Abstract The lack of proper motherhood in Shakespeare's plays has been a point of attraction for many feminist critics actively engaged in emphasizing the patriarchal aspect of Shakespeare's plays. This paper aims to analyze motherhood and the lack of mother/mother-figure in The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew through Luce Irigaray's theory of gender and the work of other feminist critics. The issues of gender, father-daughter relations and the reflections of the absent mothers will be discussed. Male/Female Subjectivity will also be questioned, in view of Irigaray's conceptualization of gender by relating it to Subject.


Wilson's disease (Hepatolenticular degeneration) is an inherited autosomal recessive disorder of copper
metabolism that produces neurologic, psychiatric, and liver manifestations, alone or in combination. It is
caused by mutations in the ATP7B gene encoding a P-type ATPase on chromosome 13q14.3. Manifestations of Wilson's disease
are more likely to be hepatic in early childhood, and neurologic in adolescents and young adults. Neurologic onset usually
manifests in the second decade of life with tremor, rigidity and dystonia. Here we are presenting two cases of WILSON'S disease
manifesting as NEUROWILSON'S among two siblings of a family born out of secondary consanguineous marriage. Both the
patients presented with history of difculty in holding objects and history of tremors of both upper limbs and slurring of speech.
Examination revealed a Wing beating tremor, Kayser Fleischer ring on slit lamp examination, low serum copper and low serum
ceruloplasmin. Patients were treated with Penicillamine and Zinc acetate, discharged and advised regular follow up.


Unit assembling parts of an LED display screen body comprise screen body mounting parts and assembling connecting parts which are connected with the screen body mounting parts. Each screen body mounting part comprises a first mounting bar and a second mounting bar which is connected with the first mounting bar in an intersecting mode; each assembling connecting part comprises a first assembling assembly arranged on the first mounting bar and a second assembling assembly arranged on the second mounting bar. The unit assembling part of the LED display screen body is simple in structure and convenient to use, the cost input is reduced, assembling and disassembling which can be conducted in a split mode are extremely simple, convenient and rapid, limitation of a traditional fixed steel structure frame does not exist, the applicability is wide, joint errors of a traditional LED unit screen are eliminated, high level of connection and supporting strength of the overall structure is guaranteed, and meanwhile the good display effect of an electronic screen is guaranteed.


The text provides the genesis of the existing regime for access to the highest judicial body in Macedonia, the particularities of that regime and an assessment on its effects on the judicial system. The authors provide insight into two different modes of revision in Macedonian legal system, namely the ordinary revision and the leave to file a revision, depending on the goals each of these remedies primarily strives to achieve – individual justice in a particular dispute or uniform application of law and harmonisation of the judicial practice. The text also presents the issue of granting a leave to appeal, which has a number of specificities in comparison to its German and Austrian counterparts. Finally, it offers a critical assessment of recent reforms and provides statistical data on the Supreme Court's caseload in Macedonia.


The conversion of natural gas (mainly methane) to more valuable compounds is an attractive topic in energy field. While heterogeneously catalytic conversion of methane with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been extensively studied, in‐depth study on similar homogeneous systems is lacking. In this work, FeCl3 was demonstrated as an excellent homogeneous catalyst for direct oxidation of methane in the presence of H2O2 at near ambient temperature (50°C) in water, with significant yields of methanol (1972.2 μmol/gcat) and formic acid (33 273.5 μmol/gcat) and a high turnover frequency (TOF) of 5.7 hours−1. The superiorities of both the cation (Fe3+) and the anion (Cl−) were revealed by studying the cation and anion effects in comparison with CoCl2 and NiCl2 (TOF of 0.035 and 0 hour−1, respectively) as well as Fe(NO3)3 and FeBr3 (TOF of 3.3 and 0.73 hour−1, respectively). Furthermore, it was found that the hydrated ferryl ion [(H2O)5FeIVO]2+ could be the major active species for the activation of CH4 and the formation of CH3OH, whereas the hydroxyl radicals (·OH) were responsible for the formation of HCOOH, CO and CO2. Moreover, theoretical study based on density function theory (DFT) suggested that the cation effect could be related to the Gibbs free energies for CH4 activation on their corresponding active species. Meanwhile, the anions affect the performance mainly by the structural features.


The objective of this paper work was to compare performance among foreign and local alfalfa ecotypes under Tunisian conditions, in view of improvement programme. For this goal, 20 alfalfa farm ecotypes were collected from Tunisian oases and 16 exotic cultivars were provided by PERMED project. The evaluation of agro-morphological traits on all the populations was performed during two years (2006-2008) in experimental field of Arid Regions Institute, Gabes (33.90°N; 10.08°E), of Tunisia. Except width of central leaflet, all agro-morphological traits were significantly different among populations (P<0.05). Higher dry matter percentage, stem length, inflorescences.plant -1 and pods.plant -1 were mainly associated with local populations. Exotic germplasm had advantage in fresh weight, stem number and weakness in reproductive traits. The two plans of the projection of the first, the second and the third components in the Principal Component Analysis showed an excellent separation between the local and foreign alfalfa cultivars. This shows that the variables analysed are able to explain the differences observed between the native and foreig n alfalfa populations. The first axis showed that the exotic populations were distinguished by highest fresh weight yield and leaves number, strong length of central leaflet, than the native ones. The correlation study showed the possibility of selection of synthetic variety combining higher green matter yield and good digestibility or high dry and seed yield in one genotype.


A cold-sensitive maize (Zea mays L.) inbred was used as a model for investigating the interactions between growth regulators, reproductive development, and environmental stress. In this genotype, a chilling treatment given just before floral transition caused the topmost ear to abort and be replaced at maturity by a sterile, leaf-like, structure. Exogenous applications of the synthetic auxin 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid or of the cytokinin benzyladenine respectively mimicked or prevented the abortive response caused by chilling. Chilling also induced a moderate decrease in the content of endogenous indoleacetic acid (IAA) in the apical shoot tissues. By contrast, zeatin-type cytokinins decreased dramatically (5–8 fold), both in the apical shoot tissues and in the xylem exudate of chilled plants. Overall, the ratio of free-IAA to zeatin-cytokinins was increased in the apical shoot of chilled plants. Our results suggest that: (1) ear abortion induced by chilling might be related to an altered cytokinin content; (2) the number of developing ears may be limited by the endogenous levels of cytokinins just before floral transition; and (3) cytokinins may have a potential for increasing yield in maize.


Nickel-base superalloys for stationary gas turbine hot part elements application must meet the requirements of sufficient hot corrosion resistance due to combustion product surface attack and high mechanical properties at exploitation temperatures. Thus nickel-base superalloys development was carried out taking into consideration hot corrosion processes studies and structural studies with elaboration of general concepts of alloying elements influence over hot corrosion and high temperature mechanical properties, including creep and fatigue. Hot corrosion resistance of model and commercial alloys was evaluated at specially designed low-pressure corrosion rig that ensured qualitative and quantitative correspondence of experimental result to these observed in experience. Turbine fuel containing 1 % sulphur was used together with sodium salts water solution injection into combustion products flow. Hot corrosion resistance was estimated due to average corrosion velocity V q (g/m 2 s) and corrosion penetration depth h C2 (mm) taking into consideration environmentally assisted corrosion cracks. Structure formation and properties of nickelbase superalloys were studied within concentration limits that enhance sufficient hot corrosion resistance. Comparison of experimental data of complex influence of alloying elements (chromium, titanium, aluminium, cobalt, columbium, tantalum, molybdenum, tungsten, rear-earth's) over hot corrosion surface stability and most important mechanical properties made it possible to propose concentration limits for hot corrosion resistant nickel-base superalloys that were successfully used as materials for hot part gas turbine elements produced in Ukraine and Russia.


Divulgatio. Perfiles académicos de posgrado, Vol. 5, Número 14, 2021, 1-26 https://doi.org/10.48160/25913530di14.160 For several decades, the software industry has acquired a central role in the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Companies in the sector are facing an environment of high volatility, dynamism and rapidly evolving technologies, which require the development of foresight capabilities to anticipate future changes and respond proactively. In this context, the present work aims to identify and evaluate the scope of strategic foresight activities undertaken by a group of Argentinean software companies. In pursuit of this, a survey and evaluation methodology is designed and applied to the study of four firms located in the city of Tandil. The main contributions are the methodological proposal and the finding of a greater scope of the first phases of the foresight process, -environment scanning and information analysis-, and the higher degree of compliance identified for the criteria of realization, assigned responsible and frequency.


The shrinkage of the Aral Sea ranks as one of the world's greatest man‐made environmental disasters. While there is some hope for a separated northern part, the main sea is doomed


Wang Yucheng was the famous writer in early Song Dynasty.His poems and articles changed the style of sculpture and painting at the end of Tang Dynasty and the rare,intricate style in early Song Dynasty.He was praise as the starter of the reform of poems and articles.Who were Sun He and Ding Wei? Why did Wang Yucheng compare himself to Han Yu and Liu Zengyuan? What is the relationship between them? What were their historic positions? The paper will answer these questions.


Tegretol® No substitution. 200 mg carbamazepine Indications and clinical use a) Trigeminal Neuralgia: Tegretol is indicated for the symptomatic relief of pain of trigeminal neuralgia only during periods of exacerbation of true or primary trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureux). It should not be used preventively during periods of remission. In some patients. Tegretol has relieved glossopharyngeal neuralgia. For patients who fail to respond to Tegretol, or who are sensitive to the drug, recourse to other accepted measures must be considered. Tegretol is not a simple analgesic and should not be used to relieve trivial facial pains or headaches. b) Tegretol has been found useful: 1. in the management of psychomotor (temporal lobe) epilepsy and, 2. as an adjunct, in some patients with secondary or partial epilepsy with complex symptomatology or secondarily generalized seizures, when administered in combination with other antiepileptic medication. 3. as an alternative medication in patients with generalized tonic-clonic seizures who are experiencing marked side effects or fail to respond to other anticonvulsant drugs. Tegretol is essentially ineffective in controlling petit mal. minor motor, myoclonic and predominantly unilateral seizures, and does not prevent the generalization of epileptic discharge. Contraindications Tegretol should not be administered to patients with a history of hepatic disease or serious blood disorder. Tegretol should not be administered immediately before, in conjunction with, or immediately after a monoamine oxidase inhibitor. When it seems desirable to administer Tegretol to a patient who has been receiving an MAO inhibitor, there should be as long a drug-free interval as the clincal condition allows, but in no case should this be less than 14 days. Then the dosage of Tegretol should be low initially, and increased very gradually. Tegretol should not be administered to patients presenting atrioventricular heart block. Safe use in pregnancy has not been established. Therefore, Tegretol should not be administered during the first three months of pregnancy. Tegretol should not be given to women of childbearing potential unless, in the opinion of the physician, the expected benefits to the patient outweigh the possible risk to the foetus (See Reproductive Studies). Because of demonstrated toxicity in nursing animals, Tegretol should not be administered to nursing mothers. Because of the similarity of chemical structure, Tegretol should not be administered to patients with known hypersenitivity to any of the tricyclic compounds, such as amitriptyline, trimipramine, imipramine, or their analogues or metabolites. Warnings Although reported infrequently, serious adverse effects have been observed during the use of Tegretol. Agranulocytosis and aplastic anemia have occurred in a few instances with a fatal outcome. Leucopenia, thrombocytopenia and hepatocellular and cholestatic jaundice have also been reported. It is, therefore, important that Tegretol should be used carefully and close clinical and frequent laboratory supervision should be maintained throughout treatment in order to detect as early as possible signs and symptoms of a possible blood dyscrasia. Long-term toxicity studies in rats indicated a potential carcinogenic risk. Therefore, the possible risk of drug use must be weighed against the potential benefits before prescribing carbamazepine to individual patients. Precautions Monitoring of Haematological and Other Adverse Reactions: Complete blood studies, including platelet counts, and evaluation of hepatic and renal function and urinalysis should be carried out before treatment is instituted. Careful clinical and laboratory supervision should be maintained throughout treatment, including frequent performance of complete blood counts, in order to detect any early signs or symptoms or blood dyscrasia. Should any signs or symptoms or abnormal laboratory findings suggestive of blood dyscrasia or liver disorder occur, Tegretol should be immediately discontinued until the case is carefully reassessed. Urinary Retention and Increased Intraocular Pressure: Because of its anticholinergic action, Tegretol should be given cautiously, if at all, to patients with increased intraocular pressure or urinary retention. Such patients should be followed closely while taking the drug. Occurrence of Behavioural Disorders: Because it is closely related to the other tricyclic drugs, there is some possibility that Tegretol might activate a latent psychosis, or, in elderly patients, produce agitation or confusion, especially when combined with other drugs. Caution should also be exercised in alcoholics. Use in Patients with Cardiovascular Disorders: Tegretol should be used cautiously in patients with a history of coronary artery disease, organic heart disease, or congestive failure. If a defective conductive system is suspected, an E.K.G. should be performed before administering Tegretol, in order to exclude patients with atrioventricular block. Use in Patients taking Oral Contraceptives: In women under treatment with Tegretol, the reliability of oral contraceptives may be adversely affected; such patients should accordingly be advised to use some alternative, non-hormonal method of contraception. Driving and Operating Hazardous Machinery: Because dizziness and drowsiness are possible side effects of Tegretol, patients should be warned about the possible hazards of operating machinery or driving automobiles.


We model a value chain, which consists of two stages of value creation. Within this model we show how the relative importance of general and idiosyncratic knowledge interacts with the hold up problem to determine the comparative advantages of markets, hierarchies, and cooperatives. In our model a market form is (weakly) dominated by a cooperative organization. We show that cooperatives (hierarchies) are an efficient response to the hold up problem if idiosyncratic (general) knowledge is important. A trade off arises if both general and idiosyncratic knowledge is important for value creation. This trade off determines the choice between cooperatives (idiosyncratic knowledge is relatively more important) and hierarchies (general knowledge is relatively more important).


The present paper is a numerical study of a transient free-surface flow into an array of circular drainage ditches in a porous medium. By the boundary integral equation method and a semi-Lagrangian description of motion, the groundwater table is tracked as a function of time. Primarily, we consider the case of atmospheric pressure along the ditch contour. An analytical small-time expansion is presented in an appendix. In contrast to the case of constant flux into a sink (Papatzacos, 1989), there is no cusp formation at the free surface. The flux into a ditch is approximately a linearly decreasing function of time. We also include a second version of the boundary condition at the ditch; parts of its contour are impermeable.


Ni-clad nano-Al_2O_3 composite coatings were prepared on carbon steel plate by high power continuous wave CO_2 laser beam.The fabrication of Ni-clad nano-Al_2O_3 composite coatings was investigated.The friction properties were examined under dry sliding condition using pin-on-disc tester.The results showed that the Ni-clad nano-Al_2O_3 composite coating had a microhardness value of 810Hv,greater than for without treated ones. The Ni-clad nano-Al_2O_3 composite coating possessed not only a higher wear resistance but also a lower friction coefficient.It is interest to note that the wear mass loss and friction coefficient of Ni-clad nano-Al_2O_3 composite coatings reduced to about 38% and 40% in comparison with those without coating respectively.The nano-Al_2O_3 were uniformly distributed in the carbon steel matrix and greatly increased the microhardness and tribological properties of the Ni-clad nano-Al_2O_3 composite coatings.The results also showed that the amount of Al_2O_3 significantly affected wear resistance of Ni-clad nano-Al_2O_3 composite coatings but they had little influence on their friction coefficient.


A male Lion-tailed Macaque (Macaca silenus) born at the National Zoological Park, New Delhi on 26 May 1976 was given toNandankanan Zoological Park, Bhubaneswar, Orissa on January 20, 1982. He died at the age of 24 years, nine months and eight days, on March 06, 2001. During his lifetime at Nandankanan, the animal had sired 11 offsprings with three females from 1983 to 1992 and was identified with international studbook number 1253 and national studbook number T54. The Indian studbook constituted in 1996 for Lion-tailed Macaque (Anon., 1997) with draft master plan collection report on its Indian population had recommended its transfer to Peshwe Park Zoological Gardens, Pune in exchange of wild origin male to prevent inbreeding. The exchange did not materialize.


Methods to study the dependencies of electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity have been developed. To implement the methods, a hardware-software measuring complex which allows conducting investigations in the temperature range 300 - 1200 K has been developed and manufactured. Methods were proposed and the relative errors for the measurements of the mentioned parameters were calculated. The following measurement errors were established: electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient - 3%; thermal conductivity - 5%.Investigation of the temperature dependences of the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity for the effective thermoelectric materials developed was performed. The materials under study were based on Bi2Te3; Sb2Te3; PbTe; Gete; SiGe, and were used for the manufacturing of the multisectional generator thermoelements with operating temperatures up to 1200 K. The mechanisms of heat and electric transfer in the materials under consideration were determined. The paper proposes a methodology of research and provides calculations for heat conductivity components.


The molecular dynamics method is used to study the features of nucleation and development of plasticity in nanocrystalline iron under shear loading in constrained conditions. The behavior of the material under loading is divided into several stages. On each of them the mechanisms of plastic deformation are revealed, which play the main role in the development of structural rearrangements in the loaded sample. It is shown that the nucleation and slip of dislocations plays a significant role in the development of plasticity at all stages of deformation. Subsequently, along with intragranular slip, grain boundary sliding is activated. Twinning leads to the localization of plastic deformation and changes grain shapes. At a further shear, the process of grain boundary migration is activated, which results in recrystallization of the deformed sample.


The invention relates to a hole packer and a core-drilling technology thereof. The hole packer comprises a core tube (1), wherein a capsule (2) sleeves the core tube (1); two ends of the capsule (2) are respectively connected with a left clamping piece (4) and a right clamping piece (5); the left clamping piece (4) slidably sleeves the core tube (1); the right clamping piece (5) is fixed on the core tube (1) via a positioning coil (3); the right clamping piece (5) is provided with a water feeding channel; the positioning coil (3) is provided with a coil water feeding channel (3.1); and an inner cavity of the capsule (2) is connected to a capsule water feeding joint (7) via the water feeding channel of the right clamping piece (5), the coil water feeding channel (3.1) of the positioning coil (3) and a capsule water feeding tube (6). The hole packer is simple in structure and convenient to use; and rock formation conditions can be detected visually.


Purpose – This paper aims to address how utilizing positive psychology can be beneficial when academic libraries are faced with obstacles and challenges. Design/methodology/approach – Opinion piece. Findings – Personal observations. Originality/value – Personal opinion and experience.


The mystery of John Skelton's Howard connection has never been satisfactorily explained. Indeed, one usually thinks of the Tudor poet (1460?-1529) as a court poet and tutor to Henry VIII rather than as the protégé of the Howard Countess of Surrey who directed her daughters and gentlewomen to honor him with a laurel crown. Of course, the recitation of this apparently biographical incident in which eleven gentlewomen joyfully decked Skelton's brow with laurel, became the basis for Skelton's most autobiographical poem, The Garland of Laurel. Published October 3, 1523, the usual assumption is that the Countess of Surrey is none other than Elizabeth Howard, née Stafford (d. 1558), the wife of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey and in due course third Duke of Norfolk (d. 1554).


HCPM is a tool for clustering protein structures from comparative modeling, ab initio structure prediction, etc. A hierarchical clustering algorithm is designed and tested, and a heuristic is provided for an optimal cluster selection. The method has been successfully tested during the CASP6 experiment.


Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte protein 4 (223 aa, ~25 kDa) is encoded by the human CTLA4 gene. This protein is involved in the inhibition of T-cell mediated immune responses.


Methods of producing effective weed control with environmental benefits are limited with current selective herbicides and/or inter-row tillage; in most countries, weed control commences pre-emergence or at the cotyledon stage of weeds (and crop). GM herbicide tolerant (GMHT) sugar beet would allow treatment at later growth stages with glyphosate and offers opportunities to manage and manipulate weeds for environmental benefit. In order to enhance this advantage, we have developed a simple over-the-row band spraying technique using a conventional overall sprayer to control in-row weeds first and those between the rows, if and when necessary, with a later overall spray application. In 1999 and 2000, five experiments investigated the effect of weed management strategies on yield of glyphosate tolerant GM sugar beet in East Anglia, UK. Glyphosate was applied at timings between 207 and 864 day degrees above 3°C (°Cd) after sowing and followed by a second application between 698 and 1022°Cd. In other treatments, glyphosate was applied in approximately 20 cm bands over the sugar beet rows at similar but fewer timings up to only 586°Cd. These were followed by a second but overall application between 401 and 811°Cd. Treatments were compared to untreated controls and programmes of current commercial herbicides commencing between 79 and 222°Cd. Yield reductions occurred if spraying was delayed after the critical period for weed competition, but the band spray technique allowed non-competitive weeds to remain between the rows until later in the season.


[Objective] The research aimed to study the relation between rice seed germination and nitrate reductase activity.[Method] The dynamic changes of nitratase activity and its relationships with germination percentage and germinating energy in rice seeds were investigated with Fuhui9801,ZhongjiuA,Zhongyiu9801,Fuhui9303,YixiangA,Yixiang9303,Duohuixi,Gang46A and R-725.[Result] It was found that there was a wholly consistent change in the nitratase activity of different rice.[Conclusion] There existed a positive correlation among the nitratase activity,germination percentage and germinating energy before the nitratase activity was highest.


We studied the chemical reaction process of polypropylene (PP), ethylene-propylene copolymer (EPM), and ethylene-propylene-diene copolymer (EPDM) crosslinking induced by dicumyl peroxide (DCP) using electron spin resonance (ESR). Free radicals appeared at an elevated temperature of around 120 °C and the behavior and kinetics of the reaction process were observed at 180 °C. The radical species detected in PP were alkyl type radicals, formed by the abstraction of hydrogen atoms from the tertiary carbon of polymer chains. For EPDM containing a diene component, the radicals were trapped at double bonds in this diene component to form allyl radicals. The resolutions of these spectra were extremely clear; hence, isotropic spectra of these polymer radicals were obtained. We measured the ESR at high temperatures and confirmed that the process of crosslinking induced by DCP was a free radical reaction. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 3383–3389, 2000


In this paper,an accident of fusing failure in 10 kV capacitor bank due to mal-closing capacitor and damage of vacuum circuit breaker is explained through calculation of inrush current,restrike of capacitor fuse and vacuum circuit breakers.Several improving measures such as provision of lockout circuit of the main substation with selection of high-quality vacuum circuit breakers,automatic switch capacitor and high-quality external fuses in capacitor bank are proposed so as to avoid reoccurrence of such accident.


It is a techno-business disruptive model of using distributed large-scale data centers either private or public or hybrid offering customers a scalable virtualized infrastructure or an abstracted set of services qualified by service-level agreements (SLAs) and charged only by the abstracted IT resources consumed.The occurrence of yet more cloud contributions from a crowd of service providers calls for a Meta cloud to smoothen the edges of the pointed cloud background. This Meta cloud could solve the hawker lock-in problems that current public and hybrid cloud users face.


It has very important meanings for the development of property management with the popularity of invitation to bid and tender.But there are some obstacles for the popularity of invitation to bid and tender.Such as the deficiency of rules,lack of supervision and short of real strength for some companies working on property management.This article mainly discusses these problems and presents the solutions to them at several aspects.


In this issue of SJPH we are publishing a Short Communication on the decline of smoking rates in Northern Sweden where the authors suggest that ''smoking prevalence rates are strongly and inversely correlated with prevalence of snus use, both across time and across age groups, for men and for women'' and that ''snus use may lower smoking prevalence both through a reduction in smoking initiation and by enhancing cessation'' [1]. The topic is of great public health relevance and it is certainly also a matter of policy controversy, not the least since data on snus use are still rather scarce and mainly available from Scandinavia. Obviously, the epidemiological basis for causal interpretations is also meagre in view of the absence of knowledge regarding long-term health consequences. Since the inherent hypothesis is that one addictive behaviour (snus use) may prevent another addictive behaviour (smoking) and that the former is less hazardous (but supposedly more addictive), only long-term prospective data on behavioural transition coupled with health outcome data can resolve the controversy. Moreover, the obvious vested economic interests involved and the well-known global impact of smoking following the now ongoing export of this well-established risk factor to developing countries adds to the importance of this agenda. The data in the report by Stegmayr et al. are, as they rightly put it, unique in the sense that they represent a population where the prevalence of one of the behaviours is probably higher than anywhere else (snus use) and the prevalence of the other (smoking) among the lowest reported. That may indicate that a transition has taken place. Still, their design is cross-sectional, making the empirical basis for causal reasoning shaky. We subscribe to the authors' suggested caution while welcoming them and others to analyse whatever longitudinal trends are available. While Stegmayr et al. illustrate the role of methods in public health policy, they also disclose the issue of research ethics when stating that, while one of the authors is supported by ''an unrestricted gift'' to the university hosting this author, they claim no conflict of interest. Although we have no reason to doubt their honest belief, we do challenge the trustworthiness and the ability of any researcher to keep loyalty aside when designing, analysing, interpreting, or preparing a manuscript, despite the fact that ''the sponsors had no knowledge of this study or manuscript'' and ''thus had no role in this project''. We subscribe to the Uniform Requirements for publishing, recently updated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors [2]. It is stated therein that ''Public trust in the peer review process and the credibility of published articles depend in part on how well conflict of interest is handled during writing, peer review, and editorial decision making'' and that ''The potential for conflict of interest can exist whether or not an individual believes that the relationship affects his or her scientific judgement''. We opted for this commentary to share this policy with our readers but also on this specific public health topic to welcome new original data on the ''snus'' issue as well as debate on the intricate balance between its potential to foster smoking cessation and risk of recruiting nicotine-dependants among hitherto non-smokers.


The representatives of teachers' congress in colleges and universities are elected democratically The representatives elected by masses democratically should have the ability of participating in governmental and political affairs, and have enthusiasm for them They can represent immediate interests of overall teaching and administrative staff and participate in governmental and political affairs and discuss affairs of government out of concern for public interests They are bridges and bonds linking the staff and leaders


Abstract Specific leaf area (SLA) is a common variable in comparative plant ecology that is often measured on field-grown plants, yet SLA is known to be a plastic trait. The motivation for this study was therefore to determine the degree to which environmentally induced plasticity in SLA might obscure interspecific trends. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that SLA is more responsive to nutrient stress at low irradiance than at high irradiance. To test this hypothesis we grew plants of six species of herbaceous Asteraceae in factorial combinations of 500, 250, and 125 µmol m-2 s-1 irradiance and a full strength (1/1), a 1/5, and a 1/10 dilution of a modified Hoagland hydroponic solution. The full strength solution had 8 mM of nitrogen. Plants were harvested at 21, 28, 35, and 42 days from germination. SLA varied significantly between species, harvest dates, and experimental treatments. In general, SLA decreased with age, but more severely at low irradiance. SLA increased with decreasing irradiance. SLA also increased with increasing nutrient concentration, but this effect disappeared in the older plants at the higher irradiance. These trends were not seen in every species. Our hypothesis was supported: SLA is more responsive to nutrient stress at low irradiance than at high irradiance, but the exact response is species-specific. Despite these environmentally induced changes in SLA at the intraspecific level, the interspecific differences were maintained across environments, justifying the use of SLA as a useful trait in comparative plant ecology.


Novel hybrid polymer hydrogels were prepared in a facile manner by simple mixing of a water-soluble copolymer having trimethoxysilyl side chains with silica nanoparticles used as multiple crosslinkers.


Land is the carrier of all social and economic activities, the study of land resources in the new rural construction is conducive to the efficient, orderly and sustainable development of the new rural construction. Taking Hanzhong city as an example, analyze the land resource utilization, discusses the land-use problems in the new rural construction, and finally puts forward some countermeasures under the background of new rural construction land intensive utilization of resources, realize the development and utilization of land resources reasonably and efficiently in the construction of new countryside in order.


Eukaryotic organisms package their genetic material into linear chromosomes.
Telomeres are the ends of linear chromosomes and consist of terminal G-rich
repetitive sequences. These structures play a key role in genetic stability
protecting chromosome ends from degradation and end-to-end fusions. Telomeres
are maintained by the specialized enzyme reverse transcriptase telomerase.
The mayority of human somatic cells have telomerase inactivated, thus with
every round of replication, telomeres shorten. As chromosome ends shorten,
genomic instability increases to a point at which ten cell enters a senescing
phase, leading to cell death. Human telomeres are long enough to prevent
this senescence during our lifespan. Yet, it has been observed that 90% of
all cancer cells switch on telomerase, due to their high rate of cell divisions.
Contrary, the other 10% of cancer cells and immortalized cell lines, instead
of switching on telomerase, use the alternative lengthening of telomrese
pathway (ALT) to maintain their telomeres.

Yeast express telomerase every cell generation. Thus, telomerase can be
inactivated via gene disruption, generating ALT yeast cells which mimic (to
some extent), the process of cell senescence and instability caused by telomere
shortening in mammalian somatic ALT cells. Telomerase-deficient yeast enter
a senescing phase, causing the death of most of the colony, yet a minor
subpopulation of the cells survive. This investigation consists in the analysis
of the genetic rearrangements that occur in these post-senescent survivors.
These surviving cells take one of two pathways to overcome the resulting
senescence: type I cells survive by the amplification of the subtelomeric
Y? sequence, while type II survivors arise through addition of long
tracts of telomere repeats, similar to human ALT cells.

Assesment of telomere length variation revealed that different S. cerevisiae
isolates had overall, very homogeneous telomere lengths, while S. paradoxus
strains had much more heterogeneous telomeric tracts. The S. paradoxus sequenced
strain harbouring short telomeres senesced after 60 generations, while a
Far East isolate with long telomeres entered senescence after 20 generations.
This faster rate of senescence in the Far East isolates is counter-intuitive,
as longer telomeres should result in a longer buffer period in the absence
of telomerase. Similarly, shorter telomere cells should senesce earlier.

In search for genetic variation in the Saccharomyces sensu stricto complex,
an S. paradoxus Y? deficient strain was found. Disruption of RAD50
(a gene determining one of the ALT recombination pathways) in this strain
produced two types of survivors: type I survivors which amplify some subtelomeric
sequence other than Y?, and type II survivors that are RAD50 independent.
A 50/50 ratio was observed between these two survivor types.

Finally, the insertion of a telomere tag into two strains of S. paradoxus
was achieved. Chromosome XV was tagged in both, the CBS432 strain characterized
by short telomeres (400 bp),…


Wulanfu's thoughts about the Party leading Inner Mongolia national to regional national autonomy include: why only Chinese Communist Party serve as the leader guiding Inner Mongolia national to regional national autonomy,how the Party lead Inner Mongolia national to realizing regional national autonomy,how we guarantee the Party's lead position in realizing regional national autonomy in Inner Mongolia,etc.


Construction wastes can be used in unfired and non-autoclaved brick, which utilization rate is over 80%. The average compressive strength of products in pilot test can be up to 18.9 MPa, and other properties all meet the demands of the standards of GB5101-2003 and GB6566-2001.


ABSTRACT We have previously shown that splenocytes from mice acutely infected with Trypanosoma cruzi exhibit high levels of nitric oxide (NO)-mediated apoptosis. In the present study, we used the gamma interferon (IFN-γ)-knockout (IFN-γ−/−) mice to investigate the role of IFN-γ in modulating apoptosis induction and host protection during T. cruzi infection in mice. IFN-γ−/− mice were highly susceptible to infection and exhibited significant reduction of NO production and apoptosis levels in splenocytes but normal lymphoproliferative response compared to the infected wild-type (WT) mice. Furthermore, IFN-γ modulates an enhancement of Fas and Fas-L expression after infection, since the infected IFN-γ−/− mice showed significantly lower levels of Fas and Fas-L expression. The addition of recombinant murine IFN-γ to spleen cells cultures from infected IFN-γ−/−mice increased apoptosis levels, Fas expression, and NO production. In the presence of IFN-γ and absence of NO, although Fas expression was maintained, apoptosis levels were significantly reduced but still higher than those found in splenocytes from uninfected mice, suggesting that Fas–Fas-L interaction could also play a role in apoptosis induction in T. cruzi-infected mice. Moreover, in vivo, the treatment of infected WT mice with the inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitor aminoguanidine also led to decreased NO and apoptosis levels but not Fas expression, suggesting that IFN-γ modulates apoptosis induction by two independent and distinct mechanisms: induction of NO production and of Fas and Fas-L expression. We suggest that besides being of crucial importance in mediating resistance to experimentalT. cruzi infection, IFN-γ could participate in the immune response control through apoptosis modulation.


The structural identification problem in dynamic system theory is studied and the connection between structural identifiability and other identifiability concepts, including least-square identifiability, identifiability with noisy observations and identifiability of system matrix coefficients, is discussed. Conditions for structural identifiability are reviewed, and new results are derived for both local and global identifiability.


The aim of the article is to define principal linguistic and extralinguistic factors of neologisms' origin in marketing lexis of modern German. During the research there were used sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic approaches as well as componential analysis approach. There were elicited such extralinguistic factors as peculiarities of historical development of a subject area, social and situational factor and contacting factor of German with other languages.


The study determined the construct validity of DCAT and investigated the predictive ability of DCAT on students' performance in Mathematics and English Language with the aim of ascertaining the suitability of DCAT use among junior secondary school students in Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population for the study comprised all public junior secondary school students in Ondo state. The sample consisted of 1080 JSS III students randomly selected from 18 junior secondary schools. Developing Cognitive Ability Test and OSJSCE questions were adopted for data collection. Data were analysed using Pearson product moment correlation Coefficient (r) and regression analysis. The results showed that while the items of verbal ability subset of DCAT are measuring a construct not different from English Language subset of OSJSCE (r = 0.671), the reverse is the case for quantitative and spatial abilities subsets (r = -0.019 and r = -0.034) respectively. The result also showed that the items of quantitative and verbal abilities subset of DCAT converge with the items of mathematics subset of OSJSCE (r = 0.709 and r = 0.178) respectively. Furthermore, the results showed that while DCAT significantly predict students' performance in mathematics (�� = 0.517), it does not significantly predict students' performance in English Language. However, the verbal ability subset of DCAT significantly predicts students' performance English Language. The study therefore concluded that only the verbal and the quantitative subsets of DCAT is suitable for use among the junior secondary school students.


APC virus type 7 was isolated from an 8‐month‐old girl with an atypical pneumonia. Neutralisation and complement‐fixation tests showed a significant rise in titer.


spiral galaxy M81 is a challenging object for testing a density-wave theory. It is of large angular size and favourably to the line of sight; radio observations of neutral atomic hydrogen showing well defined spiral arms with noncircular motions are available and there is evidence from surface photometry for density waves in the old disk population Can these observations be unified in one density-wave model?


Offshore outsourcing of advanced tasks, such as research and development (R&D) and innovation, is becoming more common in our interconnected world. While a body of knowledge exists regarding the outsourcing of innovation, its impact (learning, upgrading and adopting new technologies and processes) on emerging economy suppliers (EESs) is unclear. We know even less about how these EESs evolve and what influences their involvement in innovation outsourcing. The current chapter explores the impact of innovation offshoring on EES innovativeness. To better understand this relationship, a qualitative in-depth study was conducted to examine the learning, adopting and upgrading processes in four case study EES apparel firms from Pakistan. The findings suggest that innovation offshoring connections coupled with EESs' own innovation strategies are valuable for learning, acquiring resources and developing market knowledge and competencies that enhance the EES firms' offerings, operations and movement in value chains, particularly for international expansion, if strategized carefully.


The utility model discloses a smashing and rice milling all-in-one machine main machine. A smashing cutter used for smashing materials and a sifter are placed in the inner space and the outer space of a machine shell respectively. A moving cutter of the smashing cutter is driven by a first belt wheel installed on a hollow shaft, a sifter support is installed on the machine shell, a rice roller used for milling rice and a rice sieve are placed in a moving cutter rotation space. The rice roller is a roller with two ends sealed, fixedly sleeved on a solid shaft penetrating the hollow shaft, and driven by a second belt wheel installed on the solid shaft. One end of a rice sieve support is installed on a second bearing block supporting the solid shaft and the other end of the rice sieve support is installed on a rice sieve support seat. The rice sieve support seat is installed on the solid shaft through a first rolling bearing. A grain inlet or a rice outlet is formed in the rice sieve support seat. The smashing and rice milling all-in-one machine main machine has the advantages of being novel in design, compact in structure, small in size, light in weight, low in production cost, high in processing efficiency, good in rice producing and powder producing quality, low in energy consumption and free of occurrence of machine jamming and idling in the process of operation.


A new 16 T split-coil magnet system is being developed by Bruker BioSpin. This will represent the first high-field actively shielded split-coil magnet for neutron scattering experiments. The new magnet system will be installed at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) in the USA in 2009. The magnet is a symmetrical split coil, which can be operated in both symmetric and asymmetric field modes (for experiments with polarized neutrons).


Photoexcitation of the quasi-one-dimensional charge-density-wave (CDW) system, blue bronze (K0.3MoO3), with near-infrared femtosecond pulses, results in both a low-frequency, broadband THz surface emission from the photo-Dember effect, and a narrow-band emission from a TO phonon doublet centered at 1.5 THz below $\sim 100\mathrm{K}$ in the CDW state. The polarization dependence of the phonon emission leads us to propose a surface-field/quadrupole excitation mechanism, distinct from the typical mechanisms for phonon emission in other materials. A coupled-oscillator model with a transient suppression of the mode coupling can reproduce the detailed temporal and spectral characteristics of the emission.


Type I Interferons (IFN-I) are potent cytokines essential for immune surveillance against many pathogens including persistent viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in humans and Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (LCMV) in mice. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are specialized to produce IFN-I but the molecular mechanisms underlying their initial IFN-I production and the subsequent exhaustion that occurs during chronic viral infection remain to be fully elucidated. Using chronic LCMV infection in mice, we demonstrated that pDCs initially sensed and produced abundant IFN-I in a TLR7-dependent manner. Furthermore, gene expression profile comparisons of pDCs and conventional (c) DCs identified CD28, a prototypic T cell stimulatory receptor, as highly expressed in pDCs. Strikingly, CD28 acted in a cell-intrinsic manner to negatively regulate the magnitude of pDC IFN-I production upon TLR stimulation in vitro and early after in vivo LCMV infection, but was dispensable for the subsequent IFN-I silencing. In contrast, cell-intrinsic TLR7 signaling was essential for the later pDC IFN-I exhaustion observed in chronic LCMV infection and compromised innate responses against secondary opportunistic pathogens. These results highlight a novel role for CD28 in limiting the magnitude of pDC IFN-I production and a dual role for TLR7 in mediating both induction and subsequent exhaustion of innate responses during in vivo chronic viral infection.


Abstract A series of aircraft penetrations into clear air turbulence zones within upper level fronts is presented. Heat and momentum diffusivities am estimated with a view toward obtaining more realistic parameterizations for numerical models. Two passes through severe turbulence are discussed in detail.


Synovial sarcoma is a high grade malignant soft tissue tumor. Its diagnosis and differential diagnosis are difficult. In most cases the reciprocal chromosomal translocation between chromosome X and chromosome 18 could be found and characterized synovial sarcoma. This article reviewed the relationship between chromosomal translocation and the diagnosis, histological type and prognosis of synovial sarcoma.


In the summer semester of 1996 and the winter semester of 1996/97 the clinical course of physical examination and history taking was evaluated by means of a standardized machine-readable questionnaire at the Medical Clinic Innenstadt of the University of Munich. The questionnaires were read in by a card reading scanner. The students who participated in the course had to fill in a questionnaire once a week after each teaching session anonymously. Vice versa an evaluation of the students by the clinical teachers and lecturers was obtained. Every evaluated faculty member got feedback on his individual teaching performance from the students questionnaires. In spite of a very positive overall evaluation of the course, some minor modifications were made due to the evaluation results. Longitudinally, the following semester evaluation showed a trend towards improvement in course performance which was not statistically significant. This article describes the methodological strenghts and weaknesses of our evaluation approach.


The dispersion characteristics of electromagnetic fields are examined for waves propagating in a medium with a permittivity which is modulated periodically with respect to time and one spatial co-ordinate. By taking a guided-wave approach, which expresses the fields of arbitrary sources in terms of a superposition of modal solutions, it is shown that many properties of the individual modes may be inferred by means of wavenumber diagrams. These diagrams are easily constructed for the special case of a vanishingly small periodic modulation. By using coupled-mode consideration, this special case is extended to serve as a good approximation for finite modulation amplitudes. In addition to yielding information on the dispersion character of modal fields, it is shown that the wavenumber diagrams may be employed to extract the modal constituents of a plane wave scattered by a layer containing a space-time periodic medium. The principal far-field components of waves excited by a localised arbitrary source embedded in such a medium may also easily be obtained from the wavenumber diagrams. The guided-wave approach, together with its associated wavenumber diagrams, is thus shown to serve as a powerful tool in analysing and understanding a large class of phenomena, which includes the diffraction of light by sound and parametric effects in nonlinear media, as well as other aspects of wave interactions in material bodies.


Preface. The digital theme. Logic tables and switching functions. Visualizations: Venn diagrams, Karnaugh maps, Hasse diagrams from logic tables to lattices. Post algebras. Sub-post algebras double Heyting algebras. Arithmetic operations. Finite state diagrams. Axiomatic propositional calculi. Special functions. Special applications. Answers to even-numbered exercises. References. Index.


This chapter provides empirical insights of agency and empowerment in social innovation across Europe. We apply portions of the theoretical framework developed in CrESSI to investigate whether social innovation is potentially able to reduce the marginalization of specific groups. We depart from the hypothesis that social innovation enhances participants' agency and test this through the collection of primary data. Our investigation is based on a mixed-method strategy combining qualitative interviews with social innovators, focus groups, and surveys to which beneficiaries and control groups respond. The case studies comprise Solidarity Purchasing Groups in Italy, interest communities that fight for decentralized drinking-water supply and wastewater removal in Germany, and complementary currencies in The Netherlands. Our results suggest that social innovation produces mainly intangible effects by modifying knowledge and social ties, which tend to improve the agency of participants.


Antibodies to deoxythymidine 5'-phosphate (dpT) were elicited in rabbits using bovine serum albumin conjugate of the nucleotide. To det. the specificity of the antibodies, binding of tritiated hapten, [3H]dpT, to the g-globulins prepared from the antisera and inhibition of this binding by nonradioactive dpT and related compds. was measured by nitrocellulose filter assay. The results showed that the antibodies (i) were specific for the whole molecule of dpT, (ii) had very high steric requirement for recognizing the hapten, (iii) showed negligible cross reactivity with other mononucleotides, and (iv) recognized dpT residue in an oligonucleotide but showed preference for the dpT at the 3' end over the one at the 5'-end of the oligonucleotide. The property (iii) was used in developing a sensitive radioimmunoassay for the quantitation of dpT in the presence of all the 4 normal mononucleotides. The relability of this method was demonstrated by quantitating the amts. of dpT in oligonucleotides and DN samples of known base component.


Homicide–suicides are phenomena where the perpetrator kills one or more victims and subsequently kills himself/herself. The typical classification includes intimate partner homicide–suicides, familial, and extrafamilial homicide–suicides. This review examines research beginning with a 1992 seminal article by Peter Marzuk, Kenneth Tardiff, and Charles Hirsch in the Journal of the American Medical Association in which they suggested that homicide–suicides constituted a distinct domain different from homicides to suicides. This review uses the JAMA article to frame the issues and discuss homicide–suicide research in the United States from the date of that publication. In addition to discussing characteristics of homicide–suicides, this review focuses on homicide–suicides involving intimate partners and compares both to homicides without subsequent suicides and suicides without prior homicides. Suggestions for further research are given as well as research problems available to Sociology.


Abstract A design rationale is a representation of the reasoning behind a design concept, explaining why the solution is designed the way it is. This makes design rationale a critical part of concept development. However, there is little exploration on how to build a design rationale. This study sheds light on professional designers' reasoning in conceptual design, as we examine how design rationales for different concepts are built based on a longitudinal study in the context of two design studios. Particularly the study provides insight into how a design rationale is initiated, matured and finalized.


Stud A consistent theme in public discussions of the performance of US intelligence is how poorly Americans conduct counterintelligence (CI). Whether it is the former chief of the CIA's Counterintelligence Center (CIC), Paul Redmond, famously observing that Americans are "too nice" to carry out CI properly or former National Counterintelligence Executive Michelle Van Cleave lamenting that the US government is failing at strategic CI or the legions of books and articles by scholars and journalists criticizing intelligence agencies for failing to catch spies and protect secrets, the conclusion is almost always the same. "Our national CI program has failed to carry out its mission," wrote George Kalaris and Leonard McCoy in Studies in Intelligence in 1988. In 2005, the WMD Commission echoed their conclusion when it reported that "US counterintelligence efforts have remained fractured, myopic, and only marginally effective." While these criticisms often are unfair or exaggerated—the United States has had many CI successes—they do contain elements of truth. US counterintelligence efforts often are poorly organized, conceptualized, and executed, and CI remains a relatively neglected area of study in the Intelligence Community.1


Screw compressors currently replaced the L-2 double multi-action water-cooled air compressor,a major coal mine gas compression equipment.Accustomed to the use of coal piston air compressor maintenance personnel,there is an urgent need for detailed study,understand and grasp the screw-type air compressor with the knowledge and the appropriate application of new technologies.


Duct losses have a significant effect on the efficiency of delivering space cooling to U.S. homes. This effect is especially dramatic during peak demand periods where half of the cooling equipment's output can be wasted. Improving the efficiency of a duct system can save energy, but can also allow for downsizing of cooling equipment without sacrificing comfort conditions. Comfort, and hence occupant acceptability, is determined not only by steady-state temperatures, but by how long it takes to pull down the temperature during cooling start-up, such as when the occupants come home on a hot summer afternoon. Thus the delivered tons of cooling at the register during start-up conditions are critical to customer acceptance of equipment downsizing strategies. We have developed a simulation technique which takes into account such things as weather, heat-transfer (including hot attic conditions), airflow, duct tightness, duct location and insulation, and cooling equipment performance to determine the net tons of cooling delivered to occupied space. Capacity at the register has been developed as an improvement over equipment tonnage as a system sizing measure. We use this concept to demonstrate that improved ducts and better system installation is as important as equipment size, with analysis of pull-down capability as a proxy for comfort. The simulations indicate that an improved system installation including tight ducts can eliminate the need for almost a ton of rated equipment capacity in a typical new 2,000 square foot house in Sacramento, California. Our results have also shown that a good duct system can reduce capacity requirements and still provide equivalent cooling at start-up and at peak conditions. Introduction and Background Common residential duct installations are notorious for their poor performance. Poor delivery efficiency has been thoroughly documented and characterized by numerous field tests across the United States. Over one Quad of duct related annual energy waste has been quantified by residential energy researchers and practitioners in the U.S. (Andrews and Modera 1991). As a result, the "market" for residential ducts is slowly transforming. Energy codes have been modified and home energy ratings have been crafted to encourage improved duct installations. Diagnostic techniques for duct leakage have been developed and standardized. Aerosol technology has been developed and commercialized to facilitate duct sealing. Duct installation protocols have been developed and are now used in builder training programs. Rating systems for duct sealing materials are being improved including research toward longevity characterization (Hammon and Modera 1996; Hammon 1998; Jump, Walker and Modera 1996; Modera et al. 1996; Walker et al. 1998). Capturing all the Benefits of Improved Duct Systems This public interest research and industry activity toward improved ducts has generally been driven only by potential savings from direct effects of changes to the ducts themselves. Still to be thoroughly documented are additional potential benefits from HVAC system optimization that are made possible by duct improvements. These benefits include combinations of increased equipment longevity, decreased system first cost, decreased maximum electrical demand, and improved effective capacity; as well as additional energy and operating cost savings. Documenting the potential and devising methods to capture the full benefits of improved residential ducting can accelerate the market transformation for residential HVAC distribution systems. In addition, previous studies (e.g. Treidler and Modera 1994) have shown that peak electric demand reductions do not automatically accompany energy savings from duct improvements. System optimization including proper re-sizing is necessary to capture full peak demand benefits. Reduced First Cost From Equipment Down Sizing to Accompany Improved Ducts Duct improvements alone have a non-trivial first cost. First cost can be a barrier in today's marketplace even with a relatively short pay-back period or a very low life-cycle cost. For example, Jump et al. 1996 found that average duct retrofits cost about $600 for 25 houses in Sacramento, CA. There was a range of $350 to $1000 that depended on ease of access to the duct system because labor costs (that dominate over material costs) increase sharply when ducts are hard to reach. In addition, parts of some duct systems are practically inaccessible (without removing walls, for example) and cannot be retrofitted. Combining the mean cost and energy use reduction of 18%, houses with an annual energy bill of about $600 would have a simple payback in 5 years or less. For houses under construction (when ducts are being installed) the additional cost of correctly installing the ducts and equipment should be minimal. However, this requires that installers are properly trained as well as the need for quality assurance/compliance checks. Therefore for a new house most of the additional expense would be in the testing of the installation (for duct leakage, fan flow or system charge). If the duct system is put in the house, rather than the attic, there may be additional costs associated with installing chases/drop ceilings or special joists for the ducts to run through. However these costs are difficult to estimate. This additional cost is offset if a smaller system (in terms of physical duct dimensions as well as A/C capacity) can be installed due to the improved duct system. In this paper we examine this capacity reduction whilst retaining the same occupant comfort tons at the register and pulldown time. The Sixty-Four Thousand Ton Question: What is the Right Size for the Air-Conditioning Unit? If we include both retrofit and new installations, roughly a million tons of residential air conditioning capacity is installed each year in California. This is occurring amid increasing controversy about sizing of equipment and increasing attention being given to the disadvantages of over-sizing (Henderson 1992; Proctor and Albright 1996; Proctor, Katsnelson and Wilson 1995). An interesting aspect of this dialogue is the illumination of the multiple and clearly conflicting sizing paradigms that exist within the HVAC industry. For example, the Air-Conditioning Contractors of America sizing manuals (ACCA 1986) ) are intended to optimize size in consideration of all performance parameters (Rutkowski 1996). They advise that slight under sizing of conventional systems is preferable overall. The ACCA procedures explicitly assume steady-state cooling. There is no direct provision for the often observed programmable thermostat or manual control of the system, much less pull-down of a hot house on a summer afternoon (Berkeley Solar Group et al. 1995; Lutzenhiser et al. 1994; Parker, Mazzara, and Sherwin 1996; Wilcox 1996). Nevertheless, the ACCA sizing procedures remain the best accepted by industry experts and most likely to result in a well-sized system (Hammon and Modera 1996). This situation may be due to the lack of consideration of load diversity, leading to an overestimation of loads that balances out the lack of provision for transient operation (Abrams 1986, Brown et al. 1996). Still, some experts assert that even the ACCA sizing method over-sizes in some climates (Neal and O'Neal 1992; Proctor and Albright 1996). The dominant sizing paradigm in current use is "bigger is better" (Abrams 1986; Vieira et al. 1995), or perhaps "but is it big enough?" (Brown et al. 1996). Field studies are confirming that, on average, residential HVAC equipment is severely over-sized (Lucas 1992; Proctor, Katsnelson and Wilson 1995; Reddy et al. 1992). One explanation is that poor duct performance, while not explicitly recognized, is accounted for by extreme over-sizing. Sub-optimal system design and lack of commissioning (e.g., refrigerant charging) are additional problems that over-sizing may be attempting to cover up. Or perhaps desired performance characteristics like temperature and humidity control, decreased operating cost, or decreased maintenance are just not accounted for in many common sizing methods. Performance Characteristics Valued by Users and the Building Industry. Some insights into the sizing confusion can be found in studies that try to discern the expectations of residential occupants. In the hot-humid Florida climate, a desire for good performance in extreme weather has been found to be a major driver of over sizing (Parker 1996; Vieira et al. 1995). Accommodating large numbers of guests or the "party" scenario can also affect consumer expectations about cooling systems performance (Hall, Hungerford, and Hackett 1994; Chandra 1996). In discussions about the viability of re-sizing strategies, building industry input often boils down to a key question: "...if we down size the air-conditioner, will it still be able to pull the house temperature down quickly when the owner returns to a dormant house on a hot summer afternoon?" (Raymer 1998). This leads to a good hypothesis to test through modeling and eventually field tests, and to a set of several corresponding questions: Given the well documented poor performance of new distribution systems, do existing designs actually pull the house temperature down quickly? In particular, what happens when a poor duct system and the air handler are in the attic and the system is activated after being dormant on a hot summer afternoon? There is a wide range of quality and performance for duct installations, with delivery efficiency typically ranging from 5090% (Jump et al. 1996). How well do the worst systems perform this task? What about the average or the best? How much over sizing is necessary to make up for poor duct performance? How do typical levels of over sizing compare with the increased equipment capacity needed to make up for poor duct installation performance in the pull-down scenario? What are the corresponding capacity


A calculation of the rate of volume photolysis of copper-doped silver chloride is described which provides a quantitative interpretation for experiments reported by Moser, Nail, and Urbach. A model for photoproduct formation, consistent with the Gurney–Mott theory, is discussed. Differential equations for the rate of photolysis are presented which consider the attenuation of the exposing light by the photoproduct but neglect electron–hole recombination processes. Although these nonlinear equations are not solved in closed form, equations which give upper and lower limits on the printout optical density as a function of time are derived; a reasonable fit with experimental photolytic growth curves of AgCl:Cu samples containing 2.2 and 0.2 ppm copper ions is obtained.


IR-Based Home Appliances Control System is a control system using which the user can control different home appliances with a remote controller. The remote controller can be used to switch on/off different home appliances like a light bulb, fan, television, etc. which are connected to the circuit. It can also be used to regulate the speed of the fan. It can be activated from up to 10 meters. It is easy to build and can be assembled on a general-purpose PCB.This paper proposes the use of Infrared Remote controller to control different home appliances. It consists of Infrared Remote controller and receiver, microcontroller and triac. In this, the Infrared Remote sends signals to change the state of a home appliance when the microcontroller receives the signal it performs its task i.e. to change the state of the appliance according to the corresponding signal received. Keywords-Infrared; triac; optocoupler; remote control; microcontroller __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________


It was studied ontogenesis of maize Zea mays L. plants in F1 generation growing in open ground from seeds which were irradiated by high energy hadrons (HEH) of Serpukchov proton accelerator second chronic irradiation in high inhibiting doses 3∙103-8∙101Gr. One hadron morphogenetic biological effects row of vegetative (plant height) and generative (length and quantity of branches in fl ower collection) character correlated with radiation doses. Another row of vegetative (length of distances between stem knots and of the fi rst leaf from the root) and formed generative (length and quantity of corn ears) signs has values corresponding to dome-formed dependence from the HEH dose. The local hadron biological effects in plant ontogenesis were revealed because magnitudes of morphogenetic HEH effects were deviated from its signs on middle-statistical curves dose effect. These effects are conditioned by very large anisotropy of space HEH distribution and therefore by different biological effectiveness of HEH action.


Rock-wallabies occupy outcrops, escarpments and cliffs that incorporate structurally complex refuges; because of this, local populations present methodological challenges for monitoring purposes. We describe the development and adaptive modification of a survey technique intended to measure changes in rock-wallaby activity on a site-by-site basis. Twenty spatially independent field sites were collectively sampled across two geological strata using transects consisting of regularly spaced sampling points, with concentric series of fixed-radius circular plots at each sampling point used to count numbers of fresh/recent and/or older rock-wallaby scats. The presence/absence of fresh and/or recently deposited scats was identified as likely to be the more sensitive measure of changing use. Indexes of Activity (IoA) at each field site were subsequently obtained by transect-based sampling at 10 m intervals using 2 m fixed-radius circular plots and recording the presence/absence of fresh/recent scats therein. Derived rock-wallaby IoA ranged between 0.13 and 0.94 across the 20 sites and were approximately normally distributed. Central tendency measures associated with the IoA metrics imply some potential to develop management-themed activity thresholds. Further refinement and potential applications of the approach are discussed.


This paper studies the simulation problem of meshes with separable buses (MSB) by meshes with multiple partitioned buses (MMPB). The MSB and the MMPB are the mesh connected computers enhanced by the addition of broadcasting buses along every row and column. The broadcasting buses of the MSB, called separable buses, can be dynamically sectioned into smaller bus segments by program control, while those of the MMPB, called partitioned buses, are statically partitioned in advance. In the MSB model, each row/column has only one separable bus, while in the MMPB model, each row/column has L partitioned buses (L /spl ges/ 2). We consider the simulation and the scaling-simulation of the MSB by the MMPB, and show that the MMPB of size n /spl times/ n can simulate the MSB of size n /spl times/ n in O(n/sup 1/(2L)/) steps, and that the MMPB of size m /spl times/ m can simulate the MSB of size n /spl times/ n in O(n/m(n/m+m/sup 1/(2L)/)) steps (m < n). The latter result implies that the MMPB of size m /spl times/ m can simulate the MSB of size n /spl times/ n time-optimally when m /spl les/ n/sup /spl alpha// holds for /spl alpha/ = 1/1+1/(2L).


The production and use of chemical pesticides has increased in recent years. Although the increased use of pesticides may benefit agriculture, they are also the potential source of environmental pollution, and exposure to pesticides can have negative consequences for human health. In the present study, we have assessed DNA damage in blood leukocytes from 29 Pakistani pesticide‐factory workers and 35 controls of similar age and smoking history. The workers were exposed to various mixtures of organophosphates, carbamates, and pyrethroids. DNA damage was measured with the single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay or Comet assay, using the mean comet tail length (μm) as the DNA damage metric. Exposed workers had significantly longer comet tail lengths than the controls (mean ± SD 19.98 ± 2.87 vs. 7.38 ± 1.48, P < 0.001). Of the possible confounding factors, smokers had significantly longer mean comet tail lengths than nonsmokers and exsmokers for both the workers (21.48 ± 2.58 vs.18.37 ± 2.28, P < 0.001) and the controls (8.86 ± 0.56 vs. 6.79 ± 1.31, P < 0.001), while age had a minimal effect on DNA damage (P > 0.05 and P < 0.05 for workers and controls, respectively). The results of this study indicate that occupational exposure to pesticides causes DNA damage. Environ. Mol. Mutagen., 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Using coating with a boron nitride (BN) film, we attempted to improve field-emission characteristics of gallium nitride (GaN) cold cathodes. First, we measured the field-emission characteristics of BN/n-Si samples to investigate the electron-emission mechanism of the BN film. We discuss the electron-emission process of the BN film in terms of the surface roughness dependence of the field-emission characteristics. We suggest that the coating with a BN film thinner than 10 nm is effective in reducing the turn-on voltage of the electron emission. Second, field-emission characteristics are examined for the hexagonal n-type GaN layers roughened with H2 plasma treatment. Moreover, nanocoating with a BN film is carried out on the surface of the GaN sample for the BN/GaN sample. We achieved a turn-on electric field as low as 4.6 V/μm.


Abstract. Altaethyrella tarimensis, a new species of rhynchonellide brachiopod, is described from the late Katian (Late Ordovician) Hadabulaktag Formation in the Kuruktag region of Xinjiang, Northwest China on the northeastern edge of the Tarim Basin. Serial sections of the shell clearly show no dorsal median septum or septalium in the dorsal valve, and no spiralia or atrypide-style crura. Like other species of the genus, A. tarimensis n. sp. exhibits a high degree of intraspecific variation, including variations in shell shape and size, number of ribs in the sulcus at the anterior, and degree of asymmetry. The discovery of Altaethyrella in Tarim has important paleogeographic implications, indicating a close relationship between the Late Ordovician brachiopod faunas of Tarim and those of the Kazakh terranes and North and South China paleoplates, supporting a recently published paleogeographic projection that places Tarim near the Chu-Ili terrane during the Late Ordovician. The abundant large biconvex shells of A. tarimensis n. sp. would have provided a firm substrate for encrusting filter feeders like bryozoans to establish on the Kuruktag Platform.


OBJECTIVE:To detect the expression of hormone receptor(HR),human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER-2)and specific nuclear matrix binding protein 1(SATB1)in breast cancer,and explore the correlations between HR and HER-2,SATB1as well as the clinicopathological features.METHODS:Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of estrogen receptor(ER),progesterone receptor(PR),HER-2and SATB1protein in breast cancer patients.FISH was used to test the amplification of HER-2gene.Correlations of HR with HER-2,SATB1and clinicopathologic features were analyzed.RESULTS:The expression of ER,PR was positively correlated with patient age in breast cancer(r=0.286,P=0.010;r=0.249,P=0.026),while ER expression was negatively correlated with tumor grade(r=-0.306,P=0.006).No correlations were found between ER or PR expression and tumour size,pathological type,lymph node status as well as TNM stage(All P0.05).HR expression was negatively correlated with HER-2,SATB1expression and SATB1/HER-2co-expression(r=-0.248,P=0.027;r=-0.392,P0.001;r=-0.450,P0.001).CONCLUSIONS:HR positive expression may indicate a better therapitic and prognostic outcome.Negative correlations existed between the expression of HR and SATB1/HER-2in breast cancer tissues;and the phenomenon possibly suggested their cross-talks though the signaling pathways.


The present invention when the hybrid vehicle equipped with two motors is in operation in the transition state relates to a torque control method and apparatus for a hybrid vehicle to calculate the power and torque of each motor. The present invention includes the steps of determining a target power of the battery based on the vehicle speed, required torque, and the SOC; Comprising: vehicle speed, required torque, and calculates the target speed of said at steady state on the basis of the target power of the battery first target torque of the motor, the target torque of the second motor, the target engine torque, and the engine; Calculating a torque of the first motor in a steady state from the target torque and the speed of the first and second motor of the second motor in the transition state; And calculating a torque of the second motor in the transition state from the torque and speed of the first and second motors of the first motor in the transition state; may include.


This research is conducted based on the problems that exist in grade XI SMA N 1 Kasihan which indicates a low level of self-control of smartphone usage. The purpose of this research is to know how the groups guidance service using macromedia flash can increase self control smartphone usage in student of class XI in SMA N 1 Kasihan.

 The type of research used in classroom action research with two action cycles. The subjects in this study are 8 students who have the lowest self-control smartphone use. Data collection techniques used are observations and questionnaires. While the data analysis technique used is t-test.

 The result showed that self-control of smartphone use before being given an action resulted in an average score of 45,4% with low category and after being given an increased action with an average score of 65,2% with medium category. The result of t test is a significance value of 0,000 <0,05 so it can be concluded that H0 is rejected while Ha is accepted. it means there is increased self-control of smartphone use through the guidance services group assisted macromedia flash on students of class XI SMA N 1 Kasihan. The conclusion of this research is self control of smartphone usage of grade XI students of SMA N 1 Kasihan can be improved through group guidance using macromedia flash.


This review examines the facilities provided by PcGets version 1.0, an OxMetrics module designed to implement automated general-to-specific model selection in the context of cross-section or dynamic time-series models that are linear in the parameters. A cross-section empirical example is used to illustrate the steps involved, the output produced and the options available for modellers. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003.


Let u1 x nXx n, and vn xl be matrices of indeterminates, Adj X be the classical adjoint of X, and H(n) be the ideal I1(uX) + 1(Xv) + 1(vu - AdjX). Vasconcelos has conjectured that H(n) is a perfect Gorenstein ideal of grade 2n. In this paper, we obtain the minimal free resolution of H(n)\ and thereby establish Vasconcelos' conjecture


The most significant cost associated with partial oxidation of methane to syngas is that of the oxygen plant. In this paper, we offer a technology, based on dense ceramic membranes, that uses air as the oxidant for methane-conversion reactions and eliminates the need for an oxygen plant. Certain ceramic materials exhibit both electronic and ionic conductivities (of particular interest is oxygen-ion conductivity). These materials transport not only oxygen ions (functioning as selective oxygen separators) but also electrons back from the reactor side to the oxygen-reduction interface. As such, no external electrodes are required and if the driving potential of transport is sufficient, the partial oxidation reactions should be spontaneous. Such a system will operate without an externally applied potential. Oxygen is transported across the ceramic material in the form of oxygen anions and not oxygen molecules. Recent reports in the literature suggest that ceramic membranes made of these mixed conductors can successfully separate oxygen and nitrogen at flux rates that could be considered commercially feasible [1--8]. Long tubes of La-Sr-Fe-Co-O (SFC) membrane have been fabricated by plastic extrusion. Thermodynamic stability of the tubes was studied as a function of oxygen partial pressure by high-temperature XRD. Mechanical properties were measured and more » found to be adequate for a reactor material. Performance of the membrane strongly depended on the stoichiometry of the material. Fracture of certain SFC tubes was the consequence of an oxygen gradient that introduced a volumetric lattice difference between the inner and outer walls. However, tubes made with a particular stoichiometry (SFC-2) provided methane-conversion efficiencies of >99% in a reactor. Some of these reactor tubes have operated for up to {approx}500 h. « less


Cardiac tumours in the paediatric age group are extremely rare, occurring approximately 1 in 100,000 live births. Rhabdomyomas are the most common type of cardiac tumours. Approximately 70-95% of rhabdomyomas are associated with tuberous sclerosis. We are reporting a rare case of term neonate, with antenatally diagnosed cardiac tumour. Finally diagnosed as tuberous sclerosis with secondary epilepsy with large multiple cardiac rhabdomyomas. Child is now 2 years old, under follow-up without any cardiac manifestations and rhabdomyomas are regressing on repeat echocardiograms. Only few such cases are reported in literature so far and none from Rajasthan.


Calabria region does not present relevant homogeneity for what regards the number and the characteristics of the pluviometrical events affecting it. Using about 200 historical series of daily rainfalls, for which at least 15 years of observations are available, an investigation has been carried out to point out the spatial distribution of rainfall events number and magnitudes. The applications relative to this approach, called POT (Peak Over Threshold) or PDS (Partial Duration Series), examine the generic historical series constituting the whole stochastic process. First, the maximum intensity has been assumed as the magnitude of the generic event, then other factors such as total rain and average intensity of the event itself have been assumed too. The analysis has been carried out on events exceeding, in some prefixed threshold, conditions for what regards the above-mentioned factor. Definitively, the events of the past presenting peculiar characteristics over variable threshold values have been calculated and analysed. The description of the spatial variability of the number and magnitude of pluviometrical events exceeding threshold values is proposed through maps traced with the "Kriging" method. The methodology we used permits to delineate the areas of the regional territory affected by major pluviometrical risk for what regards shallow slope instabilities; moreover the periods during the year in which the events, relative to exceeding threshold values, are more frequent have been pointed out.


The article is devoted to the investigation of English and Uzbek phraseological units with proper name component. The author proposes different groups of such set expressions related to origin and semantics as well as compared the similarities and differences in both languages. Theoretical part of the article is proved by numerous examples of English and Uzbek phraseological units.


Abstract : This report summarizes the results of 42 laboratory Jet Erosion Tests performed on Plexiglas tube samples obtained from the Lower American River (LAR) between River Mile (RM) 6.0 and RM 10.0. The results from these tests will be used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District, in assessments of the erosion resistance of the LAR from increases in discharge from 115,000 cfs to 160,000 cfs from Folsom Dam. The test specimens were obtained from 22, 4 in.-diam Plexiglas tube samples. The variations in values of the measured erosion parameters may have been caused by variations in the materials for some of the tested samples (i.e., when the material changed from silt/sand to clay). However, the variations in results for many of the samples were due to changes in the quality of samples. The resulting values of Erodibility Coefficient, Kd, and Critical Stress, c, are very useful information in assessing the erodibility of riverbanks as well as the river bed itself. Because of the observed natural variability of the materials, combining the erosion parameters presented in this report with the drilling logs and local geology will provide beneficial results for assessing the stability of the LAR.


It conducts theoretical analysis of the single-stage reluctance coil launcher.Based on the electromagnetic field finite element computation and external circuit coupling,it studies influence of the electrical parameters,the head shape and initial trigger position of the projectile on the energy conversion efficiency of the single-stage reluctance coil launcher.The results show that the energy conversion efficiency rises with the increase of voltage and capacitance,and the best head shape and initial trigger position of the projectile can make the energy conversion efficiency optimum.


Since the students are greatly different in their physical constituents and their technical training skills in a monomial training course,it is hard for teachers to adopt the identical teaching content,the unitary teaching pace and the same teaching method to attend to each student's need.Based on the study of "teaching in different administrative levels" in basketball course,this paper suggests that teachers should attach importance to the different existing in the students and teach them in accordance with their aptitude to arouse the students' enthusiasm and improve the teaching quality.


During the last forty years, religion as a concept has bedeviled scholars not only in defining the term, which certainly goes way back in history, but also regarding its applicability as a first-order scholarly tool. Some have argued to dismiss the term altogether, others have sough to re-approach how the term is used, while other scholars have endorsed its usage but based on scholarly stipulative definitions. Recently, further discussions have emerged regarding whether contemporary scholars can use the category 'religion' to talk about ancient traditions and classifications. While the issue of anachronisms is undoubtedly present in such debates, the term 'atheism' has not been approached in a similar manner. What classical studies on ancient 'religions' often lack is a theoretical background already available in the discipline of religious studies. This brief article seeks to open the path for further examination of the place of 'atheism' in antiquity based on the problem of applying the term with its modern content and meaning to the ancient world. Even though this study is not exhaustive by all means, its aim is to alert both classicists and historians of religion of the pitfalls neatly hidden behind the scholarly tools often adopted for the description of practices, beliefs, and movements in the ancient world.


Investigation that was raised in this study was to improve dribbling skills. One form of training that must be done is coordination training and agility training for the players of the Tunas Muda Medan Football School (SSB TMM). Furthermore, it is expected that discoveries can be made that can improve dribbling skills with other training components for soccer players in soccer schools. This study aims to improve the skills of dribbling SSB TMM players in the city of Medan, North Sumatra Province by using coordination training and agility training. The experimental population was all SSB TMM players with a sample of 22 people. The research method used is descriptive with a correlational process, the analysis system is used to test the hypothesis which is the normality test, linearity test, and correlation test. From the end of the first hypothesis correlation test, a significance value of 0.046 <0.050 is obtained, so there is a significant relationship between coordination on the results of the ability of dribbling ball. The achievement of the second hypothesis test has a significance value of 0.037 <0.05, so there is a significant relationship between agility and the results of the ability to dribble a ball. Based on the multiple regression test, it is known that the significance is 0.037 <0.05, then H0 is not accepted and Ha is accepted. Thus, the two components of coordination and agility simultaneously have a significant relationship with the ability to dribble a ball.


In the course of determining the long-term effects of a deficient rice diet on white rats, peculiar lesions of the esophagus were noted in a number of animals. The most striking and apparently the farthest advanced alterations were focal ulcerations of the mucosa accompanied by various stages of penetrating inflammation. Other changes included mucsal hyperkeratosis and edema of the submucosa, atrophy and fibrosis of the muscularis, and dilatation of the organ itself, at times without demonstrable cause. Essentially similar lesions of the forestomach of the rat were described by Pappenheimer and Larimore1 in 1924. These authors implicated a mechanical as well as a dietary factor. Since the morphology of the lesions in their group as well as in mine suggested the participation of a menical factor, it was necessary for me to exclude this in order to establish a dietary etiology for the rat esophageal ulcers. The production of the esophageal lesions and their morphology in Group I, and their prevention by a lagely synthetic vitamin diet in Group II, are described in this paper.


National Key R&D Programme of China, Grant/ Award Numbers: 2018YFE0202102, 2018YFE0202101, 2018YFE0202103; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 61701026; Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing, Grant/Award Number: cstc2020jcyj‐ msxmX0812 Abstract Due to its low hardware complexity, small volume and simple structure, time‐ division‐multiplexing multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (TDM MIMO) radar has been widely applied in automotive applications. The transmitting antennas of TDM MIMO automotive radar are usually switched according to a sequential‐TDM pattern. However, moving targets can introduce a motion‐induced phase into the sequential‐ TDM pattern, which is coupled to the spatial phase, resulting in errors in velocity and azimuth estimation. Herein, a random‐TDM pattern with the matrix completion (MC)‐based estimation method is proposed to address these issues. In the proposed method, the random‐TDM pattern, which means randomly activating the transmitting antenna instead of sequentially, can decouple the linear temporal‐spatial coupling phase, avoiding the coupling problem in velocity and azimuth estimation. Then, by reshaping the echo data into a matrix form of sparse sampling, the inexact augmented Lagrange multiplier algorithm is adopted to recover this matrix, solving the underdetermined estimation problem caused by sparse sampling. Finally, the high‐ accuracy velocity and azimuth can be jointly estimated by applying the estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance technique algorithm to the recovered full sampling data. Moreover, compared with the compressed sensing‐based method, the proposed method overcomes the grid mismatch problem. The results of comparative simulations and real‐data experiments demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.


........................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................ vii List of Figures .............................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1. Toward the Development of Shear-Force/Acoustic Near-Field Microscopy . ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Brief Introduction of Scanning Probe Microscopy .............................................. 1 1.2 Scanning Tunneling Microscopy .......................................................................... 2 1.3 Atomic Force Microscopy .................................................................................... 6 1.4 Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy .......................................................... 10 1.5 Shear-Force/Acoustic Near-Field Optical Microscopy ...................................... 14 Chapter 2. Surface and Interfacial Phenomena Related to Scanning Probe Microscopy . ..................................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Adsorption .......................................................................................................... 16 2.2 Adhesion ............................................................................................................. 23 2.3 Capillary Condensation ...................................................................................... 31 2.4 Contact Angle ..................................................................................................... 33 2.5 Hydrophobic/Hydrophilic Interactions ............................................................... 37 Chapter 3. Design of Shear-Force/Acoustic Near-Field Microscopy ........................... 39 3.1 The Quartz Tuning Fork ..................................................................................... 39


This paper elaborates the application of new nature inspired algorithm; 'Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA)' in load frequency control of two area interconnected non-reheat thermal power plants. Two number of PID controllers have been considered in the investigated system and the parameters of the controllers have been tuned/optimized using WOA. The design problem has been formulated as the constrained optimization problem with upper and lower bounds of controller's parameters. The integral of time multiplied absolute error (ITAE) has been taken as an objective function in the present work. The parameters of controllers (KP, KI, KD), minimum damping ratio (MDR), the values of performance indices (ITAE, ISTE, ISE, IAE), settling times and overshoots of Δf1, Δf2 and ΔPTie have also been evaluated for the system under investigation using WOA. The simulation results include the dynamic responses of Δf1, Δf2 and ΔPTie for different step load changes from 0.1p.u. to 0.5p.u in area 1 by keeping constant 0.1p.u. step load change in area 2. It has been observed that smooth and better dynamic responses with fewer oscillations, less settling times and less overshoots can be achieved for the system using WOA.


The tongue can distinguish between five different tastes via the taste receptors, which are G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). There are two classes of taste receptors, the TAS1 (T1) and TAS2 (T2) families, and the T1R1-T1R3 dimer senses the umami taste and T1R2-T1R3 senses the sweet taste. Recently, the taste receptors have also been found in the brain, lungs, intestine and pancreas, where they sense changes in the nutrient environment and respond through GPCR signalling. Given the importance of glucose and amino acid metabolism in the heart, we hypothesized that the sweet and umami taste receptors have an important function in the heart. Using a variety of technologies and disease states, we have identified that T1R1, T1R2 and T1R3 are expressed in the heart. More specifically, mass spectrometry of a dog model of dyssynchrony has shown the presence of T1R1, T1R3 and T1R2. RNA seq of human patients who received a Left Ventricular Assist device and those who did not also revealed the presence of T1R1 and T1R3. The expression of these proteins was also confirmed using Western blot. We further showed T1R2 and T1R3 protein is localized in the plasma membrane of the cardiomyocytes by immunofluorescence (colocalized with Na/K ATPase) and PM enrichment. When we compared the taste receptor protein levels in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) compared to donor heart tissue, we found that T1R2 was overexpressed in DCM, showing that taste receptors may be important in nutrient sensing in disease. Furthermore, when neonatal rat ventricular myocytes were treated with sweet and umami agonists (aspartame for the sweet taste receptor and monosodium glutamate for the umami receptor), they had increased calcium transients as shown by an increase in peak calcium. Cardiomyocytes treated with aspartame also showed a decrease in time to relax. We hypothesize that in the heart, sweet and umami receptors induce positive inotropy upon a change in nutrient environment.