The renewed interest in manned exploration of space has rejuvenated development of advanced ceramic fuels for nuclear power and propulsion reactors. The SP-100 program is designed to develop, test, and demonstrate a 100-kW(electric) reactor for space-based power. The reference fuel for SP-100 is uranium nitride (UN). Ceramic processes to fabricate UN fuel pellets have been developed, and the procedures have been successfully escalated to pilot plant production of the nuclear assembly test (NAT) core. Eighty-one batches of 97% enriched UN fuel pellets were processed through sintering. The paper shows a batch of UN fuel pellets released by quality assurance (QA) personnel for the NAT. Nearly 100 fuel pins of various designs have been assembled, welded, and irradiated for the SP-100 program. The result of fuel pin development activities is a fabricable fuel pin with long-life capability. Ex-pile compatibility testing on the UN/Re system is complete, and measurements of molten fission products have started. Analysis of neutron radiographs of irradiated UN test pins showed that UN fuel swelled as predicted from the previous data base, and no evidence of break-away UN swelling was measured.


This paper proposes a design of PCI bus High Speed LVDS Communication Card, which can be widely applied in high speed serial communication of PCI-based electrical systems. The LVDS standard is deployed as front-end communication interface to implement a 120Mbps serial communication speed within 10 meter communication distance. To promote data transaction efficiency on the PCI bus, we propose a high efficiency DMA data transition method. In the proposed DMA method, to promote PCI bus communication efficiency, we adopt continuous burst to increase the bus efficiency. Furthermore, we adopt common buffer DMA to ensure data transaction continuity. A generic method on developing WDM driver for PCI devices is also presented at the end of the paper. Comprehensive measurement experiment reflects that the PCI hardware transaction speed in this design can reach more than 120 Mbytes/second, which is highly efficient and meaningful for high speed data communication or applications alike.


In this paper we discuss the formulation of, and show the results for, a new compression/decompression algorithm called DYNAMAC, that has its basis in nonlinear systems theory. We show that we are able to achieve significant compression of RGB image data while maintaining good image quality. We discuss the implementation of this algorithm in hardware, show that the same process is applicable to other digital forms of data, demonstrate that the decompression process is ideal for streaming applications, and show that the algorithm has an exploitable aspect of encryption useful for digital rights management and secure transmission. We discuss our methodology for the improvement of the performance of this codec.


The increase of environmental temperature due to current global warming is not only favoring the expansion of the distribution range of many insect species, but it is also changing their phenology. Insect phenology is tightly linked to developmental timing, which is regulated by environmental temperatures. However, the degree to which effects of developmental temperatures extend across developmental stages and their inter-stage relationships have not been thoroughly quantified in mosquitoes. Here, we used the mosquito Aedes albopictus, which is an aggressive invasive species and an arboviral vector to study how developmental temperature influences fitness across developmental stages, thermal traits, energy reserves, transcriptome, and Wolbachia prevalence in populations from either temperate or tropical regions. We show that hatchability, larval and pupal viability, and developmental speed are strongly influenced by temperature and these effects extend to wing length, body mass, longevity, content of water, protein and lipids in adults, in a population-specific manner. On the contrary, neither adult thermal preference nor heat resistance significantly change with temperature. Development at 18°C revealed to be a limiting factor for the proliferation of Wolbachia in adults and transcriptome analysis showed enrichment for functions linked to stress responses (i.e. cuticle proteins and chitin, cytochrome p450, and heat shock proteins) in mosquitoes reared at both 18°C and 32°C. Our data showed an overall reduced vector fitness performance when mosquitoes were reared at 32°C, and the absence of isomorphy in the relationship between developmental stages and temperature in the temperate population. Altogether these results have important implications for reliable model projections of the invasion potentials of Ae. albopictus and its epidemiological impact.


There is growing concern for the contamination of our soils and waters worldwide with heavy metals (HMs), as a result of indiscriminate use of agrochemicals for feeding growing population which require optimal use of resources and sustainable agricultural strategies. This can be simultaneously achieved by using microbes as bio-fertilizers, bio-protectants, and bio-stimulants, and suitable phytoremediation- plant capable of removing heavy metals contaminants from contaminated sites. There is a growing need to adopt such environmentally safe, attractive, and economical techniques that can remove most HMs contaminants as well as yield high biomass for bioenergy production. Phytoremediation and the microbes associated with the roots and inhabiting rhizospheres of the plants used for this purpose, has emerged as an alternative strategy. This article reviews the principles and application of this strategy, and provides an overview of the use of fast growing, non-food bioenergy plants, like Vetiver grass and industrial hemp, and their root-associated microbiota such as Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF), Mycorrhiza Helping Bacteria (MHB), and Plant–Growth–Promoting-Rhizobia (PGPR) that can both tolerate and immobilize HMs in the roots, i.e. sequestrate contaminant HMs thereby protecting plants from metal toxicity. This mini-review also focuses on other phytoextraction strategies involving rhizosphere microbes, such as (1) inoculating plants used for phytoremediation of HMs contaminated soil and water with rhizobial microflora, and (2) managing their population in the rhizospheres by using a consortium of site specific AMF, PGPR, and MHB, and N-fixing rhizobia as biofertilizers to Phyto-remediate derelict contaminated sites. Various crop management strategies such as Crop Sequencing and Intercropping or Co-cropping of, for example, mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal crops, or leguminous and non-leguminous crops, etc., can be employed for improved plant growth. Another possible strategy to exploit soil microbes is to employ pre-cropping with mycotrophic crops to exploit AMF for mycorrhizo-remediation strategy.


The unrestricted Hartree-Fock method and its spin-projected and spin-extended versions are used for calculating the model correlation energy and isotropic and anisotropic hyperfine splitting constants for LiH+, BeH, BH+ and OH radicals. Results are compared with those of the method of complete configuration interaction. The gradient method of Murtagh and Sargent is employed for direct minimization of EHF electronic energy.


A literature-based survey of black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) essential oil composition and properties was reviewed. Non-traditional oilseeds attracted great interest because their components have unique properties and may augment the supply of novel products. Analysis of N. sativa essential oil using GC techniques resulted in the identification of many bioactive phytochemicals representing ca. 85% of the total compounds. The main compounds include p-cymene, thymoquinone, α-thujene, longifolene, β-pinene, α-pinene and carvacrol. N. sativa oil exhibited various biological properties including antifungal, antibacterial and antioxidant potentials. N. sativa oil showed complete inhibition zones against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria including Penicillium citrinum Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The oil showed higher antioxidant potential in comparison with synthetic antioxidants in a rapeseed oil model system. The oil exhibited also stronger antir...


Saffron, which has many kinds of biological activities, has been widely used in medicine, cosmetics, food, and other fields of health promotion industries. Crocins are the main component of saffron (Crocus sativus L.). At present, most of the extraction methods for crocins require long time or special instruments to complete the process and some of them are not suitable for industrial production at present. In this article, homogenate extraction technology which is a convenient and efficient method was developed for crocins extraction from saffron. Firstly, the influences of extraction voltage, extraction time, ethanol concentration, and temperature on crocins yield were studied by single factor experiments; and then response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize levels of four variables based on the result of single factor experiments. Results showed that the optimum extraction process conditions for crocins were as follows: extraction voltage, 110 V; ethanol concentration, 70%; extraction temperature, 57°C; and extraction time, 40 s. Based on these conditions, the extraction yield of crocins can reach 22.76% which is higher than ultrasonic extraction method. Therefore, homogenate extraction is an effective way to extract crocins from saffron with higher extraction yield and shorter extraction time.


The present study is aimed to investigate antioxidant potential of methanolic leaf extracts of P. granatum & S.asoca. To determine the free radical scavenging activity, 2, 2-Diphenyl picrylhydrazyl assay was used. Reducing power ability of the above plant extracts was also determined. As per this study, leaves of S. asoca and P.granatum have significant free radical scavenging activity. The minimum concentration of the crude leaf extract to show this kind of activity was found to be 60μg/mL and 100μg/mL in S.asoca & P.granatum, respectively. Both the extracts had potent antioxidant activity. Both the extracts had also shown high reducing potential with increasing concentration of extracts. Antioxidant activities of extracts might be due to presence of various phytochemicals. Preliminary studies to check the presence of phytochemicals in above leaf extracts was also performed before checking antioxidant potential. Thus the results suggests that the methanolic leaf extracts of both the plants could provide antioxidants and these antioxidants can be further explored so that they can be helpful in free radical induced diseases.


In this wide-ranging book Gertrude Robinson applies 'the lens of feminist analysis' to the regulation, working practices and output of print and broadcast newsrooms in Canada, the United States and Europe. The foundation for this book is the work done by Robinson herself among Canadian journalists in 1975 and again in 1995, two extensive studies that examined gender distribution, work experience, salaries, journalistic tasks, role conceptions and access and promotion, among other areas. To this Robinson adds information from the most extensive studies carried out in the US and Europe over the last 20–25 years, to provide a truly comparative analysis. Chapter 1 will be particularly useful to those seeking an overview of the field, as Robinson examines how previous studies have tackled these issues. In many cases, they are found wanting (indeed, Schudson's 1992 review of the sociology of news production is slated for failing to take gender into account.) At the same time, she justifies her cultural approach, using Williams' 1981 definition of it as 'a whole way of life' as a guiding principle. She attempts to disentangle gender theory from cultural theory to ascertain the social and economic consequences of a gendered classificatory system. In the next two chapters, Robinson looks at the operation of gender in print and broadcast newsrooms in Canada. What is interesting here (and throughout) is the divergent paths of the two language groups in the Canada, with women in the francophone area finding more barriers to equality. Robinson finds that in the 20-year interval between her two studies, the picture has improved for women in the broadcasting arena in particular, though legislation has not resulted in equalized pay. As expected, women are more likely to take career breaks due to the demands of childbirth and childcare, but there is a gendered Journalism


The Institute of Medicine's (IOM) recent Quality Chasm report suggests that the U.S. health care system requires major reengineering, including major realignment of incentives, if health care is to provide collaborative quality care and care management and effectively prevent and manage chronic disease. Growing recognition of this need for realignment has led to "pay for quality" initiatives for providers and a parallel search for effective economic interventions for consumer health behavior change. Similar "pay for prevention" initiatives are used to address the gap between the high cost of preventable disease and deaths and the actual practices of health providers and consumers. These initiatives use explicit, or extrinsic, incentives such as bonuses and cash or other in-kind financial incentives for providers and consumers to engage in specific preventive care or health promotion practices. The question is whether such economic incentives are a useful approach. In this report, we evaluate evidence from the literature on the impact of explicit economic incentives targeted at motivating providers and consumers to adopt preventive health behaviors. The review is designed to 1) help develop more effective preventive strategies (evidence-based practice), and 2) help inform key stakeholders about the role of such practices (evidence-based policymaking). In collaboration with AHRQ, the key research questions identified were: Key Question 1 How have "preventive care" and "economic incentive" been defined in the literature? Key Question 2 Do incentives work? Key Question 3 Is there evidence of a dose/response curve? Key Question 4 What is the evidence for cost-effectiveness of economic incentive interventions?


The oil system, as one of the aero engine key systems, plays a crucial role on the reliabilities of aero engine. The method of constructing arithmetic of oil system steady model for aero engine has been elaborated in this paper, which is based on the analyses of different parts' characteristics that show monotone variation relationship and which introduces the notion "balanced calculation" to replace traditional iteration with vector calculus and various interpolation algorithms. The numerical calculations of the aero engine oil system with the arithmetic on condition that the aero engine works at sea level operates in maximum regime have been conducted for checking purpose. The calculated results nearly in agreement with the data given by designer, shows that the employed arithmetic is valid and practical and could be used in simulating the characteristics of diverse engine oil systems effectively.


Children with severe dyslexia were slower in counting from memory and naming alternating digits and letters than those with milder reading impairment. The children most disabled also had poorer phonological sensitivity, shorter digit spans, and lower Verbal IQs, but these variables accounted for no additional variance in prediction of scores on the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised (R = 0.89).


The aim of this thesis was to develop novel carbon-based biosensors and sensors for real-time metabolite and drug detection, to provide the next generation of medical devices which can give clinicians relevant chemical information in real-time at the patient bedside. An autocalibration system was developed using LabSmith programmable components to give precise fluid delivery and excellent temporal control of multiple liquid streams. This enables a 5-point calibration to be carried out using two solutions in 12 minutes. Systems using chitosan, poly(ethylene glycol)diglycidyl ether hydrogel, electrodeposition and selfassembly to immobilise enzymes on a combined needle electrode surface were studied and their performances were investigated using a microfluidic platform. The autocalibration system was combined with the graphene oxide-based biosensors in a microchip coupled with a microdialysis probe and was examined as a proof-of-concept clinical on-line analysis system. A reduced graphene oxide-based sensor was fabricated using a combined needle electrode for on-line neurotransmitter detection of dopamine. Its performance was compared with that of a platinum electrode. A microfluidic sensor based on a carbon nanotube-epoxy composite was fabricated to detect the presence of carboplatin (anti-cancer drug) in healthy tissue in real time during chemotherapy. Detection of carboplatin was carried out using differential pulse voltammetry firstly in a beaker, in which carbon nanotube-epoxy composite electrodes performed better than glassy carbon electrodes for oxidation of free purine bases and than DNA-modified carbon nanotube-epoxy composite sensors for detection of carboplatin. Carboplatin detection was then performed in a microfluidic platform. The methodology for on-line carboplatin detection was optimised in terms of the analysis time and for the repeated determination of carboplatin using the same electrode. Microdialysis and microfluidic techniques have been combined to give a proof-of-concept system real-time carboplatin detection using the carbon nanotube-epoxy composite sensors.


We experimentally demonstrate a LAN-WDM access system with a record bit rate of 2 Tb/s (250 Gbit/s×8) PS-PAM-8 signal with joint equalization techniques to support the evolution of future mobile fronthaul networks with low cost.


graduate level. On January 1, 1969, even the boy scouts adm itted w om en to the ir E xp lo rer program . And still, N otre D am e clings desperately to w hat Dr. Eugene Loveless o f o u r psychology dep a rtm en t calls, " th e last vestage o f m onasticism in o u r society to d a y ." Six to one th e fam ous and o ften q u o ted ra tio o f N otre D am e m en to St. M ary's girls. B ut the problem goes m uch beyond th e bounds o f th e sim ple a rith  m etical. In 1967, th e Scholastic repo rted only 622 o f th e 1301 residen t w om en at S t. M ary's w ere signed o u t fo r an unusually active S atu rday night. 92% o f This is the in itia l in sta llm en t o f a fiv e part series on C o-Education a t N o tre D am e by J im Pellegrin and Barry Breen.


Immune haemolytic anaemia may be induced by high doses of benzylpenicillin. A small number of cases have also followed the administration of semisynthetic penicillins in addition to benzylpenicillin. We have observed immune haemolytic anemia consequent on ticarcillin administration in a patient who had previously received benzylpenicillin. Although the antibody agglutinated penicillin-treated and ticarcillin-treated cells it was demonstrated by serum fractionation to be IgG.


It is demonstrated how the Schrodinger equation emerges from stochastic momentum kicks of the force carriers, transmitting the fundamental interactions between the point particles. The picture is c...


Myxobacterial species, Archangium gephyra and Archangium primigenium, were isolated from elm tree bark and soil in central Missouri. Pure cultures of these isolates were obtained by quick transfer ...


Tetrahexahedral (THH) gold nanocrystals bound to 24 high-index facets were synthesized through a facile colloidal chemistry by reducing HAuCl4 in the mixture solution of N,N-dimethylformamide and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) at 80 °C. As-synthesized THH gold nanocrystals with Oh symmetry were single-crystals, mainly bound to 24 high-index {210} facets. The controlled slow reaction condition made the rhombic dodecahedral gold nanocrystals transform to THH gold nanocrystals with high-index facets.


The study was conducted to determine the effect of feeding diet containing Carica papaya, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Terminalia bellirica leaf mixture (1:1:1) in concentrate mixture at 5% and 10% level on carcass characteristics and meat composition. Eighteen Assam hill goats were divided into three groupsT1 served as Control and in treatment groups T2 and T3, the concentrate mixture was replaced with 5% and 10% level of leaf mixture respectively No significant difference was found in carcass characteristics and meat composition between the groups but T3 group showed better result than other groups. It was concluded that the leaf mixture of Carica papaya, Artocarpus heterophyllus, and Terminalia bellirica could be used upto 10% level as supplement in the diet of goats.


The paper examines the risk-return ratio of the ESG ETF as a basis for developing an investment strategy that has become necessary due to the shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. ESG Investing is taking into account environmental, sociological and governance factors along with financial factors when making investment decisions. ETF Investing means an index fund whose shares are traded on an exchange. Research has shown that almost 75% of respondents around the world integrate ESG and ETF into their investment approach. The ESG segment demonstrates an increase in investment attractiveness mainly due to the assumption of sustainability. Therefore, the hypothesis of stability in the shock period was a prerequisite for our study. One of the methods used was comparative analysis. Different approaches to risk assessment helped to analyze each group along with the expected return. Among the basic concepts of measuring financial risks in the theory of expected utility, the concept of variability, the concept of sensitivity and the concept of losses in adverse situations, the study focuses on identifying variability and assessing losses in adverse situations. The results were evaluated and compared before and after the shock. This paper also studied a pair of indicators characterizing the shock period, namely the depth of shock and the level of recovery to assess the risk-return ratio directly in the shock period. The results showed differences in risk assessments. The main overall consequence is that ESG ETFs are likely to be affected by shocks, but in the post-shock period there is a fairly rapid recovery. Applying risk-return analysis methodologies, we came to the following conclusions: ETFs show an increase in risks, the pandemic did not change catastrophically, which contributed to a rapid recovery. The study has shown that the dynamics of the risk-return ratio for investments with high implementation of the principle of E, S, G is growing. The results obtained can be applied in the practice of forming portfolio investment strategies.


There were considered activities of the governor of Galicia Michael Bobrzynski (1908-1913) on the resolution of difficult Ukrainian-Polish relations. It was noted that in historiography emerged quite controversial image of the governor. His Reformed politics ran in opposition to Catholic and right-wing forces.


Deep learning techniques represented by deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely used in polarimetric synthetic-aperture radar (PolSAR) image classification in recent years. One challenge is how to get a pleasant classification result with limited human-labeled samples. In this letter, a novel semisupervised classification method incorporating labels' semantic priors is proposed for PolSAR image classification with limited labeled samples. The core idea is that a good classification result map should have consistent regions and aligned boundaries. Thus, a cost function is proposed, which mainly contains three terms including a supervised term, a region consistency term, and a boundary kept term. The supervised term enforces the category label to be the same with the human-labeled labels. The region consistency term encourages the labels in one region to be consistent. The boundary-kept term constrains the region consistency term, preventing the classification map from being too smooth. An alternate iterative optimization method is proposed to solve this equation. First, a CNN is trained using the labeled samples and the classification probability map. Then, the classification probability map is updated by the prediction of the trained CNN and the labeled samples. Repeat these two procedures until the maximum number of iterations is met. Experiments on two real PolSAR images are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method compared with several state-of-the-art methods.


Although there is lot of research dedicated to luxury brands and the management of luxury brands, little is yet known about how best to market and monitor them (Vigneron & Johnson, 1999, 2004; Wiedmann et al. 2009). Against a background of dynamic growth in the global luxury market, it is critical for luxury researchers and marketers to understand the reasons why consumers buy luxury, what they believe luxury is, and how their perception of luxury value affects their buying behavior. Regarded as a common denominator that can be used to define consumption across cultures (Bourdieu, 1984; Dubois & Paternault, 1997), luxury is a key factor in differentiating a brand in a product category, (Allérès, 1991; Kapferer, 1997) as well as a central driver of consumer preference and usage (Dubois & Duquesne, 1993). Past research efforts in the luxury product market have analyzed the consumption behaviors of affluent consumers (e.g., Veblen 1899; Stanley, 1988; Hirschman, 1988), studies on luxury brand types (e.g., Dubois & Duquesne, 1993; Andrus et al., 1986), the determinants of the acquisition of luxury products (e.g., Mason, 1992; Dubois & Laurent, 1993; Dubois & Duquesne, 1993, the cross-cultural comparison of attitudes toward the luxury concept (Dubois & Laurent, 1996; Dubois & Paternault, 1997), and the comparison of motivations between Asian and Western societies (Wong & Ahuvia, 1998; Wang & Waller, 2006). However, there is currently little agreement about the dimensions of luxury product value as perceived by customers. With regard to consumer buying motives, the notion of "to impress others" still more or less serves as a strategic principle for the marketing management of luxury brands (Berry, 1994; Dittmar, 1994; Corneo & Jeanne, 1997; Vigneron & Johnson, 1999, 2004; O'Cass & Frost, 2002). According to the theory of impression management, consumers are highly affected by the internal drive to create a favorable social image from their purchase behavior outcomes (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Mandrik, 1996; Sallot, 2002). However, from a broader perspective in exploring customer perceptions of and motives for purchasing luxury, it is not sufficient to explain the whole picture of luxury market consumption with socially oriented motives (e.g., Hansen, 1998; Wong & Ahuvia, 1998; Vigneron & Johnson, 1999, 2004; Wong et al., 1999; Gentry et al., 2001; Puntoni, 2001; Roth, 2001; Miquel et al., 2002; Coulter, Price, & Feick, 2003). A personally oriented type of consumption should also be considered in the marketing management of luxury brands. In the line of studies dedicated to analyze links between consumers' personality traits and their marketplace behaviors, much of the work has focused on consumer characteristics like involvement and materialism and related effects on individual's purchase and consumption of specific types of products (Belk 1985; Richins & Dawson 1992, Mittal 1988, 1989; Laurent & Kapferer 1985; Zaichkowsky 1985, 1986; O Cass 2000a). With regard to the consumption of products that possess a high social and image dimension, e.g., fashion clothing and luxury items in general, many consumers appear to utilize material possessions to portray images that display success and status. Given that materialistic values represent an important influence on consumer behavior, it is important for both marketing researchers and practitioners to explore individual difference variables that characterize consumption and direct possession related behavior (Belk 1984, 1985; Richins 1987; Richins & Dawson 1992). An important personality construct that affects materialistic orientation and usage of products to portray image is gaining prominence in


A simple superdirective antenna structure that does not require an impedance tuner is proposed. The proposed design concept for broadside superdirective antennas was used to fabricate five-element arrays of d = 0.2/spl lambda/ and 0.3/spl lambda/ by combining self-resonating dipole elements, /spl lambda//4 parallel line matching circuits and a feed network. A d = 0.3/spl lambda/ antenna realized the designed radiation pattern with a theoretical gain (8.1 dBi) which confirmed the exact superdirective excitation. However, when d = 0.2/spl lambda/, the radiation pattern was deformed and the gain was about 4.5 dB lower than the designed value for lossless material. This decrease in gain is consistent with the calculated ohmic loss of the antenna elements and the loss caused by pattern synthesis errors, which is higher when the Q factor is high.<<ETX>>


Since the 1970s, analytical models of coastal trapped waves (CTWs) have been developed using a first-order wave equation in the long-wave limit. Formulations of this kind require assumptions of a straight coastline with similar shelf bathymetry. These assumptions prevent the models from capturing the scattering and backscattering behavior of propagating CTWs that encounter changing coastlines, bathymetry, or shelf width. CTW modes from two different analytical models, one of which includes friction and stratification, are compared with CTW observations of velocity and pressure from a study region near the Outer Banks off the North Carolina coast in the United States. The coastline in the study region is relatively straight locally but is bounded by an estuary to the north and shelf narrowing to the south, both of which induce scattering. The models suggest that the CTWs in this region are insensitive to changes in stratification, implying that observed seasonal differences in wave magnitude are due to seasonal wind forcing. Furthermore, friction is found to be important, particularly for mode-1 propagation, but higher-order modes are prevalent despite the importance of friction. There is very poor agreement between the observed and modeled free and forced CTWs because of scattering. This lack of agreement indicates that this is not a globally applicable theoretical formulation because many global coastlines violate the basic assumptions.


This paper aims to clarify the significance of sublimity in Western literary tradition via exploring various philosophical understandings of the...


The special rail grade with 1100 N mm-2 minimum tensile strength is a fine lamellar pearlitic steel with good toughness and weldability. The low hydrogen content allows normal cooling practice, controlled by ultrasonic testing of each rail. Special-grade rails are produced since 13 years and have shown a good performance in lines with high axle loads and severe curves.


With the development of modern big data technology, data size in daily life is expanding rapidly and data relationship is more complex. However, the requirements of data analysis for different resources continuous to surging. Therefore, how to handle a large number of data analysis tasks with complex dependencies efficiently become the challenge. In this paper, we design and implement a cloud native data analysis system based on workflow engine. The system arranges the data analysis tasks, which deployed by containers, with dependency through the workflow engine based on cloud native technology. Flexibility of container cloud makes data analysis procedure effective and efficient. In addition, we designed a workflow engine and an operation and maintenance subsystem for overall system platform anomaly detection. Finally, we verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the system through scientific workflow data. The cloud native data analysis system based on workflow engine has passed all tests and has been applied in small and medium-sized enterprises.


In order to maximize a piecewise affine concave function one can basically use the simplex method or an interior point method. As an alternative, we propose the face simplex method. The vertex to vertex scheme of the simplex method is replaced by a more general face to face scheme in the face simplex method. To improve the current iterate, in the face simplex method, one computes the steepest ascent on the current face of the objective function graph and then an exact linesearch determines next iterate. This new procedure can be used in the cutting plane framework as a substitute of the simplex method. As a preliminary numerical test, this new version of the cutting plane method is compared with three other methods : subgradient, Kelley cutting plane and ACCPM.


This is the first study about trophic traits of Grammostola vachoni, a threatened theraphosid spider endemic to the mountain systems of central Argentina. Four prey types were used in experiments: crickets, cockroaches, beetle larvae and adult beetles. Grammostola vachoni was observed to eat at a rate of about once every 11 days, with the mean total number of prey consumed per spider during the experimental period being 2.7. Latency to the first attack was similar for crickets, cockroaches and beetle larvae, but was shorter for adult beetles. Feeding time was significantly longer for crickets and beetle larvae. Mass gain was significantly different among prey types. Feeding effectiveness and ingestion rate were significantly higher for crickets. A significant positive correlation for feeding effectiveness and ingestion rate with prey mass and the initial spider mass was also found.


international journal of athletic therapy & training Athletic training educators strive to create classroom and laboratory learning environments that foster knowledge acquisition and skill development for application in clinical practice. The standardized patient (SP) provides an opportunity for students to apply knowledge and skills relating to conditions, illnesses, or injuries that occur infrequently in clinical practice (e.g., cervical spine management, drug or substance abuse).1,2 Athletic training students have reported that completion of an SP encounter was beneficial.3 Students reported the encounter was a realistic representation of clinical practice and was perceived as worthwhile.3 Simulations provide realistic patient encounter scenarios that are frequently used to evaluate students' clinical skills. Furthermore, simulations provide students with opportunities to evaluate and treat simulated patients with no adverse consequence if a mistake is made.4 Unfortunately, simulated scenarios are not typically consistent between student evaluations, since most are spontaneously


Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogeneous disease affecting the epithelium of the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx. Conditions of most patients are diagnosed at late stages of the disease, and no sensitive and specific predictors of aggressive behavior have been identified yet. Therefore, early detection and prognostic biomarkers are highly desirable for a more rational management of the disease. Hypermethylation of CpG islands is one of the most important epigenetic mechanisms that leads to gene silencing in tumors and has been extensively used for the identification of biomarkers. In this study, we combined rapid subtractive hybridization and microarray analysis in a hierarchical manner to select genes that are putatively reactivated by the demethylating agent 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5Aza-dC) in HNSCC cell lines (FaDu, UM-SCC-14A, UM-SCC-17A, UM-SCC-38A). This combined analysis identified 78 genes, 35 of which were reactivated in at least 2 cell lines and harbored a CpG island at their 5′ region. Reactivation of 3 of these 35 genes (CRABP2, MX1 ,a ndSLC15A3) was confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR; fold change, ≥3). Bisulfite sequencing of their CpG islands


We have recorded (at room temperature), fixed, and recalled 10, 100, 200, 300, and 500 high resolution, uniformly diffracting, volume holograms in Fe-doped LiNbO3. The exposure schedule we used is derived from the following equations: where A
 n
 is the amplitude of the nth grating after being exposed for time t
 n
 , is the total exposure time of the holograms written afterward, τ
 r
 is the recording time constant, and τ
 e
 is the erasing time constant. We stored the holograms by angularly multiplexing a plane wave reference beam. High resolution images (240 × 220 pixels) generated by a LCTV were used as objects. The ratio of the total reference beam power to the total object beam power was 300 to 1. Using a 4-mm thick LiNbO3 crystal (0.015% doping level), 10, 100, 200, and 300 holograms were recorded and reconstructed with uniform diffraction efficiency. Using a 1-cm thick crystal of the same doping level, 500 holograms were also recorded and reconstructed with uniform diffraction efficiency. The holograms were fixed by placing the LiNbO3 crystal in an oven at 160°C. After cooling to room temperature, the holograms were developed by illuminating the crystals with incoherent light for 2 h.


Cardiovascular disease defines as a disease related to heart and blood vessel. One of high risk in the disease of cardiovascular is its on people with obesity. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) indicator is an important sign to identify cardiovascular risk and provide early information related to change of heart autonomy controlling. This indicator was influenced by several factors such as cupping therapy. Study found that HRV increased after cupping therapy by wet cupping treatment in healthy people. The aims of this research is to investigate the influence of dry cupping toward increased HRV in male obesity adolescence. The study was experimental with pre-post test design by using consecutive sampling of 30 male adolescence aged 18-24 years old with BMI 25 kg/m2. They were divided into 2 groups, control and intervention group with cupping therapy. Data result used in SDDN and RMSSD level. Analysis Data were used paired and independent t test. The result showed SDNN and RMMSD level before intervention were 73,95 ms dan 67,11 ms. Whereas SDNN and RMMSD level after intervention were 69,66 ms dan 61,95 ms. In paired (p=0,52 and p=0,38) and independent t test (p=0,30 and p=0,56) showed that there were no significant difference between SDNN and RMSSD in intervention group and control group (p>0,05). The conclusion of this study is dry cupping had no effects toward increased HRV level in male obesity adolescence.


Professors Coundouriotis and Senf have written truly innovative articles regarding Bram Stoker's Dracula because of the focus that they have put on the importance of place to the novel. However, it is possible to go even further down the path that they have blazed and situate geography at the absolute center of the novel rather than just on the periphery. The purpose of this paper is not so much to disagree with Professor Coundouriotis, but instead to build on and alter her argument, in which I believe she is too concerned with specifics that are not entirely substantiated (as pointed out by Professor Senf in her reply). I do not believe that it was necessary for Stoker to know much about the historical Vlad (as argued by Miller 182), because instead of tapping into historical specifics, Stoker is tapping into a larger geographic construct (Eastern Europe) which has a series of meanings already attached to it. Since it is impossible to adequately paraphrase Professor Coundouriotis' detailed and substantial argument, I will focus on a few of her major points. She, for the first time, puts Dracula in the historical and geographic context in which it was written by foregrounding the importance of the Eastern Question to Britain, and by extension, European identity. In this, I wholeheartedly agree. Furthermore, she claims that Dracula represents the Ottoman influence in Eastern Europe: "a source of history that 'logically' (but also anxiously) needs to be silenced" (144). To this, though, I must demur and posit another


Through experimental study, the hydraulic characteristics of the labyrinth weir are analyzed and the factors that influence its discharge capacity are analyzed one by one.The formula of discharge coefficient is given by means of dimensional analysis.The calculation results of the formula are close to the actual engineering data very much.This indicates that the formula is reliable and has high precision.It can provide convenience for the designer.


Earthquake early-warning systems detect the first quivering of a major quake, triggering alarm systems in advance of the most violent shaking. The Alert system that has been proposed for all over the world would use a network of digital seismometers deployed around the state to give populated areas up to a minute of advance warning (depending on the location of the epicentre). The alerts would allow businesses, residents and public agencies time to get ready. The purpose of the study focuses on the sensor data to decide if an earthquake is occurring. Finally experimental results are provided showing that the system will support the expected performance with the sensor data. A possible extension of the approach could be implementing one wireless sensor networks using thinkspeak for data acquisition.


In the human eye, accommodation is essential for functional vision. However, the mechanisms regulating accommodation and the ocular parameters affecting aberrations remain to be explored. In order to measure the alterations of ocular aberration and crystalline lens biometry during dynamic accommodative stimuli, we designed an optical coherence tomography with ultra-long penetration depth (UL-OCT) combined with a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS). This integrated set up measures human eye's anterior segment as well as monochromatic high-order aberrations (HOAs) with 6 μm resolution and (1/20) λ accuracy. A total of 10 healthy volunteers without ocular diseases were examined. Upon exposure to accommodative stimuli, the wavefront aberrations became larger. Among the anterior segment biometry, the anterior crystalline lens demonstrated significant curvature during accommodation and was the major cause of high-order aberration. These findings suggest that the front surface of the crystalline lens can significantly affect variation among aberrations, which is a key factor underlying the quality of human vision.


In Sweden the deregulation of the electricity market has increased the demand of efficient and accurate short term prognosis. Top-down models are today widely used for both planning and prognosis. The top-down models are known as accurate and effective when working with data in a well known domain, but can have problems estimating new trends in consumption patterns and in other situations with a limited access to reliable consumption statistics. In a bottom-up approach a stronger physical relationship can be implemented and individual parameter adaptations can be made. Increased knowledge on an individual consumption basis become more important to be able to increase the accuracy of such tool, and the extensive installations of automatic meter reading systems provides the necessary consumption data for these new models. In this paper an analysis method of individual customers is presented, a bottom-up approach is described and important parameters for forecasting and simulation are discussed.


Three patients with abnormal amounts of 6β-hydroxycortisol in the urine are presented. In 2 of these patients, adrenal hyperplasia was found at autopsy. The third patient had Cushing-like clinical symptoms, and an adrenal adenoma was found at operation; in this case, although the excretion of 6β-hydroxycortisol was elevated, the urinary alpha-ketolic steroid pattern was otherwise normal. Technics for the isolation of 6β-hydroxycortisol are described.


This article shares the early embodied and relational experiences of mothering preterm infants from a phenomenological research study. The writings of Francine Wynn and Donald Winnicott assist with the interpretation of the mothers' embodied and relational responses of aching, loss, sadness, and yearning after the birth of their preterm infants. Mothers' narratives also reveal the significance of and subsequent loss of the in-utero holding relationship, and the sense of connectedness felt by mothers at first holdings of their preterm infants. Increased understanding of the experiences these women face can influence practices that better care for the psychological health of mothers of preterm infants.


Preface. Introduction. Human hemopoietic blast cell colony formation in culture: Growth factor requirement (M. Ogawa, A.G. Leary). Granulocyte colony stimulating factor: A multifunctional cytokine (P. Quesenberry et al). Leukocytosis in nude mice into which human tumors are transplanted - in vivo screening system for hematopoietic growth factors in human tumors (Y. Ueyama and N. Tamaoki). Regulatory production of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) by stromal cells (K. Ozawa et al). Receptor for granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (S. Nagata et al). Structural and functional characteristics of receptors for colony-stimulating factors (N.A. Nicola). Pharmacological effects of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) (S. Asano). Cytokine network and regulation of inflammatory response (K. Arai et al). Author index.


Using binomial statistics and direct convolution integral, formulas are derived for delayed and antidelayed gamma distributions involving scintillation detectors. T¿ of a nuclear state is extracted from the best fitting with experimental delay distribution using ¿2-deviation criteria. For semiconductor detectors, a direct method is presented to compute T¿ from a measure of the time interval between maxima of the delay curve and the prompt one of Gaussian shape. The different methods of analysis of short lifetimes are tested through coincidence experiments applying scintillation and planar Ge(Li) detectors.


In view of that conventional algorithms of collision detection spend a lot of detection time on complex polyhedrons, an algorithm to divide a convex polyhedron was presented and proved. This algorithm can divide complex polyhedrons into simply tetrahedrons. Then a parallel method based on MPI is used to improve the real-time performance of collision detection. An example was presented to compare the proposed method with traditional methods so as to prove the superiority of the method.


The device degradation of dual-polycide-gate N+/P+ CMOS polycide transistors due to the lateral diffusion of dopants in the silicides is studied using a coupled 2-D process and device simulator. Design rule spacings between the NMOS and the PMOS transistor are given for various NM0S:PMOS gate area ratios and thermal processing conditions. The simula- tions show that contrary to previous findings, micrometer and submicrometer spacings are possible for certain silicide tech- nologies using low-temperature or short higher temperature fur- nace steps. Simulations show that CoSi, and TiSi,.appear to be better candidates for submicrometer dual-gate applications com- pared to WSi,.


Visible, near-IR, and Mossbauer measurements on dust coated rocks and minerals show that a 300 5m thick layer is required to obscure the substrate for VNIR measurements and that a greater than 2000-micron-thick layer is required to obscure the substrate for Mossbauer measurements. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.


Abstract. The article discusses the relationship between the sciences of penal law, penitentiary pedagogy and penitentiary psychology, allowing to talk about their unity, as well as analyses the scientific data used in the process of execution of sentences. Key words: penal law, penitentiary pedagogy, penitentiary psychology, correlation of sciences, execution of sentences.


Objective:To investigate the nuclear factor kappa B(NF κB) activation and its correlation with proteinuria, tubulointerstitial injury, and chemokine expression in adriamycin nephrosis.Methods:Adriamycin nephrosis was induced by the tail vein injection of adriamycin at the dose of 6 mg/kg weight. The immunohistochemical studies and medical imagine analysis system were performed to evaluate the cortical tubulointerstitial injury, the activation of NF κB, and the expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1(MCP 1). Results:Adriamycin nephrosis rats had heavy proteinuria and cortical tubulointerstitial injury. The significant upregulation of NF κB activation and MCP 1 expression were observed in cortical renal tissue. NF κB activation and MCP 1 expression correlated positively with proteinuria and tubulointerstitial injury. Conclusion:The activation of NF κB may play an important role in mediating cortical tubulointerstitial injury and chemokine expression in nonimmune chronic glomerulonephritis. [


In this paper, an overview with unification of techniques that deploy the wavelet transform in the spatial domain for the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is presented.


There have been increase in calls for researchers in educational psychology to integrate methods as well as theories across motivation and multicultural education to examine the intersection of culture and diversity with motivational principles. While much work has been done in K – 12 classrooms examining the application of principles related to autonomy – supportive and culturally responsive teachers and classrooms, not much work has been done examining these constructs together in university classrooms. Global and paradigm shifts in higher education coupled with rising tensions of diversity and inclusion on college campuses have catalyzed the need for intentional approaches to cultivate inclusive classroom environments to facilitate students' development of academic as well as global competencies. This thesis employed a convergent – parallel mixed methods design integrating frameworks from multicultural education with Self – Determination Theory (SDT) to explore the extent to which instructors' degree of intercultural competence and diversity inclusivity in their courses was related to students' perceptions of the classroom environment as culturally responsive and autonomy – supportive as well as academic motivation and intercultural knowledge and competence development. A conceptual model for integrating Multicultural Education frameworks and SDT is proposed with theoretical and methodological implications. Practical implications are discussed for researchers, educators and administrators in higher education highlighting the importance of considering both cultural and motivational factors of students and instructors to facilitate enriching teaching and learning experiences in preparation for living and working in a global multicultural society.


A coated wire ion selective electrode for nitrate (nitrate-CWE_ was constructed using epoxy resin, ion exchanger and plasticizer as a polymer membrane. It's stility, the composition of a polymer membrane, the response characteristics, the selectivity were examined and applied to the environmental analysis. The nitrate-CWE was prepared using a copper wire, wihch was coated with epoxy resin being incorporated with the nitrate ion exchanger and plasticizer. The best composition of the polymer membrane for the nitrate-CWE was obtained by mixing epoxy resin, ion exchanger and plasticizer in the ratio of 2:1:0.4. The potential (56.3$\pm$0.5 mV) of stick form nitrate-CWE in this composition was close to that (59.2 mV) of Nernstian response. The detection limit for nitrate ion were found to the about $6 \times 10^{-5}M$ and the useful pH was 2.5 $\sim$ 10.3. Furthermore, the selectivity of iodide and perchrorate for the nitrage-CWE was also much improved compared with that for a liquid membrane nitrate electrode. The nitrate-CWE was used to determind $NO_x$ in stack gas. The results were in good agreement with those obtained either by electrode method or by the improved NEDA method within a relative error of 4.0%.


Although the interest in metallurgical accident investigation of blast furnace gas (BFG) leakage has increased to explore the engineering failures, more effort is needed to address the individual and organizational causative factors to clear and determine the weak links for improving safety management and accident prevention to achieve green metallurgical manufacturing. This study aims to examine the causative factors and evolution paths of BFG leakage by introducing a combined method, the 24 model and Bayesian network (BN), based on 50 cases of fire, explosion and suffocation accidents caused by BFG leakage. A BN model of BFG leakage was established based on the identification of 25 causative factors by the 24 model. Results showed that eight nodes, including A1 (unsafe operation), A2 (unsafe behavior), A4 (unsafe condition), B1 (valve failure), B2 (improper gas safety operation), X4 (use of BFG violates regulations), X5 (water gas is not cut off before shutdown reduction) and X6 (incomplete steam purging), were more sensitive than others, and the posterior probability of nodes A1, A2, A3 (unsafe command), A4, B1, B2, B4 (improper emergency behavior), B5 (unsafe behaviors on BFG site) increased compared to prior probability. Three main accident causal chains were obtained which indicate that control the unsafe operations (A1) related to gas (B2) and valve (B1) are suggested to be improved. Another important factor is A4 (unsafe condition), which is related to intrinsic safety conditions. Considering the results, the key points of 3E strategy about BFG leakage prevention are suggested. This study provides useful insights to understand the organizational and individual factors and their relative influence in BFG leakage accidents, which will support BFG leakage prevention and safety management.


This paper describes the development of a 94 GHz non-degenerate parametric amplfiler, the first of its kind. Included in this discussion is a description of the evolution of the state-of-the-art high-quality varactor, circulator and millimeter-wave circuit technology necessary for low noise 94 GHz paramp realization. Finally, a description of the physical embodiment of the overall 94 GHz paramp is presented aIong with relevant measured performance data.


The skills and concepts presented in previous chapters are here illustrated for their relevance for the problem of global warming, a calamity whose full effects will occur beyond the lifespan of many readers. This is arguably the most urgent ethical problem we now face. Five debilitating features of our current thinking are described: our focus on the present; political ineptness; the idea that humans are the crown of the creation; consumerism; and our mechanistic view of nature, including our own physical bodies. It is argued that the way forward is not through correcting our concepts but recognizing our grounding in Earth and embracing it. This kind of love of Earth and other life forms is related to but distinguished from that of scientists such as E. O. Wilson and Stephen J. Gould.


It has been studied an influence of high-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) of different frequency range (from Megahertz to Gigahertz) and intensity on seed germination, length and weight of roots and seedlings of long-stemmed flax plants. It was shown that low-intensity (non-thermal) EMF treatment of seeds stimulated their germination, while the length of shoots and roots increased by 39.7% and 34.7%, respectively. On the contrary, seeds exposure to high-intnesive EMF (with thermal heating) inhibited germination. For all treatment conditions, an increase in the biomass of 7-day-old plants was observed in comparison to the control, but most significantly when exposed to micro-waves (53.57-78.33 GHz) for 12 minutes.


Introducing a method to segment the region of interest (ROI) from a video file using a single click from the user. The foreground section of the image is hand-picked by the user while the background section of the image is automatically identified by the system. Penalty based random walker algorithm is used for segmentation in this method. The efficiency of the segmentation algorithm is improved by the use of penalty term while calculating the weighting function, thus making this method more user-friendly and effective.


The formative years of middle and upper class British women who wrote about colonial life have been, in many cases, overlooked as much as, or more than, the writers themselves and their actual participation in the colonial enterprise. This is particularly true of women who went to the colonies as adults, and who saw the colonial situation from a different perspective than those who were born there – a perspective informed by a complex mix of idealised and stylised interpretations of race, religion and science formulated in Britain. In this article, I trace the formative years of one particular middle-class woman, Lucy Gray (nee Waters) (1840–1879), and explore ways in which her early life in England, Ireland and New Zealand may have impacted upon her written and pictorial representations of colonial life in Australia. Her personal growth in relation to an evolving understanding of her new environment is an important focus, as she reveals aspects of colonial life often overlooked by male counterparts.


To understand the pore-scale processes of asphaltene deposition during heavy oil recovery by CO2 flooding, a series of microscopic flooding experiments were conducted in two-dimensional models under high-temperature (80 °C) and high-pressure (2, 6, and 10 MPa) conditions. Two different heavy oils, AZ-4 and KD-9 (with viscosities of 7754 and 19 290 mPa·s, respectively, at 80 °C), were used. In these samples, up to 95% and 85% of oil viscosity reduction, respectively, could be achieved by CO2 dissolution. During CO2 flooding in the microscopic models, with increasing fluid pressure (6 and 10 MPa) and CO2 concentrations (60–80 mol %), both the covered area (17–38%) and the sizes of the deposited particles (up to 200 μm) became larger. At 6 MPa, a dynamic between between dissolution and precipitation was observed in large pores (with diameters of >350 μm). According to the solvent dissolution test (heptane and toluene), the deposited solids comprise both asphaltene and alkane components. Between AZ-4 and KD-9...


There are a host of potentially adverse behaviors in which youth engage, which have important implications for both their well being as youth and their life prospects. The past decade has seen dramatic shifts in the intensity with which youth pursue these activities. Adolescents, like adults, may be prone to engaging in behavior that may be harmful to them due to personal invulnerability and their tendency to focus on the immediate, rather than long-term, consequences of their behavior (Dixon & Brooks, Rap music and rap audiences: Controversial themes, psychological effects and political resistance, 2002). This research study explored the relationships between the constructs of rap music as defined by the RAP scale (Tyson, The rap music attitude and perception (RAP) scale: Scale Development and preliminary analysis of psychometric properties, 2005), selfesteem, and self-efficacy. At the conclusion of the study, the researcher found that selfesteem was not a significant predictor of students' violent-misogynistic scale scores, selfefficacy was not a significant predictor of students' empowerment scores and, finally, self-efficacy was a significant predictor of students' artistic-esthetic scale scores. These results indicate that students with higher self-efficacy tend to be less critical of the artistic-esthetic constructs of rap music.


A circuit arrangement (100) for limiting the current level and/or flank gradient of electrical signals, having a voltage source (116) and a switching element (102), connected to the voltage source (116) and designed for switching the voltage source (116), wherein the switching arrangement (100) furthermore has a limiting unit (120), wherein the limiting unit (120) is functionally arranged between the switching element (102) and the voltage source (116) and wherein the limiting unit (120) is designed to limit a current level and/or flank gradient of an electrical signal, using the switching element (102), during a switching process of the voltage source (116).


Abdominoplasty, a simple, safe and easy procedure when performed alone, could be combined with other aesthetic, gynecologic or intraabdominal procedures. Although combined abdominoplasty procedures with gynecological operations or intraabdominal procedures are quite common in the literature; we report the treatment of a morbid obesity case with complicated enterocutaneous fistula to whom abdominoplasty operation was performed simultaneously. The importance of a qualified team approach is emphasized once again as a condition sine qua non. Otherwise, these techniques would be extremely difficult and risky.


We first introduce the multiple weights which are suitable for the study of Bergman type operators. Then, we give the sharp weighted estimates for multilinear fractional Bergman operators and fractional maximal function.


The report explores the use of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) in summarising text reviews and predicting review rating for the Yelp dataset. I use the fact that the reviews are labelled (by rating) to extract important sentences/words, which are then used as the summary for the review. I use an interesting evaluation technique to measure the relevance of the summary by comparing the performance of the summary with a randomly extracted text in predicting the rating of a review.


A new era of antiretroviral therapy was previewed at IDWeek 2015 where results of trials of a "next gen" Truvada were unveiled.


This article, the first of a series of articles developed from an assessment technology seminar conducted at Family Services of Central Maryland, presents an overview of a generic approach to assessment with particular attention to families. The author discusses worker philosophy as a prerequisite for engaging in assessment and presents a comprehensive framework for family assessment grounded in an ecological systems theoretical perspective.


A comparison was made between Neoaplectana glaseri which occurs in North and South America and N. anomali which has been reported only from Central Europe. Both nematodes parasitize members of the Scarabaeidae and are morphologically vcry similar. However they do not inrerbreed and differences occur in their symbiotic bacteria, electrophoresis enzyme patterns and spicule shape. The question as to whether these two species are an example of parallelism or divergence is addressed.


The Quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is a quantum-classical hybrid algorithm aiming to produce approximate solutions for combinatorial optimization problems. In the QAOA, the quantum part prepares a quantum parameterized state that encodes the solution, where the parameters are optimized by a classical optimizer. However, it is difficult to find optimal parameters when the quantum circuit becomes deeper. Hence, there is numerous active research on the performance and the optimization cost of QAOA. In this work, we build a convolutional neural network to predict parameters of depth p + 1 QAOA instance by the parameters from the depth p QAOA counterpart. We propose two strategies based on this model. First, we recurrently apply the model to generate a set of initial values for a certain depth QAOA. It successfully initiates depth 10 QAOA instances, whereas each model is only trained with the parameters from depths less than 6. Second, the model is applied repetitively until the maximum expected value is reached. An average approximation ratio of 0.9759 for Max-Cut over 264 Erdős–Rényi graphs is obtained, while the optimizer is only adopted for generating the first input of the model.


The coupled problem of free and forced vibration of shells of revolution interacting with the liquid is under consideration. The problem was reduced to singular integral equations. The main objective of this paper is to present a detailed study of free and forced vibrations of a shell of revolution with an arbitrary meridian. For solving the boundary value problem of determining the fluid pressure on the shell, the boundary element method (BEM) is used. This method substantially reduces the computer time for the analysis and reveals new qualitative possibilities in modeling the dynamic behavior of shells. Numerical investigations of natural frequencies and mode shapes of the cylindrical tank with the incompressible fluid have been carried out. The behavior of structures subjected to a dynamic loading and interacting with the fluid is investigated.


Nowadays, functions of Dam Safe Monitoring Information Management System are unceasingly strengthening and computer network is rapidly developing, while the problem of system and data security is day by day prominent. This article summarized current development situation of Dam Safe Monitoring Information Management System, analyzed a series of security problem which the system faced under network environment, and proposed a set of more perfect security policies with characteristics of the system.


9 comparative studies conducted by Family Health International (FHI) of 2 foaming vaginal contraceptive tablets have yielded inconclusive findings. The tablets include OVT (Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation) and EVT (Schering Corporation), both containing 100 mg of the spermicide nonoxynol-9. 6 of the studies used Neo Sampoon tablets (Eisai Company) as a standard of comparison. 4 studies directly compared OVT and EVT (3 of which were US studies and the 4th was a OVT-EVT-Neo Sampoon study in Ghana). At 3-month follow-up, a significantly greater proportion of EVT than OVT users complained of burning, but the difference was slight at 6 months. In the EVT-Neo Sampoon comparison, there were frequent complaints of burning in both groups at 3 and 6 months. The discontinuation rate due to discomfort was higher among EVT users than OVT users in the EVT-OVT studies and the Ghanian study; however, in the US studies, the total termination rate was higher for OVT than EVT. Although the total termination rate for Neo Sampoon was lower than that for EVT or OVT in the international studies, trials in Egypt and Guatemala found a higher rate of discontinuation due to discomfort among Neo Sampoon users than amoung EVT users. The high discontinuation rate in the Ghanian study is attributed to emigration of study participants' husbands. To obtain additional information, questionnaires were sent to the principal investigators of the 9 studies, seeking their opinions on tablet acceptance. The comments were as mixed as the study results, with some investigators reporting high acceptability of the tablets and others citing their unpopularity and lack of effectiveness. Since spermicides are easily accessible, it has been difficult to recruit users for such studies among clients of family planning clinics. FHI is considering future community-based studies of vaginal contraceptives aimed at reaching beyond clinic clients.


Cooperation strategy can be empleyed to transform a teacher-centered classroom into a student-centered one,emphasizing teacher-student interaction,inter-student interaction,teamwork.Six steps are applied to promote positive competition,reduce student anxiety,help students form a sense of achievement,increase the efficiency of classroom learning.


Abstract Until recently, the venerable field of cosmic explosions has been plagued with a glaring six-magnitude luminosity gap between the brightest novæ and the faintest supernovæ. A key science driver of the Palomar Transient Factory was a systematic search for optical transients that are fainter, faster and rarer than supernovæ. Theorists predict a variety of mechanisms to produce transients in that "gap", and observers have the best chance of finding them in the local universe. The talk presented the discoveries and the unique physics of cosmic explosions which bridge that gap between novæ and supernovæ. As Fig. 1 illustrates, there is now evidence of multiple, distinct populations of rare transients in the "gap".


The invention relates to a full-automatic brick making system based on a robot. The full-automatic brick making system comprises a hydraulic molding machine used for pressing unburned bricks, an automatic feeding machine used for hanging and sending a steam-curing car to a stacking area, a positioner used for limiting the steam-curing car to the stacking area and the robot used for performing unburned brick stacking operation on the steam-curing car; the positioner comprises a supporting arm and an air cylinder used for supporting or laying down the supporting arm, the positioner is fixed on the upper end face of a sliding block which is slidably matched with a guide rail body, the left end of the guide rail body is provided with a buffering device which is used for buffering sliding block impact force generated when the steam-curing car crashes the positioner, and the right end face of the buffering device makes close contact with the left end face of the sliding block. A working method comprises the step that the buffering device buffers the sliding block impact force when the steam-curing car crashes the supported supporting arm to relieve the pressure, caused by steam-curing car crashing, borne by the air cylinder.


mortality data for Western Europe are used to formulate a method for mapping life expectancies and mortality differentials in areas where age-specific mortality data are not available. (SUMMARY IN ENG) (ANNOTATION)


Since the destruction of the Yugoslav deformed workers' state and the emergence of pro-capitalist governments in its former republics, the Balkans has seen the revival of a phenomenon that had for many years been thought to be a thing of a dark and distant past. Bloody inter-ethnic wars, the forcible expulsion of whole communities from regions where they had lived all their lives, massacres of villagers belonging to the ''wrong'' ethnic group----the reemergence of all these things has shaken belief in the inevitability of progress. One of the central tenets of Western bourgeois liberalism and social democracy, that the collapse of Stalinism and the triumph of the market would bring a new era of political freedom and economic prosperity, has been shattered, as rival nation builders launch bloody wars of territorial expansion, destroying the lives of millions of people in the process. It is a sanguinary reminder that capitalism is a system whose nation-states were forged over the corpses of millions of victims of ''inferior'' nationalities. The aspiring bourgeois nation builders of the Balkans are only carrying out, over the corpses of the former workers' state, the same bloody national consolidation that their imperialist big brothers completed centuries ago. The difference is that, in the epoch of imperialism, rather than forging modern, ''civilized'' nation-states, the result will be backward semi-colonies ruled by reactionary bonapartist cliques. It all makes a mockery of the U.S. State Department theoretician Francis Fukuyama's contention that the collapse of Soviet ''communism'' meant that history had come to an end, and a new era of peace and harmony was at hand. Many individuals who recently considered, or may still consider, themselves opponents of capitalism have been affected by the massive rightward backwash from the collapse of the Stalinist regimes. More than a few liberals, who once liked to think of themselves as opponents of imperialist intervention, now call on the U.S. and NATO to take up arms for ''progressive'' purposes: against the Haitian junta, against Saddam Hussein and against ''ethnic cleansing'' in Bosnia. This was epitomized in Britain by the conversion of Fred Halliday, a prominent New Left spokesman in the 1960s and 70s, to an apologist for George Bush's war against Iraq. It also resonates in the chorus of demands from American radlibs and British social democrats that Clinton intervene in the Balkans by bombing the Bosnian Serbs to help the Muslims. In the U.S., the interventionist pack is led by the British-born Christopher Hitchens, a columnist for the Nation magazine, who until recently billed himself as a staunch opponent of American imperialism. He is joined by Bogdan Denitch, America's leading social democrat and himself a Serbian. Even Alexander Cockburn and Noam Chomsky, who inhabit the left fringe of the rad-lib spectrum, have called for a UN peacekeeping force in Bosnia, as if the ''blue berets'' could, or would, act independently of the U.S. and other imperialist powers. But first prize for post-cold war knavery must surely go to Tim Wohlforth, the erstwhile screaming maniac of American pseudo-Trotskyism, who is now enjoying a second incarnation as a mild-mannered social democrat. Wohlforth writes: ''We must favor international intervention, including military action, in Bosnia. This should be truly international action carried out through the U.N. Yet the reality is that such U.N. initiatives require American support and an American content. We need to work toward the establishment of a permanent United Nations peace force to act in similar situations around the world.'' ----In These Times, 26 July 1994


Abstract : This paper analyzes the demand and supply sides of the Third World arms market. The relationship between arms imports and six economic variables is studied, with emphasis on the use of economic variables to forecast arms demand. Arms imports are found to be systematically related to economic variables in a number of the countries studied. Arms demand is significantly correlated with GNP in thirty of the forty countries. Based upon this correlation, forecasts of arms demand are made using estimates of future GNP levels. These estimates show that Africa and the Middle East will be the largest arms demanding regions in the next decade. On the supply side, U.S. market share and the share of major supplying nations to the Third World are analyzed. During the period 1965 to 1978, U.S. share is found to have declined significantly, particularly in Africa and Latin America. Soviet and European shares have increased in most regions. Market share trends combined with demand projections indicate that U.S. policy toward Africa and Latin America will be of importance in the future.


One cannot talk about colonialism in Africa like one used to. It is not enough to document conquests, administrative methods, land tenure, industry, the growth of political resistance movements, and nationalism. Today, students of empire must pay attention to more intimate matters. They must look at changes in the quotidian habits of Africans, the reformations of their rituals, the alterations in their perceptions, and their attempts to define themselves. They must examine the social construction of work, gender, space, time, value, and belief. South African studies has two figures to thank for forcing this broad subject matter upon it: Jean and John L. Comaroff. Whether or not most scholars can articulate their thanks is another matter, because many of the Comaroffs' insights have been naturalised, in a sort of benevolent hegemony, as commonsense wisdom. Even when the specifics of their arguments are debated, their most fertile ideas are now implicitly shared by a wide constituency, which includes me. Jean Comaroffs book Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance (1985) departed from the normal way that scholars depicted South African 'resistance'. The argument recognised its overt, chiefly, and political side, but it also, quite boldly, represented acts of interpretation as resistance. Observing the 'Zionist' healing Churches of contemporary South Africa, Jean Comaroff suggested that the intimate environments of the congregation, the home, and even the body itself might usefully be seen as sites in which people countered the depredations of the South African state-as examples of what fames Scott, in his coeval phrasing (1985), called 'weapons of the weak'. Jean's partner John L. Comaroff wrote more about the negotiation of authority in the political and legal realm, most notably for chiefships among Rolong Tswana people. He focused on negotiation and contestation, and challenged the rather legalistic framework enshrined by his mentor, Isaac Schapera.2 Their co-authored books, Of Revelation and Revolution I and II, move beyond both of their


Objectives This study aimed to determine the prevalence of, and understand the factors associated with, hypertension among the Raute nomadic hunter-gatherers of Western Nepal. Design A mixed-method study with quantitative and qualitative analyses. Setting Household survey at Raute temporary camps in the Surkhet District of Karnali Province, Nepal between the period of May to September 2021. Primary and secondary outcome measures The presence of hypertension and its socio-demographic, anthropometric, and behavioral covariates among the participants. Participants For quantitative analysis, all men and non-pregnant women of the nomadic Raute community aged 15 years above were evaluated for hypertension and its covariates. For the qualitative analysis, we purposively selected both Raute and Non-Raute key informants for in-depth interviews to understand, explain and enrich the quantitative findings. Results Of the 85 total eligible participants, 81 [median age 35 years (Interquartile range: 26-51), 46.9% female] were included in the final analysis. The prevalence of hypertension among men, women, and overall was 48.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 34.4-63.4), 10.5% (95% CI: 3.7-23.1), and 30.9% (95% CI: 21.6-41.5) respectively. Male sex [adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR)=8.05 (95%CI: 2.15-30.11), p=0.002] and increasing age [aOR=1.05 (95% CI: 1.01-1.09), p=0.025] were found significantly associated with hypertension. A large proportion of the participants were current drinkers (91.4%) and tobacco users (70.4%), yet neither of these factors had a significant association with hypertension. Effect of socio-economic transition; changing patterns of alcohol and tobacco use, changing diet and food security; and traditional health care practices were the themes identified in the qualitative analysis. Conclusion This study found a high prevalence of hypertension, alcohol, and tobacco use among Raute nomadic hunter-gatherers facing socio-economic and nutritional transition. Further longitudinal studies and effective culture-centered community-based interventions are urgently needed to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with hypertension in this endangered indigenous population. Keywords Hunter-gatherers, Foragers, Hypertension, Blood pressure, Socio-economic transition, Raute


Photogrammetric techniques are widely used to represent the characteristics of historical buildings in the digital environment in the closest way to reality. Terrestrial photogrammetric methods have needed different alternatives in recent years to produce 3D models that offer high reality. In recent years, producing point data with the Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) images, and alternative methods such as the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm has become popular. Combining point data from different approaches and making 3D models create new problems. While it is necessary to investigate the operations performed manually by the operator in terms of time, especially to integrate the points, automatic algorithms such as ICP are open to investigation in terms of accuracy. In this research, point data of a historical bridge produced using different techniques were combined manually by the operator and automatically by the ICP algorithm. As a result, it was determined that the operators combined produced better findings, especially in research including coordinate transform.


Here, Caygill tells the history of the British Museum from its foundation by Act of Parliament in 1753 to the present day. She has drawn on contemporary newspapers, journals, diaries and the Museum's own archives to bring to life the personalities - the eccentric, the brilliant and the not-so-brilliant - who have peopled the Museum's galleries and imbued it with its own distinctive character.


A quinazoline ring possess interesting biological activities, we study the combined cytotoxic activity, induction of apoptosis and antioxidant enzyme modulation of new synthetic aquinazoline compound in several cancer cell lines. This compound is 3-amino-2-methylquinazolin-4(3H)-one (L), it was synthesized in the laboratories of Department of Applied Science - University of Technology – Iraq. Its showed potent cytotoxic and growth inhibition effect on all cancer cell lines tested. Cells death was due to the induction of apoptosis through modulation of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione S transferase (GST) and glutathione (glutathione L-glutamyl-L-cysteinylglycine, GSH). These results indicate that this compound has desirable drug-like properties; it's of great significance to understand its full anti-proliferative mechanism


This text analyses the project A Apropiacao do Espaco: linguagem tridimensional, focusing on its first generated product - the site Arteduc - developed as part of the Projeto LUAR -Levando a Universidade ao Aprendizado Remoto - This site, which was requirement of the discipline Teleducacao do PGIE/UFRGS, deals with art education.


Background: Needlestick injuries are considered as the most commonly occurring occupational injuries amongst healthcare workers. Blood-borne infections can be transferred via needlestick injury. Healthcare workers may acquire these injuries in their day-to-day work from inappropriate procedures and low safety measures. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in coastal Karnataka. The study involves a complete time-bound enumeration of needlestick injuries for the period of seven months starting from October 2018 to April 2019. A self-generated data collection form was used as a study tool, which was given to the healthcare worker who had experienced needlestick injuries. Findings: Most of the injuries have occurred in wards (45.4%) and during invasive procedures (52.3%). The majority of the injuries were occurring in the morning shift time (38.6%). The majority of study participants (52.3%) were working for 45 to 59 hours per week. Amongst the study participants, most of them were having up to 2 years of work experience (68.2%). The injuries were occurring during invasive procedures, due to improper disposal of needles, while collecting the waste, and suturing. Conclusion: The determinants of needlestick injuries were identified using the data. Continuous education and training programs on the safe handling of needles would help prevent needlestick injuries in the hospital.


The paper presents the theoretical foundations in the field of analysis of the quality of the internal environment, ways to achieve thermal comfort, much has been said about the conditions for achieving adequate quality of the internal environment IEQ, as well as the principles of measuring IEQ parameters. Through four studies, the measurement of parameters for determining the thermal comfort in the indoor environment, as well as the impact of CO2 on IEQ and indoor air quality IAQ, ie a comprehensive analysis of IEQ was performed.


A housewife, aged 62, was admitted to the Central Middlesex Hospital with vomiting of foul dark fluid. Two years previously she had been admitted to another hospital complaining of severe left sciatic pain and loss of weight. An X ray of the lumbar spine showed collapse of the body of L.1, which was thought to be due to secondary deposits, but no primary was found. A hypochromic anaemia was discovered and this was treated with iron. After six weeks, she was discharged home. Her sciatic pain became more severe, necessitating complete bed rest.


This veto message from Governor Mark Sanford vetoes H. 3627, R. 38, a bill that would allow Sandy Island residents and their guests to utilize a boat operated by the State Department of Education


Epidemics of neoplastic disease in man have often been the clue to the recognition of environmental oncogenic factors (lung cancer among uranium ore miners, bladder cancer among aniline-dye workers, myelocytic leukemias among atomic-bombing survivors and lung cancer among cigarette smokers, to name but a few examples). Acute leukemia is known to evolve in some patients with bone-marrow damage induced by radiation, and has been reported after spontaneous and drug-induced hypoplasia. Acute leukemic syndromes appear with regularity in polycythemia vera, and are the common method of termination of chronic myelocytic leukemia. A new syndrome of acute leukemia has recently been recognized . . .


Acetonamine A (1) and aoetonamine B (2) were at first regarded as genuine alkaloids from two dosely related Chinese herbal medicines under study. However, control experiments showed that they are actually artefacts of the isolation process, and resultants of the interaction between acetone and ammonia.


The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope ( HUT ) flew aboard the space shuttle Columbia during the Astro-1 mission in December, 1990. HUT has been optimized for obtaining spectrophotometric observations of faint objects at wavelengths ranging from the Lyman limit (912Å) up to 1860Å. The telescope layout is shown in Figure 1, and the instrument parameters are given in Table 1. Calibrations were performed pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight. These calibrations are described below.


The present invention provides a hydraulic drive system, the working fluid passage having a first flow passage and second flow paths. The first flow passage and the first chamber of the first pump port connected to the hydraulic cylinder. A second flow path of the second chamber with a second pump port connected to the hydraulic cylinder. The hydraulic fluid passage in a closed circuit between the hydraulic pump and the hydraulic cylinder. Bleed passage is a portion of the working oil from the second flow path of the bleed passage. When the amount of the operation means for the working operation member is lowered less than a predetermined operation amount, the throttle valve via a control valve connected to the second flow passage bleed passage, the second flow passage so that the hydraulic pressure is suppressed to less than pressure relief pressure. Operating at a maximum predetermined amount of the operation amount for operating the working members of the apparatus lowered.


Barley plants (cv. Prior) were grown in soil in a controlled environment and subjected to one, two, or three cycles of water stress by witholding water for short periods interspersed with periods of adequate water supply. The water potentials of the leaf tissues during and following these periods of stress were unaffected by the previous stress history of the plants.


In order to thoroughly understand the status quo of community sports,by means of questionnaires,interviews and literature,this paper conducts an investigation research on Xiamen community sports in terms of its policy,management,fund,personnel,venue,and participants.The result shows as the following:comparatively loose status of community sports management in Xiamen;insufficiency of community sports funding by government;rich community sports resources but uneven distribution;serious shortage of community sports instructors;insufficient and uneven distribution of community sports facilities;and low willingness of community residents to actively participate in community sports.In terms of the status quo of Xiamen community sports,this paper puts forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions.


A dichotomy in the natural stable carbon isotope abundance measured in tissues of obligate freshwater and marine fishes from the Alaskan Arctic coastal plain suggested that the methodology can be used to differentiate recent freshwater from marine feeding in migratory fishes. Natural stable carbon isotope ratio of migratory fishes reflected differences of feeding habitat in relation to known life-history patterns. Use of the stable isotope methodology as a tool for proxy analysis of fish behavior in present and future Arctic environmental monitoring studies is suggested from analysis of age-specific isotopic ratio differences in broad whitefish (Coregonus nasus) and Arctic cisco (Coregonus autumnalis).


Based upon participant-observation in a research project that conducted AIDS prevention among street-based drug injectors, this paper analyzes the challenges presented in the application of an underdog sociological perspective in a quasi-human service agency. The directors of the AIDS Project incorporated the principles of Becker's labeling theory (1963) and the epistemological foundations of naturalist ethnography into the agency's outreach and research design. As such, this paper explores the bounds of the promoted "underdog sympathy." In addition, since the agency hired mostly former "underdogs" to conduct street outreach, the author examines conflicts in theoretical knowledge claims between the administration and staff. Whereas the outreach staff members embraced more lay-oriented psychological and therapeutic concepts, their experiential authority was dismissed by the sociologist administrators, belying formal claims to privileging underdog perspectives. Inasmuch as the directors dismissed the outreach workers' experiential knowledge, the directors were engaged in "ontological gerrymandering" (Woolgar and Pawluch 1985): selectively distinguishing objective reality from subjective claims. This paper focuses on two issues that represent the difficulty in applying an underdog sociology: 1) the dynamic construction of drugs, addiction, and recovery; and 2) collective representations of drug using clients. Employing Gouldner's (1967) critique of labeling theory, this paper deconstructs empirically the role of interests in the production of knowledge and contradictory sociological sentiments toward "deviants" in an applied setting.


The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal mixing conditions of soybean oil and bread crumbs mixture for pork patty. The experiment was designed according to the central composite design of response surface methodology. There were ten experimental points, including two replicates for soybean oil and bread crumbs. The physicochemical and mechanical analyses of each sample, including pH, cooking loss, thickness increase, moisture content, lightness, hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, chewiness, and gumminess showed significant differences (p<0.05). The results of sensory evaluation showed significant differences in tenderness, juiciness, and overall quality (p<0.05). The optimum formulation calculated by numerical and graphical method was 13.61 g of soybean oil and 6.35 g of bread crumbs. The results obtained in this study will be useful to the meat industry, which tends to decrease the saturated fatty acid content with a concomitant enrichment in the unsaturated fatty acids content.


This paper is devoted to study the distribution of zeros of all solutions of the first-order neutral differential equation where p > 1, τ,σ > 0, and Q ∈ C t 0 ), 0, ∞ We obtain new estimates for the distance between adjacent zeros of all solutions of the above equation under suitable criteria. Our results are supported with illustrative examples.


Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC arrived in the United States in 1957 as a stranger in a strange land. 1 at the age of 85, he had long cemented his position among the masters of American cinema. Here, his colleagues reminisce about shared projects, shared meals and his boundless passion for making images and sharing knowledge.


Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) is the name given to individuals or groups who write malicious software (malware) and who have the intent to perform actions detrimental to the victim or the victims' organisation. This thesis investigates ways in which it is possible to treat APTs before, during and after the malware has been laid down on the victim's computer. The scope of the thesis is restricted to desktop and laptop computers with hard disk drives. APTs have different motivations for their work and this thesis is agnostic towards their origin and intent. Anti-malware companies freely present the work of APTs in many ways but summarise mainly in the form of white papers. Individually, pieces of these works give an incomplete picture of an APT but in aggregate it is possible to construct a view of APT families and pan-APT commonalities by comparing and contrasting the work of many anti-malware companies; it as if there are alot of the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle but there is no box lid available with the complete picture. In addition, academic papers provide proof of concept attacks and observations, some of which may become used by malware writers. Gaps in, and extensions to, the public knowledge may be filled through inference, implication, interpolation and extrapolation and form the basis for this thesis. The thesis presents a view of where APTs lie on windows-based systems. It uses this view to create and build generic views of where APTs lie on Hard Disc Drives on Windows based systems using the Lockheed Martin Cyber Kill Chain. This is then used to treat APTs on Windows based IT systems using purpose-built software in such a way that the malware is negated by. The thesis does not claim to find all malware on but it demonstrates how to increase the cost of doing business for APTs, for example by overwriting unused disc space so APTs cannot place malware there. The software developed was able to find Indicators of Compromise on all eight Hard Disc Drives provided for analysis. Separately, from a corpus of 228 files known to be associated with malware it identified approximately two thirds as Indicators of Compromise.


Analogic CNN algorithms were developed and introduced to detect the major pathological signs of the breast cancer in x-ray mammogram images. The reported algorithms can detect the microcalcifications and the spiculi around a given tumor kernel.


Benzyl 2-acetamido-4,6-O-benzylidene-2-deoxy-α-D-glucopyranoside (1a) obtained from 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose was converted into benzyl 2-acetamido-3-O-benzyl-1-2,6-dideoxy-α-D-glucopyranoside (2e); double inversion of configuration at C-4 in (2e) with introduction of an amino-group via the corresponding azide followed by N-acetylation and removal of the benzyl groups gave 2,4-diacetamido-2,4,6-trideoxy-D-glucose (4), found to be identical with the diacetamido-sugar of B. licheniformis.


Fungal glucoamylases were among the first microbial enzymes shown to have a strong affinity for starch granules and to hydrolyse them effectively. While many microorganisms produce glucoamylase, the thermophilic ones are preferred for industrial fermentations, for, they have higher enzyme production potential and the contamination hazards can be avoided. A study was conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai during 1994 to produce glucoamylase from pearlmillet waste by a themophilic fungus, Aspergillus niger.