Successful fish habitat protection occurs in areas of urban/industrial development when responsible citizens in rural watersheds can produce and implement local water quality plans binding on all a...


This paper presents the experiences of a pilot project in five higher education institutions (HEIs) in Central Asia. The TOHOST-CA initiative, funded within the framework of TEMPUSTACIS, not only unifies curricula in hospitality and tourism studies among three Central Asian countries, but also facilitates the introduction of a virtual open source platform for the delivery of online courses, and thus the opportunity to embrace the e-learning paradigm. In the wake of this initiative, we present a model of e-readiness that advocates a three-pronged approach to measuring the level of preparation of the five HEIs involved as regards the introduction of online learning activities in their classrooms. The progress of these HEIs towards implementing learning technologies for tourism studies is highlighted; particularly the degree to which their abilities, based on the strategies and policies available, enhance and sustain electronic delivery of course content. Additionally, the special economic, political, and sociotechnological issues facing the administrators of tourism studies in these specific countries are also considered.


Electrically conductive polymers have been the subject of a considerable amount of research because of their interesting and useful electronic, optical and redox properties . Some of these materials have high conductivities with environmental stability. But many of these conjugated polymers are insoluble and difficult to process. Many studies have been conducted for the improvement of their processability by preparing composites2−5 , and by blending6−8 the conducting polymers with thermoplastic polymers. Stanke et.al. comparatively studied two synthetic ways to synthesize copolymers of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with 2-(N-pyrrolyl) ethyl methacrylate with pyrrole containing side groups . MMA and 2bromo ethyl


We report the first successful realization of an AlN-waveguide-based intersubband transition device prepared using both metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) techniques to grow AlN-cladding GaN/AlN quantum wells. An intersubband absorption wavelength of as short as 1.3 µm is confirmed with a new measurement method using an ultrawide-spectrum light source. With this method, the intersubband absorption spectra of an AlN high-mesa waveguide can be directly observed for the first time. The intersubband absorption saturation measurements also show a good device characteristic with a saturation of 7 dB for a transverse magnetic (TM) polarized input pulse energy of 200 pJ.


Opening Shot: As believers, the Holy Spirit lives in us and enables us to do the good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. We are each part of the Body of Christ, but we are not all alike. That would be silly! God has arranged the parts of the Body of Christ just as He wants them: Some parts have this job and some parts have that job. Each one of us may have different gifts (and talents), but each gift (no matter how modest it may seem to us) is given for the common good. It is also given so that we can do all of the good works that God has prepared in advance for us, as the Body of Christ, to do.


This case study documents the story of Zimbabwean entrepreneur Strive Masiyiwa in his quest to obtain a mobile telecommunications license. First the Post and Telecommunications Corporation of Zimbabwe (PTC) and then the Ministry of Information, Post and Telecommunications of the government of President Robert Mugabe place obstacle after obstacle in his path, but Masiyiwa challenges their decisions and actions in the High Court and the Supreme Court. Throughout this five year process (1993-1998), he remains determined to obtain the license through ethical means. A number of individuals and organizations are impressed by his values and come to his help and this assistance, along with the independence of the Judiciary, is instrumental in his firm being given the license in July 1998. The case represents an in-depth study of a successful example of resistance to political corruption.


In this work, polysulfone (PSf)/hydroxyapatite (HAp) mixed matrix membrane were prepared were prepared by using phase inversion technique for ultrafiltration application. The prepared PSf/HAp mixed matrix membrane were characterized in term of morphological and physicochemical properties by using SEM, contact angle measurement, membrane tensile measurement and membrane porosity. Meanwhile the performance of PSf/HAp mixed matrix membrane was conducted in term of pure water flux (PWF) by using permeability machine. The surface morphology of the MMMs showed the increasing pore number and size as the concentration of HAp increase. The increment weight ratio of the HAp in PSf membrane enhanced the membrane water flux from 113.44 L/m2.h.bar to 228.13 L/m2.h.bar due to increased porosity of the membrane. Meanwhile, the strength of the membrane was increased from 3.82 MPa to 5.2 MPa as HAp increases from 0 to 1.0 wt.% and decreased to 2.49 MPa at 1.5 wt.% HAp. This study suggested that HAp is a promising candidate as additive that can improve PSf membrane performance.


For the heat treatment of current transmissions shafts and gears the method of heat treatment is atmospheric carburizing and oil quenching. For a new designed transmission this has now been changed for a new heat treatment process of vacuum carburizing with high pressure gas quenching. The reasons are the integration of the heat treatment process into the manufacturing line and the expectations for increased economic productivity, reliability of the process and environmental aspects. The process, the heat treatment machine and its integration into the production line are described as well as the results of carburizing and quenching experiments.


The deployment of IoT devices is fostering the realization of an increasingly digital society. However, the features of such devices make them attractive targets for potential attackers. Indeed, each device will have to deal with new vulnerabilities and attacks during its lifecycle. Therefore, defining a secure mechanism for software/firmware updates is essential to guarantee the security of IoT devices. Although different approaches have been proposed in recent years, currently there is a lack of comprehensive approaches to address different requirements, such as scalability, efficiency, or management of versions and dependencies. In this work, we describe a set of challenges and analyze the current landscape of solutions for software/firmware updates in IoT devices. In particular, we focus our analysis on the IETF SUIT working group, as well as blockchain-based solutions, which have attracted a significant interest recently.


Classical Chinese artistic essays are the highly graceful,refined and expressive works of art,rich in personality,wisdom and literary charm.They are characterized by their expressive and aesthetic functions.Due to the great obstacles caused by time,space,different languages and cultures,the translation of classical Chinese artistic essays remains a difficult job.The study on the possible readers of the translations of classical Chinese artistic essays,including the range of the possible readers and their aesthetic reading expectations of language,genre,image and connotation,is instructive to the translation practice.The specific translation strategies in light of the study on the readers may conform more to the readers' aesthetic demand.Readers are the ultimate target of translation practice,and translators must take them into consideration in advance.


The adoption of innovative online teaching tools in Computer Science (CS) courses provides opportunities for data-informed instruction as a regular teaching practice in CS classrooms. In this paper, we present a design study for an interactive visual analytics dashboard, called UserFlow, that supports feedback collection from teaching documents and assists instructors in interpreting feedback and acting on it in a timely manner. The design study is conducted with eight domain experts comprising of four teaching instructors, two learning analytics (LA) experts and two instructional designers. UserFlow offers a set of novel visualization designs for presenting the four interleaving aspects of document engagement (i.e., annotations, document traversal path, reading/focus time and student information). We evaluated UserFlow in an undergraduate computer science course with over 700 students. Our results demonstrate the usefulness and need for such a tool for CS educators to inform teaching approaches and courseware improvement.


The nano-ZnO was modified with titanate coupling agent to improve the dispersibility in coatings. The corrosion resistance of the acrylic polyurethane varnish and the acrylic polyurethane coatings containing nano-ZnO before and after modification by titanate coupling agent were studied. The results showed that the nano-ZnO after modification with titanate coupling agent has good compatibility with coatings and no agglomerates is observed. The permeability resistance of the composite coating containing modified nano-ZnO is remarkably higher than that of the varnish and the coating containing nano-ZnO without modification. The modified nano-ZnO can remarkably improve the corrosion resistance of the acrylic polyurethane coating.


The U. V. spectra of the chloro-complexes of copper (I) and lead (II) were studied in various concentrations of calcium and magnesium chloride. Algebraic formulae were developed for the simultaneous and direct determination of trace amounts of copper and lead in the HCl soluble fraction of carbonate rocks. Interference due to background absorbance was reduced by the use of these formulae.


: Random numbers play an important role in many areas, for example, encryption, cryptography, static analysis, simulations. It is also a fundamental resource in science and engineering. There are algorithmically generated numbers that are similar to random distributions, but are not actually random, called pseudo random number generators. In many cases the tasks to be solved are based on the unpredictability of random numbers, which cannot be guaranteed in the case of pseudo random number generators, true randomness is required. In such situations, we use real random number generators whose source of randomness is unpredictable random events. Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs) generate real random numbers based on the inherent randomness of quantum measurements. Our goal is to generate fast random numbers at a lower cost. At the same time, a high level of randomness is essential. Through quantum mechanics, we can obtain true numbers using the unpredictable behavior of a photon, which is the basis of many modern cryptographic protocols. It is essential to trust cryptographic random number generators to generate only true random numbers. This is why certification methods are needed which will check both the operation of the device and the quality of the random bits generated. We present the improved novel quantum random number generator, which is based the on time of arrival QRNG. It uses the simple version of the detectors with few requirements. The novel QRNG produces more than one random bit per each photon detection. It is rather efficient and has a high level of randomness. Self-testing as well as device independent quantum random number generation methods are analyzed. The advantages and disadvantages of both methods are identified. The model of a novel semi self-testing certification method for quantum random number generators (QRNG) is offered in the paper. This method combines different types of certification approaches and is rather secure and efficient. Finally, the novel certification method is integrated into the model of the new quantum random number generator. The paper analyzes its security and efficiency. topics are: cryptography, mathematical simulations.


This brief focuses on the motivations and mechanisms behind the increase of prenatal sex selection; outlines regions and countries that have skewed sex ratios at birth; and explores the negative social, economic, and development effects on individuals, communities, societies, and countries. While prenatal sex selection was once thought to be unique to India and China, it actually threatens all regions where these three phenomena are converging. The practice now exists in other countries in South and East Asia as well as in eastern Europe, and could emerge in Africa in the not-too-distant future.2 Policymakers need to be aware of the practice's potential growth, and how it threatens gender equality and progress in their own countries. With increasingly accessible technologies paving the way for further expansion, now is the time to learn from interventions that have shown promise in exposing or stopping the practice of sex selection.


A successful training program for healthcare providers shows one way of addressing the lack of knowledge about crucial topics in aging. Training programs in medicine and nursing require pediatric and psychiatric training but not geriatric training, even though most healthcare practitioners- now and increasingly in the future- have greater need for the knowledge gained from geriatric training than from the other two areas (Kovner et al., 2002). In 1999, only 4 percent of the baccalaureate training programs in nursing provided geriatric education, and fewer than 1 percent of the practicing R.N.S in the United States were certified in geriatrics. Only three of the 145 medical schools in the U.S. currently have a geriatrics department, and fewer than 10 percent of the medical schools require a geriatrics course. The accreditation council for graduate medical education does not require geriatrics training for physicians, even in specialties where they are likely to provide care primarily to older adults- for example, cardiology, oncology, and emergency medicine (ACGME, 2008). The Council on Social Work Education has noted that only 3 percent of graduate social work students select aging or gerontology majors, but 62 percent of practicing social workers indicate that gerontology is necessary in their position. Training deficits in gerontology cut across the board, and this deficit is particularly critical in the area of age-related dementia, and specifically Alzheimer's disease. Older adults constitute 12 percent of the population but utilize 36 percent of the nation's healthcare services (Rice and Fineman, 2004). Given the complexities and multidimensional nature of many of the conditions affecting older adults, there is a need for expertise in geriatric care across the health professions. Training programs are currently insufficient in providing geriatric expertise and infusing geriatric content into their curricula. Continuing education, therefore, does and will continue to play a major role in delivering geriatric training to healthcare providers. Continuing Education as a Partial Solution The Retirement Research Foundation (RRF) partnered with the Wayne State University Institute of Gerontology (IOG) for over a decade to provide annual continuing education in gerontological practice, with one specific day each year devoted totally to dementia. The RRF-IOG continuing education series used the biopsychosocial model and an interdisciplinary approach as its conceptual underpinnings. As mentioned previously in this issue (see Lichten- berg, Introduction), too often a medical-phar- macological approach to dementia care domi- nates training related to dementia. This conference series has achieved a balance between pharmacological and nonpharmaco- logical approaches. The different sessions and session titles presented across the years are listed in the Appendix. Medical, behavioral, caregiver, specific-setting, and specific topic issues make up the five areas for presentations. The conference is clearly answering a need, with an average attendance of more than 200 participants each year, and within the past three years, a capacity attendance of nearly 300. Nearly half of the participants have been nurses, with almost a fifth being social workers, and the remainder, administrators, educators, physicians, and psychologists. The vast majority of all participants expressed satisfaction with the conference. Some 94 percent of respondents said that the conference information was useful, 90 percent said it will influence their work, and 97 percent said it had knowledgeable presenters and appropriate objectives. More than one-fourth of the participants determined that attending this conference influenced their future gerontological training decisions. The positive response from those participants who are currently employed in gerontology was even stronger. Of those currently employed in the field of gerontology, the majority found the conference information useful (95 percent), felt that the ideas and principles they learned from the conference influenced their work (92 percent), and said that the presenters were knowledgeable in their fields (98 percent) with relevant objectives (97 percent). …


In several applications of industrial relevance involving multi-fracturing rock masses and/or particulate media, the system response is governed by the presence of an additional phase, either gaseous, liquid or both; or by the need to consider other physical phenomena, such as thermal effects. Alternatively, the problem may involve the combined flow of particles interspersed with fine grained material, necessitating a multi-scale approach to solution. The presentation considers the essential issues necessary for an effective computational treatment of such coupled systems, with the most effective route to solution being highly problem dependent. Specific problems that are addressed include (a) ground water flow through fracturing rock masses necessitating consideration of fluid flow both through individual rock blocks and along joint systems, (b) rock blasting applications where coupling takes place through an interdependence between the evolving gas pressure distribution driving the fracturing process which, in turn, provides the porosity distribution which controls the gas pressure, (c) particle transport problems in which the particles being transported through the fluid are large and extend over several fluid grid cells and (d) fines migration problems in which fine particles that are several orders of magnitude smaller than the main rock fragments flow through the moving particle system. A further problem addressed is heat transfer between a moving particle system at elevated temperatures and a surrounding pressure driven gas environment. Applicability of the methodology developed is illustrated through several practical examples related to hydraulic fracturing, slope stability, simulation of rock blasting events and mineral mining/processing operations.


At the end of 2002 a new player entered the Perth radio market. The launch of Nova threatened to create ripples in the relatively calm waters of the radio pool which had become comfortably settled since the last new entrant twenty years before. Researchers had a chance to observe the impact on the market, the products, the formats and the audiences and this paper describes the highs and lows of the market players during Nova's first year.


This article presents a hysteresis modeling algorithm to describe the asymmetric nonlinearity in piezoelectric actuators (PEAs). The proposed algorithm primarily consists of two parts: 1) the wiping-out mechanism, and 2) the description method for the current hysteresis curve (CHC). The first part is associated with the realization of the wiping-out mechanism. It is used to determine the hysteresis curve where the hysteresis trajectory moves along, and this curve represents the CHC. In the second part, the information of the major ascending or descending curve is used to describe the CHC, and meanwhile, the trajectory is also described. The proposed algorithm works in real-time, which provides an intuitive mechanism to understand and investigate the asymmetric hysteresis nonlinearity in PEAs. Furthermore, the analytical inverse modeling algorithm is proposed to reduce the hysteresis effect. Experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.


so on). Of course, that sort of thing is more the purview of copy-specific information, with limited influence until such time as books were covered by uniform bindings prior to publication. (These are generalities; the topic is complex.) Also important for Martin is the knowledge brought to various aspects of the discipline by others, so he was happy to seek the collaboration of specialists to author a couple of subsections and even an entire section, "The Intervention of the Image" by Chatelain and Pinon. There is so much in this book that it is hard to know where to begin and how to stop. It is a folio-size volume in three columns for the main text, double for the introductions and conclusions. I write "introductions and conclusions" in the plural, because each major section has them. The book is beautifully organized. It is also beautifully produced, a compliment to the author and a reflection of the wisdom and good taste of those who run the Éditions du Cercle de la Librairie in Paris. (Pascal Fouché is the director.) In a book about books, reading, typography, typology, and bibliology, it is interesting to note the parallels and lessons that this book of the third millennium presents. Prefaces are in italics, harking back to the Renaissance and seventeenth century. Likewise, text is set in columns to aid the process of reading. The fine paper adds to the reader's pleasure. Garamond's innovations in typography are analyzed. It is no coincidence that the type style of The Birth of the Modern Book is Garamond. Illustrations are inserted sometimes like a medieval illumination, sometimes leaping out like a paean gloriously trumpeting the marvels of the past. Indeed, mention must be made of the pictures in the book, many in color. There are nearly eight hundred of them to help the reader understand what is being written, point by point. In his general conclusion, Professor Martin touches upon the modern media of film and computer. He notes that the printed book, in its traditional form, has not so much lost its leadership role in the transmission of knowledge as it has been transformed and its scope widened by the ubiquitous nature of a society living through the technological revolution. But books remain. His love for them as art, as vestiges of the peoples and societies that created them, permeates his text. The presentations of texts from the past become his, whether a fascinating manuscript dating to the fifth century A.D. or a little novel from the seventeenth. Books can be humble, they can be proud, magnificent, or ephemeral, all have a tale to tell. And Professor Martin is a wonderful teller of tales. This book is a steal at about $120. Any purchaser would want to keep the lovely dust jacket with its illustrations in color. Libraries would want to preserve it in Mylar and have it available for readers. P.S. Those interested in the topics covered by Martin's book will want to visit the fascinating virtual (electronic) exhibit put together by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France titled "The Page." (Go to www.bnf.fr, click on "Les Expositions virtuelles" in the black column to the left, scroll down to "La Page" on the right, click on that.)


ABSTRACT The excited utterance hearsay exception has enabled the effective prosecution of domestic violence in cases where the victim refuses to participate in the prosecution of his or her abuser. However, the United States Supreme Court's decision in Crawford v. Washington has thrown this practice into question by limiting what is properly considered an excited utterance and by subjecting the admissibility of testimonial out-of-court statements to the requirements of witness unavailability and cross-examination. While the Crawford decision does not signal the end of excited utterances, it does represent a challenge that prosecutors must be willing to meet in the courtroom. Ultimately, Crawford should not hinder the prosecution of domestic violence because its requirements do not apply to excited utterances due to their spontaneous, nontestimonial nature. Furthermore, if a victim's statement is found to be testimonial but the victim's unavailability is a result of the defendant's misconduct (e.g., threats or further violence towards the victim), Crawford's rule should not apply because the defendant has forfeited his or her right to confrontation. I. INTRODUCTION The prosecution of domestic violence cases involves a unique set of concerns, including the quandary of what to do when a victim will not testify in the prosecution of his or her abuser. Lack of victim participation is so common that one author observed, "Victims' false recantations or failure to appear at trial ... are the norm in domestic violence cases."1 In fact, victims of domestic violence are nine times more likely than victims of non-domestic assault to request that their cases be dropped,2 and estimates of the attrition rate of victim-initiated cases reach as high as eighty percent.3 There are numerous reasons why a victim might refuse to work with prosecutors in the prosecution of his or her abuser, including dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system, fear of physical retaliation by the abuser, a temporary diminishment of abuse in the relationship, and concerns regarding the loss of financial support.4 Furthermore, pressure from a batterer may cause a victim to refuse to testify, to change his or her account of the incident of violence when testifying in court, or to recant altogether.5 Whatever a victim's motivation for refusing to participate, the prevalent failure to do so has created a significant problem for the criminal justice system. In some jurisdictions, the majority of victims of domestic violence are reluctant to testify in the prosecution of their abuser,6 complicating the prosecution of such cases. When a victim is also the only witness to a crime of domestic violence, as is often the case, a victim's recantation or failure to appear at trial can effectively destroy the prosecution's case in the absence of other evidence.7 When a victim of domestic violence refuses to testify, a prosecutor is left with only two options: drop criminal charges against the alleged abuser or continue prosecution without the incourt testimony of the victim. Traditionally, a victim's refusal to testify resulted in a failure to prosecute.8 Prosecutors justified this practice by asserting their prosecutorial discretion to decide which cases to pursue.9 However, underlying this prosecutorial discretion were misguided assumptions about the magnitude and severity of domestic violence. Prosecutorial trivialization of domestic violence, misconceptions regarding a victim's role in domestic violence, and a reluctance to "waste" prosecutorial resources on a case lacking a cooperative victim have all been cited as reasons prosecutors forego prosecution of domestic violence.10 Although these assumptions and the reluctance to prosecute cases unsupported by victims still linger today, the more recent trend has been to move forward, for policy reasons such as victim safety, with the prosecution of domestic violence perpetrators despite a victim's refusal to testify. …


The development of glass fibrous media and the testing system, which is recommended in the media performance testing standard EN1822 were introduced. The testing error caused by aerosol concentration and the coincidence loss of particle counter in the testing system were analyzed through theoretical derivation and the comparison of the experiment results, it provides some information for understanding and building the testing system scientifically.


Anthropogenic activities have led to the increase in environmental contaminants. These pollutants are persistent in the environment and pose substantial threats to human health. The problem is critical despite drawing enormous attention of the scientific community. Food component is one of the major exposure pathways when crops are grown in contaminated farmlands. One of the biggest threats to the safety of our food is the unintentional and undesirable presence of chemical contaminants. Accumulation and uptake of pollutants are now well recognized, which constitute major risk to all living organisms. Both inorganic and organic pollutants enter the food chain due to various reasons including human led contamination of naturally occurring elements, like the presence of arsenic in soil and irrigation water resulting in accumulation in crops, and anthropogenic contamination, like pesticide or rodenticide accumulation in crops due to its widespread use. Thus, understanding the impact of contaminants exposure from food components, is crucial and research on reducing exposure from food is vital. With increasing global food demand, it is an important responsibility of all producers, distributors, consumers, and regulators to ensure food safety. Apart from contamination during primary production, contaminates can also enter the food chain during storage, transportation, handling, and most importantly during cooking and processing. Chemical contaminants present in food may be harmful to health at certain levels. To manage the human health risks from these contaminants it is important to determine the exposure pathways and undertake exposure and risk assessments to help determine regulatory controls. This Research Topic aimed to explore new approaches and findings that have evolved around exposure and risk assessment of chemical contaminants in the food chain. Addressing the objective on characterization of exposure pathways and estimation of exposure concentrations of chemical contaminants in the food chain both Alsafran et al. and Gupta et al. investigated heavy metal contamination in vegetables. Cultivated in Qatar and specific area of India respectively, both studies have indicated significant accumulation of certain metals like vanadium, chromium, arsenic, cadmium, and lead in rocca, coriander, and parsley in Qatar and zinc and manganese in coriander in India indicating health risks. Similarly, De et al. investigated fluoride exposure in endemic areas ofWest Bengal, India and have found higher contribution from vegetables compared to cereals. These studies elucidate risk of exposure to contaminants is not limited to staples Edited and reviewed by: Oladele Ogunseitan, University of California, Irvine, United States


This study determined the competency and proficiency in Mathematics of freshmen engineering students at Wesleyan University-Philippines. The researchers used descriptive correlational method of research and the data were col-lected using a researcher made survey. Respondents of the study were all the 83 Computer and Electronics engineering freshmen of Wesleyan Universi-ty-Philippines. The results showed students who willfully chose their program; students who have their own calculator; students who regularly solved or practice math exercises; students who had taken more mathematics courses at senior high school; and students who gained average grade in their mathematics courses have better proficiency and performance in advanced mathematics courses in Engineering program. The results also showed that their proficiency and competency were under the "Development Level" which means they have little mastery of the essential concepts and principles which they are expected to learn during their Senior High School years. Finally, their so-cio-demographic profile has no significant factor in their performance in the Engineering program. With all the data gathered and analyzed, the researchers highly recommend conducting bridging program on Mathematics courses before the start of classes to prepare them for higher Engineering Mathematics in their first year in college.


Citizens require better public service, Government demand to develop information and communication technology that promise high efficiency and better services. Dealing with this phenomenon, Indonesian Government 2003 has published instruction number 3, about the policy and strategy in e-government development. The President Instruction then used as the guideline to expand e-Government, include in Denpasar. In having a comprehensive, efficient, effective and integrated e-Government, there is master plan development. The construction based on the e-Government Conceptual Framework, Blue Print, Roadmap and Implementation Plan. In improving public services this master plan as a guideline for all institutions in Denpasar.


Butyrate is a preferred energy source for intestinal epithelial cells and is thought to play an important role in maintaining intestinal health in humans and animals. Therefore, butyrate production in the intestine is considered to be desirable. This study was carried out to clarify the fermentation properties induced by supplementation of Cellobiose (COS), Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI (CBM) or synbiotics (COS + CBM) in the batch culture of pig digesta. The results showed that synbiotics supplementation promoted butyrate production in the ileal and cecal digesta, and COS supplementation alone promoted butyrate production only in cecal digesta. However, CBM supplementation didn't promote butyrate production in either of the digesta. These results demonstrated that synbiotics supplementation (COS + CBM) specifically promotes butyrate production in the pig's digestive system ─both in small and large intestines.


Despite intensive research on late Roman and Byzantine diplomatic and military history since the last decades of the 19th century, scholars had to wait until the year 2001 for the first monograph which deals exclusively with the foederati. The author, Ralf Scharf (S.), questions commonly held views and offers an original interpretation of the evolution of the foederati stretching from the Roman West of the early 5th century ce to Asia Minor in the 11th century. The book includes an introduction, nine chapters, a conclusion, a bibliography, an index locorum (unfortunately not exhaustive) and a general index.


In the late 20th century,in the context of increasingly complicated domestic and international affairs,think tanks were booming and played an important role in U.S.foreign policy decisions.Think tanks did not only have the traditional features,but also their own characteristics;U.S.think tanks can be divided into three kinds according to their functions,i.e.academic think tank,lobbying think tank and contracts think tanks.Due to the different characteristics of the decision-making body in the U.S.government in various stages of the decision-making at all levels,think tanks targeted accordingly,such as the formation of professional presidential campaign team,the "revolving door" effect,the use of the mass media to guide and educate the public,the use of relations and special channels to hold academic conferences,news briefing and luncheon,publications,providing diplomatic ideas and policy recommendations.A variety of impact imposed by the think tank of the U.S.foreign policy decisions is determined by the U.S.political system,the political tradition,and the characteristics of the think tanks.U.S.think tanks in recent years have a trend of increasing in number,the diversification of research topics,etc.which makes the study of foreign policy more extensively.It can be predicted that the importance and influence of the U.S.think tank in foreign policy study will be further enhanced.


Objectives: To (1) determine the prevalence of nonperialveolar palatal fistula up to age 5 following repair of unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) in the United Kingdom, (2) examine the association of palatoplasty techniques with fistula occurrence, and (3) describe the frequency of fistula repairs and their success. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: All 11 centralized regional cleft centers in the United Kingdom. Participants: Two hundred sixty-eight children born between 2005 and 2007 recruited by Cleft Care UK, a nationwide cross-sectional study of all 5-year-old children born with nonsyndromic UCLP. Main Outcome Measure: Nonperialveolar palatal fistula prevalence up to age 5. Results: Fistulas were found in 72 children (31.3%, 95% confidence interval: 25.4%-37.7%) and had no significant association with palate repair sequences. Twenty-four fistulas were repaired by age 5, 12 of which had data showing 10 (83.3%) successful repairs. Conclusion: The prevalence of nonperialveolar fistulas following primary palatoplasty of UCLP in the United Kingdom was higher than previously reported. This information should be part of the preoperative discussion with families. Prospective collection of the presence of fistulas will be necessary before we can associate the occurrence of fistulas with a surgeon, institution, surgical technique, or protocol of care.


We propose an improved earlier described "mirror" method for detecting in cell nuclear extracts mutations that arise in DNA during its replication due to the misincorporation of deoxyadenosine-5′-monophosphate (dAMP) opposite 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG). This method is based on the synthesis of a complementary chain ("mirror") by nuclear extracts of different mice organs on a template containing 8-oxoG and dideoxycytidine residue (ddC) at the 3′‑end. The "mirror" was amplified by PCR using primers part of which was non-complementary to the template. It allowed obtaining the "framed mirror" products. The misincorporation of dAMP in "framed mirror" products forms an EcoRI restriction site. The restriction analysis of double-stranded "framed mirror" products allows a quantification of the mutation frequency in nuclear extracts. The data obtained show that the mutagenic potential of 8-oxoG markedly varied in different organs of adult mice and embryos.


For contemporary students of world politics, theorising globalisation is a central task. An understanding of globalisationÐ both its rhetoric and realityÐ is vital for making sense of the world we inhabit as we enter the 21st century. This is no less true for critically oriented scholars, whether of modernist or postmodernist inclination. What compels our interest in the question of globalisation is also that which bridges the modernist± postmodernist divide within critical IR theory: the shared `̀concern to facilitate a politics of resistance among the globally disenfranchised''. 1 And without an adequate grasp of the origins and meaning of globalisation, no effective politics of resistance is possible. It is from this perspective that one must engage Mathias Albert's `̀Complex Governance and Morality in World Society''. I will do so here, breaking my response into two parts. First, I will address the central themes of Albert's intervention, noting both strengths and weaknesses. Then, working out of a critical modernist framework, I will offer the outlines of an engagement with the question of globalisation that converges with postmodernist approaches in some ways, but breaks with them in others. In the process, it is hoped that points of agreement and disagreement will become clearer, thereby contributing to a more fruitful dialogue between critical theorists of various stripes on this vital question.


found overlying twenty-five feet of gravel and sands; and in the apparently corresponding beds at Finchley and Hendon Lane drift fossils and casts are occasionally found.—Dr. Hicks agreed with the conclusion that these sands and gravels are Mr. Wood's Middle Glacial.—Mr. Caleb Evans thought the heights to the north of London marked the southern termination of the Glacial drifts.— Mr. Bott considered that the Glacial sea had extended over the country south of the Thames.—Collections of fossils and boulders from the Drift of Middlesex were exhibited, and Mr. J. T. B. Ives drew the attention of the meeting to a quantity of peat which he had taken from the Drift.—At the next meeting of the Association, 5th January, 1872, a paper will be read " On the Overlapping of several Geological Formations on the North Wales Border." By D. C. Davies, Esq., of Oswestry.


Simultaneous extraction of plant organelle (mitochondria and plastid) genes during the DNA extraction step is major limitation in investigating the community structures of plant-associated bacteria. Although locked nucleic acid (LNA) oligonucleotides was designed to selectively amplify the bacterial small subunit rRNA genes by applying the PCR clamping technique, those for plastids were applicable only for particular plants, while those for mitochondria were available throughout most plants. To widen the applicable range, new LNA oligonucleotides specific for plastids were designed, and the efficacy was investigated. PCR without LNA oligonucleotides predominantly amplified the organelle genes, while bacterial genes were predominantly observed in having applied the LNA oligonucleotides. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis displayed additional bacterial DGGE bands, the amplicons of which were prepared using the LNA oligonucleotides. Thus, new designed LNA oligonucleotides specific for plastids were effective and have widened the scope in investigating the community structures of plant-associated bacteria. Graphical abstract DGGE patterns of SSU rRNA genes derived from soybean and potato samples. Symbols "–" and "+" indicated the lanes generated without (0 μM) and with (4.0 μM) LNA oligonucleotides.


Based on schema theory,a schematic approach of listening teaching recommends the construction and activation of students' linguistic schema,formal schema and content schema in essence.The fact that the linguistic schema is the basis and the current situation of western students' poor English mastery determined the priority of the cultivation of western students' linguistic schema while the formal schema and the content schema need to be cultivated at the same time and the three types of schemata should be activated by practicing and teaching.Through the teaching experiment of one year and a half,the results results show that the schema approach is superior to the traditional teaching approach and can improve students' English listening level in the western backward areas.


This paper reports the results of investigations concerning possible toxicities associated with the therapeutic use of streptococcal concentrates containing streptokinase (SK) and streptodornase (SD). Up to the present time the most obvious clinical side effect has been a pyrogenic reaction with associated symptoms of malaise, headache, arthralgia and occasionally nausea (1, 2). This reaction has been observed to begin about four to six hours after the local instillation of solutions of SK-SD; to reach its peak in 24 hours and to subside in the ensuing 24-48 hours. The febrile response occurs in 60-75%o of the treated cases, with a suggestive higher frequency in patients with massive hemorrhage (hemothorax) than in those who have local suppurative disease of infectious origin. In patients receiving repeated injections the occurrence of the reaction has been unpredictable; sometimes appearing after the first injection and not subsequent ones and, on other occasions, after one or another of the later injections, but absent at the first treatment. Furthermore, the cause of the reaction has not yet been clearly determined but may be referable primarily either to the foreign materials of the solutions of SK-SD or to the breakdown products of their enzymatic action. The present study was undertaken to determine whether untoward effects, inapparent to general clinical examination but that might be brought out by detailed laboratory examination, followed the


Influence of the Epidural Analge- sia on Postoperative Pain in Patients af- ter Nephrectomy, Nephroureterectomy, or Nephron-Sparing Surgery. Introduction: We prospectively examined the effects of epidural pain therapy on postoperative pain and bowel function in patients after elective open nephrec- tomy, nephron-sparing surgery, or nephrourete- rectomy. Patients and Methods: 38 consecutive patients (mean age 62.39 ± 16.09, mean body mass index 27.33 ± 3.77) were examined, who had under- gone open nephrectomy, nephron-sparing surge- ry, or nephroureterectomy in our clinic between January and December 2013. For postoperative analgesia, 20 (52.63 %) patients were preoperati- vely supplied with an epidural catheter. Postope- rative pain was measured using the QUIPS ques- tionnaire. The measurement of pain intensity was based on a numerical rating scale (NRS) from 0 to 10. Additionally, postoperative opioid consump- tion and time of first defecation were evaluated in both groups and tested for significant diffe- rences by means of a T-test. Patients with an epi- dural analgesia were examined for neurological deficits.


The goal of this article and the research questions are to present how young craft students make sense of themselves through emotional experiences in craft-art. The study is based on the grounded theory method. The theoretical key concepts, self, emotional experiences and engagement in craft making are chosen based on how they support or resonate with the data and analysis. The data consists of several types of material that was collected in three schools: portfolios, participant observation, ethnographic interviews and students' diaries. The data showed that students' emotions were strongly present in the craft activity. Emotions were related to the students' management of the stages of the craft process, the expectations towards the outcome, the students' holistic bodily and mental feeling during the making and their engagement throughout the entire process. All these elements, reflected against pre-existing theories, indicate that while studying craft-art, the participants were able to make sense of themselves in many ways. The analysis led to the result: Through somatic experience and the emotional ownership of the craft process in which their own interests are materialized in a meaningful product, realisation of students' own potential and a better sense of self becomes possible. This article is a part of the larger study that focuses on students' craft making experiences in the context of Finnish Basic Education in the Arts (BEA).


ABSTRACT This paper considers the riots and protests that irrupted around the world in the wake of the killing of George Floyd on 25 May 2020. It examines the politics of noise and listening in relation to the growing calls for abolition, asking how we can listen to, and for, an abolitionist imperative. The paper contextualizes the riot as a form of struggle that responds to the crises produced by capitalism in its circulatory phase, specifically the production of racialized surplus populations that are subjected to intensive forms of policing. The riot is figured as a politics of immanence that suggests what Ashon T. Crawley calls 'otherwise possibilities'. The paper tracks the historical conditions that give rise to riots and follows the noise in the street into platform media and back again in order to theorize the riot as a distinct form of struggle that is organized as well as contagious. Turning to the sonicity of the riot, the noise of this collective formation is figured in metaphysical terms as that which accounts for transformation and possibility – an originary turbulence with no single point of origin that foregrounds the relationality of the world. The paper then elaborates on listening as a crucial modality for generative collectivity and solidarity, developing an abolitionist conception of listening that attunes to relationality of noise and foregrounds anticipation and possibility.


The goal of the article is development of methodical approaches to identification of the optimal structure of material and labour resources, which ensure the minimum cost value at ore mining and processing enterprises The article conducts analysis of modern studies on issues of management of enterprise expenditures. It shows that one of the most popular methods of expenditure forecasting is economic and mathematical modelling. It proves that when developing economic and mathematical dependencies for forecasting cost value of products it is expedient to develop individual models for each individual enterprise, since this approach helps to take into account unique natural and technological conditions of functioning of ore mining and processing enterprises. The article develops a model of dependence of cost value of products on the level of use of main types of resources at one ore mining and processing enterprise in Kryvyi Rih. On the basis of the developed model the article identifies optimal volumes of use of material and labour resources for a forecasted period. The article shows that the cost value of products, with optimal values of main types of resources, is lower than the forecasted value, obtained through the trend equation. The offered approaches could be used when preparing budgets of expenditures of enterprises for future periods.


The task of positioning temporary facilities on a construction site has long been recognized as a factor of great influence on the cost of projects. This paper proposes the use of a recently developed harmony search (HS) algorithm to solve the problem of assigning a set of predetermined facilities to a set of preallocated locations within a construction site. Experiments with different parameter settings were conducted, and an alternative approach was used with a modified HS algorithm to overcome shortcomings of the original method. The proposed algorithm shows a rapid convergence to an optimum solution during the early stages of algorithm progress. In addition, comparisons with different variations of the HS algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA) are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method and HS methodology in solving facility layout problems.


Steel fiber concrete has found wide application because of its reduction of the stress concentration in tip of thin crevices resulted from loads in elementary concrete for the improvement of rupture.The subject that how to develop and apply the concrete has become one of researching objects with wide technology market.The present paper discusses in detail the work conducted in laboratory scale,and summaries the application effect by analyzing the practical engineering case.


Social Networking Sites (SNSs) impact on deaf and hard of hearing people (D/HoH) and characteristics of deaf people in Jordan were investigated in this paper. The main purpose of this paper is to show whether deaf people can effectively use and communicate through SNSs. To this end, a questionnaire was used to find the preferences and experiences of deaf people on SNSs. It was distributed to 138 deaf people. Furthermore, some demographic characteristics of the sample were discussed in the paper. This survey shows how SNSs are integrated with deaf people as a communication tool and the positive impact resulted from using them. It was found that Arabic sign language is most frequently used more than any other communication mode. In addition, they communicate with individuals with hearing loss using sign language more often than using written and spoken language. It was reported that they used SNSs once or more times per day. Furthermore, the most used SNSs website is Facebook, then WhatsApp comes second. Smartphones are used more frequently than any other devices. Last but not least, they use SNSs to exchange photos and watch videos more often than any other purposes and this is highly related to their reading and writing skills.


Clean hydrogen production is highly promising to meet future global energy demands. The design of earth‐abundant materials with both high activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and electrochemical stability in both acidic and alkaline environments is needed, in order to enable practical applications. Here, the authors report a non‐noble 3d metal Cl‐chemical doping of liquid phase exfoliated single‐/few‐layer flakes of MoSe2 for creating MoSe2/3d metal oxide–hydr(oxy)oxide hybrid HER‐catalysts. It is proposed that the electron‐transfer from MoSe2 nanoflakes to metal cations and the chlorine complexation‐induced neutralization, as well as the in situ formation of metal oxide–hydr(oxy)oxides on the MoSe2 nanoflakes' surface, tailor the proton affinity of the catalysts, increasing the number and HER‐kinetics of their active sites in both acidic and alkaline electrolytes. The electrochemical coupling between doped‐MoSe2/metal oxide–hydr(oxy)oxide hybrids and single‐walled carbon nanotubes heterostructures further accelerates the HER process. Lastly, monolithic stacking of multiple heterostructures is reported as a facile electrode assembly strategy to achieve overpotential for a cathodic current density of 10 mA cm−2 of 0.081 and 0.064 V in 0.5 m H2SO4 and 1 m KOH, respectively. This opens up new opportunities to address the current density versus overpotential requirements targeted in pH‐universal hydrogen production.


Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial childhood solid tumor. Treatment of high risk tumors require intense multicycle chemotherapies, resulting in short‐ and long‐term toxicities. Here, we present treatment of an orthotopic neuroblastoma mouse model, with silk fibroin materials loaded with vincristine, doxorubicin or the combination as a intratumoral, sustained release system. The materials, loaded with vincristine with or without doxorubicin, significantly decreased neuroblastoma tumor growth compared to materials loaded without drug or doxorubicin only as well as intravenous (IV) drug treatment. The intratumoral drug concentration was significantly higher with intratumoral delivery versus IV. Furthermore, intratumor delivery decreased the maximum plasma concentration compared to IV delivery, reducing systemic exposure and possibly reduing long‐term side effects of chemotherapy exposure. Histopathologically, tumors with remission periods >25 days before recurrence transformed from a "small‐round‐blue cell" (SBRC) to predominantly "large cell" neuroblastoma (LCN) histopathology, a more aggressive tumor subtype with unfavorable clinical outcomes. These results show that intratumoral chemotherapy delivery may be a treatment strategy for pediatric neuroblastoma, potentially translatable to other focal tumors types. Furthermore, this treatment modality allows for a clinically relevant mouse model of tumor transformation that may be used for studying the phenotypical tumor recurrence and developing more effective treatment strategies for recurrent tumors.


Inflammation is widely acknowledged to increase morbidity and mortality in myocardial infarction (MI), and the ideal therapeutic methods should be aimed at the inflammation reaction triggers. The aim was to evaluate the protective effect of saponins extracted from Panax japonicus (SPJ) on MI, and based on these results investigate the possible involvement mechanism of the nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB), sirtuin1 (SIRT1) and mitogen‐activated protein kinases (MAPKs) signalling pathways.


The mode of action of BAS 517 in a susceptible plant species, corn, was investigated using an excised root system and 14C-tracer techniques. The root system of a tolerant species, soybean, was used for comparison. When UL-14C- glucose was used as a precursor, 14C incorporation into lipids was reduced in BAS 517-treated corn roots, although 14C incorporation from UL-14C-glucose into lipids was relatively low. Inhibition of 14C incorporation into water-soluble compounds was not definite because of a high degree of variability. Using 14C-acetate as a precursor, 49, 43, and 34% of the recovered radioactivity was found in the lipid fractions of root tips treated with 0, 1.0, and 10 μM BAS 517, respectively. In nontreated soybean root tips, 47% of the recovered radioactivity was found in the lipid fraction compared to 49% in root tips treated with 10 μM BAS 517. Further analysis of lipids showed that BAS 517 inhibited the incorporation of 14C from 14C-acetate into phosphatidylethanolamine, a phospholipid, whereas the labeling of sterols in treated corn roots was not adversely affected. Acetyl CoA carboxylase extracted from root systems of corn and soybean showed different sensitivity to BAS 517, suggesting its role as the herbicide target site and as a basis for the selectivity.


A Trace level quantification inorganic impurities method was developed and validated by using reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and performed the Robustness by QbD approach by varying the multiple factors at the same time. This method is economical, simple, and stability-indicating nature [(for determination of ferrocyanide ([Fe (CN)₆]4- ), ferricyanide ([Fe (CN)6 ]3- ), Nitrate (NO3 -) , Nitrite (NO2 - )] in Sodium nitroprusside drug substance and liquid dosage form. The chromatographic separation was achieved by using USP L43 column (ACE PFP, 150 x 4.6 mm, 3 μm) with a simple isocratic elution. The buffer consists of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (50 mM), tetra butyl ammonium hydrogen sulfate (9 mM) and tetra butyl ammonium hydroxide (25mM). The buffer pH was adjusted to 7.2 with tetra butyl ammonium hydroxide. The mobile phase was mixed with buffer and acetonitrile (68:32 v/v). The flow rate was 0.8 mL min-1 , column temperature was maintained 30°C and injection volume was 5.0 μL. The Sodium nitroprusside impurities were monitored at 225 nm with UV detector. Further, the method was validated as per the ICH guidelines and force degradation studies were carried out under different stress conditions. The detector responses were plotted against concentrations and correlation was linear (r >0.999) over the range of 0.8 to 7.5 μg mL-1 for ferricyanide, 1.0 to 37.5 μgmL-1 for sodium nitroprusside and 0.2 to 7.5 μgmL-1 for ferrocyanide, nitrite and nitrate. The method repeatability was established for all the impurities with relative standard deviation (%) and results were found less than 2.0.


Objective: To examine the effect of Tai Chi on cardiopulmonary function and quality of life in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Data sources: Cochrane Library, PUBMED, EMBASE, China Biology Medicine disc, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang database. Methods: Articles on randomized controlled trials comparing Tai Chi with other treatments or no treatment were identified. A random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Fifteen articles involving 1354 participants were included. Compared with the control group, Tai Chi was more effective in improving exercise capacity on 6-minute walking distance (short term: MD = 16.02, 95% CI 2.86 to 29.17; mid term: MD = 30.90, 95% CI 6.88 to 54.93; long term: MD = 24.63, 95% CI 2.30 to 46.95), as well as pulmonary functions on forced expiratory volume in the first second (mid term: MD = 0.10; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.19), and forced vital capacity (mid term: MD = 0.20; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.36). Concerning quality of life, we found Tai Chi was better than the control group for the Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire dyspnoea score (short term: MD = 0.90; 95% CI 0.51 to 1.29), fatigue score (short term: MD = 0.75; 95% CI 0.42 to 1.09), and total score (short term: MD = 1.92; 95% CI 0.54 to 3.31). Conclusions: Tai Chi may improve exercise capacity in the short, mid, and long terms. However, no significant long term differences in pulmonary function and quality of life were observed for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.


The competition relationship between enterprises is not necessarily mutually exclusive with their cooperation one, but unified. Competition is the same as Cooperation in essence but different from each other in the expression of external form, which is the different relationship strength under different external constraints and internal force between enterprises. The Strength of Competition-Cooperation Relationship (SCCR) is a spectrum from the closest integration relationship to the most competitive hostile relationship; between the two extremes there are super-strong cooperation, strong cooperation, weak cooperation, weak correlation, weak competition, strong competition and super-strong competition in sequence. In this study, the authors construct the indicator system of SCCR judgment from the following five dimensions: Commitment validity, Strength of interaction, Strength of resource reliance (competition), Emotional depth Benefit degree, and build a SCCR identified model based on AHP (analytic hierarchy process ) and FCE (fuzzy comprehensive evaluation).


With the arrival of the era of the service economy, the service industry in the national economy and foreign economic relations play an increasingly important role, its development level also has become an important symbol to measure the degree of modernization of a country's economic and social progress of civilization extent. However, along with the increasingly fierce competition in services and the continuous development of the scientific and technological level, the alliance between the service enterprises has become a trend, and generates a service supply chain. This paper mainly clear the connotation of the service supply chain and service processes, and through the service capacity analysises the service supply chain decision-making, proposed the strategic interaction and coordinated operation mode, and finally to satisfy customer requirements put forward some development countermeasures.


Stringent emission regulations around the world necessitate the use of high-efficiency catalytic converters in vehicle exhaust systems. Therefore, determining the optimum geometry of the honeycomb monolith structure is necessary. This structure requires a high surface area for treating gases while maintaining a low pressure drop in the engine. In the present paper, an adapted sub-grid scale modeling is used to predict the pressure loss of square- and hexagonal-cell-shaped honeycomb monoliths. This sub-grid scale modeling represents the actual variations in the pressure drop between the inlet and outlet for various combinations of wall thickness and cell density. A comparison is made between the experimental and numerical results established in literature. The present approach is found to provide better and more comprehensive results than the single channel technique.


Based on some conclusions of directed circle,a detector placement method that can get segment volume on-line is established.This method first determines priority in the collection through fuzzy evaluation,in order to select the optimal arc in directed circle.In ad-dition,this method has arc directivity,and can take full account of advantages of every seg-ments n transportation system.


We define a quasihomomorphism from braid groups to the concordance group of knots and examine its properties and consequences of its existence. In particular, we provide a relation between the stable four ball genus in the concordance group and the stable commutator length in braid groups, and produce examples of infinite families of concordance classes of knots with uniformly bounded four ball genus. We also provide applications to the geometry of the infinite braid group. In particular, we show that its commutator subgroup admits a stably unbounded conjugation invariant norm. This answers an open problem posed by Burago, Ivanov and Polterovich.


Hatch's strategy to develop a growing and sustainable business has been cemented thanks to its merger with Goba earlier this year. The new Hatch Goba, now boasts infrastructure expertise - the perfect supplement to its multidisciplinary suite of mining and energy skills, writes Laura Cornish.


Although many investigators have made blood typings on Asiatics in both the Near East and the Far East, no studies have been previously reported on the inhabitants of the Syrian desert. The subjects of this study all belong to the Rwala tribe whose customs and manners have been fully elucidated by Musil. 1 Being entirely nomadic and very powerful, the Rwala penetrate the deepest parts of the desert. Except for some admixture with their negro slaves, the tribe is relatively pure as they retreat into the inner desert in cases of outside invasion. The blood samples were collected and typed on the same day against sera from donors belonging to group A and B. All agglutinations were checked by microscopical observation. The high percentage of group O among the Rwala is wholly unexpected and most striking. The decrease in O in some of the camps is in direct proportion to the amount of admixture with the negro slaves in those particular camps. Although those frankly negro were excluded from the series, half-breeds were included. No negroes were found in camps 1 and 2, whereas in camp 5, the headquarters of the emir, large numbers of slaves are present. In surveys of the incidence of blood group frequencies among peoples of the Near East by Parr, 2 , 3 the highest percentages for group O reported for Syrian Arabs is 37.82%; Palestinian Jews, 37.18%; Armenians, 28.14%; Turks, 36.8%; and Egyptians, 24.0%. The handbook of Steffan 4 also shows that all other previously reported Asiatics have a low incidence of group O.


Objective To investigate whether the optic adaptive system can take high quality photosfrom the retina of the amblyopic eyes and if the distribution of the cone cells in the posterior retina of theamblyopic eyes is different from that of the normal eyes.Methods 11 amblyopic patients who were 14-28years old have been included in the study.Photos of the retina from the central fovea to the 3 degree were takenwith the optic adaptive system, the quantity of cells were counted.Results (1)With compensation, the RMSof the amblyopic eyes reduced from 0.631 to 0.187 and the value of PV reduced from 3.102 to 1.17.Significantly statistic difference was present (The RMS and PV represent the coarse degree of the wavefront).The RMS of the normal eye reduced from 2.319 to 0.649 and the value of PV reduced from 0.47 to 0.142.Therewas also significant difference between them.The compensation of the normal eyes were significantly betterthan the amblyopic eyes. (2)The densities of cones in the amblyopic eyes at the central fovea and 1-3 degreefrom it were 101670/mm2, 48190/mm2, 28520/mm2, 19520/mm2 respectively.The densities of the according partof the normal eyes were 93500/mm2,48260/mm2,26470/mm2,19590/mm2 respectively.There was nosignificantly difference between the arnblyopic and the normal eyes.Conclusions In normal eyes,thewavefront error can be successfully compensated by the optic adaptive system.But the compensation of theamblyopic eyes was poor with the same technique.There was no difference in the densities and distribution ofthe cone cells at the posterior pole of the retina between amblyopic and normal eyes.

Key words:
Amblyopia; Wavefront error; Cone cell; Density; Optic adaptive system


A novel reboiler with mass transfer function under high vacuum ( RMV reboiler for short ), which was developed by authors, was used for vaporizing ethyl acetate from solution with thermo-sensitive and high boiling point component. Because of the unique characters of RMV reboiler, this technology shows advantages as following: First of all, it realized continous process and largely reduced heating time. Furthermore, the processing capacity enhanced from 2.5t/h to 16t/h though the heating area increased only 3 times as that of original, and the ethyl acetate recovery enhanced from 96% to 98%. At the same time, the steam consumption was lowered 33.3% for per unit input.


A production process parameter optimization method based on feature extraction for manifold learning is proposed to achieve precise optimization of steel anomaly data of different grades in the same series and to improve the quality of industrial products. First, the appropriate neighboring samples are found in the state of the sample point and the next state to form the neighborhood matrix. Then, the manifold hidden inside the data is extracted, ie, the evolution trend of the process parameters between different brands. At the same time, a monitoring model is built with the training data based on the support vector data description (SVDD). If an outlier is detected, it will be projected onto the manifold to obtain the adjustment values. Thus, the outlier can return to the normal state. The Swiss roll and actual production data of interstitial‐free (IF) steels are employed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the new method considers the continuity of process parameters of different product grades in the production process and uses data to extract the potential manifold, ie, using the evolution trend of process parameters among different product grades to achieve the optimization of the process parameter. The proposed method provides a new process parameter optimization method for the actual production process.


The Speech recognition is more commonly known as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) which is defined as the building of system for mapping acoustic signals to a string of words. Most Indian languages are syllabic in nature, hence syllable unit and its organization plays an important role while searching in recognition process. In Isolated Word Recognition (IWR) each word is surrounded by pause and it consists of limited vocabulary and is modeled as sequence of syllables. In this Paper we use Trie based approach for IWR. A Trie based approach is a method for matching an input sequence of syllables to one of the spoken words which are modeled by concatenating members of a set of syllables. A Trie is an ordered tree data structure that has been used for various applications, such as the construction of natural language dictionaries, the research of words to a compiler, database systems etc. In this structure, all the descendants of any one node have a common prefix associated with that node, while the root is represented by an empty node. It allows fast pattern matching by finding the longest match of a given signal. The advantage of Trie is it provides flexibility towards modification while new word models are included. Trie data structure is used to represents plurality of objects for identifying characteristics of the respective syllable units.


Main results People receiving sertraline maintenance had better psychosocial outcomes compared to placebo (table). Depression recurrence was 6% with sertraline and 23% with placebo maintenance (NNT 6, 95% CI 4 to 15; relative risk reduction 74%, 95% CI 49% to 99%). Symptom re-emergence was 26% with sertraline versus 50% with placebo (NNT 4, 95% CI 3 to 11, relative risk reduction 48%, 95% CI 25% to 71%).


During COVID-19 politics was radically transformed. Even though parliaments, parties, and parliamentary groups continued working, they did so mainly through digital means. Our aim is to investigate how political parties and their élites reacted to those changes. For this aim, we launched a pilot survey among party élites in Spain and Italy. We use descriptive statistics and multivariate OLS regressions to answer to our research questions. Our results point out that parties quickly adapted to executive online meetings, but meetings of other (representative) organs were far less frequent. As for the élites' adaptation and in particular privacy concerns, we find that socio-demographic characteristic of the élites matter and being member of a digital party are not crucial determinants, as we expected. Ideology, on the contrary, play a much relevant role, with right-wing élites being more concerned about privacy. Finally, younger and more educated respondents are more favorable toward moving some parties' activities in the on-line sphere.


Abstract The segregated storage problem is formulated as an integer programming problem. Some special cases are shown to reduce to ordinary assignment problems. A special property of the integer formulation is used to develop a new heuristic procedure which produces near optimal solutions and which can be used as a tight bound in branch and bound procedures. Computational comparisons with heuristics proposed by other authors indicate this method to be superior in solving large problems.


Objective:To analyze patients with schizophrenia MMPI characteristics mapping to understand the personality characteristics of patients and the clinical diagnosis of secondary significance.Methods:55 patients hospitalized schizophrenic patients(26 males,29 females) of the MMPI Testing Results of the analysis.Results: The schizophrenic patients showed typical L F K-type scale score distribution and validity,while the clinical scale score and paranoia(Pa) scale up,schizophrenia(Sc) scale was followed by two typical 6-8 mapping the distribution sample points.Conclusions: MMPI diagnosis of schizophrenia for the good support tool,in combination with appropriate clinical practice.


In a service computing world, a user submits job requests to an equipment grid which often has quality of service (QoS) requirements. The advance reservations of equipment grid are used to satisfy such requirements. Due to the dynamic behaviours and fluctuations of resources in equipment grid, some accepted advance reservations are not able to be fulfilled in different contexts. Therefore, we propose a predictive admission control algorithm to decide whether the new advance reservation requests can be accepted according to their QoS requirements and prediction of future resource utilisation. Historical data are used in this algorithm to predict future status of resources in the equipment grid. The simulation experiments demonstrate that our algorithm can reduce the number of accepted advance reservations that fail to be fulfilled, and can keep the resource utilisation ratio at an acceptable level.


Copyright: © 2017. The Author(s). Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. We appreciate the recent review of some of the papers arising out of the Nigeria National Survey of Blindness and Visual Impairment by Akano OF. We would like to draw readers' attention to our paper, which provides a detailed analysis of the association between indicators of poverty and blindness in Nigeria: Poverty and Blindness in Nigeria: Results from the National Survey of Blindness and Visual Impairment. Tafida A, Kyari F, Abdull MM, Sivasubramaniam S, Murthy GVS, Kana I, Gilbert CE. Nigeria National Survey of Blindness and Visual Impairment Study Group. Ophthal Epidemiol. 2015;22(5):333–341. https://doi.org/10.3109/09286586.2015.1077259.


The invention discloses a plasma source system and a plasma generating method. The system comprises pipeline transmission equipment for transporting to-be-reacted gas, an annular magnetic field generator and direct-current biasing equipment with adjustable potentials, magnetic penetration and electric conduction as well as plasma reaction equipment with a cylindrical cavity; the middle axes of the magnetic field generator and the plasma reaction equipment coincide with each other; a strong electric field is formed in the cylindrical cavity; an opening is formed at one end of the plasma reaction equipment away from the direct-current biasing equipment; and the magnetic field generator and the plasma reaction equipment form a divergent magnetic field at the opening. A quasi-neutral high-energy plasma beam is generated in the use of the energy supplying of electromagnetic waves and the rational design of the magnetic field; a divergent magnetic field structure is obtained at the opening of the plasma reaction equipment; plasmas and electrons can be ejected simultaneously; as the high-energy ion beams are obtained, the quasi-neutrality of the beam is guaranteed, so that the structure of a cathode electron source is omitted; the cost is reduced, the structure is simplified and the pollution of the cathode is avoided.


The known ability of parenteral polysorbates to significantly alter cell membranes is discussed as a possible cause of an interference in the ability of vascular endothelial C-lectins to bind to new viruses as a first step for their subsequent elimination, with the consequent failure of innate immunity against coronaviruses and the consequent facilitation of their infection.


Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) of ileum is a rare tumor of gastrointestial tract that arise from primitive mesenchymal cells. GIST occur predominantly in persons over 40 years of age with an equal sex incidence. GIST expresses a heterogenous clinical course and the most important prognostic factors are tumor size, site, degree of mitotic activity, tumor necrosis. We report a case of GIST of ileum, which was misdiagnosed as extrauterine leiomyoma preoperatively.


Objective To study the rationality and possibility of multi-slice spiral CT in the examination of the cervical arteries CT angiography at low-dose.Materials and Methods 60 cases by routine cervical arteries CT angiography were randomly divided into three groups,group A,group B and group C.With the others scanning parameters kept unchanged,the patients in group A were scaned with a routine dose of 250 mAs,the others in group B and C were scaned with a low dose of 150 mAs and 100 mAs.Anatomic structures and lesions showed on images were chosen to evaluate and compare the difference in images quality of three groups.Results CT dose index(CTDI) was reduced from 16.7mGy to 10.0 mGy(decreased 40.1%) and 6.7 mGy(decreased 59.8%) when mAs decreased from 250 mAs to 150 mAs and 100 mAs.Dose lenth product(DLP) was reduced from(564.6±32.5)mGy to(336.2±24.5)mGy(decreased 40.5%) and(204.3±33.7)mGy(decreased 63.8%) when mAs decreased from 250 mAs to 150 mAs and 100 mAs.There was significant difference between group A and B(P0.01),while obvious difference could not be found in the quality of images obtained from group A and B(P0.05).Conclusion It is a feasible CT angiography scanning method to decrease the radiation dose by decreasing mAs appropriately,150mAs was chosen.


Background Overweight adults have low circulating concentrations of ANP (atrial natriuretic peptide) and proANP fragments. We tested the hypothesis that an intensive lifestyle intervention with an intended weight loss would increase plasma concentrations of a proANP fragment in overweight children. Methods and Results We measured MR‐proANP (midregional proANP) concentrations in plasma from overweight children who participated in the OOIS (Odense Overweight Intervention Study). OOIS randomized 115 overweight children (11–13 years, 55% girls) to an intensive day‐camp intervention arm with increased physical activity and healthy diet or to a less intensive standard intervention arm for 6 weeks. We used linear mixed‐effects modeling for repeated measures to estimate the difference in the mean change with 95% CIs in fasting plasma MR‐proANP concentrations between the 2 arms, and we used partial least squares regression analysis to identify candidate mediators. Differences in weight, fitness, and metabolic factors were also analyzed. At baseline, fasting plasma MR‐proANP concentrations were (median [interquartile range]) 35.0 pmol/L (26.8–42.0) in the day‐camp intervention arm and 37.2 pmol/L (31.7–44.7) in standard intervention arm participants, respectively. After 6 weeks intervention, children in the day‐camp intervention arm had increased their MR‐proANP (5.4 pmol/L [0.8–10.0], P=0.022) and their fitness (2.33 mL O2/min per kg [0.52–4.14], P=0.012) and they had deceased their body mass index (−2.12 kg/m2 [−2.59 to −1.65], P<0.001) as compared with children in standard intervention arm. In the partial least squares analysis, decreases in fasting insulin and in estimated insulin resistance were associated with the observed increase in MR‐proANP concentrations. Conclusions An intensive lifestyle intervention increases plasma MR‐proANP among overweight children. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT01574352.


The conversion of waste CO2 to value-added chemicals through electrochemical reduction is a promising technology for mitigating climate change while simultaneously providing economic opportunities. The use of the nonaqueous solvent methanol allows for higher CO2 solubility and novel products through the incorporation of methanol as an intermediate. In this work, the electrochemistry of CO2 reduction in acidic methanol catholyte at a Pb working electrode was investigated while using a separate aqueous anolyte to promote a sustainable water oxidation half-reaction. The selectivity among methyl formate (a product unique to reduction of CO2 in methanol), formic acid, and formate was critically dependent on the catholyte pH, with a faradaic efficiency for methyl formate as high as 75% measured in pH < 2. Tests with simulated flue gas as the feedstock have shown a high level of tolerance for the Pb-catalyzed electrolysis to SO2, NO, and dilute O2 contaminants.


The effects of prior knowledge about a product class on various characteristics of pre-purchase information search within that product class are examined. A new search task methodology is used that imposes only a limited amount of structure on the search task: subjects are not cued with a list of attributes, and the problem is not structured in a brand-by-attribute matrix. The results indicate that prior knowledge facilitates the acquisition of new information and increases search efficiency. The results also support the conceptual distinction between objective and subjective knowledge.


ABSTRACT Controlling for the confounding influence of physical disturbance, it was possible to test the hypothesis that ambient noise alone would play a role in structuring bird communities in riparian habitats in Boulder, Colorado, USA. Point counts of birds were conducted in open space/minimally disturbed, residential, commercial and industrial neighborhoods. Within the same disturbance parameters and land use, species richness and PIF scores (a weighted value based on species' importance) consistently and significantly decreased as ambient noise increased. These results can be viewed as support for the "Niche Hypothesis" (Krause 1987, 1998), that wildlife species' acoustic niches are adversely affected by human-induced noise pollution.


Tourism development provides a unique context for studying guanxi in acquaintance society in rural areas in China. Taking the case of Moon village from the perspective of guanxi, this study conducted a qualitative study to analyze the structural characteristics of the semi-acquaintance society in the tourism context. A buffer guanxi circle develops when strangers immerse themselves into an acquaintance-based society through social interaction, where affection and reasoning define the boundary, guanxi and the interests on which the social consensus is based, as well as the elite and collective actions vitalizing the community. These findings on how the semi-acquaintance society contributes to guanxi imply a co-governance structure for informal relations in governance in community-based rural tourism.


Neuropsychological assessment for COVID-19 affected people in Bangladesh: Call to attention Marzia Al-Hakeem , Shahanur Hossain, Mohammad Zayeed Bin Alam, Md. Ashiquir Rahaman and Tanzina Siddika Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Brain Injury Clinic, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Telepsychiatry Research and Innovation Network (TRIN) Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh


Objective The antitumor action both in vivo and in vitro, and the [Ca 2+ ]_i of HepG2 cells were studied to show the antitumor mechanism of Xianlu Kangai Capsule. Methods The in vivo antitumor action was studied by observing the variation of tumor weight and survival time of S_ 180 A and H_ 22 mice. The MTT assay was adopted to investigate the cellular cytotoxicity of the drug-serum on HepG2 cell. Internal Ca 2+ of HepG2 cell was mensurated by laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM), and the activity of Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ -ATPase of HepG2 cell membrance was determined by ATPase kit. Results Xianlu Kangai Capsule (1.00, 0.50, 0.25 g/kg) inhibited the growth of cancer cells of S_ 180 A mice and prolonged the survival time of H_ 22 mice. Xianlu Kangai Capsule (1.00, 0.50, 0.25 g/kg) had strong cytotoxic effects on HepG2 cell and increased its internal Ca~(2+) . The activity of Ca~(2+), Mg~(2+)-ATPase was reduced by Xianlu Kangai Capsule (1.00, 0.50 g/kg). Conclusion Xianlu Kangai Capsule has antitumor effect both in vivo and in vitro. The mechanism is that Xianlu Kangai Capsule could increase the internal Ca~(2+) of HepG2 cell by reducing the activity of Ca~(2+) , Mg~(2+)-ATPase of HepG2 cell membrance to induce the apoptosis of tumor.


The development of a high power 170 GHz gyrotron is underway in Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) for electron cyclotron heating and current drive system (EC H&CD) on ITER. On the reliability test as a simulation of ITER operation, a repetitive power generation of 800 kW / 600 s at an electrical efficiency of 52-57 % was performed with the interval of 20-30min for 8 days. No damage was found on the gyrotron after the test. This gives a clear prospect that the EC system works on ITER. Next, for the neo-classical tearing mode (NTM) suppression, 5 kHz-full power modulation was demonstrated with pulse duration of 60 s. For this purpose, a full beam current modulation was adopted to minimize the collector heat load using the anode voltage switching of the triode type electron gun. Furthermore, on the dual frequency gyrotron development, the 1.3 MW oscillations at 170 GHz and 136.8 GHz were successfully demonstrated at short pulse operation. Here, both a position and a pitch factor of the electron beam in the cavity was optimized using the anode


Corrosion of steel reinforcements is the main cause of damage and early failure of reinforced concrete structures in civil engineering, leading to enormous costs for inspection, maintenance, restoration and replacement of the infrastructure worldwide. Conventional methods for detecting corrosion are based on electrochemical techniques such as half-cell potential and linear polarization. These methods can be affected by a number of factors and require direct contact with the concrete. To overcome difficulties with conventional inspection techniques a benchmark project using and evaluating state-of-the-art NDE methods is set up at FHWA's Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. The aim is to devise a test protocol for structural health monitoring (and asset management) of concrete structures by performing periodic baseline NDE surveys. For this a typical bridge deck specimen is cast, corroded and cyclic loaded. The benchmark project incorporates the latest developments in NDE inspection methodologies. A special focus lies on the promising technique of time-resolved thermography with induction heating combined with 3-D microwave imaging—a research cosponsored by the US National Research Council NRC.


Objective: Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (CIMT) is an independent risk factor for sub-clinical atherosclerosis. Despite evidence to support its use, CIMT is not currently reimbursed by the Ontario government payment plan. We accessed CIMT in a cohort of patients who chose to pay for the test. The objective is to see if CIMT will add predictive value to traditional risk assessment in this contemporary Canadian cohort. Design and method: We analyzed the first sequential 1,969 patients in a private pay clinic with CIMT from 19 December 2013-29 October 2014. CIMT values were calculated using a Panasonic Healthcare Co. CardioHealth Station bilateral B-mode ultrasound and compared to traditional Framingham Risk Scores (FRS). The CIMT measures considered were mean intima-media thickness (both left and right side) and risk percentiles (low<25%; medium 25–75%; high>75%). The CIMT risk percentiles are based on the original Carotid Atherosclerosis Progression Study (CAPS) database. Results: Of the 1,969 patients, 995 (51%) were classified as low risk, 579 (29%) were classified as moderate risk, and 395 (20%) were classified as high risk for future CV events based on CIMT data. We compared traditional FRS with CIMT results. FRS was only available for 288 of the high CIMT patients (73%). Of these 288 patients, 139 (48%) were considered low risk by traditional FRS. Of the 139 patients who were misclassified by Framingham's (low FRS, high CIMT) 30% of the patients were women; the average age in this group of patients was 51. Ongoing, multi-variant analysis is under way to look for predictors of CIMT values. Figure. No caption available. Conclusions: In a contemporary Canadian cohort FRS has limitations in classifying cardio-vascular disease risk. This was seen in a relatively young population, many of whom were women. Consideration should be given to adopting more widespread use of CIMT screening. This has implications for patient management and funding of such preventive strategies.


Fish waste is a problem arising from the activities of the fishing industry. In General, fish waste containing organic compounds are high, therefore, sewage treatment needs to be done to minimize waste. One of the technology for processing waste, namely by means of the creation of biogas by anaerobic. The advantage of this treatment is to produce a little mud than reprocessing in aerobics. This research aims to analyze the influence of addition of rumen of biogas production, the influence of dilution of biogas production and biogas production influence of stirring. This research was conducted in laboratory scale by using a typical analysis for digester capacity 500 mL. The sample used is a waste of the Stingray fish smoking industry, using a sample of mashed and not mashed as well as extracts of bovine rumen as a starter. Water used for dilution in the study is well water with salinity levels of 7.6 ppt. on variable dilution, yield the most high biogas contained on the dilution of 37.5 mL. For the addition of rumen biogas results higher than without the rumen. Stirring 3 times more effective for producing biogas is higher compared to without stirring and stirring 1 time.


Objective To eveluate a technique for not only decreasing the tension of the nasal floor and closing the nasal floor successfully during the procedures but also can being used easily and efficiently by operators to repair the complete clef lip.Methods With the designation of a mucosal flap in each split-ting side of the nasal floor,two mucosal flaps were stitched,the tension was decreased efficiently and the nasal floor was closed easily.338 patients was selected for the treatment with this technique since 2000.The oral orbicularis,skin and lip were repaired with routine procedures.Results All of the patients showed well wound healing,nasal floor satiation,good nasal shape and light scar hyperplasia.Conclusion The above mentioned technique may decrease the tention of the nasal floor simply and efficiently and close the nasal floor safely.Therefore,it is a better approach for closing the nasal floor in repair of com-plete clef lip.


This paper expounds the grades for ships' detented bottom and development of cleaning technology and equipments including the types of cleaning.Working procedure,cleaning standard and records,measures adopted for underwater cleaning are also probed.


One effort that can be done is to prepare the cognitive intelligence and emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is more aimed at the effort to recognize, understand and manifest emotions in the right portion and the effort to manage emotions in order to be controlled so that can be utilized to solve various problems faced later. Through IQ people can face the real world, but the individual needs emotions in order to understand and confront himself and ultimately be able to face others, so important we build emotional intelligence of children for future preparation. By having an emotional intelligence someone will better understand and appreciate feelings on self and others and can apply it effectively in everyday life.


In order to improve the accuracy of time synchronization and the reliability of data communication in power system fault location, a new Beidou satellite based timing and communication technology applied to power fault location system using traveling wave is designed in this paper. Principle of Beidou timing was firstly analyzed. Considering the disadvantages and advantages of one-way and two-way timing style in Beidou, a new combinational timing scheme based on Beidou satellite system was proposed. Then, through the deep analysis of basic principle of communication, two-way short message communication of Beidou Satellite was proposed and the corresponding communication protocol was made. Eventually, traveling wave based fault location system using the technology of Beidou satellite timing and communication in transmission lines is preliminarily designed. Simulation and test results show that the presented scheme can be applied to fault location system absolutely, which can provide high accuracy of time synchronization for the system, and improve the location accuracy. It also could ensure the high reliability in Beidou system using short message communication, which no longer need other data transmission access. in that case, it would save the construction cost of power grid communication greatly.


The utility model discloses a fixed-point convenient delivery and pickup system capable of improving the express logistics speed. The fixed-point convenient delivery and pickup system mainly comprises delivery and pickup points arranged at corresponding branches; each delivery and pickup point comprises at least one pickup wheel disc; a center shaft of the pickup wheel discs is arranged in parallel to the horizontal plane; two sides of each pickup wheel disc are provided with a placing region and a pickup region by using the pickup wheel disc as the boundary; each placing region and each pickup region are of a house-type structure and are respectively provided with automatic doors; the automatic doors are provided with access control systems; each pickup wheel disc is provided with a plurality of cylindrical storage rooms with different diameters; a center shaft of the cylindrical storage rooms is in parallel to that of the pickup wheel discs; corresponding to two sides of the placing regions and the pickup regions, the cylindrical storage rooms are provided with automatic sensing doors ; and each pickup wheel disc is provided with a fixed-point pickup system and is used for controlling the opening and closing of the automatic sensing doors of each storage room. The fixed-point convenient delivery and pickup system is safe, effective, convenient and rapid; efficiency of express logistics is greatly improved; and the problem of logistics speed in the last mile of expresses is solved.


The self-healing mechanism of asphalt has always been a challenging issue for pavement engineers; up to now there is no general agreement on the fundamental mechanism. In this paper, combined with Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) technology, the self-healing mechanism of asphalt is simulated by using the Phase-field Model in two ways: thermodynamic approach and mechanical approach. In the thermodynamic approach, self-healing is considered as a material-phase-rearrangement process based on the Cahn-Hilliard dynamics. Micro-cracks will form and disappear in the stress concentration zone near the phase interfaces because of phase separation that is demonstrated by AFM results; in the mechanical approach, the micro structure is described using a phase-field variable which assumes positive one in the intact solid and negative one in the existing crack void. Allen-Cahn dynamics is adopted to evolve the phase-field variable that the surface energy will result in the "wetting" of two surfaces and finally leads to self-healing. By using both approaches, pavement engineers are able to better understand the asphalt self-healing mechanism.