This paper explores if Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) can perform well in Fox Game, a classic Scandinavian strategy game. MCTS is implemented using a cutoff in the simulation phase. The game state is then evaluated using a heuristic function that is formulated using theoretical arguments from its chess counterpart. MCTS is shown to perform on the same level as highly experienced human players, using limited computational resources. According to popular belief, as can be seen in online forums, the asymmetry in Fox Game leads to imbalances which favors the foxes. However the experiments in this paper show that, contrary to popular belief, it is the sheep that are favored, and quite heavily so. It is also shown that the game can be made more balanced by reducing the number of sheep at the start of the game from 20 to 18.


Background: Childhood obesity is a major public health threat. Various school-based interventions (SBIs) to prevent obesity through physical activity and/or dietary modifications were implemented. However, the effectiveness of such SBIs remains unproven. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of SBIs. Methods: We searched for RCTs of SBIs published since 1990. To be eligible studies had to have an RCT design, to include children aged 6-18 years and SBIs were defined as non-pharmacological and non-surgical interventions carried out in a school setting with a minimum duration of 12 weeks. The primary outcome was change in body mass index (BMI. For each study the difference in the mean change in BMI between the intervention and the control groups was computed. The summary estimate for the difference in mean change in BMI and the 95% confidence interval (CI) was computed using a weighted inverse variance approach and a random- effects model. The I2 statistic was used to...


Abstract Prior to every academic semester, every department's administrator is required to offer the best overall set of courses to meet student requirements, instructor needs and department regulations. The key contributions of this research is firstly, determining the potential factors that influence student behavior on the online courses they choose, secondly, modeling the course offering problem and fitting a function to a training set of data using neural network approach, thirdly, design and implementation of a decision support system to help the department's administrator to simulate student behavior in course selection process and support his/her decisions on the courses to be offered, and lastly, employing the proposed decision support system to perform what-if analysis and goal seeking behavior. The samples of the experiments came from 298 online graduate courses in 14 academic terms from 2005 to 2011. The results revealed high prediction accuracy on the experimental data. The performance of the...


A striking coordination is observed in sugarcane between prevailing levels of stomatal opening and the hydraulic capacity of the soil, roots and stem to supply the leaves with water. This coordination of vapor phase and liquid phase conductances is associated with decreases in stomatal conductance on a leaf area basis that compensate for increasing leaf area during canopy development, causing transpiration to approach a maximum value on a per plant or ground area basis rather than increase linearly with leaf area. The resulting balance between water loss and water transport capacity maintains leaf water status remarkably constant over a wide range of plant. sizes and growing conditions. These changes in stomatal conductance during development are determined by changes in the composition of the xylem sap rather than by changes in leaf properties. Changes in boundary layer conductance resulting from non-developmental changes in canopy structure such as loding cause additional changes in stomatal conductance mediated by altered humidity at the leaf surface. These maintain a constant level of total canopy vapor phase conductance (stomatal and boundary layer in series) and a constant level of canopy transpiration. These patterns indicate that stomata exert an active role in regulating transpiration even in dense canopies. This control function is consistent with stomatal metering of transpiration, mediated by fluxes of root-derived materials in the xylem sap.


Partially hydrogenated 1,4-polybutadiene is degraded into GC-detectable reaction products after olefin-metathesis with 4-octene in the presence of WCI6/(CH3)4Sn. 1,4-polybutadiene is homogeneously hydrogenated with p-toluenesulfonohydrazide and serves as copolymer with non-hydrogenated and hydrogenated repeating units. Hydrogenated sequences up to an undecade are detectable. The experimental monomer sequence length distribution agrees satisfactorily with the theoretical one calculated under the assumption of an ideal statistical copolymer.


Refractive index variation due to photothermoinduced crystallization of polychromatic glass has been found. This effect is used for 3-D phase hologram recording. Optical properties of holograms are stable in the wide spectral and temperature range. Holograms have high diffraction efficiency and angle selectivity.


The dynamic scalar and tensor polarizabilities of Sc and Ti are computed with time-dependent density functional theory. These polarizabilities are used to compute the isotropic and anisotropic dispersion interactions in ScHe and TiHe. We find C{sub 6,0}(ScHe)=30.00, C{sub 6,2}(ScHe)=-1.63, C{sub 6,0}(TiHe)=28.40, and C{sub 6,2}(TiHe)=-0.90 (E{sub h}a{sub 0}{sup 6}). We show that an estimate of the dispersion anisotropy based on static polarizabilities results in an overestimation by a factor of 2.


High purity Au nanoparticles and nanorods have been synthesized using seed-mediated approach in aqueous solution with the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant. The control of seed concentration and the addition of silver nitrate yield Au nanostructures of high monodispersivity. After obtaining high concentration dispersion of anisotropic monodispersed colloidal nanocrystals, evaporation induced self-assembly of Au nanostructures was carried out. The Au nanocrystals experi-


An elastic analogue of graphene is presented. It consists in a honeycomb arrangement of spring-mass resonators attached to a thin elastic plate. It is shown that the band structure for the propagation of flexural waves of the resulting system presents Dirac points. Also, it is shown that finite "slabs" of this honeycomb arrangement can be used as waveguides due to the presence of "edge states", a special type of guided states that does not appear in the dispersion relation of the infinite system. Finally, multiple scattering simulations of finite clusters of resonators are shown supporting the theory.


Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges of Japanese political leadership in combating corruption with an emphasis on the 1970s and 1980s when Tanaka Kakuei and Miki Takeo led Japan. Design/methodology/approach – This paper discusses the perceived extent of corruption in Japan, the importance of Japan's gift-giving culture, and examines the efforts of Miki Takeo and the consequences of his political reforms for Japanese politics. Comparison is made with his predecessor, Tanaka Kakuei, to highlight the differences in combating corruption between both leaders. Findings – Compared to Tanaka Kakuei, who was highly corrupt, Miki Takeo left a mixed legacy. He managed to revise campaign finance laws but lacked the political will and support from his party. The reforms he implemented failed to reduce money in politics, but they favoured the opposition in the collection of funds. Originality/value –This paper will be useful to scholars and policy-makers interested in studying the role of leaders in curbing corruption and the challenges of political reform.


We tested several predictions concerning fungal rot and antifungal defense of vertebrate-dispersed fruit. (1) Fungal fruit rot should be generally deterrent to frugivores. But because fungi may vary in their negative effects, antifungal defenses should be allocated in relationship to net effects of particular species on dispersal. (2) Defenses of fruits under selection for high palatability should be directed primarily toward microbes ("microbe- specific" defenses). Lower quality fruits, for which high palatability is not crucial to dis- persal, may be defended by more general defenses. (3) Preferred fruits should be defended to a lower degree than less preferred fruits, as a result of consistently high dispersal rates (Removal Rate model). We tested our hypotheses using real fruits and artificial-pulp media of six temperate ericaceous plants in feeding trials with captive birds and in fungal growth trials. Plants had been assigned to two temperate fruiting classes (Summer Small-seeded, SS, or Fall Low- quality, FL), and differed in ripening phenology, persistence times, and fungal resistance in the field. We compared feeding rates on fruits rotted by members of a suite of fruit rot fungi. We also determined feeding rates on artificial-pulp media that either contained ripe fruit extracts or did not, and we determined fungal growth rates on identical media. We found that: (1) fungal species depressed feeding rates in general accordance with their reported vertebrate toxicity. Relative to nontoxic fungi, toxic fungi were inhibited more strongly by secondary fruit pulp extracts. (2) Artificial-pulp media of SS fruits were preferred in feeding trials, due both to basic nutritional composition and nondeterrent (microbe- specific) secondary defense. (3) In accordance with the Removal-Rate model, artificial-pulp media of the preferred SS fruits showed significant antifungal activity, but at a much lower level than that of FL fruits. Our results suggest that a primary function of secondary chemicals in ripe fruits may be to defend against destructive fungi that compete with seed dispersers for the pulp. Our results generally support the hypothesis that selective pressures may result in ripe fruit defenses that are directed primarily against organisms having strong negative effects upon dispersal. As such, factors influencing risk of pulp consumption by nondispersers may be useful predictors of fruit defense patterns.


The Universities is an important base with training technological innovation ability for society. The article pointed out that building the studio model,which integrated the teacher 's research projects,academic competitions,student' s autonomy topics as well as the teaching,which created a ecological education for university students with promoting the comprehensive development of their personality and potential,which created a preferred platform for training university students with technological innovation awareness,teamwork and professional comprehensive accomplishment. It has a strong operational and popularization.


This article illustrates Russian position in Central Asia and Caspian region, conditioned on the increasing influence of the United States position in the same region. Caspian region is one of the strategic regions for Russian modern policy in the framework of its geostrategic interests concerning specific energy issues. Russia firmly stands for equitable division of all resources in this region between all the involved countries who have legal rights and believes that any actions must proceed under the terms of international law and may be supervised by an independent international commission. The international legal status of the Caspian sea is a point at issue between five coastal countries (Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation), however American authorities and energy companies show great interest in this dispute and active interference into this conflict situation, insistently supporting the counter Russian position. As it has been officially stated by the American authorities this region is the sphere of American strategic interests because it directly concerns the energy security issues of the United States. According to Mr. Brzezinski words Caspian oil is the best instrument for geo economical promotion of Central Asia and Transcaucasia on the world energy market and hence tearing them away from Russia, and consequently forever eliminates the possibility of post soviet imperial reintegration. Luckily, current Washington "pipe diplomacy" acts within certain limits of common sense and is turned towards cooperation with Russian energy diplomacy, however stipulated for American national energy independence and security. United States would rather tolerate currently infirm Russian presence in the region than persistently intensifying position of China in this region. In quest of dominance in this strategically important region America consistently increases its military presence in the region, which worries Russia immensely. The article also illustrates Russian site of action in the sphere of the world energy policy, especially concerning some of the vexed questions about Caspian and Central Asian energy resources. In this article there are some clues given to Russian energy policy tendencies, which define possible strategies for Russian energy security strategy further development. The article in the same way defines some of the new main challenges to the energy security for both major players in the sphere of energy policy.


The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite was designed to provide data continuity to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which has been providing global active fire observations for over a decade. Fire radiative power (FRP) retrievals obtained from active fire satellite observations can be used for the estimation of biomass burning emissions. However, FRP estimates obtained from MODIS and VIIRS are not directly comparable due to the different spectral response of the bands used for the retrieval (figure 1), which may be further aggravated by differences in spatial sampling (e.g., VIIRS pixel aggregation scheme) and satellite orbits. In this paper we compared FRP retrievals from VIIRS and MODIS active fire products before and after atmospheric correction of the data showing an improved agreement of the FRP retrievals between both sensors after the application of the atmospheric correction.


A new repeat time lapse seismic survey was acquired in 2012 over the Halfdan Cretaceous Chalk Formation oil field, and the 800 km2 surrounding area, located in the Danish North Sea Central Graben, approximately 250 km west of the Danish west coast. The main objectives of the repeat 4D were to understand the lateral and vertical sweep, identify unswept areas, guide future well interventions and to clarify the reservoir model. A key technical objective of the new time lapse was to deliver a fast track 4D difference volume 11 weeks after the last shot with the aim to influence further processing steps and quickly integrate the 4D into the asset management. The volumes were quickly compared with the simulation data and the previous 2005 time lapse seismic focusing on the changes in lateral & vertical sweep. Field-wide and reservoir specific examples of the time lapse response from 2005 to 2012 are presented.


cases.' Granulation tissue is seen lining the cyst, and may be extensive. The outer cartilage is usually unchanged, but may appear thickened in longstanding cases;** the perichondrium and overlying skin appear normal. The differential diagnosis includes chondrodcrmatitis nodularis helicis {usually painful), relapsing polychondritis (usually a diffuse, red tender swelling, and with symptoms elsewhere), and subperichondrial haematoma (history of trauma and serosanguinous fluid on aspiration). Various treatments have been tried. Simple aspiration of cyst fluid does not produce permanent improvement as it tends to reaccumulate, but surgical techniques including excision, curettage, and incision with painting of the cavity with iodine, have all been successful. Intralesional steroid injection is not helpful and may cause permanent damage. Avoidance of trauma may be beneficial in the long term. Our patient had longstanding cystic chondromalacia in the left ear which followed trauma, and resulted in permanent deformity. The minor trauma of wearing headphones may have been a factor in the development of the condition in the other ear.


The dynamic unit of social life is defined as village which includes many components in different livelihoods of daily routine life and impact longer on the society. Habitat of villages settles on hamlet and sliding side of the hamlet as sloppy elevated area of the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 01 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com


Leptin encoding by the obesity gene,is an adipocyte-secreted cytokine.Its main function is to regulate the balance of energy through the signal transduction pathway,and it has a strong relationship with the function of reproduction,organism immune and so on.It also participates the occurrence and development of obesity,cardiovascular disease,diabetes,insulin resistance and other diseases.This paper makes a comprehensive overview on the latest research progress of Leptin.


NiCl2-4SC(NH2)2 (known as DTN) is an S = 1 system with an easy-plane anisotropy dominating over the exchange interaction and exhibiting a field-induced antiferromagnetic ordering with critical fields Bc1=2.1 T, Bc2=12.6 T and temperature Tcmax ∼ 1.2 K. A systematic study of the low-energy excitation spectrum of DTN in the ordered phase at temperatures down to 0.45 K is presented. It is showed that two observed gapped modes can be consistently interpreted within a four-sublattice antiferromagnet model with a weak isotropic corner-center interaction of magnetic ions in the body-centered tetragonal lattice.


THE value of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the treatment of gas gangrene due to clostridial infection has been reported before (Smith, Sillar, Norman, Ledingham, Bates, and Scott, 1962; Brummelkamp, Boerema, and Hoogendyk, 1963 ; Brummelkamp , 1965a; Slack, Thomas, Hanson, Chew, Maudsley, and Colwill, 1966). In the largest series of patients so far described (Brummelkamp and others, 1963; Brummel-kamp, 1965a), that of the Amsterdam Group, who were the pioneers of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the treatment of gas gangrene, as well as in most other instances, the patients were treated in compressed-air chambers while breathing oxygen from a close-fitting face-mask. These large compressed-air chambers are expensive to install and require considerable technical support, and the medical staff working within them are exposed to the various manifestations of compressed-air sickness. We report here the results of treatment with hyper-baric oxygen of a substantial series of patients suffering from clostridial gas gangrene and other anaerobic gas-producing infections. In this instance the patients were treated in a single-person, transparent hyper-baric oxygen chamber developed from the type first described by Emery, Lucas, and Williams (1960). The patient alone is enclosed within the chamber, which is filled and ventilated with IOO per cent oxygen at raised ambient pressure. The physiological basis of hyperbaric oxygen therapy is adequately described elsewhere (Lamphier and Brown


Abstract The ability to understand the implications of the geometry of solid objects is an important aspect of intelligent behavior. This paper presents work designed to enable reasoning with relatively loose conceptualizations of geometry. The method operates by comparing target geometry to known geometry, and involves the manipulation of models based upon prototypes. In particular, three techniques of simplification, approximation, and transformation are discussed. Finally, an application of the method to the domain of stress concentration prediction is presented.


Summary. A retrospective study of 1145 pregnant women showed that trends in mean maternal weight gain from the time of booking until delivery were not linear. Statistically significant lower rates of maternal weight gain were seen before 16 weeks, after 36 weeks and between 28 and 32 weeks gestation (P < 0.05). The mean maternal weight gain was 10.71 kg (SD 4.3) and the mean weekly weight gain was 0.38 kg (SD 0.16). A wide variation of maternal weight gain was seen in women with a normal outcome. The mean weight gain in heavy (>68 kg) and light (<55.4 kg) women was less than that in women whose weight was in the third quartile (60–68 kg, P<0.05). The mean maternal weight gain was less in young (<20 years) women than in older women (>25 years; P <0.05), less in parous than in primigravid women from week 37 onwards (P<0.05), less in smokers than in non‐smokers from 20 weeks onwards (P<0.05), and greater in hypertensive women (BP> 140/90) than in normotensive women (P<0.05) from week 24 onwards. The mean weight gain in women who had small for gestational age (SGA) infants was not significantly different from that in women who had infants that were of appropriate size for gestational age. After taking into account infant and placental weight using multiple regression analysis, the factors that were associated with statistically significant differences in average weekly weight gain were parity, body mass index, smoking habit and raised blood pressure. Only 9.6% of the variation in average weekly weight gain could be predicted using these variables. It is unlikely that the measurement of maternal weight gain would be useful in detecting women who will have SGA infants or will develop hypertension.


Li2MnO3, as one traditional member of lithium-rich layered cathodes, gives batteries with large specific capacity. However, it suffers from unexpected severe capacity fading and discharge voltage d...


There has been growing interest in the future of marketing and changes in marketing's organization and role within the firm. However, there has not been research that holistically explores key changes in marketing organization. The authors draw on qualitative interviews with 50 managers in the United States and Germany and argue that changes in marketing organization that have been discussed in isolation are part of a more general shift toward customer-focused organizational structures. They initially discuss two specific changes related to the overall shift: changes concerning primary marketing coordinators and increasing dispersion of marketing activities. They then introduce the concept of a customer-focused organizational structure that uses groups of customers as the primary basis for structuring the organization. They identify typical organizational transitions as firms move toward a customer-focused organizational structure and discuss the challenges firms face in making this transition. They conclude with implications for academic research, managerial practice, and business school curriculum.


Media plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion and influencing social attitudes towards underprivileged sections of society. In recent years, media has been increasingly used as a tool for promoting inclusion and diversity by highlighting the challenges faced by marginalized communities and advocating for their rights. The paper examines the impact of media representations on shaping attitudes towards underprivileged communities and explores how media can be used as a platform for amplifying the voices of marginalized communities. The research also highlights the challenges and limitations faced by media in promoting inclusion and suggests strategies for media professionals to overcome these barriers. Overall, the research paper argues that media has the potential to play a critical role in promoting inclusion and diversity and creating a more equitable society for all.


Objective. Metal artifact reduction (MAR) remains a challenging task due to the difficulty of removing artifacts while preserving anatomical details of the tissue. Although current dual-domain networks have shown promising performance in MAR, they heavily rely on the image domain, which can be too smooth and lose important information in the metal-affected area. To address this problem, we propose an improved dual domain network framework. Approach. We enhance sinogram completion performance by utilizing an aggregated contextual transformations network in the sinogram domain. Furthermore, we utilize a prior-projection-based linearized correction method to obtain images with beam-hardening artifacts removed, which are incorporated into the input of the image post-processing network to assist in training the image domain network. Finally, we train the sinogram domain network and the image domain network separately to their respective convergences. Main results. In experiments conducted on a simulated dataset, our method achieves the best average RMSE of 25.1, SSIM of 0.973, and PSNR of 42.1, respectively. Significance. The proposed method is capable of preserving tissue structures near metallic objects while eliminating metal artifacts from the reconstructed images. Related codes will be released at https://github.com/Corinna-China/AOTDudoNet


To address the limitations of legacy Public Safety (PS) solutions, as narrow bandwidth, high deployment cost and poor flexibility, the 5G cellular systems have been proposed. The architecture proposed by the 5G ESSENCE project is based on a cloud-enabled small cell infrastructure with a fully distributed orchestration architecture leveraging multi-access technologies in 5G. Furthermore, SDN and NFV are exploited, with MEC, to create flexible slices for dedicated mission critical public safety applications also at the edge of the network. This is shown by describing as the mission critical push-to-talk services have been implemented in a real testbed.


Environmental protection has a major issues all over the world. There are several ways to keep healthy environment, and sustainable use of resources. Recycling fibers technology is one of key issues for environment protection, sustainable management, forest protection and specialy for sustainable paper industry. The readers could find out some interesting issues on recycling fibers and effect of recycling on fiber properties on this book. This book concerning to recycling TMP's fibers and the effect of recycling on strength properties of recycled paper. The author would thanks for your interest in environment protection and recycling industry.


Abstract Time between events (TBE) control charts have been widely used to monitor high yield processes. Traditionally, an estimated in-control occurrence rate from a Phase I dataset is used to calculate the control limits when the rate is unknown. However, when Phase I analysis is time consuming or costly, the traditional Phase I/Phase II approach is not feasible. A self-starting method that sequentially updates the occurrence rate can be integrated to overcome this difficulty and leverages the use of TBE chart for cases of lack of in-control data. The motivation behind this study is to compare different self-starting TBE charts to investigate the contribution of such a sequential parameter update method. Our results indicate the potential of these schemes as they provide satisfactory performance when moderate and large sizes of base period before the shift observed. Additionally, time weighted schemes provided promising performance for relatively small sample sizes in the base period. However, our results also show a significant adverse effect in performance when the base periods are contaminated with out-of-control data.


Measured by the metric of new startups generated annually from University of California (UC) Davis technologies, the University's programs are proving successful in bridging the translation gap. Averaging four new startups per year in the ten years prior to 2012, the University has averaged 12 startups per year over the last three years as new programs began making an impact.


Knowledge of the evolutionary history of crown group birds (Neornithes) has significantly improved through emerging congruence among phylogenetic hypotheses and the description of numerous new Palaeogene stem group representatives. However, controversies still persist about the precise interrelationships of many extant and fossil taxa and about the timing of the diversification of the neornithine crown group. Using the example of Phaethontiformes (tropicbirds) and Psittaciformes (parrots), it is shown how new sequence‐based phylogenies may shed light on the relationships of fossils with an unexpected character mosaic, and how such fossils can improve our understanding of character evolution in morphologically disparate avian taxa. The earliest occurrences of neornithine birds are plotted on a current phylogeny. As noted by previous authors, an extensive diversification of neornithine birds before the latest Cretaceous is not supported by the fossil record, and the existence of essentially modern‐type representatives of Telluraves (the clade including most arboreal birds) in the Cretaceous, such as suggested from molecular calibrations, is highly unlikely.


Simple Summary Glycerin is an organic substance used as an ingredient for many industries, including pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, but also, glycerin is an important product during biodiesel refining. Accurate and real-time sensors are needed to improve the industrial process; therefore, we proposed a workflow to measure concentrations of glycerin using a microwave sensor enhanced by machine learning models. We tested this methodology with complex electronic instrumentation and a designed low-cost portable electronic reader. As a result, we found that both devices achieved excellent and similar performance. These findings are valuable since monitoring the glycerin concentration may help to increase efficiency and reduce costs in the industry. In addition, the methodology proposed in this study could be applied to any sensor, making it a valuable contribution to liquid analysis with microwave sensors. Abstract Glycerin is a versatile organic molecule widely used in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries, but it also has a central role in biodiesel refining. This research proposes a dielectric resonator (DR) sensor with a small cavity to classify glycerin solutions. A commercial VNA and a novel low-cost portable electronic reader were tested and compared to evaluate the sensor performance. Within a relative permittivity range of 1 to 78.3, measurements of air and nine distinct glycerin concentrations were taken. Both devices achieved excellent accuracy (98–100%) using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). In addition, permittivity estimation using Support Vector Regressor (SVR) achieved low RMSE values, around 0.6 for the VNA dataset and between 1.2 for the electronic reader. These findings prove that low-cost electronics can match the results of commercial instrumentation using machine learning techniques.


Objective To discuss and assess the model,content and impact of sex and reproductive health education to the university students,and to provide bases for sexual health education in colleges.Methods A total of 2 437 fresh university students enrolled in 2000 in Shihezi University were randomly chosen.Two years' sexual health education was conducted to them,which included lecture,peer education,topic class-meeting and counseling.A self-administered anonymous questionnaire survey was carried out among them.Results After the intervention,the students' knowledge,attitude and conception on sexual and reproduction had significantly improved.The correct answer rate increased from 48.32% to 71.06%.Conclusion Sexual and reproductive health education is feasible and effective to the college students.


We introduce a simple and powerful visual interaction technique for managing strong passwords. Passwords have been used for authentication for decades, but appropriate handling of passwords is difficult because people can easily forget passwords and they can be easily attacked. Better authentication methods have been investigated, and various visual interaction methods have been proposed, including the DAS (draw-a-secret) method. Using DAS, users can log into a service just by drawing a secret pattern on the screen, but remembering complex secret patterns is as difficult as remembering passwords. We developed EpisoDAS, with which users can generate strong passwords based on their secret episodic memories with a simple DAS interface. A user can draw a secret pattern and generate a password, based on their secret episodic memories that they cannot easily forget.


This study addresses quantifying the effect of the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) on the ultrasonographic and endocrine markers of ovarian reserve.


My Church is NOT Dying: Episcopalians in the 21st Century. By Greg Garrett. New York: Morehouse Publishing, 2015. xiii + 143 pp. $16.00 (paper).Greg Garrett has written a love-song to the Episcopal Church. He fell in love when, in his words, he was a church drop-out, "in a mess, a barely together trash bag crammed full of grief and despair," and found his way to a profoundly welcoming, primarily African American parish in Austin, Texas: "Becoming a worshipper at St. James' Episcopal Church saved my life" (p. 49). This book amply demonstrates that his first love has not faded, even though he has now spent fifteen years deepening the relationship. That in- cludes earning an M.Div. degree from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, serving as the seminary's writer in residence and as a professor at (Baptist) Baylor University, active participation as a lay preacher at St. David's Church in Austin, and speaking and preaching widely.The Episcopal Church Greg Garrett loves is not the old (real or imag- ined) dowager of the Establishment but the church as it has emerged in the last few decades, unabashedly committed to inclusion of women and the LGBT community at eveiy level of its life, engaged in a wide array of social ministries to the homeless, AIDS victims, undocumented aliens, and victims of Hurricane Katrina, and willing to engage people wherever they are on their spiritual journey.In eight chapters, Garrett offers a brief introduction to "The Anglican Way: Spiritual and Religious," affirms its openness to unanswered (unanswerable?) questioning, celebrates its worship, and embraces its commit- ment to "Beauty and the Life of God: Music, Culture, and the Incarnate Way." He acknowledges the reality of the impact of the "culture wars" on the Episcopal Church over the last few decades, but insists that they left the church stronger than ever. The last three chapters focus on the need for a new-style evangelism that takes social networking seriously; the church's continued commitment to justice; and the importance of engaging contemporary culture so that others are fully aware of just how attractive the Epis- copal Church is.This reviewer must confess that the Episcopal Church I love is the same one that has captured Garrett's heart. But I wonder about all those Episco- palians, many of them just as committed to the church as we are, who are unable to see their way clear to embrace it with the same uncritical affection. Perhaps they did not receive the same kind of unconditional and healing welcome as Garrett did. Perhaps the worship they participate in week by week is not as beautiful or stimulating as that at St. David's. Perhaps they still have doubts about the changes that have rocked the church, and still wonder about some of its decisions and directions. …


COVID-19 pandemic has no immediate ending in sight, and any significant increasing cases were observed worldwide. Currently, there are only two main strategies for developing COVID-19 drugs that predominantly use a proteomics-based approach, which are drug repurposing and herbal medicine strategies. However, a third strategy has existed, called small interfering RNA or siRNA, which is based on the transcriptomics approach. In the case of SARS-CoV-2 infection, it is expected to perform by silencing the viral gene, which brings the surface glycoprotein (S) gene responsible for SARS-CoV-2 viral attachment to the ACE2 receptor on the human host cell. This third approach applies a molecular simulation method comprising data retrieval, multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic tree depiction, 2D/3D structure prediction, and RNA-RNA molecular docking. The expected results are the prediction of 2D and 3D structures of both siRNA and mRNA silenced S genes along with a complex as the result of a docking method formed by those silenced genes. An Insilco chemical interaction study was performed in testing siRNA and mRNA complex's stability with the confirmation result of a stable complex which is expected to be formed before mRNA reaches the ribosome for the translation process. Thus, siRNA from the S gene could be considered a candidate for the COVID-19 therapeutic agent.


Objectives: Our main research aim was to describe the relative proportions and trend of direct causes of maternal death over a period of 20-years in the largest tertiary hospital in Ghana.Material and methods: This was a descriptive retrospective review of cases of maternal death for which autopsy examination was conducted at the KBTH mortuary from 1995 to 2014. Data on direct maternal deaths were collected on the age, local of death (coronerand permission), the anatomical site and diagnosis: 1) obstetric haemorrhage, (including abruptio placentae, placenta praevia, uterine atony, and retained products of conception, etc); 2) abortion, 3) hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (pre-eclampsia, eclampsia), 4) ruptured ectopic gestation, 5) ruptured uterus in labour, 6) amniotic fluid embolism, and 7) genital tract sepsis.Results: There were 1,846 maternal deaths of which 86.4% were classified as direct maternal deaths (P<0.0001). The mean age was 28.72 ±6.47 years. The majority, 1,346 (84.4%) were coroner cases (p< 0.0001). Abortion (27.4%), hypertensive disorders in pregnancy(27.3%), and obstetric haemorrhage (27.0%) were the common causes. There was a general declined in the trend of maternal deaths over the 20-year period, particularly those due to abortion, obstetric haemorrhage, ruptured tubal gestation and ruptureduterus in labour. However, deaths due to hypertensive disorders in pregnancy showed a relative rise over the period.Conclusion: Abortion, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and obstetrics haemorrhage, were the major causes of maternal deaths. There was a general decline in the trend of maternal deaths over the study period.


Approximate analytical solutions of wave function and energy of vortex in the cylindrical coordinates system are obtained for the near-ideal Bose gases at zero temperature.


Strategies for survival of a species take on many forms. Strange as it may seem, the peach, the pea, and the pig have evolved strategies with several similarities. The peach tree is loaded with blooms. Each twig has a flower every inch or so. Each flower is a potential peach with a seed. Not all flowers are pollinated successfully; thus, gaps appear in the array of little peaches on the twig. Each little peach requires about 10 cm of room on the stem if it hopes to be a full-sized peach. At a very early stage, a very significant portion of the little peaches shrivel and drop off. This is especially true for peaches that are not equally spaced and are very close to each other. The peach tree "knows" it cannot successfully support the number of peaches that originally set on the tree, so some little peaches have to go. Peaches too close to each other will sap nutrients from each other. The number of fully formed peas in a pod are also limited by the number of potential peas successfully fertilized, the length of the pod, and growing conditions. Even under the best of conditions, the number of survivors is reduced. Some peas are also very much smaller than others. This overproduction of potential young with subsequent reduction in numbers also takes place in the pig. Estrus recurs in the pig at 21 -day intervals. The number of eggs ovulated is about 15, with the number originating from each ovary rarely being equal. Eggs are fertilized within a few hours after ovulation. The embryos remain in the oviduct for about 48 hours after fertilization. The uterus is bicornuate, each horn is 150—225 cm long. The horns are joined at the body of the uterus; thus the uterus is one long tube. The embryos are moved from the oviduct to the tip of the uterine horn and then throughout the length of the uterine horns by uterine motility [I]. Embryos can be moved freely from one uterine horn to the other. Thus, if the number of embryos originating in one horn is markedly different from the number in the other horn, there is an opportunity to equalize the numbers in each horn. Movement of embryos is by uterine contractions because the embryos are only a few millimeters in diameter up to


Hydraulic experiments were conducted in order to clarify the mechanisms of mode reduction process of sand bars. Hydraulic conditions of these experiments were set large width-depth ratio. The following facts became clear by these experiments. Starting time of the mode reduction becomes late and time to spend on the mode reduction has the tendency which becomes long, when a width-depth ratio becomes large. One of two scoured area near side walls in double-row bars is buried and single-row bars are formed.Furthermore, the prominence wave number of the bed form is analyzed. It is possible that the single row bars formed by mode reduction from double row bars are the same with the single row bars which are formed from the early stages of experiments on the bed form characteristics. Time changes of amplification of (α21+α40) and (α11+α20) have contributed greatly to the mode reduction process.


The morals are formed by the code of ethic and ethical value. The code of ethic is a form, ethical value is a content; Morals value means how the man should take action according with morals purpose (why the society creates the ethics, the moral need of the society, the moral requirement of the society). So, moral value is also formed by two factors of the purpose and behavior fact. Behavior facts are morals value's entity, morals purpose is morals value standard.


A new method Hilbert-Huang transform(HHT) was introduced in this paper,and the stationarity of typical time domain data of stochastic fluctuant pressure was tested by using this method.The conclusion indicates that stochastic fluctuant pressure on radial gate can be treated as stationary random process going through all of states in the case of certain opening and the characteristic value can be obtained from random function theory and spectrum analysis.


Recently there has been a growing interest in iterative algorithms with regards to structure determination of small molecule X-ray crystallographic data. The roots of iterative algorithms originate in electron microscopy community with the Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm, which was later refined by Fienup into the Hybrid input-output (Hio) algorithm, and Elser produced the difference map algorithm. The reason for particular interest in iterative algorithms is their distinct advantages over the classical direct methods, namely not requiring any knowledge of the crystal symmetry, or composition in order to solve a structure. In classical direct methods the measured intensities are used directly to estimate the phases, this is not the case for the iterative algorithms making them more robust to experimental errors in the measured intensities, which is a distinct advantage for powder and electron crystallography datasets. Electron crystallography data is particularly problematic for direct methods because the underlying assumption of kinematic data does not always hold, due to the much stronger interaction of electrons with matter when compared to x-rays. An introduction to iterative algorithms with a historical perspective will be presented, with a particular emphasis being placed on the application of charge flipping algorithm to the structure solution of electron crystallographic data sets.


Abstract Using cross-sectional survey data (Engage, 2017–2018) from 1,137 men who have sex with men, ≥16 years old, in Montreal, we compared observed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroconcordance in previous-6-months' sexual partnerships with what would have been observed by chance if zero individuals serosorted. Of 5 recent partnerships where both individuals were HIV-negative, we compared observed concordance in preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use with the counterfactual if zero individuals selected partners based on PrEP use. We estimated the concordance by chance using a balancing-partnerships approach assuming proportionate mixing. HIV-positive respondents had a higher proportion of HIV-positive partners (66.4%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 64.0, 68.6) than by chance (23.9%, 95% CI: 23.1, 24.7). HIV-negative respondents (both on and not on PrEP) had higher proportions of HIV-negative partners (82.9% (95% CI: 81.1, 84.7) and 90.7% (95% CI: 89.6, 91.7), respectively) compared with by chance (76.1%, 95% CI: 75.3, 76.9); however, those on PrEP had a higher proportion of HIV-positive partners than those not on PrEP (17.1% (95% CI: 15.3, 18.9) vs. 9.3% (95% CI: 8.3, 10.4). Those on PrEP also had a higher proportion of partners on PrEP among their HIV-negative partners (50.6%, 95% CI: 42.5, 58.8) than by chance (28.5%, 95% CI: 27.5, 29.4). The relationship between PrEP and sexual-mixing patterns demonstrated by less population-level serosorting among those on PrEP and PrEP-matching warrants consideration during PrEP roll-out.


Electrochemical water splitting has been known as a promising and environmental approach to produce hydrogen by avoiding relying on fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the efficient and large-scale H2 production is still hindered by the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode side of a water electrolyzer. Herein, we report a novel amorphous sulfide doped cobalt oxide (amorphous Co-S-O) nanosphere as an efficient electrocatalyst for OER. The Co-S-O electrode exhibits high HER activity and good


A recent implementation and verification of consistent modeling of displacements per atom (DPA) in the MARS15 code are described for high-energy particles and heavy ions. Radiation damage is displacement of atoms from their equilibrium position in a crystalline lattice due to irradiation with formation of interstitial atoms and vacancies in the lattice. Resulting deterioration of material (critical) properties is measured - in the most universal way - as a function of displacements per target atom (DPA). DPA is a strong function of projectile type, energy and charge as well as material properties including its temperature. The phenomenon becomes very serious for high-intensity beams especially for high-charge heavy ions ({approx}z{sup 2}), being identified, for example at FRIB and FAIR, as one of the critical issues, limiting lifetime of targets to as low as a few weeks. A recent implementation of consistent DPA modeling into the MARS15 code [1] and its verification are described in this paper.


We show that, modulo some odd prime p, the powers of two weighted sum of the first p divided Bernoulli numbers equals twice the number of permutations on p-2 letters with an even number of ascents and distinct from the identity. We provide a combinatorial characterization of Wieferich primes, as well as of primes p for which p^2 divides the Fermat quotient q_p(2).


Ammonia and albuminoid-N as contaminants of public bath water, could be separately estimated by the following simple procedures. Sample to be analyzed was diluted with equal volume of distilled water. Two ml of the diluted sample solution was added with 0.1 N Na2HPO4 to make the solution slightly alkaline (pH 8.5) and mixed with 1 ml of 0.1 per cent solution of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). The mixture was kept in a dark place at 40° for 2 hours, and the resulting orange-colored solution was extracted with ethyl acetate three times. The volume of combined ethyl acetate-extractes was adjusted to 5 ml and the optical density at 320 mμ was measured against ethyl acetate-extract of the blank solution obtained by treating 20 ml of distilled water in the same procedure. Ammonia-N could be estimated from the reading and standard curve shown in Fig. 3. The remaining aqueous solution was acidified by adding 1.0 ml of N-HCl and the volume was adjusted to be 5.0 ml (or more if necessary). From the optical density against blank solution, albuminoid-N could be estimated with the use of a standard curve obtained on glycine (Fig. 2). The contamination of public bath water proceeded as shown in Fig. 6 and the amounts of albuminoid-N were always about twice as much as ammonia-N.


Heat absorb ability split AC is the most important factor in the cooling speed on room temperature. The rate of temperature drop is determined by many factors, including compressor power. Nowadays, there are many Split AC are produced that have low power (low Watt), so that research is needed to determine the cooling speed in a room.
This study uses a low watt split AC with a power of 0.5 HP. The distance from the evaporator and the outside temperature are used as independent variables, while the rate of temperature reduction or cooling speed in the room is used as the dependent variable. The results showed that the distribution of room temperature and the rate of temperature reduction in the room varied based on the position of the distance to the location of the AC Split Low Watt. The lowest temperature and reduction rate in the room occurs at a distance of 2 m and 3 m in front of the AC location. The outside temperature or the temperature around the location of the AC condenser affects the temperature distribution at each distance in front of the AC. When the outside temperature is low, the temperature conditions at a distance of 1 m, 4 m, and 5 m have a significant difference. While the high outside temperature conditions, the temperature at a distance of 1 m, 4 m, and 5 m, namely the positions close to the wall, is almost the same.

Kata kunci: AC, split, low watt, evaporator


The human undifferentiated histiocytic cell‐line U937 can be induced to differentiate by incubation with 12‐0‐tetradecanoylphorbol‐13‐acetate (TPA) into macrophage‐like cells. Dexamethasone reduced the prostaglandin production in TPA‐differentiated U937 cells dose dependently, whereas undifferentiated U937 cells were dexamethasone insensitive. Concomitantly phospholipase A2, the enzyme liberating the prostaglandin precursor arachidonic acid, was inhibited by dexamethasone in TPA‐differentiated but not in undifferentiated U937 cells. The activity of lysophosphatide acyltransferase, the key enzyme of fatty acid reacylation into phospholipids, remained unchanged both in undifferentiated and TPA‐differentiated U937 cells. The data suggest that responsiveness to glucocorticoid‐dependent regulation of prostanoid synthesis is acquired by cells of the monocyte‐macrophage lineage late in differentiation.


Manpower training for employees is to enhance productivity and overall performance of the organizations. Ampaipipatkul (2004) defined training method as a set of systematic procedures, activities, or techniques that are designed to impart the participants that have direct utility in enhancing their job performance. Consequently, this study investigated the correlate of conventional and contemporary methods of manpower training within the Nigerian training institutional system, using Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State and Centre for Management Development, Lagos as a case study. Collection of data for the study was effected through the use of questionnaire with a sample size of 128 drawn by stratified random sampling. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study shows that the views of majority of the respondents towards the correlate of conventional and contemporary methods of manpower training are the same and pointed towards enhancement of their efficiency and job productivity. The study recommends that operators within the Nigerian training institutional system must ensure that adequate methods of manpower training that is tend towards employees job specification, which will also help organizations to overcome future challenges, form the heart of their cardinal mission.


Meinong has become a central reference point in the contemporary revival of realism. However, prima facie, it might seem paradoxical to call him a realist since he explicitly wanted to do away with any kind of "bias in favor of reality". It is therefore worth asking in which sense the Theory of Object, as far as it resolutely goes beyond reality, can be characterized as essentially realist. As a Brentanist the Austrian philosopher endorsed a strong realism with regard to empirical reality; in his view, this is the proper object of metaphysics. However, it seems more difficult to make sense of his realism in respect of those objects that are not real - and, as a matter of fact, of every kind of object - which he calls 'objectivism'. This paper investigates the real meaning of such 'objectivism' and sees in that stance, beyond its superficial (neo- )Kantian features, an anti-Copernican revolution in philosophy that proclaims the unconditional precedence of the object over thought. Reading Meinong thus helps us to understand better what realism is.


This paper establishes a general theoretical framework about the study of complex organizations( COs),analyzes the characteristics of the theory of complex organizations( TCOs),and discusses the new trends of TCOs through redefining the conception of COs and dividing the evolutional stage of organization theory( OT). The results show that,as the complex systems characterized by the global emergence,COs are the new forms of organizations when organizations evolved to a certain stage; the evolution of OT is a constantly inheritable and developmental process due to the interconnection and mutual promotion among the paradigms of OT. In addition,under the interaction of organizational research paradigm,organization and OT,OT gradually evolves to TCOs.


Purpose – The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mentoring, job satisfaction and organizational commitment among African‐American males.Design/methodology/approach – An online questionnaire was completed by 359 African‐American males in a business setting.Findings – Job satisfaction and organizational commitment were higher for those who were being mentored versus those who were not. The multiple regression results suggested mentoring was a statistically significant predictor of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Further, the relation between mentoring and organizational commitment was mediated by job satisfaction.Research limitations/implications – Current organizational research is limited, in that it tends to focus on majority culture where findings can be inappropriately generalized to minority groups. Future mentoring research should include more minorities that can provide a new window for interpreting the contributions of minorities to organizational competit...


Users of financial statements require financial information from the company to analyze the financial performance of the company concerned. Financial ratios can be used as a tool for knowing future earnings growth. This study focuses on the usefulness of financial ratios to see future earnings growth. In this study used 6 changes in financial ratios. This study aims to: (1) partially test the influence of financial ratios on profit growth in trading companies in Indonesia Stock Exchange (2) simultaneously test the effect of financial ratios on profit growth in trading companies in Indonesia Stock Exchange. (3) to know the most dominant financial ratios affect the profit growth in trading company in Indonesia Stock Exchange (4) to know the aspect of asset management and income as well as debt and equity aspect to profit growth in trading company in Indonesia Stock Exchange. The sampling technique used is purposive sampling where obtained sample of 10 companies for the period of research in 2006-2011. Keywords: TATO, FATO, ITO, CR, DER, DAR and Profit Growth


Financial literacy is a key element in financial decision making and well-being, which may affect all areas of our lives. Inadequate levels of financial literacy, particularly among young adults, is a global problem. This study addresses the following questions: are young adults financially literate, and how can this be measured? This study examines financial literacy and economics education among university students in Tunisia. The findings suggest that university students have inadequate knowledge of personal investment. Most importantly, the authors find that financial illiteracy is prevalent. Although this study was limited to Tunisian students, applications to broader young adult populations, particularly in the assessment method, are easily made.


Recent results on the gapless 2SC phase are reviewed. These include: the thermal stability under the constraint of the local charge neutrality condition, the properties at zero and nonzero temperatures, and the color screening properties.


This commentary draws upon the work of feminist media scholars and those who study the strategies of men's rights activists to reflect upon the media and men's rights reaction to the publication of the author's book on battered women who kill. The parallels between the responses from these two sources prompt the author to make suggestions as to how the men's rights materials might be used to enable more productive media engagement by feminist authors.


Relative efficacy of micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn and B) was studied by three methods viz. soil application, foliar spray and seed soaking in an acid soil (Inceptisol). Micronutrients applied alone or mixture significantly increased the tuber yield over control. Methods of application had differential effect on potato yield. Soil application was superior to other two methods and the response varied with the nutrients application. Mixture was inferior to individual nutrient. Among micronutrients, B recorded highest tuber yield, uptake of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn an.d B by tuber and starch content. Available Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn and B status in soil was higher after crop harvest. The uptake of micronutrients and starch were mainly affected by methods by individual nutrient or mixture.


Assessing abnormal biome- chanics whentreating various lower ex- tremity pathologies provides theathlete with comprehensive management andpro- motes injury prevention. However, there havebeenfewprevious investigations of abnormal biomechanical forces onliga- mentous pathologies oftheknee. During this clinical study weinvestigated theinci- dence ofhyperpronation insubjects who havehadananterior cruciate ligament (ACL)injury. Fifty subjects with apast medical history ofACLrupture and50 subjects without ahistory oflower extrem- ity pathology participated inourstudy. Hyperpronation ofthefoot andankle com- plex wasmeasured with thenavicular drop test. TheACLinjured subjects hadgreater navicular droptestscores thannon- injured subjects. Thissuggests that hyperpronation ofthefoot andankle com- plex mayincrease therisk ofinjury tothe ACL.There isaneedforfurtherin


A prevailing notion exists suggesting contemporary university students are conservative in their views and lacking the commitment to socio-political issues traditionally associated with the varsity. If this is the case, it is of particular concern with regard to those who would be teachers. Such conservatism can represent a world view that normalizes one's own experience of schooling and indicates a lack of understanding and acceptance of socio-cultural logics and life experiences different from one's own. But how conservative are today's teacher education undergraduates and how do their views and opinions sit with their wider youth cohort? This paper is a preliminary exploration comparing results from a Western Australian State-wide youth survey with those from three cohorts of first year university undergraduate teacher education students. The minor differences found suggest that students are no more or less socio-politically passive than their wider youth cohort.


ABSTRACT The paper is an account of an infant observation cut short because the observer herself became pregnant. The author describes a deep, but fluctuating anxiety present in the infant's mother, both initially, then with a recurrence during weaning. The infant's reaction to periods of maternal misattunement is explored with reference to Daniel Stern's concept of the 'dance' between mother and infant. The importance of both maternal sensitivity and perseverance, and the baby's resilience is considered; over time the 'dance' between mother and infant could evolve and become better attuned. The probable containing function of the observation is also recognised. The effects of the observer's pregnancy on the process are discussed, illustrating both mother's and baby's response to the news, which meant the observation was cut short. The author considers her countertransference in relation to picking up projections of mother's anxiety about being a new mother. Feeding is of central importance in containing mother's own anxiety, and weaning therefore becomes a focus of increased anxiety. The paper also highlights the tension placed on the observing role, particularly the difficulties encountered in maintaining empathic neutrality in the circumstances. References to other articles on the subject are included.


The high-altitude viticulture of Mendoza is being increasingly recognised among the top wine regions worldwide. High levels of solar ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation, alluvial heterogeneous soils and cool night temperatures are major influences on Vitis vinifera L. phenotypic characteristics, especially on Malbec, Argentina's emblematic grapevine variety. In the present work, the effect of intra-vineyard contrasting soil depth on Malbec was evaluated in a high-altitude vineyard (1450 m a.s.l.), over two growing seasons for physiological traits and over three vintages for yield components and berry skin phenolic compounds. The experiment was carried out in two parcels of shallow (SS) and deep (DS) soils, with different physico-chemical characteristics, and submitted to equal irrigation and crop management. Results showed that root depth was not limited by any soil physical constraints and fine roots (< 1 mm) were patchily distributed in sites with higher contents of silt, clay and organic matter in SS. Higher root quantity in SS was related to lower vegetative and reproductive expressions, shorter ripening period and reduced berry size and fruit yield when compared to DS. When SS plants experienced mild water stress (ΨS, stem water potential, between -6 and -9 bar) increments of anthocyanins, total polyphenols and antioxidant capacity in berry skins were observed. However, when SS plants reached ΨS  ≤ -10 bar, physiological harm occurred. The results presented contribute to understanding the effects of soil type on Malbec vines during different seasonal environmental conditions, especially in stressful situations, such as those expected by climate change scenarios.


Abstract—Effect of Zn addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Zn alloys with Zn contents from 6 to 10 weight percent was investigated in this study. Through calculation of phase equilibria of Mg-Zn alloys, carried out by using FactSage® and FTLite database, solution treatment temperature was decided as temperatures from 300 to 400oC, where supersaturated solid solution can be obtained. Solid solution treatment of Mg-Zn alloys was successfully conducted at 380oC and supersaturated microstructure with all beta phase resolved into matrix was obtained. After solution treatment, hot rolling was successfully conducted by reduction of 60%. Compression and tension tests were carried out at room temperature on the samples as-cast, solution treated, hot-rolled and recrystallized after rolling. After solid solution treatment, each alloy was annealed at temperatures of 180 and 200oC for time intervals from 1 min to 48 hrs and hardness of each condition was measured by micro-Vickers method. Peak aging conditions were deduced as at the temperature of 200oC for 10 hrs. By addition of Zn by 10 weight percent, hardness and strength were enhanced.


A consequence of sewage discharge into a shallow marsh pool was large-scale hatching of the biting midge Culicoides nubeculosus from the recipient and mass attacks by this blood-sucking insect on grazing cattle. Culicoides nubeculosus is a great nuisance due to the painful bite and in Denmark it is a potential vector of pathogenic agents. In the future, these aspects of sewage discharge must be borne in mind.


The author examines the evolution of the two main trends in French foreign policy between 1946 and 2022: the "Atlantic" and the "European". Both of these trends emerged shortly after the Second World War and were subsequently intertwined in complex ways. In the Fourth Republic, in the context of the 'Soviet threat' and the need to solve the "German problem", the "Atlantists" long had a dominant influence at the level of the elites. The "Europeanists", who, in addition to economic integration, sought the military-political unity of the West European nations with France in the lead, did not oppose them, although objectively their efforts led to a weakening of "transatlantic solidarity". The "Europeanist" projects were not successful, but at the same time the disappointment in the US over its position during the 1956 Suez Crisis and the Algerian War reduced the influence of the "Atlantists" in ruling circles. Ultimately, after the establishment of the Fifth Republic by Charles de Gaulle in 1958, the "Atlantic tendency" was reduced to a minimum, the "Europeanist" was limited by his demand to preserve the maximum possible national sovereignty. In the post-De Gaulle period, all the presidents of France sought, each in his own way, to simultaneously strengthen both tendencies. However, the increasing involvement of the country in NATO activities actually blocked the substantive promotion of "Europeanist" projects. The article shows how the convinced "Europeanist" E. Macron, who came to power in 2017, who sees an opportunity for France to pursue a sovereign policy only within the framework of the EU, transformed into a "power of Europe", is trying to solve this dilemma by promoting the creation of a "European pillar" Alliance as a way to strengthen it. The further prospects of the "Europeanist" idea are assessed, as well as the chances of France for the realization of great claims in the hypothetical "power of Europe".


The high core count processor becomes the current trend to indicate the mobile devices' power. Mobile devices powered by octa-core CPUs offer faster performance, but suffer the larger dynamic voltage droops, especially for the PCB with the single-sided component placement (SSCP). Some chip-package-board co-simulations using the chip power model and full channel S-parameters were taken to evaluate the different decoupling capacitor configurations, feedback line designs, and the voltage compensation technique between the power management integrated circuit (PMIC) and the application processor (AP). Evaluation results indicated that the proposed single-ended feedback line sensed the most accurate voltage droop on the AP side than the traditional differential feedback lines did. A careful power distribution network design with the early voltage compensation technique reduced 37% of decoupling capacitor cost in the SSCP PCB and achieved the dynamic voltage droop on the AP side less than 10% of supply voltage from the PMIC.


The influence of rubbers, trans-polynorbornene, polyisobutylene P-200 and sevilene on vulcanization characteristics, physical-mechanical and dynamic properties of rubber used for the manufacture of products in contact with sea water has been investigated. It has been established that the developed rubber with a sulfur vulcanizing system based on rubbers SKMS-30ARK, SKN-4065 and BK-1675 with additives of trans-polynorbornene and sevilene 11808-340 has improved physical and mechanical characteristics, resistance to sea water and increased dynamic properties


Real-world optimisation problems often are of a dynamic nature. Recently, much research has been done to apply particle swarm optimisation (PSO) to dynamic environments (DE). However, these research efforts generally focused on optimising one variation of the PSO algorithm for one type of DE. The aim of this work is to develop a more comprehensive view of PSO for DEs. This thesis studies different schemes of characterising and taxonomising DEs, performance measures used to quantify the performance of optimisation algorithms applied to DEs, various adaptations of PSO to apply PSO to DEs, and the effectiveness of these approaches on different DE types. The standard PSO algorithm has shown limitations when applied to DEs. To overcome these limitations, the standard PSO can be modified using personal best reevaluation, change detection and response, diversity maintenance, or swarm sub-division and parallel tracking of optima. To investigate the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, a representative sample of algorithms, namely, the standard PSO, re-evaluating PSO, reinitialising PSO, atomic PSO (APSO), quantum swarm optimisation (QSO), multi-swarm, and self-adapting multi-swarm (SAMS), are empirically analysed. These algorithms are analysed on a range of DE test cases, and their ability to detect and track optima are evaluated using performance measures designed for DEs. The experiments show that QSO, multi-swarm and reinitialising PSO provide the best results. However, the most effective approach to use depends on the dimensionality, modality and type of the DEs, as well as on the objective of the algorithm. A number of observations are also made regarding the behaviour of the swarms, and the influence of certain control parameters of the algorithms evaluated.


Density functional theory (DFT) calculations using periodic slab models are carried out to study the reactivity of aqueous Sb(OH)6– on model α-Al2O3(1102) surfaces. The strength of inner-sphere (specific) adsorption between Sb(OH)6– and surface models is ranked using DFT adsorption energies, Eads. Trends in Eads in terms of surface structure, adsorbing functional group identity, and oxyanion coordination to the surface are determined and analyzed in terms of geometry and electronic structure. The results show that not all Sb–Osurf interactions involve the same type of Sb and O orbital interactions, which explains why trends in Eads cannot be rationalized by universal Sb–O bond length–bond strength relationships. The DFT results show a preference for Sb(V) bidentate and tridentate geometries in which Sb bonds through the corners of AlO6 groups in the surface. Less favorable adsorption involving edge sites is associated with adsorption-induced surface relaxations of oxygen groups from deeper layers of the ...


In late fifteenth century, the St. Elizabeth's school in Wrocław was already a key centre of Silesian humanism, i.a., thanks to Laurentius Corvinus and other alumni of the Cracow Academy. The subsequent generations of teaching staff of this institution studied in Wittenberg, i.a., at Philip Melanchthon's, who strongly influenced Wrocław's intellectual elite. The Reformation, introduced to the town's churches, was accompanied by an educational reform, which allowed, during Andreas Winkler's rectorate, in 1562, for the school to be granted the status of gymnasium. Humanist ideals guided the consecutive rectors of the Elisabetanum, i.a., Elias Maior (1631–1669), who significantly developed the tradition of theatrical spectacles staged there. Elias Maior's literary and educational oeuvre has an interesting interpretative background in his preserved Schreibkalenders, which Wrocław humanist filled with notes over several years of his rectorate. These notes constitute a un usually rich source, documenting the everyday life of the Elizabethan gymna sium's rector, lived both in publicis: at school, in the parish church and at the town's hall, and privatim: at friends' homes, gardens and taverns. Repeated references to music deserve special attention. It was performed on every above-mentioned occasion. The picture emerging from the notes reveals a unique description of musical life of the metropolis on the Oder, by an educated poeta lauretaus from Wrocław. Tomasz Jeż studied musicology in Warsaw, Göttingen and Berlin. Having received his PhD (2002), he was employed as assistant professor at the Institute of Musicology, University of Warsaw. For the 2007/2008 academic year he received the postdoc scholarship of the Foundation for Polish Science at Rome. He is the author of three books and over sixty studies and articles on heuristic and spiritual contexts of the music culture. His scholarly interest focuses on the music culture of Silesia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the sixteenth–eighteenth centuries. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Trans. by Agnieszka Pospiszil First published as: "Z pamiętników muzykalnego humanisty. Schreibkalender Eliasa Maiora (1588–1669) jako źródło do historii kultury muzycznej Wrocławia," Odrodzenie i Reformacja w Polsce 61 (2017), pp. 165–193 The publication of this English translation has received additional funding from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland


The primary goal of bio informatics and neural networks solely is to increase our understanding of biological processes and focus on developing and applying computationally intensive techniques (e.g., pattern recognition, data mining, machine learning algorithms, and visualization) to achieve this goal. The neural networks exhibit characteristics such as mapping capabilities or pattern association, generalization, robustness, fault tolerance, parallel and high speed information processing. Neural networks learn by examples they can therefore be trained with known examples of a problem to 'acquire' knowledge about it. Once appropriately trained, the network can be put to effective use in solving 'unknown' or 'untrained' instances of the problem. The perfect blend made of bioinformatics and neural networks results in efficient pattern analysis techniques. The conventional techniques and algorithms employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals on the basis of their respective DNA profiles involves more computational steps and mathematical formulas that leads to more time and space complexity resulting in complicated and less efficient algorithms which can be shorted out by emerging Artificial Neural Network approach.


Adsorption of contaminants in textile wastewater onto activated carbon derived from two wood species has been studied using batch-adsorption techniques. This study was carried out to examine the removal efficiency of the low-cost adsorbent (Afzelia africana) AFA and (Acacia albida) ACA for the removal of heavy metals and other organic contaminants from textile effluents. The influence of contact time and adsorbent dose kept constant on the adsorption process was also studied. Removal efficiency increased with increase in contact time. The two adsorbents had an average removal efficiency of 60% at 90mins contact time for Zn. The ACA had higher removal efficiency for chromium at all contact times than AFA except at 120mins contact time where there existed a slight difference in the removal efficiency between the two adsorbents. Removal efficiency of iron was high between 58.18- 70.52% and 72.75-75.86% for AFA and ACA carbon respectively. This showed that iron had high affinity to the adsorbents surface. It was observed that AFA exhibited highest removal efficiency for nitrate at all contact times as compared to ACA. Results indicated that the freely abundant, locally available, low-cost adsorbent derived from the two wood species could be treated as being economically viable for the removal of contaminants from textile effluents.


Abstract Borneo, located in equatoria 1 SE Asia, is the third largest island in the world, although it is topographically low. One of the unusual features of Borneo is the large amount of Cenozoic clastic sediments that have accumulated in several basins on and around the island. The ultimate source areas of the Cenozoic sequences have been suggested to be either mainland SE Asia/Indochina or Borneo itself. During the Paleogene until the earliest Miocene, deep marine turbidites were deposited in an accretionary wedge setting. Provenance studies on these Paleogene sediments based on detrital modes of sandstones and heavy mineral studies show that they have all been derived from a recycled orogenic source. Upper Cretaceous to Eocene sediments, the Sapulut and Trusmadi Formations, are compositionally mature (quartzose recycled), and may have been derived from mainland SE Asia/Indochina. During the Eocene there was an important change in sediment maturity and a provenance shift from quartzose to intermediate recycled sandstones. Heavy mineral studies show that the Eocene-Oligocene sediments of the Crocker Formation are mainly derived from granite, and that granite debris has been derived directly from its source or has been only slightly recycled/transported. The ultimate source area for these sediments was probably the Schwaner Mountains of southern Borneo, although a minor component of ophiolite debris suggests derivation from nearby basement of northern Borneo. The relative immaturity and heavy mineral suites of the Crocker Formation indicate it was derived from Borneo itself rather than SE Asia/Indochina, but primarily from basement sources rather than by recycling of older sediments.


Objective To introduce a method of esophago-gastric anastomosis at the neck following esoph-agectomy.Methods 180 esophagectomies were performed using continuous mucosal anastomosis with absorbable suture plus interrupted seromuscular to muscular suture. Results In these 180 patients, the morbidity rate of complications , the mortality rate and the anastomotic leakage rate were 8.3% , 1.1% and 4.4% respectively. During 1-year follow-up, the anastomotic stenosis rate was 3.4% . Conclusion Esophago-gastric continuous laminated anastomosis with absorbable suture at the neck can reduce anastomotic leakage rate and anastomotic stenosis. Also it can improve patients' life quality. It is a reasonable method for esophagogastrostomy at the neck following esoph-agectomy.


Hue modification is the adjustment of hue property on color images. Conducting hue modification on an image is trivial, and it can be abused to falsify opinions of viewers. Since shapes, edges or textural information remains unchanged after hue modification, this type of manipulation is relatively hard to be detected and localized. Based on the fact that small patches inherit the same Color Filter Array (CFA) configuration and demosaicing, any distortion made by local hue modification can be detected by patch matching within the same image. In this paper, we propose to localize hue modification by means of a Siamese neural network specifically designed for matching two inputs. By crafting the network outputs, we are able to form a heatmap which potentially highlights malicious regions. Our proposed method deals well not only with uncompressed images but also with the presence of JPEG compression, an operation usually hindering the exploitation of CFA and demosaicing artifacts. Experimental evidences corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


A vision-based system for detecting and classifying moving obstacles in a cluttered environment using a single camera mounted on a small unmanned aerial vehicle is presented. Feature correspondences between successive image frames are found using the SIFT algorithm, and a model of the background motion is generated by Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC). The transformed frames are then differenced to produce a clean image of any objects moving relative to the background. These object silhouettes are then classified as airplane vs. non-airplane in order to reject false positives and to improve obstacle state-estimation information.


It is well known that the correlation between financial products or financial institutions, e.g. plays an essential role in pricing and evaluation of financial derivatives. Using simply a constant or deterministic correlation may lead to correlation risk, since market observations give evidence that correlation is not a deterministic quantity. In this work, we propose a new approach to model the correlation as a hyperbolic function of a stochastic process. Our general approach provides a stochastic correlation which is much more realistic to model real- world phenomena and could be used in many financial application fields. Furthermore, it is very flexible: any mean-reverting process (with positive and negative values) can be regarded and no additional parameter restrictions appear which simplifies the calibration procedure. As an example, we compute the price of a Quanto applying our new approach. Using our numerical results we discuss concisely the effect of considering stochastic correlation on pricing the Quanto.


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Biological processes, such as growth control, are often governed by biochemical steps involving mRNA transcripts that are short‐lived and have a low copy number. Furthermore, the cells involved in these processes are often available in low numbers from in vivo sources. We now report a method that is superior to in situ hybridization, RNA blot analysis, and the nuclease protection assay for the study of short‐lived, low‐copy‐number mRNA transcripts. The method consists of a microprocedure for isolating RNA from one to a few thousand cells and two coupled enzymatic steps: reverse transcription of whole cellular RNA, followed by amplification of the cDNA by a specifically primed polymerase chain reaction to give specific cDNA fragments that can be visualized on agarose gels by ethidium bromide staining. With this method we have detected actin mRNA from a single cell, or < 100 cRNA molecules, and have quantified differences in RNA concentrations of less than threefold. The reverse transcription reaction products can be divided for the polymerase chain reaction, and several mRNA species can be assayed simultaneously. Therefore, we call the method single‐cell mRNA phenotyping. This technique is applicable to the analysis of low‐copy‐number growth factor transcripts in cells in culture and in vivo.


Classical biological control programmes rely on mass production of high‐quality beneficial insects for subsequent releases into the field. Psyttalia lounsburyi (Silvestri) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a koinobiont larval–pupal endoparasitoid of tephritid flies that is being reared to support a classical biological control programme for olive fruit fly in California. The mass‐rearing system for a P. lounsburyi colony, initiated with insects originally collected in Kenya, was evaluated with the goal of increasing production, while at the same time reducing time requirements for rearing in a quarantine facility. We tested the effect of exposure time of a factitious host Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), on parasitization, adult production, superparasitism, and sex ratio of P. lounsburyi and survival of the host. Parasitization rates were highest (31%) at 3‐ and 4‐hr exposure times, while adult production (i.e., emergence of wasp progeny) was highest (16%) at the 2‐hr exposure time. Superparasitism over the course of the study was 1.5% and did not appear to be a factor affecting parasitoid production. The sex ratio of wasp progeny was male‐biased and did not vary significantly over different exposure times. The rate of stings on host larvae increased with exposure time and was consistent with decreases in pupal eclosion from larvae and emergence rate of adult flies. When compared to current rearing procedures, the 2‐hr exposure time resulted in an overall 2.8‐fold increase in P. lounsburyi production when standardized for time.


The Wide Angle Search for Planets – SuperWASP – is the world's leading ground-based survey for transiting hot Jupiters (Pollacco et al. 2006). Based at two sites, and operating from 2004 – 2013, the project accumulated ∼ 16 million images from ∼ 2800 nights, comprising ∼ 580 billion data points from ∼ 31 million unique objects. The whole sky has been surveyed, excluding the Galactic Plane where the stellar density is too high to resolve individual objects, given the large pixel scale. To date, the project has announced the discovery of ∼ 160 exoplanets. The SuperWASP data also provide a unique archive for variable star research. Combining both short cadence and long baseline, and covering all stars away from the Galactic Plane between about V = 8−15, it offers great opportunity for studying both large classes of objects and for discovering rare individual systems. An initial period search, using the first few years of data, yielded many potentially periodic objects. Following this, a preliminary machine learning investigation attempted to classify the folded lightcurves using a neural network (Payne, 2012). This was only partially successful, but nonetheless enabled investigations of subsets of the data. Highlights included: identifying 140 short-period eclipsing binaries, so increasing the number of main-sequence systems known close to the period cut-off by 10× (Lohr et al. 2013); discovery and characterisation of the first doubly-eclipsing quintuple system (Lohr et al. 2015a); measuring period changes in ∼ 14000 eclipsing binaries which may indicate the presence of third-bodies in 25% of the systems (Lohr et al. 2015b); studying period changes in eclipsing sdB star postcommon envelope binaries to search for circumbinary exoplanets (Lohr et al. 2014); the discovery and characterisation of a high amplitude δ Sct star in an eclipsing binary (Norton et al. 2016); and studying ∼ 5000 RR Lyrae stars, including the identification of ∼ 800 Blazhko effect systems, most of which are newly identified (Greer et al. 2017).


ABSTRACT For the Yoruba, God, the divinities and the community define morality whereas in Aquinas the order of morality is eternal law, natural law and positive laws. This order of morality fits into a Christian moral order, such that morality begins from God and all other levels of law follow without contradicting the eternal law. For the Yoruba, the moral order is different; there is the Eternal law, Natural law, Cultural law with provision for the divinities and Community laws. The implication of this moral order in Yoruba morality is that cultural laws sometimes take precedence over natural law, making it possible for divinities to prescribe laws over and above natural laws. This paper compares the moral order in Aquinas' morality and that of the Yoruba. This paper helps scholars situate the history and context of moral order in the worldview of the Yoruba in order to better appreciate the implications.


The β–Si 3 Al 3 O 3 N 5 compound was experimentally prepared by carbothermal reduction by nitriding using pure SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , C, and N 2 . The effect of MgAl 2 O 4 on the growth of β–Si 3 Al 3 O 3 N 5 was investigated as a function of temperature and molar concentration of MgAl 2 O 4 . In this way, it was found that the formation of β–Si 3 Al 3 O 3 N 5 when MgAl 2 O 4 is present in concentrations lower than 13 wt. % occurs. However, when the MgAl 2 O 4 concentration was as high as 25.6 wt. %, the formation of β–Si 3 Al 3 O 3 N 5 compound was not attained and the formation of quaternary magnesium-rich SiAlON phases such as Mg-Si 4 Al 2 O 6 N 4 was found. Moreover, the mechanistic steps during the consolidation of SiAlON type structures are presented and discussed.


The topics covered in this session include: slimhole testing and data acquisition, theoretical and numerical models for slimholes, and an overview of the analysis of slimhole data acquired by the Japanese. The fundamental issues discussed are concerned with assessing the efficacy of slimhole testing for the evaluation of geothermal reservoirs. the term reservoir evaluation is here taken to mean the assessment of the potential of the geothermal reservoir for the profitable production of electrical power. As an introduction to the subsequent presentations and discussions, a brief summary of the more important aspects of the use of slimholes in reservoir evaluation is given.


Objective To summarize the experiences in physical examination of pilots of modified high performance fighters and in their aeromedical support.Methods Data about 75 pilots of modified high performance fighters who were unqualified for temporal flying after physical examination were analyzed.Results Of the 75 pilots of modified high performance fighters who were unqualified for temporal flying after physical examination,14(18.7%)were due to surgical diseases,4(5.3%)due to nervous system diseases,13(17.3%)due to medical diseases,3(4.0%)due to ophthalmologic diseases,4(5.3%)due to otolaryngologic(ENT) diseases,and 38(50.7%)due to their special functions below proof.Conclusion The diseases of pilots of modified high performance fighters detected in physical examination are the potential dangers in flying safety of the second generation fighters,to which great importance must be attached.


Background : Hyperlipidemia can be defined as concentration of lipids in the blood of a fasted (>12hrs) patient that exceeds the upper range of normal for that species. Studies have showed that rats with hypercholesterolemia are prompt to the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Methods: Twenty-four (24) male albino Wister rats were used in this study. The rats weighed between 180-190g and were randomly divided into four (4) groups (A-D) with six (6) rats per group. For hypercholesterolemia induction, rats in group B, C and D were administered with HCD (2000mg/kg) once daily in the presence of carbimazole (1.35mg/kg) for 14days. Group B (test group) were treated with soymilk (2000mg/kg) and group C (positive control) with atorvastatin (20mg/kg) for 14 days. Group A (normal control) received water and vital feed only. At the end, fasting blood specimens were collected from all the animals in all the groups for estimation of lipid profile and renal biochemical parameters. The biochemical parameters of lipid profile: Total Cholesterol (TC), High density lipoprotein (HDL), Low density lipoprotein (LDL), Very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and Triglycerides (TG) were assayed. Results : Results showed that the test group (soymilk) showed a non-significant decrease in TC, TG, LDL, VLDL and a non-significant increase in HDL concentrations but not as much as group C (Atorvastatin) which showed a significant decrease in TC and LDL (p<0.01), TG (p<0.05), VLDL and also a significant increase in HDL concentrations (p<0.05) when compared to the negative control group (HCD alone).Renal injury was assessed by measuring serum Na + , K + , Cl - , HCO 3 - , creatinine and urea levels. The HCD treatment resulted in marked elevation of: K + (8.670.77mmol/l); creatinine (2.070.23mg/dl); and urea (89.0014.42mg/dl) and caused deranged renal functions which were significantly improved by soymilk treatment: K + (6.510.34mmol/l); creatinine (1.030.24mg/dl); and urea (46.676.89mg/dl) with [P<0.05 or p<0.01]. Conclusion: Arguably, the phytochemicals in soy prevented dyslipidaemia and protected the kidney against the oxidative stress and the resultant renal dysfunction produced by hypercholesterolemia.


This is an expanded version of the talk given in the meeting to celebrate the 70th birthday of Prof. Giovanni Castellani. We shortly survey some results in Critical Point Theory.


In the present study the contribution of rat liver endothelial cells (EC) and Kupffer cells (KC) in the clearance of human (hu) Clq in rats was investigated. In untreated rats and rats depleted from KC the clearance kinetics and the tissue distribution of hu Clq were measured. In untreated rats, the clearance of hu Clq occurred in a monophasic manner with a half‐life of 66 ± 26.7 min. The clearance of hu Clq in KC‐depleted rats was delayed significantly (p<0.001) and occurred with a half‐life of 217 ± 78.8 min. Fifteen min after injection, 11 ± 3.5% of hu Clq was found in the liver of untreated rats and 8 ± 1.4% was found in the liver of KC‐depleted rats. The percentage non‐trichloroacetic acid precipitable activity in the circulation, as a measure for degradation of Clq, reached a level of 11.6 ± 5.6% at 240 min in untreated rats compared with 4.6 ± 5.8% in KC‐depleted rats. Double immunofluorescence staining 5 min after administration of Clq in untreated rats, revealed that Clq was associated with KC and EC in the liver. Fifteen minutes after i.v. injection of hu Clq, there was an uptake of Clq in the hepatocytes. In KC‐depleted rats, 5 min after administration of hu Clq, Clq was bound to the EC. Fifteen minutes after injection, Clq was also found in the hepatocytes. Electron microscopical studies revealed that Clq binds to EC, and that it is internalized in the hepatocytes and KC. The clearance of hu Clq in untreated rats was inhibited by preadministration of high concentrations of bovine C1q. These data show that rats depleted from KC are able to bind, internalize and degrade Clq, and that EC may play a role in the handling of Clq and Clq bound to immune complexes.


A multitechnique analysis approach has been used to study the bulk and surface properties of a biodegradable copolymer produced from agricultural feedstocks. The sample analyzed is a thermoplastic copolyester commercialized under the trademark Biopol that contains beta-hydroxybutyrate (HB) and beta-hydroxyvalerate (HV) units incorporated randomly throughout the polymer chain. The techniques applied are gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Special emphasis is put on the quantitative determination of the surface composition of the copolyester by TOF-SIMS and XPS as well as the analysis of the molar bulk fraction by NMR and DSC.


This qualitative study concerns motivation from both a teacher and a student perspective. The aim of this study is to illuminate how a few teachers work with motivation in mind when they plan their ...


Creating a programming environment and compilation flow that empowers programmers to create their own DSAs efficiently and affordably on FPGAs.


In developing countries, the utilities are facing many difficulties in maintaining the balance between supply and demand, leading to frequent load shedding and a drop in power quality. The continuous overloading of the electrical distribution system causes a reduction in the lifespan of the distribution transformer. Hence with the help of the Internet of Things, efficient power distribution in a particular area between more numbers of nodes is achieved in the proposed system. This system comprises an ESP32 controller, nRF communication network, current sensor, real-time clock, and monitoring devices. The system proposed is performing load scheduling based on the power generated and the customer requirement in the peak hours, (i) To achieve the peak clipping feature of demand side management (ii) To attain efficient energy management between two different nodes and (iii) the protection of distribution transformer lifespan. The electricity board can monitor the node status, whether active or inactive, using the webpage. The alert messages regarding node status can be sent to the respective customers. This proposed system managed to reduce energy consumption and improve the overall efficiency.


Report of a Patient With Temple–Baraitser Syndrome Gozde Yesil,* Serhat Guler, Adnan Yuksel, and Yasemin Alanay Department of Medical Genetics, Bezmialem Vakif University Medicine, Istanbul, Fatih, Turkey Department of Pediatric Neurology, Bezmialem Vakif University Medicine, Istanbul, Fatih, Turkey Department of Medical Genetics, Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Fatih, Turkey Department of Pediatric Genetics, Acibadem University of Medicine, Istanbul, Fatih, Turkey


Fortnite has taken the online gaming world by storm ever since its debut in 2017. Most parents have scolded their kids for playing it incessantly, however, one family therapist says it might go beyond just a game.


The base theory of heliospheric modulations of high energy cosmic rays created earlier is generalized here to the region of low energies. The comparison with results of long-term observations in the stratosphere carried out by the group of Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and Murmansk, shows a satisfactory agreement. Both in the observations and in the theory the alternation of even and odd solar activity cycles in which cosmic rays behave themselves in a different way is found out. The reason of effect is the magnetic drift of particles. The possible reasons of abnormally high intensity of cosmic rays registered in the mentioned observations during the last minimum of solar activity are discussed. It is shown that the whole 23rd solar cycle differs from others by an abnormal behavior. It is characterized by a lower level of magnetic turbulence in the solar wind, more hard spectrum of Forbush- decreases and weak anisotropy of cosmic rays.