of LT (10), a product of stimulated lymphoid cells (11). We have extended these studies by investigating the relationship of M4-CF to LT and other cytotoxins and also by examining the role of M4-CF in macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity. Experiments were done with guinea pigs because of the availability of an antiserum directed against purified guinea pig LT. In the present paper, we demonstrate that guinea pig macrophages produce a McfCF similar to the mouse M4-CF and that the cytotoxic activity of guinea pig M4-CF can be completely neutralized by anti-LT. Similarly, the cytotoxic factor present in guinea pig TNS, referred to as TNF, is also neutralized by anti-LT. Finally, the cytotoxicity of guinea pig macrophages is inhibited by anti-LT, which indicates that MO-CF plays a major role in the cytotoxicity of these cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS Reagents. LPS was prepared as described (12). Stock solutions of the calcium ionophore A23187 (Sigma or Calbiochem) were prepared by dissolving it in dimethyl sulfoxide at a concentration of 10 mM; solvent alone had no activating effect on macrophages. At the concentrations used, all A23187 solutions were free of detectable LPS, as measured in Limulus amebocyte lysate assays (Difco). Catalase was obtained as a sterile aqueous solution from Calbiochem. Aprotinin, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor, and N-a-p-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone were purchased from Sigma. Macrophage-Mediated Cytotoxicity Assay. The tissue culture medium (TCM) and the cytotoxicity assay are the same as previously described (12), except for the following modifications. Guinea pig peritoneal exudate cells, 3 X 105 in TCM, were added to microtiter wells. Subsequently, nonadherent cells were removed. The incubation period with target cells was extended to 42 hr to insure completion of the cytotoxic reaction. The L-929 cell line, which is sensitive to M4-CF, LT, and TNF, was used as the target cell. LT, MO-CF, and TNS Production. LT was prepared from guinea pig lymph node cell suspensions stimulated with 10 ,ug of concanavalin A per ml for 24 hr as described (13). For the production of M4-CF, starch-elicited guinea pig peritoneal exudate cells were allowed to adhere to a plastic dish for 2.5 hr in TCM (106 cells per cm2). The dish was washed to remove nonadherent cells and cultured with activators for various times at 37C. For kinetic experiments of M4-CF production, the macrophage monolayers were cultured in the presence of activating agents for 4 hr and were washed with TCM. Supernates collected at various times were then assayed for MOCF activity. For antibody neutralization experiments, ionophore-induced M4-CF was generated by incubating macrophage monolayers for 4 hr with 20 AM A23187 in TCM, washing with TCM, and culturing in TCM for 4 hr. LPS-induced M4-CF was produced by culturing macrophage monolayers for 6 hr with 10 ug of LPS per ml in TCM. The M4-CF used in chromatography studies was prepared by culturing macrophages continuously with 10 AtM A23187 and 10 Ag of LPS per ml in RPMI 1640 with antibiotics for 18 hr. TNS was produced essentially as described by Carswell et al. (14). Hartley guinea pigs were injected intravenously with 4 X Abbreviations: LT, lymphotoxin; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; M4-CF, macrophage cytotoxic factor; NRS, normal rabbit serum; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; TNS, tumor necrosis serum. 6341 The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. D ow nl oa de d by g ue st o n Ju ly 1 0, 2 02 0 6342 Immunology: Zacharchuk et al. 107 colony-forming units of bacillus Calmette-Guerin, Phipps substrain TMC 1029 (Trudeau Institute, Saranac Lake, NY), and were challenged intravenously 14 days later with 20 pug of LPS. Two hours after LPS injection, blood was collected by cardiac puncture and used to prepare the TNS. Cytotoxicity Assay of M4-CF, LT, and TNF. Killing of the L-929 cell line was used to measure the cytotoxic activity of soluble factors, essentially as described by Ruff and Gifford (15). Serial 1:2 or 1:3 dilutions (final volume, 0.1 ml) of test samples were made in 96-well microtiter plates (Costar, Cambridge, MA) with a multi-channel pipette (Flow Laboratories). L-929 cells (5 x 104 cells per 0.1 ml) were then added to the microtiter plates in the presence of actinomycin D (Cosmegan, Merck Sharpe and Dohme), giving a final concentration of 1 ttg/ml. The cells were incubated at 370C for 18 hr. the supernates were discarded, and the remaining viable adherent cells were stained by immersing the microtiter plates in a beaker of crystal violet (0.2% in 2% ethanol) for 10 min. Microtiter plates were rinsed with tap water and 0.1 ml of 1% sodium lauryl sulfate was added to each well to solubilize the stained cells. The absorbance of each well was read at 470 nm with a model MR 580 Microelisa Autoreader (Dynatech, Alexandria, VA). Percent cytotoxicity is calculated by the following formula, in which Asample is absorbance of the sample at 570 nm and Awnlll is that of the well containing TCM only: % cytotoxicity = (1 Asample/Acontrol) X100. Cytotoxic activity was quantitated by plotting % cytotoxicity versus log sample dilution to linearize the dose-response curve. A least squares analysis of the data points allowed interpolation of the reciprocal dilution of sample at 50% cytotoxicity, which yielded the sample activity in units/ml. A unit of cytotoxicity is arbitrarily defined as the reciprocal dilution of sample required to reduce the absorbance by 50%. HPLC. M4-CF samples were fractionated on a Bio-Sil TSK125 gel filtration column (Bio-Rad) by using a Waters HPLC system (Waters Associates) consisting of a 6000 A pump, a model 660 solvent programer, a model 450 variable-wavelength absorption detector, and a model 730 data module. The column was equilibrated with 10mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) containing 0.2 M Na2SO4. Chromatography conditions are given in the figure legends. For calibration, thyroglobulin, ovalbumin, myoglobin, and phenylalanine were used. Neutralization of MO-CF, LT, andTNF with Anti-LT. Rabbit anti-guinea pig LT was raised against a purified LT preparation as described by Gately et al. (16). Briefly, culture fluids from ovalbumin-immune guinea pig lymph node cells stimulated with ovalbumin were concentrated by ultrafiltration and fractionated by Pevikon block electrophoresis, DEAE-cellulose chromatography, and polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. Only one stainable protein band was observed that coeluted with LT activity. Purification of control supernates also yielded a similar protein band, indicating that the purified LT preparation contained at least one major contaminant. Rabbits were immunized subcutaneously with purified LT in complete Freund adjuvant at 2-wk intervals. The animals were bled 10 days after each immunization and the sera were tested for the ability to neutralize LT activity. Gately et al. (16) reported that antibody raised in this manner did not neutralize the action of migrationinhibitory factor or macrophage-activating factor nor did it interfere with the production of these factors by lymphocytes. For the neutralization experiments, equal volumes of LT, TNF, or M4-CF were mixed with various dilutions of normal rabbit serum (NRS) or anti-LT. Samples were incubated for 20 hr at 4°C and then assayed in duplicate for residual cytotoxic activity. This antiserum did not crossreact with mouse LT, M4-CF, or TNS. RESULTS Activation of Guinea Pig Macrophages for Cytotoxicity and for M#


The invention discloses herba saussureae involucratae concentrated juice and a preparation method thereof. The method comprises the following steps of: peeling herba saussureae involucratae fruits, crushing the pulps into juice, fermenting for 1 to 2 hours to generate inulase, primarily filtering, filtering, performing ultrafiltration and concentrating to prepare the concentrated juice. The herba saussureae involucratae concentrated juice can effectively reduce hyperlipaemia and control cholesterol and diabetes, and has the effects of health care and treatment.


Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) is a comprehensive program on conservation and adaptive management of important agricultural heritage sites on the globe launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other international institutions.This program aims to establish a basis for global recognition,dynamic conservation and sustainable management of such systems and associated landscapes,biodiversity,knowledge systems and cultures throughout the world.Since the agricultural heritage system is a new type of heritage and has been considered one of new tourism resources recently,tourism resources at agricultural heritage sites are different from other types of tourism resources.In general,they bear specific and unique,wide-spreading,fragile,participative and comprehensive characteristics,which are dominating factors affecting evaluation of the tourism development at agricultural heritage sites.Accessibility was found to be a critical factor for tourism resources potential.Since tourism resources potential is the base and a key factor of tourism potential at agricultural heritage sites,resources evaluation at an agricultural heritage site is the first step for tourism integrated potential assessment.The authors assessed the tourism resources potential based on a tourism resources classification framework of 'Core-Assistant,Tangible-Intangible' and built a tourism resources potential assessment system in the light of regional features of Qingtian County in Zhejiang Province,the first pilot site of GIAHS selected by the FAO in the year 2005.The 'resources characteristics-tourism development suitability' assessment framework was adopted to evaluate agricultural heritage tourism resources in Qingtian County.The ecological sensitivity,authenticity,uniqueness and the accessibility of the agricultural heritage sites were paid more attention as an agricultural heritage is a specific heritage type.Since the traditional agricultural heritage systems are still used as the livelihood style,the agricultural heritage systems are considered valuable for conserving agro-biodiversity.Results showed that the tourism resources potential in Qingtian,the rice-fish agricultural heritage site,differ largely over space in terms of the assessment framework.The largest potential area is located in the east-middle area of the county,including 9 towns.With rich tourism resources and better accessibility,the east-middle area would be given the priority for tourism development in terms of tourism resources.However,the tourism potential in western areas is relatively lower than the east due to possessing a few rice-fish systems and an unfavorable transportation condition.


Microwave holography is currently being used in antenna and radome manufacturing and in antenna and radome diagnostics and repair. The subject of this paper is the examination of the resolution of the holographically reconstructed field at the antenna (or antenna-radome combination) surface and the interpretation of these fields with respect to diagnosing antenna and radome behavior. Measured data is presented to demonstrate achievable resolution and interpretation aspects of microwave holography.


AbstractMy remarks are based on the experience in the run-up to the crisis until 2007 and during the crisis since 2008. In my comments I will discuss the following issues: 1. The G20 financial sector reform agenda; 2. Progress made in implementing reforms; 3. Is the financial system safer today?; 4. Is there "too much finance?"; and 5. Has the financial sector stepped out of its role of serving the real economy? It is very likely that I will raise more questions than I provide answers…


The utility model discloses a multidirectional regulating device, which comprises a bearing adjusting plate and a bottom plate, wherein the bottom plate is arranged above the bearing adjusting plate and is used for holding a klystron. Edge plates are arranged on all edges of the bearing adjusting plate, first adjusting threaded rods are respectively arranged on one pair of opposite edge plates on the bearing adjusting plate, and second adjusting threaded rods are respectively arranged on the other pair of opposite edge plates on the bearing adjusting plate. Two ends of the first adjusting threaded rods and the second adjusting threaded rods penetrate through the edge plates, and one penetrated end of each of first adjusting threaded rods and one penetrated end of each of the second adjusting threaded rods are butted against each edge of the bottom plate. The bottom end of the bearing adjusting plate is provided with a third adjusting threaded rod, and two ends of the third adjusting threaded rod penetrate through the bearing adjusting plate. The multidirectional regulating device can realize the position adjustment of the klystron in a front direction, a back direction, a left direction, a right direction, an upper direction and a lower direction and can solve the problem that waveguide and the interface position of the klystron are not matched. The multidirectional regulating device has the advantages of small volume and convenience for installation, operation and use.


The general structure of the network enrollment, the principle of work and the functions for the college subsystem are introduced in this paper. The problems in the subsystem are discussed. Combining with the experience of the network enrollment in the year of 2001 and the characteristics in the enrollment, an updated version is proposed.


The hypothalamo–pituitary–testicular (HPT) and hypothalamo– pituitary–ovarian (HPO) axes are integrated networks that regulate androgenization or estrogenization (including embryonic, infantile, pubertal and adult sexual maturation), male or female sexual behaviour and spermatogenesis or ovulation, respectively. Dysregulation of the HPT axis, for example, results in pubertal delay, eunuchism, impaired spermatogenesis and reduced systemic androgen exposure; and may also contribute to some of the features of male ageing, impair recovery from protracted critical illness and induce visceral adiposity, sarcopenia, osteopenia and insulin resistance. Furthering knowledge of how the gonadal axes are regulated will thereby inform important and diverse pathophysiological processes. Integration of the network is essential for its function and requires repeated incremental and decremental feedforward (stimulatory) and feedback (inhibitory) signalling among hormonal and neural components of the gonadal axis. No component is an island acting in isolation. The gonadotrophinreleasing hormone (GnRH) neuron was the first, and for decades the only, identified neural component. Approximately 1200 GnRH neurons reside in the arcuate-nucleus of the mediobasal hypothalamus and secrete GnRH in a pulsatile fashion into a portal microvasculature system where the anatomic proximity to pituitary gonadotrophes allows effectual hypothalamo–pituitary signalling. Major advances identifying the genes responsible for migration of GnRH neurons from the olfactory placode into the upper diencephalon, olfactory-bulb morphogenesis and other neurodevelopmental or neuroendocrine processes have occurred in the last two decades. In parallel, the kisspeptin–neurokinin B-dynorphin (KNDy) neuron was identified as the upstream regulator of the GnRH neuron. KNDy neurons are located in the infundibular-nucleus, mediate sex steroid-specific feedback on GnRH and are responsible for the timing of puberty and of GnRH secretion during other epochs of life through kisspeptin. The response to kisspeptin is gender dimorphic and appears to vary according to the menstrual cycle in women, although these relationships are incompletely verified in the humans. The classical hormonal components of the HPT and HPO axes comprise the hypothalamic decapeptide, GnRH, pituitary gonadotrophins, luteinizing and follicle-stimulating hormone (LH and FSH), gonadal steroids, testosterone and oestradiol and systemically active gonadal peptides such as inhibin B. Both the dose (mass) and time pattern (frequency and regularity) of hormonal secretion determine target organ response. For example in men, the time pattern of GnRH dictates LH and FSH response, as does the time pattern of LH on testosterone and the time pattern of testosterone feedback on LH. Accordingly, pulsatile hormone secretion allows for rapid, reversible, reciprocal (feedforward and feedback) and time-sensitive adjustments to external stress (e.g. sleep deprivation, trauma, malnutrition) and internal needs (e.g. metabolism, procreation) in order to maintain homoeostasis. Hence, early disruption of (negative) feedback and/ or (positive) feedforward activation occurs before any demonstrable change in overall hormone production. Identification of these early changes requires mathematical deconvolution to objectively and reproducibly quantify pulse characteristics that are important for signalling as well as to model dose–response relationships. The hypothalamic GnRH neuron is important to the gonadal axis as it initiates, through GnRH, all downstream events. As discussed above, KNDy neurons through kisspeptin secretion are the upstream regulators of GnRH. Kisspeptin is a member of the large RFamide family of neuropeptides, and another member of this family, gonadotrophin inhibitory hormone (GIH) was first identified in the Japanese quail in 2010. GIH is a hypothalamic dodecapeptide that decreases gonadotrophin synthesis and release, and in concert with kisspeptin, it is now known to jointly regulate seasonal reproduction in many avian and mammalian species. Human orthologues (RFamide-related peptide-1 and -2, RFRP-1 and RFRP-3) and a putative cognate receptor (G-protein coupled receptor 147, GPR147) have also been identified, but the role of RFRP-GPR147 signalling in humans was lacking, until now. In this issue of Clinical Endocrinology, George and colleagues report an extensive evaluation of the human orthologue of GIH *Please see related paper on pages [747–754] of this issue.


Well working hydraulic systems need clean hydraulic oil. Therefore, the system must ensure the separation of molecular, gaseous, liquid and solid contaminations. The key element of the separation of contaminants is the hydraulic reservoir. Solid particles are a major source of maintenance costs and machine downtime. Thus, an Euler-EulerLagrange multiphase CFD model to predict the transport of solid particles in hydraulic reservoirs was developed. The CFD model identifies and predicts the particle accumulation areas and is used to train port-to-port transfer functions, which can be used in system models to simulate the long-term contamination levels of hydraulic systems. The experimental detection of dynamic particle contamination levels and particle accumulation areas validate and confirm the CFD and the system model. Both models in combination allow for parameter and design studies to improve the fluid management of hydraulic reservoirs.


Spatio-temporal estimation of the erosion of arable soils is still an urgent task, in spite of the numerous methods of such assessments. Development of information technologies, the emergence of high and ultra-high resolution images allows reliable identification of linear forms of erosion to determine its dynamics on arable land. The study drew attention to the dynamics of the most active erosion unit – an ephemeral gully. The estimation of the dynamics was carried out on the basis of different space images for the maximum possible period (from 1986 to 2016). The cartographic method was used as the main research method. Identification of a belt of ephemeral gully erosion based on materials of multi-zone space surveys and GIS-technology of their processing was carried out. In the course of work with satellite imagery and subsequent verification of the received data on the ground, the main signs of deciphering the ephemeral gully network were determined. A methodology for geoinformation mapping of the dynamics of ephemeral gully erosion belt was developed and a system of indicators quantitatively characterizing its development on arable slopes was proposed. The evaluation of the current ephemeral gully network based on the interpretation of space images includes the definition of such indicators of ephemeral gully erosion as the density of the ephemeral gully net, the density of the ephemeral gullies, the area and linear dynamics of the ephemeral gully network. Preliminary results of the assessment of the dynamics of the belt erosion showed an increase in all quantitative indicators of ephemeral gully erosion for the observed period.


A composite model of quarks and bosons is proposed in which a spin 1/2 isospin doublet is the basic building block of quarks and bosons in the standard model. The has two components v and w with charges Q = 1 e and Q = 0, respectively, that combine to form the three generations of colored quark flavors. A strong force described by a triplet of massless gluons bind the constituents called geminis. The confining constituent non-Abelian SU(2)C field theory is called constituent dynamics with


LHRH-A and sGnRH-A were tested, in the presence or absence of pimozide (Pim), for their ability to stimulate increases in serum gonadotropin (GtH) levels and ovulation in prespawning female goldfish. In the absence of Pim, sGnRH-A was more active than LHRH-A in terms of stimulating serum GtH levels; neither peptide given alone was effective in stimulating ovulation. Pim potentiated the activity of both peptides; high dosages of either peptide, plus a high dosage of Pim, were highly effective in stimulating serum GtH and ovulation. A low dosage of sGnRH-A, plus a low dosage of Pim, were also effective in stimulating serum GtH and ovulation; however, a low dosage of LHRH-A plus a low dosage of Pim were ineffective. The time to ovulation following injections, for those treatments that were highly effective in inducing ovulation, was highly predictable, and oocyte fertility and viability were high. These results indicate that sGnRH-A, in the presence of Pim, is effective in stimulating ovulation in goldfish a...


Endoscopic assessment is a core component of disease severity in ulcerative colitis (UC), but subjectivity threatens accuracy and reproducibility. We aimed to develop and test a fully-automated video analysis system for endoscopic disease severity in UC.

 A developmental dataset of local high-resolution UC colonoscopy videos were generated with Mayo endoscopic scores (MES) provided by experienced local reviewers. Videos were converted into still images stacks and annotated for both sufficient image quality for scoring (informativeness) and MES grade (e.g. Mayo 0,1,2,3). Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were used to train models to predict still image informativeness and disease severity grading with 5-fold cross-validation. Whole video MES models were developed by matching reviewer MES scores with the proportion of still image predicted scores within each video using a template matching grid search. The automated whole video MES workflow was tested in a separate endoscopic video set from an international multicenter UC clinical trial (LYC-30937-EC). Cohen's kappa coefficient with quadratic weighting was used for agreement assessment.

 The developmental set included 51 high-resolution videos (Mayo 2,3 41.2%), with the multicenter clinical trial containing 264 videos (Mayo 2,3 83.7%, p < .0001) from 157 subjects. In 34,810 frames, the still image informative classifier had excellent performance with an AUC of 0.961, sensitivity of 0.902, and specificity of 0.870. In high-resolution videos, agreement between reviewers and fully-automated MES was very good with correct prediction of exact MES in 78% (40/51,κ=0.84, 95% CI 0.75–0.92) of videos (Figure 1). In external clinical trial videos where dual central review was performed, reviewers agreed on exact MES in 82.8% (140/169) of videos (κ = 0.78, 95% CI 0.71–0.86). Automated MES grading of the clinical trial videos (often low resolution) correctly distinguished Mayo 0,1 vs. 2,3 in 83.7% (221/264) of videos. Agreement between automated and central reviewer on exact MES occurred in 57.1% of videos (κ=0.59, 95% CI 0.46–0.71), but improved to 69.5% when accounting for human reviewer disagreement. Automated MES was within 1-level of central scores in 93.5% of videos (247/264).
 Ordinal characteristics are shown for the automated process, predicting progressively increasing disease severity. TPR, true positive rate; FPR, false-positive rate.

 Though premature for immediate deployment, these early results support the feasibility for artificial intelligence to approach expert-level endoscopic disease grading in UC.


A serologic weak D is commonly defined as weak ( 21) or no reactivity of red blood cells with an anti-D reagent in initial testing but moderate to stronger reactivity with anti-human globulin at the indirect antiglobulin phase of testing. We report three new weak D type alleles and provide haplotype information on weak D Types 1.2 and 18 alleles. We report three new RHD alleles that meet the definition of weak D types on the basis of the routine serologic profile and position of the amino acid changes. In addition, we confirm and add information on weak D Types 1.2 and 18.