of 13 years. Calcium deposits are more pronounced aroimd the pelvic and shoulder girdles and elbows and knees. They often get infected when calcium is extruded by ulceration and sinus formation, followed by slow heaUng. Family history. Both her parents died of unrelated illness. She has one brother who is healthy. Examination. She is intelhgent and mentally alert but grossly underweight. There is gross calcification of subcutaneous tissues and muscles, with severe contractures of her hands, arms and legs. Her skin is shiny and atrophic, and there are multiple discharging sinuses with calcium deposits at the base. Her locomotor function is limited to movement of two fingers ofthe left hand and some movement at elbows and shoulders. There are no abnormalities of respiratory, cardiovascular or central nervous systems. Investigations. She has had extensive and repeated investigations at various centres. These have shown that deposits are made up of calcium phosphate and are not in equilibrium with the extracellular fluid. Skeletal surveys have shown varying degrees of soft tissue calcification. The following tests were normal or negative: serum calcium and phosphorous, creatine phosphokinase, plasma proteins, liver and renal function tests, Rose Waaler test and electromyography. Treatment. Her drug therapy has included cor ti coster oids, ACTH, EDTA, Aludrox., and probenecid. More recently she was treated with diphosphonates (sodium etidronate 600 mg daily) for i year. During this period her serum calcium, phosphorus and urinary hydroxyproline were monitored and skeletal surveys carried out at 6-monthly intervals. There was no clinical or radiological improvement. Social Background. She has always needed a great deal of care and attention. After the death of her father in 1969, with no other available relatives or friends, this could only be provided in hospital. She spent 3 years in our dermatology ward. No suitable accommodation in a young chronic sick unit was found. For the past year, largely through her own determination and with great help from the Social Services and from Voluntary aid, she has managed to live by herself in an adapted council house. She needs help with turning over, moving, dressing and feeding. Someone in the flat above her helps her at night. She has a specially designed mobile chair and 'Possum' (POSM—patient operated selector mechanism). With a switch like a morse code key she can switch on her television or her record player, open and close the front door, and several other things. She also has a Possum typewriter. She has not only managed to obtain an external honours degree in philosophy and theology from London University but has also been able to write children's stories for the B.B.C. and to review children's books for the local newspapers.


Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions for equality and inequality constrained optimization problems on smooth manifolds are formulated. Under the Guignard constraint qualification, local minimizers are shown to admit Lagrange multipliers. The linear independence, Mangasarian-Fromovitz, and Abadie constraint qualifications are also formulated, and the chain "LICQ implies MFCQ implies ACQ implies GCQ" is proved. Moreover, classical connections between these constraint qualifications and the set of Lagrange multipliers are established, which parallel the results in Euclidean space. The constrained Riemannian center of mass on the sphere serves as an illustrating numerical example.


Objective To investigate the impact of serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT) level on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma complicated with liver cirrhosis(LC-HCC).Methods The clinical and follow-up data of 724 cases of LC-HCC underwent R0 resection from Jan.2000 to Dec.2012 were analyzed retrospectively.According to preoperative ALT levels,the patients were divided into increased group(ALT50 U/L) and control group(ALT ≤ 50 U/L),the postoperative outcomes in two groups were analyzed.Results Compared with the control group,male rate,age ≤ 60 years rate,platelet100 × 109/L rate,HBs Ag positive rate,liver capsule invasion rate,recurrence rate and death rate during follow-up were significant higher in the increased group.Univariate analysis showed the increased group was lower than the control group in overall survival and disease-free survival rate of 1-,2-,5-,10-year(P0.05).Cox regression model analysis suggested that the independent risk factors that affecting postoperative survival included preoperative platelet level,multiple tumors,diameter of tumor,vascular invasion and preoperative serum ALT level.The independent risk factors that affecting tumor recurrence included resection margin,multiple tumors,diameter of tumor,vascular invasion and preoperative serum ALT level.Conclusion The increase of preoperative serum ALT level is one of the important factors which can predict the prognosis of cirrhotic HCC patients after R0 resection,and its clinical value should be fully appreciated.


This bachelor work deals with the relationship between infection and autoimmunity. Autoimmunity diseases can be caused and initiated by infectious agents. Most of the infectious agents such as viruses, bacteria and parasites induce autoimmunity by various mechanisms. Some of them are specific for antigen, where the pathogenic products play a key role, e.g. superantigens, molecular mimicry, cryptic antigens or new antigenic determinants. Others are non-specific for antigen such as the bystander activation and processing and presentation of antigens, immunity activation of cells and production of cytokines. Diagnosis of autoimmunity diseases is mentioned at the end of the work.


Display device includes a display unit 2 for displaying images, along with being arranged on the substrate 3, a backlight having at least red, green, light emission source of the at least one group has a blue and white light-emitting source and 6, and a backlight control means 7. The backlight control unit, the red, green, and identifies each detailed driving level of the blue light sources, red, green and blue, respectively detailed depending on the drive level drive level for the white light source select the, to generate the actual drive level of the red, green and blue light sources.


In the fourth edition of his best-selling textbook, David Silverman provides a step-by-step guide to planning and conducting qualitative research. Using real examples from real postgraduate students, the book aims to make it easy to link theory to methods and shows how to move from understanding the principles of qualitative research to doing it yourself. This book will be of great use to students studying research methods, and will give them a thorough and readable introduction to what can sometimes feel like a rather overwhelming subject, concludes Sally Brown.


Macroporous silicon structures have been fabricated by electrochemical etching. Such fabrication process is known to result in the presence of a thin microporous Si layer at the walls of the macropores and at the surface. Photoluminescence measurements conducted in plan-view and cross-section exhibit a wide emission peak around 650nm which can be attributed to the microporous Si. The combination of a photonic crystal and a light emitter in one structure represents a potential for applications that has not been studied previously. This preliminary study shows the influence of the main fabrication parameters, namely the current density and the etchant solution, on the emission properties of the microporous Si layer.


In recent years we have witnessed an explosion in publishing data on the Web, mostly in the form of Linked Data. An important question is how typical users, who mainly use keyword search queries, can access and exploit this constantly increasing body of knowledge. Although existing interaction paradigms in Semantic Search hide their complexity behind easy-to-use interfaces, they have not managed to cover common search needs. At the same time, according to several studies, a large number of search tasks are of exploratory nature. However, in such tasks the traditional "ranked list" approach for interacting with the retrieved results is often inadequate. The objective of this thesis is to enable effective exploratory search services which can bridge the gap between the classic responses of non-semantic search systems (e.g., Professional Search Systems, Web Search Engines) and semantic information expressed in the form of Linked Open Data (LOD). Towards this direction, we introduce an approach in which named entities (like names of persons, locations, chemical substances, etc.) are exploited as the glue for automatically connecting documents (search results) with data and knowledge. We study an approach where this entity-based integration is performed at real-time, without any human intervention and without the need of prebuilt indexes. This allows the provision of "fresh" information, the easy configuration of this functionality according to the needs of the underlying search application, as well as its easy exploitation by existing search systems. The provision of the aforementioned functionality is challenging. At first, the LOD that are available on the Web are big, are distributed in many knowledge bases, are increased and updated continuously, and also cover many domains. Consequently, there is the need of an interoperability model that will allow the specification of the entities of interest as well as of the related and useful semantic data. In addition, the number of extractable entities from the search results can be very high and the same is true for the amount of semantic information that can be retrieved from the LOD for these entities (i.e., the number of their attributes and of their associations with other entities). Thus, there is also the need of methods that can estimate the important (for the search context) entities, attributes and associations. To cope with the above challenges, this thesis proposes a semantic analysis process in which the search results are connected with data and knowledge at real-time without any human intervention. For describing the entities of interest, as well as the related (and useful for the application context) semantic information, we propose a generic model for configuring a Named Entity Extraction (NEE) system, while for specifying the semantics of this model, we introduce an RDF/S vocabulary, called "Open NEE Configuration Model", which allows a NEE system to describe (and publish as LOD) its entity-mining capabilities. To enable associating the result of a NEE process with an applied configuration, we propose an extension of the Open Annotation Data Model which also allows publishing the annotation results as LOD. To examine the feasibility of this model, we developed the system X-Link which, contrary to existing NEE systems, allows its easy configuration by exploiting one or more semantic Knowledge Bases. To identify the important semantic information related to the search results, we introduce and study a ranking method that is based on the Random Walk model and which exploits the extracted entities and their connectivity. The exploitation of the selected semantic information is achieved either through the visualization of the related semantic graph and/or in the context of a faceted interaction model that allows the user to gradually restrict the search space. Besides, this thesis studied the exploitation of such graphs for re-ranking the list of retrieved results aiming to promote relevant but low-ranked hits. The dissertation reports extensive evaluation results of the proposed functionalities and methods. Regarding the system X-Link, a task-based evaluation with users showed its ease of configuration, while a case study illustrated the efficiency of the supported operations. The comparative evaluation of the proposed probabilistic scheme for ranking entities and semantic data showed that the proposed approach is more effective compared to other ranking approaches (producing a more than 20% better ranking). Regarding the presentation of the important entities (and of their associations), the conducted survey in a marine-related search context demonstrated that the majority of participants (more than 70%) prefer to see a graph representation of entities related to the retrieved results regardless of the type of the submitted query. The evaluation of the proposed probabilistic algorithm for re-ranking the retrieved search results (using TREC datasets related to the medical domain) showed that this approach can notably improve the list of results by promoting relevant hits in higher positions. Finally, the implementation and the experimental results of the proposed search process demonstrated its feasibility and efficiency, and also enabled us to reveal its limitations.


Background: The use of face masks is common worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the debate on the advantages and disadvanta‐ ges of face masks continues. While face masks have been recommended to protect from COVID-19, their potential risks on cardiorespiratory sys‐ tems in various populations are being investigated. This study aims to examine the impact of face masks on exercise test parameters in professional athletes. Mater�als and Methods: 25 professional athletes (mean age: 19.6±2.4 years; F/M: 11/14; BMI: 20.2±1.6 kg/m 2 ) were included in the study. They per‐ formed an exercise test two times, with and without face masks, 48 hours apart. A comparison of exercise test parameters with and without face masks was made to determine cardiorespiratoryresponses in professional athletes. Results: The participants with and without face masks were statistically similar for the test parameters, excluding final oxygen saturation, test duration (min), and peak heart rate. The participants with face masks had significantly lower scores of final oxygen saturation (p<0.001), test duration (p<0.001), and peak heart rate (p=0.004) compared with the participants without face masks. Conclus�on: Our results revealed that the use of face masks during the exercise test is associated with lower scores of oxygen saturation, test durati‐ on, and peak heart rate.


Antithrombotic treatment of acute coronary syndrome leads to much better outcomes of the disease. The article focuses on the arguments and evidence for the addition to antiplatelet drugs the rivaroxaban 2,5 mg two times per day for secondary prevention of AMI.


We have investigated interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) release in 20 patients with acute non‐lymphoid leukemia (ANLL) after culture with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or in the absence of deliberate stimulation. IL‐1 and TNF were identified by appropriate bioassays inhabitable by specific antibodies. The capacity to produce IL‐1 was expressed by most ANLL cases investigated irrespective of the FAB (French, American, British) subtype. However, the M4 and M5 cases tended to be better producers of IL‐1 than M1‐M3 cases. In contrast, TNF release was only restricted to M5 leukemias (3 out of 4 cases examined). Cytokine production may therefore provide additional criteria for a functional classification of ANLL. A considerable proportion of ANLL cases (7/18 bone marrow samples and 12/20 blood samples) released appreciable quantities of IL‐1 in culture in the absence of deliberate stimulation. "Spontaneous" TNF production was also detected in 1 out of 3 MS cases. Cells were cultured under LPS‐negative conditions and polymixin B did not affect spontaneous cytokine release. Moreover, Northern blot analysis showed that freshly isolated, non‐cultured ANLL cells expressed IL‐1 β transcripts. Inasmuch as IL‐1 is responsible for hemopoietin‐1 activity and IL‐1 induces colony stimulating factor production in various cell types, the observation of IL‐1 production in ANLL suggests that this mediator may be involved in regulatory amplifying circuits of leukemic cell proliferation.


Sufficient conditions for stability of time-varying 1D systems are already well established. This work treats the 2D case in an approach that parallels that of the 1D, yet at the same time reveals the heightened complexity of the extension. When "double exponential stability" is guaranteed for a certain set of homogeneous equations, the 2D system is BIBO stable. The result applies to a generalized form of the Givone-Roesser state-space equations.


We present an analysis of a 78 ks Chandra high-energy transmission gratings observation of the B0I star QV Nor, the massive donor of the wind-accreting pulsar 4U1538−52. The neutron star (NS) orbits its companion in a very close orbit ( r < 1.4 R * ?> , in units of the stellar radii), thereby allowing probing of the innermost wind regions. The flux of the Fe Kα line during eclipse reduces to only ∼30% of the flux measured out of eclipse. This indicates that the majority of Fe fluorescence must be produced in regions close to the NS, at distances smaller than 1 R * ?> from its surface. The fact that the flux of the continuum decreases to only ∼3% during eclipse allows for a high contrast of the Fe Kα line fluorescence during eclipse. The line is not resolved and centered at λ = 1.9368 − 0.0018 + 0.0032 ?> Å. From the inferred plasma speed limit of v < c Δ λ λ < 800 ?> km s−1 and range of ionization parameters of log &xgr; = [ − 1 , 2 ] ?> , together with the stellar density profile, we constrain the location of the cold, dense material in the stellar wind of QV Nor using simple geometrical considerations. We then use the Fe Kα line fluorescence as a tracer of wind clumps and determine that these clumps in the stellar wind of QV Nor (B0I) must already be present at radii r < 1.25 R * ?> , close to the photosphere of the star.


This work describes the development of ultrasonic cylindrical cells in the frequency range between 20 and 60 kHz for trapping of oil droplets in water. Each cell consists of a Langevin-type ultrasonic transducer and a cylindrical glass tube. The dimensions of each cell are determined by conducting simulations with the Finite Element Method (FEM). After determine the optimal dimensions, the cells were fabricated, and the pressure field predicted by the FEM were compared with that obtained experimentally by using a hydrophone (8103, Bruel & Kjaer). The comparison between both results shows good agreement when the transducer is excited with a low voltage signal. When the excitation voltage is increased, acoustic cavitation occurs and the signal measured by the hydrophone has many harmonics of the fundamental frequency, which are associated with the nonlinear radial oscillations of air microbubbles.


The main purpose of investigating contaminated sediment, as with other media, is generally to determine the nature and extent of contamination to determine if there are unacceptable risks that warrant a response and, if so, to evaluate potential remedies. Investigations may be conducted by a number of different parties under a number of different legal authorities. Most of this chapter presents general information of potential use to any investigator. However, the language and program-specific references are drawn from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) program, and at times, from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) program. This chapter is not a comprehensive guide to site characterization and risk assessment of sediment sites, but it does attempt to summarize many of the most important considerations. Under CERCLA, the investigation process is known as a " remedial investigation " (RI). Under RCRA, the investigation process is known as a " RCRA facility investigation. " The RI process is described in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Guidance for Conducting Remedial Investigations and Feasibility Studies under CERCLA (U.S. EPA 1988a, also referred to as the " RI/FS Guidance "). The investigative process in a RCRA corrective action is best described in Office of Solid This chapter supplements these existing guidances by offering brief sediment-specific guidance about site characterization, risk assessment, and other investigation issues unique to sediment. More detailed guidance concerning site characterization is beyond the scope of this document, but may be developed as needed in the future. The site characterization process for a contaminated sediment site should allow the project manager to accomplish the following general goals, at a scale and complexity appropriate to the site: • Identify and quantify the contaminants present in sediment, surface water, biota, flood plain soils, and in some cases, ground water; • Understand the vertical and horizontal distribution of the contaminants within the sediment and flood plains; • Identify the sources of historical contamination and quantify any continuing sources; • Understand the geomorphological setting and processes (e.g., resuspension, transport, deposition, weathering) affecting the stability of sediment; • Understand the key chemical, and biological processes affecting the fate, transport, and bioavailability of contaminants; • Identify the complete or potentially complete human and ecological exposure pathways for the contaminants; 2-1


It is considered t the Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy neural network and its modern variations. The use of regularization, random exclusion of rules from the rule base allows solving the problem of excessive similarity of rules in the rule base. The use of batch normalization to increase the generalizing properties of the network allows to increase the accuracy of the model, while maintaining the possibility of interpreting the results, which is characteristic of fuzzy neural networks. It is proposed to use an ensemble of fuzzy neural networks to increase the generalizing capabilities of the network. Studies of the Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy neural network for the task of diagnosing the coronavirus disease show that the proposed model works well and allows to improve the result.


An integrated circuit package has been analyzed using the 3-dimensional FDTD simulator. The finite isolation between IC leads and the lead impedances can be precisely computed. The computed characteristics have been used to develop a circuit model of the package. Then the influence of the package on the integrated circuit performance has been investigated with high-frequency circuit simulators. Presented results show the necessity of including package properties in the RF and microwave IC design process.


An atomistic effective Hamiltonian technique is used to investigate the finite-temperature energy storage properties of a ferroelectric nanocomposite consisting of an array of BaTiO$_{3}$ nanowires embedded in a SrTiO$_{3}$ matrix, for electric field applied along the long axis of the nanowires. We find that the energy density \textit{versus} temperature curve adopts a nonlinear, mostly temperature-independent response when the system exhibits phases possessing an out-of-plane polarization and vortices while the energy density more linearly increases with temperature when the nanocomposite either only possesses vortices (and thus no spontaneous polarization) or is in a paraelectric and paratoroidic phase for its equilibrium state. Ultrahigh energy density up to $\simeq$140 J/cm$^{3}$ and an ideal 100% efficiency are also predicted in this nanocomposite. A phenomenological model, involving a coupling between polarization and toroidal moment, is further proposed to interpret these energy density results.


In a letter to Carl Jung in 1902, Sigmund Freud wrote, "the cure is effected by love." Indeed, I believe, like Freud, that every therapy is a love relationship of a sort and that the analytic work is an act of love. But how is this accomplished in the case of perversions, since they are essentially the antithesis of love and intimacy? Among the greatest challenges such patients present for the analyst are how to humanize those who dehumanize and how to teach them to love. This paper presents the case of Cain, a man who learned to love in his analysis, but whose very love resulted in the need to terminate.


Challenged Networks (CHANTS) have made significant strides in more classical, often resource-starved, application domains such as disaster response, search and rescue operations, rural and opportunistic communications, vehicular and inter-planetary networks, etc. An intriguing question is: Do CHANTS have the potential to become a more mainstream technology and support innovative applications in everyday settings involving large-scale networks, such as IoTs, cyber-physical systems, crowd sensing, mobile cloud computing, smart and connected communities, to name a few? What are the most important technical challenges behind realization of the true potential of next generation CHANTS? What are the unique research opportunities? This talk will identify some of the underlying challenges as well as provide novel solutions in this direction.


The sheer size of volume data sampled in a regular grid requires efficient lossless and lossy compression algorithms that allow for on-the-fly decompression during rendering. While all hardware assisted approaches are based on fixed bit rate block truncation coding, they suffer from degradation in regions of high variation while wasting space in homogeneous areas. On the other hand, vector quantization approaches using texture hardware achieve an even distribution of error in the entire volume at the cost of storing overlapping blocks or bricks. However, these approaches suffer from severe blocking artifacts that need to be smoothed over during rendering. In contrast to existing approaches, we propose to build a lossy compression scheme on top of a state-of-the-art lossless compression approach built on non-overlapping bricks by combining it with straight forward vector quantization. Due to efficient caching and load balancing, the rendering performance of our approach improves with the compression rate and can achieve interactive to real-time frame rates even at full HD resolution.


The reflection that accompanies the evidence a candidate presents in the performance-based product is a critical part of the candidate's development. Through reflection the candidate begins the ongoing process of blending the art and science of good teaching practice. Reflection requires thoughtful and careful reporting and analysis of teaching practice, philosophy, and experience. Understanding why an activity or practice was productive or nonproductive in the classroom is a key element in the progression from novice to master teacher. The reflection cycle and the guiding questions included in this packet are designed to assist licensure candidates in the reflection process. They will enable candidates to better understand the reflection process and address the question; "How does this piece of evidence demonstrate my knowledge and skill level in this activity?". The following reflection cycle offers a prescriptive structure while allowing the flexibility necessary for candidates to demonstrate their knowledge, skill, and ability in the unique context of their area and environment. The reflections of the novice teacher are also vital to the assessors charged with the responsibility for judging whether the teacher has met the required level of performance for each standard based activity. Through their responses to the guiding questions, candidates will better be able to put evidence into perspective for the review team members by explaining how the evidence or artifact addresses the standard through the activity.


The depth of lumbar puncture needle insertion was recorded in 107 children. Height provided the best guide to the minimum and maximum depths of insertion. Mean depth of insertion (cm) = 0.03 × height of child (cm).


Research has recently been conducted on active steering using steer-by-wire technology in order to improve vehicle maneuverability and stability. A driver is generally conscious of the vehicle's yaw rate during normal driving and of its lateral acceleration when avoiding an accident. A system that compensates for these drivers' characteristics by active steering is proposed. However, methods of inferring a driver's behavior to avoid an accident have not been established, so switching over to control appropriate for each individual driver has not been possible. Thus, this study proposes a driving behavior-inferring hybrid control system to infer a driver's behavior to avoid an accident and switch to appropriate control using a driving behavior inference model that uses Bayesian networks. Model reference adaptive nonlinear control, expected to be highly robust even in the nonlinear domain, was used for control. A simulation was performed for closed-loop evaluation of the proposed system using first-order prediction of a driver model. Results indicated that the system improved lateral movement about 3.4-fold over when control was not performed while avoiding an accident, and the system was able to safely avoid obstacles.


OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the related guidelines of nutrition support therapy (hereinafter referred to as nutrition support) in acute respiratory disease, and to provide evidence-based evidences for clinical nutrition in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: Retrieved from PubMed, EMBase, CNKI, etc., websites of association in nutrition and global guideline databases. The guidelines in nutrition support for related diseases were collected. Recommendations were summarized after data extraction and quality evaluation. RESULTS: A total of 10 guidelines were enrolled, with development time ranging from 2006 to 2019. There were 6 guidelines with quality of level A, 3 with level B, and 1 with level C. "scope and purpose", "clarity" and "independence" showed the higher scores in AGREE Ⅱ, and "applicability" showed generally low scores. There were differences among emphases of guidelines, however, supplements for each other, and the recommendations for the same questions showed substantial agreement. CONCLUSION: The recommendations, in high quality guidelines of critical illness, acute respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia, etc., could be applied to nutrition support in COVID-19.


How does the actin-related proteins T2, ACTRT2, which is specifically expressed in spermatogonia, regulate spermatogonia death?

 ACTRT2 deficiency in spermatogonia leads to intracellular iron overload and damage to mitochondria, ultimately increasing spermatogonia vulnerability to ferroptosis.

 ACTRT2 is tightly related to spermatogenesis. On the one hand, ACTRT2 is involved in regulating iron uptake in spermatogonia. ACTRT2 deficiency leads to intracellular iron overload and mitochondrial damage, ultimately increasing the vulnerability of spermatogonia to ferroptosis. On the other hand, for ACTRT2-related spermatogenic impairment, the survival of spermatogonia could be maintained by inhibiting ferroptosis, and spermatogenesis of the testis could be improved.

 The expression of ACTRT2 was knocked down in GC-1 cells (spermatogonial cell line). Busulfan was used to induce GC-1 cells death. And then to explore which type of cell death ACTRT2 was involved in, GC-1 cells were treated with 50 μM Z-VAD-FMK (apoptosis inhibitor), 50 μM necrostin-1 (necroptosis inhibitor), or 0.1 μM ferrostatin-1 (ferroptosis inhibitor).The mechanism by which ACTRT2 regulates ferroptosis in spermatogonocytes was investigated in ACTRT2 knockout mice.

 ACTRT2 expression was knocked down in vitro in GC-1 cells using siRNA. Then, GC-1 cell death was induced using 150 μM busulfan. ROS levels, morphological changes in mitochondria, and the ferroptosis marker GPX4 were detected. ACTRT2 knockout mice were constructed in vivo using CRISPR/Cas9. The spermatogenesis of the mice was measured with H&E staining. After treatment with busulfan, ferrostatin-1 was used to inhibit ferroptosis in order to protect spermatogenesis.

 ACTRT2 was specifically expressed in testicular tissue and was associated with spermatogenesis. In vitro, when the cells were treated with busulfan, the proportion of GC-1 cell death in the low-ACTRT2 group increased significantly compared with the si-NC group. Furthermore, ferrostatin-1 significantly improved the survival of busulfan-treated cells. In low-ACTRT2 GC-1 cells, ROS accumulation and typical mitochondrial changes associated with ferroptosis occurred, and GPX4 was downregulated. In vivo, the seminiferous tubules in ACTRT2-/- mice were significantly shrunken. In addition, after being treated with busulfan, spermatogenesis in ACTRT2+/- mice decreased significantly compared to that in wild-type mice. In ACTRT2+/- testes, the expression levels of ACSL4 and ALOX15 were upregulated, while the expression levels of SLC7A11 and GPX4 were downregulated. Then, ferrostatin-1 was administered, which resulted in improved spermatogenesis. Finally, we found that the expression of SLC11A2, IREB2, and TFRC increased significantly in the low-ACTRT2 group, which transports iron into the cell to increase the intracellular unstable iron pool. Meanwhile, the expression of SLC40A1, which transports excess iron out of the cell, significantly decreased.

 We found that ferrostatin-1 can inhibit ferroptosis in ACTRT2-deficient spermatogonia, which is expected to be a new therapeutic strategy for male infertility. However, its safety and efficacy still need to be further evaluated, and the therapeutic schedule still needs to be further explored and optimized.

 Ferrostatin-1 can inhibit ferroptosis in ACTRT2-deficient spermatogonia, which is expected to be a new therapeutic strategy for male infertility.

 not applicable


Introduction: To compare electronic apex locators (EAL) with others root canal determination techniques and evaluate other usage of this devices. Materials and Methods: Tooth apex, Dental instrument, Odontometry, Electronic medical, and Electronic apex locator were searched as primary identifiers via Medline/PubMed, Cochrane library, and Scopus data base up to 30 July 2013. Original articles that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected and reviewed. Results: Out of 402 relevant studies, 183 were selected based on the inclusion criteria. In this part, 108 studies are presented. Under the same conditions, no significant differences could be seen between different EALs of one generation. The application of EALs can result in lower patient radiation exposure, exact diagnosing of fractures, less perforation, and better retreatment. Conclusions: EALs were more accurate than other techniques in root canal length determination.


From an analysis of the response by rural high school students in Grades X, XI and XII to a questionnaire derived by Messick from items related to Murray's needs, Anderson and Traub claimed the existence of a general factor of social desirability with its psychological correlate in the form of two extroverted dimensions, social extroversion and impulsivity. Implicit in this work are two hypotheses which were tested in the current study: that this general factor would be sustained at the adult level and that its greater impact on male than on female responses would also continue. From an analysis of responses by students in the first and in the third or fourth years of a university program, no support was found for these hypotheses.


The study revealed that jassid population in 2000 was the highest on varieties Ganganagar Ageti, which was at par with Bikaneri Narma, RST 9 and H 777 followed by RS 875 and the others. The least population was recorded on G–27 and Papui, which were Gossypium arboreum varieties as against the others which were Gossypium hirsutum varieties. In the year 2001, jassid population was the highest on H 777 followed by RST 9, RS 875, Bikaneri Narma and the others. The least population was again found to be on G–27 and Papui. The jassid was active throughout the crop season with higher population in the initial period of the crop i.e. at 30th day after sowing. Correlation studies showed that almost all the weather factors as well as crop age had effect on the jassid population in one or the other variety and the population of the jassid appeared to be determined by a complex of factors. Based on the present finding, it is suggested that for effective management of the jassid, suitable measures should be adopted by 30th day of the crop sowing and more attention should be paid on susceptible varieties like H 777, RST 9, RS 875 and Bikaneri Narma.


Attracting and retaining high-quality teachers for rural and remote Australia continues to be a major issue for education departments and other teacher employing authorities. Historically, a wide range of incentives including extra salary, bonded scholarships and accelerated promotion have been used to staff rural schools. Expanding the number of pre-service teachers who experience teaching and living in a rural community first hand before they graduate may be another way to reduce problems of staffing of rural schools. Doing this would require addressing the costs for an individual to take a country pre-service placement. Using data from a national survey, the financial and personal costs of taking a rural pre-service teaching placement are quantified, together with the benefits and disadvantages, as a contribution towards achieving better resourced and more professionally designed rural pre-service teaching experiences.


It is with great sadness that we heard of the death of Dr Jean-Pierre Estebe, French anesthesiologist, on the 16th of March 2021.
Jean-Pierre Estebe was born in 1955. He started his medical studies in Rennes, France in 1975 and continued with training in anesthesia-intensive care, primarily wanting to become an intensivist.
He was passionate about his job, spending his energy on two fronts: pain and loco-regional anesthesia, problems within and the relevant fundamental research; more specifically the prolongation of analgesia with local anesthetics, which were finalized by a university thesis in 2001.


Abstract : Two aspects of air-to-ground daylight target acquisition were investigated. Study I examined the task of finding a target displayed on a cockpit-mounted CRT after the pilot had acquired it visually through the cockpit canopy. The effect of three different TV camera fields-of-view on the subject's ability to transition from outside to inside conditions was studied. The second experiment evaluated the differences in acquisition performance elicited by color and monochrome TV display presentations of ground targets.


During these years, the development of Chinese financial market leads to various financial products available to investors. Considering the current situation of Chinese financial market, timing strategies could bring abnormal return higher than pure passive investment. The index investment is more preferred due to its low transaction cost and high level of transparency. Exchange-traded fund (ETF) could track the index by an arbitrage mechanism given by purchasing and redeeming units. Although traditional strategies focusing on technical analysis indicators such as moving average lines are widely used among investors, they could possibly mislead investors during fluctuation and offer outdated information. Since ETFs are based on indices, the trading data of ETFs could offer incremental information for index timing above classical technical indicators. Moreover, ETFs could track indices in real time, which allow us to construct trading signals with less lag. In this paper, based on trading data of ETFs and corresponding underlying indices at minute frequency, we construct three timing signals (open-close signal, day-close signal and volume-based signal) and a combined signal. We also conduct back-test for these signals with the most two liquid indices (SSE50 and CSI300) in Chinese market.


A field experiment was conducted at the experimental farm of the faculty of agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2007 summer season. The experiment was conducted to study the effect of soil puddling (with puddling or without), previous crop (wheat or clover) and interaction between them on some soil properties and productivity of rice crop. Combined design with three replicates was used. It was found that, values of soil salinity under puddling soils were higher than that without puddling. Soil bulk density was significantly affected by puddling, previous crop and interaction between them in the two layers of soil except, puddling in surface layer (0-30 cm) was insignificant. Values of soil bulk density were higher under wheatrice than those under clover-rice and it were higher under puddling soil than those without puddling. Infiltration rate was significantly affected by puddling and non significantly by previous crop. Infiltration rate values were higher under clover-rice than those under wheat-rice. Hydraulic conductivity of soil was insignificant affected by puddling and interaction between puddling and previous crop. It was significantly affected by previous crop. All parameters of aggregates were significantly affected by previous crop and its values were higher under clover-rice than those under wheatrice. Values of rice yield without puddling were higher than those under puddling. The highest value of rice yield was found under clover-rice without puddling. Generally, it was recommended to cultivate rice after clover or wheat without puddling to increase the yield and save the cost of operation puddling.


Very limited experimental data on supercritical flow instability is present in the literature. To enrich this limited database and to further the understanding of supercritical flow instability, an experimental study was conducted using two vertical parallel channels with supercritical CO2. A total of 7 experimental cases were performed with a system pressure range of 8.25 – 9.1MPa and inlet temperatures 0.5 – 10.05 °C. The channel inlet temperature and system pressure were held constant and the input power was increased gradually until mass flow oscillations commenced. The distribution of mass flow rate in the channels with input power increase was examined. Initially, at low input power, the flow rate in the channels was almost equal, with an increase in input power, it got distributed in channels and become asymmetric, and with the further input power increase, it started oscillating 180 °out-of-phase. The results for seven experimental cases are presented and these would be useful for code validation purposes.


Objective To detect the chromosome aberration and serum reproductive hormones in patients with azoospermia,and explore the relations between PESA outcome and serum reproductive hormones.Methods Detect the chromosome and serum reproductive hormones of 86 azoospermia cases and 35 normal controls.Analyse the serum reproductive hormones of azoospermia,and retrospect analyse the reproductive hormones of different outcome of PESA performed for normal chromosome azoospermic patients.Results The total aberrantion rate of chromosome is 26.7% (23/86);Compared the normal controls,in azoospermic patients,Serum FSH、LH levels increased,The rate of T/LH decreased.and there is a very significant difference(P0.05);The resemble results is detected in different outcome in PESA.Conclusion The aberrant chromosome and abnormal reproductive hormones are related to azoospermia.FSH、LH、T/LH are important forecast indexes for PESA outcome.


We calculate the states of a one-dimensional hydrogen atom under the effect of an electric field (Stark effect) in the strong field regime being the field confined in a finite region of width 2a (capacitor region). We find numerically the solution inside the capacitor and match it to an analytical solution outside the capacitor. Although the electric field tends to separate the two opposite charges particles, the total energy of the system decreases with increasing electric field strength. Our results are useful as a guideline to study strong electric field effects in electronic states of impurities or excitons in 1D systems.


AbstractAfter the end of the 1970s, there has been a tendency for enhanced summer precipitation over south China and the Yangtze River valley and drought over north China and northeastern China. Coincidentally, Arctic ice concentration has decreased since the late 1970s, with a larger reduction in summer than spring. However, the Arctic warming is more significant in spring than summer, suggesting that spring Arctic conditions could be more important in their remote impacts. This study investigates the potential impacts of the Arctic on summer precipitation in China. The leading spatial patterns and time coefficients of the unfiltered, interannual, and interdecadal precipitation (1960–2008) modes were analyzed and compared using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, which shows that the first three EOFs can capture the principal precipitation patterns (northern, central, and southern patterns) over eastern China. Regression of the Arctic spring and summer temperature onto the time coefficients of ...


Low back pain is one of the most frequently encountered conditions in clinical practice (15). Although most low back pain is nonradicular, symptomatic spinal stenosis or herniated disc each occur in about 3% to 4% of patients (6). Epidural corticosteroid injections are most commonly performed for radiculopathy due to a herniated disc, but may also be given for spinal stenosis. Despite conflicting conclusions from systematic reviews (713) and discordant clinical practice guidelines (1417), use of epidural injections has increased (18, 19). Challenges in interpreting the evidence on epidural corticosteroid injections include variability in the methods used to select patients for inclusion, the injection techniques used, choice of comparators, and when and how outcomes are assessed (10, 20). The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the current evidence on the effects of epidural corticosteroid injections for radiculopathy and spinal stenosis. Methods Detailed methods and data for this review, including the analytic framework, key questions, search strategies, inclusion criteria, study data extraction, and quality ratings, are available in the full report (21). The full report also addresses other types of injections, nonradicular and postsurgical back pain, and effects of epidural injections versus active comparators. The protocol was developed by using a standardized process (22) with input from experts and the public, and was posted on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Web site on 29 May 2014 (23). This article focuses on the effectiveness and harms of epidural corticosteroid injections for radiculopathy or spinal stenosis, and whether effectiveness estimates vary according to technical factors, patient characteristics, or type of placebo comparator. We defined placebo interventions as epidural saline or local anesthetic injections without corticosteroid, a soft-tissue injection, or no injection, on the basis of the assumption that therapeutic effects in the epidural space are primarily related to the corticosteroid. Technical factors included the corticosteroid or local anesthetic used, medication doses, volume of injectate, number of levels injected, frequency and number of injections, use of imaging guidance, and route of administration. Patient characteristics included demographic (for example, age, sex, race) and clinical factors (for example, imaging findings, duration of symptoms, and presence of psychosocial factors or neurologic findings). Data Sources and Searches A research librarian searched MEDLINE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from 2008 through May 2015. Studies published before 2008 were identified from prior reviews that we conducted (7, 24). We also reviewed reference lists and searched ClinicalTrials.gov. Study Selection Two investigators independently reviewed abstracts and full-text articles against prespecified eligibility criteria. We included randomized trials of adults undergoing epidural corticosteroid injections versus placebo interventions for radicular low back pain or spinal stenosis of any duration. We considered sciatica to be synonymous with radiculopathy. We included epidural injections performed via any approach, as well as transforaminal injections that did not necessarily enter the epidural space (periradicular injections). We also included studies that directly compared injection techniques, corticosteroids, and corticosteroid doses. Outcomes were pain, function, composite outcomes, subsequent surgery measured at least 5 days after the injection, and local and systemic harms. For harms, we also included large treatment series (sample size >1000 patients). We excluded studies of back pain due to fracture, high-impact trauma, cancer, or infection. Data Extraction and Quality Assessment One investigator extracted details about the study design, patient sample, setting, interventions, and results. Another investigator verified extractions for accuracy. Two investigators independently assessed risk of bias (quality) for each randomized trial as good, fair, or poor by using predefined criteria (25). Discrepancies were resolved through a consensus process. Data Synthesis and Analysis We conducted meta-analyses by using the DersimonianLaird random-effects method in Stata/IC 13.0 (StataCorp LP). Statistical heterogeneity was measured with the Cochran chi-square test and the I 2 statistic (26). When statistical heterogeneity was present, we repeated meta-analysis by using the profile likelihood method (27). All analyses were stratified by the approach used (transforaminal, interlaminar, or caudal). Outcomes were analyzed as immediate (5 days to 2 weeks), short-term (2 weeks to 3 months), intermediate-term (3 months to <1 year), and long-term (>1 year), using the longest-duration data available within each category. For continuous outcomes, pain scores were converted to a scale of 0 to 100 and pooled as weighted mean differences (WMDs); function was pooled as standardized mean differences (SMDs) unless all trials in an analysis reported the same functional outcome. We used pain scores for leg pain when available, and overall or back pain when leg pain was not reported. The mean difference was calculated from the change from baseline to follow-up; sensitivity analysis based on adjusted estimates (for example, analysis of covariance) or differences in follow-up scores gave similar results and are not reported further. We imputed missing SDs by using the mean value from other studies in that analysis. For dichotomous outcomes, we pooled relative risks (RRs) for successful (as defined in the trials) pain, function, and composite outcomes and rates of subsequent surgery. To investigate whether certain placebo interventions might have therapeutic effects, we also performed separate pooled analyses on the placebo group response rates for continuous and dichotomous outcomes, stratified by the specific type of placebo comparator. We performed sensitivity analyses excluding poor-quality and outlier studies, and subgroup analyses and meta-regression on the corticosteroid, corticosteroid dose (in prednisolone equivalents), the local anesthetic, the comparator, injectate volume, symptom duration, use of imaging correlation, use of fluoroscopic guidance, number of injections, exclusion of patients with prior surgery, year of publication, and blinding methods. For analyses with at least 10 studies, we created funnel plots and performed the Egger test for small sample effects (28). We defined a minimum clinically important difference as an improvement in 15 points on a pain scale of 0 to 100, 10 points on the Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Index (ODI), and 5 points on the RolandMorris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ) (29). We assessed the overall strength of each body of evidence as high, moderate, low, or insufficient on the basis of aggregate study quality, precision, consistency, and directness (22). Role of the Funding Source The AHRQ funded the review at the request of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, who assisted in developing the scope of the review and key questions. Neither organization had a role in study selection, quality assessment, or synthesis. The investigators are solely responsible for the content. Results The literature search and selection is summarized in the Appendix Figure. Database searches resulted in 202 potentially relevant articles. After full-text dual review, 59 trials and 4 observational studies met inclusion criteria for the interventions and comparisons addressed in this article. Appendix Figure. Summary of evidence search and selection. * Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Reference lists of relevant articles and systematic reviews, among other sources. The full report (21) also addresses other types of injections, nonradicular and postsurgical back pain, and effects of epidural injections versus active comparators. Some studies are included for more than 1 question. Thirty trials (26 to 239 participants) compared epidural corticosteroid injections via various approaches with placebo interventions for radiculopathy (3058), and 8 trials (29 to 386 participants) compared epidural corticosteroid injections with placebo interventions for spinal stenosis (Appendix Table 1) (37, 40, 5964). Duration of follow-up ranged from 1 week to 3 years. The trials primarily evaluated patients with chronic symptoms. Appendix Table 1. Trials of Epidural Corticosteroid Injections for Radicular Pain and Spinal Stenosis Appendix Table 1.Continued Appendix Table 1.Continued Four trials of epidural injections for radiculopathy (60 to 106 participants) (6568) and 1 trial of spinal stenosis (70 participants) (69) evaluated effects of one corticosteroid versus another, and 6 trials (33 to 60 participants) evaluated corticosteroid dose effects (7075). Eleven trials (30 to 239 participants) directly compared alternative epidural injection techniques (46, 7685). Two trials compared effects of different patient evaluation and selection methods involving imaging (86, 87). Five trials were rated as good-quality (36, 43, 44, 59, 84), 40 trials as fair-quality, and 14 trials as poor-quality. Methodological shortcomings included failure to report adequate randomization or allocation concealment methods; inadequate blinding of outcome assessors, injectionists, or patients; high or unclearly reported attrition; and failure to specify primary outcomes. Effectiveness Radiculopathy Epidural corticosteroid injections were associated with greater immediate reduction in pain intensity compared with placebo interventions (6 trials; WMD on a scale of 0 to 100, 7.55 [95% CI, 11.4 to 3.74]; I 2= 30%; strength of evidence [SOE], moderate) (33, 38, 41, 44, 45, 57) (Figure 1 of the Supplement, but differences were smaller and not statistical


Although research has shown a considerable influence of the pre-cracking phenomenon on steel-congested concrete members, only normal concrete (NC) has been considered in the literature. This paper ...


Chun Zi Yi is written by Long Zhizhang in his later years of the Qing dynasty. Internal medicine,surgery,gynecology,pediatrics, ophthalmology were recorded in this book. Especially maintain the use of wind medicine,Emphasize on wind medicine to treat clinical diseases. we attach great importance to analyze the mechanism of the wind medicine,and believe there are two main reasons: one is based on the breadth of pathogenic wind evil,the second is specificity of wind medicine. In short,the unique experience of Long Zhizhang was worth studying deeply.


It is a valuable way to develop co-segregation molecular markers for enhancing selection efficiency.Using maize(Zea mays L.) resistant inbred line P25,susceptible inbred line F349 and the derived NILs of BC5(F349 is the recurrent parent) to southern corn rust as materials,a 321-bp specific DNA band was amplified and cloned by means of RGA(resistance gene analog) primers.The new primers designed in terms of the above band sequence as a molecular marker were used for marker assistant selection(MAS) among the 96 BC7,BC4F5 inbreds and their parents in order to evaluate the selection efficiency.Finally,the specific band was gained and the performance in 94 of 96 plants was consistent between the field test and molecular marker analysis.The selection efficiency of the marker was up to 97.9%.The marker can produce clear and steady amplification bands in PCR,and be used valuably in MAS for southern corn rust resistance.


According to the characteristics of drawing teaching, the design idea and processes realization of CAI component in machiner y drawing are disserted. The involved originality and expressive mode will play an active driving role in the developing and practical research of CAI component s in drawing.


Eigenvalue problems are common in engineering tasks. In particular the prediction of structural stability and dynamic behavior are important aspects in engineering that lead to eigenvalue problems for which a set of successive eigenvalues and eigenvectors must be determined. The Inverse Matrixiteration is a new method for the solution of the standard eigenvalue problem with large symmetric profile matrices. The method is based on the well-known QR-method for dense matrices. With several extensions a new, flexible and reliable method was developed that is highly suited for the independent computation of any set of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of profile matrices. The method retains the profile structure of the matrix. The eigenvalues converge stepwise in sorted order, starting with the eigenvalue of smallest modulus. An effective spectral shift strategy in combination with deflation of computed eigenstates allows a selective computation of eigenstates in any part of the complete eigenvalue spectrum. The dimension of the eigenvalue problem decreases stepwise, thus reducing the numerical effort of the computation. The rate of convergence increases continuously. Eigenvalues of equal sign or clustered eigenvalues are often determined in the same iteration cycle. A repeated preconditioning process in combination with Jacobi rotations in the parts of strongest convergence of the matrix lead to a significant improvement of the global convergence behavior. Both developments retain the profile structure of the matrix. A suitable algorithm is developed and implemented in an object-oriented Finite-Element-Application for the analysis of structural problems in engineering tasks. Several examples demonstrate the flexibility and reliability of the new method. Two state-of-theart solution methods are documented and implemented to compare the efficiency of the Inverse Matrixiteration. Different criteria including the numerical effort and the storage requirements as well as the reliability and the accuracy of the computation are introduced for a classification of the new method. The strength of the Inverse Matrixiteration lies in the computation of any subset of eigenstates of very large matrices with profile structure. The numerically stable and very reliable computation of selected eigenvectors justify a slightly higher numerical effort. The advantageous use of the new method is illustrated with a detailed example for the dynamic analysis of structures in Civil Engineering.


These Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne EPFL, n° 1075 (1992) Reference doi:10.5075/epfl-thesis-1075Print copy in library catalog Record created on 2005-03-16, modified on 2016-08-08


Background: A reduction in testicular mass (testicular atrophy) may occur as a complication of hydrocele/hernia repair in children (herniotomy). The aim of this study was to evaluate for testicular atrophy in children who underwent herniotomy for hernia or hydrocele repair. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study of children aged 15 years and younger who had unilateral herniotomy at the pediatric surgery unit of a teaching hospital in Enugu, Nigeria. Preoperatively and postoperatively (at least 6 months apart), the volumes of both testes were assessed using ultrasound. These specific testicular volumes were compared to determine the degree of change in unilateral testicular volumes relative to the contralateral testis. For the index study, any reduction in testicular volume of more than 20 percent is considered testicular atrophy. Results: A total of 258 cases of herniotomies were seen during the study period. The mean age of the patients, at diagnosis of testicular atrophy, was 2 years, range of 1 to 3 years. About one-fifth (53) of the patient showed more than 20% reduction in testicular volume relative to the contralateral testis. There were more hydroceles than hernias and all the patients had herniotomy. Stitch related complications were the most common post-operative complication. Conclusion: Herniotomy for pediatric inguinal hernia and hydrocele is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in children. However, this procedure is not without complications, testicular atrophy may occur. This study has shown that up to 20% of the children who underwent herniotomy may come down with testicular atrophy.


In the context of the rapidly evolving integrated energy system and the increasing integration of renewable energy sources, optimizing and scheduling energy storage is of paramount importance in maintaining a balance between the system's supply and demand while ensuring efficient operation. However, traditional energy storage scheduling strategies lack the necessary flexibility to adapt to dynamic environmental changes. This article proposes a dynamic scheduling approach for multi-energy storage systems using deep reinforcement learning. Firstly, the dynamic scheduling problem for multi-energy storage systems is mathematically formulated. Then, a deep reinforcement learning framework is utilized to describe the decision-making process of scheduling, followed by the application of an improved Twin Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (TD3) algorithm for dynamic decision-making. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through simulation examples.


Adopting the ion implantation technology in the fabrication of new type of semiconductor,a portable semiconductor nuclear radiation meter has been developed. The technical parameters of the new meter are improved clearly as compared with the conventional detectors. So it can be widely used for detecting the X-rays and γ-rays in the space and the environment.


Recently, deep learning-based image super-resolution (SR) has made a remarkable progress. However, previous SR methods rarely focus on the correlation between adjacent layers, which leads to underutilization of the information extracted by each convolutional layer. To address this problem, we design a simple and efficient cross-layer information refining network (CIRN) for single image super-resolution. Concretely, we propose the interlaced spatial attention block (ISAB) to measure the correlation between the adjacent layers feature maps and adaptively rescale spatial-wise features for refining the infromation. Owing to the two stage information propagation strategy, the ISAB can distill the primary information of adjacent layers without introducing too many parameters. Extensive experiments on benchmark datasets illustrate that our method achieves better accuracy than state-of-the-art methods even in 16× scale, specifically it has a better balance between performance and parameters.


This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Authors OCN and IMT designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol and first draft of the manuscript. Authors IMT and UCE managed the analyses of the study. All the authors managed the literature searches. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. ABSTRACT Aim: To assess the nutrition knowledge, attitude and dietary restriction behaviour of the elderly. Study Design: The study is a multi-stage cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Umuahia South Local Government Area selected used study. Validated, structured and an interviewer-administered questionnaire used to obtain information on demographic characteristics, nutrition knowledge, attitude and dietary restriction behaviour. Nutrition knowledge, attitude and dietary restriction behaviour responses were classified as poor (0-39%), fair (40- 59%) and good ( ≥ 60%) while SPSS software version 20.0 was used for statistical analysis using descriptive statistics and ANOVA and significance was judged at P = .05 and p < .01. and television (69.17%). Nutrition knowledge showed (49.6%) males and 46.5% females had fair knowledge; 43.4% males and 37.8% females had good knowledge while few (7.1%) males and 15.7% females had poor knowledge. There was a significant difference (P = .01) in the knowledge of respondents (poor, fair and good) for both males (F = 426.091) and females (F= 530.117). In attitude (51.33% males, 45.67% females) had a good attitude to nutrition while few (9.73% males and 14.17% females) had a poor attitude. Dietary restriction behaviour (57.52% males, 66.14% females) had good dietary restriction behaviour. There was a significant difference (P = .01) in dietary restriction behaviour scores for the males (F=111.722) and females (F=203.744). Conclusion: Nutrition knowledge was generally above average; those with good attitude were statistically higher than those with fair or poor attitude to nutrition and most had good dietary restriction behaviour. Nutrition education regularly organized for the elderly will help to improve their knowledge.


Introduction:
 Evidence on the association between age at menopause and risk of dementia has been inconsistent. Some studies observed that later menopause was related to lower risk of dementia, while others reported no association, or even came to the opposite. Estradiol plays an important role in a wide range of neurological functions in brain, so the reduction of endogenous estrogen at menopause may aggravate brain changes related to neurodegenerative diseases, and accelerate the progression of dementia.

 Hypothesis:
 Based on the neuroprotective effects of estrogen, we hypothesized that earlier menopause might be related to higher risk of and earlier onset of dementia, compared with menopause at normal age or later.

 Methods:
 We used cohort data from UK Biobank and a total of 153 291 postmenopausal women were included. Age at menopause was categorized as <40 (premature), 40-44 (early), 45-49, 50-51 (reference), 52-55, and >55 years. The main outcome was all-cause dementia, a comprehensive outcome including Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia (VD) and dementia classified elsewhere. We used Cox proportional hazards model to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) on the association between menopausal age and all-cause dementia. We also stratified the age when dementia was diagnosed into ≤65 years and >65 years to explore the association between age at menopause and timing of experiencing dementia. All HRs were adjusted for age at last follow-up, race, education level, BMI, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, cardiovascular disease status, diabetes status, income, leisure activities and physical activities. We also used restricted cubic splines to analyze the dose-response relationship between menopausal age and dementia.

 Results:
 Among the 153 291 women, there were 1688 woman suffering from all-cause dementia. The average follow-up time was 11.7 years. Compared with menopausal age of 50-51 years, the HRs (95% CI) with dementia in women with menopausal age <40, 40-44, 45-49, 52-55 and >55 years were 1.53 (1.22-1.91), 1.07 (0.89-1.28), 1.08 (0.94-1.25), 0.81 (0.70-0.94), and 0.91 (0.78-1.06) respectively. Restricted cubic spline also showed an inverse dose-response relationship between them. In addition, compared to women with menopausal age of 50-51 years, women with early menopause (<45 years) had elevated risk of experiencing all-caused dementia before age 65 years (1.31, 1.07-1.72;
 P
 <0.001).

 Conclusions:
 Compared to women with menopausal age of 50-51 years, women with premature menopause (<40 years) had around 35% higher risk of having all-cause dementia, and women with early menopause (<45 years) were 1.3 times more likely to experience presenile dementia before age 65 years. Women with early menopause may need a close monitoring of their cognitive decline in clinical practice.


This is the first critical analysis of transparent costing as part of the New Public Management ethos. Although emerging in higher education, transparency is of wider interest because it is likely to influence budgeting in public services generally. Transparent costing initiatives are reviewed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, before focusing on the more developed UK Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC). This introduces the idea of costing myopia in public policy: short-sightedness arising from a narrow focus on costs rather than a broader strategic focus. Cross-subsidization behaviour is used to illustrate this, with empirical data indicating that widespread cross-subsidization occurs within higher education institutions and suggesting a divide between 'soft' and 'hard' managerialism within institutions. Cross-subsidization is a consequence of micro and macro financial, economic and socio-political influences. These are presented as components of a multi-dimensional model to assist policy makers towards a less myopic view of costing.


Because of the improvement of the Internet technology, it has become one of the essential parts for modern medicine to promote the exchange and integration of the medical informatics based on the Internet technology. This thesis proposed a new information transmission prototype based on XML technology to collect, integrate and exchange the heterogeneous platforms of hospitals. And, the SOAP(Simple Object Access Protocol) technology was utilized to establish the underlying protocol for exchanging the emergency medical information. Based on these technologies, the regional medical resource can be effectively integrated such that the medical resource utilization can approach to optimization.


Far more attention has been paid by Continental than by Irish historians to the task of dating the principal events of the life of the Founder of Luxeuil and Bobbio. This is not surprising. One suspects that to the average cultured reader outside France the names of the kingdoms which recur repeatedly in their discussions -Newtria, Austrasia and the rest-have an unreal, somewhat ' Ruritanian ' sound about them, whilst the long-haired Frankish kings-Sigebert, Childebert and ' good King Gunthram '-armed with lethal ' scramasax ' and hunting perpetually in the vast primaeval forests of Merovingian Gaul, are so remote as to be almost mythical. None the less the subject has a practical interest. At the Luxeuil Congress of 1950 the possibility was mooted of the Feast of Saint Columban finding a place in the calendar of the universal Church. Has he not his altar near the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles in the crypt of Saint Peter's, Rome ? The project would seem to be in abeyance, and the fact that it is so reminds us that while Columban has many whole-hearted admirers on the Continent, there are others who wouId minimize the effects of his sojourn there. The cue for this attitude was given in the 17th century by Dom Mabillon and his collaborators of the Congregation of Saint Maur, who made their own a fanciful theory first imagined by the English monk, Orderic Vitalis, in the 12th century. If those scholars rendered great service to hagiographical studies, they also raised in this matter, unfortunately, a fog of chronological confusion and wishful thinking which has persisted down to the present day.


The invention provides an integral blind flange structure of an air intake and liquid suction device for a railway tank car. The air intake and liquid suction device comprises an air intake pipe and a liquid suction pipe, wherein an integral flange is arranged at the upper ends of the air intake pipe and the liquid suction pipe; a communicating channel sealing cover is arranged on an integral blind flange; the integral blind flange is provided with a communicating channel, of which the two ends are connected with the air intake pipe and the liquid suction pipe respectively; the communicating channel is a channel with an inclined bottom surface; and the communicating channel sealing cover is welded with the integral blind flange. According to the integral blind flange structure of the air intake and liquid suction device for the railway tank car, the communicating channel for air intake and liquid suction is processed in the integral blind flange, and a channel in the upper surface of the integral blind flange is processed in a ridge shape so as to help a medium flow back into a tank body.


Sulfur is constituent element of ores,fossil fuels and proteins,it plays a great role in human life.Recently,with the development of mass spectrometry,inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS) has become an important technology for measurement and study of sulfur,and it has the broad application prospect in fields of environmental science,food safety,life science and geochemical.The progresses in the measurement of sulfur content,sulfur species and sulfur isotopes by ICP-MS were reviewed in this paper.


The recent outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought significant changes to higher education. In response to the pandemic, many colleges, and universities around the world, especially in developed countries, are embracing online or distance education. Transitioning to online learning that involves the use of information technology such as the internet and digital platform for course delivery has increased dramatically (World Economic Forum, 2020). However, these sudden changes have left some to speculate that the shift to online learning will change students' level of anxiety, stress, which could result in poor academic performance and low achievement of learning objectives. The purpose of this descriptive cross-sectional study is to investigate undergraduate and graduate students' perceptions of their mental health and computer anxiety in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistics such as simple percentages and averages were calculated. Also, a one-way ANOVA was used for analyzing the collected data. Results indicate that general mental health was significantly correlated with computer anxiety. The results also indicate that computer anxiety and perceived stress predicted poor general health. Demographic factors, such as sex, and academic discipline were significant predictors of computer anxiety, but age was not a significant predictor of computer anxiety. Also, the results show that chronic physical disabilities are a significant predictor of computer anxiety, and overall mental health, however, the presence of learning disabilities was not a significant predictor of computer anxiety. Implications and considerations for future research are discussed.


Six optimized stable 3,6-bis(1H-1,2,3,4-tetrazol-5-yl-amino)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine(BTATz) dimers were found on the potential energy surface and their electronic structures have been obtained by using density functional theory(DFT) at the B3LYP/6-31G* level.The largest corrected intermolecular interaction energy of the dimer calculated with basis set superposition error correction(BSSE) and zero point energy(ZPE) correction is-68.82 kJ·mol-1.The natural bond orbital(NBO) analysis was performed to reveal the origin of the interaction.Based on the vibrational analysis,the changes of thermodynamic properties from the monomer to dimer with the temperature ranging from 200.0 K to 800.0 K have been obtained using the statistical thermodynamic method,founding that the strong hydrogen bonds dominantly contribute to the dimers.The dimerization process can occur spontaneously over the temperature from 200 K to 400 K.


Pipe-soil interaction behaviour in the axial direction is an important design parameter for offshore pipe design. Governed primarily by the axial interaction behaviour, the undue thermal expansion of the pipe wall could cause the pipe to either freely expand, or buckle on the foundation seabed. Therefore, it is emphasized that by controlling the axial interaction behaviour, the overall pipe on-bottom stability can be effectively managed. This paper presents laboratory experiments performed at Monash University to understand the pipe-soil interaction behaviour in the axial direction. A special 2-D actuator test setup was developed to study axial walking of pipe on clay seabed under drained and undrained loading conditions. The effect of pipe loading rate, pipe embedment, and shutdown cycles on axial friction force were explored. Based on the experimental results, the pre-peak, peak and residual components of the axial force-displacement curve were identified and explained using a simplified theoretical framework.


State estimation algorithms have become an integral part of transmission energy management systems. They provide the system state to other advanced power system analysis tools. On the other hand, few distribution management systems utilize a state estimation function to track the real-time state of a distribution network. The main reason for the lack of interest in distribution state estimation function has been the scarcity of real-time measurements in distribution networks. Only historical data is available for the majority of distribution network buses. To tackle the problem of very low redundancy, power system engineers have focused on methods that combine the real-time measurements with the historical load data. Such a state calculation algorithm that exploits the radial nature of distribution networks is proposed in this paper. Growing interest in distribution automation and the deregulation in the utility business have spurred the need for practical and robust state calculation algorithms such as the one presented here.


Interferences were observed in the photoreflectance spectra of homoepitaxial layers grown on semi‐insulating GaAs and InP substrates. The modulation mechanism responsible for the interference effect was studied from the frequency and temperature dependence of the interference amplitude and the effect of continuous wave illumination. The results are in agreement with the model that the modulation is due to electrons drifting to the interface from the surface. A simple model was used to fit the interference spectra to the Lorentzian wave forms from the substrate and the epitaxial layer.


This paper reports findings from a survey into applicant reactions of working adults in Saudi Arabia. A sample of 193 participants from four job functions was obtained, with measures of organizational attractiveness, core-self evaluation, and applicant reactions to four popular selection methods in the country – interviews, resumes, work sample tests, and references – being included. Findings indicate a notably similar pattern of preference reactions to previous studies in other (Western) countries, affirming arguments for so-called reaction generalizability. Work sample tests were rated the most favorably followed by interviews, resumes, and references. For specific procedural dimensions, resumes were perceived as the most favorable, followed by work sample tests, interviews, and references. Several significant differences were found across job functions, mostly for interviews and resumes. Significant effects were found between reactions and organizational attractiveness, and between reactions and core-self evaluation, including some interaction effects. Implications for future research and for practice in employee selection are considered in the conclusion.


Through a study of the history of department stores and shopping centers in the Philadelphia metropolitan region between 1920 and 1980, I explore the historical role of retailing in the evolution of the "sprawl" landscape that came to dominate urban form in the United States by the end of the twentieth century. Philadelphia is an important case study for this topic because of its long history of urbanization, during which it developed from a colonial port city to a nine-teenth-century industrial metropolis to a model of twentieth-century deindustrialization. Through all the phases of its growth, Philadelphia remained an important consumer marketplace serving the regional hinterland of the Delaware Valley. I sought to understand the forces that led to the city's twentieth-century decline as the primary site of consumption for the Delaware Valley, when major sites for distributing consumer goods developed in the hinterland itself.


Proteomics evaluates biological events by analysis of the expression of proteins in cells or tissues
under different physiological situations. For plant proteomics, in order to maintain similar cultivation conditions,
treated and non-treated plants are generally cultivated under the same environment without considering changes
by the treated plants in protein expression of non-treated neighboring plants. The aim of this work was, by
proteomics, assess the differential expression of proteins in non-wounded (non-treated) and wounded (treated)
leaves of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L. 'Magali R') by mechanical injury, when plants were grown physically
nearby or not. At 40 days of cultivation, some plants were wounded by mechanical injury in all expanded
leaves (wounds, F), some plants were maintained as non-injured plants, or being grown near to F plants
(NFP, 0.15 m ) or being grown away from F (NFL, 10 m). NFP and NFL plant leaves were harvested at
12, 48, and 168 h after injury of F plants, and the NFL and NFP extracts were analyzed by two-dimensional
electrophoresis (2-DE). The protein profiles were compared using Image Master and the proteins were identified using mass spectrometry. NFP 12 h extract presented a lower protein concentration; for 48 h and 168 h,
the protein was similar for NFL and NFP. For 2-DE, no significant difference was observed between NFP
12 h and NFL 12 h. However, NFP 48 h showed a higher expression of proteins involved in plant defense.
For NFP 168 h, an increased expression of proteins involved in normal metabolism was detected. These results
indicated that defense responses were developed by NFP plants considering the proximity of non-wounded
plants from wounded plants during cultivation, with volatile compounds involvement. In this sense, it should
be emphasized the importance of the choice of the growth conditions for the control-treatments, not only
for proteomics.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of sport education model on students' skills and attitudes in table tennis course in high school. Sixty-four students (aged 16–17) from a senior high school in China participated in either a 16 lesson unit using the traditional sport model (TSM) (n = 28), or a 16 lesson season following the sport education model (SEM) (n = 36).The results indicate that both classes made significant improvements in their skills, while SEM students made more progress in forehand drive and serve than TSM students did. In addition, students in SE class also developed more positive learning attitudes and became more interested in table tennis class. Compared with TSM, SEM provides students with equal opportunities of game playing and skill practicing with their teammates for a long season. These opportunities allow students to built affinity with their teammates and experience the joy of game. The interest of learning is therefore inspired, causing better table tennis skills and learning attitude.


In the rhetoric of today's social philoso phy, racism is an ugly word. We are aware that racism reflects itself in prejudice, dis crimination, separation and even genocide, and we feel that these are against the values which we would like to perpetuate as a nation. We condemn racism, yet many of us do not fully understand what it is and how it operates within our society and especial ly within our own social work educational settings. Popularly racism is associated with racist individuals: individuals whose attitudes


MnAl films, prepared with an Mn/Al multilayer structure by vacuum evaporation, were studied. In the Mn content range of 31 to 40 at%, films became ferromagnetic (¿ phase) on annealing at from 220 to 420°C. They show the same X-ray diffraction lines of the fct (Cu-Au I) structure as do bulk MnAl alloys, although the range of Mn contents resulting in the ¿ phase is quite different, at 51 to 59 at%, from that for the bulk material. In these films, the ¿ phase is intermixed with a nonmagnetic ¿ phase below 34 at% Mn, and with a ß phase above 36 at% Mn. The Ms changes with the Mn content, and shows a maximum of approximately 330 emu/cm3 at about 36 at% Mn. The coercivity Hc increases from 1 to 6 kOe with increasing Mn content. The Kerr angle ¿K increases with decreasing wavelength ¿, reaching a value of about 0.17° at 400 nm, while the reflectivity R has a value of above 40% in the visible wavelength range.


Abstract Solid, water-soluble inclusion complexes between C70 and DMβCD or γ-CD have been prepared by kneading. The complexes have been characterized by their UV/VIS spectra, IR spectra and X-ray powder diffraction patterns. The decomposition kinetics of these complexes has also been studied.


Background and Objectives Test-to-stay concepts apply serial testing of children in daycare after exposure to SARS-CoV-2 without use of quarantine. This study aims to assess safety of a test-to-stay screening in daycare facilities. Methods 714 daycare facilities and approximately 50,000 children [≤]6 years in Cologne, Germany participated in a SARS-CoV-2 Pool-PCR screening from March 2021 to April 2022. The screening initially comprised post-exposure quarantine and was adapted to a test-to-stay approach during its course. To assess safety of the test-to-stay approach, we explored potential changes in frequencies of infections among children following the adaptation to the test-to-stay approach by applying regression discontinuity in time (RDiT) analyses. To this end, PCR-test data were linked with routinely collected data on reported infections in children and analyzed using ordinary least squares regressions. Results 219,885 Pool-PCRs and 352,305 Single-PCRs were performed. 6,440 (2.93%) Pool-PCRs tested positive, and 17,208 infections in children were reported. We estimated that during a period of 30 weeks, the test-to-stay concept avoided between 7 and 20 days of quarantine per eligible daycare child. RDiT revealed a 26% reduction (Exp. Coef: 0.74, CI:0.52;1.06) in infection frequency among children and indicated no significant increase attributable to the test-to-stay approach. This result was not sensitive to adjustments for 7-day incidence, season, SARS-CoV-2 variant, and socioeconomic status. Conclusion Our analyses provide evidence that suggest safety of the test-to-stay approach compared to traditional quarantine measures. This approach offers a promising option to avoid use of quarantine after exposure to respiratory pathogens in daycare settings.


New technology is proposed to determine an optimal route using spatio-temporal moving object data mining as querying trajectory. The existing route determination algorithms have been implemented which is computed using applicable attributes such as the link distance, limited speed, link width which are just static information. But the resulting route information is not proper in the dynamic real world environments. It is suggested that the method to determine an optimal route is by comparing and analyzing the route computed by the existing algorithm with the trajectories retrieved by the spatio-temporal moving object database. The effectiveness of this method is verified. For the covering abstract see ITRD E134653.


An isolation technology utilizing a selective chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of tungsten to fabricate released, joined and isolated microelectromechanical structures (MEMS) is presented. The isolation scheme features released tungsten structures that are both mechanically joined and electrically isolated by silicon nitride and offers extra design freedom for micromachining. The technology is used to fabricate an isolated-tungsten, serial-parallel (SP), linear electrostatic, capacitive actuator. The actuator is composed of a series of released silicon nitride hinges. Experiments demonstrate that a controlled large lateral displacement range (e.g., greater than 10 mu m) is achieved at modest voltages. Stable stepping motion is a major characteristic of the SP actuator. The fabrication and the operation of this linear actuator are reported.<<ETX>>


This study aims to evaluate the fracture resistance of acrylic resin used in temporary prosthesis with an extension cantilever, using glass fibers treated with silane as reinforcement, varying the distribution and positioning within the matrix. Fifty specimens were produced and divided equally into five groups: Group I, without reinforcement; Group II, reinforced with continuous, concentrated and aligned fibers; Group III, enhanced with simple fiber laminate; Group IV, a doubly reinforced fiber laminate; Group V, reinforced with fibers surrounding the implants and parallel to the occlusal surface. There was statistical variation between Groups I and III, I and IV, I and V, II and III, II and IV, II and V, and III and IV. The results demonstrated that temporary prosthesis reinforced with glass fibers treated with silane exhibited an increased resistance to fracture.

 Key words: Dental implants, dental prosthesis, material resistance.


Is the immaturity of Western social and political sciences one of the factors responsible for China's fortunes during the past generation and a half? Is this condition thus responsible in part for the unrealized dreams of various "modern intellectuals" for immediate representative government in China? Or, to reverse the approach so as to look toward the future, do China's misfortunes and do the thwarted schemes of various Chinese intellectuals, imply the need of certain developments in social and political science? Might such developments in turn permit the social and political sciences to be of greater use in China's further ventures and experiments in the direction of political democracy?—These questions, both practical and theoretical, both retrospective and predictive, call for consideration together.


The invention relates to an original process of production of composite materials for a display screen, such materials including a polymer, the liquid crystal and dye. The current problem is the insertion of dye molecules in such composites. The method according to the invention proposes to develop initially a porous film of cross-linked polymer, then there diffusing liquid crystal molecules (XL) and dye molecules (C) with a solvent (L) blowing of the polymer. After evaporation of the solvent there is obtained a polymer film with inclusions comprising liquid crystal (XL) and the dye (C) and over a wide range of liquid crystal concentrations, to optimize the performance and contrast control voltage the well screen made.


Glucose is the primary fuel to life on earth. Cellular uptake of glucose is a fundamental process for metabolism, growth, and homeostasis. Three families of secondary glucose transporters have been identified in human, including the major facilitator superfamily glucose facilitators GLUTs, the sodium‐driven glucose symporters SGLTs, and the recently identified SWEETs. Structures of representative members or their prokaryotic homologs of all three families were obtained. This review focuses on the recent advances in the structural elucidation of the glucose transporters and the mechanistic insights derived from these structures, including the molecular basis for substrate recognition, alternating access, and stoichiometric coupling of co‐transport.


The present problems of cable bolting in coal mines were analyzed.Based on high pretensioned stress and intensive bolting theory,it was put forward that the high pretensioned stress and intensive cable bolting with shorter length,set in full section and vertical to surface of roadways is an effective supporting type to the roadways with high stress or large deformation.The mechanical properties of intensive cable bolts,plate and steel mesh were introduced.The full section intensive cable bolting system was formed by intensive cable bolts combined with large domed plates and reinforced steel mesh.The reinforced steel mesh was put higher pretensioned stress when the cable bolts were pretensioned,which became an important part for pretensioned supporting system.The underground experiment of the full section high pretensioned stress and intensive cable bolting was carried out in an entry driven close to a facing working face,which was affected by twice violent dynamic pressure,and essential changes were taken place in entry supporting state.The side-to-side convergence of the entry is reduced about 90% compared with the former supporting type,the roof delamination is reduced to almost zero,and the deformation of the surrounding rock is effectively controlled.The difficult problems of roadway supporting were solved,meanwhile,the validity of the bolting theory was verified.


This paper is a synthesis of the 2012 Lourie Lecture, framed as a series of questions and responses, and supported by images used in the lecture. I'm going to focus on the growth of this new field called palliative care and will make the connection that the crisis afflicting healthcare in the United States cannot be addressed without widespread scaling and implementation of palliative care across the system. My subject is not end-of-life care, but rather care during serious illness. A serious illness is something a person can live with for many years, such as emphysema, or end-stage renal disease on dialysis, or dementia. Of course, serious illnesses are also progressive and eventually lead to end-of-life, but I want to address care for a much broader patient population, not those who are clearly dying and who will qualify for hospice services.


Abstract A survey of 252 prospective, comparative studies reported in five, frequently cited biomedical journals revealed that experimental groups were constructed by randomization in 96% of cases and by random sampling in only 4%. The median group sizes ranged from 4 to 12. In the randomized studies in which measurements were made on a continuous scale, comparisons of location were made by t or F tests in 84% of cases, and by nonparametric, rank-order, tests in the remainder. Because randomization rather than random sampling is the norm in biomedical research and because group sizes are usually small, exact permutation or randomization tests for differences in location should be preferred to t or F tests.


ABSTRACT This paper describes the influence of gas pressure on the conversion of O2 to O3 and the ozone production efficiency in a multichannel dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor utilizing positive and negative pulses. Results show that conversion of O2 to O3 is continuously enhanced by the increase of gas pressure (0.1–0.24 MPa) while the rising speed of oxygen conversion with the increasing gas pressure at fixed specific input energy is reduced above 0.15 MPa. The maximum ozone generation efficiency is increased with increasing gas pressure (0–0.2 MPa) while positive pulse exhibits higher energy efficiency. The maximum ozone generation efficiency is suppressed with further increase of gas pressure (0.2–0.24 MPa) while no significant difference in ozone generation efficiency is observed for two unipolar pulse modes. Results also show that 0.2 MPa is the optimal working gas pressure to obtain the maximum ozone generation efficiency and increasing gas pressure would lead to remarkable increase of ozone generation efficiency for ozone production at high energy densities in multichannel DBD.


Since their modern debut in 2004, 2-dimensional (2D) materials continue to exhibit scientific and industrial promise, providing a broad materials platform for scientific investigation, and development of nano- and atomic-scale devices. A significant focus of the last decade's research in this field has been 2D semiconductors, whose electronic properties can be tuned through manipulation of dimensionality, substrate engineering, strain, and doping (Mak et al 2010 Phys. Rev. Lett. 105 136805; Zhang et al 2017 Sci. Rep. 7 16938; Conley et al 2013 Nano Lett. 13 3626–30; Li et al 2016 Adv. Mater. 28 8240–7; Rhodes et al 2017 Nano Lett. 17 1616–22; Gong et al 2014 Nano Lett. 14 442–9; Suh et al 2014 Nano Lett. 14 6976–82; Yoshida et al 2015 Sci. Rep. 5 14808). Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2) have dominated recent interest for potential integration in electronic technologies, due to their intrinsic and tunable properties, atomic-scale thicknesses, and relative ease of stacking to create new and custom structures. However, to go 'beyond the bench', advances in large-scale, 2D layer synthesis and engineering must lead to 'exfoliation-quality' 2D layers at the wafer scale. This roadmap aims to address this grand challenge by identifying key technology drivers where 2D layers can have an impact, and to discuss synthesis and layer engineering for the realization of electronic-grade, 2D materials. We focus on three fundamental areas of research that must be heavily pursued in both experiment and computation to achieve high-quality materials for electronic and optoelectronic applications.


We tested the zinc-finger sex chromosome-linked genes Zfx/Zfy and the sex-determining region Y (Sry) genes for gender determination of biopsy samples from marine and riverine tucuxi dolphins (Sotalia guianensis and S. fluviatilis). We also evaluated the performance of these genes with decomposed carcasses, for which sexing cannot rely on the direct examination of the reproductive tract. Both systems proved reliable for sexing 46 fresh and decomposed samples, making them especially useful when biopsy darting is coupled with photo-identification studies.