Criminal activity is on the rise in Nigeria. The nefarious activity of bandits is on the increase with kidnapping of students and attack on farmers. This creates fear in the terrorized communities. Armed robbery as well as rape of citizens going about their normal duties is also on the increase. The road is becoming increasingly unsafe for the citizenry as well as government officials. The government has mandated individuals to register in the National Identification Number NIN which is linked to the Bank Verification Number (BVN) (a database established to curb crime in the banking sector) and the Subscriber Identity module (SIM). The Establishment of such databases is pertinent however the NIN, BVN, SIM-NIN linkage and fingerprints may not be sufficient in solving criminal cases without DNA profiling of convicted individuals, establishment of forensic laboratories and the creation of criminal DNA profile database CRODER – a Criminal offender DNA Exert Repertoire. The role of DNA profiling as an additional measure is to keep a record of all convicted individuals and the CRODER will be an additional useful measure in profiling criminals and individuals can be adopted as a forensic tool in addition to the captured databases of NIN, BVN and NIN-SIM and will be on the watch list of security operatives. The CRODER forensic tool can be done stepwise by availability of an emergency number to dial for emergency, a dispatch personnel to respond to the call, and vigilante groups or other adhoc security officer in the vicinity of the emergency call to get to the vicinity and preserve the crime scene environment for investigators and detectives to work on. CRODER Forensic tool can then be adopted to solve the crime. Offenders trying to escape enroute the airport, can be checked via CRODER and fingerprint compared and matched with the collection in the database. The CRODER may be a necessary stride to bring kidnappers, bandits, and armed robbers to book in record time and curb the rise in criminal activity, insurgency, banditry, and insecurity in general. If properly done, Nigeria will be a haven for citizens and would-be investors.


This bachelor thesis deals with cyberbullying as a one of the most serious forms of social-pathological phenomena of the internetin. Theoretical part introduces the various social pathologies on the Internet. Then discusses the concept of cyberbullying. What are the characteristics and types of cyberbullying. This thesis compares cyberbullying and bullying. It discusses the aggressor and the victim of cyberbullying and gives advice on how to prevent cyberbullying. In conclusion, this thesis deals with acts of cyberbullying on social networks. The practical part describes the research that finds how is cyberbullying extended on social networks.


This article traces aspects of the evolution of Maori society in the two decades following the Hui Taumata in 1984. Issues of language, political and self-determination, and Treaty settlements are explored for their contribution to this evolution.


The article presents the results of the experimental implementation of separate and opposing linear structures of different sizes using NdFeB permanent magnets. It focuses on the distribution of the resulting magnetic induction. For both separate and opposing structures, composed of two layers of magnets, the magnetic induction attained was much more affected by changes in the width of the central magnet than by the increasing width of side magnets. When the width of the central magnet in either of the two opposing double-layer Halbach structures was increased approximately three times, the area of the uniform magnetic field attained in the middle of a 20-mm-wide air gap was roughly three times bigger with only ca 7 % lower induction in comparison with opposing Halbach structures of optimized dimensions. These make it possible to generate the maximum magnetic field in the middle of the air gap, but only in a narrow band.


This thesis develops monitoring concepts for distributed systems that use remote procedure calls. The concepts are compared with regard to usability and feasibility. The implementation of one concept as part of the program ExplorViz is presented. The implementation extends ExplorViz to monitor RPC calls that are sent via HTTP connections and processed by Java Servlets. To evaluate the implementation, it has been tested with JPetStore, the Lobo Browser, and a small test program. The evaluation handles the full monitoring of the test system which creates a monitoring overhead of factor 3.6. The thesis is part of the students bachelor/master project "Remote Procedure Call Monitoring". In the project the program PubFlow, which is designed as a distributed system, has been monitored. PubFlow uses RPC calls based on connections of the technologies ActiveMQ, JAX-WS, and HSQLDB. The monitoring of these technologies has been implemented as part of the project.


To evaluate the influence of the electronic effects on the polymerization temperature, we looked at several 3-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-2-H-1,3-benzoxazine monomers with electron-withdrawing or electron-donating groups in the 6 and 4' positions. The monomers were synthesized and characterized using different synthetic methods to achieve the best possible results. The thermal polymerization of these benzoxazine monomers was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry, and the polymerization behavior and the polymer characteristics were related to the electronic character of the substituent and the polymerization mechanism.


Navigation in meandering channels usually requires straightening the river. Cutoffs across the neck of long meander bends improve the alignment of the river, reduce sinuosity, and shorten the river length, thus increasing the channel slope. In the present paper, the planform evolution of a meandering channel with cutoff is simulated by a 3D mathematical model, in which turbulence flow, sediment transport and bank erosion were modeling. The simulated results demonstrated that the upstream processes of meander evolution with cutoff had been accelerated compared with the meander evolution without cutoff, and the accelerated magnitude of evolution was decreased from downstream to upstream. The meander evolutions downstream of cutoff are similar to that without cutoff, with channel widened, except for the transition segment between pilot channel of cutoff and the downstream meander.


This article presents a conceptual framework for studying the impact of childhood cancer on the psychological and social functioning of the patient and the family. A model based on the literature about coping with stress, especially with respect to cancer, and on two psychosocial theories of human behavior (the attribution theory and the social comparison theory) is used as a starting point. The model (1) describes the problems people experience when confronted with a threatening situation, (2) provides a classification of problems that has a manageable number of categories to which problems can be assigned, and (3) gives insight into some important coping strategies that children and their parents use to lessen the impact of those problems. The problem categories and coping strategies of the model are illustrated mainly from findings described in the literature and from information the authors obtained during interviews with patients and parents.


Background: Norovirus is one of the most prevalent pathogens causing acute gastroenteritis in children. We compared the clinical features of noroviral gastroenteritis to those of rotaviral gastroenteritis and analyzed the noroviruses'genotype frequencies. Materials and Methods: Stool samples were ob...


The interactive learning combined with the network environment is not only an attempt but also a breakthrough in the reform of college English teaching. This paper expounds the theoretical foundation of college English interactive learning and analyzes the necessity of interactive learning in network environment and its feasibility. What's more,it suggests three kinds of college English interactive learning mode in out-of-class network environment,namely theme-based mode, task-based cooperative learning and source-based autonomous and interactive learning, thus promoting and enhancing college English teaching reform.


The article is based on the theory of language games and the role of language games in teaching to show the principles of using language games in teaching such as preparation before organizing games, game instruction, game conduct, player engagement, and evaluation; At the same time, propose 4 measures to use language games in teaching English to students of local universities to create a fun and engaging learning atmosphere; help students master knowledge, excitedly practice skills in using English effectively in communication.


Typical traffic scheduling is to use special load balancers distributing client requests to different application servers, but this technique requires not only the dedicated hardware support, but also has many other shortcomings, such as high price, lack of flexibility and easier to become a single point of failure. This paper presents a cheap, flexible solution. Based on SDN, this method adopts the DTSSC model and reaches the balance of load ratio for each server through the acquisition of traffic matrix and load matrix of each server. The validity of this method is verified through experiments, which demonstrates the load ratio of each server is basically balanced.


Progress has been slow in identifying genetic factors that influence either susceptibility to IgA nephropathy (IgAN) or its progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) [1]. StudiesofbothfamilialandsporadicIgANstronglypointto clinical and genetic heterogeneity in the entity we presently call IgAN. The human IgAN phenotype does not exhibit classic Mendelian inheritance patterns, but is better considered using the paradigm for genetically complex human autoimmune diseases, for which multiple loci have been identified by family-based genetic studies. In these complex diseases many different types of genetic variations contribute to the final phenotype. Among the many potentialmechanismsinvolved,interesthasrecentlybeenfocused on specific single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) alleles that alter the transcriptional activity of genes involved in the pathogenesis. Recently, it has been said that 30–50% of humangeneswithcodingSNPscanpresentallelicvariation


In recent years, increase in global temperature had led to climate change. Owing to the change, the frequency of occurrence of unexpected disasters has increased. Therefore, the susceptibility of people to the risk of disaster consequently aggravated. So disaster management measures are unquestionably required. Precedent study of disaster management have been conducted using a data from geographic information system gathered by satellite. But researches done on disaster management at buildings level are fewing number. In order to mitigate the damage of the disaster, it is necessary to develop a disaster management system for the buildings where many people reside. In this study, we built up 3D shape model of building and developed building diagnosis visualization solution which can be applied to disaster management system. For verification purpose, we validated the solution using UX-based evaluation methods.


The particle size of liver and lung imaging colloidal radiopharmaceuticals is important in nuclear medicine as this is the major parameter which determines in vivo distribution (surface charge may also be important). Tin colloid labelled with tec hne t ium-99m ( "Amerscan'fTM , Amersham International) is a convenient alternative to the widely used sulphur colloid and, in practice, the tin colloid has been shown to give superior scintigrams (Adams et a1 1980).


The concept of phytocoenology,study object and study content were particularly expatiated in this article,and the study history and actuality were summarized.At last,the developmental trends of phytocoenology were prospectd.


The structural instability of organometal halide perovskites (OHP) is one of the major issues concerning commercialization of perovskite solar cells. Probing this intrinsic instability is one of the major milestones and challenging tasks toward enhancing the lifespan of the material. Here we have incorporated Cs ions into methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) films and studied the thin film structural and optical properties. Incorporation of Cs into MAPbI3 leads to formation of both α-CsPbI3 and ∂-CsPbI3 phases, black and yellow, respectively, as indicated by the evolution of the optical band edge and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum. At a concentration of 20% Cs ions, we observe the existence of a stable α-CsPbI3 phase. Incorporating 59% or more Cs ions yields the yellow phase of CsPbI3, due to alloying of Cs with the MAPbI3 matrix. The structural transformations observed in absorption spectra and XRD are confirmed by low-frequency Raman spectroscopy. The thermally induced structural fluctuations in pure M...


a Department of Neurology, Nîmes University Hospital, Nîmes, France; b Department of Neurology, Montpellier University Hospital, Montpellier, France; c Department of Medical Imaging, Nîmes University Hospital, Nîmes, France; d Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle, UMR5203, Université Montpellier, Montpellier, France Received: June 26, 2018 Accepted: October 5, 2018 Published online: November 21, 2018


The highway bridge expansion and contraction installation is the guarantee for the stability of the bridge structure, using a reasonable detection methods is the key to ensure the accuracy of the test of highway bridge expansion and contraction installation. This paper through the investigation and summary of the status quo of the use and measurement of the highway bridge expansion and contraction installation test system, the accuracy of the measurement results of the highway bridge expansion and contraction installation test system is tested and determined, the measurement technical parameters are determined. Through the establishment of the "highway bridge expansion and contraction installation-highway bridge expansion and contraction installation test system standard dynamometer-national force measurement standard" traceability chain, it can meet the needs of calibration of highway bridge expansion and contraction installation test system.


Water environmental quality in Hunan Province which is a major water resource province in China plays an important role in maintaining and stabilizing the balance of the Yangtze River ecosystem and ensuring the health of local people. In order to understand the relationship between
 the economic development and the health of the local population over the past decade, the emissions of wastewater and heavy metals, GDP and the health expenditure were counted in this research from 2004 to 2016 in Hunan Province. The results showed that wastewater emissions totally presented
 an increasing trend between 2004 and 2016 and reached the maximum value 3141.07 megaton in 2015. During this period, the total emissions of five heavy metal pollutants (Pb, Cr(VI), Cd, Hg and As) in sewage reached the maximum in 2004. Emissions of Cd, Pb and As were dominant in the total emissions
 of heavy metals. GDP almost increased linearly and was correlated positively with the emission of wastewater (0.936), and had a significant positive correlation with total health expenditure (0.987). Both the discharge of wastewater per unit GDP and the total annual discharge of heavy metals
 per unit GDP show an exponential downward trend with time. Although the discharge of all heavy metals in wastewater decreases gradually, the total health expenditure and the health expenditure per capita increased year by year.


" ... To see ourselves as others see us! It would from many a blunder free us." When the poet Robert Burns wrote these lines in the 18th century, he unknowingly foretold the current practice of using patient satisfaction to measure health care services. Patient satisfaction has become a key measure by which quality of health care services is being evaluated. Many health care organizaPatient Satisfaction with Hospital Care


Investigation of the atomic structure of nanocrystalline AlN approximated by a core-shell model was performed based on neutron diffraction data obtained at NPDF/LANL diffractometer and collected up to about Q=40 A -1 . The measurements were done at room temperature and at 823 0 C. Both PDF function (real space) and apparent lattice parameters, alp, based on analysis of Bragg scattering (reciprocal space) were examined. PDF analysis shows that all inter-atomic distances r for nanocrystalline powder are smaller than those measured for microcrystalline material, what conforms with alp-Q analysis. The alp-s calcu- lated for c and a lattice parameters change differently with Q and, therefore, also (c/a) ratio is Q-dependent. This is interpreted as that there is an anisotropic strain in the surface shell. At elevated temperatures, due to difference in thermal expansion between surface shell and grain core there is an increasing strain in the surface shell.


Up to the Ur III period the verbal bases r̂e6/de6 "to provide", "to bring" or "to carry away" und túm "to escort", "to lead towards" or "to lead away" belonged to two separate lexemes with completely separate paradigms. While r̂e6/de6 can be combined with the marû base tùm into one paradigm, the regular marû base túm-mu must be assigned to túm, with only the plural base laḫ4/5 of this lexeme being formed irregularly (r a, ḫamṭu, with animals in the absolutive case in Presargonic Lagaš). In Old Babylonian times tùm and túm are not differentiated in this way any more which leads to a confusion of the paradigms.


This paper focuses in electoral geography, a subdiscipline of politic geography that approaches the vote from a space-time perspective of electoral results in order to respond to the search for causes that explain these results. Although electoral geography emerged as a result of the quantitative paradigm (applying techniques from Geographic Information Systems, given its character of space-time study and of multi-criteria analysis), this paper embraces both qualitative and quantitative factors by relating electoral results and socio- demographic features of the studied population in Argentina. This work also proposes an analysis on the process before, during and after election day. It intends to be a contribution to academic environments of this subdiscipline and those concerned about citizenship and civic activity of the society, essential in the Latin American context.


Hybrid microgrids (HMG) combine AC and DC microgrids using an interlinking converter (IC) that controls the power flow between the networks and the utility grid. These HMGs allow the interconnection of variable AC and DC sources and loads. Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) based IC enables to integrate energy storage (ES) elements into their structure, instead of the connection to the AC and DC microgrids directly. In this paper, the features of the MMC topology with respect to its two degrees of freedom control (grid and circulating current control) are explored to regulate both AC and DC microgrids in a decoupled manner. The possible power management strategies to operate under both dispatched and undispatched utility grid-connected modes, as well as islanded mode are discussed. The control strategies for the IC to achieve resilient operation under utility grid-connected low voltage ride-through (LVRT) scenarios and grid forming mode under unbalanced loads are also provided. The proposed control schemes for HMG with MMC based IC are validated through controller hardware-in-the-loop (C-HIL) simulation, and the results are explained.


In the paper we present the idea and measurement results of a modified laser interferometer with improved measurement linearity and measurement resolution. Presented solutions allow for linearity increase below 1nm mark with measurement resolution even of single picometers (depending on the noise parameters of the laser source and detection electronics) in the basic heterodyne configuration of the optical elements.


Because of the construction of the second Maasvlakte the harbours in Rotterdam will shift towards the west. This movement will create open spaces in the most eastern harbour of Rotterdam; The Stadshavens. This harbour is the only active harbour left which have a physical relation with the city of Rotterdam. The open spaces in these harbours can be used and redeveloped for other functions, like living, working and leisure. Rotterdam has a history of redeveloping old harbours; some were developed a long time ago, like the Oude Haven (Old Harbour) and others more recently, Kop van Zuid (Southbank). These harbours acted as holes in the fabric of Rotterdam. All companies in these harbours relocated to other bigger and newer harbour area which were constructed in the west. By this movement of companies the Oude Haven and Kop van Zuid became "Brownfields" "Brownfield's are abandoned, idle or underused industrial or commercial where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination that can add cost, time or uncertainty to a redevelopment project." (Davis, 2002) As stated above, the Stadshavens will continue to function while certain functions in this harbour will be moved; this is the big difference between the Stadhavens and harbours like Oude Haven and Kop van Zuid. The challenge in this project is how to fit new functions into a partially functioning harbour. What are the steps that must be taken first before a harbour area can function in such a way that people are willing to live in it? The needs and demand of the municipality of Rotterdam must be factored in as well. The Stadshavens might provide a answer for the urgent needs of the city. Besides the needs and demands, a look has to be taken at the current problems in Rotterdam and if the Stadshavens can be used too solve these problems. The main question in this research is: "How to redefine the relation between the Stadshavens and the city of Rotterdam by using the gradually available space in Stadshavens and a unique location in Rotterdam?"


Abstract An anthracene appended PET chemosensor, anthracene-9-carboxylic acid (3,4-dimethoxy-phenyl)-amide (A1 ), has been synthesized through condensation of corresponding acyl chloride and 3,4-dimethoxyaniline containing C = O and NH as receptors. The sensor A1 exhibited selective fluorescence turn-on behavior towards Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions in CH3CN. Cu2+ ions displayed 18-fold enhancement (Φ = 0.006→0.071) in the fluorescence spectrum of A1 , which are otherwise well known for fluorescence quenching phenomenon. Moreover, A1 could easily discriminate between Zn2+ and Cd2+ ions, the two metal ions of similar nature. The Job's plots analysis determined 2:1 (A1 :Cu2+/Zn2+) stoichiometry between the sensor A1 and Cu2+/Zn2+ ions. The LOD values were calculated to be 1.75 and 3.08 µM for Cu2+ and Zn2+, respectively. Graphical Abstract


— Based on 43 documented drill core samples of the H5 chondrite Jilin, the depth profile of track densities was investigated. The study of olivine and pyroxene crystals extracted from the two drill cores A and B of the main fragment no. 1 yields a track background for the Jilin interior of 150 ± 90 cm−2. To estimate the contribution of different track origins, the U microdistribution of sample sections and single grain sections was mapped by neutron-induced 235U-fission using high-purity quartz glass detectors. The average U content of 0.59 ± 0.22 ppb for pyroxenes and 0.12 ± 0.06 ppb for olivines is consistent with the observed fission track background in these minerals. There are no indications of spontaneous fission of 244Pu, secondary mobilisation of U in the bulk sample, or substantial track annealing. As deduced from the calculated fission track density, the track contribution from galactic cosmic rays is negligible in the core samples investigated.


The low lymphocyte response to phytohaemagglutinin in patients undergoing tonsillectomy is associated with anaesthesia. There is no serum blocking factor, and the lymphocytes responded normally after washing.


In this month's article, we take advantage of the festive season to suggest different ways to make decorative wreaths that children can use as part of their seasonal celebrations.


The Department of Medical Electronics (now Department of Biomedical Engineering) at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology was the first of its kind in Czechoslovakia. It was established in 1967, importantly contributed to the development of medical electronics, and many of its graduates became important specialists. This contribution follows the history of medical electronics with focus on the development of the abovementioned department. Added are brief biographies of heads of this department from 1967 until the present.


The effect of extracellular polysaccharides(EPS)from liquid-cultured Nostoc flagelliforme on the specific and non-specific immune abilities of mice has been investigated. It was found that the phagocytic index of carbon granular clearance and the activity of NK cells increased significantly(P0.05)in a dosage dependent manner in the range of 50-100,mg/(kg·d). The phagocytic ability of the peritoneal macrophages was also improved to some extend. All this indicated EPS could promote the non-specific immunity effectively. The organism indexes in mice,the delayed-type hypersensitivity(DTH)induced by dinitrofluorobenzene and the proliferation of lymphocytes in the low and high doses of EPS showed no significant difference compared with those of the control group,which suggested that EPS from liquid-cultured Nostoc flageliforme has a little effect on the specific immune abilities of mice.


This paper proposes a very-short-term, i.e., less than 1-hour, local weather forecast method. In general, a short-term weather forecast within 3 hours is difficult due to lack of surface weather data and limitations of computation resources. However, such a short-term prediction is getting more and more anticipated in several industrial situations such as transportation, retailing business, agriculture, and energy management as well as our daily life. To keep up with this huge demands, services based on very-short-term weather forecast began to be provided. Data sources for such kind of forecast are private company-owned surface sensor networks in addition to nation-owned surface sensors. Some surface weather sensors of private companies are more densely distributed than nation-owned sensors. We call these surface weather sensor network as dense weather stations. Among them, for example, POTEKA sensors are located in roughly every 2 to 3 km and provide observed data every minute through mobile network. Those dense sensors are spreading its locations over the world. However, a data mining technique for such a device has not been well developed. In this paper, we propose a deep learning architecture specifically developed for the short-term weather forecasting based on the dense weather station device. Our proposal consists of two folds: point prediction model and tensor prediction model. The point prediction model is useful for forecasting exactly on the location of the dense weather station. The tensor prediction model interpolate the prediction of the point prediction model to cover whole range of locations around the interested area. It is shown that our model outperforms the existing state-of-the-art methods such as XGBoost and support vector machines using a large real observed data.


Agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium and Australia on the gainful employment of certain dependents of diplomatic and consular personnel (with exchange of notes, 04 April 2005 and 29 August 2005). Sydney, 19 November 2002


The analysis of state management based on system and structural-functional approaches allowed to identify the current needs of its development, and demonstrate that it performs the tasks of control and regulation, including the transformation of inter-ethnic and rural communities in the regions of Siberia. It is revealed that the state ethnic and agrarian policy does not solve the problem of economic and socio-cultural transformations in the life of communities. It is shown that the optimal solution to this problem would be the regulatory impact assessment (RIA), as well as the construction of theoretical models for the practical implementation of state regulation of transformation processes. The structure of the theoretical model of socio-cultural regulation of transforming communities is proposed.


In numerical simulation research, visualization is indispensable method, and virtual reality (VR) is also very effective for visualizing numerical data. But VR is not friendly for simulation researchers, since computer for simulation is different from visualization computer in general. In this research, we propose seamless and interactive simulation environment by network communication. Under this environment, the researchers need not to recognize these computers and can analyze the simulation result interactively.


Sustainable supply chain management plays an important role in company's sustainability success. As the frequently emerging disruptions may harm supply chain's sustainable performance, managers need to design an effective sustainable supply chain (SSC) resilience solution to mitigate different risks. In addition, it is critical to integrate customer requirements (CRs) in SSC resilience solution design as SSC's performance is highly determined by customer satisfaction (CS) in the customer-oriented market. This article proposes an integrative approach to achieve an effective design of SSC resilience solution, taking both CRs and risk factors (RFs) into consideration. In this study, the Kano model, decision-making and trial evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) are integrated with quality function deployment (QFD) through nonlinear programming to guide companies' design. Kano model is employed to analyse CRs qualitatively and quantitatively to determine each CR's priority and CS. DEMATEL is adopted to determine the RFs' interrelationships. The results obtained with the Kano model and DEMATEL are incorporated into QFD to transform CRs into RFs, and then into resilience measures. Furthermore, a nonlinear optimisation model is formulated to achieve the optimal resilience solution with maximised CS and risk mitigation under minimum cost investment. Finally, a case study is conducted to verify the methodology.


It is well established that forest thinning alters aboveground plant community composition and soil resource availability. However, how it regulates the composition and diversity of belowground microbial communities remains unclear. To quantify the effects of thinning on soil bacterial groups and the underlying mechanisms of these effects, this research was conducted in a Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr. plantation with various thinning intensities, including a control (0% tree removal), a low-intensity treatment (15% tree removal), a medium-intensity treatment (35% tree removal), and a high-intensity treatment (50% tree removal). Compared to the control, the medium and high intensity thinning treatments significantly improved soil moisture, nutrient concentrations (including soil total carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and ammonium nitrogen), microbial biomass, and elemental stoichiometry ratios. The abundance and diversity of bacterial communities peaked in the medium-intensity treatment. Thinning also had strong effects on dominant bacterial groups at the phylum level. For instance, Bacteroidetes and Nitrospirae were significantly increased in the medium-intensity treatment (MIT), while the Gemmatimonadetes were significantly decreased in the low-intensity treatment (LIT). Combining Spearman correlation analysis and redundancy analysis demonstrated that thinning could facilitate the assembly of unique bacterial communities, and these shifts in microorganisms could probably be attributed to corresponding changes in soil resource stoichiometry. In conclusion, this study provides novel evidence that rational thinning could promote belowground bacterial community diversity and that elemental stoichiometry is an important indicator in shaping forest soil bacterial communities.


The stimulant effects of ephedrine, an alkaloid of the shrub, Ephedra vulgaris, were described in China more than 5000 years ago. Local physicians typically used the plant, also known as ma huang, as a herbal remedy for asthmatic wheezing and other pulmonary problems. These disorders are caused by severe constriction of the bronchial tree, and ephedrine simply relaxes bronchial muscle to improve respiration. Although Western medicine relied on intravenous epinephrine (adrenaline) to treat severe asthma, pharmaceutical firms recognized the value of developing an oral medication for bronchial congestion. By 1935, several ephedrine analogues were synthesized, some of which remain in use as nasal decongestants (e.g. pseudoephedrine). The amphetamines were developed as part of this effort. In fact, the first synthetic ephedrine analogue was a mixture of d- and l-amphetamine. Marketed in 1932 as a decongestant, these amphetamine isomers were the active ingredient in the popular Benzedrine inhaler, which quickly became known for its stimulant properties. The addition of a second methyl group created an even more potent amphetamine variant, methamphetamine, sold as Methedrine. After the amphetamines became available in tablet form, they were used to treat both narcolepsy, a condition characterized by sleep attacks, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), an apparent paradoxical effect (see below). Amphetamine tablets also were used as appetite suppressants; d-amphetamine was marketed for this purpose as Dexedrine in 1945, but the anorexiant effect faded rapidly


We implement a technique for loading a preset number of up to 19 atoms from a magneto-optical trap into a standing wave optical dipole trap. The efficiency of our technique is characterized by measuring the atom number before and after the loading process. Our analysis reveals details of the trap dynamics that are usually masked when working with larger atomic ensembles. In particular, we identify a low-loss collisional blockade mechanism. It forces the atoms to redistribute in the periodic potential until they are all stored in individual trapping sites, thereby strongly reducing site occupation number fluctuations.


Low visibility is a major limiting factor on aircraft operations. Although there are several definitions of low visibility, in this paper it is defined as values less than a runway visual range (RVR) of 2400 feet. These conditions only occur a small percentage of the time, but they can have a major impact on the National Airspace System (NAS). The impact of reduced arrival rates as a result of low visibility operations at a major hub airport impacts a large geographic area. Departure airports, enroute airspace, diversion airports and adjacent smaller airports can all be significantly impacted from the reduction of capacity at the primary destination. The costs associated with the resultant delays, cancellations and diversions are substantial. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in an effort to reduce these impacts and harmonize with Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), has undertaken the task of updating the requirements for low visibility operations. This activity focuses on utilizing advanced flight deck technologies in lieu of ground based lighting and navigation components. Specific advanced flight deck technologies such as head-up displays (HUD), flight directors, auto-land systems, and enhanced flight vision systems for use in low visibility approach and landing in civil operations are being researched by the FAA and The MITRE Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD). Benefits are enabled for operators by allowing certain Category I instrument approaches to be flown with suitable advanced flight technology in lower visibility conditions and to operate to lower decision heights. This paper reports on the extent of benefits found through analysis of weather conditions, equipage rates, demand for access, and the importance of flight schedule integrity. This paper also discusses related technologies and research that can be utilized for low visibility operations and the key considerations important to utilizing these systems for the approach and landing phases of flight.


0-Plan is a project centred around computer based generatrue planning. There are a number of featurea which make this a problem of interest to A I , not least the aspects of seamh. Early planners investigated the central issues of search space control, though it was not until the mid to late '70s that the Nonlin system Ill] also incorporated the ability to fully enumerate the space, if requid, during the search. This may seem an obvious capability but it is essential to have the capability to fully enumerate a search space, if needed, in order to be able to ensure completeness of search; if a solution exists it will be found. Early planners, and some current systems, did not have this fundamental capability. One central issue for the design of a planner which can enumerate its search space is to find means to restrict that space where possible. The @Plan project followed on directly from Tate's work in the '70s on Noulin, also undertaken at Edinburgh University, though it was influenced by many other systems developed in the late '70s and early '80s. In particular it inherits features from: N O A H : by being based on a hierarchical representation of plans in which actions may be partially ordered. Noulin: which introduced the notion of goal structure as a means of recording the rationale behind actions in the plan, and also the use of typed pnmndations as an aid to search space control. A declarative Task Formalism (TF) was also used o provide a description of applications to the planner. Deviser: [12] itself derived from Nonliu but extended to handle time and events. Molgen: [lo] notable for its ability to perform object selection using le& commitment principles. This is supported by constraint formulation and pnrpagation techniques. O P M : [8] introduced the concept of cognative specialists which can make certain kinds of decisions to alter the plan as it is being built. These include decisions about bow to approach the planning problem, what knowledge bears on the problem, what kinds of actions to try to plan, wbat specific actions to plan, and how to allocate resources during planning. 0-Plan borrows from thesesystems, but importantly it presents a framework, or architecture, which enables these techniques to be incorporated into a single system in a uniform way. It is a system which was deliberately built upon software engineering principles …


During this reporting period, major effects were expended on process system properties, chemical engineering and economic analyses. Major activities were continued on process system properties of silicon source materials under consideration for solar cell grade silicon production. In property correlation efforts, property data results are presented for heat of vaporization, gas heat capacity, liquid heat capacity, liquid density, surface tension and gas viscosity of silane (SiH/sub 4/) as a function of temperature. Major chemical engineering analysis activities are being devoted to preliminary process design for a silane (SiH/sub 4/) plant that will produce 1000 metric tons/year of solar cell grade silicon. The technology developed by Union Carbide for the production of silane uses hydrogen and metallurgical grade silicon as raw materials. Preliminary process flow diagram and base conditions are reported. Preliminary process design was initiated for the conventional polysilicon process now used in the United States to produce semiconductor grade silicon from TCS (trichlorosilane, SiHCl/sub 3/). Economic analysis activities in Task 3 focused on development of a computer model to aid in estimation of product and plant investment costs for the alternate solar cell grade silicon processes. Application of the computer model to the Battelle process (Zn/SiCl/sub 4/) indicated $10,510,000more » fixed capital investment and $9.63/KG of silicon for a 1000 metric ton/yr. plant. Economic analysis activities also centered on developing cost standardization techniques for application to the alternate processes.« less


Studies conducted in 1993 – 2010 in the north-eastern Black Sea (Russia) allowed us to characterize pollution of the water and bottom sediments by petroleum components (hydrocarbons and resins), in particular, by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).


Tephras provide one of the most reliable methods of time control and synchronisation within Quaternary sequences. We report on the identification of two widespread rhyolitic tephras – the Kawakawa and Rangitawa tephras – preserved in extensive peat deposits on Chatham Island ∼900 km east of New Zealand. The tephras, both products of supereruptions from the Taupo Volcanic Zone, occur as pale, fine‐ash dominated layers typically 10–150 mm thick. Mineralogically they are dominated by rhyolitic glass, together with subordinate amounts of quartz, feldspar, hypersthene, hornblende, Fe–Ti oxides and zircon. Phlogopite/biotite was identified additionally in Rangitawa Tephra. Ages for each tephra were obtained via mineralogical and major element glass composition‐based correlation with well‐dated equivalent deposits on mainland New Zealand, and we also obtained a new zircon fission‐track age for Rangitawa Tephra (350 ± 50 ka) on Chatham Island. Both tephras were erupted at critical times for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in the New Zealand region: the Kawakawa at ca. 27 cal. ka, near the beginning of the 'extended' LGM early in marine isotope stage (MIS) 2; and the Rangitawa at ca. 350 ka near the end of MIS 10. The time constraints provided by the tephras demonstrate that Chatham Island peats contain long‐distance pollen derived from mainland New Zealand, which provides a reliable proxy for identifying glacial–interglacial climate conditions, in this case during the MIS 11–10 and MIS 2–1 cycles. The two tephras thus provide important chronostratigraphic tie‐points that facilitate correlation and synchronisation not only across the Quaternary deposits of the Chatham Islands group but also with climatically significant terrestrial and marine records in the wider New Zealand region. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The utility model relates to an X-ray electrostatic scanner, comprising the six parts of a charging chamber, a mechanical scanning chamber, an electrostatic transducer, a main circuit board, an interface circuit board, and a computer. The utility model is characterized in that a novel electrostatic transducer is used for X-ray static electricity photography. The utility model can be used for the field of X-ray clinical medicine (particularly the early diagnosis of breast carcinoma), non-destructive inspection, talent selecting of sports, research, etc. The utility model which has the advantages of low cost, high imaging speed, small exposure dose, high resolution, no need of a dark room and a film viewer, suitable flow work, convenient image process and management, etc. can completely replace the film to shoot.


Habitantes Paisajistas (Landscaping Inhabitants) is a tool and work methodology: use the act of walking as a way of approaching and interpreting the landscape. Every year it proposes a relevant topic around which to activate processes of reflection, creation and collective learning, integrating in the artistic practice different knowledge and disciplines. An artistic project by Virginia Lopez, which began its development in 2015 within the framework of PACA Proyectos Artisticos Casa Antonino: a self-managed artist run space in the rural area of Gijon (Asturias) from which the artist proposes experiences of training, creation and contemporary artistic experimentation, so that artistic practice and research, in addition to having an aesthetic and poetic valence, generate new ways of interpretation and knowledge of the territory in which they operate, through cultural, environmental and social values. Habitantes Paisajistas is done in collaboration with the archaeological museum Villa Romana de Veranes, in the attempt to bring new audiences and in particular the local community to the institution through new practices where the educational, experiential and artistic issues interact with our daily landscapes, favoring affective and intellectual ties. This text describes methodologies and experiences carried out during last four years, local development context, references and contradictions that emerged along the way.


Reading habit refers to the behavior which expresses the likeness of reading of individual types of reading and tastes of reading (Sangkaeo 1999) cited in Chettri and Rout (2011). However, the students at the Eleventh Grade Students of Islamic Boarding Senior High School in Pekanbaru were not always go to the library to read books or may borrow books, but sometimes they go. This research wanted to describe the students' reading habit. The design of this research is descriptive quantitative research. The population of the research was the eleventh grade of Islamic Boarding Senior High School in Pekanbaru and the sample were 26 students. The number of sample is selected by using simple random sampling technique. To get the data, the writer employed a close-ended questionnaire. The result showed that majority students at the eleventh grade of Islamic Boarding Senior High School in Pekanbaru had a good reading habit.  Meanwhile, some of them showed that they have fair reading habit and of them don't have good reading habit it is categorized as poor. It can be concluded that the students at the eleventh grade of Islamic Boarding Senior High School in Pekanbaru had various reading habit.


Text-to-image diffusion models pre-trained on billions of image-text pairs have recently enabled text-to-3D content creation by optimizing a randomly initialized Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) with score distillation. However, the resultant 3D models exhibit two limitations: (a) quality concerns such as saturated color and the Janus problem; (b) extremely low diversity comparing to text-guided image synthesis. In this paper, we show that the conflict between NeRF optimization process and uniform timestep sampling in score distillation is the main reason for these limitations. To resolve this conflict, we propose to prioritize timestep sampling with monotonically non-increasing functions, which aligns NeRF optimization with the sampling process of diffusion model. Extensive experiments show that our simple redesign significantly improves text-to-3D content creation with higher quality and diversity.


The invention discloses a GSM (global system for mobile communication)-based assembly alarm system, belonging to the technical field of intelligent alarm. The GSM-based assembly alarm system comprises a single chip microcomputer, a sensing module, a GSM short message module and a voice record and play module, and is characterized in that the single chip microcomputer is connected with the sensing module, the GSM short message module and the voice record and play module through an interface of the single chip microcomputer respectively. The alarm system disclosed by the invention can be assembled at will according to the practical situation, and meets the needs of different people in various occasions. The cost is effectively saved, and the alarm functions are enhanced. A user does not need networking additionally, and the high networking cost and maintenance cost are saved for a client while the network coverage range is greatly expanded. Meanwhile, the system does not limit the user number, and overcomes the shortcomings that the conventional private network communication system has high investment cost and high maintenance cost and limits the network monitoring coverage range and the user number.


Despite recent therapeutic advances, our ability to predict prognosis and therapeutic response in RA remains imprecise.To determine biomarkers predictive of outcome at one year following arthroscopy.RA patients were prospectively recruited and underwent knee arthroscopy performed under local anaesthetic. Each patient underwent a careful systematic assessment of demographic, clinical, and serologic factors on the day of arthroscopy and were reviewed at 2 weeks, 3, 6 and 12 months post arthroscopy. Erosive disease was defined based on plain-film radiographs of hands and feet. Disease activity at one year was used to define treatment response into responders (moderate/good EULAR Response) and non-responders.Clinical characteristics, synovial tissue cell profiles and immunohistochemistry were analysed for T Cells (CD3), B Cells (CD20, CD138), macrophages (CD68) and vascularity (Factor VIII) to establish predictors of treatment response. All areas of each biopsy section were examined and the sub-lining layer independently scored by 2 observers using a well-validated semiquantitative scoring method, ranging from 0 to 4 (0=no staining, 1=<25%, 2=25–49%, 3=50–74%, and 4=75–100% staining). Factor 8 was scored by calculating the mean count of stained blood vessels per high-power field (at 20X magnification).There were no significant differences between responders and non-responders regarding gender, age, disease duration, medications, erosive status, ESR, CRP or synovitis or vascularity at arthroscopy (Table 1). Interestingly, rates of RF and ACPA positivity, tender and swollen joint counts, DAS28 and DAS28CRP were all higher amongst treatment responders. Immunohistochemistry was a very poor predictor of treatment response. There were no significant differences between the two groups in CD3, CD20, CD138, CD68 or Factor 8 score.Table 1.Baseline CharacteristicsResponder(n=30)Non-responder (n=18)p valueFemale20 (66.7%)14 (77.8%)NSAge51.5 (11.2)54.2 (10.9)NSDisease duration0.5 (0-16)0.5 (0-10)NSRF positive22 (73.3%)5 (27.8%)0.003ACPA positive22 (73.3%)8 (44.4%)0.045Erosions8 (26.7%)5 (27.8%)NSMedications No DMARD23 (76.7%)10 (55.6%)NS csDMARD only4 (13.3%)3 (16.7%)NS TNFi2 (6.7%)3 (16.7%)NS Other bDMARD1 (3.3%)2 (11.1%)NSPatient global health, VAS (mm)54.2 (10-100)51.5 (0-90)NSSJC (28 Joints)4.5 (0-16)1 (0-18)0.001TJC (28 Joints)7 (1-25)1 (0-15)0.001ESR, mm/hr23 (2-120)24 (2-81)NSCRP, mg/L5 (1-95)6.5 (1-64)NSDAS285.01 (1.95-7.36)3.93 (1.40-6.62)0.003DAS28CRP4.78 (2.82-7.13)3.39 (1.21-6.26)0.002Synovitis, VAS65 (10-100)70 (30-100)NSVascularity, VAS60 (10-90)70 (30-100)NSIn this small study, seropositivity and disease activity were higher in responders. Baseline immunohistochemical staining was not a good discriminator of treatment responsKieran Murray Grant/research support from: Bresnihan Molloy and Newman fellowships, Candice Low: None declared, Francis Young: None declared, Monika Bienicka: None declared, EImear Mylod: None declared, Ursula Fearon: None declared, Douglas Veale: None declared


Foreign subcontracting is a new mode of economic growth,by means of which developing countries attract foreign subcontracting capital to accelerate the region's economic growth.It plays an important role in capital accumulation,industrial upgrading,and technological progress.The mode is however faced with the challenge of external risks and sustainable development.Government should be implementing policies to advance local firms' development and innovation,helping the transition and upgrading of the mode.


Cooper"s original one pair problem in continuum is revisited here corresponding to a twodimensional (2D) lattice of tight binding nature, with an aim to investigate superconductivity in quasi 2D systems. Both phonon and exciton mediated attractions in a passive Fermi liquid background are considered as possible pairing mechanisms, with the non trivial energy dependence of the electronic density of states in the form of Van Hove singularity, taken into account in the calculation in a rigorous way. Some of the experimentally observed electronic properties in the normal phases of quasi 2D cuprate superconductors in their over doped regions, are made use of for the development of our formalism and calculations. The results of our calculations show that a realistic fermionic pair formation is indeed possible, in conformity with more sophisticated treatment like Eliashberg theory. The estimates for various physical properties like the coherence length and the coupling constant from our theoretical calculations agree quite well with those from both Eliashberg theory based calculations as well as the weak coupling treatment and experiments. Furthermore, electronic mechanism turns out to be the more likely candidate for pair formation in the overdoped phases of cuprates from our calculations and analysis.


The wide application of electric vehicle (EV) brings us many challenges of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). Automotive manufactures are obliged to ensure that their products comply with the EMC regulations. However, EV is a complicated system, which is composed of variety electromagnetic interferences (EMI), sensitive equipment and coupling paths. This poses great challenges to troubleshoot EMC problems efficiently especially at the early stage. This article proposes an electromagnetic topology based model and analysis method for vehicle‐level EMI prediction. This approach decomposes an EV into multiple subsystems and transforms the electromagnetic coupling paths into multi‐port networks connected by topological matrices. By this way, each part of the EMC model can be set up separately with different technologies and then vehicle‐level EMI is predicted by algebra calculation. The effectiveness of this method has been validated by comparing the predicted radiated emission at low frequency with the experimental results, and application to troubleshooting of the emission problem.


Institutional Investor, the Publisher of The Journal of Trading wants to extend a special thanks to Goldman Sachs for its continued support of The Journal of Trading. Please note that Goldman Sachs does not have influence on the editorial content found in The Journal of Trading. Representatives from any firm are encouraged to submit an article to our independent Editor, Brian R. Bruce for review and prospective acceptance into the publication. All editorial submissions, acceptance and revisions are the sole decision of Mr. Bruce. The editorial submission guidelines are found on the last page of the publication. Thank you and I hope that you enjoy this and future issues of The Journal of Trading.


.............................................................................................................................. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. xiv LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... xvi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................................. xvii CHAPTER 1 – General introduction ..................................................................................... 1 1.1. The need for alternative energy ................................................................................ 1 1.2. Hydrogen as a potential energy source..................................................................... 5 1.3. Problem statement .................................................................................................... 7 1.4. Aims ......................................................................................................................... 8 1.5. References ................................................................................................................ 9 CHAPTER 2 – Potential of using Organic Fraction of Solid Municipal Waste for fermentative biohydrogen production in South Africa ...................................................... 12 2.1. Abstract.................................................................................................................... 12 2.2. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 12 2.3. The South African generated OFSMW and disposal challenges ........................... 13 2.3.1. The generated OFSMW.............................................................................. 13 2.3.2. The challenges associated with the disposal of OFSMW .......................... 17 2.4. Chemical composition of OFSMW ........................................................................ 17 2.5. Suitability of OFSMW for biohydrogen production .............................................. 18


We show that for any positive integer $k$ there exists a closed symplectic $4$-manifold, such that the rank of the fundamental group of the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms is at least $k.$


This paper introduces the concept of VRGIS and the characteristic of urban planning. It presents a method that brings the VRGIS technology into area of urban planning, and then realizes the amalgamation of VR technology and GIS technology. At last, a practical case is given to show the improvement of the visualization of city design.


The paper presents an approach used in solving the problem of identification of a person's face in his two-dimensional image. To train the neural network requires a large number of images of identifiable persons, and they are usually there a little bit. In [1] it is proposed together with an actual images to use simulated training material. But it is necessary to have a reliable way of automatically making a decision about the identity of the persons on actual and simulated images. It is proposed to make a decision about similarity or dissimilarity of persons put to the input of the neural network is not the images themselves, and special fields, reflecting the geometric differences compared images. When training a neural network uses the field of two classes: one estimated from pairs of images of the same person, and the other pair of images of different persons.


Objective To summarize the experience of diagnosis and treatment of intrahepatic lithiasis concomitant with cholangiocarcinoma. Method 46 cases of intrahepatic lithiasis concomitant with cholangiocarcinoma were retrospectively reviewed with regard to clinical features. 18 cases undergoing radical surgery, whereas 28 cases undergoing palliative surgery. Result Pathological diagnosis were bile ductal adenocarcinoma in 36 cases and mucinous carcinoma in 10 cases. 3 cases undergoing simply biopsy and died of liver failure 1 month thereafter. Complication including bile fistula in 1 case, bile leakage from cutting face in 2 cases and incisiona infection in 5 cases, which were conservatively cured, 2 cases of wound dehiscence cured by secondary suture. Average survival time were 26 months in radical surgery group and 10 months in palliative surgery group in consist with the follow-up in 43 cases. The 1-,2-,and 3-year survival rate in radical surgery were 94.4%, 55.6%, 33.3% respectively, and 1-year survival rate in palliative surgery group was 39.3%. Conclusion Cholangiocarcinoma can be complicated secondary to long-term inflammation from intrahepatic lithiasis, survival can be improved by radical surgery.


OBJECTIVE: To ovaluate the effect of Berberine on antidiarrhea in order to direct doctors to rational drug usage. METHODS: To review recent literatures at home and abroad in order to re evaluate the effect of Berberine on antidiarrhea. RESULTS CONCLUSION: Berberine can act as antidiarrhea by way of anti inflammation, inhibiting intestinal secretion, inhibiting and killing pathogen and preventing pathogen from adhesion and growing on the surface of intestine. Berberine is not only used for infective diarrhea but also used for noninfective diarrhea.


Drinking patterns and rates at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) are not well understood. Social norms and perceptions of risk are two explanatory mechanisms that have accounted for a significant amount of variance in college student drinking at predominantly White campuses. However, these models have not been examined among students who attend an HBCU. Two-hundred and four students from a historically Black university in the Southern region of the United States completed an anonymous questionnaire that assessed their alcohol related behavior, thoughts, and perceptions. Structural equation modeling confirmed the importance of social norms in explaining drinking among the study sample. The overall model accounted for 59% of the variability in alcohol use intensity. Implications for leaders of HBCU campuses and counselors are discussed.


Fractionation and purification of the ethanolic extract of the bulbs of Crinum augustum Rox. (Amaryllidaceae) cultivated in Egypt yielded five alkaloids 6-methoxy-crinamine (1) , crinamine (2) , buphanisine (3) , ungeremine (4) , and hippadine (5) ; two fatty acid derivatives: myristic acid ethyl ester (6) and palmitic acid ethyl ester (7) ; four terpenoidal and steroidal compounds: ursolic acid (8) , β-sitosterol-O- β glucopyranoside (9) and mixture of β-sitosterol (10) and stigmasterol (11) . The structures of all compounds were determined by interpretation of their spectroscopic data; 1D ( 1 H and 13 C), 2D (HSQC, COSY, DQF, NOE and HMBC) NMR; MS and UV analyses. The compounds (1 -4) and (6-8) were tested towards biofouling activity using larvae of barnacle Balance amphitrie. Significant activities of 1, 2 and 3 with EC 50 1.8, 1.2 and 0.75 μg/mL respectively, were observed.


The Prosecution Project  is a large-scale digital project that aims to provide a new way of exploring the context and impact of changes in the criminal trial during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It does so from an elementary platform: the digitization of the court calendars of criminal trials in the higher courts in the six main Australian jurisdictions over time periods as long as 130 years. The objective is to address questions of the criminal justice process centered on prosecution, from arrest, committal, and indictment, to verdict, sentence, and beyond. In a field of historical research that is more often characterized by the richness of discursive analysis, the Prosecution Project's comparative data sets are designed to offer a new understanding of quantitative context over long periods of time. The challenge of building the data platform is, however, considerable, requiring significant planning, collaboration and investment by a large number of researchers, working with relevant archive repositories, and, in this case, assisted by the engagement of an interested community lying outside the regular academy. This article describes the background to the project, its development as a collaborative digital initiative, and its technical and organizational requirements and possibilities, before we explore briefly some of the research outcomes that this project makes possible.


Artiicial intelligence (AI) has had a turbulent history. It has alternated between periods of optimism and accelerated funding and periods of pessimism and reduced funding. Why does this eld of computer science evoke such strong feelings? What has it achieved in the past and what can we expect of it in the future? I will present my personal view of the nature of AI research and use this to try to answer some of the questions above. In artiicial intelligence we attempt to emulate human (and other animal) mental abilities using computer programs and associated hardware. The goal of building an intelligent artiicial entity is a potent one and has excited enthusiasts throughout history. The advent of the electronic computer reinvigorated this enthusiasm and initiated the eld of artiicial intelligence. The rst call to arms came from Alan Turing's classic 1950 paper in Mind, (reprinted in Turing, 1963]), but the birth of the eld can be dated from the 1956 Dartmouth conference, which AI pioneers like McCarthy, Minsky, Newell and Simon attended. These were heady days. The pioneers were young and conscious of the power of the new computing machinery. They quickly discovered some new computational techniques which appeared to be the key to general-purpose intelligence. The prospects for artiicial intelligence looked good. Many funding agencies were similarly enthused. Large scale projects sprung up to take advantage of the new technology. Unfortunately, these pioneers drastically underestimated the diiculties of AI and made optimistic predictions that have proved to be an embarrassment to the eld. By the end of the 60s it was clear that AI had not made the predicted progress. Many promising new computational techniques had not scaled up to real problems. For instance, resolution theorem proving had initially looked promising as a general-purpose reasoning procedure. It built a train of argument from a set of rules by searching through all possible combinations. It could be used to solve simple problems, but on problems of moderate hardness it became bogged down in the search; exhausting the storage capacity and exceeding the time limits on the available computers. Funding agencies became more circumspect. In 1973 the Lighthill report recommended the cessation of SERC support for AI in the UK. Some people were disillusioned and left the eld. Those remaining developed a new realism about the diiculty of the AI problem and the likely timescale for its solution. This pessimism changed …


We first overview the research trend of computational intelligence, discuss what comes next in the computational intelligence research, and conclude that humanized technologies would be one of the essential keywords of the possible research direction. Then, we take up interactive evolutionary computation (IEC) as one of the humanized technologies and show how IEC technology has spread to a wide variety of fields, what problems remain, and what kinds of challenges need to be solved, and how to make the technology practical.


We simplify Ciliberto's and Miranda's method(arXiv:0812.0032) to construct degenerations of $\mathbb{CP}^2$ blown up in several points yielding lower bounds of the corresponding multi-point Seshadri constants. In particular we exploit an asymptotic result of the author (arXiv:math/0508561) which allows to check the non-specialty of much fewer linear systems on $\mathbb{CP}^2$. We obtain the lower bound 117/370 for the 10-point Seshadri constant on $\mathbb{CP}^2$.


Abstract : A moving base pilot-in-the-loop simulator study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of direct lift control systems in improving the mission effectiveness of two types of aircraft. The missions considered were in-flight refueling, terrain following, and landing. The aircraft considered were the C-5A heavy cargo plane and the F-104 fighter-bomber. (Author)


a return to Bakhtin's impressive study of Rabelais; the reader in search of a more productive incorporation of Bakhtin can turn to Peter Stallybrass and Allon White's The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (Ithaca, 1986), which articulates a concept of the carnivalesque capable of addressing its subversive potential in various and oftentimes competing cultural forums without equating or homogenizing them. In Carnival and Theater, by contrast, Bristol explicitly seeks to elide cultural difference and diversity, going so far as to argue that "the concept of the festival ought to be extended so as to include both organized mimesis of an apparently non-ritual kind, such as theatrical performances and spectacles, and unplanned, contingent outbreaks of misrule and resistance, such as riots" (p. 38). What he fails to realize is that by such an extension, neither festival, theater, nor resistance ("riot" is a particularly infelicitous summary epithet) have any meaning; such a conflation of terms is the sign of a study that has not grappled with—but rather sought a way around—the fundamental issues that confront it. M A S S A C H U S E T T S I N S T I T U T E OF T E C H N O L O G Y Steven Mullaney


Background: In recent years, it has been reported that melatonin plays an important role in the development of skin hair follicles in mammals. The down we often use is mainly from the skin feather follicles of geese, but their production is not high. Therefore, the study of skin feather follicles is of great significance.
Methods: The skin feather follicle tissues of goose dorsal skin at three developmental nodes (E14, E18 and E28) were collected; the differential expression and distribution of melatonin receptor genes were detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR, Western Blot and immunohistochemical methods, respectively. The results showed that melatonin receptor gene was expressed in varying degrees at three time points of goose embryonic skin feather follicle development. The expression sites and Protein expression level of Mel1a and RORα were regularly changed by immunohistochemistry and Western Blot.
Result: Our research showed that melatonin receptor genes can play an important regulatory role in the development of goose skin feather follicles.


Mobile sensor networks (MSN) in the city environment have dynamic topology and large amounts of data. In order to overcome the problem of data uploading and exchange, data uploading and exchange algorithm (DUEA) is proposed. In DUEA, the three-tier network architecture composed of vehicle nodes, relay nodes and sink nodes is considered. The link estimator, routing engine, and forwarding engine are modified based on CTP (collection tree protocol). In the link estimator, beacon packet is simplified. In the routing engine, the numbers of elements in the send queue of neighbor nodes, and link quality are weighed. The new calculation formulae of ETX value and selection method of father node are proposed. In the forwarding engine, different snooping methods are used for two types of data named general data and warning data. Simulation results show that compared with CTP, DUEA increases data throughput and transmission rate and reduces energy consumption of packet transmission when data is uploaded. DUEA also reduces average transmission delay when data is exchanged. Physical test results show that DUEA achieves desired effect in the testbed. DUEA is effective and feasible and outperforms CTP in the city traffic environment.


The photo and thermo treatments were conducted on the newly TGMS rice line "90-417s" under the artificial control conditions to study the photothermoresponses of fertility change. The results showed that temperature was the main factor for the fertility change and illumination only had the minimum effect on it. The critical growing period of fertility change was from the formation of pollen mother cell to the meiosis, and the critical daymean temperature was 230?℃(300/200). Furthermore, that temperature probably had an upper limit value and a lower limit value.


. Many analogies exist between the behaviour of foods when evaluating their textural characteristics and of other (non-food) materials during instrumental evaluation. Utilizing theory developed for the latter situation, it can be inferred that at least two factors operate simultaneously during sensory and instrumental evaluation of certain textural characteristics. The consumer's evaluation of each of these characteristics is based on the overall effect arising from two or more operative factors. Drawing analogies in this way could lead to better understanding of the mechanics of texture evaluation and also to improved definition of textural terminology.


We have previously shown that the isolated perfused rat Langendorff heart is able to synthesize detectable amounts of thromboxane (TX) A2, as well as prostacyclin (PGI2). Eicosanoid production in this system is increased during post-ischemic reperfusion, reflecting greater availability of substrate and net increase of synthesis. We assessed relative sensitivity of cyclooxygenases synthesizing TX and prostacyclin (probably located in different cell types) to aspirin (0.1, 0.5, 1 g/1), ibuprofen (1, 10, 80, 160, 320 mg/1) and diclofenac (0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 2.5, 5, 10, 25 mg/1), by radioimmunoassays of TXB2 and 6-keto-PGFα in the perfusate. Sixty Wistar male rat hearts were perfused with buffer containing control vehicle or drugs for 30 min, followed by 5 min clamping of the perfusion line and subsequent post-ischemic reperfusion. Baseline production was (mean±SD, pg/min/g wet weight) 754±261 and 143±66 for PGI2 and TXA2, respectively. Peak post-ischemic production was 7628±2673 and 1036±135, respectively. At doses of aspirin, ibuprofen and diclofenac (100, 10 and 2.5 mg/1, respectively) which were equally effective on prostacyclin production (mean % inhibition: 68, 67 and 72 for basal production and 90, 86 and 85 for peak post-ischemic production, respectively), % inhibition of TX production was consistently less, but also similar for the three drugs: 55, 58 and 56 for basal production and 78, 81 and 76 for peak post-ischemic production, for aspirin, ibuprofen and diclofenac, respectively; difference between inhibition of prostacyclin and TX: P < .01, difference for subsets among different drugs: N.S.). TX production was, on the contrary, selectively inhibited by the TX-synthase inhibitor 0KY 046 (by 79 and 92% at 0.1 mg/1, versus a complete sparing of prostacyclin production). The lesser sensitivity of cardiac (vascular?) TX versus prostacyclin to non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) inhibition and the similar degree of inhibition by various NSAIDs, differing in structure and diffusing capacity, suggest heterogeneity among cyclooxygenases present in the system and different intrinsic sensitivity of TX- from prostacyclin-producing cyclooxygenases.


A new electrode system has been designed for the accurate measurement of surface resistance. This system has been proved experimentally to be superior to any system so far used by investigators in that it eliminates the effects of shunt resistances created by the indirect current paths both across the remaining surface and through the bulk of the dielectric specimen, and it produces a uniform field on the surface under consideration by avoiding fringing effects due to electrode edges.


This article reviews macro-related changes currently taking place within, and across, organizations and agencies. It surveys a wide-ranging literature examined against the background of projected important trends and strategic changes in organizational communication. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Semantic segmentation of high-resolution remote sensing imagery (HRSI) is a major task in remote sensing analysis. Although deep convolutional neural network (DCNN)-based semantic segmentation models have powerful capacity in pixel-wise classification, they still face challenge in obtaining intersemantic continuity and extraboundary accuracy because of the geo-object's characteristic feature of diverse scales and various distributions in HRSI. Inspired by the transfer learning, in this study, we propose an efficient semantic segmentation framework named SMAF-Net, which shares multiscale adversarial features into a U-shaped semantic segmentation model. Specifically, it uses multiscale adversarial feature representation obtained from a well-trained generative adversarial network to grasp the pixel correlation and further improve the boundary accuracy of multiscale geo-objects. Comparison experiments on the Potsdam and Vaihingen data sets demonstrate that the proposed framework can achieve considerable improvement in the semantic segmentation of HRSI.


: The non-linear behavior of power electronics based devices leads to the power quality (PQ) issues. This paper develops an artificial intelligence hybrid controller for a unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) integrated with solar Photo-voltaic (SPV) system based on p-q theory. The p-q theory is optimized by using self-tuning filter (STF) without using any low pass filters (LPF's) or phased locked loop (PLL). The UPQC comprises a series and a shunt voltage source converter, connected with a dc link. The hybrid controller adapts both the properties of the Fuzzy Logic controller (FL-C) and artificial neural network (ANN). The prime objectives of the proposed work are minimization of harmonics in current waveforms and power factor improvement, rapid action for DC-link voltage balancing, elimination of sag/swell, distortions in the source voltage, and suitable compensation for unbalanced networks. The performance analysis of the proposed controller was carried out with four different test cases for various combinations of loads and comparative analysis was done with those of existing methods like proportional integral controller (PI-C), sliding mode controller (SM-C), and FL-C. The proposed method reduces THD from 22.67% to 3.42% and improves power factor from 0.7144 to 0.988. The results obtained by MATLAB/SIMULINK software shows the effectiveness of the proposed method


To explore planktonic and ecosystem responses to thermal effluents of a power plant, three transect surveys were conducted in Nov-01', May-02' and Jun-02' at the bay adjacent to the outlet of Taiwan Nuclear Power Plant II. At the given station, seasonal trends were evident with most maximal measurements observed in Jun-02'. Physical mixing between background seawater and thermal effluents played an important role in determining planktonic biomass since chlorophyll (Chl, 1 - 3.7) in deeper regions. High observed dissolved organic carbon (DOC) anomaly (23 - 34 gC m 3 − ) implied that heterotrophic metabolism was seldom limited by bottom-up control processes. Short-term manipulation experiments showing that BGR and CR increased with rising temperature up to ca. 37°C, which was ~12°C higher than frequently reported values from most coastal and estuarine ecosystems. We ascribed this to the effects of temperature-substrate interaction. The results of organic carbon (zooplankton extract) ad


There is abundant evidence for tumor-directed cellular immunity in a variety of human tumors (1-7). The continuing high mortality from cancer indicates, however, that the capacity of host mechanisms of this kind to limit the growth of established tumors and inhibit metastasis formation is strictly limited. Considerable effort is presently being expended in numerous centers in an effort to devise methods which will improve the level of such responses. By corollary the identification and avoidance of techniques and materials which might reduce host responsiveness seems a worthwhile aim which might yield practical results in the short term. It is well-known to surgeons that cancer surgery in an unpredictable minority of patients may be followed by rapid development of metastases. In this context the demonstration of depressed lymphocyte function, as evidenced by a reduced capacity to transform on exposure to phytomitogens (8-10) was of considerable interest. We have recently reported a (11 ) temporary loss of tumor-directed cellular immunity in patients undergoing surgery for malignant melanoma or breast carcinoma in the immediate postoperative period. This paper describes the present status of this continuing study in the patients with malignant melanoma.


The invention relates to an electronic cigarette and a cartridge tube thereof. The electronic cigarette comprises the cartridge tube, an atomizer and a cartridge fixing piece, wherein the cartridge tube comprises a cartridge tube body, a smoke channel formed in the cartridge tube body, a liquid storage cavity formed in the cartridge tube body and an elastic cover body; the liquid storage cavity comprises an opening; the elastic cover body comprises a fixed part and a moving part connected with the fixed part; the fixed part is fixed on the cartridge tube body; the moving part elastically covers the opening; the atomizer comprises a liquid storage chamber corresponding to the opening of the liquid storage cavity, an air pipe corresponding to the smoke channel, an atomizing component and puncture pieces; the atomizing component comprises a liquid absorbing body and a heating body arranged on the liquid absorbing body; the liquid absorbing body is horizontally arranged in the air pipe, and at least one end of the liquid absorbing body extends into the liquid storage chamber; the puncture pieces are arranged corresponding to the liquid storage chamber and are used for ejecting the moving part of the elastic cover body. The cartridge tube of the electronic cigarette is provided with the elastic cover body, so that when the cartridge tube is detached, the elastic cover body can cover the opening of the liquid storage cavity of the cartridge tube again.


Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters such as Fv/Fm, NPQ and ΦII (YII) are widely used to estimate the fitness and photosynthetic activity of plant leaves and non-photochemical dissipation of excessive excitation energy in photosystem II. The effect of chloroplast movement on these fluorescence parameters reduces the accuracy of estimations of the size of de-excitation processes, but there is no method to calculate correct parameters from altered (fluctuated) parameters. Chloroplast movement was recently identified as the "middle" kinetic component of NPQ. In this paper, we devised a complex but reasonable mathematical method to remove the effect of chloroplast movement on fluorescence parameters, based on our previously reported fluorescence theory. The fraction of "S fluctuation" (designated as σ) was estimated from fluorescence observations and used to calculate the non-fluctuated Fs and F′m. fluorescence yields. From the σ values, the fractional change of light absorbance by a leaf caused by chloroplast movement was estimated at 70% - 100%, which varied according to the experimental conditions and plant species. The effect of photoinhibition on fluorescence parameters was also examined in this paper. The photochemical and non-photochemical de-excitation sizes during photoinhibition (measured by the parameters qPI and qSlow) changed on a single regression line. Using this correlation, qPI and qSlow can be predicted from Fv/Fm, and the non-fluctuated Fm and Fo values can be estimated from the fluctuated F″m and F″o values.


There is only the one poorly preserved and imperfect specimen in the Woodwardian Museum on which Salter founded this species. It comes from the Wenlock Limestone of Dudley and belongs to the Fletcher Collection. Salter says of it (a 827): "Strongly costated and marked with lines of growth which decussate the ribs. Twice the size of the common Ludlow species." The material is so poor that the specific description must necessarily be incomplete.


Advances in virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technology is re-shaping our way of interacting with the virtual world. However, current VR/AR methodologies still fall short of being the default in how humans approach and interact with their virtual surroundings. Our work draws from ecological psychology and action-specific perception to re-think spatial interactions for object manipulation in the context of peripersonal space, space immediately surrounding the body. In this paper, we focus on the relative spatial configuration of the user's visual field (eyes), the location of visual feedback (screen)


Objective: the objective of this study is to study deep learning to solve the safety problems of intelligent transportation system. Method: the intelligent transportation system is improved by using the deep learning algorithm, and the improved system is simulated, and the data transmission performance, accuracy prediction performance and path change strategy of the system are statistically analyzed. Results: in the analysis of the data transmission performance of the system, the probability of successful propagation is found to be 100%. When the value of $\lambda $ is 0.01~0.05, it is the closest to the actual result and the data delay is the smallest. In the analysis of the accuracy prediction of the system, it is found that the system of this study has the best accuracy prediction performance with the increase of the number of iterations compared with other models in different categories. After further analyzing the path induction strategy of the system, it is found that the route guidance strategy of this study can effectively restrain the spread of congestion and achieve the effect of timely evacuation of traffic congestion in the face of congested road sections. Conclusion: it is found that the improvement of the intelligent transportation system by using deep learning can significantly reduce the data transmission delay of the system, improve the prediction accuracy, and effectively change the path in the face of congestion to suppress the congestion spread. Although there are some shortcomings in the experiment, it still provides experimental reference for the development of the transportation industry in the later stage.


BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of stroke management is highly dependent on post onset time of treatment. The study hypothesized that
perceptual, social and behavioral factors affect delay in seeking help after symptom onset and worsen the outcome and recovery.
OBJECTIVE: To look at the causes of delay in arrival to denitive care hospital ED after symptoms of acute stoke and its impact on patient's
clinical outcome.
METHODS: An observational prospective study conducted on 63 patients with signs and symptoms of acute stroke (CPSS/NIHSS positive)
reported to ED. Reasons for delay in arrival to ED observed. Patients divided into two groups, those who came within 4.5 hours of onset of acute
stroke symptoms and those who came after 4.5 hours. Impact of delay on patient's outcome studied at time of discharge as primary end-points in
terms of average length of stay (ALOS), complications and death. Secondary end-points evaluate in terms of improvement, deterioration and death
within 30th day. Statistical analysis using Chi-square or Fisher's exact test applied to compare both the groups. Odds ratio with 95 % condence
limit was also calculated.
RESULTS: There were multiple overlapping causes of delay; most frequently was "rst went to physician who doesn't treat stroke (8; 38.1%) and
non-availability of nearby stroke centre (8; 38.1%)". Total 21 (33.34%) patients came after window period (4.5hours). Primary endpoints in terms
of ALOS (8 days compared to 9 days, p=0.48), complications (OR=1.4, 95%CI:0.2-8.8, p=0.74) and death (OR=3, 95%CI:0.4-19.3, p=0.24) at
time of discharge. Secondary endpoints in terms of improvement (OR=2.8, 95%CI:1.0-7.8, p=0.03), deterioration (OR=6.0, 95%CI:1.4-24.5,
p=0.01) and death within 30 days (OR=1.2, 95%CI:0.2-5.5, p=0.81).
CONCLUSION: Inadequate knowledge of stroke identication and management causes delay in arrival to hospital. This delay can cause
signicant impact on patient outcome and recovery


The precipitation uncertainty processor (PUP) is a component of the Bayesian forecasting system which produces a short‐term probabilistic river stage forecast (PRSF) based on a probabilistic quantitative precipitation forecast (PQPF). The task of the PUP is to process a probability distribution of the total precipitation amount through a deterministic hydrologic model (of any complexity) into a probability distribution of the model river stage. An analytic‐numerical PUP is developed based on the theory of response functions and empirical data simulated from the operational forecast system of the National Weather Service for a 1430 km2 headwater basin. The PUP outputs a five‐parameter two‐piece Weibull distribution of the model river stage. The corresponding response function is a two‐piece power function. Structural properties of the PUP are investigated empirically, including the deterministic equivalence principle: Under certain conditions a deterministic forecast of the temporal disaggregation of the total precipitation amount is equivalent to a probabilistic forecast. This considerably simplifies the PQPF, without affecting the optimality of the PRSF.


The conventional paper-based system for malaria surveillance is time-consuming, difficult to track and resource-intensive. Few digital platforms are in use but wide-scale deployment and acceptability remain to be seen. To address this issue, we created a malaria surveillance mobile app that offers real-time data to stakeholders and establishes a centralised data repository. The MoSQuIT app was designed to collect data from the field and was integrated with a web-based platform for data integration and analysis. The MoSQuIT app was deployed on mobile phones of accredited social health activists (ASHA) working in international border villages in the northeast (NE) Indian states of Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh for 20 months in a phased manner. This paper shares the challenges and opportunities associated with the use of MoSQuIT for malaria surveillance. MoSQuIT employs the same data entry formats as the NVBDCP's malaria surveillance programme. Using this app, a total of 8221 fever cases were recorded, which included 1192 (14.5%) cases of P. falciparum malaria, 280 (3.4%) cases of P. vivax malaria and 52 (0.6%) mixed infection cases. Depending on network availability, GPS coordinates of the fever cases were acquired by the app. The present study demonstrated that mobile-phone-based malaria surveillance facilitates the quick transmission of data from the field to decision makers. Geospatial tagging of cases helped with easy visualisation of the case distribution for the identification of malaria-prone areas and potential outbreaks, especially in hilly and remote regions of Northeast India. However, to achieve the full operational potential of the system, operational challenges have to be overcome.


The article deals with the literature teaching problems that go together with future profession-oriented education in humanities-biased classes. The article comprises theoretical theses related to the pre-high-education literary competence formation by 10-11 grade students of humanities-biased classes and the realization method technology of complex philological analysis of a literary text.


Dermoscopy has proven its value in the diagnosis of skin cancer and, therefore, is well established in daily dermatology practice. Up until now, analogue white light dermoscopy is the standard. Multispectral dermoscopy is based on illumination of the skin with narrowband light sources with different wavelengths. Each of these wavelengths is differently absorbed by skin chromophores, such as pigment or (de)oxygenated blood. Multispectral dermoscopy could be a way to enhance the visualization of vasculature and pigment. We illustrate possible additional information by such "skin parameter maps" in some cases of basal cell carcinoma and Bowen's disease.


Objective:To study effect of Qingkai Xiaoyanfang and its components on rhinitis chronic in rat.Method:Two groups of SD rats were randomly divided into control group and rhinitis chronic model group,with 10 rats in control group and 70 in model group.NO2 or SO2 being as irritants rats were stimulated for 26 days,and injected estradiol benzoate(EB) im for 7 days to establish rhinitis chronic models.Then the 70 rats were divided into model group,Biyankang tablet group(410 mg·kg-1),Huodanwan group(2 000 mg·kg-1),Qingkai Xiaoyanfang group(46.6 mg·kg-1),patchouli oil group(13.3 mg·kg-1)and pig deoxycholic acid group(33.3 mg·kg-1).The experiment lasted 30 days.The ethological performance of nasal symptoms,total IgE in blood serum,eosinophil(EOS) in nasal secretions and blood serum,the nose mucosa by light microscope were observed.Result:The model rats' nasal symptoms score and secretions EOS count were increased,the nasal mucosa was thinned,and showed highly significant compared with the normal group(P0.01 or P0.05).After 4 weeks,Qingkai Xiaoyanfang and its components could obviously improve the symptoms induced by SO2,as the ethological performance of rats(2.10±0.32),EOS in nasal secretions(11.8±4.52) cells and blood serum,the thickness of nose mucosa(0.239±0.04)mm(P0.01 or P0.05).NO2 model group could effectively relieve nasal symptoms,reduced the nasal EOS infiltration(P0.01 or P0.05),and ameliorated other relevant symptoms.Of which the ethological performance score of Qingkai Xiaoyanfang decreased to(5.80±2.35),nasal EOS secretions declined to(35.6±8.07) cells and,the nasal mucosa thickness averaged(0.290±0.04) mm.Some corresponding symptoms were alleviated by the recipe.Its components could obviously improve the nasal symptoms and reduced nasal secretions EOS in rhinitis chronic rat models(P0.01 or P0.05).The results were statistically significant.Conclusion:Qingkai Xiaoyanfang which has better effects than its components on nasal secretions EOS and nasal mucosa thickness could relieve the symptoms on rhinitis chronic.It has potential therapeutic effects on rhinitis chronic.


Within the conditions of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, when many questions regarding prevention and treatment strategies remain unsolved and the search for the best antiviral agents is underway, attention should be paid to the role of trace elements zinc and selenium in increasing the body's resistance to viral infections and their direct antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. Experimental data show that trace elements zinc and selenium not only act through regulating the immune response at all levels of humoral and cellular immunity, but also can play a significant role in adjuvant therapy for viral diseases. This is especially relevant in the case of COVID-19. Studies of the direct antiviral effect of these microelements testify to its 3 main ways to SARS-CoV-2: I — counteraction to virus replication and its transcription through: (i) their covalent binding to the SH-group of the cysteine of the main protease M(Pro) of the virus; (ii) inhibition of its RNA polymerase activity by zinc; II — preventing the penetration of the virus into cells due to blocking SH-groups of protein disulfide isomerase (RDI) of the protein of its spikes (peplomers); III — decreasing the adsorption capacity of the virus due to the blocking of the electrostatic interaction of SARS-CoV-2 peplomers and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE-2) in ultra-low, uncharacteristic oxidation states (Zn+1 and Se-2). The intensity of the antiviral action of these trace elements may depend on their chemical form. It was found that zinc citrate (a five-membered complex of zinc with citric acid) and monoselenium citric acid obtained with the help of nanotechnology have a greater intensity of action and higher chemical purity. Taking into account the immunostimulating and direct antiviral effect of zinc and selenium, their use in the form of pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements should be considered as adjunctive therapy for SARS-CoV-2 in patients, or as a preventive strategy for uninfected people from risk groups during the spread of COVID-19.


Abstract: The stereoselective synthesis of novel eight-memberedpolyhydroxy carbocycles was achieved from D -glucose via mercu-riocyclization and triisobutylaluminum (TIBAL)-promoted Claisenrearrangement. Along with rearrangement, TIBAL also promoteddebenzylation and cycloaddition, and a 3,9-dioxa-bicy-clo[3.3.1]nonane derivative was formed. The stereoselectivity ofmercuriocyclization was attributed to the interaction between me-curio and vinyl moities, and this interaction also assisted the mercu-rio derivative to exist in an abnormal conformation. Theconfiguration and/or conformation of intermediates and productswere identified by NMR spectral analyses. Key words: carbocycle, carbasugar, mercuriocyclization, TIBAL,Claisen rearrangement, debenzylation The eight-membered polyfunctional carbocycle structureis present in numerous biologically important moleculesand natural products, such as paclitaxel, 1 poitediol, 2 fusi-coccin H, 3 and kalmanol, 4 etc. Because of the diverse bio-logical properties, their syntheses have been extensivelyinvestigated. Various methods have been developed forthe construction of eight-membered polyfunctional car-bocycles. They include oxidation and hydroxylation ofcyclooctene derivatives,


Active hydraulic mounts with an inertia track, decoupler membrane, and oscillating coil actuator (AHM-IT-DM-OCAs) have been studied extensively due their compact structure and large damping in the low-frequency band. This paper focuses on a comprehensive analysis of the active and passive dynamics and their fixed points in mid-low-frequency bands, which will be helpful for parameter identification. A unified lumped parameter mechanical model with two degrees-of-freedom is established. The inertia and damping forces of the decoupler/actuator mover may be neglected, and a nonlinear mathematical model can be obtained for mid-low-frequency bands. Theoretical analysis of active and passive dynamics for fluid-filled state reveals the amplitude dependence and a fixed point in passive dynamic stiffness in-phase or active real-frequency characteristics. The amplitude dependence of local loss at the fluid channel entrance and outlet induces the amplitude-dependent dynamics. The amplitude-dependent dynamics constitute a precondition for fixed points. A single fixed point in passive dynamics is experimentally validated, and a pair of fixed points in active dynamics for an AHM-IT-DM-OCA is newly revealed in an experiment, which presents a new issue for further analysis.


The updated CLEO measurement of the electromagnetic penguin process B → Xsγ is presented and compared to the ALEPH result. Implications on new physics are discussed and the status of recent searches for B → Xsl + l − modes is given.


We have used terahertz spectroscopy to measure the conductivity and time-resolved photoconductivity of a range of semiconducting nanostructures. This article focuses on our recent terahertz conductivity studies on semiconductor nanowires and single walled carbon nanotubes.