During the service period of low-voltage nuclear cables, multiple stresses influence the aging of polymeric materials of cables. Thermal and radiation stresses are considered service aging factors in qualification tests, while the standards usually do not prescribe mechanical stress. CSPE/XLPE insulated nuclear cable samples were exposed to thermal and combined thermo-mechanical aging for more than 1200 h at 120 °C. The real and imaginary parts of permittivity were measured in the 200 μHz to 50 mHz range as dielectric properties. The Shore D hardness of the samples was measured to analyze the mechanical characteristics of the cable. To characterize the dielectric spectrum, derived quantities, namely central real and imaginary permittivities and real and imaginary permittivities' central frequencies were calculated. The change of dielectric spectra did not show a clear trend with aging, but the imaginary permittivity's central frequency was higher by 0.5 mHz in the case of thermo-mechanically aged samples. The Shore D hardness was also higher on the thermo-mechanically aged samples. These findings show the combined aging has a higher impact on the insulation properties. Hence, involving the mechanical stress in the aging procedure of cable qualification enables the design of more robust cables in a harsh environment.


The settlement success of humanitarian migrants is likely to be affected by many factors. This Research Summary explores three of these factors: English language proficiency; possession or acquisition of educational qualifications that can assist with getting a job; and becoming employed. Using the Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA) study, we look at the skills humanitarian migrants came with when they arrived in Australia, their skill levels and employment 3–6 months later (Wave 1) and at annual intervals after that (at Wave 2 and Wave 3)1. We also examine any differences according to gender and age.


Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a global issue that causes significant morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this study aims to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the general Saudi populations toward antibiotics use. Design and method: A cross-sectional, anonymous online survey was conducted from January 1 to May 11, 2020, across five major regions of Saudi Arabia. Participants (aged ≥18 years) were invited through social media to complete an online self-structured questionnaire. All data were analyzed by Statistical Package (SPSS v. 25). Descriptive statistics, Pearson's Chi-squared, t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson correlation analyses were conducted. Results: Out of 443 participants, the majority (n=309, 69.8%) were females, 294 (64.4%) were married, 176 (39.7%) were 25-34 years of age, 338 (76.3%) were living in the Eastern Province, 313 (70.7%) had college or higher education, 139 (31.4%) were not working, and 163 (36.8%) had a monthly income of USD 800-1330. Overall, most participants demonstrated good knowledge and practice (88% and 85.6%, respectively). However, 76.8%had inadequate attitude score levels towards antibiotics use. Of all the respondents, 74.9% knew that not completing a full course of antibiotics may cause antibiotics resistance, 91.33% did not agree that antibiotics should be accessed without a prescription, and 94.04% will not hand over leftover antibiotics to family members. Factors associated with adequate knowledge were female, medical jobs, and higher income (p<0.05). Conclusions: Our findings revealed that while most participants were aware of antibiotics use and demonstrated good knowledge, good practices, they had negative attitudes towards antibiotics use. Significance for public health Antibiotics are considered the miracle of medicine that can cure patients with infectious diseases. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, few studies described antimicrobial practices. Most of the surveys were limited to certain areas. Therefore, this study assessed general knowledge, practices, and attitudes towards antibiotics use in multiple regions of Saudi Arabia. The findings could be used to assess the level of awareness about antibiotic use and may help policymakers to develop plans, laws, and programs to limit misuse of antibiotics and to preserve the health of the general population of Saudi Arabia.


The relationship between temperature and speed of ovarian maturation in D. tryoni has been investigated in the laboratory, in field cages, and in natural populations, the time required for 50 % of the females to develop mature eggs (TM,,) being used as the basis for comparison. When measurements were made at a series of constant temperatures, rate of maturation increased in a sigmoid manner with increasing temperature up to about 26T, but decreased at higher temperatures. In females held in laboratory cages, speed of ovarian maturation was increased (a) when males were present, and (b) when density was increased. These observations were important when results obtained in the laboratory were used to estimate maturation times of populations in the field. The usefulness of various methods of estimating maturation times in natural populations was judged by measuring speeds of maturation of populations held in large field cages and comparing them with theoretical estimates. A detailed method, by which the amount of development completed each hour under field conditions was estimated from data on the percentage development per hour obtained at a series of constant temperatures in the laboratory, gave quite good estimates, but a number of factors have to be taken into account when transferring data from the laboratory to the field. The method of "temperature summation" was completely inadequate, but a simple method relating TM,, observed in field cages to mean temperature was as good in practice as the detailed method. In natural and field-caged populations in the vicinity of Sydney, N.S.W., maturation of ovaries proceeded very slowly after April through the winter months, but the rate increased rapidly with the higher temperatures of August and September. The shortest time recorded for maturation of 50% of the females in field-caged populations was about 14 days during midsummer, although some individuals matured in half of this time. As in the laboratory, the time required for maturation increased when high temperatures (above 26°C) were frequent.


Several ports worldwide have been implementing green port initiatives such as switching to shore power or renewable energy to replace fossil fuel usage, control vessel speed reduction in order to meet Emissions Reduction Standard target. As for Malaysia, the Johor Port Association (JPA) has launched a Green Port Policy (2014-2020) that serves as a guide for decision making and establishing a framework for environmentally friendly port development and operation. However, this policy is lacking of empirical analysis to illustrate port's environmental sustainability performance. Due to this limitation, weak performing indicator is also difficult to identify for improvement of the port performance. This study discusses a comprehensive and systematic green port framework to evaluate an environmental performance that would be able to highlight the potential improvement for the port.


Aimed to classification and recognition of helicopter,a helicopter rotor parameters estimation method using micro-doppler characteri-stics is proposed.Motion dynamics and echo models of the blades of helicopter in single frequency are set up.The micro-doppler modula-tion of the blade,the relations of micro-doppler modulation and the rotational speed,the blade length and the number of blades are quantitatively analyzed.It extracts micro-doppler modulation and estimates those parameters methods by smoothed pseudo Wigner-Ville distribution and image processing.Simulation demonstrates the validity of the method.


Studying more than 400 educational leaders, the authors propose a new model for leadership and management rooted in the belief that there is latent intelligence inside schools and educational organizations. Their findings suggest two dramatically different types of leaders, Multipliers and Diminishers. The five disciplines that distinguish Multipliers from Diminishers are explored.


I suggest an approach to tangible interaction design that builds on social and cultural foundations. Specifically, I propose that designers can evoke cultural forms as a means to tap into users' existing cognitive, physical, and emotional resources. The emphasis is less on improving the usability of an interface and more on improving the overall experience around an interactive artifact by cueing productive patterns of social activity. My use of the term cultural form is derived from the work of Geoffrey Saxe and his form-function shift framework. This framework describes a process through which individuals appropriate cultural forms and restructure them to serve new functions in light of shifting goals and expectations. I describe Saxe's framework and then illustrate the use of cultural forms in design with three examples.


A method of Pa separation from Nb, Ti, and Zr in certain anionites and manganese dioxide is described. It is shown that elution with 0.5 n HNO/sub 3/ + 0.2 n NH/sub 4/F completely separates Pa and Nb sorbed on MnO/sub 2/. (R.V.J.)


Abstract Phytochemical diversity of eight populations of Nigella sativa, grown in different regions of Iran was investigated for their essential oil (EO) composition. The hydrodistilled EO was analyzed using GC-FID and GC-MS. In total, 30 constitutes were identiûed displaying more than (88.42-95.32 %) of the total oil composition. Results indicated that the major components of all populations were p-cymene (18.46-52.64 %), α-thujene (4.5-10.23 %), α-terpineol (5.11-9.72 %), thymoquinone (0.14-9.2 %), longifolene (3.07-8.34 %) and carvacrol (0.87-5.19 %). Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify possible relationships between EO composition and geographical locations of the plant. Notably, four groups of Iranian N. sativa populations were determined according to the major components. The observed changes might be due to different geographical factors such as climate conditions, season at the time of collection, stage of development, occurrence of chemotypes, and other culture conditions. This is the first study on EOs of N. sativa collected from different parts of Iran, leading to the first report on its germplasm. The highest thymoquinone content was observed in Abarkooh which can be used for further purification.


The innovation of the specialism's development of computer science and technology needs to change the concept of education,and to create the curricular system that focuses on the creative ability of students.Furthermore,in order to make students to grasp theory,reinforce application and protrude ability,the curricular system of computer science and technology needs to be established.Cultivating the innovative ability of computer major students,we can adopt some major measures,such as setting up innovative ability teaching system.The helpful discussion and some personal opinion are presented in the paper aiming at the function of university computer lab in the cultivation of undergraduate creativity and practice.


By defining a back-test residual for an empirical short-term drift-diffusion model, we are able to use a distribution of these residuals from long term historical back-tests to adjust or correct the drift and diffusion parameters of the short-term model for improved back-tests. In other words, we can use drift-diffusion predict steps into withheld historical data regions to then compute corrections of the drift-diffusion models themselves. Corrections may be of drift only, diffusion only, or both, and corrections can be additive or multiplicative, depending on modeler judgement or post-corrected back-test quality metrics. These adjustments by definition correct poor back-tests often seen in drift-diffusion models, especially over longer time ranges (e.g. the corrections make the models more historically realistic) and may yield improved price- probability forecasts ex ante. While this predictor-corrector method does not replace other model calibration methods, it provides a quick way to provide information feedback from long term back-tests and get models into the ballpark of historical accuracy.


The aroma components of pitaya wine was enriched by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME). The chromatographic separation was performed on two kinds of polar columns, respectively. GC-MS was used to detect and compare the aroma components. Differences between the separation of aroma components of pitaya wine by polar column HP-5MS and polar column CP-Wax. The results showed that there were significant differences between the two columns in the determination of the aroma components of pitaya wine. The main aroma compounds measured by HP-5MS column had many more types and contents than the CP-Wax column.


bacillus plantarum (L. plantarum), 2.0 × 10 colony forming units (CFU)/kg) on reduction of noxious gas emission in pig houses as well as improvement of carcass weight and quality in finishing pigs. A total of 850 finishing pigs were assigned to four treatment groups: control (CON, basal diet) (n=190), LP-0.1, 0.1% LactoPlanta® (n=210), LP-0.2, 0.2% LactoPlanta® (n=230), and LP-0.4, 0.4% LactoPlanta® (n=220). Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations were significantly reduced in all treatment groups compared to CON. Mercaptan contents and carcass weights of LP-0.2 and LP-0.4 were significantly decreased compared to CON, whereas there were no significant differences between LP0.1 and CON. Carcass weight of LP-0.1 was slightly higher than that of CON, but there was no significant difference. However, carcass weights of LP-0.2 and LP-0.4 were significantly higher than that of CON (P<0.05). The prevalence of grade A carcasses in groups administered with L. plantarum (46.7~63.3%) was higher than that in CON (43.3%) and increased in a dose-dependent manner. Based on the results of this study, L. plantarum could be an effective candidate to reduce noxious gas emissions in finishing pig houses as well as improve carcass weight and quality in finishing pigs.


: There is no doubt that charitable organizations are critical contributors in the provision of essential services of public interest. In the recent past, the number of people contributing to charity has been reducing due to lack of financial accountability and performance concerns. The environment these organizations operate, therefore calls for leaders who will come up with radical new ideas that will enable them re-invent their organizations to perform. The study sought to find out how strategic leadership impact performance of Charitable Ambulance Services in Nairobi City County. Study objective was to examine the outcome of strategic direction, operational efficacy, human capital development, and strategic control on the performance of charitable Ambulance service organizations in Nairobi City County. The researcher used resource-based view, upper echelon and contingency theories to anchor the study on the outcome of strategic leadership practices on organizational performance. Descriptive design research was used by the researcher. Target population comprised of 144 Managers and staff, a sample of 130 responded giving a response rate of 90.28%. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software using descriptive statistics to infer to the data and connection between independent and depend variable were found using multiple regression. Pilot study was done to pretest the questionnaire. The study results show that strategic direction correlate with performance up to 22.3% which is a weak positive correlation with organizational performance. A unit change in strategic direction yields 0.171 positive changes on performance of charitable ambulance services in Nairobi County. Operational efficacy correlates with performance up to 63.4% which is a strong positive correlation. A unit change in operational efficacy yields 0.735 positive changes on performance. Human capital development correlates with performance up to 49.7% which is an average positive correlation. A unit change in human capital development yields 0.422 positive changes on performance. Strategic control correlates with performance up to 47.6% which is an average positive correlation. A unit change in strategic control yields 0.270 positive changes on performance. The Overall, analysis showed that strategic leadership practices correlate with organizational performance of charitable ambulance services up to 69.3% which is a strong positive correlation. A unit change yields 0.108 negative change in strategic direction, 0.599 positive change in operational efficacy, 0.120 positive change in human resources development and 0.135 positive change in strategic control. This change is statistically significant, meaning that strategic direction, operational efficacy, human resource development and strategic control influence on organizational performance significantly. The study recommends replication of the study using the same variable with other sectors. The study informs the strategic leadership practice in academia, students in strategic management will use the variables used in this study to study the different sectors contributing to academia. The outcome of the study is valuable to charitable ambulance service organizations as it will inform the strategic leadership practices and their influence on organizational performance.


Talent assessment works through self assessment,reality examination,goal settling and action planning in college students' career planning.It applies self-report personality test,vocational interest and value test,aptitude test and assessment centre to college students' career planning.In application great importance should be attached to the localization and indirectness of talent assessment and the impact of objective evaluation of the assessment result on college students.


Solar radiation resource data serve as fundamental information for programs of large-scale deployment of solar energy technologies. While solar resources in the Republic of Uzbekistan are estimated to be significant based on limited information, comprehensive understanding requires considerably more data and analysis in order to optimize the process of planning and siting solar energy power plants. This paper highlights the analysis of the four-year of solar resource measurements from new ground meteorological stations in Uzbekistan which were installed within the framework of the project of the Asian Development Bank TA 8008 "Development of solar energy in Uzbekistan" in 2013.The current study should have significant applications for preliminary technology selection, power plant modeling, and resource forecasting. The analysis uses4-year (January 2013–December 2016) data from 6 stations located in the south-eastern part of the republic based on ten-minute measurements of Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI), Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance (DHI), Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), and related meteorological parameters.


DOE has enabled the use of coating materials using low cost application methods on light sources to positively affect the output of those sources. The coatings and light source combinations have shown increased lumen output of LED fixtures (1.5%-2.0%), LED arrays (1.4%) and LED powered remote phosphor systems – Philips L-Prize lamp (0.9%). We have also demonstrated lifetime enhancements (3000 hrs vs 8000 hrs) and shifting to higher CRI (51 to 65) in metal halide high intensity discharge lamps with metal oxide coatings. The coatings on LEDs and LED products are significant as the market is moving increasingly more towards LED technology. Enhancements in LED performance are demonstrated in this work through the use of available materials and low cost application processes. EFOI used low refractive index fluoropolymers and low cost dipping processes for application of the material to surfaces related to light transmission of LEDs and LED products. Materials included Teflon AF, an amorphous fluorinated polymer and fluorinated acrylic monomers. The DOE SSL Roadmap sets goals for LED performance moving into the future. EFOI's coating technology is a means to shift the performance curve for LEDs. This is not limited to one type of LED, but is relevant acrossmore » LED technologies. The metal halide work included the use of sol-gel solutions resulting in silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide coatings on the quartz substrates of the metal halide arc tubes. The coatings were applied using low cost dipping processes.« less


The nervous system of schistosomes has been successfully targeted by anthelmintic drugs but the use of many of these has discontinued because of toxic side effects and so there is a need to better understand key neuronal processes at a molecular level to develop safer and more effective intervention strategies that target this vital system. Cholinesterases - acetylcholinesterases (AChE)s and butyrylcholinesterases (BChE)s - are key enzymes that play a pivotal role in the nervous system of schistosomes by regulating neurotransmission through acetylcholine hydrolysis and, accordingly, are an example of such an intervention target.

The first results chapter (chapter two) of this thesis investigated the anti-schistosome efficacy of polypyridylruthenium (II) complexes and showed they were active against all intra-mammalian stages of S. mansoni. Two compounds, Rubb₁₂-tri and Rubb₇-tnl, which were among the most potent in their ability to kill schistosomula and adult worms and inhibit egg hatching in vitro, were assessed for their efficacy in a mouse model of schistosomiasis using 5 consecutive daily i.v. doses of 2 mg/kg (Rubb₁₂-tri) and 10 mg/kg (Rubb₇-tnl). Mice treated with Rubb₁₂-tri showed an average 42% reduction (P = 0.009), over two independent trials, in adult worm burden. Liver egg burdens were not significantly decreased in either drug-treated group but ova from both of these groups showed significant decreases in hatching ability (Rubb₁₂-tri - 68%, Rubb₇-tnl - 56%) and were significantly morphologically altered (Rubb₁₂-tri - 62% abnormal, Rubb₇-tnl - 35% abnormal). I hypothesize that the drugs exerted their activity, at least partially, through inhibition of both neuronal and tegumental acetylcholinesterases (AChEs), as worms treated in vitro showed significant decreases in activity of these enzymes. Further, treated parasites exhibited a significantly decreased ability to uptake glucose, significantly depleted glycogen stores and withered tubercules (a site of glycogen storage), implying drug-mediated interference in this nutrient acquisition pathway.

Chapter three of this thesis provided the first comprehensive molecular characterization of three S. mansoni cholinesterases (SmChEs), designated as SmAChE1, SmBChE1 and SmAChE3, which were identified from the interrogation of the now wholly annotated S. mansoni genome. Anti-SmChE antibodies localized the proteins to the tegument and neuromusculature of adults and schistosomula and developmental expression profiling differed among the molecules, suggestive of functions extending beyond traditional cholinergic signaling for each of them. I also reported the presence of ChE activity in parasite ES products for the first time and proteomically identified the molecules responsible (SmAChE1 and SmBChE1). Functional recombinant versions of the three SmChEs were produced in Pichia pastoris and enzyme nomenclature (AChE or BChE) was verified based on substrate preference. Lastly, in the first characterization study of a BChE from helminths, evidence is provided that SmBChE1 may act as a bio-scavenger of AChE inhibitors as the addition of recombinant SmBChE1 to parasite cultures mitigated the effect of the anti-schistosomal AChE inhibitor dichlorvos whereas SmBChE1-silenced parasites displayed increased sensitivity to dichlorvos.

SmChEs were further characterized by RNAi-based experiments in chapter four of this thesis. RNAi-mediated silencing of individual SmChEs, or simultaneous silencing of all three SmChEs, significantly suppressed transcript and protein expression levels and AChE activity in parasites. In a dissection of the hypothesis that tegumental AChE mediates exogenous glucose scavenging by the parasite, I showed that RNAi-mediated knockdown of SmAChE1 and SmAChE3, but not SmBChE1, significantly reduced glucose uptake by schistosomes. Parasite survivability in vitro and in vivo was significantly impaired with the silencing of SmChEs, either individually or in combination, attesting to the essentiality of these molecules.

Chapter five of this thesis explored the vaccine potential of SmChEs. When treated in vitro with anti-SmChE IgG, parasites displayed significantly decreased ChE activity, which eventually resulted in death. Vaccination with individual SmChEs, or a combination of all three SmChEs, significantly reduced worm burdens (28% - 38%, averaged across two independent trials) compared to controls. Liver egg burdens were significantly decreased for all mice across both trials (13% - 46%) except those vaccinated with SmAChE1 in trial 1. Egg viability, as determined by egg hatching from liver homogenates, was significantly reduced in the groups vaccinated with the SmChE cocktail (40%) and SmAChE3 (46%). Surviving worms from each vaccinated group were significantly stunted and depleted of glycogen stores, compared to controls.

In conclusion, this thesis has identified the burgeoning potential of a new class of antischistosome drugs that, at least in part, target the nervous system of the parasite and provided a comprehensive characterization of a family of ChEs from S. mansoni, giving compelling evidence for the essentiality of the proteins and their utility as intervention targets against schistosomiasis.


We previously observed improvements in vascular endothelial function as well as exploratory measures of motor and cognitive function in a pilot study of sodium nitrite supplementation in middle‐aged and older (MA/O) adults. Here, we sought to establish the efficacy of sodium nitrite for improving endothelial function (primary outcome) while also taking advantage of the opportunity to confirm our motor and cognitive function findings in a larger randomized, placebo‐controlled, double‐blind, parallel group study with 12 weeks of sodium nitrite (80 mg/day) vs. placebo in healthy MA/O adults (n = 49, 68±1 yr) with impaired endothelial function (baseline brachial artery flow‐mediated dilation [FMD] <6%). Sodium nitrite increased plasma levels of nitrite acutely (10‐fold, p<0.05 vs placebo) and chronically (p<0.05) and was well‐tolerated over the 12‐week supplementation period. Vascular endothelial function, measured by brachial artery FMD, was increased by 28% vs. baseline (p<0.05) after 12 weeks of supplementation (3.9±1.2 to 5.0±1.8%, p<0.05), but unchanged with placebo (3.8±1.4 to 4.0±1.5%, p>0.05). There were no differences in secondary outcomes of motor or cognitive function assessed with measures of the NIH Toolbox and other standardized tests between the sodium nitrite and placebo group after 12 weeks (all p>0.05). There were no differences in subject characteristics, body composition or circulating markers of inflammation and oxidative stress with sodium nitrite or placebo (all p>0.05). Collectively, these results indicate that sodium nitrite supplementation for 12 weeks improves endothelial function but does not affect motor or cognitive function in healthy, high‐functioning MA/O adults. These findings suggest therapeutic strategies to enhance nitrite levels may hold promise for treating age‐related vascular endothelial dysfunction.


The initiation and propagation of electrical signals in nerves and other excitable tissues have fascinated physiologists for well over a century. For much of the first half of the twentieth century the prevailing explanation for the depolarization occurring during an action potential was that of 'membrane-breakdown' suggested by Bernstein in 1902. He proposed that at rest the cell membrane was selectively permeable to K+ ions, which would tend to diffuse out of the cells down their electrochemical gradient and maintain a negative resting membrane potential. According to this model an action potential was then triggered by a transient increase in permeability for all ions and hence the cell membrane potential would approach zero. In the late 1930s and early 1940s Curtis & Cole (1942) in the United States and Hodgkin & Huxley (1939) in the United Kingdom, provided definitive evidence that during an action potential the membrane potential greatly exceeded 0 mV. This was inconsistent with the 'membrane-breakdown' hypothesis but rather suggested that during depolarization the membrane was still selectively perme-able to some ions, but clearly not K+ ions.

Between 1946 and 1952, Hodgkin and Huxley, initially in collaboration with Bernard Katz, set about using the newly developed voltage-clamp technique, to dissect the basis of the changes in selective permeability that occur during propagation of action potentials in the squid giant axon. This culminated in the publication of five seminal papers in The Journal of Physiology in 1952. The first four experimental papers, published back-to-back in April 1952, described (i) the measurement of current–voltage relationships in the membrane of the squid giant axon (Hodgkin et al. 1952), (ii) basic characteristics of the currents carried by sodium and potassium ions (Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952a), (iii) the effect of varying the time and duration of depolarization and repolarization steps on the different components of membrane current (Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952b), and (iv) the 'inactivation' process which gradually reduces sodium permeability after it has undergone the initial rise associated with depolarization (Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952c). In the final of the five papers, published in August 1952, Hodgkin and Huxley synthesized their results by providing a 'quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve' (Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952d). This final paper is still one of the most elegant examples of computer modelling in biological sciences. The frequency with which it is cited (over 9000 times in total and over 300 times in the last 12 months alone) is testament not just to the fact that it represents a genuine paradigm shift in the study of membrane physiology and electrical signalling but also to its incisive logic and clarity of presentation. It truly is a must read paper even more than half a century on.

Although 60 years have passed since these pioneering papers were published, they still stimulate research in almost all branches of physiology and its modern descendent, 'systems biology'. They have also stimulated research at the most fundamental level, ranging from atomic resolution structural analysis of ion channels, through to innovative clinical research that may soon deliver new therapies for disorders of excitability. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the '1952 Hodgkin Huxley papers', we have included in this special issue a series of reviews that reflect on both the historical significance and the modern legacy of their work. We start with a historical overview (Schwiening, 2012), followed by overviews of sodium channels (Catterall, 2012) and potassium channels (Jan & Jan, 2012) and how the pioneering work of Hodgkin and Huxley continues to inspire work on these channels. This is followed by a review that examines the clinical significance of the Hodgkin–Huxley legacy and sodium channelopathies (Waxman, 2012). Lastly we have an overview on computer modelling of the heart (Noble et al. 2012), a remarkably productive area of systems biology research, which can trace its origins directly to the work of Hodgkin and Huxley. In addition to this special focused issue, The Journal of Physiology has released a special online-only issue in which the original 1952 papers are available along with a selection of the many hundreds of papers inspired by the work of Hodgkin and Huxley and subsequently published in The Journal of Physiology (see http://jp.physoc.org/site/misc/virtualissues_archive.xhtml)

Looking forward, we expect that the Hodgkin–Huxley contribution will continue to propel biomedical research, in areas as diverse as muscle physiology and pharmacology, autonomic physiology, neuroscience, disease pathophysiology and even clinical medicine.


Effective Adaptive BitRate (ABR) algorithm or policy is of paramount importance for Real-Time Video Communication (RTVC) amid this pandemic to pursue uncompromised quality of experience (QoE). Existing ABR methods mainly separate the network bandwidth estimation and video encoder control, and fine-tune video bitrate towards estimated bandwidth, assuming the maximization of bandwidth utilization yields the optimal QoE. However, the QoE of a RTVC system is jointly determined by the quality of compressed video, fluency of video playback, and interaction delay. Solely maximizing the bandwidth utilization without comprehensively considering compound impacts incurred by both network and video application layers, does not assure the satisfactory QoE. And the decoupling of network and video layer further exacerbates the user experience due to network-codec incoordination. This work therefore proposes the Palette, a reinforcement learning based ABR scheme that unifies the processing of network and video application layers to directly maximize the QoE formulated as the weighted function of video quality, stalling rate and delay. To this aim, a cross-layer optimization is proposed to derive fine-grained compression factor of upcoming frame(s) using cross-layer observations like network conditions, video encoding parameters, and video content complexity. As a result, Palette manages to resolve the network-codec incoordination and to best catch up with the network fluctuation. Compared with state-of-the-art schemes in real-world tests, Palette not only reduces 3.1%-46.3% of the stalling rate, 20.2%-50.8% of the delay, but also improves 0.2%-7.2% of the video quality with comparable bandwidth consumption, under a variety of application scenarios.


Oceans cover almost 71% surface of earth. Waves carry enormous amount of energy within them. Tides generated due to gravitational force between earth and moon and partly between earth and sun help in generating high heads of water to harness pollution free energy. Due to high cost of generation and lack of enough research, this sustainable source of energy has not been fully exploited yet. Although the technology used in harnessing marine energy is considered as a threat to aquatic life, but suitable methods and focused research in this area can lead to take advantage of this abundant source of renewable energy. This will not only reduce the cost of generation but will have a great impact on reducing carbon foot-prints all around the world. This review paper discusses an overview of Ocean Energy in the world and its potential in India. It also discusses various impacts of marine energy technology on marine environment and its habitat. Wind energy is the maximum exploited source of renewable energy and solar energy is increasing its share with time in India. Tidal and ocean energy is still in experimentation stage. Inclusion of this source of green and sustainable energy can help India achieve its target of environmental obligation of reducing carbon foot-prints.


Background: Given the decline of kidney function with advanced age, we evaluated the association between admission CT with IV contrast and acute kidney injury (AKI) in trauma patients older than 70 years. Results: A total of 453 elderly patients met inclusion criteria with a mean age of 82.2 years and overall mortality of 13%. Patients who received IV contrast were younger (80.7 vs. 83.1 years, p<0.01), although had similar demographics and baseline characteristics. The rate of AKI in patients who received IV contrast was similar to the rate of those who did not (21.1% vs. 22.6%, p=0.73). Additionally, IV contrast with admission CT was not an independent predictor of developing AKI (AOR 1.2; CI 0.72-1.98; p=0.50).


All the correlations and analytical models of critical heat flux in saturated pool boiling predict that the critical heat flux under microgravity conditions becomes much smaller than the terrestrial value. In the present paper, aiming at the enhancement of the critical heat flux under microgravity conditions, a novel technique to shorten the bubble departure period τd in saturated pool boiling under microgravity conditions was proposed. The technique proposed is based on the self round-off motion of bubbles induced by surface tension. Such self round-off motion is expected to occur by setting ribs of an asdequate height on the boiling surface. In the present experiment, to realize and simulate such a boiling system, saturated boiling experiments were conducted using a ribbon heater sandwiched by two glass plates. In the experiments, the glass plate height H was changed from 0.5mm to 20mm. Experimental data under microgravity conditions indicate the following results. In the cases of H=0.5-4.5mm, the bubble departure period of ethanol under microgravity conditions is as short as the terrestrial value and then the critical heat flux is as high as the terrestrial value. The critical heat flux is caused when the value of τdq reaches a maximum. The equivalent liquid-film thickness calculated from the experimental data of τdq is much smaller than the macrolayer thickness calculated from the model proposed by Haramura and Katto.


During the conservation work on the plastered facade of an 18th century church on the western side of the Ligurian Riviera, the preliminary layer analyses and photographic documents on file enabled the restorers to identify the oldest colour scheming and forms of decoration, part of which were actually found concealed under layers of plaster that had been applied later. It proved to be possible to achieve excellent results in terms of recuperating the original colours and patterns by calling in the restorers from the Genoa artistic and monument restoration centre. The frescoes of the saints were then consolidated and protected, using compatible, reversible products.


Abstract : The Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans requested the Center for Army Analysis (CAA) to develop the 1999 Northeast Asia (NEA) Combat Sample Generator (COSAGE) boards to be used throughout the Department of Defense (DOD). The problem addressed was to develop combat samples to model the current year scenario in Northeast Asia. In order to complete the analysis, Combined Forces Command (CFC) 98 COSAGE boards were used as the base case from which NEA99 boards would be created. The analysis included use of updated force compositions, removal of approved conventional munitions from Threat artillery, updated US and allied direct fire rates of fire and single shot probability of kill (SSPK) files, development and utilization of a minimum SSPK function, and development and utilization of a new command and control algorithm in aviation units.


In his "A Subjectivist's Guide to Objective Chance", David Lewis argues persuasively that a certain relationship holds between reasonable credence and objective chance (I 980).l Both items involve varieties of probability: in the case of credence, we use subjective probability to describe gradations in degree of belief; in the case of chance, we use objective probability to describe irreducibly indeterministic processes (e.g., radioactive decay). While these two uses are not to be conflated, Lewis points out an important connection between them: roughly, rationality requires conforming one's subjective credence in a proposition to one's estimate of the objective chance that the proposition will come true. As a precise statement of this connection, Lewis offers his "Principal Principle"-only to find that it conflicts with his cherished thesis of reductionist metaphysics dubbed "Humean Supervenience". So we seem to face a dilemma: either we abandon an attractive and plausible principle relating credence and chance, or we give up the reductionist thesis. Wrong. The Principal Principle (hereafter: the "Old Principle") does not adequately formulate the connection between credence and chance. Close inspection reveals that it embodies a crucial oversight for which there is, happily, a natural repair. Undertaking this repair, we arrive at a New Principle which all parties, regardless of their metaphysical commitments, should find compelling. This New Principle functions much better than the Old: it is more precise, holds without qualification, explains the initial plausibility of the Old Principle while yielding that Principle as an approximation, is perfectly immune to the problem raised in Lewis (1980) and provides an analysis of an important range of cases about which the Old Principle fell silent. In what follows, I rehearse the Old Principle together with familiar problems confronting it, paying special attention to the notion of "admissibility" required for its formulation. This notion is, ultimately, dispensable: where "inadmissible" information was taken to break the connection between credence and chance, I show that on the contrary there is a perfectly straightforward way to incorporate such information into the connection. Following this line of thought leads directly to the New Principle. All of which will require some background, which follows.


The visual technique of fashion photography is examined which taught Australian women to look modern. Especially fashion photography intervenes ambivalently into the story of Australian modernism and modernity. During 1920s and 1930s within the fashion press there were synergies and differences between commercial fashion photography, celebrity and cinematic portraiture, and social set endorsement. However, modernism was widely acknowledged in Australia during the 1920s through women's spaces, their fashions and culture of department stores.


Abstract:Aim: The main objective of this paper is to analyze the effects of educational innovation on student implication on the study as a way for getting a job in the future, as well as the role of motivation at the secondary school to help for achieving this goal.Design / Research methods: By means of the elaboration of a questionnaire, the opinion of the students in relation to educative innovation, and, later by means of descriptive statistical analysis and a regression analysis, to search the relation between the concerns for getting a job and the motivational education among the students in secondary educative level is undertaken.Conclusions / findings: The results point towards a positive assessment by the students, who consider that educational innovation, stimulates their interest; boost the participation and collaboration between peers and with the teaching staff, at the same time there is a statistical significant relation between the students' concern about their future working life and the motivations at school. The motivation is strongly relate to incorporation of ICTs at classroom, particularly computers and tablets.Originality / value of the article: The main value of this research is on stablishing a link between three key features: the concerns of youth about their future labor life, the motivation at school and the role of ICTs on this motivation.Limitations: The main limitations of this research are related to the sample, nevertheless the preliminary generalization of this results can be acceptable, according the literature.


The thesis treats of the defence of not-wealthy people, guaranteed as a constitutional right to receive
aids.
Approaching the study, it's operated, previously a distinction between the particular typology of
constitutional guarantees represented from the rights to receive aids and the indeterminate category of
the so-called "social rights".
The work proceeds analysing similarities and differences between rights to receive aids and rights of
freedom, even in terms of their different legal effects, resulting from the belonging of the first category
to the one of the so-called "programmatic rules".
Here is also considered the instrumental relationship that binds rights of freedom and rights to receive
aids and, finally, the different effects of the last category and the principle set out in art. 3, paragraph II
of the Constitution.
In order to identify not-wealthy people protected by art. 24, paragraph III, Constitution, it's performed
a comparison among the terms used by the Constituent Assembly to determine the subjective reference
of the various rights to receive aids. In this direction, however, it proceeds, living out the cases whom
doesn't provide the Republic, as well as those where the condition of public intervention is not the
inadequacy of economic resources.
The instrumental relationship between rights to receive aids and freedom determines the need to study
this second right as the object of the first one, especially in the conceptual perspective, to identify the
differences between action and defence, their relationship and their constitutional guarantees.
Finally, the study focuses on the legislative implementation of the third paragraph of art. 24,
considering the historical perspective as well as the current discipline. At the time it's been necessary
to examine the problems concerning the conformity of the discipline of the subject to the constitutional
guarantees.
In particular it seemed appropriate to focus on the decision to refer to the familiar resources instead of
the individual ones in regulating the legal aid.


It produced better coupling effect that "people-oriented" philosophy of education and teaching management system is popularized and applicated in the credit system of adult higher education,which shows a certain degree of particularities.The particularities reflected primarily in the adult higher education curriculum,course selection,teacher(tutor) and schooling,and so on.It will also contribute to the deepening and development of credit system in adult higher education and improving the quality of personnel training to cognitive the particularities and promote its implementation.At the same time,the sustainable development of adult higher education is promoted,and the construction of life-long education system and a learning society will be realized.


Introduction. It is known that the factors of space flight shift the coagulation balance of blood in the direction of procoagulant. The effect of space flight factors on the hemostatic potential of human blood with the simultaneous effect of preventive measures and compensation for their adverse effects has not been practically studied. The aim of study was to study the effect of physical exertion, electromyostimulation, mechanical stimulation of the foot, and blood-substituting solutions on the main indicators of the human hemostasis system in experiments with 21-hour antiorthostatic hypokinesia, 7-day "dry" water immersion, and 120-day isolation in a hermetic volume. Materials and methods. Concentrations of fibrinogen, plasminogen, soluble fibrin-monomer complexes, D-dimer, antithrombin III, protein C, and α2-antiplasmin were determined in citrate plasma; values of thrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, and prothrombin time. Results. It was found that the infusion of blood-substituting colloidal solution "venofundin" prevents the tendency to increase the level of soluble fibrin-monomer complexes observed during 21-hour antiorthostatic hypokinesia. Electromyostimulation leads to increased levels of fibrinogen and D-dimer during 7-day immersion. The complex of physical activities used in the experiment with 120-day isolation helps to reduce the level of D-dimer. Conclusions. The results indicate that when modeling the impact of space flight factors, a favorable hypocoagulation effect is provided by an infusion of venofundin, as well as a complex of balanced physical activities.


The comprehensive comparison between calculated bulk non-equilibrium properties of hydrogen–helium isotopomeric mixtures and experiment that has previously been carried out for H2–helium mixtures [2004, Molec. Phys., submitted] has been extended to mixtures of HD, D2 and T2 with 3He and 4He. For HD–4He mixtures, comparison is also made, where possible, with previous calculations of Köhler and Schaefer [1983, Physica A, 120, 185]. The phenomena examined herein include low temperature interaction second virial coefficients, binary diffusion and thermal conductivity coefficients, rotational relaxation, transport property field effects and flow birefringence. Scattering calculations have been carried out for the HD–He PES of Schaefer and Köhler [1985, Physica A, 129, 469], and for both the Köhler–Schaefer and Tao [1994, J. chem. Phys., 100, 4947] potential surfaces for the D2–He and T2–He interactions. Comparisons between calculated and experimental results for HD, D2, T2–He mixtures confirm the conclusion, reached earlier from the H2–He comparisons, that these potential surfaces are very close to the correct one for the hydrogen–helium interaction, and that the small differences between them cannot be distinguished readily by measurements of bulk gas phenomena unless the attendant experimental uncertainties are better than ±0.3%.


Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome (APS) is one of the life-threatening immune-related adverse events (irAEs). We firstly report a case of APS induced by adjuvant nivolumab therapy. Clinicians should be aware of the potential risks of developing severe irAEs when applying adjuvant immunotherapy.


Objective To explore the relationship between fluconazole resistance and expression of C. albicans genes encoding transcription factors UPC2,TAC1,MRR1 and drug resistance-related genes CDR1,CDR2,MDR1,FLU1, ERG11. Methods The total RNA was extracted from fluconazole-resistant and-susceptible C. albicans isolates and cDNA was synthesized.The expression of drug resistance-related genes was then detected by quantitative rea1-time PCR. Results Higher expression of UPC2(7.22±4.21)/ CDR2(2.45±1.37) gene was observed in the fluconazole-resistant isolates than that in the fluconazole-susceptible isolates. The difference was statistically significant (all P0.05). However,the expression of TAC1(0.46±0.86 and 1.05±0.12)/MRR1(0.72±0.58 and 1.09±0.11) was no statistical difference (all P0.05). Conclusion It is likely that the over-expression of UPC2 and CDR2 gene is relevant to fluconazole resistance in C. albicans.The function of Zinc cluster transcription fators in drug resitance needs to be further studied.


ABSTRACT We describe a speech-language pathology and occupational therapy service delivery program for preschoolers with developmental delays and communication and related impairments. Key features included interprofessional collaboration; parent professional partnerships; naturalistic environment; opportunities for choice and control; use of a relationship-based approach; and communication, sensory, and positive behavioral strategies. Participants were 16 boys and 4 girls, ages 3 years, 2 months to 5 years, 8 months, who attended the program two mornings per week. Outcomes measured were pragmatic language and participation as well as parent satisfaction. Results indicated that children demonstrated significant improvements in pragmatics and participation and that parents expressed a high level of satisfaction. Children also achieved additional clinical objectives. Implications of findings are discussed.


The present invention relates to a cosmetic containing the resin containing the polyimide foam and said foam. Foam of the present invention has excellent physical properties such as but not harmful to the human body, chemical resistance, shape retention, durability, elasticity and feeling. In the case where the present invention is used for supporting the cosmetic, and the well filled with the cosmetic composition, it can be long-term homogeneously carrying the cosmetic composition, when taking a cosmetic composition and a cosmetic composition in an appropriate amount may be discharged, feeling of improvement can. Therefore, when using the foam of the present invention, the cosmetic composition can conveniently carry or be used, it is possible to easily make-up, even when going out.


To evaluate the effects a home‐based exercise program delivered to ill and mobility‐limited elderly individuals on physical function, physical activity, quality of life, fall‐related self‐efficacy, and exercise self‐efficacy.


The hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose to sugar alcohols by bifunctional catalysts is a very promising route for cellulose valorization. This presentation shows that carbon nanofibers (CNFs) possess interesting features that make them suitable candidates for application as catalyst supports in these biomass-related reactions. The hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose over reshaped Ni particles, attached at the tip of CNFs, is therefore illustrated. In fact, despite the large Ni particle size, the catalyst shows a very high activity, and is able to produce fairly high hexitol yields from cellulose in a one pot slurry reactor. Influence of reaction conditions (T, P, ...) will be highlighted, but also the impact of the cellulose reactivity (in terms of its structural information from FT-IR, solid state C MAS NMR and XRD) will be demonstrated. The catalyst actually possesses two catalytic functions, namely acid groups to catalyze the hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose and metal sites to hydrogenate glucose to hexitols. Tuning of the bifunctional property of the catalyst is a prerequisite for high hexitol selectively . Various strategies to introduce acidity in fishbone-type CNFs were therefore attempted, and different Ni loadings were introduced on the oxidized fibers. A detailed study will be shown that explains the influences of the nature of oxidation agent (HNO3 vs. 1:1 mixtures of HNO3/H2SO4), Ni activation (different reduction temperatures) and Ni loadings. Through variation of these synthesis parameters, the number of active Ni sites, the dispersion of the Ni particles and the number of oxygen-containing surface groups could be tuned, and the most selective catalyst was thus attained having a ratio of the acid density to the number of Ni surface atoms somewhere between 0.7 and 1.1. A lower ratio indicates an insufficient hydrolysis capacity to convert cellulose or an excessive amount of Ni surface atoms, rendering the sugar alcohols more susceptible to C-C bond hydrogenolysis and lowering the selectivity. For increasingly higher values of this ratio, glucose is likely subjected to another acid-catalyzed degradation reaction, rather than being hydrogenated to hexitols. The optimized Ni/CNF catalyst ultimately reached a 76% yield of hexitols at 93% conversion of cellulose.


A new organic-inorganic hybrid crystal [N(CH2CH2CH2CH3)4]3[AsMo12O40] has been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray,elemental analysis,IR spectra and magnetic properties.Crystal data: Monoclinic,space group Pc,a =1.41648(14)nm,b= 1.75325(17)nm,c = 2.2807(2)nm,β = 101.626(2)°,V =5547.9(9)nm3,Z = 2,R1=0.0765,wR2=0.2409.X-ray analysis shows that the complex consists of two kinds of subunits: [AsMo12O40]3-and(CH2CH2CH2CH3)4N+ cations.


Conventional measurement techniques for the investigation of the behavior of corona‐charged polymer foil electrets allow one to determine the equivalent surface charge and the surface potential decay after termination of the charging process. This paper describes a technique which determines charges, currents, and potentials during the charging process. The application of this technique to Teflon and polyethylene foils show the usefullness of the method. The values of transit times and of the trap‐modulated mobility for polyethylene are obtained.


Aphanomyces euteiches Drechsler can cause severe root rot in peas. Previous research has identifi ed two bacterial isolates, Bacillus subtilis LU1241 and Paenibacillus polymyxa LU1133, able to suppress aphanomyces root rot of peas. If these bacteria are to be used as biological control agents in the fi eld, it is important to know whether their effi cacy is affected by commonly used pesticides. An assay was developed to determine the effect of selected fungicides, insecticides and herbicides on populations (colony forming units) of the two potential biological control agents. None of the fungicides (cyproconazole, metalaxyl-M, azoxystrobin and sulphur) inhibited growth of P. polymyxa and all stimulated growth of B. subtilis compared with the non-fungicide control. The herbicides sethoxydim and bentazone had no effect on either bacterium and diquat signifi cantly inhibited growth of B. subtilis but had no effect on P. polymyxa. The insecticides pirimicarb, lambda-cyhalothrin and diazinon had no effect on B. subtilis. Pirimicarb had no effect on P. polymyxa, but abnormal colony morphology with spreading growth was observed for both diazinon and lambda-cyhalothrin. Different sensitivity to the pesticides was observed with each bacteria species and this could infl uence the use of the biological control agents in a fi eld environment.


Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is among the most common complications of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Throughout 2020 pandemic, the clinical approach to COVID-19 has progressively improved, but it is unknown how these changes have affected AKI incidence and severity. In this retrospective analysis, we report the trend over time of COVID-19 associated AKI and need of renal replacement therapy in a large health system in New York City, the first COVID-19 epicenter in United States.


The article aims at the economic evaluation of launching a completely new product – an unstable rowing simulator. The analysis of the scientific literature has revealed that creation and launching of new products consists of 8 stages – from generation of ideas to launching. Since for the economic evaluation of the unstable rowing simulator there were no opportunities to apply the formalized methods, the method of expert evaluation was engaged. The results of the expert evaluation have revealed that the unstable rowing simulator is useful for personal health. It improves balance, coordination and suits fitness clubs. Simulator's market price should fall into the interval from 2001 to 3000 Litas. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p1741


Scientists are now able to simulate highly complex fluid-flow fields with supercomputers. The understanding of these computed flow fields has become a major task in itself. This paper describes the application of high-performance interative computer graphics at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center to assist in the analysis and understanding of the complex fluid-flow fields simulated on supercomputers.


The study was carried out in the Elementary Classes of Andalus Private Schools, girls section using control and experimental groups formed by Random Assignment Strategy. The study aimed at investigating the effect of Al-Andalus Fused Curriculum (AFC) model of learning and the effect of separate subjects' approach on the development of students' conceptual learning and skills acquiring. The society of the study composed of Al-Andalus Private Schools, elementary school students, Girls Section (N=240), while the sample of the study composed of two randomly assigned groups (N=28) with one experimental group and one control group. The study followed the quantitative and qualitative approaches in collecting and analyzing data to investigate the study hypotheses. Results of the study revealed that there were significant statistical differences between students' conceptual learning and skills acquiring for the favor of the experimental group. The study recommended applying this model on different educational variables and on other age groups to generate more data leading to more educational results for the favor of students' learning outcomes. Keywords—AFC, Lego Education, mechatronics, STEAM, AlAndalus Fused Curriculum.


The global scale of external debt is the greatest in history, which made it one of the biggest financial problems in the world. Poland has been among the greatest debtors for a few dozen years. The objective of the paper is to show the scale, reasons and tendencies concerning Polish external debt. Furthermore, in the present paper, Polish external debt was compared with the ones of Visegrad group countries.


An initial assessment of the impact of preliminary data proposed for ENDF/B-VII has been made using the MCNP criticality validation suite. Relative to ENDF/B-VI, the data changes primarily involve high-energy elastic and inelastic scattering in the uranium isotopes and {sup 239}Pu, as well as resonance parameters for {sup 238}U. The criticality validation suite is a collection of 31 benchmarks taken from the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Benchmark Experiments. It contains cases for a variety of fuels, including {sup 233}U, highly enriched uranium (HEU), intermediate-enriched uranium (IEU), low-enriched uranium (LEU), and plutonium. For each fuel type, there are cases with a variety of moderators, reflectors, spectra, and geometries. The cases in the suite are summarized in Table I. Three sets of calculations were performed for the suite using the MCNP5 Monte Carlo code. The first set employed nuclear data from ENDF/B-VI Release 8, the final release for ENDF/B-VI. The second set employed preliminary ENDF/B-VII data generated by group T-16 at Los Alamos National Laboratory for the uranium isotopes and for {sup 239}Pu but retained ENDF/B-VI data for all other nuclides. The third set was the same as the second except that a new set of {sup 238}U resonance parameters generatedmore » by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was added to the T-16 evaluation. The MCNPS calculations were run with 5,000,000 active neutron histories for all but two cases in the suite. Only 3,000,000 active histories were used for those cases, SB-5 and Zebra-8H, because they require substantially more computer time per history than the other cases. Nonetheless, the standard deviation for k{sub eff} from those cases is comparable to those for other cases in the suite. The results from these calculations are presented in Table II. The preliminary ENDF/B-VII data produce marked improvements in k{sub eff} for bare spheres of {sup 233}U (Jezebel-233), HEU (Godiva), and plutonium (Jezebel and Jezebel-240) as well as the other unreflected HEU and plutonium cases (Tinkertoy02 (c-11) and Pu Buttons, respectively). Furthermore, the reactivity swings between those bare spheres and the corresponding Flattop cases (which enclose the sphere inside an annulus of normal uranium) are substantially decreased. The changes also significantly improve k{sub eff} for BIG TEN and for HEU and plutonium spheres immersed in water (Godiver and Pu-MF-11, respectively). In addition, inclusion of the ORNL resonance parameters for {sup 238}U produces a significantly better value for k{sub eff} for B&W XI (2), a lattice of LEU fuel pins in water, and ORNL-II, an unreflected sphere of uranyl nitrate solution enriched in {sup 233}U. At the same time, the preliminary ENDF/B-VII data produce worse results for thermal lattices of {sup 233}U and HEU pins in water (SB-2 1/2 and SB-5, respectively), for the bare IEU sphere (IEU-MF-03) and the IEU sphere reflected by graphite (IEU-MF-04), for a plutonium sphere reflected by thorium (THOR), and for a MOX lattice in water (PNL-33). Furthermore, k{sub eff} for the uranium cases with intermediate spectra remains substantially underpredicted, while k{sub eff} for the plutonium case with an intermediate spectrum (HISS/HPG) continues to be significantly over-predicted. In conclusion, preliminary ENDF/B-VII data for the uranium isotopes and {sup 239}Pu produce improvements for most of the cases with fast spectra, BIG TEN, and the lattice of LEU fuel pins in water. However, improvements still are needed in some areas, particularly those cases with intermediate spectra.« less


The pulled elbow is the most common dislocation in childhood and as such represents a significant proportion of childhood injuries presenting to an acci dent and emergency department. In this article, we bring together the available research in discussing its pathophysiology, diagnosis, investigations and management.


In this paper, a novel bacterial foraging algorithm (BFA)-Gaussian support vector classifier machine (GSVCM) model was proposed to improve the fatigue classification accuracy of electromyography (EMG) signals. This optimization mechanism involves the kernel parameter setting in the GSVCM training procedure, which significantly influences the classification accuracy. Experiments were conducted based on the EMG signal to differentiate the normal and fatigue status. In the proposed method, the EMG signals were decomposed into intrinsic mode functions by ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) before the mean instantaneous frequency could be obtained by Hilbert transform (HT). Finally, the fatigue statistical features can be extracted from fast Fourier transform and EEMD—HT. The application of this model to the fatigue status recognition of EMG signal indicated that further significant enhancement of the classification accuracy can be achieved by the proposed BFA-GSVCM classification system. The diagnostic method is effective and feasible.


We present a *D scene of Assyrian stone reliefs from the Northwest Palace for a museum setting. Our scene includes *D models of a stone relief that was scanned at the Yale University Art Gallery and reconstructed using structure from motion *D reconstruction software. This scene has a variety of features designed to enhance the experience of the viewer. Various lighting models such as torchlight and sunlight are meant to emulate the lighting in the era that these reliefs were created. The ability to toggle exaggerated shading allows the users to bring out more details in the reliefs, and the ability to integrate various coloring predictions for the relief into the scene is also available.


Recent inspection by the Israel Antiquities Authority has shed light on several issues related to the history of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem:important data has been gathered regarding the character of the rock at the summit of the hill; knowledge of the drainage systems and the cisterns that have served the Temple Mount has been augmented; in several places ancient structures buried beneath layers of soil have been recorded; and several previously concealed architectural elements probably associated with the Second Temple period have been detected.


We draw on resource‐based logic to argue that relatively stable TMTs and boards are beneficial for young IPO firms because of the need to maintain and develop valuable firm‐specific capabilities and psychological attachment of pre‐IPO TMTs. Using panel data from 272 young IPO firms, we find that pre‐IPO TMT member exits negatively affect young IPO firms' survival and performance. This negative effect is greater when more post‐IPO outside directors are added. We also find that the above interaction is positively and negatively associated with survival and performance when TMT ownership declines substantially and when firms have a founder CEO, respectively.


One of the most promising and difficult challenges for field phenotyping is accurate and reliable counting of sorghum panicles using drone imagery both from RGB and multispectral cameras. In this paper, we present a hybrid Machine Learning method for sorghum panicle identification and counting.The methodology first consists in building a Machine Learning classifier following the two most used methods in the literature for drone and agriculture applications: Support Vector Machine Learning (SVM) and, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The present dataset includes 5300 images, and 60% of the dataset were used for training and 20% for testing and validation. Following the results obtained from these models, image segmentation using super-pixel affinity propagation and k-means clustering was used based on simple linear iterative clustering. With an accuracy of 99%, SVM gave a superior performance also in terms of precision and kappa when compared to the ANN model whose accuracy was 98%. Concerning the SVM, a radial basis kernel was used, and the sigma parameter was kept constant at a value of 5.6 determined analytically.


To protect peasant workers' rights,the key is to protect their right to labor. The article analyses the condition under which peasant workers' right to labor is damaged and the causes for it. On the basis of those,it puts forwards the idea that peasant workers' rights may be guaranteed by perfecting relevant law and regulations,with the help of the power of trade union organizations,through improving peasant workers' own qualities and establishing social protection system geared to them.


The influence of starch and amylopectin (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% w/v) in aqueous model food systems was evaluated for 20 volatile flavour compounds. To understand the influence of the gelling agents on the thermodynamic and kinetic component of volatile flavour release, the release of six alcohols, five ketones, four esters, three aldehydes, one sulphur compound and one terpene was determined under equilibrium conditions and mouth conditions. For equilibrium analysis, the air/product partition coefficients of the compounds were determined by equilibrium headspace gas chromatography. Under mouth conditions, the flavour released in a model mouth system was analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Both gelling agents and their concentration affected the release of the volatile compounds significantly, resulting in a distortion of the flavour composition. Under equilibrium conditions, starch showed greater flavour retention than amylopectin. Under mouth conditions the opposite was observed; amylopectin affected flavour release more than starch. Both functional group and chain length of the flavour compounds influenced the effect of the gelling agent. Since the effects of the gelling agents differed under mouth and equilibrium conditions, it is conceivable that the kinetic component of flavour release is of greater importance for the effect of these gelling agents on volatile flavour release than the thermodynamic component. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The chelating agent, 2,2'-bipyridine, was found to exhibit a hyperglycemic response in fasted rats following subcutaneous injection at doses ranging from 10 to 160 mg/kg. The hyperglycemic response to a submaximal, nonlethal dose of 40 mg/kg was transient; it reached a peak around 2 hours but was over within 24 hours. A slight hypoglycemic phase developed at 24 hours. Unlike the experience with other chelating agents no permanent diabetes was produced, even at doses as high as 140 mg/kg. The LD50 dose, determined for the subcutaneous route in rats, was found to be 131 mg/100 ml.

Although complexing with either zinc or ferrous iron was not implicated in the response, chelation as a possible mechanism was not entirely excluded.

The hyperglycemic action of 2,2'-bipyridine was completely blocked by adrenalectomy, by spinal transection, or by pretreatment with pentobarbital and morphine. Only partial blockade of the response was obtained by pretreatment with dihydroergotamine.

It is concluded that 2,2'-bipyridine causes a hyperglycemia by stimulation, through the central nervous system, of the release of the adrenal medullary hormones. This appears to be the main mechanism, but the contribution of other mechanisms, such as glucagon release, has not been ruled out by these studies.


Lung cancer is among the most commonly diagnosed cancers and the leading cause of cancer-related death globally, with approximately 85% of all lung cancers having non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The protein kinase LKB1 is the 3rd most frequently mutated gene in lung adenocarcinoma, and serves as a master regulator of cell metabolism and growth. LKB1-inactivating mutations have a significant impact on NSCLC development. Although KRAS mutation is most frequently co-mutated with the tumor suppressor p53, the strongest cooperation was seen with homozygous inactivation of LKB1. Loss of LKB1 on a KRAS-mutant (KL) background leads to increased tumor burden, shortened survival time and increased metastasis compared to loss of TP53 (KP). Furthermore, inactivation or loss of LKB1 correlated with poor prognosis, where tumors are typically aggressive and chemoresistant. To discover therapeutic vulnerabilities for this aggressive genetic subtype of lung adenocarcinoma, we evaluated the contribution of multiple single- and double-genetic alterations (KRAS G12D (K), LKB1 knockdown (L), and p53 knockdown (P)) to 3D invasion phenotypes using immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC3-KT) and conducted RNA transcriptome profiling of the invading HBEC3-KT 3D spheroids. We found that bone morphogenetic protein 6 (BMP-6) is upregulated in invasive KL spheroids only compared to K and KP, suggesting that the loss of both KL drives increased BMP6 expression. Consistent with this finding, the iron regulator hepcidin, which is regulated by BMP6 is also upregulated in KL spheroids. Both BMP-6 and hepcidin expression can be repressed by restoring exogenous LKB1 in KL spheroids suggesting that LKB1 loss is at least in part responsible for the overexpression of the BMP6/hepcidin pathway. In addition, inhibition of BMP-6 signaling via BMP type I receptor ALK2 using small molecule inhibitor LDN214117 suppressed of cell invasion in 3D culture and decreased tumor growth in a KL syngeneic mouse model. Collectively, our findings show that upregulation of hepcidin via BMP6 signaling and followed by iron sequestration in tumor cells is part of the metastatic invasion strategy of LKB1 inactivated NSCLC. Therefore, current clinical strategies targeting BMP6 signaling could improve outcomes for LKB1-mutant lung cancer patients.
 Citation Format: Junghui Koo, Chang-Soo Seong, Bhakti Dwivedi, Carol Tucker-Burden, Adam I. Marcus, Melissa Gilbert-Ross. Targeting bone morphogenetic protein 6 as a therapeutic target for LKB1-inactivated lung cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1036.


Introduction Progress in reducing mortality from pneumonia in children under 5 years of age has been relatively slow in many parts of the developing world, where about 155 million clinical pneumonia episodes and 2 million deaths occur annually. (1,2) Risk factors for pneumonia include stunting and underweight) (1,3,4) suboptimal breastfeeding, (5,6) lack of immunization (7,8) and indoor air pollution from household use of solid fuels. (9-12) There is evidence that effective and appropriate management of clinical cases is possible (13,14) at health-care facilities (15) and in the community, (16) but this level of management is often lacking. Efforts to control pneumonia are needed to meet Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4), to reduce child mortality in the world by two-thirds by 2015. (17) Often, a package of priority interventions is developed to address MDG targets and reduce child mortality. (4,6,18-20) Cost-effectiveness analysis has become vital in deciding what interventions to implement and scale up. (21) Single-candidate interventions to reduce pneumonia have been evaluated in general economic terms, (6,11,18,22-24) but no comprehensive analysis has focused on pneumonia control. Different interventions can affect incidence of case fatality, with differences noted across age groups. Population risk interventions can target specific subpopulations, while immunization is intended for all infants. Preventive interventions of this kind may reduce the incidence of pneumonia, whereas case management influences case fatality after falling ill. Both types of interventions can reduce pneumonia mortality. The aim of this study was to compare the impact of eight preventive and curative interventions at the population level (6,25-27) and to identify the intervention mixes that generate the highest possible level of child health at the lowest cost. Methods To estimate the population health effects and total costs of pneumonia interventions from a health-care perspective, we applied demographic life tables for the 40 countries with the highest mortality (list available at: http://oldwww.bmg.eur.nl/ personal/niessen/Webtable%20Countries%20by%20Region. doc The tables were used to estimate the health effect of risk factors, as well as the reductions in incidence and case fatality in population cohorts, simultaneously and consistently. (6,25-27) Detailed descriptions of concepts, methods, background papers, regional studies and data are available at: WHO-CHOICE (CHOosing Interventions that are Cost Effective) at: www.who.int/choice/en. Box 1 provides an overview of the approach. We considered the epidemiological characteristics and level of health care of each of the 40 countries, as well as the coverage levels of the expanded programme on immunization (EPI) and of facility-based case management. Due to the large uncertainties involved in the epidemiologic, effectiveness and cost estimates, we included a high and a low cost-effectiveness scenario for each mix of interventions. Each country's life table provides summary estimates of how pneumonia affects mortality and morbidity, expressed in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost. The tables also provide estimates of the effect and cost of mixed health interventions, in United States dollars (US$) for the year 2000, with a 3% discount rate according to health economics guidelines. We combined estimated health gains and costs per intervention to identify the sets of health interventions that maximized child health at different budget levels by providing the greatest health yield per dollar spent. The life tables were implemented in C++ (a general programming language) using M language (a language for working with data and building domain models). The script with M-equations is available at: http:// old www.bmg.eur.nl/persona/niessenl GAPP_LOW.MPdf.pdf Epidemiologic and demographic data The life tables used in the model were based on the recently published WHO country data, which draw on reviews of incidence and mortality for childhood and neonatal pneumonia. …


This article explains with the cases of the prepress processing of the Chinese-traditional version periodical published in the China's mainland,analiyses the quality of the conversion methods of the Chinese simple and traditional character and discusses the characteristic and merit of the self-made software which benefits the artificial intervention during the actual work.


Two-capacitor matching properties for digital to analog (DA) and analog to digital (AD) converters were evaluated by using different etchers. The etching step for forming the upper layer was carried out by: (i) a barrel plasma etcher, (ii) a downstream plasma etcher, and (iii) a parallel-plate reactive ion etcher (RIE). Matching errors processed in the barrel and downstream etchers with isotropic etching characteristics were 0.38% and 0.15% in full scale, respectively. The error processed in the downstream etcher was 40% of that processed in the barrel etcher. It is estimated that the improvement in the down-stream etcher is caused by better uniformity and a smaller coefficient of lateral etching. The matching error processed in RIE was 0.096% in full scale and 62% of that processed in the downstream etcher. RIE with the anisotropic etching characteristic can minimize the lateral etching. Therefore, RIE decreases the error caused by the nonuniformity of the etching rate. >


Completion time in a manufacturing sector is the time required to complete a product in sequence process during production operation. In a semiautomatic production line, manpower factors such as fatigue and pressure are two significant influences on completion time. However, it is found that previous studies lack the concern to include manpower factor in completion time. Hence, this paper develops a causal loop diagram and stock flow diagram to simulate the influence of manpower factor on the completion time in a semiautomatic production line. In this research, a well-known audio speaker manufacturer is selected as a case company. As a result, it is found that the preparation time for materials has a great impact on fatigue and pressure as it contributes the highest percentage of deviation from the completion time base run with 72.22%. Finally, a policy regarding completion time improvement is recommended to the management to enhance their production performance.


Abstract. Subcontractors develop around 90% of all items in a construction project, hence the success of the project depends largely on their performance. For this reason, its proper choice is essential; however, in many cases, this process is based on a single criterion: cost. In many projects, the performance of the subcontractors is not always the most expected, resulting in delays, additions and mainly rework without a change in the scope of the outsourced activities. Therefore, the use of the new multi-criterion selection techniques is essential to optimize the selection process. The present research adopts the Analytic Hierarchy Process – AHP, the technique in multi-family building construction projects, since it seeks to optimize the subcontractor selection process based on more than one criterion such as quality, cost, lead time and financial stability through schematization, hierarchy, and formulation of a mathematical model, to be able to choose the most efficient subcontractor for the selected item, complying with the expected standards. The results provide that the subcontractor chosen by the AHP technique improves the performance of the project.


In order to improve the fungicidal activity against phytopathogens and enlarge the constructed molecular library, eighteen novel ( E )-3-(1-iminoethyl)-5,5-disubstituted-4-(methylamino)-furan-2(5 H )-ones were designed and synthesized based on the diversity-oriented synthesis strategy when the C-4 phenyl group of 3-(1-iminoethyl)-5,5-disubstituted-4-phenylfuran-2(5 H )-one was replaced with the methylamino group. Their structures were characterized by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, HR-MS spectral data. The crystal structure of ( E )-3-(1-((4-methoxybenzyloxy)imino)ethyl)-4-(methylamino)-1-oxaspiro[4.5]dec-3-en-2-one ( 5O ) was determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. The bioassay results indicated that all compounds did not exhibit significant in vivo fungicidal activities against phytopathogens, but some of them showed good insecticidal activities against Plutella xylostella , Mythimna seprata and Myzus persicae with 100% mortality at the concentration of 600 μ g/mL.


This article describes the security measures motor coach companies are taking in the wake of September 11 and the London bombings. The Department of Homeland Security has offered grants to various operators and organizations to upgrade security programs. Motor coach operators have focused primarily on increasing communication with their fleets with simple solutions like cell phones pre-programmed to contact local emergency authorities and the operator's home office, as well as more technical solutions. Some have outfitted their fleets with a global positioning tracking system that includes a hidden panic button for drivers. The system will allow the company to track the location of all its buses and notice if they are straying from their scheduled route. Unlike the airlines, motor coach operators have not developed a "no fly list" but in some cases they have implemented random passenger screening programs.


Although abstractive summarization models have achieved impressive results on document summarization tasks, their performance on dialogue modeling is much less satisfactory due to the crude and straight methods for dialogue encoding. To address this question, we propose a novel end-to-end Transformer-based model FinDS for abstractive dialogue summarization that leverages Fin er-grain universal D ialogue semantic S tructures to model dialogue and generates better summaries. Experiments on the SAMsum dataset show that FinDS outperforms various dialogue summarization approaches and achieves new state-of-the-art (SOTA) ROUGE results. Finally, we apply FinDS to a more complex scenario, showing the robustness of our model. We also release our source code 1


Gymnothorax tamilnaduensissp. nov., a new species of short brown unpatterned moray, is described, based on four specimens ranging from 272–487 mm total length collected from the trawl bycatch landings at Mudasalodai fish landing centre, off Cuddalore coast, Tamil Nadu, southeast coast of India. The new species is distinguished by the following combination of characters: origin of dorsal fin at middle of rictus and gill opening, anus just before mid-body, series of lines of small dark spots present on head and a single line of black spot-on mid-line of body, jaw pores with white rim, anal-fin margin whitish, 3 pre-dorsal vertebrae, 56–59 pre-anal vertebrae and 139–150 total vertebrae. The new species differs from its known Indian water congeners by having series of lines of small dark spots present on the head and a single line of black spots on the mid-line of the body (vs. absent in all the three congeners in India), serrated teeth (vs. smooth), jaw pores with white rim (vs. black to brown in others) and higher vertebral count (139–150 vs. 134–138 in others). Our morphological and molecular analyses show that the new species forms a distinct clade from its congeners and these data support the status as a new species.


The methods of density functional theory (DFT in Kohn-Shem formalism) currently play the role of main instruments of quantum chemistry. The examination of the oxygen atoms behavior in germanium requires preliminary calibration of the functionals for less resourceintensive problems. With this end calibration of the germanium exchange and correlational functionals was made for the finite calculation of such parameters as oscillation frequencies, dipole moment, full electron energy. A correlation was found between the calculated values of Ge-O bond lengths and harmonic oscillation frequency. The functionals for further study of the oxygen behaviour in crystalline germanium were determined.


Abstract James WF, Bischoff JM. 2019. Aluminum:phosphorus binding ratios and internal phosphorus loading characteristics 12 years after aluminum sulfate application to Lake McCarrons, Minnesota. Lake Reserv Manage. 36:1–13. Lake McCarrons, Minnesota, an urban eutrophic system (mean depth = 7.6 m, maximum depth = 17.4 m) located in the St. Paul metropolitan area, was treated in 2004 with ∼77 g Al/m2 uniformly over depths >1.5 m to reduce internal phosphorus (P) loading. Sediment cores were collected at various depths and areas in the lake in 2016, 12 yr after the Al treatment, to examine concentrations and vertical distribution of Al, Al-bound P, the aluminum:Al-bound P (Al:P) binding ratio, and current anaerobic diffusive P flux. The Al floc became redistributed after application and varied with respect to the northwest–southeast (NW-SE) maximum fetch. Added Al was maximal in the SE area, exceeding nearly 180% of the target Al dose, and buried with up to 5 cm of sediment. In the NW, added Al was lower (14% to 34% of target Al dose) to not detected and dispersed in the upper 3 cm with little burial. Al-bound P increased with increasing added Al concentration over all stations. The molar Al:P binding ratio approached 10:1 in conjunction with lowest added Al concentrations found in the NW, suggesting P saturation and inefficient control of newly deposited redox P and corresponding diffusive P flux. Although SE areas had the greatest added Al, the molar Al:P binding ratio was > 30:1, suggesting poor binding efficiency and crystallization. This Al floc has become buried, and redox P in surface sediment now represents an important internal P load to the lake to be managed in the future.


We demonstrate three-dimensional control with the eukaryotic cell Tetrahymena pyriformis (T. pyriformis) using two sets of Helmholtz coils for xy-plane motion and a single electromagnet for z-direction motion. T. pyriformis is modified to have artificial magnetotaxis with internalized magnetite. To track the cell's z-axis position, intensity profiles of non-motile cells at varying distances from the focal plane are used. During vertical motion along the z-axis, the intensity difference is used to determine the position of the cell. The three-dimensional control of the live microorganism T. pyriformis as a cellular robot shows great potential for practical applications in microscale tasks, such as target transport and cell therapy.


. Convergence results for optimized Schwarz methods (OSM) applied as solvers for Poisson's equation in a bounded rectangular domain with Dirichlet (physical) boundary conditions and zeroth-order (Robin) artificial transmission conditions between subdomains are presented. The analysis presented applies to a continuous formulation on an arbitrary number of subdomains with cross points. Both synchronous and asynchronous versions of OSM are discussed. Convergence theorems are presented, and it is shown numerically that the hypotheses of these theorems are satisfied for certain configurations of the subdomains. Additional numerical experiments illustrate the practical behavior of the methods discussed.


The present article is a review study on the types of rare earth elements (REEs), environmental and biological effects as well as the sources of emission of these elements as pollution in nature. The purpose of this study is to provide a vision in environmental planning and control of pollution caused by REEs. The evaluation of rare earth elements was studied in human life and its environmental and biological effects, which have particular importance and are entering the life cycle through industrial and mining pollution sources. Since mining activities intensify the dispersion of these elements in the environment and the existence of industrial factories located around urban drainage system plays a unique role in creating and spreading pollution caused by rare earth elements; As a result, two case studies were conducted on two mining and industrial areas. The first case is the Choghart mine in Yazd province as an example of mining pollution,and the second case study is performed on the Kor river as an example of industrial pollution which is caused by industrial activities around it, Then the results are well explained to show both two environments of litho and hydro. Due to this fact that produced environmental pollution can cause exchange pollutant compounds with the surrounding environment besides its long-lasting destructive effects; It can cause irreversible biological effects on living organisms. By targeting this evaluation, several techniques can be proposed to prevent the entry and dispersal of rare earth elements from pollution sources besides methods to reduce the damage of these elements to the ecosystem.


A mathematical model is presented for proton conduction in the thin ionomer layer that covers the carbon supported catalyst in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The cathode proton resistance (R H+ , cath ) has been previously measured in a H 2 /N 2 cell using ac impedance as a function of ionomer-to-carbon mass ratio (I/C) m , ionomer equivalent weight, and relative humidities (RH). After considering the effect of roughness and ionomer absorption in the carbon support, the model favorably agrees with the experimental results. It shows that the cathode proton resistivity is indeed an intrinsic property, which for a given type of carbon support depends on the volumetric ionomer-to-carbon ratio, which accounts for the RH-induced ionomer swelling. Further analysis indicates that the roughness and porosity of the carbon particles play a significant role for the proton conduction. The amount of ionomer absorbed into the pores and the roughness factor of the carbon particles can be extracted from a comparison of the model and data.


According to David Miller, there exists a special relationship between migrants at the border and members of a political community that the migrant hopes to join. It is the task of a political philosophy of migration to define a state's obligations toward individuals who are vulnerable to the state's actions without being members of the political community. I define the vulnerability in question as lacking capacity to be autonomous for lack of options to realize one's plan of life. I then discuss Miller's claim that what matters is sufficiency of generic options rather than access to all options. Miller wants to say that sufficiency can be achieved by assuring the protection of human rights. This claim neglects the source of the individual migrant's vulnerability. I therefore argue that Miller neglects the specific relationship he has identified between potential host state and hopeful migrant, and advocate instead that the potential host state has to consider the vulnerability that is due to its own policies, such as migration regimes. This grounds a causal responsibility to protect the basic interest in leading autonomous lives for the migrant at the border.


The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season had 17 named storms, 10 hurricanes, and 6 major hurricanes, generating over 226 units of accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), a measure used by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) that refers to the combined the intensity and duration of a hurricane. These statistics earned the hurricane season's classification as "extremely active," the most active since 2005. Preliminary estimates of damage due to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria amount to over $200 billion dollars in the United States alone. Recent studies suggest that the frequency of these high intensity Category 4 and 5 hurricanes is increasing (e.g. Mendelsohn et al., 2012). The 2017 hurricane season may thus be representative of an expected season. Accounting for projected increases in mean sea level, storm impacts may be exacerbated in coastal regions. These trends emphasize the need for effective damage mitigation techniques that improve the robustness and resiliency of coastal communities. Structures must be designed to not only avoid wave and surge loads, but also resist these forces in the event of a wave impact. Furthermore, creative, cost-effective solutions are required to mitigate waves and surge before they reach developed coastal areas. Thus, engineers require a robust, science-based methodology for predicting details of wave propagation over land and inland effects to ensure life safety and reduce economic loss due to extreme events. While traditional engineering strategies (e.g. seawalls, bulkheads) have been used to prevent coastal erosion and mitigate inland effects of hurricane waves and surge, recent storm events have shown potential of nature and natural based features (e.g. dune vegetation, mangroves, wetlands, salt-marshes, coral reefs, and seagrass) to protect coastal structures during storm events.


The main aim of this project was to study young people's ability to use science knowledge when talking about and explaining everyday phenomena involving transformations of matter. Students' individ ...


Innovation is an important element for teaching and learning in ensuring that the product is always relevant to current requirement. In vocational education, there are a lot of innovations should be carried out such as management, administration and facilities. In terms of the national corporation to become an industrialized nation the need for vocational education becomes fundamental. The relationship between teacher's pedagogy beliefs and students learning style can be seen as one mediated through process whereby teacher's beliefs influence their teaching strategies which will turn influence student's learning style. It is therefore important in VET to address teacher's new teaching methods, vocational skills, knowledge and student's learning style to make the practices in SVS can fulfill the goal of VET in globalization. This paper is to describe the role of Vocational Education Training (VET) for preparation to produce human capital start from the basis level. VET in Malaysia started in secondary school and for specific purposes Vocational Secondary School (VSS) has been designed to fulfill the needs of future workforce. Teachers are the main factors to have systematic and interesting approach for students and stakeholders to make VET in VSS is the main choice of education to developed student carrier pathways. The focused in this paper is what is the practices in VSS can achieved the current and future workforce in flexible manner and at a consistent level of quality. It also to review what does it mean to teach in VET and what makes an effective VET teacher. The factors consists the approach to teach in VET, role of teachers and VET students preferences. In summary, the investigation of VET practices will improve the skills of VET teachers including pedagogy and vocational skills it will provide the effectiveness of teaching.


The purpose of this study was to detect the behavior of mouse mating using video surveillance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on developing the algorithm for the automatic detection of mouse mating based on video surveillance. First, the mouse movement in a cage was detected by the background subtraction method. When two mice contacted, the corresponding contour can be extracted by edge detection method, by which the distances between the centroid and the edge pixels of contour were determined as a waveform signal. After further sub-sampling and smoothing the waveform, two decision criteria emerged: (1) the total number n of peaks and troughs and (2) the angle θ between two lines connecting the adjacent peak-edges and the centroid of the contour. By using these two criteria, we can successfully detect the mating behavior in the recorded video. Experimental results showed that 87.0% of precision and recall accuracy can be achieved.