Developmental education courses in Texas community colleges changed from providing layered developmental education requiring students to complete as many as six courses in reading and writing to a streamlined structure of limited stand-alone courses and a growing number of corequisite courses. In 2015, fewer than 50 of college-preparatory students completed a transfercredit course within 2 years of their initial enrollment in developmental programs and by 2019 the record was not better because The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB, 2019) reported that only 44 to 64 meet readiness standards within two years, and about 28 to 41 go on to complete a college-level course (p. 16). In response to those results, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 2223 in 2017. This legislation significantly reshaped Texas college-preparatory education by se ng required timelines for changes in course design. Rather than thinking of college-preparatory courses as stand-alone components of an instructional program separate from degree-bearing programs, Texas educators re-imagined developmental courses as corequisites to transfer-credit classes. First, HB 2223 reduced stand-alone developmental education sources offered. The plan required that 25 of developmental students be enrolled in a corequisite model in Spring 2018, in Fall 2019 50 would be enrolled in the new course organization, and 75 in Fall 2020 (THECB, 2018). Texas community-college leaders and faculty developed several options to increase student enrollment in credit-bearing courses. One option combines a shortened version of a developmental course added to a credit bearing course. This NonCourse Based Option (NCBO) generally provides justin-time instruction to fill in gaps of knowledge and skills that limit student progress in the credit-bearing course. Adding 1 or 2 hours of instruction to each week s class schedule, NCBOs extend a traditional course like English Composition I to include tutorial experiences designed to address weaknesses in student writing and reading skills. Current research supports pairing integrated reading and writing (INRW) with English to enhance students progress. Kuehner and Hurley (2019) conducted a 2-year study in which they measured developmental education students success in their accelerated IRW and English courses during the Fall and Spring semesters of 2014 and 2015. Kuehner and Hurley determined that more students completed English Composition I in the accelerated program than students in traditional developmental courses and earned higher GPAs. However, INRW can be successful if paired with other college-level courses. The purpose of this paper is to discuss an alternative option in which college preparatory students simultaneously enroll in an INRW course and a credit Humanities (HUMA) course as an alternative to the traditional English composition (COMP) credit bearing course. This academic strategy provides students legitimate instruction in basic skills of reading, writing, and critical thinking and expedites student progress through the credit curriculum. The paper focuses on our initial planning, course delivery, and results in our INRW/HUMA course pairings. ABSTRACT


The establishment perfect university library electron reading room services structure,may enhance the network resource effectively the use factor,displays the university electron reading room well the education function and the information service function,provides the renewal for the reader,a more perfect service,causes the electronic reading room to become the general teachers and students to gain the information resource,to accept the information education for all-around development and the development teaching,the scientific research activity Parent base truly.


5%,10% and 20% deformation are achieved to the 316LN matrix material respectively by rolling,then they are annealed at 1050℃ for 30 minutes.The specimens are made by the materials of differ-ent deformation in the two treatment conditions.After that,the SCC(stress corrosion cracking) experiment is carried out in boiling saturated magnesium chloride solution by the constant load tensile technology.Compar-ing with the SCC behaviors and crack growth rates of the specimens,the crack growth rate of 316LN is sensitive to the deformation.The bigger deformation changes,the poorer resistance to the SCC behavior and the faster crack growth rate.The treatment of rolling plus annealing leads better resistance to SCC behaviors than the treatment of rolling alone,indicating that the annealing can indeed improve the SCC resistance of 316LN.


Emotional intelligence is a concept that identifies attributes that help people more adequately cope with the demands of life. They do this through their ability to recognize, use and manage their emotions and the emotions of others (Stein & Book, 2000). The skills and attributes of emotional intelligence, such as the ability to be self aware, to manage our emotions effectively, and to be empathic have been viewed in the literature as crucially important in nurses.


Adders are known to have the frequently used in VLSI designs. In digital design we have half adder and full adder, main adders by using these adders we can implement ripple carry adders. RCA use to perform any number of addition. In this RCA is serial adder and it has commutation delay problem. If increase the ha&fa simultaneously delay also increase. That's why we go for parallel adders(parallel prefix adders). IN the parallel prefix adder are ks adder(kogge-stone),sks adder(sparse kogge-stone),spaning tree and brentkung adder. These adders are designd and implemented on FPGA sparton3E kit. Simulated and synthesis by model sim6.4b, Xilinx ise10.1.


Abstract : Document discusses the use of mechanical, physical and chemical evaluation techniques for solid lubricants. Those mechanical evaluation tests reviewed include simulative friction and wear tests and component test employing specimens such as gears and bearings. Physical and chemical tests include those for studying adhesion, thermal resistance, fluid compatibility, oxidation behavior, film thickness and thermal shock tests.


Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of the 308nm excimer laser for the treatment of alopecia areata.Methods: A total of 28 lesions from 17 alopecia areata patients were treated with 308nm excimer laser twice a week for 12 weeks.Take one untreated lesion from each patients as control.Resulst:Completed air regrowth were observed in 14 lesions.The cure rate and effective rate in experimental group were 50%and 71.42%.No hair regrowth were observed in control goup.Conclusion: The 308nm excimer laser was remarkably effective and safe,while phychological care and life nursing were important factors in gaining favorable curative effect.


The most significant changes of landscape in a certain period are landscape area changes and spatial changes of landscape patches.Based on transfer matrix and total amount change of landscape area,landscape space transfer index and landscape area change index were established,and then applied to analyze plain oasis and desert in Yutian County,Xinjiang Uyghur Nationality Autonomous Region,the results showed that landscape space transfer in this region was drastic,but total landscape area changed only slightly,thus space transfer index was much higher than area change index,which indicated that landscapes in arid area were given with particular spatial undulant features and sensitivity,while man-made landscapes(artificial oasis) are stable and expanding to some extent.With landscape space transfer index as the comprehensive indicator,space transfer intensity of landscape within a certain period can be demonstrated,which is favorable for the comparison of landscape change intensity among different types and within different periods,in addition,some macroscopic change features of landscapes can also be reflected by comprehensively analyzing landscape space transfer index and landscape area change index.


This study tried to estimate factors controlling stable isotopes in precipitation across Japan by using observation and model simulation. Observation of stable isotopes in precipitation were conducted by the Isotope Mapping Working Group of Japanese Association of Hydrological Sciences (IMWG/JAHS) throughout 2013. Also, stable isotopes in precipitation and water vapor were simulated by using a regional spectral model incorporated water isotopes (IsoRSM) with a horizontal resolution of 30km. In order to validate the simulation results, simulated monthly anomaly of δ 18 O from the annual mean values at 78 stations were averaged depend on the 7 climate regions and compared with observation. The correlation coefficients of them were over 0.70 with statistically significance. Spatial distributions of observed δ 18 O in precipitation across Japan show clear latitude effect in spring, fall and winter seasons, but that did not show in summer season. And, observed monthly δ 18 O in precipitation of June were lower than those for adjacent months in 6 climate regions except Northern Japan region. As a result of the IsoRSM simulation, spatial distribution of monthly δ 18 O in water vapor across Japan from June to September ranged from -22 to -20 permil and did not show the latitude effect. In the Baiu rainy season of 2013, precipitation amount was high in regions south of the Northern Japan region. It is suggested that monthly δ 18 O in precipitation was depleted by the amount effect in these regions. On the other hand, monthly δ 18 O in precipitation from June to September show the temperature effect in the Northern Japan region. stable isotopes in precipitation, the Baiu rainy season, precipitation amount effect


Objective To explore the effect of microalbuminuria in aggravating the development in elderly type 2 diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD). Methord 66 cases of elderly type 2 diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease were divided into study group and control group according microalbuminuria levels. The risk factors of aggravating the development of the IHD such as serum lipids,fasting blood glucose,fasting insulin,fibrinogen,intima-media thickness,the common carotid artery integral grade,sclerous plaques index,the thickness of interventricular septum and left ventricular ejection fraction were compared and analysed. Result Microalbuminuria positive patients in study group had more serious risk factors than the control group. The serious risk factors include: oder age,lower HDL,lower insulin sensitivity index,higher fibrinogen,more thickness of interventricular septum,lower left ventricular ejection fraction,higher common carotid artery integral grade,sclerous plaques index. There were statistic significances between two groups (P 0.05,P 0.01). Conclusion Microalbuminuria can aggravate the development of type 2 diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease because of more serious risk factors and its apperance also predicts a worse prognosis.


Background: The influence of modern life and globalization in the life of
teenagers causes the tendency for permissive attitude of teenagers
towards free sex or premarital sex behavior. Religiosity is an important
protective element that can control attitude and behavior of teenagers.
Objective: To identify attitude of teenagers towards sexual behavior
influenced by religious beliefs of teenagers.
Methods: The study was observational that used cross sectional design
and quantitative as well as qualitative approaches. Population of the study
was teenagers of 15-24 years old, sample ware 128 respondents. Data
analysis used Chi square and logistic regression at 95% confidence
interval.
Result: As much as 53.1% of teenagers had negative attitude towards
sexual behavior. Degree of religiosity statistically and practically had
significant association with attitude of teenagers towards sexual behavior
with score of p=0.0001 and RP=2.08 (95%CI=1.40-3.08). The result of
bivariate analysis showed there was significant association between
variable of relationship with parents p=0.02 and RP=1.56 (95%CI=1.05-
2.29) and variable of influence of peers p=0.03 and RP=1.54 (95%
CI=1.03-2.29) and attitude of teenagers towards sexual behavior. The
result of logistic regression analysis showed degree of religiosity had the
probability to predict positive attitude of teenagers towards sexual behavior
as much as 14% after being controlled with variable of relationship with
parents and variable of the influence of peers.
Conclusion: Degree of religiosity had association with attitude of
teenagers towards sexual behavior. Teenagers with higher degree of
religiosity had more positive attitude towards sexual behavior.


have been subjected to recurrence and multiple excisions. The first Mohs stage removed a small margin around the clinically evident portion of the tumor, but 2 more stages were required to clear the neoplasm histologically. This is the first reported case of Mohs micrographic surgery for a perineurioma and the authors believe that this offered their patient the best outcome for this destructive lesion in the cosmetically and functionally sensitive location of the distal nose.


JOSHUA LEDERBERG: Nothing pushed me further into a scientific career. It is very hard for me to convey this but for as far
 back as I can remember that was a very deep-seated drive. The only evidence I have of on that score was my first composition,
 which the very fact that my mother saved it will say something but, in second grade -- what do you want to be when you grow
 up? -- I want to be a scientist like Einstein and discover theories and mathematics. So I can document at least that part
 of it. [Chuckle.] It's a mystery where that came from and exactly what drove it. What nurtured it were my teachers at
 school, the library system in particular -- I learned far more from the books I read than I did in classes, and a somewhat
 ambiguous relationship with my father, but in the end one that was very encouraging. He was disappointed that I in some sense
 repudiated his rabbinical approach to the meaning of life. But in the end it was not a repudiation. We came to a creative
 compromise that the Lord has many mansions and science is one of them. And so his pride in me and my accomplishment even though
 it was not in the immediate direction of his own calling was a positive reinforcement. But I had no material content from
 that. The only books at home that would have had any bearing on this kind of learning and there were a dictionary and an encyclopedia
 and I read them from cover to cover. And so when I said "encyclopedic interests", I had that manifestation. [Chuckle.]


In the eleventh century, Chinese historians made significant advances in their craft. They also promoted certain moral views that differed from those of their predecessors. In particular, they seem to have adopted a distinctive perspective on women. This is most apparent when one compares the accounts of Notable Women included in the Xin Tang shu with those written for a similar chapter of the Jiu Tang shu a century previously. The present paper takes some of these accounts as a point of departure for an examination of this issue, its background, and related matters, giving special focus to the work of Ouyang Xiu.


The invention concerns a switching arrangement for monitoring leakage current from a circuit comprising a plurality of valve coils (L1, Ln), which are connected in parallel to a supply line (REF) and are earthed via individual switches (T1, Tn), the supply line (REF) being connected via a master switch (MD) to the positive pole of the supply voltage source (KL30, UB) and, additionally, to a test current source (3) used as a test signal source. The switching arrangement is designed such that, before each closure of the master switch (MD) and with the individual switches (T1, Tn) still open, the test current source (3) is connected to the supply voltage source (UB) and activated. As a result, the voltage potential on the supply line (REF) is increased. A comparator (5) establishes the difference between the potential on the supply line (REF) and the supply voltage potential. If the difference exceeds a threshold value, this indicates leakage current.


For the formation of cobalt polycide gate electrode, CoSi, was grown on columnar poly-Si, granular poly-Si or amorphous Si by depositing either Co monolayer or Co/Ti bilayer and its thermal stability was compared to study effects of the substrate crystallinity and the silicide formation method. When specimens were rapidly heat-treated at 90 up to 600 seconds, using amorphous Si or Co/Ti on all substrates improved the thermal stability. This was attributed to the uniform chemical composition of initial CoSi, and its smooth interface with the substrates, induced by smooth and clean Si surface and delayed Co diffusion. The main factors determining the thermal stability were found to be composition uniformity and smooth interface of , intially formed at the early stage of the heat-treatment.


The n-6 highly unsaturated fatty acids (n-6HUFAs), just like n-3 ones (n-3HUFAs), are essential to marine larval fish for their growth and survival. However, at present, its importance has not yet been fully emphasized in the study on the nutrition of marine larval fish. Arachidonic acid (AA), a type of n-6HUFAs, was studied based on few available reports to reveal the effects of AA on the growth and survival of larval Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus fed with microdiet.The feeding experiment was designed in different contents of AA in experimental microdiets and to find out the relation between the content and the growth and survival of the flounder, and their tissue compositions and tolerance against different ambient stresses. Four formulated experimental microdiets were made containing at AA dietary contents of 0.06%, 1.00%, 1.50% or 2.00%, respectively, with same proportions of n-3HUFA and DHA/EPA. Major base of the formula for the four microdiets consisted of special fish meal 74% (dry weight), mixed oils 10%, mixed vitamins 5.4%, mixed minerals 4.5%, phagostimulant 3.0%, and binders 3.1%. Larval fish were divided into four groups. And each group was subdivided in two containers at 200 each. Before experiment start, 40 were randomly picked for measuring the length, yielding mean total length of 4—5mm. The experiment began on May 24th, 2004, and ended on June 18th, 2004, lasted 26 days. The temperature of seawater was 17.5—21.5℃, pH 8.2—8.3, salinity 33, with continuous aeration. Water in the containers were changed by 1/2—4/5 daily. After the experiment, tests on low oxygen and high salinity were carried out to check the tolerance of larval fish to different stresses. The total length of every fish was measured by hand, and the survival rate of larval fish in every container was counted. Meanwhile, the contents of fatty acids in the fish bodies were measured by gas chromatography. All the data were analyzed statistically.The results showed that, when AA increasing from 0.06% to 1.5% in the microdiets, the mean total length of the fish increased from (11.83±1.04)mm to (13.58±1.08)mm, and the survival percentages of them were from (35.75±2.40)% to (44.75±2.49)%. However, when AA content increased from 1.5% to 2.0%, the mean total length reduced to (12.50±0.79)mm, and the survival rate to (32.00±2.33)%. The low-oxygen test and high-salinity test showed that, at 1.5% of AA content in experimental microdiet, the survival rate was the highest (100% and 95%, respectively). The AA contents in the fish bodies increased synchronically with those in the experimental microdiets, shown in our measurement. Therefore, under the experimental conditions, the optimal content of AA in microdiet for larval Japanese flounder was about 1.5%.


It is possible to improve work efficiency and also have a relaxation effect on a user by appropriately controlling color-lighting and illuminance of lighting environments. However, in many cases, color-lighting and illuminance adjustment requires use of information equipment, it is difficult for everyone to adjust these. Moreover, since color-lighting and illuminance affect each other, it is difficult to provide both simultaneously as desired by user. In this research, UI based on paper is used as a method to control full-color LED lighting. In the proposed method, color-lighting is adjusted to be closer to the color painted on the UI, and illuminance is controlled by simply touching the UI. The evaluation results suggest that the proposed method is capable of providing the target color-lighting while appropriately controlling illuminance at any arbitrary levels.


Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) take advantage of the high thermal inertia of the ground to achieve a higher energy efficiency compared to Air Source Heat Pumps. GSHPs, therefore, have the potential to reduce heating, cooling, and domestic hot water costs, however the high installation cost of borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) limits the growth of such installations. Nevertheless, GSHPs can be profitable under certain conditions (climate, expensive fuels, subsidies, etc.), which can be identified using geo-referenced data and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The proposed work investigates the economic and financial ability of GSHPs to cover the heat demand of the residential building stock of the Italian region Valle d'Aosta. To identify the opportunities offered by GSHPs in the Valle d'Aosta region, more than 40,000 residential buildings were analyzed using a GIS-based method. The return on the investment was then assessed based on the occurrence of two conditions—the Italian subsidies of the "Conto Termico" and the installation of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems—which contribute to the reduction of the initial and operation costs, respectively. The life-cycle costs of the four resulting combinations were compared with conventional systems composed of an oil/gas boiler and an air-source chiller. One of the main findings of this study is that subsidies exert a key role in the financial feasibility of GSHPs, especially for replacing gas boilers, whereas the presence of a PV system has a minor influence on the financial analysis carried out.


Abstract A Projection Error Propagation-based Regularization (PEPR) method is proposed and the reconstructed image quality is improved in Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). A projection error is produced due to the misfit of the calculated and measured data in the reconstruction process. The variation of the projection error is integrated with response matrix in each iteration and the reconstruction is carried out in EIDORS. The PEPR method is studied with the simulated boundary data for different inhomogeneity geometries. Simulated results demonstrate that the PEPR technique improves image reconstruction precision in EIDORS and hence it can be successfully implemented to increase the reconstruction accuracy in EIT.


Piriformis syndrome, a prevalent cause of low back discomfort around the world, is caused by muscular tightness. By serving as an external rotator, a weak hip abduction, and a weak hip flexor, the piriformis muscle promotes postural stability when walking and standing. Stretching aids in decreasing the stiffness of the Piriformis muscle at rest, as well as the risk of Sciatic compression caused by Piriformis tightness. Reduce discomfort and muscular tightness while increasing range of motion. The experiment will be a randomized trial. A total of 20 persons would be chosen for the study based on the inclusion or exclusion criteria from AVBRH & RNPC, Sawangi Meghe. The study will last six months. Twenty participants were divided into two groups. All groups received an ice pack approximately 10 minutes prior to stretching, and all groups received static stretching. Stretching is done for 30 seconds in group A and 10 seconds in group B. The key outcome measurements for the patient should be the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), range of motion evaluation using a universal goniometer, FAIR test, and SLR. The patient's predicted outcome may be that 30 seconds with stretching is more beneficial than 10 seconds of stretching since the longer stretching period has a bigger impact on the release of piriformis stiffness and the patient may be capable of performing compensatory movements as a result. This research gives the patient a recovery plan that will help him reduce discomfort, improve strength and range of motion, and return to normal activities.


The validity of predictive models for the thermal conductivity of foam insulation is established based on the fundamental geometry of the closed-cell foam. The extinction coefficient is experimentally and theoretically determined; the theoretical prediction based on measured geometrical properties differed from the measured values by an average of 6% for ten different foams An approximate method uses measured geometrical values to adjust the measured diffusion coefficients of reference foams. The adjusted coefficients are used as inputs to a computer program which computes the effective thermal conductivity of the foam as a function of time. Values of effective thermal conductivity measured on laboratory and field samples are used as a standard for comparing the results of the physical models and the ageing program. Measured and predicted values differ by 11%, 13%, 1%, 5%, and 1% for the initial thermal conductivity of five foams tested. These errors decrease with time. The ageing program is used to simulate the time-averaged performance as a function of foam density, mean cell diameter, and fractional distribution of solid polymer. The results of the simulation indicate that for a 15 year service life, the optimal density is approximately 3 lb / ft3 . Thesis Supervisor: Leon R. Glicksman Title: Professor of Building Technology


We present a resonance Raman study of the disorder-induced D mode in a sample highly enriched with semiconducting (9,7) single-walled carbon nanotubes in the excitation energy range of 1.49 - 2.05 eV. The intensity of the D mode shows a resonance behavior near the optical transition of the (9,7) tube. The well-known dispersion of the D-mode frequency, on the other hand, is not observed at the resonance, but only above a certain excitation energy. We explain our results by numerical simulations of the D-mode spectra.


Sixty points is currently taken by schools in China as the demarcation line to decide whether a student succeeds in his scholarly attainments. This article investigates different evaluation systems adopted by foreign or domestic ancient or modern schools, and holds that present evaluation system should be reformed, that is to say, the demarcation line should be upgraded to seventy points. The writer believes that the upgrading will prompt quality -oriented education and improve graduates professional competence as well.


Continental margins form the boundary between shallow shelf seas and the deep ocean basins encompassing the shelf edge, upper slope and lower slope. The shelf edge and upper slope regime is characterized by high sediment fluxes and mass failures leading to abundant down-slope resedimentation. In contrast the lower slope is influenced by ocean boundary currents which act to redistribute the fine grained hemipelagic and downslope sediment component into laterally extensive drift deposits. Recent interest in the geology of continental margins follows two principal research paths with widely different objectives: (1) the need to obtain palaeoceanographic records of high temporal resolution in order to decipher the past history of oceanic climate and circulation; (2) the need to understand seafloor instability and mass transport processes as risk factors in connection with hydrocarbon exploration in deep waters, off the shelf margin. The purpose of this Geological Society Special Publication is to provide examples of current and recent work on geological processes on continental margins. Hence, it should attract a wide audience of academics and professionals working within the field of marine geoscience. The volume consists of 19 papers which focus on (1) downslope, (2) alongslope and (3) hemipelagic processes. Downslope processes are covered by ten papers whereas hemipelagic processes is represented by only two papers. The geographical coverage of the volume is world-wide but the focus is on the NE Atlantic margin off the British Isles (11 studies). Other regions covered are the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, the Brazilian continental margin, the Western Antarctic Peninsula and the SE Greenland margin. The majority of studies are located on continental margins from mid to high latitudes where present shelf slope morphology and architecture were determined by repeated growth and decay of Pleistocene ice sheets. For this reason sedimentary processes related to glacial dynamics is a common theme throughout the volume. Depositional processes on the Barra and Sula Sgeir Fan inferred from acoustic imaging and seismic stratigraphy form the main subject of three papers by Holmes et al., Armishaw et al. and Baltzer et al. Since the mid-Miocene these slope apron fan systems have evolved as the main depocentres on the British Atlantic margin. Their present day fan morphology is largely the result of glacigenic debris-flows fed by ice streams during periods of maximum glacial expansion and low sea level stands. However, mass flow deposits representing events of presumed non-glacial origin are also present on these fan systems. These events were possibly triggered by seismic activity and over pressure in the sediment pile caused by methane gas escape. Two papers by Clausen and Ercilla et al. describe the acoustic characters of shelf-basin transects on high-latitude polar margins, South East Greenland and the Western Antarctic Peninsula respectively. At both sites shelf progradation was promoted by mass flow events during periods of ice sheet expansion, while migrating bedforms and erosional features along the lower slope provide evidence of present strong bottom current activity. In contrast to the commonly depicted passive margin setting Dobson et al. provide an interesting account of a glaciated transform margin in the Gulf of Alaska. They show how fan depositional cycles relate to expansion of tidewater glaciers across the shelf and tectonic translation along the Queen Charlotte fault zone causing a northward movement of the fan depocenters. An example of modern downslope processes on a non-glaciated margin is provided by Mulder et al. They demonstrate how modern catastrophic fluvial discharges from the Var River, off Nice, can lead to cascading sediment plumes (or hyperpycnal plumes) which are then considered as a mechanism for inversely graded turbidite deposits on the Var deep sea fan. A comprehensive overview of Palaeocene to Neogene sediment drift development in the Rockall basins is provided by Stoker. Sedimentation related to bottom current activity was initiated during mid-late Eocene following early Paleogene subsidence of the Rockall Trough and Hatton-Rockall Basin. The current regime of late Eocene to mid Miocene was vigorous and led to upslope accretion of migrating sediment bodies onto the flanks of the Rockall Trough. From the mid-Miocene a new circulation regime emerged following the submergence of the Scotland-Greenland ridge with accumulation persisting in the eastern parts of the Rockall Trough whereas sea bed erosion prevailed along its western margin. A high-resolution Late Quaternary record of current controlled sedimentation on the north Faeroese margin is presented by Rasmussen et al. Fifteen sediment cycles comprising alternating layers of dark silty, basaltic sediments and lighter, clayey sediments enriched in ice rafted sand are correlated with millennial scale climate oscillations (Dansgaard-Oeschger events) recorded in the Greenland ice cores. The darker layers were deposited during warm interstadials when circulation in the Norwegian Sea resembled the modern anti-estuarine pattern, with a strong eastward sediment flux along the slope of the northern Faeroe-Iceland margin. During cold stadials the centre of thermohaline convection shifted frortf the Norwegian sea to south of the Scotland-Greenland ridge, bottom circulation weakened and sediment was mainly derived through glacimarine input from the eastern


Crop species which are adapted to hot and dry climates will become increasingly important as the world warms. The Krikhouse Trust supporting research and education in the biological Sciences is devoted to agricultural crop improvement for the alleviation of poverty, with a focus on legumes. The trust has supported research on legumes because of their importance in providing high quality protein in the diets of resource-poor farmers. Among these crops are many stress tolerant legume species found in India and Africa, which are relatively minor and neglected crops. A new programme called ―Stress Tolerant Orphan Legumes‖ (STOL) for KT aims to support systematic studies of their potential to address the loss of agricultural productivity in the areas of the globe that are suffering from the grave climate stresses. There are obvious signs that climate change is already having severe effects on the agriculture where several crops are failing because of the changed climate. In addition to direct effects of heat and drought on crops, the country is suffering soil loss due to increase in desert area per year. Over grazing, intensive cultivation, removal of tree cover, poor water management have all been reasons for this loss which cannot be compensated by any means. One more versatile fact remains that large tracts of land are being taken out of production for diverse types of constructions by the governments for the people as well as by the people for their settlements in urban areas. There are three possible ways to mitigate this looming disaster. First one is the adoption of stress tolerant legume species which may help farmers to fight the ravages of climate stress: production of grain to feed the family and provide income; fodder and forage to livestock; ground cover as remedy for soil degradation. For this reason, there should be a diversity of species where some crops may prove to be multipurpose, providing grain and fodder, forage and other crops may be specialized for other function such as soil remedation. In this presentation, we are undertaking twelve orphan legumes viz., Cajanus cajan, Lablab purpureus, Macrotyloma uniflorum, Phaseolus acutifolius, Phaseolus lunatus, Phaseolus vulgaris, Tylosema esculentum, Vigna aeconitifolia, Vigna radiate, Vigna subterranean, Vigna umbillata and Vigna unguiculata for their potential of climate stress mitigation, ethno-botanical and ethno-medicinal uses.


Personality psychology is fragmented across heterogeneous subfields each focussing on particular aspects of individuals and from particular paradigmatic perspectives. Attempts for integration into overarching theories as that presented in the target article are therefore important. But the ideas proposed build on vague and often circular definitions of basic terms and concepts that hamper advancement and integration. My critique from philosophy-ofscience perspectives pinpoints central problems and presents alternative concepts to help overcome them. A metatheoretical definition highlights the core ideas underlying common personality concepts and opens new avenues for conceptual integration. Conceptual integrations presuppose clear definitions of basic terms and concepts. Personality psychology encounters particular challenges because its objects of research are phenomena of daily social life about which every person, including scientists, possesses comprehensive lay-psychological knowledge and vocabulary (Uher, 2011, 2015a). But unlike scientific concepts and terms, everyday concepts and terms are often fuzzy and contextsensitive (Hammersley, 2013) and contain circular explanations (Laucken, 1974; Uher, 2013, 2015b,c). Despite all scholarly efforts, this challenges psychologists' abilities to unambiguously define basic terms and to make explicit their most basic concepts. I applaud the authors for highlighting the necessity of clear definitions and for providing working definitions. But instead of going beyond pre-existing concepts, they adopt vague and circular ideas from previous definitions. More precise terms and definitions may be cumbersome but are of utmost importance to overcome the field's current conceptual disintegration. Definition of behaviour The broad definition of behaviour (Appendix) as "everything an organism does" fails to exclude doings not commonly considered behaviours, such as organisms' metabolism and growth (Millikan, 1993). Including "observable actions, covert actions, cognitions, motivations, and emotions" in the set of phenomena defined as behaviour entails fundamental circularity in explanation, for how can broadly defined behaviours be explained by underlying affections, cognitions and motivations if these phenomena constitute behaviours themselves? Why do we use such different terms at all if not to highlight essential differences among the phenomena they denote (Uher, 2016a)? Uher, J. (2017). Basic Definitions in Personality Psychology: Challenges for Conceptual Integrations. European Journal of Personality, 31, 572-573 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/per.2128 http://researchonindividuals.org 2/4 Definition of personality The same circularity is entailed when defining personality as "a person's characteristic pattern of behaviors in the broad sense (including thoughts, feelings, and motivation)" (Appendix). When patterns in cognition, emotion and motivation form inherent parts of someone's personality, they cannot also serve as explanations. What phenomena other than those included in the definition can explain those conceived as personality? Contradicting their own working definition, the authors discuss various affective, cognitive and motivational processes that may causally contribute to the emergence of personality variation. Given this, what criteria define some psychical phenomena as forming part of personality but others only as their causes or consequences (Uher, in press)? The notion of "characteristic patterns" is surprisingly vague for a scientific definition. When are behavioural patterns "characteristic" enough for an individual to constitute "tendencies" and to warrant their interpretation as personality? That is, what differentiates behaviour from personality (Uher, 2013, 2015a; Uher & Visalberghi, 2016)? Definition of structure The target article mostly defines personality structure as "inter-individual differences" (Part 1), thus clearly denoting a population-level concept. But the working definition (Appendix) also refers to the individual-level concept of organisation "within individuals". The discipline's founder, William Stern (1911), already highlighted essential differences between these two fundamental perspectives on individuals (i.e., differential psychology and personality psychology). The structure of personality differences in a population cannot reveal anything about the structure of an individual's personality or its underlying causes as the authors ascertain correctly. Clear terminological differentiations are essential to integrate these different structural concepts with concepts of personality processes and development, which inherently occur at the individual level (Uher, 2011, 2015c). Definition of process and development The authors oppose processes and development as different concepts but, at the same time, define processes as implying development (Appendix). The established concepts of microgenesis (Aktualgenese) and ontogenesis may provide more clarity for differentiating developmental processes and a solid theoretical basis for the ideas presented (Diriwächter & Valsiner 2008; Rosenthal, 2002; Uher, 2015c). Definition of traits and trait levels Traits defined as "relatively stable inter-individual differences in the degree/extent/level of coherent behaviors, thoughts, feelings" clearly denote a populationlevel concept. But traits are also interpreted as internal entities that may share underlying processes (Part 1), thus reflecting an individual-level concept. As the authors state correctly, different underlying psychical and physiological processes may be associated with similar observable behaviours in concrete situations, and vice versa. But given this and given that all of these phenomena together define a "trait", what actually constitutes an individual's "trait level"? Commonly, individuals' trait levels are determined as scores of assessment scales. But assessments are retrospective and memory-based methods. How can they measure individuals' thoughts, feelings and observable behaviours, which are highly fluctuating phenomena that can thus be captured only in the moments in which they occur (Uher, 2013, 2015a; Uher & Visalberghi, 2016)? These and further fundamental questions of personality psychology were explored by applying the Transdisciplinary Philosophy-of-Science Paradigm for Research on Individuals (TPS Paradigm), a paradigm aimed toward making explicit and scrutinising the most basic assumptions different disciplines make about individuals and the metatheories and methodologies used. It metatheoretically defines and differentiates various kinds of phenomena studied in individuals: morphology, physiology, psyche, behaviours, contexts, semiotic representations (language) and artificial outer-appearance modifications. For Uher, J. (2017). Basic Definitions in Personality Psychology: Challenges for Conceptual Integrations. European Journal of Personality, 31, 572-573 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/per.2128 http://researchonindividuals.org 3/4 example, behaviours are conceived as phenomena occurring entirely external to individual's bodies that are therefore publicly accessible. Psychical phenomena, by contrast, are conceived as occurring entirely internally that are therefore inaccessible by others (for definitions, see Uher, 2015a, 2016a,b). The paradigm's frameworks were used to elaborate a metatheoretical definition of personality that embraces the ideas contained in previous definitions. It highlights that the central idea of personality concepts is individual specificity for which clear criteria are elaborated and that is studied in the various kinds of phenomena explored in individuals. This definition allows researchers to specify the particular phenomena in which they study individual specificity rather than using the abstract personality label uniformly for phenomena of very different kinds, thereby obscuring vital differences. Researchers can also specify which phenomena they explore as study phenomena and which as their causes or consequences, thus avoiding the circularity contained in previous personality definitions (Uher, in press, 2013, 2015a,c). The TPS Paradigm highlighted that meaningful conceptual integrations require individual-specific structures and processes to be identified and categorised using betweenindividual and within-individual approaches complementarily and step-wise (the so-called Hourglass-shape methodology). The configurational and process structures of individualspecific variations, identified separately in each given kind of phenomenon (e.g., behaviour, psyche, physiology), are then set in relation to one another to identify functional and causal interrelations as well as patterns of longitudinal development (Uher, 2015b,c).


Deep neural networks have been demonstrated to be vulnerable to adversarial attacks: subtle perturbations can completely change the classification results. Their vulnerability has led to a surge of research in this direction. However, most works dedicated to attacking anchor-based object detection models. In this work, we aim to present an effective and efficient algorithm to generate adversarial examples to attack anchor-free object models based on two approaches. First, we conduct category-wise instead of instance-wise attacks on the object detectors. Second, we leverage the high-level semantic information to generate the adversarial examples. Surprisingly, the generated adversarial examples it not only able to effectively attack the targeted anchor-free object detector but also to be transferred to attack other object detectors, even anchor-based detectors such as Faster R-CNN.


From the four aspects about compatriots in Taiwan contributing to recovering Taiwan territory in the period of the Anti-Japanese War.First, launching a joint war of resistance against aggression.Second, conducting propaganda at all places.Third, doing all ones can to gain territorial sovereignty. Last,making suggestions.


Such reactions might better be classed as "expressed attitudes" or as "beliefs and opinions." The literature abounds in general discussions of professional attitudes of teachers, telling us what teachers ought to believe but not informing us what teachers do believe about educational practices. Carlson's study' of the relation of teachers' attitudes to pupil behavior presents valuable data but does not give a picture of teachers' reactions to a comprehensive list of educational issues. That expressed satisfaction or dissatisfaction with various aspects of the teacher's work may represent the attitudes of teachers is suggested by a recent report on job satisfaction among teachers.2 The approach used by McClusky and Strayer no doubt comes closer to securing expressions of real attitude than do many of the check lists of "attitudes." Another recent report on the educational viewpoints of educators3 clearly indicates the gap between teacher and pupil in educational outlook but does not give the details of the teachers' viewpoints.


The villagers' autonomy is one of the innovations of direct democratic system in China's villages. In early 1980s, with the spreading of household contract responsibility system and the dissolution of people's communes, villagers' committee has been gradually established as the self-governing and self-serving community organization. During the past two decades, the villagers' autonomy has experienced three stages, with substantial achievements.


This paper presents experimental results of a new gas-fired condensing boiler designed for domestic applications (output 23 kW). It is an advanced boiler based on a light weight cast-iron heat exchanger with low water content. Return water, coming from hot water plant, first flows through an additional heat exchanger (condenser) before entering the main zone of the boiler. Two solutions are suggested in order to reduce or avoid the condensing problems on the flue surfaces, either by mixing flue gases exiting the condenser with new pre-heated air, or, by mixing them with hot flue gases by-passing the condenser.


The maximum likelihood detection of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) spatial multiplexing systems is strongly limited by its complexity. We propose that a quantized version of this problem permits the multiplications involved in the numerous calculations of Euclidean distances to be replaced by the use of a small look-up table storing all the exact possible distance components in each dimension of the quantized receive space. The number of pre-stored elements is as small as the number of quantization levels per dimension. This paper presents an approximate analysis of the quantization error which allows us to understand the results from simulations performed over fast flat fading channels for different MIMO systems.


When we consider the structure of Earth's interior, the sound velocity is one of the important physical properties of the interior materials because it can be directly compared with the seismological data (1) which can yield the physical properties of the Earth's interior. Cosmochemical data and the composition of iron meteorites suggest that Earth's core contains mainly Fe-Ni alloy with 5-25 wt.% Ni. Although Lin et al. (2) and Kantor et al. (3) measured compressional sound velocities of Fe-Ni alloys at room temperature by inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) at diamond anvil cell (DAC), the sound velocity data of liquid Fe-Ni alloys is very few (4). We performed laser-shock experiments of liquid Fe-Ni alloys at HIPER system of Gekko-XII laser in Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University (5). Sound velocities were measured by side-on radiography (6, 7). We obtained sound velocities of Fe-Ni alloys at pressures up to 770 GPa. The sound velocity of Fe-Ni alloy was about 10% lower than that of liquid Fe at inner core boundary (ICB) pressure. Part of this work was performed under the joint research project of the Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University.


TO THE EDITOR: Pignone and colleagues (1) address an important question in their analysis of the effect of a decision aid on screening for colon cancer. Although their findings support the use of decision aids to increase patients' awareness of the importance of screening, they also raise concern about the physician's role in the screening process. No matter how motivated the patient, the burden of responsibility for health care continues to lie with the physician. Pignone and colleagues found that only 69% of patients who indicated an interest in colorectal cancer screening were screened; furthermore, only 54% completed their screening tests. Of further concern, only 41% of patients who were considering screening but desired more information had a screening test ordered, and only 35% proceeded with their test. What makes this observation more alarming is that several aspects of the study methods biased the results in favor of screening. Initially, only 39% of adults who were approached agreed to participate; this introduces selection bias. The most motivated patients with the greatest health awareness would probably be willing to enroll and arrive 30 minutes before their scheduled appointment. Second, the health care providers were not blinded to the intervention status, which probably inflated the effect size for the intervention. The bias introduc by these two aspects of the study probably loaded the dice in favor of a screening intervention. One final point should be made about the alarmingly low rates at which flexible sigmoidoscopy was ordered (intervention group, 17.1%; control group, 8.5%). Since flexible sigmoidoscopy is a suboptimal colon examination that completely neglects the right colon, these numbers demonstrate the progress that remains to be achieved in educating not only patients but also physicians about the importance of colon cancer screening.


Conventional propagation method where nodal sections with two or three nodes or sets are used as planting material, has a wide-range of limitations. Micro propagation is the only practical means of achieving rapid, large-scale production of disease-free quality planting material as seed canes of newly developed varieties in order to speed up the breeding and commercialization process in sugarcane. Thus, the experiment was carried out with the objective of studying the effect of growth regulators in vitro rooting of shoot cultures of three elite sugarcane genotypes. An experiment on in vitro rooting was laid out in completely randomized design with 3x5x3 factorial treatment arrangements. Data was subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and significant means were separated using Duncan's multiple range tests. Half MS semi solid medium containing 3.0 mg/l NAA induced the highest rooting with mean root number per shoot of 14.93 for Q200. For co-0238, half MS medium supplemented with 5.0 mg/l NAA induced the highest rooting response with mean root number per shoot of 18.40. Similarly, 1⁄2 MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg/l IBA in combination with 3.0 mg/l NAA induced highest rooting response with 16.50 mean root number per shoot for Q217. In conclusion, this study can be used for rapid in vitro rooting of these three elite sugarcane genotypes.


Fluorescent biosensors allow for real-time monitoring of biochemical activities in cells, but their multiplexing capacity is severely limited by the availability of spectral space. We overcome this problem by developing a set of barcoding proteins that are spectrally separable from commonly used FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer)-based and single-fluorophore biosensors. Mixed populations of barcoded cells expressing different biosensors can be concurrently imaged and computationally unmixed to achieve highly multiplexed tracking of biochemical activities in live cells.


This is a personal account of few months of mathematical chemistry, a hurricane and the luck of having shared a few months with Douglas Jay Klein (Doug). After having read several Doug's scientific papers on partial orders (posets) in chemistry and their uses, being in touch with him by email, I finally met him in a scientific conference. I followed his advice to work for a PhD on posets and I have conducted a quite short postdoc internship with him. Then hurricane Ike hit Galveston and Doug's living place. This event offered me the unique opportunity of meeting Doug not only as the leading scientist (and master that he is) but as a real person, resilient against the power of nature and of human condition. After getting to Galveston for starting a postdoc with Doug, I received all the attention Doug & Janet (Doug's wife) used to have with Doug's postdocs, i.e. taking care of the living place, the bed, the pillow, the lamp, the best way to go to the supermarket; I also had the opportunity of fixing a forgotten Doug's child bike to ride during my stay (unfortunately it was stolen from my apartment's parking lot!). At the start of my time in Texas I also spent some weeks in Doug & Janet's house while they helped me to find the best place to stay. That was how I met their cats, their personal library with classics of mathematics, chemistry and physics and how I could share several beers chatting about the possibility of getting Obama as president, molecular symmetry and its effects on materials, of course partial orders and the marvels of D'Arcy Thompson. That was how I came to know our common interest of buying second hand scientific books. I do not forget eating fast food in a very fast manner to be able to go to book stores and enjoy selecting interesting books. Knowing that Hurricane Ike was heading for Galveston, I evacuated to Texas A&M University College Station campus, while Doug & Janet got ready everything to go to Tyler. Doug had difficult times taking care of his classes in chemistry and physics, of his postdocs, his research, all combined with the fear of Ike coming to Galveston. He was, as always, looking after his beloved Janet, who was ill but I am sure was a source of strength to keep working in the organized and imaginative manner he does. Doug commuted between Tyler, College Station and Galveston during those hectic days. Finally, Ike impacted Galveston on September 13, 2008 devastating a big part of the city and flooding Doug & Janet's house, a couple of blocks far from the beach. Some days after Ike, I had the opportunity to ride shotgun with Doug at dawn from College Station to Galveston and we felt the power of nature that played like a child in a swimming pool with his boats, which we found crushing dwellings and laying debris all over the roads. In such a mess of boats, trees and debris we were able to make our way to our respective living places. I had the misfortune to see Doug & Janet house still flooded, with books and cat's food all mixed together. It was a pity to decide to trash Doug's copy of his PhD dissertation and some other wet books. That was how I met Doug as a pedestrian, carrying out over his shoulders the debris of his house, trashing a piano corrupted by the salty water. It was in those trips between College Station and Galveston that I came to know that Doug knew since his high school times that he wanted to be a theoretical chemist and that he made an exhaustive search of the best professors in the field to pursue those studies. We had quite vivid discussions about mathematics, chemistry, mathematical chemistry, their histories, the role of several scientists in shaping them up,... until we listen the police siren and we saw the blue and red lights right behind us. Yes, we got a ticket because of the extra fuel mathematical chemistry impelled to Doug's car. Shortly after Ike came; I had to leave my privileged position as Doug's postdoc because of several duties with my university in Colombia. The very day of my departure, last Ike's winds took away Janet from Doug's arms. With the first rays of light in our trips I was totally convinced of Doug's strength as a scientist but mainly as a human being to whom I owe too much and who not only showed me the most beautiful flowers of the mathematical chemistry garden, but who gave me lessons of live, I will never forget.


Objective: To investigate the relationship between rs2238136 and rs2228570 polymorphisms in 5' promoter region of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene and prostate cancer (PCa) risk. Methods: Samples of blood were collected from 122 prostate cancer patients and 130 non-cancer male controls in Zhejiang Area. The genotypes were analyzed with PCR-RFLP and sequencing. Results: The frequency distribution of rs2238136 and rs2228570 genotypes conformed to the Hardy-Weinberg equi- librium test (P 0.05). The frequencies of rs2228570 genotype'CT'in controls was 42.3%, but'TT' only 28.5%;the frequency of rs2238136 genotype'GG'was 60.0%,but'AA'only 11.4%. The frequencies of rs2238136 and rs2228570 genotypes and alleles showed no significant difference between PCa patients and controls, and significant differences were found in the distribution of VDR rs2238136 polymorphism in different ethics, but nor of the rs2228570. Conclusion: The frequency distribution of VDR gene polymorphisms varies in different ethics populations;rs2238136 and rs2228570 polymor-phisms are not related directly to the risk of prostate cancer in Zhejiang Han population.


Immunotoxic gluten peptides that are recalcitrant to degradation of digestive enzymes appear to trigger coeliac disease (CD). A 33-mer peptide from α-2 gliadin has been identified as a principal contributor to gluten immunotoxicity [1]. A gluten-free diet is the unique current therapy for CD patients; therefore, the characterization and quantification of the toxic portion of gluten in foodstuffs is crucial to avoid coeliac damage. Our aim was to develop immunological assays as novel food analysis tools to measure cereal fractions that are immunotoxic to CD patients.


The European Community Regulation No. 1606/2002 required all EU listed companies to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS as from 1 January 2005. This paper studies the impact of the IFRS mandatory adoption in a typical code-law European country such as Italy. It aims to investigate how and whether the accounting information quality changes following IFRS implementation. The focus is on value relevance which is considered as one of the basic attributes of accounting quality. An empirical analysis is performed on a sample of 960 firm-year observations concerning Italian listed companies observed from 2002 to 2007. Results confirm the expected overall increase in the value relevance under IFRS. The research also documents changes in Italy's country-specific factors in the period surrounding IFRS adoption that may contribute to an improvement in accounting quality. Such a concern is consistent with previous literature supporting the idea that accounting quality does not depend only on thehigh quality of accounting standards, but it is also a function of the country's complex institutional setting.


In this article, it used the large-scale finite element analysis software ANSYS tocarry out numerical simulation for X80 pipeline steel welding temperature field. The three-dimensional finite element model of multi-layer and multi-pass welding was made according to the practice condition. Choosing three-dimensional double-ellipsoid moving source as the thermal model, adopting birth-death element to simulate weld forming successively, and utilizing APDL parametric programming to realize the moving and loading of the heat resource. The thermal cycling curve of temperature field transient distribution in each time and typical points was obtained by calculation. In order to reach welding production require-ment, after welding each layer, it should cool down about 100 s and ensure interlayer-temperature reducing to 120 ℃. The analytical calculation of welding temperature field made a foundation for finding the solution of residual stress and the accurate prediction of weld organization.


Mobility becomes arequirement inmostuniversities especially after theenhancement that took place inthe newtechnologies. Besides, theuniversity mustbefully linked totheInternet andnetwork facilities available in thecampus. Themajor factor that should beconsidered isthesecurity oftheuniversity network. Thecurrent network security intheuniversities isstill weaktobe implemented, students still canbreak through thestaff andfaculty members' computers trying tohackthe confidential information. Thispaperaddresses theinternal andtheexternal security challenges inuniversities thatimplements wireless networks. Distributed security isdesigned to provide a moresecure datacommunication among faculty members, staff andstudents. Adescription ofthe technique usedtoprotect andkeep PC'supandrunning isillustrated withapplications.


Progress related to the diagnostic and minimally invasive treatment of chronic venous diseases has led to significant improvement of the care of these patients. One of the most important steps towards modern phlebological treatment was the introduction of duplex Doppler diagnostic to the daily clinical practice [1]. Another factor that should be mentioned is sclerotherapy, which is currently used for the treatment of a wide range of venous pathologies [2]. Further progress basing on the implementation of endoluminal thermal and non-thermal ablation methods has increased the treatment possibilities and their efficacies. Foam sclerotherapy was firstly described by S. McAusland in 1939 [3]. Another researcher who described the use of foam sclerotherapy for the treatment of reticular varicose veins was Robert Rowden Foote [4]. In 1956, Peter Fluckiger described the possibility of mechanical ABSTRACT Objectives: Despite encouraging results of saphenous vein sclerotherapy this method is not free of potential complications and does not guarantee a 100% rate of occlusion. In this paper, the author's own experiences with catheter-directed, tumescent solution-supported echo-guided foam sclerotherapy of the saphenous vein are presented. Material and methods: Thirty-four incompetent great saphenous veins were treated with foam sclerotherapy involving the use of long catheters and perivenous tumescent solution injection prior to foam administration. The mean length of incompetent saphenous veins was 25.5cm (range 14-39 cm). The diameters of the proximal part of the saphenous veins ranged from 5.0 to 15.0 mm. In 25 patients (71.4%), primary varicose veins were diagnosed, and in other patients either post–surgical (recurrent) or post-thrombotic saphenous veins were treated. Results: At 30-day follow up total occlusion of the entire segment of treated vein was achieved in 79.4% of cases. In one case the vein was not occluded, and in 6 patients (17.6%) a partial occlusion was revealed. In the group of 6 patients with partial vein occlusion, a repeated sclerotherapy with the use of a short catheter and ultrasound guided puncture was performed. 6 and 12 months after the procedure, 32 out of 34 obliterated veins (94.1%) remained fully occluded. The mean foam volume used for saphenous vein obliteration was 2.6 ml. No serious adverse events were reported. Conclusions: Tumescent-assisted echo-guided foam sclerotherapy is a safe and clinically effective method of saphenous vein obliteration, particularly for veins with no history of a previous thrombosis or surgical treatment.


Background. Dyes are one of the most hazardous materials in industrial effluents which can cause several health problems in living organisms. The removal of dye from colored effluents has attracted increasing attention in the last decade. In this study, raw, beneficiated, and activated waste ash were evaluated as adsorbents for removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution by the batch adsorption method. Comprehensive characterization studies were carried out on each bioadsorbent, such as proximate analyses, bulk density, specific surface area, point of zero charge, pH, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy (which shows functional groups on adsorbents surface). The effects of pH, adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, and contact time were determined in order to know the optimum condition and adsorption potential of the adsorbents. The methylene blue (MB) removal efficiency of raw, beneficiated, and activated bioadsorbents from aqueous solutions was found to be 95.212%, 89.172%, and 84.504%, respectively. It is reported that adsorption efficiency of MB on each adsorbent was quite different due to electrostatic and dispersion interaction between the dye molecules and the surface property of the adsorbents. The obtained results were well fitted with the Freundlich isotherm model, and the adsorption process follows the pseudo-second-order kinetics model for all adsorbents. In fact, the results showed that raw, beneficiated, and activated waste ash bioadsorbents could be employed as effective and economical alternative material in the near future.


This qualitative, longitudinal, single-case study analyzes naturalistic interactions in Swedish Sign Language. Multiple interactions took place mainly between a mother and a deaf twin on twelve occasions. The participants' actions and language structure are examined as the child progressed from ten to forty months of age. The results are presented in three segments: transformations (i.e., types of actions during the sessions); gaze; and structure of utterances. The first segment (when the child was between ten and thirteen months of age) includes mediating utterances that contained a few signs with steady eye contact (i.e., focus on an object with mediating, displaced signing, as from the signer's perspective). The second segment (when the child was between fifteen and twenty-four months of age) includes flexible eye contact, multiple phrases, and narrative structure. The third segment comprises conversations that include a dynamic visual contact utilizing nonmanual structures. Mediating factors such as simultaneous tactile looking, mediating vision, and mediating triangles, which may be useful for pedagogical purposes, are emphasized.


Cu/regiorandom poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/metal junctions have been reported to exhibit reliable metal-filament resistive switching properties. The filament formation mechanism has been found to include ionization of the Cu electrode and Cu ion drift within the P3HT layer, but no electrolyte has been identified. This work examines the effect of relative humidity (RH) on currents through spin-cast P3HT films sandwiched in evaporated Cu bottom and Au top electrodes. A strong counter-clockwise current hysteresis sets in at positive threshold voltages Uth applied to the top electrodes, with Uth decreasing for higher RH and increasing approximately linearly with P3HT film thickness. For example, at 45% RH, the threshold field is about 50 MV m−1. After hysteretic current flow, the Cu bottom electrodes uncovered by P3HT dissolution exhibit pit corrosion and copper sulfide crystal formation. We explain these observations by field-induced water absorption in the P3HT film and subsequent electrochemical reaction...


Leaf pigments represent a wide range of molecules fulfilling vital physiological functions in plants, from light harvest and energy storage to protective roles. They are commonly divided into three functionally and chemically different subgroups chlorophylls and derivatives, carotenoids, and anthocyanins. Numerous methods were developed to investigate pigments in plant materials (Garcia Plazaola and Becerril 2001), microorganisms (Jodlowska and Latala, 2011), and sediments (Ruth et al., 2001). Nonetheless, due to this diversity in sample matrices, chemical structures and properties, single subgroups or specific individual compounds are often targeted. In this study, we suggest a unique method to monitor seasonal pigment dynamics and eventually calibrate common spectral methods.


Wavelet transforms are not capable of reconstructing curved images perfectly, hence we go for this new concept, called Contourlet Transform. It is a multiresolution and directional decomposition of a signal using a combination of Laplacian Pyramid (LP) and a Directional Filter Bank (DFB). The Contourlet transform has good approximation properties for smooth 2D functions and finds a direct discrete-space construction, and is therefore computationally efficient. Recently introduced the wavelet-based contourlet transform (WBCT), it is a non-redundant version of the contourlet transform, and appropriately used this transform for image coding. In this work, we start with a discretedomain construction and then investigate its convergence to an expansion in the continuous-domain. This construction results in a flexible multiresolution, local, and directional image expansion using contour segments, and thus it is named the contourlet transform. Furthermore, a precise link between the developed filter bank and the associated continuous – domain contourlet expansion via a directional multiresolution analysis framework is established. Our simulation results also show that this new coding approach is competitive to the wavelet coder and is visually superior to the wavelet coder for the mentioned images. The original Contourlet Transform has high redundancy, in order to reduce that we have used wavelet transform followed by Directional Filter Banks


Based on the ICF framework and functional vision theories, some elements of an evaluation system for visually impaired children were extracted, including body structure and function, activities and participation, and environmental factors.


Objective
To explore the roles of autoantibodies, immunoglobulins, and complements in the pathogenesis of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU).

Methods
Ninety patients who met the criteria for CSU and 62 healthy controls were collected for this study. The serum anti-IgE antibody, anti-FceRⅠ antibody, total IgE, IgA, IgM, IgG, C3, C4, anti-thyroid peroxidase autoantibody (anti-TPOAb) , and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (TGAb) were measured.

Results
Of the 90 patients, the positive rates of anti-IgE antibody and anti- FceRⅠ antibody were 25.56% (23/90) and 10.00% (9/90). The levels of anti-IgE antibody, anti-FceRⅠ antibody, total IgE, and C4 were (45.67±36.31) μg/ml, (577.93±360.78) μg/ml, (109.57±74.09) IU/ml, (0.31±0.11) g/L in the CSU group, and were (27.16±12.59) μg/ml, (388.97±200.19) μg/ml, (70.29±27.91) IU/ml, and (0.27±0.07) g/L in the control group, with statistical differences. There were no statistical differences in TPOAb, TGAb, IgA, IgM, IgG, and C3 between these two groups.

Conclusion
CSU patients have abnormal increase of anti-IgE antibodies and anti-FceRI antibodies; and IgE-mediated allergy and complement activation mechanisms are found in these patients.

Key words:
CSU; Anti-IgE antibody; Anti-Fce RⅠantibody; Total IgE; C4


Introduction: The improvement of transportation infrastructure, especially the development of high-speed trains, has greatly stimulated the increase of population mobility. Based on census data, ex...


Objective . To ascertain the maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnancies complicated by poxviruses infections Materials and Methods . Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched. Maternal death, fetal and neonatal death, preterm birth and vertical transmission were observed. Sub-group analyses according to the severity of maternal infection, gestational age at infection, vaccination status and pregnancy status were also performed. Random effect meta-analyses of proportion and risk assessment were used to analyse the data.


A B ST R A C T High resolution spectralm odelsforsim plestellarpopulations(SSP)developed in the pastfew yearshave becom e a standard ingredientin studies ofstellarpopulation of galaxies.As m ore such m odels becom e available,it becom es increasingly im portant to test them .In this and a com panion paper,we test a suite ofpublicly available evolutionary synthesis m odels using integrated opticalspectra in the blue-near-UV rangeof27wellstudied starclustersfrom theworkofLeonardi& Rose(2003)spanning awiderangeofagesand m etallicities.M ost(23)oftheclustersarefrom theM agellanic clouds.This paper concentrates on m ethodologicalaspects ofspectral tting.The data are tted with SSP spectralm odelsfrom Vazdekisand collaborators,based on the M ILES library.Besttand Bayesian estim atesofage,m etallicity and extinction are presented,and degeneraciesbetween these param etersare m apped.W e nd that these m odels can m atch the observed spectra very wellin m ost cases,with sm all form aluncertaintiesin t,Z and A V .In som ecases,thespectral tsindicatethatthe m odels lack a blue old population,probably associated with the horizontalbranch. Thism ethodology,which ism ostly based on the publicly available code starlight, isextended to othersetsofm odelsin PaperII,where a com parison with properties derived from spatially resolved data (color-m agnitude diagram s) is presented.The globalaim ofthesetwopapersistoprovideguidancetousersofevolutionarysynthesis m odelsand em piricalfeedback to m odelm akers.


Abstract Objective Extracellular sucrase from Termitomyces clypeatus is known to impart stability and enhance activity of cellobiase, another secreted glycosidase of the fungus through co-aggregation with cellobiase. To explore whether sucrase can bind with some proteins like Insulin, BSA, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), carbonic anhydrase and whey proteins and prevent their dithiothreitol (DTT) induced/thermal aggregation and/or loss of activity measuring by spectrophotometry, gel filtration assay and activity assays. Methods MALDI-TOF and dynamic light scattering were used to assess the monomeric and aggregated molecular size of sucrase. Thermostatted spectrophotometric assays, gel filtration assays were used to study protein aggregation. Fluorescence of bound ANS was used to monitor temperature induced structural changes in sucrase together with determination of melting temperature. Results The mass of the monomeric unit of sucrase as 6649 Da. Enzyme inhibited DTT induced aggregation of insulin and suppressed the thermal aggregation of carbonic anhydrase, ADH and whey proteins, respectively by 83%, 68% and 70% at 70°C. Sucrase also protected about 84% activity of ADH. Conclusion An extracellular fungal sucrase with a low monomeric size can efficiently prevent protein aggregation. The studies can impart knowledge about potential therapeutic applications of this industrially important enzyme in protein misfolding disorders.


Rabbit eggs can be fertilized in the uterus but their subsequent development in this organ is limited. Bedford (1970) transferred newly ovulated eggs to the uterus of does mated 12 to 13 hr earlier and found that 94% of the recovered eggs had been fertilized when they were examined 6 to 7 hr later. Under similar conditions, Chang (1955) found the majority of eggs at the pronuclear stage, but some of these fertilized eggs recovered 6 hr after deposition in the uterus had begun to degenerate. The deleterious effects of the uterine environment may result in rapid destruction of the newly fertilized egg. Despite occlusion of the uterocervical junction, Adams (1970) was able to recover only 53% of eggs that had been transferred to the uterus 4 hr earlier. Fertilization in the uterus can, however, be compatible with full development. Thirty-eight per cent of eggs fertilized in the uterus and recovered very soon thereafter developed to full term following transfer to the Fallopian tube of unmated recipients (Adams, 1970). The exact timing of recovery was not specified. The present report details the effects of uterine fertilization and uterine incubation for specified times on the subsequent development of the egg when transferred to a pseudopregnant recipient or when transferred to culture media. Unfertilized ova were recovered from donor New Zealand white rabbits which had received 50 i.u. hcg (APL, Ayerst) 12 to 13 hr previously, by flush-ing the excised Fallopian tubes with culture medium (acidic saline containing 0-25% glucose and 20% rabbit serum). Recipient does were mated with fertile bucks 16 to 18 hr before egg transfer. At a at the junction. A second ligature was placed but not tied around the uterus 1 cm from the uterotubal junction. The eggs were transferred by means


Abstract. In blue-ice areas (BIAs), deep ice is directly exposed at
the surface, allowing for the cost-effective collection of large-sized old-ice
samples. However, chronostratigraphic studies on blue-ice areas are
challenging owing to fold and fault structures. Here, we report on a surface
transect of ice with an undisturbed horizontal stratigraphy from the Larsen
BIA, northern Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Ice layers defined by dust
bands and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys indicate a monotonic
increase in age along the ice flow direction on the downstream side, while
the upstream ice exhibits a potential repetition of ages on scales of tens
of meters, which result from a complicated fold structure. Stable water
isotopes (δ18Oice and δ2Hice) and
components of the occluded air (i.e., CO2, N2O, CH4, δ15N–N2, δ18Oatm (=δ18O-O2), δO2/N2, δAr/N2, 81Kr,
and 85Kr) are analyzed for surface ice and shallow ice core samples.
Correlating δ18Oice, δ18Oatm, and
CH4 records from the Larsen BIA with ice from previously drilled ice
cores indicates that the gas age at various shallow vertical coring sites
ranges between 9.2–23.4 kyr BP, while the ice age sampled from the surface
ranges from 5.6 to 24.7 kyr BP. Absolute radiometric 81Kr dating for the
two vertical cores confirms ages within acceptable levels of analytical
uncertainty. A tentative climate reconstruction suggests a large deglacial
warming of 15 ± 5 ∘C (1σ) and an increase in snow
accumulation by a factor of 1.7–4.6 (from 24.3 to 10.6 kyr BP). Our
study demonstrates that BIAs in northern Victoria Land may help to obtain
high-quality records for paleoclimate and atmospheric greenhouse gas
compositions through the last deglaciation, although in general climatic
interpretation is complicated by the need for upstream flow corrections,
evidence for strong surface sublimation during the last glacial period, and
potential errors in the estimated gas age–ice age difference.


Some new equipments,including the chemostat,two-stage chemostat,two-stage immobilized packed bed,two-stage membrane cell-recycle reactor,three-phase fluidized bed with electrodialysis,plastic composite support biofilm reactor and corresponding fermentation condition have been summarized in this paper. The control of continuous fermentation for lactic acid: non-feedback control, feedback control,mathematic model and optimization have been discussed.Also the advantage and disadvantage of different continuous fermentation equipments and prospect of continuous fermentation have been analyzed.


A nitrogen rich porous covalent imine network material (CIN-1) has been successfully employed for grafting silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). The Ag NPs grafted CIN-1, Ag-CIN-1 has been characterized by elemental analysis, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and EPR spectroscopic studies. Ag-CIN-1 acts as a truly heterogeneous catalyst in the hydration of nitriles to amides and the A3 coupling reactions between the alkyne, amine and aldehyde to produce propargylamines by using water as a green solvent.


Multilevel inverters have found wide applications in industry, especially in high-voltage and high power. Many researchers have attended to decrease the produced harmonic content of output voltage waveform. One of the criteria to determine the harmonic content, which is very popular, is Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). Therefore, determination of its actual amount is important. The voltage of three-phase multilevel inverter is divided to phase voltage and line to line voltage. In previous studies, the formula of phase THD has been calculated. In this paper, a new method is proposed which against the old approximate methods, takes all harmonics into account for the line to line THD of multilevel inverter with equal DC sources. To show difference between the proposed actual method and the approximate methods, a comparison is carried out for the 3, 5, 7 and 11 level inverters. For writing the codes and simulation, MATLAB software is used.


Vertical Ground Reaction Forces (VGRF) reference profiles of human gait are important in medicine, for the recognition of gait disorders and in the assessment of rehabilitation treatments. A walking human is a dynamic varying system and in spite of the VGRF reference dependence on several patient's variables, doctors traditionally use the same static reference for all patients. The purpose of this study is to find out if an Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) is adequate to generate the dynamic VGRF reference profiles of healthy people depending on the subject's age, weight, height and stride duration. The ELM is compared with two other baseline Computational Intelligence (CI) methods, the Backpropagation Neural Network (BNN) and Multioutput Support Vector Regression (MSVR). Data from 28 healthy males walking at five different stride durations, collected using instrumented shoes, were used to train and test the CI models. The results showed that ELM is a well suited method to generate the dynamic VGRF reference profile for both dominant and non-dominant limbs, showing the lowest root mean square errors for the test set, 0.0201 and 0.0243 (fraction of body weight) for the dominant and non-dominant limbs respectively. This study reveals a promising methodology that can be implemented in real time gait analysis, allowing doctors to find a specific reference gait pattern for the gait analysis of an unhealthy person by specifying the age, weight, height and stride duration.


A PUCCH resource collision between a normal mode terminal and MTC coverage enhancement mode terminal is avoided. A terminal includes a receiving section (202) that receives control information indicating assignment of downlink data, and the downlink data; and a transmitting section that transmits a response signal using a resource in a first resource group when the terminal is a first terminal to which repetition transmission is applied, and that transmits the response signal using a resource in a second resource group that is different from the first resource group, when the terminal is a second terminal to which the repetition transmission is not applied.


A UKCC STEERING groupmet for the first time last weekto start work on deciding whichnurses and midwives shouldqualify for the title specialistpractitioner.


It considers features of different adaptation level young specialists from military-industrial complex research organization (MIC RO). The obtained data allows to analyse a success of young specialist adaptation to MIC RO specificity and research activity.


This letter considers the problem of target detection in the nonhomogeneous sea clutter environment and proposes the complex-valued U-Net (CV-UNet)-based clutter suppression method. Specifically, first, the complex signal features of radar echo sequences are extracted by developing the complex-valued convolutional blocks. Second, the complex multilevel features are fused, by employing the up-down sampling structure and skip connections, to suppress nonhomogeneous sea clutter. Furthermore, the false alarm controllable detector is designed to detect the targets. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated via real data. The results show that it has a higher detection probability compared with the real-valued U-Net (RV-UNet).


Driving is an information processing activity. In the process of driving, the driver constantly obtains and processes information from various sensory channels to make decisions and take appropriate actions to control vehicle movement. This paper will discuss four parts: sensory, cognition, decision making and automation.


In a country (the UK) where huge personal investment is required to undertake legal education and training, it is right that an ever-increasing emphasis is placed on student satisfaction. Keeping students engaged is a key priority for universities and technology has a large role to play in this, whether in the context of face-to-face, wholly online or blended learning. The debate around where the line is drawn between engagement and entertainment rumbles on. Challenges exist in relation to information/digital and multimodal literacies, but there is much scope for innovation in teaching and learning thanks to emerging technologies. The article looks at ways in which those teaching in law could be inspired by other disciplines and methodologies, embedding literacies commonly dealt with outside the faculty, by librarians, technologists and designers within their curriculum.


Purpose – This study aims to determine the effect of financial literacy and financial efficacy on financial management.Method – Using mixed methods, namely quantitative and qualitative, this study managed to collect a sample of 307 respondents.Result – This research provides evidence that the level of a person's financial knowledge can affect his financial management as well as his financial satisfaction, with these results directly this research strengthens the evidence that gender does not affect financial management. it's the habits or behaviors that lead someone to act.Implication – This research can be used to understand behavioral financial management in individual level.Originality – Many studies show that a society with good financial literacy will have an impact on the formation of a financially independent society. However, the problem here is that there is still discrimination against women regarding financial management. Basically, whether or not they are able to manage finances is not based on gender but on the behavior of the individual. To strengthen this, research is present to prove that individual behavior which includes the level of financial knowledge and financial satisfaction affects their financial management.


First, some background so you can evaluate and put my remarks in context. In the past 23 years, I have been involved with safety-critical projects in just about every industry.1 For example, I helped Ontario Hydro in Canada get the first nuclear power plant digital shutdown system certified and have similarly worked with the NRC in the U.S. and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to establish standards for certifying nuclear power plants. I have been involved in some way on almost every attempted air traffic control system upgrade in the U.S. since the mid-1980s. I have been involved in various ways on all types of NASA and DoD (Navy, Air Force, and Army) projects. I even consult with Disney on amusement park ride safety. I have been teaching safety engineering in universities and in industry for two decades. I have been recognized for my activities both by the academic research community and by working engineers. While these remarks are obviously only my own opinions and observations, they are grounded in extensive experience. With that introduction, let me start by saying that over the years I have never seen anything but the highest commitment to safety at all levels in NASA. The cultural problems at NASA do not include a disregard for safety or the type of complacency that can be described as the "Ford Pinto" attitude that cost-benefit analysis is a reasonable way to decide safety questions, i.e., that deaths are acceptable if the cost of preventing them exceeds the cost of dealing with the consequences. NASA engineers and management are almost obsessive about safety. They are, in addition, among the most dedicated to and excited about their jobs in the world, and I am honored to have the opportunity to interact with them. But as we learned from the ICBM systems in the 1950s (where system safety first arose as an engineering discipline), a commitment to safety is not enough: Achieving high levels of safety requires a planned, disciplined, and systematic approach to identifying, analyzing, and controlling hazards by building safety into the design from the very beginning and continuing to control hazards throughout the entire life cycle of the system. The complexity of the manned space program and other NASA missions is overwhelming and management of safety is critical. A second observation that I have involves outside "experts" who are not engineers and have never worked on a safety-critical engineering project claiming after a widely publicized accident that certain things that preceded it—particularly heated discussions about the safety of particular aspects of the system—are somehow precursors of accidents in general and reflect negatively on the safety culture of the organization. This is what Dave Woods calls hindsight bias and others have referred to as 20/20 hindsight. It is always easy after the fact to see the full ramifications of a problem or to ascribe special characteristics to what is in reality standard behavior. In virtually all of the safety-critical projects over the last 23 years in which I have been involved, there was continual discussion and disagreement about the safety of many specific aspects of the project. In just the past few months, I have been copied on emails every week (and sometimes every day) between NASA engineers on (unmanned) spacecraft projects strongly arguing detailed engineering decisions about which they feel passionately. Usually they only want my moral support and a


The form of Brussels Capital Region city blocks is part of the identity of the city. Preserving the built environment includes preserving the urban form while allowing them to adapt to the new necessities without losing this identity. The city block is not first defined as an architectural form but as a set of plots attached ensemble that acquire meaning because a dialectic relation with the surrounding roads grid [1] The urban block is formed by the complex dialogue between the distribution of properties, the constructions and the public spaces. This paper aims to stress the role of the city blocks as a main contributor to the heritage value of the city and present a set of methodological principles to approach their retrofitting. Under the scope of the project B³-Retrotool [2], several scenarios of retrofitting have been developed and assessed over three representative case studies. This research has pinpointed the importance of transforming the city-blocks as a basic unit of the urban matrix. Its originality is to identify new determinants in designing modern, economic and efficient city-blocks using a multi-criteria and multi-scale approach. Using different mapping tools, a thorough and new classification of the city blocks is provided based in their morphology and urban function. A series of so-called "retrofitting sheets" divided in energy and morphological approach will be presented to illustrate the results. The paper concludes by presenting these results integrated in a pre-assessment tool developed to provide a clear vision and comprehension of the city of Brussels from a bottom-up and top-down approach. It identifies priority city-blocks requiring an urgent retrofitting and proposes various retrofitting principles to enhance their energy and environmental performances while preserving its identity and cultural heritage.


Typically, less than half of doctoral graduates will be employed in academia immediately after graduation, with less than 10%-15% achieving a long-term academic career. This leaves 85-90% of PhD graduates seeking employment outside the academic setting, for example in industry and government. The objective of the CHAMELEONS study (CHampioning A Multi-sectoral Education and Learning Experience to Open New pathways for doctoral Students) is to develop innovative educational interventions that shape more adaptable, entrepreneurial, and employable graduates, ready to meet the challenges of the future. Stakeholders from the connected health industry, clinical care, charities, patients, patient representatives, government, recent doctoral graduates, and academics were invited to participate in a "World Café" participatory method for collecting qualitative data. Owing to the COVID-19 health situation this took place via Zoom. Analysis of the results revealed 4 key learning objectives for doctoral graduates to: 1. Develop networking and communication skills. 2. Understand user centred research design. 3. Market research capacity and research skills. 4. Build an understanding of themselves and others. This led to the development of three bespoke doctoral modules: 1. Forging relationships: Building and Sustaining your Doctoral Network; 2. Managing the Project: Keeping on Track with an Eye to the future; Module 3: Starting your Career: Future Proofing your Career and Getting a Job. These modules are available to doctoral students across five European Universities.


In the paper, with the wavelength division multiplexing technology we present a two-stage 3-component geophone array based on the distributed feedback fiber lasers (DFB-FL), which can be used to detect oil and gas in deep wells for a long distance transmission. The proposed optical transmission structure can suppress the coherent collapse caused by Rayleigh scattering. In order to meet the requirement of high temperature operation environment under deep wells, a series high performance tests were also performed on the array. The output power of the DFB-FL decreases and the wavelength moves toward the long wavelength as the temperature increases. The background noise of the geophone array is consistent with the noise level at the ambient temperature, which can meet the requirement of high temperature and also provide a research foundation for the deep well vibration detection.


This article reports fabrication of n-ZnO photonic crystal/p-GaN light emitting diode (LED) by nanosphere lithography to further booster the light efficiency. In this article, the fabrication of ZnO photonic crystals is carried out by nanosphere lithography using inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching with CH4/H2/Ar plasma on the n-ZnO/p-GaN heterojunction LEDs. The CH4/H2/Ar mixed gas gives high etching rate of n-ZnO film, which yields a better surface morphology and results less plasma-induced damages of the n-ZnO film. Optimal ZnO lattice parameters of 200 nm and air fill factor from 0.35 to 0.65 were obtained from fitting the spectrum of n-ZnO/p-GaN LED using a MATLAB code. In this article, we will show our recent result that a ZnO photonic crystal cylinder has been fabricated using polystyrene nanosphere mask with lattice parameter of 200 nm and radius of hole around 70 nm. Surface morphology of ZnO photonic crystal was examined by scanning electron microscope.This article reports fabrication of n-ZnO photonic crystal/p-GaN light emitting diode (LED) by nanosphere lithography to further booster the light efficiency. In this article, the fabrication of ZnO photonic crystals is carried out by nanosphere lithography using inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching with CH4/H2/Ar plasma on the n-ZnO/p-GaN heterojunction LEDs. The CH4/H2/Ar mixed gas gives high etching rate of n-ZnO film, which yields a better surface morphology and results less plasma-induced damages of the n-ZnO film. Optimal ZnO lattice parameters of 200 nm and air fill factor from 0.35 to 0.65 were obtained from fitting the spectrum of n-ZnO/p-GaN LED using a MATLAB code. In this article, we will show our recent result that a ZnO photonic crystal cylinder has been fabricated using polystyrene nanosphere mask with lattice parameter of 200 nm and radius of hole around 70 nm. Surface morphology of ZnO photonic crystal was examined by scanning electron microscope.


Constipation is a common functional gastrointestinal symptom, the medical treatment of which is established. However, knowledge of diet and nutritional management for constipation is lacking. Based on current studies, fiber is effective in managing chronic constipation, but care should be taken in constipated patients with gaseous bloating. Increased fluid intake is controversial but may be beneficial, especially in conjunction with a stool-bulking agent. Other diet treatments lack high-quality evidence. A well-designed study to validate the effectiveness of diet, especially Korean diet, in the treatment of chronic constipation is needed. (Korean J Med 2016;90:111-114)


In 1998, approximately 57,000 tons of titanium metal was consumed in the form of mill products (1). Only about 5% of the 4 million tons of titanium minerals consumed each year is used to produce titanium metal, with the remainder primarily used to produce titanium dioxide pigment. Titanium metal production is primarily based on the direct chlorination of rutile to produce titanium tetrachloride, which is then reduced to metal using the Kroll magnesium reduction process. The use of titanium is tied to its high strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance. Aerospace is the largest application for titanium. In this paper, we discuss all aspects of the titanium industry from ore deposits through extraction to present and future applications. The methods of both primary (mining of ore, extraction, and purification) and secondary (forming and machining) operations will be analyzed. The chemical and physical properties of titanium metal will be briefly examined. Present and future applications for titanium will be discussed. Finally, the economics of titanium metal production also are analyzed as well as the advantages and disadvantages of various alternative extraction methods.