Introduction: Worry is a common psychological construct in multiple sclerosis (MS). In previous studies, there is little data about the psychometric properties of the measurement tools in population of MS patients. Thus, the present study was performed to validate Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) as a common tool for measuring worry. Methods: The research design was cross-sectional for a validation study. It included two groups of MS patients (n=80) and their healthy counterparts (n=80) which were sampled by purposive method and matched by demographic factors. The study population consisted of all patients member of the MS Society of Guilan province in 2011-2012. The internal consistency reliability, construct, concurrent, predictive and differential validity of PSWQ was assessed Also the subjects were evaluated in terms of symptoms of depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive and General Severity Index (GSI) in Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90-R) and neuroticism in NEO Five Factor inventory (NEO-FFI). Results: The internal consistency of PSWQ was appropriate (α=0.74). The item-total correlation coefficient was better for general worry factor and was in range of 0.21 to 0.60. Results of concurrent validity indicated that PSWQ has a significant relationship with all constructs associated with research tools (P≤0.001). Moreover, PSWQ predicted a significant proportion of the psychopathological symptoms scores and neuroticism variance, even after controlling for confounders. Finally, discriminant analysis model showed that PSWQ can differentiate the two groups of patients and healthy counterparts according to worry level and its overall classification accuracy is 63.1%. Conclusion: PSWQ have good psychometric properties in  the studied MS patients and can be used in clinical settings and related research.


The structure and working mechanism of organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells,as well as the process of exciton generation,diffusion and charge transfer,are briefly introduced.The research progress in the organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells based on semiconductor nanocrystals containing Cd,Pb and other metal elements,is reviewed.The advantages of organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells and the related problems are concluded.The development trend of organic /inorganic hybrid solar cells is put forwards in the end.


Introducing the culture as early as possible to students can be done through the learning process. Local culture can be presented in the material or practice questions given by the teacher. Many things can be learned from Pekalongan City as a creative city (UNESCO) so that it can be integrated in the mathematics learning process and one of the mathematical abilities that must be mastered by students is the ability to understand mathematical concepts. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the ability to understand mathematical concepts in the culture-based statistical material of Pekalongan City. This study uses a descriptive study method of literature study which is included in one of the processes for developing worksheets for students of culture-based statistical materials in Pekalongan City. The collection technique uses interviews, questionnaires, and observations. The results of this study found that the questions developed can measure the ability to understand mathematical concepts and can introduce more deeply about Pekalongan City towards their students. So in addition to introducing the culture of Pekalongan City through learning, it can also be done with the evaluation questions. The ability to understand mathematical concepts in data presentation material can be measured through questions based on local culture. It also has a goal so that students' learning interest in mathematics material becomes high.


The social representation of mutual health insurance companies, constructed by its subscribers, is an evolving cognitive structure which goes through two stages, each indivative of underlying changes : - an autonomous type of representation, found in "older" subscribers who are members of traditional mutual companies, - a non-autonomous type of representation, found in "today's" subscribers of modern, geographically or professionally oriented companies. This representation is called the "transitory state". The transition from one state to the other occurs without breaks. Active solidarity schemas are gradually becoming obsolete due to the failure to activate them in current practices, as reflected by the lack of a representation in "young", real or potential mutualists.


The article discusses how to strengthen educational use of information and communication technology (ICT) in Finnish schools. The conceptions and experiences of the successful integration of ICT in everyday school settings are reported. Participant observations in 20 schools in different parts of Finland were carried out, including discussions with principals and teachers. The results show that when promoting new technology and practices in schools, many components overlap and support each other. The following six main characteristics of successful integration were identified: (1) ICT included in strategic planning, as part of school culture, (2) teaching and learning methods facilitating participation and leading to empowerment, (3) flexible curriculums, (4) high investments in communication, (5) optimum leadership and management, and (6) teaching staff's strong capacity and commitment. The research indicates that an open school culture allows staff to take risks when applying new technology, creates learning environments and empowers learners.


Contents: Governing regional integration for development introduction, Philippe de Lombaerde, Antoni Estevadeordal and Kati Suominen. Part 1 Latin America and the Caribbean: Monitoring regional integration and cooperation in the Andean region, Fernando Prada and Avaro Espinosa 'Learning to integrate': the experience of monitoring the CARICOM single market and economy, Norman Girvan Monitoring regional integration: the case of Central America, Kati Suominen Monitoring regional integration and cooperation: the case of Mercosur, Ricardo Rozemberg and Carlos Bozzalla. Part 2 Asia and the Pacific: Results-based monitoring of regional integration and cooperation in ASEAN, Cuong Nguyen and Clay Westcott Regional monitoring in the Pacific: the Pacific Islands Forum, William Sutherland Monitoring regional integration and cooperation in South Asia, Rodrigo Tavares. Part 3 Africa and the Middle East: Monitoring regional integration and cooperation in the Gulf region, Bernard Savage Monitoring regional integration and cooperation in the South: the Arab Maghreb Union, Thouka Al-Khalidi Monitoring regional integration in Eastern and Southern Africa, Dirk Hansohm and Jonathan Adongo. Part 4 Europe and North America: Monitoring and (good) governance of the integration process in the European Union, Ana-Cristina Costea, Philippe de Lombaerde, Wouter de Vriendt and Birger FA hne Seasoned monitoring: the case of North America, Kati Suominen Governing regional integration for development: summary and conclusions, Philippe de Lombaerde, Antoni Estevadeordal and Kati Suominen Index.


Introduction: It is commonly believed that the majority of stars in the universe are a single-star system (like our own sun). On the contrary, researchers have found that over half of the stars in our galaxy [1], and presumably the rest of the universe, belong to systems containing multiple stars. Of these multiple-star systems, the majority are binary systems that contain two stars. There is a shortage of accurate data regarding binary systems, due to the use of photographic techniques when the study of eclipsing binaries first began in the late 1800s. Stellar evolution models for binary systems were created using this inaccurate data. Now, new photometric techniques are available and have proven to be much more accurate. Studying data that results from observing eclipsing binaries yields the desired information about these systems relatively quickly and accurately. With enough data, stellar evolution models can be tested and rejected or refined.


Fuzzy control theory is applied to the water supply system.The design of fuzzy-PID controller with self-adjusting factoris introduced,whichcan solve the problemofthe parameter adjustmentin the traditional PID control.The water supply with constant pressure is obtained by variable-frequency speed-governing method.The system can replace the traditional watersupplymodeperformedbyaperchwatertowerandwaterpump,whicheffectuatesthedirectwaterpressure.Theapplication has proved to be very effective for saving on energy and control performance is stable.


specifically related to the choice of hopping integrals describing conventional chemical bonding between atoms in the alloy. The Bain transformation pathway computed, using the proposed model Hamiltonian, for the Fe15Cr alloy configuration is in excellent agreement with ab initio total-energy calculations. Our investigation also shows how the parameters of a tight-binding many-body model Hamiltonian for a magnetic alloy can be derived from the comparison of its mean-field solutions with other, more accurate, mean-field approximations e.g., density-functional calculations, hence stimulating the development of large-scale computational algorithms for modeling radiation damage effects in magnetic alloys and steels.


Acknowledgements: This study was supported by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks grant, EDEN (European Dry Eye Network), ID 642760 Clara Llorens-Quintana*1, Dorota Szczesna-Iskander2 and D. Robert Iskander1 1. Biomedical Signal Processing Group, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology 2. Department of Optics and Photonics, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology *E-mail: email@example.com


This paper summanrizes main bamboo rat species and occurrence cause based on the survey of bamboo rat harm in Wuyishan City.It is showed that the integrated control measures of the ecological management,biological control,raising forests by isolating the mountains and bamboo fostering could reduce the bamboo rat harm,which could provide references for the continuous control of bamboo rats.


The choice to become a departement for the colony of guadeloupe, in 1946, imposed to france to level the development gap. The capacity of adaptation given by the constitution build a particular legislation end regulation, based on resource's increase and charge's reduction, specially in taxation, as well as protection of internal and export market, so long as the european community permits it. In spite of a relative success, particularly in terms of public basic equipment, by comparison with the others caribean islands, the object of levelling the development gap is not attained. The level of life, which is very unequal, is conditionned by massive public transfers. The firms' performances are artificially sustained by diverses aids and market protections. The economical autonomy of guadeloupe is regularly worsening. For some, the reason for that can be imputed to the physical characteristics of the insular and tropical economy. For others, is due to economic domination phenomenon. These theories dont hold in front of the facts. We prefer an explanation in terms of institutional rent economy system. Rent arises from the capacity to adapt to the legislation. These adaptations are then named specificities. Rent-seeking induces detrimental comportments to the global competitivity of the economy. The lack of productivity interest leeds on to all kind of abuses, even fraudulent. The price to paid is a permanent social inequality, delinquency and dissatisfaction of the highest educated class. The actual choice to emphasize the system by more specificities inexorably leeds to a deadlock, since the lack of attractive economic activities, tourism included. Independancy could be a solution, but it doesn't meet a full approval, and it doesn't allow to palliate the handicaps of the size and the characteristics of economy.


The Analysis of Profiles of English Teaching Assistants Employed Through English Teaching Assistantship Program. With the English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) Program, which first started during the 2010-2011 academic year in Turkey through an agreement between the Council of Higher Education and the Fulbright Education Commission, American university graduates are employed as speaking assistants in newly-established universities in Turkey. This program aims to improve students' speaking skills and let them practice English with a native speaker. This research aims to analyze the selection criteria of countries offering ETA programs and the profiles of English teaching assistants currently employed at 20 Turkish universities for the 2011-2012 academic year. This research has been carried out by using the descriptive survey method. The data have been collected via document analysis and a survey prepared by the researchers. The data gathered from the document analysis have been subjected to descriptive analysis and for data gathered from the survey, statistical analysis has been implemented. Research results have shown that although ETA program is offered in five world regions and fifty-three countries, there is not standardization in the implementation of the program. According to the research results, a considerable number of English teaching assistants do not have teaching formation education and those who have it got it with short-term education. Furthermore, it has been found that all the English teaching assistants know Turkish although it is not a prerequisite for them to know Turkish. As a result, this study is thought to be important in terms of drawing attention to the application of ETA program in Turkey and the suggestions that are made in order to improve the program's weaknesses.


This paper introduces the development of the numerical control system for large Ultra-precision machine tools. It describes the hardware, software and automatic programming system of the NC system. According to the analysis for the characteristic of the system, it satisfies the Ultra-precision orientation and position track for Ultra-precision, suits for machining large aspheric optical element.


Behavior-genetic analysis requries an interfacing of genetics and behavior. This may be accomplished by studying the genetic architecture of specific behaviors and by examining how behaviors influence selection and thereby modify the gene pools of subsequent generations. The behaviors emphasized in our research include those associated with reproduction, feeding and social strife. This morning's presentation will include experiments conducted to study mating and feeding behaviors.


As stock market gets bigger, use of HTS(Home Trading System) is getting increased in stock exchange. HTS provides lots of functions such as inquiry about stock quotations, investment counsel and so on. Thus, despite the fact that the functions fur convenience and usefulness are developed and used, security functions for privacy and trade safety are insufficient. In this paper, we analyze the security system of HTS service through the key-logging and sniffing and suggest that many private information is unintentionally exposed. We also find out a vulnerable point of the system, and show the advisable criteria of secure HTS.


We present a new ptychographic x-ray microscope dedicated to soft x-ray tomography and spectromicroscopy of nano-materials at the Advanced Light Source. The microscope utilizes an ultra-stable, high performance scanning mechanism with laser interferometer feedback for sample positioning and a fast frame rate charge-coupled device detector for soft x-ray diffraction measurements. The microscope can achieve point scan rates of 120 Hz with 1 nm RMS positioning accuracy. A high performance data pipeline has been developed which enables real time ptychographic reconstructions and user-friendly operation. This instrument, called The Nanosurveyor, can achieve a spatial resolution at least 10 times finer than the x-ray spot size in both two and three dimensions with sensitivity to electronicand magnetic states of nano-materials. In this paper we demonstrate the tomographic and spectromicroscopic capability of the Nanosurveyor instrument. At high brightness x-ray sources this instrument will enable spectromicroscopy and tomography of materials with diffraction limited spatial resolution.


Objective:To study the relationship between the expression of PCNA,P21,P53 and the clinical pathological characteristics in human gastric cancer.Methods:The expressions of PCNA,P21,P53 protein were examined by S P immunohistochemical technique in 46 cases of human gastric carcinoma.Results:The positive expression rate of PCNA,P21,P53 in gastric cancer was 80.4%,56.5%,45.7%,respectively.The expressions of the 3 kinds of proteins were not correlated with the histological type and differentiation.The expression rate of P21 in advanced gastric cancer(62.9%) was significantly higher than that in early stage gastric cancer(36.4%).The expression of PCNA was correlated with invasive depth and metastasis.The expression of P21 was correlated with lymph nodes and distal metastasis,whereas,it was not correlated with the invasive depth.The P53 protein expression was not correlated with the clinical pathological characteristics.The expression of PCNA cooperated with the those of P21 and P53.Conclusion:The expressions of PCNA,P21,P53 proteins might be related to the carcinogenesis and development of gastric cancer.The 3 kinds of genic proteins are good indicators for evaluating the biological characteristics of gastric cancer.


While olfaction is a sense closely associated with the limbic system and emotions, the relation between emotional status and olfactory functioning has not been well documented. This study aimed to examine the possible effect of anxiety on olfaction in healthy subjects.


Abstract Polymorphous modifications of β- and α-Na3In(PO4)2 were synthesized and found to be related to the β-K2SO4 structure type. They crystallize in a monoclinic system (space groups P21/c and P21/m, respectively), with unit cell parameters a=7.127(1) A, b=18.220(1) A, c=8.616(1) A, β=143.36(1)° for β-Na3In(PO4)2; and a=8.6335(1) A, b=5.4550(1) A, c=7.0482(1) A, β=90.295(1)° for α-Na3In(PO4)2. Their crystal structures were determined by Rietveld analysis [Rwp=7.72, RI=3.02 (β-); Rwp=6.59, RI=3.06 (α-)]. Indium cations occupy the X position while sodium cations occupy the X and Y positions of the β-K2SO4-type structure. The PO3−4 tetrahedron rotation leads to a decrease in the coordination number of the Y position.


From the analytical perspective of the History of Historiography this article begins with the defense of a conciliation between History of Ideas, History of Intellectuals and Intellectual History. It begins with the outline of a theoretical essay. Two personalities, Jose Sebastiao da Silva Dias and Jose Esteves Pereira, were approached in two chapters, who show a history of ideas different from the traditional one, the first from the mid-nineties until the 90s, creating a school, and the second until nowadays. The thesis that these scholars theoretically reflected on the history of the intellectuals, safeguarding an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspective, is essential to analyze some of the reviews that Silva Dias published in the first two years of the Revista Cultura Historia e Filosofia (1982-1983) and theoretical texts of his disciple.


September 2016 The Learning School initiative completed its pilot testing in June 2016, with 28 schools, called catalyst schools, taking part. Catalyst schools were located in all eight regional education service agencies (RESAs) and were supported by RESA staff in implementing the Learning School approach. Five schools had been part of the program for 2 years and 23 schools for 1 year. The purpose of the Learning School initiative was to allow greater levels of teacher decision making with regard to their own professional learning in order to meet the learning needs of their students in a model of continuous school improvement. For more information about the Learning School initiative, see other reports in this series (Hammer, 2016a; 2016b; 2016c; & 2016d).


Despite the hostility they exhibit towards each other, almost all Arab secularist and radical Islamists agree that democracy and Islam are irreconcilable, and that belief in one inevitably precludes belief in the other. In this article I will focus on the beliefs of the Islamist Rachid Ghannouchi regarding this issue. First I will examine his notion of how democracy can be achieved in an Islamic state. I will then explore issues of conflict that have arisen between traditional and modern Islamist thinking relating to the compatibility of democracy and Islam. Finally I will focus on two variables that are claimed to be major obstacles to liberal democracy in Muslim states: secularism and modernisation.


Congress enacted the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005 to increase the development and commercialization of biofuels. The Renewable Fuel Standard—amended in 2007—however, has failed to achieve any of its production targets for cellulosic biofuel. For example, despite the legislation calling for the production of 500 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel by 2012, the industry produced a modest 20,069 gallons that year. This Note provides a brief history of the Renewable Fuel Standard, as enacted and as amended, in order to provide context for its analysis of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's decision in American Petroleum Institute v. Environmental Protection Agency. This Note explores the hurdles that confront the development and production of commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel. It argues that, as enacted and as amended, the Renewable Fuel Standard provides insufficient incentives to spur the development of commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel.


The paper researches the long-term mechanism of increasing peasant's income based on the creation of employment. The paper puts forward some key problems which need to solve,including ensuring peasant have the same market opportunity,constructing legal guarantee system in rural area,constructing education system which corresponds with the need of employment creation,exploring the innovation of the management model of peasant worker's social insurance fund.


We consider a generic sequence of matrices (the nonnormal case is of interest) showing a proper cluster at zero in the sense of the singular values. By a direct use of the notion of majorizations, we show that the uniform spectral boundedness is sufficient for the proper clustering at zero of the eigenvalues: if the assumption of boundedness is removed, then we can construct sequences of matrices with a proper singular value clustering and having all the eigenvalues of an arbitrarily big modulus. Applications to the preconditioning theory are discussed.


The Internet of Thing has gained interested to use for daily devices to industrial applications. Mission-critical applications such as connected car and healthcare services require real-time communications and mobility support. The 6LoWPAN protocol and IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) have become the standard for the IoT. However, the RPL protocol is unable to support the application requirement causing from the high network overhead, long message latency and high packet loss rate due to mobility. Thus, in this paper, we propose a new cost metric combining the number of hops, RSSI values, and the summation of delay to enhance RPL mobility. In addition, we define the movement notification for the mobile node to activate mobile detection and parent selection processes. Finally, we presented a comparative study of the improved RPL protocols in terms of packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay and the number of control messages. The result shows that improved RPL protocol with the new cost metrics provides a high packet delivery ratio and offers a low message latency.


In the liquid composite molding process, a binder is used to fix the preform. In this study, the influence of a non-reactive epoxy binder was investigated. To allow the measurement of permeability, the preform specimen was produced under three preforming conditions: neat fabric preform, binder-treated fabric preform without heat treatment, and binder-treated fabric preform with heat treatment. The in-plane directional permeability, K1 (having maximum flow velocity), and K2 (having minimum flow velocity) of the binder-treated fabric preform decreased approximately 80% compared to the neat fabric preform. The permeability in the out-of-plane direction decreased approximately 80% in the binder-treated fabric preform without heat treatment and about 98% in the binder-treated fabric preform with heat treatment. This decrease occurred because the treated binder on the fiber hindered resin impregnation. The effect of the binder on the friction coefficient of carbon fabric was also investigated. The friction coefficient was high when the binder was on the friction surface and increased 40–200% at 110 °C, compared to 25 °C.


The 8th Chinese Systemics Week was held in University of Science and Technology Beijing from March 10th to 14th, 2008. This paper is a summary of as well as a comment on the 16 academic reports delivered by 13 experts. It is believed that the 16 reports reveal some of the latest studies of Systemic Functional Linguistics, and that these studies help to define what will be done in the coming stage of Systemic Functional Linguistics.


Three nitrogen efficiency genotypes of eggplants were used to study the enzymes activity involved in nitrogen metabolism under the normal nitrogen supply and low nitrogen stress from the seedling to fruiting stages.The results showed that the activities of nitrate reductase(NR),glutamine synthetase(GS) in the nitrogen efficiency genotypes of eggplant under the low nitrogen stress were remarkerbly lower than those under the normal nitrogen supply.Compared with other genotypes,07-862 had stronger enzymes activity involved in nitrogen metabolism.Under the same nitrogen level,the GS and NR acticity of the nitrogen efficiency genotypes were tested from the seedling to fruiting stages.Screening relatively high GS and NR activity of the nitrogen efficiency genotypes is the effective choice of the high nitrogen efficiency genotypes during early stage.


The invention provides a method for preparing separated soy protein and comprises the following steps: (1) the preparation of concentrated soybean albumen powder by vacuum drying alcoholic method; (2) solution preparation and heat treatment; (3) acid coprecipitate and neutrality adjustment; (4) instantaneous heating and sterilizing as well as sponging drying. The separated soy protein prepared by the method not only has the advantages of high solubility and high protein content of common protein isolate, but also has the advantages of low beanyflavor, light color, low activity of nutrition resistant substance, easy treatment on discharged sewage, and the like which are not possessed by common separated soy protein; therefore, the invention is an ideal preparation method for producing beverage type separated soy protein.


The embodiment of the invention relates to a method and a device for embedding a watermark, a method and a device for extracting the watermark, and a processing system, wherein the method for embedding the watermark comprises the following steps: a watermark matrix is generated; an orthogonal coordinate of a DFT coefficient for the watermark image to be embedded is transformed into a logarithmic coordinate; and the watermark information is embedded in the DFT coefficient of the orthogonal coordinate corresponding to the logarithmic coordinate according to the logarithmic coordinate and the watermark matrix. The method and the device for embedding a watermark and the method and the device for extracting the watermark ensure that the video watermark can ensure better visual imperceptibility and resist various geometric attacks, such as adding noise, scaling, intraframe clipping, intraframe parallel movement, blended attacks of scaling and clipping, simultaneously better reduce the computational complexity in the watermark extraction and save the time of the watermark extraction.


Electrochemical modulation to induce controlled fluctuations in SERS signals is introduced as a method to discriminate and isolate different contributions to the spectra. The modulationswhich can be changed in potential range, amplitude, and frequencysacts as a control-lable " switch " to turn on, off, or change specific Raman signals which can then be correlated within the spectra by different fluctuation analysis techniques. Principal component analysis (PCA), either by itself or assisted by fast fourier transform (FFT) prefiltering, are shown to provide viable tools to isolate the different components of the spectra. Electrochemical modulation provides, therefore, a technique to study complex cases of coad-sorption, and resolve problems of spectral congestion in SERS signals. The links between surface-enhanced raman scattering (SERS) 1,2 and electrochemistry go all the way back to the discovery of the effect in the 1970s. 3-5 Since then, electrochemical studies have provided invaluable information on the details of the electronic interaction of molecules with the underlying metal substrate responsible for the SERS enhancement. Particularly important have been studies where the origin of the so-called " chemical enhancement " 6,7 in SERS can be discerned. From a more modern point of view, SERS and electrochemistry have diversified into a myriad of different areas that include the studies of coadsorption (multiple species), biological redox system, 8,9 corrosion, surface science, 10 fuel cells, electrocatalysis, electronic models for charge-transfer processes on surfaces, 11-16 and single-molecule or single hot-spot SERS, 17,18 to name only a few. 19,20 The simultaneous presence of the laser field with electric potentials and/or currents in the many different experimental configurations of substrates with simple, multiple, or tip-like electrodes, together with the variety of environmental variables (like pH or the exact nature of the electrolyte) produce the vast diversity of experimental situations found in the modern applications of SERS to electrochem-istry. Tian and co-workers 20 provide a lucid summary of recent advances in SERS for electrochemical applications. It is argued in ref 20 in fact, that electrochemical systems are among the most complex one can study in SERS. The combination of electro-chemical processes at interfaces with SERS make these systems particularly challenging, but undoubtedly very relevant to understand fundamental aspects in real analytical and bioanalytical applications. Last, but not least, there are several techniques under development in SERS that combine the basic elements of electrochemical experiments, even though they would not be strictly speaking considered as such. Examples of the …


In the present work different parameters which affect the oxide growth on MCrAlY‐bondcoats have been studied, in an attempt to find a reliable way to define the critical oxide thickness to failure of an EB‐PVD thermal barrier coatings (TBC). It was found that the variation of selected parameters such as oxidation temperature, surface roughness, and bondcoat thickness certainly alters the thermally grown oxide (TGO) growth rate. However, simultaneously the morphology, composition, and/or microstructure of the oxide are changed, which can affect the critical TGO thickness to failure in a TBC system. In contrast, the variation of the oxygen partial pressure of the oxidizing atmosphere led to different TGO growth rates without significantly changing the oxide morphology and composition. Comparing the TGOs grown at different rates in the specimens exposed to high pO2 and low pO2 atmospheres, it was estimated that at failure the oxide scales in both specimens have reached a similar critical thickness.


The research was designed to build an attenuated strain of vaccinia virus Tiantan strain(VTT),by knocking out some ORFs of the genome of VTT non-essential for virus replication which were related to virulence and host range and so on,combined with double-label screening and exogenous selection marker knock out technology.In this study,seven shuttle vector plasmids were built named as pTC-EGFP,pTA35-EGFP,pTA66-EGFP,pTE-EGFP,pTB-EGFP,pTI-EGFP and pTJ-EGFP,including seven pairs synthetic recombinant arms of target genes,as well as poxvirus sooner or later compound strong promoter pE/L and exogenous selection marker EGFP. These plasmids above were co-transfected/infected BHK cells with VTT or gene-deleted VTT one by one,integrated with homologous recombination and fluorescence plaque screening method, in order to knock out gene fragments which were proposed deleted as follows TC:TC7L-TK2L; TA35:TA35L;TA66:TA66R;TE:TE3L;TB:TB13R-TB14R;TI:TI4L;TJ:TJ2R.Using the Cre/Loxp system to knock out exogenous selection marker,we obtained the recombinant attenuated virus named as TTVAC7,then identified and detected its genetic stability by application of PCR method.The results showed that an attenuated strain of VTT TTVAC7was successfully constructed,and the attenuated strain has a good genetic stability.


Using the Channel State Information (CSI) at the transmitter is fundamental for the precoder design in Multi-user Multiple Input Single Output (MU-MISO-OFDM) systems. In Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, CSI can be just available at the transmitter through a limited feedback channel [1], where we assume that each user quantizes its channel direction with a finite number of quantization bits. In this paper, we consider a scalar quantization (SQ) scheme of the Channel Direction Information (CDI). Although vector quantization (VQ) schemes [2], [3] still outperform this scalar scheme in terms of quantization error and Sum rate, the former scheme suffers from an exponential search complexity and high storage requirements at the receiver for high number of feedback bits.


The following results in the paper in question are not proved, due to a mistake in the derivation of inequality (5-8): Theorem 2.1, Theorem 2.2, Lemma 5.1.


PURPOSE: To evaluate the costs and efficacy of type A botulinum toxin in the treatment of essential blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm. METHODS: Pacients with essential blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm had their files analyzed. All patients were treated with type A botulinum toxin (Dysport®) between April 2002 and May 2004 at the Oculoplastic Clinics of "Santa Casa de Sao Paulo". Twenty-seven patients presented essential blepharospasm and 23 presented hemifacial spasm. Information about the patient's degree of satisfaction after treatment, complaints and personal costs were recorded by a questionnaire, and information about the costs of Dysport® treatment were obtained at the administration department of "Santa Casa de Sao Paulo". Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: 1- The annual treatment costs were R$ 1,239.32 for essential blepharospasm and R$ 661.72 for hemifacial spasm. 2- The patient's annual costs were R$ 145.48 for essential blepharospasm and R$ 6.07 for hemifacial spasm. 3- The hospital's annual costs for the treatment were R$ 1,095.84 for essential blepharospasm and R$ 535.65 for hemifacial spasm. 4- Dysport® treatment is successful in both essential blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm. CONCLUSIONS:. The costs of essential blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm treatment with Dysport® are high, mainly because of the toxin price. On economic analysis of health, we can conclude that this procedure has an excellent cost-benefit ratio.


We present a rare case of lung metastasis from a malignant adenomyoepithelioma of the breast. A 44-year-old woman was surgically treated in 2008 for a malignant adenomyoepithelioma of the breast. Shortly after, two lung nodules were detected through a CT scan, and a diagnosis of malignant adenomyoepithelioma was rendered.


Abstract The infrared and Raman spectra of trans-Ni(S2N2CH3)2 and Pd(S3N)2 were measured from 4000-200 cm−1. The absorption bands were assigned by comparison to the sulfur nitride complexes of nickel(II), palladium(II) and platinum(II). Normal coordinate analyses on these complexes were carried on these data using molecular parameters taken from X-ray data. To aid in band assignments, isotope shift data on trans-62Ni(S2N2CH3)2 have also been carried out.


The primary focus of this thesis is on financial stability. More specifically, we investigate different issues related to the monitoring and forecasting of important underlying systemic financial vulnerabilities. We develop various econometric models aimed at providing a better assessment and early insights about the build-up of financial imbalances. Throughout this work, we consider complementary measures of financial (in)stability endowing hence the regulatory authorities with a deeper toolkit for achieving and maintaining financial stability. In the first Chapter, we apply a logit model to identify important determinants of financial crises. Along with the traditional explanatory variables suggested in the literature, we consider a measure of bid-ask spreads in the financial markets of each country as a proxy for the likely effect of a Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on transaction costs. One key contribution of this Chapter is to study the impact that a harmonized, areawide tax, often referred to as Tobin Tax would have on the stability of financial markets. Our results confirm important findings uncovered in the literature, but also indicate that higher transaction costs are generally associated with a higher risk of crisis. We document the robustness of this key result to possible endogeneity effects and to the 2008 − 2009 global crisis episode. To the extent that a widely-based STT would increase transaction costs, our results therefore suggest that the establishment of this tax could increase the risk of financial crises. In the second Chapter, we assess the build-up of financial imbalances in a data-rich environment. Concretely, we concentrate on one key dimension of a sound financial system by monitoring and forecasting the monthly aggregate commercial bank failures in the United States. We extract key sectoral predictors from a large set of macro-financial variables and incorporate them in a hurdle negative binomial model to predict the number of monthly commercial bank failures. We find a strong and robust relationship between the housing industry and bank failures. This evidence suggests that housing industry plays a key role in the buildup of vulnerability in the banking sector. Different specifications of our model confirm the robustness of our results.


The low-temperature postradiation polymerization of crystalline ketene in the bulk and in solvents during devitrification of systems was studied. It was shown that cryopolymerization in pure ketene and in the ketene-diethyl ether system basically follows the anionic mechanism with C=O bond opening. The polyketene produced is a colored solid partially soluble in methylethylketone. The proposed mechanism of the process is confirmed by IR absorption spectra of the products and by heat-of-polymerization data.


Expatriate and expatriation have become a norm in today's business environment where business operations transcend beyond national border. Globalization had provided the opportunity for entrepreneurs and corporations to expand their market and fulfilled the potential for growth in other geographic area. The study aimed to discuss the elements that influenced expatriate cross-cultural adjustment during their international assignment in Malaysia. A theoretical framework consisted of three variables; personality traits, cultural intelligence and spousal/family support was developed. The fundamental question addressed in this study was to determine the factors that influenced expatriate cross-cultural adjustment. The research objective was to examine the relationship between the personality traits, cultural intelligence and spousal/family support towards expatriate cross-cultural adjustment. Expatriates that are employed in multinational corporations (MNCs) and had resided in Malaysia for a period of more than six months were chosen as respondents for the study. Data were collected through questionnaire distributed to 103 expatriates using nonprobability sampling. Statistical methods conducted to analyze data included frequency, reliability and multiple regression analysis. Based on the analysis, the findings indicated that personality traits and cultural intelligence had a significant and positive relationship toward expatriate cross-cultural adjustment.


Objective
To analyze the distribution of common chromosomal karyotypes of patients with Turner syndrome(TS), and to explore the correlation between the age and height standard deviation scores(HSDS) on diagnosis.

Methods
Retrospective investigation was performed for the data of age and HSDS on diagnosis in 273 TS girls(≤18.0 years old)diagnosed by chromosomal karyotypes.The main statistical methods were analyzed with t-test and Pearson correlation test by using the SPSS 18.0 statistical software.

Results
(1)There were 4 kinds of common chromosomal karyotypes in the TS: 45, X (87/273 cases, 31.9%), 46, X, i(Xq)(43/273 cases, 15.7%), 45, X/46, X, i(Xq)(36/273 cases, 13.2%)and 45, X/46, XX(23/273 cases, 8.4%), respectively, the adolescent TS all had delayed puberty.For the cases with 45, X karyotypes, 3 cases presented mental retardation and 2 cases with organs deformity.(2)The patients with 45, X/46, X, i(Xq) karyotypes or with 46, X, i(Xq) karyotypes had the maximum(12.56 age) or the minimum(9.70 age) mean age on diagnosis, respectively, there was a significant difference between 2 groups(t=3.019, P=0.004). The maximum deviation from normal height was found in the patients with karyotypes of 46, X, i(Xq)(HSDS=-4.04), and the minimum deviation was in the patients with karyotypes of 45, X/46, XX(HSDS=-3.16), and there was a significant difference between 2 groups(t=-2.95, P=0.004). (3)More than 75.7% of TS patients was diagnosed when their heights deviated above 3 SD, and their mean age on diagnosis was 12.10 age, which was 3 years later than those patients within 2 SD.(4)There was a significant negative correlation between the age and HSDS on diagnosis in the groups of common chromosomal karyotypes[45, X、46, X, i(Xq) and 45, X/46, XX](r=-0.551, -0.560, -0.622, all P<0.01=, except for the group with the 45, X/46, X, i(Xq).

Conclusions
(1)In this study, the consti-tuent ratios of these 4 common chromosomal karyotypes were different from those in Europe and America's.(2)Patients with 45, X may have more severe symptoms than others.(3)The mean age on diagnosis was at least 3.0 years earlier when considered HSDS below-2.00 as an indicator for chromosomal karyotype screening, which would facilitate earlier diagnosis.

Key words:
Turner syndrome; Chromosomal karyotypes; Mean age; Height standard deviation scores; Early diagnosis


Organic remains are not normally found during archaeological excavation other than under exceptional conditions of cold, aridity or waterlogging. Archaeological evidence for the plants in possible use in prehistory is therefore difficult to obtain. Chemical analyses have been investigated to establish whether this could be a useful tool for adding to knowledge of the food plants in use by ancient man. Results from chromatographic techniques have proved particularly encouraging, as specific lipid and fatty acid patterns have been obtained which allow for some reasonable deductions as to the possible plant source. High levels of !auric and oleic acids, for example, indicated the possible use of a member of the Lauraceae group such as cinnamon, while a particularly high level of myristic acid could suggest the presence of a member of the Myristicacae family.


The existing literature on open innovation mostly concentrates on large firms. Little is known about the role of open innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this paper we explore how SMEs engage in open innovation search. We draw upon a new survey of 1,489 SMEs. Results highlight that SMEs purposively open up to external innovation inputs. We identify variations in how SMEs search for external innovation inputs and empirically classify five strategic types of open innovation search. While these five strategies can be found in different industries, size and age classes, results suggest that a SME's open innovation search strategy is conditioned by its organizational context. We also find that these strategies significantly differ in their ability to improve innovation performance as well as their internal organizational requirements for managing innovation. Our study indicates that both a demand-driven and a widely diversified search strategy can improve the success of SMEs in launching innovations. The latter can even enhance their ability to capture financial value from innovation; however, value capture requires a higher proficiency in managing innovation internally.


An 80-year-old woman was admitted for evaluation of a moderate thrombocytopenia. The patient had been asymptomatic until four days previously, when she had developed ecchymoses on both arms and the abdomen. On examination, there were large subcutaneous haemorrhages in a venepuncture area and in the abdomen there was a pulsatile abdominal mass. Laboratory results were: haemoglobin 12Æ7 g ⁄ dl, mean corpuscular volume 88Æ2 fl, white cell count 5Æ84 · 10 ⁄ l, differential count and morphology normal, and platelet count 36 · 10 ⁄ l, with normal morphology. Coagulation screening test results were partial thromboplastin time 41 s (control < 39 s), prothrombin time 16Æ3 s, fibrinogen 0Æ9 g ⁄ l and d dimer 293 lg ⁄ l (normal < 192 lg ⁄ l). A computerized tomography scan of the abdomen (performed with intravenous but not oral contrast medium) showed an abdominal aortic aneurysm more than 8 cm in diameter, with a very large mural thrombus (see images). A diagnosis of localized consumptive coagulopathy was made. The patient's status precluded aneurysmectomy. Localized consumption of platelets and fibrinogen may occur within an aortic aneurysm, and can produce both laboratory abnormalities and symptomatic bleeding. Treatment depends on surgical resection. The benefit of treatment with heparin or plasma is uncertain but is indicated in patients without an aneurysmal leak before surgical repair.


The Mud Tank Carbonatite at the eastern end of the Strangways Range, about 100 km northeast of Alice Springs, was the first to be recognised in Australia. Crystalline carbonate rocks containing apatite, magnetite and zircon occur in a northeast-trending zone about 2 km long and up to 700 m wide, and in a second, much smaller, lens about 2 km to the southwest. The rocks show banding, owing to differences in texture and composition, and can be broadly divided into crystalline carbonate rocks with subordinate apatite, magnetite, phlogopite, chlorite, and soda-amphibole; foliated micaceous carbonate rocks rich in pale brown phlogopite; and feldspathic carbonate rocks with various amounts of


Objective To study the clinical application and th erapeutic effec t of steel plate on intertrochanteric fracture. Methods From January, 2001 to December, 2003, steel plate manufactu r ed by Link Co.from Germany had been applied to 43 patients with intertrochanter ic f racture, which were all closed fractures. Of all the patients, 16 were A1 type b y AO typing system, 25 were A2 type and 12 were A3 type. Retrospective analyses w ere made on the surgeries and their curative effect. Results O f all the 43 patients, 37 achieved the best curative effect, 4 fairly good and 2 poor, so the rate of excellent curative effect was 95.3%. Conclusion The applic ation of steel plate is effective for curing intertrochanteric fracture with sma ll wound, operational flexibility and easy success. Therefore, it is recommende d for curing the intertrochanteric fracture.


Measurements of underwater sound were made at 16 frequencies in the range 500 Hz  50 kHz using 3 moored hydrophones located off the west coast of Ireland during Oct-Nov 2003. These data have been analysed in relation to environmental conditions, particularly wind speed and rainfall. Although there are some unexplained offsets in the overall acoustic levels compared with those obtained by other researchers, it has proved possible to develop a classification scheme enabling wind, drizzle, rain, and contamination to be separately identified. The acoustic data can be used to infer wind speed to within 2 m s-1. There is also useful skill in the detection of drizzle and rain events, and some encouraging results in the quantitative estimation of rain-rate have been achieved. Comparisons have been made with deployments of the hydrophones off SW England and Canada. It is found that when precipitation is absent, underwater sound can be predicted from wind speed alone to an accuracy of ±1dB provided the winds are not light. Suggestions are made as to how such a subsurface technique might be combined with spaceborne measurements to enable estimates of underwater sound levels globally. The feasibility of using hydrophones within the Argo float programme should be explored


Introduction What Is Affirmative Action? Affirmative Action: Myths and Misconceptions Revisited Affirmative Action and Psychology Affirmative Action and the Politics of Stereotype A Learner-Centered Paradigm Epilogue


(57) Abstract: The present invention, crystals of the adduct formed from bisphenol and phenol, a manufacturing method and a manufacturing method of bisphenols of the crystal.


Gas leakages resulting into fatal inferno has become a serious problem in household and other areas where household gas is handled and used. Gas leakage leads to various accidents resulting in financial loss as well as human injuries and/or loss. The work aims at designing a system that detects gas leakage and alerts the subscriber through alarm and status display besides turning off the gas supply valve as a primary safety measure. The shutting off of the supply valve stops further gas flow to the cooker to prevent fire outbreak arising from attempt at igniting of the cooker. The system more like a first Aid, automatically uses a normally closed solenoid valve for the shutting off of the gas valve before calling for help via visual display and audible alarm to those within the environment. The system is an intelligent system, as it does not create a noise nuisance by continuously sounding alarm but the alarm stops beeping once the concentration of the gas in the atmosphere after leakage goes below the set point and opens the valve again for normal operations. This work will minimize injuries/losses occasioned by explosions due to gas leakages and improve safety of life and property while using domestic cooking gas. __________________________________________________________________________________________


How to realize visualization of multidimensional spatial-temporal database is an important research direction.It can provide decision support for traffic management department through expressing traffic information directly and finding relations and rules existing in data.In this paper,it is analyzed that the visualized technology methods of geographical spatial information and traffic information.


The electromagnetic (EM) degrees of freedom (DOF) of a noise limited system in two dimensions with random multiple scattering is evaluated numerically following a rigorous DOF theory first developed by Miller and Piestun for optical systems. The received EM fields are efficiently calculated by fast multipole method (FMM), and the ensemble average of the DOF number is obtained through Monte Carlo simulation technique. The results show that the average EM DOF number is strongly dependent on the sizes of the transmit volume, the receive volume, and the scattering region. In particular, the average number of DOF generally increases with both the transmit and receive volumes. However this increase is a non-linear process and will not continue indefinitely. As the transmit volume or the receive volume expands, an upper-bound of the average DOF number is expected due to noise effects. Due to the lack of criteria for choosing a critical parameter involved in Miller and Piestun's original DOF definition, a modified definition is also considered. Even though the modified definition is SNR dependent, it provides a clearer physical meaning of the DOF. In addition, the simulations also suggest that it might not be appropriate to ignore the influence of the SNR on the DOF number when the system concerned is of general form and relative small, where no critical point of the channel quality can be identified. A logarithmic dependence of the DOF number on the total source power is demonstrated for such systems


Total calcium concentration and calcium distribution have been studied in the exoskeletons of the crayfish Engaeus fossor, E. leptorhynchus, Engaeus sp, and Geocharax falcata. In all species the total exoskeleton calcium concentration is low in comparison with most other crustaceans, especially the decapod Crustacea. Furthermore the results suggest that the total exoskeletal calcium concentrations of two of the species (E. fossor and Engaeus sp.) decreases with increased crayfish size whilst one other species studied (G. falcata) maintains a constant concentration of calcium with increased crayfish size. It is suggested that reduction in (relative) calcification is an adaptation to the low calcium concentrations in the waters inhabited by the crayfish. The distribution of exoskeletal calcium in the crayfish species studied was dissimilar. The significance of these differences in calcium distribution is discussed in relation to the habitat requirements of each species.


CONTEXT
Minimizing negative consequences of major depression following traumatic brain injury is an important public health objective. Identifying high-risk patients and referring them for treatment could reduce morbidity and loss of productivity.

OBJECTIVE
To develop a model for early screening of patients at risk for major depressive episode at 3 months after traumatic brain injury.

DESIGN
Prediction model using receiver operating characteristic curve.

SETTING
Level I trauma center in a major metropolitan area.

PARTICIPANTS
Prospective cohort of 129 adults with mild traumatic brain injury.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale score and current major depressive episode module of the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV.

RESULTS
A prediction model including higher 1-week Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale score, older age, and computed tomographic scans of intracranial lesions yielded 93% sensitivity and 62% specificity.

CONCLUSION
This study supports the feasibility of identifying patients with mild traumatic brain injury who are at high risk for developing major depressive episode by 3 months' postinjury, which could facilitate selective referral for potential treatment and reduction of negative outcomes.


Power transformers are one of the most critical devices in power systems. It is responsible for voltage conversion, power distribution and transmission, and provides power services. Therefore, the normal operation of the transformer is an important guarantee for the safe, reliable, high quality and economical operation of the power system. It is necessary to minimize and reduce the occurrence of transformer failure and accident. The on-line monitoring and fault diagnosis of power equipment is not only the prerequisite for realizing the predictive maintenance of equipment, but also the key to ensure the safe operation of equipment. Although the analysis of dissolved gas in transformer oil is an important means of transformer insulation monitoring, the coexistence of two kinds of faults, such as discharge and overheat, can lead to a lower positive rate of diagnosis. In this paper, we use the basic particle swarm optimization algorithm to optimize the BP neural network DGA method, select the typical oil in the oil as a neural network input, and then use the trained particle swarm algorithm to optimize the neural network for transformer fault type diagnosis. The results show that the method has a good classification effect, which can solve the problem of difficult to distinguish the faults of the transformer when the discharge and overheat coexist. The positive rate of fault diagnosis is high.


Dependence of AlMg3 and AMg6 alloys microhardness on annealing temperature in the range from 50 to 500 °C was presented. Non-monotonic changes of aluminum-magnesium alloys microhardness, induced by low-flux ( I = 3·10 6 cm –2s –1) of beta-irradiation was found. It was revealed, that quenching above solvus temperatures caused inversion of the sign of beta-induced changes of alloys microhardness.


Game theory has found an extensive application in wireless communication networks including cognitive radio networks, heterogeneous cellular networks, cooperative relay networks. Also, cognitive radio networks, green communications and heterogeneous cellular networks have attracted a wide attention on improve the spectrum efficiency and energy efficiency; therefore, the capacity, the coverage and the energy consumption. However, interference problem and energy consumption are critical for these networks. Introducing hierarchy among different decision-making players in cognitive, heterogeneous, green, cooperative cellular networks can both save energy and mitigate interference, thus enhance throughput. Stackelberg game suits to model, analyze and design the distributed algorithms in these hierarchical decision-making networking scenarios. In this chapter, we introduce basics of Stackelberg game and survey the extensive applications of Stackelberg game in cognitive, heterogeneous, cooperative cellular networks with the emphasis on resource management, green commutations design and interference management. This chapter highlights the potentials and applications with the promising vision of Stackelberg game theoretic framework for future cognitive green heterogeneous cellular networks.


Rubrics are a structured method of grading against criteria. Rubrics have the potential to improve the clarity of instruction, ease of grading, reliability and validity of measure, and usefulness of feedback to students in a broad range of courses including engineering and engineering technology. Well constructed rubrics can provide strong assessment evidence of student learning, and be explicitly matched to student learning outcomes for accreditation. This paper will provide guidance on constructing rubrics as they might be applied in engineering, and highlight some best practices for using them as a tool for student learning and assessment.


PHAR 500 INTRODUCTION TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT The course introduces students to the profession, historic elements, and the process for becoming a pharmacist. Students will engage in self-reflection about the opportunities within the profession and the education and training required to obtain their desired pharmacy position. This course introduces the importance of interprofessional approaches to patient care in complex health care systems and the role of the pharmacist to assure optimal medication therapy outcomes. Credits: 1


For the professional middle class in information industries, "working from home" is an increasingly common feature of the employment landscape, resulting from the affordability and portability of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The phrase invokes a sense of freedom from the banality of the traditional office, offering flexibility in both working hours and location when other commitments prevail. In recent debates in Australian politics, working from home is also offered as an empowered choice for women who seek to combine paid work and childcare duties, thereby consecrating a preferable version of (post)feminist subjectivity suited to neoliberal economics and ideologies. This paper shows how these subjectivities have been represented in recent ICT advertising for two purposes: firstly, to highlight the role of mainstream media in normalising preferred uses of new media technology for work purposes; and secondly, to note how this process contributes to wider discourses limiting the aspirations of middle-class feminist politics to an individual level. In doing so, the paper seeks to question the ethical horizon of new media advertising as well as the feminist and labour politics upon which its appeal relies.


African swine fever vims (ASFV), the causative agent of African swine fever in domestic pigs, is a large icosahedral virus with a double-stranded DNA genome of 170—190 kb that shares many characteristics with poxviruses. Although ASFV and poxviruses are distinct morphologically, they both replicate in the cell cytoplasm, exhibit temporal regulation of gene expression, and have similar genome structures, which include terminal inverted repeats, terminal crosslinks, a central conserved region and variable regions at each end of the genome (1). ASFV is the sole member of an unnamed family of animal viruses. LMW5-AR is an open reading frame (ORF) of 104 amino acids (9.5 kD), located 0.22 m.u. from the left-hand end of the ASFV genome within the BamYH c restriction fragment of the Malawi Lil 20/1 isolate of ASFV (2). Fasta (3) searching of the Swissprot database revealed that LMW5-AR shared significant similarity to the family of histone-like proteins (4, 5), which include the prokaryotic histone-like DNA binding proteins (HU) (6), integration host factors (IHF) (7) and the Bacillus phage SPO1 transcription factor, TF1 (8). LMW5-AR has the highest level of similarity to the HU proteins encoded by the Enterobacteriaceae (28% amino acid identity/89 residues; 45% conservation, Fasta = 99; z = 9.82) with lesser similarity to the Bacillus phage SPO1 TF1 gene (25% amino acid identity/96 residues; 44% conservation, Fasta = 94; z = 8.58) and the IHF proteins (29% amino acid identity/72 residues; 47% conservation, Fasta = 75; z = 7.11). A search of the Prosite data base (release 10) indicates that the LMW5-AR amino acid sequence from Gly 55 to Thr 76 matches the signature sequence pattern for the family of histone-like proteins except for the two additional amino acids after Gly 55 (4, 5) (Figure 1). Also, the residues Phe 58 and Arg 69, which are important for DNA binding by HU proteins (9), are conserved in LMW5-AR.


A proper vertex coloring of a graph G is acyclic if G contains no bicolored cycle. A graph G is acyclically L-list colorable if for a given list assignment L = {L(v) : v ∈ V (G)}, there exists an acyclic coloring φ of G such that φ(v) ∈ L(v) for all v ∈ V (G). A graph G is acyclically k-choosable if G is acyclically L-list colorable for any list assignment with L(v) ≥ k for all v ∈ V (G). Let G be a planar graph without 5-cycles and adjacent 4-cycles. In this article, we prove that G is acyclically 5choosable if every vertex v in G is incident with at most one i-cycle, i ∈ {6, 7}.


People vary in how they perceive emotionally ambiguous events: For example, anxious individuals are particularly likely to interpret emotional ambiguity in a threatening way. Experimental studies have shown that such processing styles are malleable, and when modified can lead to corresponding changes in emotional reactivity. The methods used to modify processing and to assess subsequent changes in emotional reactivity are described and theoretical accounts of the mechanism underlying such changes are discussed. Recent application of related methods to modifying clinical problems demonstrates their utility, but beyond such practical applications, the approach provides new ways of probing the nature of the relationship between cognition and emotion.


Abstract Surface markers on peripheral blood lymphocytes were studied in Sjogren's syndrome. Cells bearing IgG, IgA, IgM and IgD were identified with monospecific fluorescent antiserums. In five of seven patients the frequency of cells identified with at least two anti-heavy-chain reagents was elevated. In two of these patients striking elevations were seen in the frequency of lymphocytes bearing each of the heavy-chain classes, the sum of the number of cells binding individual anti-heavy-chain serums being about four times greater than the apparent number of B lymphocytes as identified both with an anti-Fab reagent and by the binding of aggregated γ-globulin. The cells binding anti-heavy-chain serums were identified as B lymphocytes by doubling labeling procedures. These data indicate that individual B lymphocytes in some patients with Sjogren's syndrome bear multiple classes of heavy chains, an abnormality that has been noted by others in some patients with lymphoma. This association is of interest sinc...


Book Review: Chris Walsh, Cowardice: A Brief History. Princeton University Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0691138633 (Hardback). 292 Pages. $27.95.[Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: firstname.lastname@example.com Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org 02015 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]Chris Walsh's engaging Cowardice: A Brief History explores the social construction of timidity. Walsh examines how courage relies on there being cowards, the many ways in which men's behavior is driven by the accusation of cowardice, and the persistent relevance of the concept to daily life. He shows that cowardice endures because it operates to reinforce moral boundaries.Walsh constructs his "brief history" from a wide range of sources - literature, philosophy, history, print media, anthropology, blogs, psychology, and evolutionary biology. His primary focus is on the last 300 years in North America and Europe, but he builds arguments by drawing effective contrasts that reach beyond - i.e., between the modern and Roman military practice, between political leaders in the US and Islamic Jihadists - and by circling back repeatedly to Dante's Inferno.In his introduction to Cowardice, Walsh lays out key ideas and issues. First, he provides a working definition of a coward as "someone who, because of excessive fear, fails to do what he is supposed to do" (7-8). Cowardice, or cowardly behavior, he argues, is marked by a refusal to perform a duty. But, he furthers, duty is always contextual, not a given. It depends on the specific activity in which a person is engaged and, importantly, on whether it is a solo or collective endeavor.What is universal, Walsh contends, is that being labeled a coward is stigmatic and a source of shame. In times when action is necessary for the good of the group, the threat of shame has value as a motivator, though excessive fear of shame can also result in recklessness, leading to excessive aggression that endangers the actor as well as others.The moral import of giving in to fear and running, hiding, or otherwise shirking one's duty also depends on the actor's volition. The coward experiences fear and acts knowingly to preserve the self. Alternatively, due to circumstance or constitution, an individual may be unable to control her or himself. In this latter case, the label coward and its attendant shame may not apply.Cowardice, although relevant to many human activities, has always been central to war. In combat, duty confronts the reality of one's mortality. Fear of shame is weighed against fear of death. Thus, to understand the role of cowardice in a society, one must necessarily focus on the military. Recognizing that men are the primary actors in war, however, one must be prepared to investigate the gendering of cowardice.Walsh introduces a Google Ngram to show a steady decline in the presence of "cowardice" and "cowardly" in English language publications between 1800 and 2000 that shows a small rise after 2001. He attributes declining interest in the issue of cowardice to the world turning away from war, alterations in the conditions of war, and the valorization of individualism, as well as the uptick to the moral challenge posed by the terrorist attacks on US soil.Walsh's presentation of the material follows a coherent if not analytical pattern. Chapter 1 presents a historical exploration of the sustaining power of cowardice as an insult and provocation. Walsh traces how cowardice has been a motivating force in military engagement from the French and Indian wars of the British colonial period through successive campaigns in which Americans have been involved. Walsh demonstrates how criticism for being cowardly has repeatedly pushed American political leaders toward military engagement over negotiation. For example, rhetoric that posed inaction as cowardly overwhelmed both Northerners and Southerners advocating for dialog and compromise on the issue of slavery and President Wilson's neutral position in 1915. …


Selection of algorithms for forest fire spreading simulation is important. In this paper,the traditional boundary interpolation algorithm is optimized and then compared with the maze algorithm in forest fire spreading simulation. The results are the following. The maze algorithm consumes more time( 204、458、1325 s) than the boundary interpolation algorithm( 5、7、16 s). The time consumed by the maze algorithm will doubly increase; As far as accuracy of simulation results concerned, the boundary interpolation algorithm has a lower accuray( 59. 75%) than the maze algorithm,but it shows simple changes of the forest fire spreading generally. Results obtained from maze algorithm provide more detailed information for the forest fire spreading and it resembles closely to actual spreading area.


Detecting neologisms is essential in real-time natural language processing applications. Not only can it enable to follow the lexical evolution of languages, but it is also essential for updating linguistic resources and parsers. In this paper, neology detection is considered as a classification task where a system has to assess whether a given lexical item is an actual neologism or not. We propose a combination of an unsupervised data mining technique and a supervised machine learning approach. It is inspired by current researches in stylometry and on token-level and character-level patterns. We train and evaluate our system on a manually designed reference dataset in French and Russian. We show that this approach is able to largely outperform state-of-the-art neology detection systems. Furthermore, character-level patterns exhibit good properties for multilingual extensions of the system.


Today's society relies greatly upon an array of complex national and international infrastructure networks, such as transportation, utilities, telecommunication, and even financial networks. While modeling and simulation tools have provided insight into the behavior of individual infrastructure networks, a far less understood area is that of the interrelationships among multiple infrastructure networks including the potential cascading effects that may result due to these interdependencies. This paper first describes infrastructure interdependencies, as well as presenting a formalization of interdependency types. Next the paper describes a modeling and simulation framework called CIMScopy and the work that is being conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to model and simulate infrastructure interdependencies and the complex behaviors that can result


In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), hierarchical organization structures enjoy the benefit of giving flexible and resource-efficient arrangements. To track down an efficient method for creating clusters, this paper uses a proposed Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering algorithm by proposing an Energy Efficient Hierarchical Agglomerative Data Aggregation (EEHADA) model. EEHADA model for wireless sensor networks has been proposed. This is an energy-efficient clustering algorithm that utilizes hand-off hubs, variable transmission power, and single message transmission per hub for setting up the group. The problem occurs when sensors transmit data; they use energy in transmission, and uploading the data directly to the sink may require long communication ranges and so degrade the energy of sensors. Indirect communication, in contrast, the data is uploaded to the sink via multiple intermediate sensors, which results in short communication ranges and guarantees the energy efficiency of the sensors. The proposed model is compared with the existing circulated clustering algorithms Drain and HAAS. Simulation results show a significant improvement in the average of the proposed model. The proposed model can be implemented in multi domain in any WSN platform.


We study the different phases in the Quantum Electrodynamics of 3D Dirac semimetals depending on the number $N$ of Dirac fermions, using renormalization group methods and the self-consistent resolution of the Schwinger-Dyson equation. We find that, for $N < 4$, a phase with dynamical generation of mass prevails at sufficiently strong coupling, sharing the same physics of the excitonic instability in 2D Dirac semimetals. For $N \geq 4$, we show that the phase diagram has instead a line of critical points characterized by the suppression of the quasiparticle weight at low energies, making the system to fall into the class of marginal Fermi liquids. Such a boundary marks the transition to a kind of strange metal which can be still defined in terms of electron quasiparticles, but with parameters that have large imaginary parts implying an increasing deviation from the conventional Fermi liquid picture.


FIELD: machine building. SUBSTANCE: in-tube profilometer comprising tight casing with blind elastic cuff in head part and support cuff in rear part, equipped with valves for gas flow and slots for bypass of the contaminations accumulated before it, with two installed over the casing circle rows of lever-type sensors, with angular displacement of the second row sensors along the casing circle by angle equal to half of angular distance between the first row sensors. At end of each sensor lever looking on the pipe wall the platform with wheel supports is hingedly secured. On external surface of each platform the container with piezoelectric converters and electronic elements is installed, they form sonars and ensure possibility to measure distance from the radiating surface of the sonar to the pipe wall, and to store measurement results in the memory of the onboard computer, and to communicate the gathered data to the onboard memory. The sounders are located in the containers extended in the direction transverse to the pipe longitudinal axis. Multiple sonars with small size of the emitting surface ensure separate detection of two close located deformations of the pipe wall, i.e. ensure high resolution capability of the profilometer. EFFECT: improved metrological characteristics and simplified mechanical part of the profilometer design. 9 dwg


A partial isothermal section (Ti-TiSi2-TiB2 region) of the ternary Ti-Si-B system at 1250 ° C was determined from heat-treated alloys prepared via arc melting. Microstructural characterization has been carried out through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (xRD) and wavelength dispersive spectrometry (WDS). The results have shown the stability of the near stoichiometric Ti6Si2B phase and a negligible solubility of boron in the Ti-silicides as well as of Si in the Ti-borides. The following three-phase equilibria have been observed in the Ti- TiSi2-TiB2 region: Tiss+TiB+Ti6Si2B, Tiss+Ti6Si2B+Ti5Si3, Ti5Si3+Ti6Si2B+TiB, Ti5Si3+TiB+Ti3B4, Ti5Si3+Ti3B4+TiB2, Ti5Si3+TiB2+Ti5Si4, Ti5Si4+TiB2+TiSi and TiSi+TiB2+TiSi2.


Understanding people's travel behavior is key to creating spaces that discourage car use, especially for short, walkable distances. The scope of this study is to understand better people's propensity to use a car rather than walk for short-distance trips by focusing on the concept of perceived exertion (PE). A comparison is performed of two case study locations: Malta, a Euro-Mediterranean island with a high car dependency, and the Netherlands, a European country with a high active mode share of walking and cycling. Surveys were distributed to two university populations in each of the case study locations to analyze the parallels and variations in travel behavior and perceptions. Applying a mediation model analysis, the results show a partial mediation (Malta) and a full mediation (Netherlands) of PE in the relationship between car use frequency (CF) and distance threshold (DT), that is, the distance people are willing to walk rather than use a car. The mean DT for walking varied significantly between the two samples, resulting in 15.18 min (1.2 km or 0.7 mi) in the Netherlands and 17.99 min (1.4 km or 0.9 mi) in Malta, despite the comparatively larger active mode share in the Netherlands. Complementing this, the ordinal logistic models for the two countries indicate that those that perceive walking for short trips to be more effortful and those with a high CF are less inclined to walk long distances. Findings are compared with previous research, and policy-relevant suggestions based on these findings are provided.


Friday. Takes more than this to Interest Rhode Island reds mechanically clucking and dipping In their ramshackle corner of life...


An Owner or Occupant of a premises desiring to document that the existing construction, occupancy, equipment systems, or operations comply with the minimum standards of the Building Code, the Building and Property Conservation Code, the Zoning Code, or any other standards over which the Development Services Center has assumed inspection jurisdiction, must make request for a Safety Inspection in the manner provided for Certificates of Occupancies in SMC 17G.010.170.


In this paper,the ASP.NET-based Web is development platform,the use of B2C E-commerce model,at the bottom of the database layer using Microsoft's relational database management system SQL Server 2000.The development of the system and allow people to be able to achieve the buying process more convenient for its customers through Internet,to realize on-line shopping.Internet shopping is the traditional circulation system to add more effectively to reduce the circulation links have low operating costs,inventory is virtual,user friendly search,fewer geographical constraints and so on.


The elements of As,Bi,Ni,Pb,Sb,Sn,Zn in black copper by ICP-AES are directly determined.The influence of determination method including matrix effect,medium acidity and ions interference is discussed.The result shows that copper matrix clearty affect the determination and eliminating interference by matrix matching,the recovery in standrd is 95.8%~104.4%,the standard deviation is 0.0018%~0.039%.


Abstract : This report states that the time has come to replace, for diagnostic purposes, the battery of classic reactions with a simple arrangement which yields better data: First approximation by the VDRL or Kline test; Quantitative immunofluorescence on sera which were found to be positive to flocculation, and simple qualitative IF on sera which were found to be negative to flocculation; Immobilization test -- as is currently done -- for the rare doubtful sera. For the surveillance of treated patients, the quantitative tests for these three classes of reactions are no less imperative, since the only important point is to follow the titer.


This article refers to the book O livro dos Rios by the Angolan writer Jose Luandino Vieira, published in 2006. The novel tells the story of Kapapa, who became Kene Vua during the guerrilla war and is again Kapapa. The character narrator recounts his memories of traumas and war from his childhood to adulthood, through the course of the waters of the Angolan rivers, which become secondary charactersof history. In addition, the individual memories of the character intertwine with the collective memories of his country. The storyteller's way of telling, through the water metaphor and the recreated language, fits the narrative of the novel into the aesthetic of the stranger proposed by Sigmund Freud, in his work The Stranger, when referring to a new way of thinking aesthetics. The waters participate in the narration of the novel. The character narrator blends languages and uses neologisms to tellabout the unspeakable experience of war and violence. The research proposes to analyze the elements within the scope of the stranger present in the book The bookof rivers, studying the narrative and the form of account of the narrator.


After a brief mention of Thomas´ disease, the situation accounting for the world tendency to deteriorating interpersonal relations in health management was a...


This note will argue for the transitional role of Lamech in the literary form of the genealogies of Cain (Gen 4:17-24) and of Seth (Genesis 5). It will observe the position of Lamech in each genealogy, the glosses associated with the name in the text, and the origins and interpretation of the name. 1. In the genealogy of Cain, Lamech appears sixth in the sequence. Lamech occurs at the midpoint of an enumeration of twelve different names. Although the names preceding Lamech occur in formulaic style in a linear genealogy, those which follow Lamech appear in a segmented genealogy concerning whose kinship Lamech serves as the central figure. Lamech is husband of Adah and Zillah, and father of Jabal, Jubal, Tubalcain, and Naamah. Lamech serves as the single genealogical link between the earlier genealogy of v 17 and that of Lamech's generation in vv 18-24. He alone is mentioned in both. The literary structure of Lamech's song, especially the parallelism of subjects in each of the couplets, further demonstrates the position of Lamech as one who brings Cain's line to an end and who sees the beginning of new lines in his own offspring. First, there is the parallelism which serves as a basic element to the form of the poem. The names of Adah and Zillah parallel the reference to them as wives of Lamech in the first couplet. The man corresponds to the "boy" (dly) in the second couplet. Both designations indicate the same individual. In the third couplet, Cain corresponds


The PID controller robustness was improved for linear time invariable systems by analyzing a PID controller for the H_∞ mixed sensitivity restriction. The PID controller parameter intersection in the stable region, the sensitivity restriction and the complementary sensitivity restriction was calculated in the analysis. The optimal mixed sensitivity PID controller was then found by searching from the intersection using a genetic algorithm. The existence of the H_∞-PID controller can be determined from the intersection for a specified weighting function matrix. The simulation results show that the H_∞-PID controller provides faster and smoother dynamic responses and ensures robust stability against system uncertainties.


47 women between the ages of 35 and 60 were enrolled in human sexuality classes of Queens College in their (ACE) Adult Collegiate Education program. At the outset of the semester, students filled in a Personal Data Questionnaire which provided characteristics data and each wrote an anonymous paper about their sexual attitudes concerning themselves; at the conclusion another such paper was written about continuing concerns about personal sexuality. Problems which were most pervasive at the beginning of the semester focused on guilt, anxiety, resentment, inhibitions, and ambivalence regarding sexuality. Only 9 women (19%) expressed positive feelings about their sexuality and sexual relationships. At the end of the semester, 91% reported positive changes had occurred in their feelings about themselves, their inner sexuality, their ability to communicate about sex, etc. 3 women felt no changes had occurred and only 1 person reported a negative impact. For most of the women, the course provided an opportunity for opening up new ideas, options, and an understanding of themselves and others. Clearly midlife women can benefit greatly from educational experiences which allow them to gain knowledge about sex.


Centralized control using wide-area information has been suggested to enhance the dynamic performance of large interconnected power systems. Because of the distance involved in wide-area interconnections, communication delay has to be considered, and the closed-loop power systems need be modeled as time-delay nonlinear systems. Moreover, the wide-area information is incomplete when not all generators in power system are equipped with phasor measurement units (PMUs). In order to eliminate the effects of power system model's nonlinearity and wide-area information's uncertainty included time delays and incompleteness, a novel approach based on inverse system algorithm and linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique is proposed to design a nonlinear robust integrated controller. Digital simulation demonstrates that the four-machine system under the nonlinear robust integrated control has less settling time, swing times, oscillatory peak value and more critical clear time for various time delays of remote measured information than that under PID control, nonlinear decentralized integrated control or nonlinear global integrated control.


Objectives: The aim of study was to determine the relationship between this SNPs in postmenopausal women with breast cancer 3435G>A (rs1045642) polymorphism of the ABCB1 gene, and serum concentrations of Paclitaxel chemotherapy in Iraq.
Methods: This study included 100 patients (45-75 years) with a clinical diagnosis of breast cancer who were going to start (paclitaxel) chemotherapy. Patients at the oncology center at Imam al-Hussain medical city in Kerbala Iraq, were sorted into groups based on their postmenopausal age, disease duration, and treatment length for this study, which was conducted between July 2022 and October 2022. Serum concentrations of Estradiol and Ca 15.3 were measured in breast cancer patients who had been taking Paclitaxel . Allele-Specific PCR assay determined gene polymorphisms 3435G>A (rs1045642) and HPLC measured paclitaxel drug concentration.
Results: The results found There is an inverse relationship between Ca15.3 concentration and patient response to paclitaxel chemotherapy, and when compared to the genotyping frequency of ABCB1 3435G>A (rs1045642) genetic polymorphism, patients with allele AA in their chromosomes respond better (15.56±6.89) than those with alleles GG and GA.
Conclusion: After paclitaxel chemotherapy, there were statistically significant differences (p< 0.05) in the reduction of drug concentration among serum patients with the AA genotype for ABCB1 3435G>A (rs1045642).


Slipping in cold rolling process is an important factor related to the quality of cold rolling sheet.The severity of slip phenomenon is characterized by the factor of slipping.This paper describes the major factors affecting the slipping in cold rolling process firstly and calculates the rolling force based on rolling parameters by successive approximation method.Secondly,the optimization function is established based on uniformity of the factor of slipping,and the block diagram of optimized algorithm based on particle swarm optimization(PSO)is given.The optimization of rolling schedule,tension schedule and rolling force is achieved.Thirdly,the optimization simulation is carried out.The simulation results show that the optimization algorithm is correct.Through the optimization of reduction amount and tension,the slipping phenomenon can be better controlled.


Peptide deformylase is an essential metalloenzyme required for the removal of the formyl group at the N terminus of nascent polypeptide chains in eubacteria. The Escherichia coli enzyme uses Fe2+ and nearly retains its activity on substitution of the metal ion by Ni2+. We have solved the structure of the Ni2+ enzyme at 1.9-Å resolution by x-ray crystallography. Each of the three monomers in the asymmetric unit contains one Ni2+ ion and, in close proximity, one molecule of polyethylene glycol. Polyethylene glycol is shown to be a competitive inhibitor with a KI value of 6 mm with respect to formylmethionine under conditions similar to those used for crystallization. We have also solved the structure of the inhibitor-free enzyme at 2.5-Å resolution. The two structures are identical within the estimated errors of the models. The hydrogen bond network stabilizing the active site involves nearly all conserved amino acid residues and well defined water molecules, one of which ligates to the tetrahedrally coordinated Ni2+ion.


Objective To analyze the incidence of complications during and after interventional therapy for common congenital heart disease(CHD) in children. Methods From January 2011 to December 2013, interventional therapy of common congenital heart disease which include ventricular septal defect(VSD), atrial septal defect(ASD), patent ductus arteriosus(PDA)and pulmonary valve stenosis(PS) were performed in 2356 patients. Among them, 159 patients who developed complications during and post to interventional therapy were retrospectively analyzed. Results The overall complication rate was 6.75%(159/2356)(11.40% post VSD occlusion, 7.50% post ASD occlusion, 3.09% post PDA occlusion, 1.63% post percutaneous balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty(PBPV)).The rate of arrhythmia was 4.41%(102/2356). The severe complication rate was 2.71%(64/2356)(3.62% post VSD occlusion, 2.21% post ASD occlusion, 2.53% post PDA occlusion, 1.63% post PBPV). The intraoperative severe complication rate was 0.51%(12/2356); the early severe complication rate was 1.99%(47/2356); the late severe complication rate was 0.21%(5/2356). Interventional therapy rate was 0.13%(3/2356); cardiovascular surgery rate was 0.64%(15/2356); conservative treatment rate was 1.95%(46/2356). The mortality rate was 0.08%(2/2356). Conclusions The complications and mortality rate of interventional therapy for CHD in children are relatively low, but cannot be ignored. The complication could be reduced by choosing proper indications, following the operational procedures and careful operative follow-up.


Electron localization in the Si/Ge heterosystem with Si quantum dots (QDs) was studied by transport and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements. For Si QD structures grown on Ge(111) substrates, the ESR signal with g-factor $g=2.0022\pm0.0001$ and ESR line width $\Delta H\approx1.2$ Oe was observed and attributed to the electrons localized in QDs. The g-factor value was explained by taking into account the energy band modification due to strain effects and quantum confinement. A strong Ge-Si intermixing in QD structures grown on Ge(001) is assumed to be main reason of unobserved ESR signal from QDs. The transport behavior confirms the efficient electron localization in Si QDs.


Abstract The liquid film thickness seriously affects the distribution of temperature, velocity, and components near the interface for steam condensation in the presence of small concentration noncondensable gas. The liquid film thickness for H2O/CO2 forced convection condensation separation on vertical plate has not been studied numerically. Thus, volume of fluid model and a phase change model were used to study steam condensation in the presence of noncondensable gases. The calculations studied the effects of velocity, surface subcooling, and noncondensable gas mole fraction on the heat transfer for H2O/air or H2O/CO2 mixtures. The results show that the predicted heat transfer coefficients agree well with previous experimental data. The gas and liquid film thicknesses controlling the condensation heat transfer in the presence of a noncondensable gas become thicker as the mixture flows along the cooled wall. The condensate mass flow rate and the heat transfer coefficient are both seriously reduced by the noncondensable gas. The condensate heat transfer in the presence of noncondensable gases is mainly determined by the diffusion coefficient and the thermal conductivities of the components in the gas film layer.


This paper presents an improved method measuring inter-utterance similarity in an example-based dialogue system, which searches the most similar utterance in a dialogue database to generate a response to a given user utterance. Unlike general inter-sentence similarity measures, the inter-utterance similarity measure for example-based dialogue system should consider not only word distribution but also various linguistic features, such as affirmation/negation, tense, modality, sentence type, which affects the natural conversation. However, previous approaches do not sufficiently reflect these features. This paper proposes a new utterance similarity measure by analyzing and reflecting various linguistic features to improve performance in accuracy. Also, by considering substitutability of the features, the proposed method can utilize limited number of examples. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves 10%p improvement in accuracy compared to the previous method.


The solar drying experiment of seaweed using Green V-Roof Hybrid Solar Drier (GVRHSD) was conducted in Semporna, Sabah under the metrological condition in Malaysia. Drying of sample seaweed in GVRHSD reduced the moisture content from about 92.68% to 32.06% in 4 days at average solar radiation of about 600W/m 2 and mass flow rate about 0.5 kg/s. The drying kinetics was fitted with six published exponential model thin layer drying models. The models were fitted using the coefficient of determination (R 2), and root mean square error (RMSE). The result showed modified page was the best model for describe the drying behavior. In addition, the dried seaweed was used to show biosorptions of cadminium, lead, zinc and copper. Batch mode experiments were performed to determine experimental parameters affecting sorption process such as pH, initial metal ion concentration, shaking rate and biomass dosage. The Pb(II) showed Int. J. Environ. Bioener. 2013, 8(1): 42 highest sorption on pH 4, shaking rate on 250 rpm with 24.18% removal rate; at initial concentration of 100 ppm and adsorbent dosage at 4g/l the removal percentage is 28.30%. Overall, this report indicates that Kappaphycus Striatum Variety Sacol is an effective and economical sorbent for removal of heavy metals from wastewaters.


The two-dimensional multilayer PtRu/PtNd alloy nanostructure thin film used for anode electrodes of micro-direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) was fabricated by multi-target ion beam sputtering (IBS). The surface chemical state, structure, surface layer structure, and morphology of the PtRu/PtNd thin-film were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), and atomic force microscope (AFM). Electrochemical properties were examined by CO-stripping voltammetry, cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and chronoamperometry (CA). The structure and surface chemical state of the PtRu/PtNd thin film were found to have changed due to a strong interaction between Pt+, Ru+ and Pt+, Nd+ during the ion beam alternate sputtering deposition process. Abnormal peak widths in the XRD spectra as well as electron transfer between Pt and Nd have also been observed. The PtRu/PtNd thin-film is shown to have a special multiphase structure and electronic structure. The electrochemical activity-specific surface area of PtRu/PtNd thin-film was 115.00 m2·g-1, and therefor PtRu/PtNd thin-film catalysts exhibited higher catalytic activity for methanol electrooxidation in an acidic environment.


We consider parabolic problems $\dot{u} + Au = f$ in $(0,T)\times\Omega$, $T < \infty$, where $\Omega\subset {\mathbb{R}}^d$ is a bounded domain and A is a strongly elliptic classical pseudodifferential operator of order $\rho \in [0,2]$ in $\tilde{H}^{\rho/2}(\Omega)$. We use a $\theta$-scheme for time discretization and a Galerkin method with N degrees of freedom for space discretization. The full Galerkin matrix for A can be replaced with a sparse matrix using a wavelet basis, and the linear systems for each time step are solved approximatively with GMRES. We prove that the total cost of the algorithm for M time steps is bounded by $O(MN (\log N)^\beta)$ operations and $O(N (\log N)^\beta)$ memory. We show that the algorithm gives optimal convergence rates (up to logarithmic terms) for the computed solution with respect to L2 in time and the energy norm in space.


The time-triggered paradigm encompasses a set of concepts and principles that support the design of dependable real-time systems. By using the properties of physical time and the mechanism of clock synchronization, coordinated interaction between distributed nodes can be facilitated. This paper briefly explains the time-triggered approach, defines a taxonomy for real-time requirements and discusses seven protocols that provide time-triggered features. Finally, two application examples are given that show the potential of the time-triggered approach.


Ubiquitination is a widely expressed process in eukaryotic cells. For this postraductional modification to take place, the presence of ubiquitin is necessary. Unicellular organisms, such as the parasite Giardia, have been shown to contain this 8.5kDa polypeptide. However, this ubiquitin finding does not clarify whether the presence of this polypeptide is an adaptation to the host on those organisms or the origin of the posttranslational modifier is related to eukaryotic cell evolution. Thus, the search for a ubiquitin homologue in free living protists, such as Euglena gracilis; becomes relevant as to understand the evolution of signal transduction elements. We were able to find in a E. gracilis cDNA library an Ubiquitin‐S27a protein, which consists of two main domains. The N‐terminal domain is the ubiquitin protein formed by the first 76 amino acids with a molecular weight of 8.5 kDa and a theoretical pI: 6.56. The C‐terminal ribosomal protein S27a is 81 amino acids long with a molecular weight of 9.3 kDa and a pI of 9.88. We are currently scrutinizing in our laboratory whether the ubiquitin‐like protein found in E. gracilis has a role as a protein modifier or as a chaperone at ribosomal assembly.