To the Editor: The use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy has become the standard of care in the management of patients with locally advanced breast carcinoma. The response rate of the primary tumors following neoadjuvant chemotherapy is variable (1–4). Therefore, it would be beneficial to identify patients who would not respond to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy to avoid unnecessary side effects. Evaluating biomarker expression profiles prior to and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy may prove to be useful in determining the response of breast tumours to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We have conducted a pilot study to examine the expression of selected biomarkers as potential predictors of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced breast cancer. Twenty-two women (7 Caucasians and 15 AfricanAmericans) with locally advanced breast cancer (stage II or III) received 8 weeks treatment of docetaxel (38 mg ⁄ m ⁄ week). After completing docetaxel therapy, all except two patients also underwent 3 cycles of doxorubicin (75 mg ⁄ m ⁄ 21 days). Biopsies were obtained before neoadjuvant chemotherapy and after the treatment of docetaxel. All patients underwent surgical resection of the primary tumour and lymph node dissection. Immunohistochemistry was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue using antibodies against oestrogen ⁄ progesterone receptors (ER ⁄ PR), Ki-67, p27, p185, Bcl-2, Bax, TGF-alpha, EGFR and p53. The degree of staining was expressed using a semiquantitative scoring system which took into account of both the intensity and proportion of positive staining cells. All patients except one demonstrated responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, eight were complete responders (no invasive or in situ cancer present on surgical resection) and 13 were partial responders (‡25% reduction in tumour size). Among the patients with complete pathologic response, there was a substantial decrease in the immunoscores of Ki-67 between preand postchemotherapy samples; however, the difference did not reach statistical significance (Wilcoxon test, p = 0.08). There were no statistically significant differences in the immunoscores of the remaining markers before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Patients who demonstrated complete pathologic response had significantly lower Ki-67 and Bax expression prior to therapy when compared with patients who had only partial or no pathologic response. (Wilcoxon test, Ki-67: p = 0.03 and Bax: p = 0.05 respectively). No statistically significant differences in the pretreatment expression of other markers were observed between the two groups of patients. Our results suggest that baseline expression of both Ki-67 and Bax may serve as important predictors of tumour responsiveness to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In addition, there is also indication that a substantial decrease in Ki-67 expression may serve as a surrogate marker for complete pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.


Evidence of critical dynamics has been found recently in both experiments and models of large-scale brain dynamics. The understanding of the nature and features of such a critical regime is hampered by the relatively small size of the available connectome, which prevents, among other things, the determination of its associated universality class. To circumvent that, here we study a neural model defined on a class of small-world networks that share some topological features with the human connectome. We find that varying the topological parameters can give rise to a scale-invariant behavior either belonging to the mean-field percolation universality class or having nonuniversal critical exponents. In addition, we find certain regions of the topological parameter space where the system presents a discontinuous, i.e., noncritical, dynamical phase transition into a percolated state. Overall, these results shed light on the interplay of dynamical and topological roots of the complex brain dynamics.


Researchers reported results of an international phase III trial showing that intermittent hormonal therapy is less effective than continuous therapy in prostate cancer with minimal disease.


We look at four common measurements - pH, oxidation reduction potential (ORP), conductivity, and resistivity - and how best to employ them


This paper presents statistical analysis of large corpora for three Indian languages i.e. Hindi, Punjabi and Nepali. The main objective of this study is to analyze the statistical features of these three languages that may be helpful for finding distinction among these languages. Detailed statistical analyses have been done to compute the information about entropy, perplexity, word length, coverage analysis, vocabulary growth rate etc. Most frequently occurring words have been extracted from the text corpus of three languages. Based on statistical features a comparative analysis has been done to find the similarities and differences among these languages.


The educational outcomes of children in out-of-home-care (OOHC) continue to be a major concern in all the countries in which relevant data are collected (e.g., Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2015; Courtney, Charles, Okpych, Napolitano, and Halsted, 2014; Flynn, Tessier, and Coulombe, 2013; Pecora, 2012; Rutman and Hubberstey, 2016). The concerns extend beyond education since it is well established that educational outcomes are strongly linked to subsequent employment (Hook and Courtney, 2011), housing (Davison and Burris, 2014), mental and physical health (Dixon, 2008) and offending (Cusick, Havlicek, and Courtney, 2012). More positively, Okpych and Courtney (2014) have demonstrated that better educational outcomes predict higher earnings and greater likelihood of employment in youth transitioning from care. What are less clear are the factors that facilitate or limit educational progress for these young people. This paper discusses the implications for practice of the findings of a major study in England that linked care and educational factors (Sebba et al., 2015).


This research investigated the tactile sensory analysis of total handle in a range of wool-type fabrics. Considering the interaction of textile materials from garments with the consumer's senses as an essential performance property, seven wool-type fabrics selected as suitable for the final use, which is women office trousers for the cold season, were evaluated by a panel with non-experts for assessing the Total Handle Value. Experiments were conducted in two successive stages: by the individual panelists (as blind handling) and by the panel of assessors for consensus (visualization-with-handling). Previously developed ICT-based learning tools, STAT-Hand and STAT-ConCor, were used for both, the sensory analysis trials accomplishment and the processing of the total handle results. One outcome was that a panel of non-experts can get a good enough degree of agreement among individuals after the blind handling of a range of fabrics and, statistically, this cannot be considered accidental. The result of the consensus reaching on a panel level, through visualization and handling, about the Total Handle Value was not as good as expected and this was argued in the paper. After the blind handling, within the panel of individuals and visualization with handling as a panel consensus, the most proper fabric for women office trousers for the cold season was emphasized from the selected range.


A simple and efficient method for the synthesis of lactose-based homopolymers from N-lactosyl-N'-(4-vinylbenzyl)urea or N'-lactosyl-N,N-methyl(4-vinylbenzyl)urea (5a, 5b) is described. Free radical...


Coupled studies by experimental and numerical simulations are necessary for an increased understanding of the material behaviour as related to the interaction between the thermal and mechanical conditions. This paper focus on the mechanisms of thermal fatigue in the failure of dies and cores used in the die casting of aluminum alloys. The thermal fatigue resistance is expressed by two crack parameters which are the average maximum crack and the average cracked area. Samples of various types of H13 steel were compared with a standard H13 steel by testing under identical thermal fatigue cycles. To determine the thermal constraint developed in the sample during the test, a finite difference technique was used to obtain the temperature distribution, based on temperature measurements at the boundaries. The resulting stresses and strains were computed, and the strain calculated at the edge or weakest point of the sample was used to correlate the number of cycles to crack initiation. As the strain at the edge increased, the number of cycles to failure decreased. The influence of various factors on thermal fatigue behavior was studied including austenitizing temperature, surface condition, stress relieving, casting, vacuum melting, and resulfurization. The thermal fatigue resistance improved as the austenitizing temperature increased from 1750 to 2050oF.


Aim: To evaluate the potential role of members of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family in altered renal growth caused by partial ureteral obstruction in the developing obstructed and non-obstructed kidneys. Methods: During anesthesia either the upper fourth (n = 6–7) or the upper two-thirds of the left ureter (n = 6–7) were embedded into the psoas muscle in newborn rats resulting in mild or severe partial unilateral obstruction, respectively, which was maintained during the following 24 weeks. Sham-operated control rats were prepared in parallel (n = 6–7). Real time PCR assays were used to quantify mRNA encoding EGF, TGF-α, HB-EGF and EGF receptor. The expression of ribosomal RNA was determined to relate the specific mRNA expression of members of the EGF system. Results: Relative expression of TGF-α and EGF receptor mRNA levels were elevated significantly both in the severe and mild obstructed kidney compared with the contralateral or sham-operated kidneys after 24 weeks of obstruction. However, the expression of neither EGF nor HB-EGF was changed after obstruction. Conclusion: The increased expression of TGF-α and its receptor in the obstructed kidney might be related to a cell-survival function in the affected cells possibly by protecting them from entering apoptosis.


Abstract Mason, MR, Heebner, NR, Abt, JP, Bergstrom, HC, Shapiro, R, Langford, EL, and Abel, MG. The acute effect of high-intensity resistance training on subsequent firefighter performance. J Strength Cond Res 37(7): 1507–1514, 2023—High-intensity resistance training (HIRT) is commonly performed by structural firefighters on duty to enhance occupational readiness. However, exercise-induced fatigue may negatively impact subsequent occupational performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the acute effect of HIRT on subsequent occupational physical ability in structural firefighters and to determine the time course of recovery. Seven resistance-trained male firefighters performed a timed maximal effort simulated fireground test (SFGT) in 3 randomized conditions: baseline (SFGTbaseline), 10 minutes post HIRT (SFGT10min), and 60 minutes post HIRT (SFGT60min). Work efficiency and air depletion were assessed during the SFGT. The timed HIRT session consisted of a standardized set of exercises using absolute training loads. Repeated measures analysis of variance and minimal difference (MD) analysis assessed group and individual effects between the conditions, respectively. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. SFGT10min completion time was greater than SFGTbaseline (430 ± 137 vs. 297 ± 69 seconds, p < 0.01), with no difference between SFGTbaseline and SFGT60min (297 ± 69 vs. 326 ± 89 seconds, p = 0.08). The MD analysis indicated that all firefighters' SFGT10min times exceeded the MD (±26.4 seconds) compared with SFGTbaseline. However, 43% of firefighters still exceeded the MD at SFGT60min. Air depletion during SFGT10min was greater than that during SFGTbaseline (2,786 ± 488 vs. 2,186 ± 276 lb·in−2, p = 0.02), with no difference between SFGTbaseline and SFGT60min (p = 0.25). Work efficiency during SFGT10min was 40% lower than that during SFGTbaseline (p < 0.01), with no difference between SFGTbaseline and SFGT60min (p = 0.25). These findings indicate that an acute bout of HIRT decreases multiple descriptors of firefighters' occupational performance 10 minutes post exercise with varied responses at 60 minutes post exercise.


As a city develops, the demand for buildings increases. The implementation of construction increasinglyrequires very high costs due to rising prices and reduced raw materials. Utilization of Bottom Ash as amixture for making concrete has properties and shapes such as fine aggregate. Lightweight concrete is aspecial type of concrete designed for specific purposes. It generally has a density of less than 1900 kg/m3with a compressive strength of around 20 N/mm2. The purpose of using this Bottom Ash mixture isexpected to reduce the weight of concrete without reducing the compressive strength of the concrete. Thepercentage Bottom Ash mixture used was 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%. The results of the analysisshow that by using a mixture of 50% Bottom Ash, the specific gravity obtained reaches 1,738 kg/m3 with acompressive strength of 18.73 MPa while the maximum compressive strength is found in a 30% BottomAsh mixture with a specific gravity of 1,994 kg/m3 with a compressive strength of 39.12 MPa. From theabove analysis, it can be concluded that the more Bottom Ash used can reduce the specific gravity andstrength of the concrete. Meanwhile, the use of 30% Bottom Ash can increase the compressive strengthcompared to without using Bottom Ash by 29.53 MPa with a specific gravity of 2162 kg/m3.


The Archeology of World Religions, by Jack Finegan (Princeton University Press, 1952, xl + 599 pp. with 9 maps in the text and 260 photographs on plates outside the text, ($10.00), is a condensed exposition of the history, beliefs, and art of nine great religions of Asia, with an introductory sketch of the religious beliefs and practices of primitive peoples. All great religious systems are included, outside of the faith of Israel and early Christianity, with which the author dealt admirably in his Light from the Ancient Past (Princeton, 1946). Everywhere he has consulted the latest and best available sources of information in European languages. Nothing like this volume can be found elsewhere, and it is cheap at the price. With his customary elan, M. Claude F. A. Schaeffer lays before us, in recordbreaking time, a stately quarto devoted to the results of his archaeological campaigns of 1946-1950 in Cyprus. There are few in the field today who can equal his promptness in publication (the reviewer writes with a painful sense of his own shortcomings in this respect, since he is now behind some four volumes, besides many shorter reports, on his field-work in Palestine and Arabia). Entitled Enkomi-Alasia, it is the first volume of the Joint Expedition to Enkomi of the French Archaeological Mission and the Cyprus Government (Paris, Klincksieck, 1952, pp. ix + 448 [with 140 figures in the text] + 116 plates and folding charts 4 plates in color). The volume will be invaluable to all students of ancient Cyprus, especially during the Late Bronze and beginning of the Iron Ages. When Arne Furumark brings out (probably this autumn) the results of his unique stratigraphical excavation at Sinda in eastern Cyprus, west of Enkomi, we shall have for the first time rich material for the archaeological background of the Philistine problem. Arne Furumark's monograph, The Settlement at lalysos and Aegean History c. 1550-1400 B. C. (Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Rom, XV, Opuscula Archaeologica, Vol. VI, Lund, Gleerup, 1950, pp. 150-271) is of prime importance for the chronology and history of relations between the Mycenaean area, Crete, Syria-Palestine, and Egypt from the end of the Hyksos period to the Amarna Age. On pp. 215 ff., there is a detailed treatment of Egypto-Asiatic relations with the Aegean in this period; it is very critical-often hypercritical-of current views, but provides a much needed corrective to them. He goes too far in rejecting the identification of Caphtor-Kaptara with Crete and locating it in Pamphylia-Cilicia Trachea. After all, the latter is a wild, inhospitable mountain region, where no important ancient civilization can have flourished. B. Maisler's detailed preliminary report on the 1948-49 excavations at Tell Qastleh, north of the mouth of the 'Auja River near Tel-Aviv, has been reprinted from the Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. I, pp. 61-140 and 194-218, with 16 plates and many cuts in the text (The Excavations at Tell el-Qasile, Jerusalem, 1951). This is a very important undertaking, and the chronology of the twelve strata seems correct


The paper presents an educational interpretation of the old Sumerian and Acadian epic considering its organization, the characterization of its main protaginists, and the positioning the gods within the narrative flow of the epic. Special attention is given to the phenomenon of sleep, the description of fights and fighting rivals, Gilgamesh's quest for immortality, as well as to the description of flood, and Gilgamesh's descend into the underworld.


An extension of the formulation of the atomic‐orbital‐based response theory of Larsen et al., JCP 113, 8909 (2000) is presented. This new framework has been implemented in LSDalton and allows for the use of Kohn‐Sham density‐functional theory with approximate treatment of the Coulomb and Exchange contributions to the response equations via the popular resolution‐of‐the‐identity approximation as well as the auxiliary‐density matrix method (ADMM). We present benchmark calculations of ground‐state energies as well as the linear and quadratic response properties: vertical excitation energies, polarizabilities, and hyperpolarizabilities. The quality of these approximations in a range of basis sets is assessed against reference calculations in a large aug‐pcseg‐4 basis. Our results confirm that density fitting of the Coulomb contribution can be used without hesitation for all the studied properties. The ADMM treatment of exchange is shown to yield high accuracy for ground‐state and excitation energies, whereas for polarizabilities and hyperpolarizabilities the performance gain comes at a cost of accuracy. Excitation energies of a tetrameric model consisting of units of the P700 special pigment of photosystem I have been studied to demonstrate the applicability of the code for a large system.


The sum of different fractions of free and triglyceride-bonded hydroxy fatty acids in barley, green malt and finished malt was characterized using a GC/MS analysis. The fraction of monohydroxy octadecadienoic acids (HOD) could be found in the highest concentration in barley and malt followed by dihydroxy octadecenoic acids (DHOE) and trihydroxy octadecenoic acids (THOE). The amount of free hydroxy fatty acids in the raw materials was always low. Different barley varieties and types from different proveniences gave varying rates of hydroxy fatty acids. Amongst others the formation of such acids is linked to the activity of lipoxygenases that have specific plant physiological functions. An activation of the enzymatic lipid peroxidation is particularly described by biological processes like defence of pathogens, ageing (senescence), and germination. It could be demonstrated that all these processes really have an obvious influence on the hydroxy fatty acids in barley and malt, whereas germination and the following kilning procedure had the most significant effect. Beers which were brewed using stored raw materials gave no poorer flavour qualities and flavour stability than those produced by fresh barley respectively malt. The direct wounding of plants is reported to lead to an activation of the LOX pathway. This could neither be confirmed for already cropped barley kernels nor for the later brewing malt that is milled in the brewhouse. Miscellaneous experiments concerning the chemical stability of purified fractions of hydroxy fatty acids indicated that the HOD in comparison to DHOE and THOE are comparatively pH-stable but more temperature sensitive. Especially the pH and temperature ranges that are of importance in the brewery influence the amount of hydroxy fatty acids significantly. This was additionally confirmed by experiments regarding different mashing-in temperatures in the brewhouse. An improvement of beer flavour stability by the usage of so called low-LOX-barleys could not be proven and should be evaluated critically due to the physiological functions of lipoxygenases (e. g. defence against pathogens). The nonenal-potential which is reported to be directly linked to lipid peroxidation had a strong dependence on pH level and sample preparation. A correlation of the nonenal potential and other simple analytical methods (electron spin resonance spectroscopy, chemiluminescence, absorption integral) to beer flavour stability could not be found. Furthermore it did not suceed to predict beer flavour stability based on the measurement of the sum of separate fractions of free and/or triglyceride-bonded hydroxy fatty acids.


The invention provides a cabinet micro-environment monitoring system which comprises an outdoor refrigerating unit, a cooling cabinet, a monitoring system and a circulating pipeline consisting of a water inlet pipe, a water outlet pipe and a water supply pump, wherein the water supply pump is mounted on the water inlet pipe; the water inlet pipe and the water outlet pipe are connected between the outdoor refrigerating unit and the cooling cabinet; and the monitoring system is connected with the cooling cabinet. The invention provides a scattered heat dissipation scheme and a cabinet internal constant-temperature constant-humidity device for the cabinet of a large machine room so as to monitor the parameters in the cabinet and guarantee the operation safety of the cabinet.


Objective:To investigate the reasons and treatments of fetal disengagement difficulties in caesarean section.Methods: Make the retrospective analysis of 1022 cases,which had caesarean section between October 2009 and September 2010.Results:51 cases occurred fetal disengagement difficulties.The incidence rate was 4.99%.The major reasons included the high-floating fetal head(9 cases,17.65%),too small incision of abdominal wall or uterus(8 cases,15.69%),deeply impaction in the pelvic floor of fetal head(6 cases,11.76%),transverse presentation(4 cases,7.84%),poorly lower uterine segment forming(4 cases,7.84%) and poor anesthetic effect(4 cases,7.84%).Most above factors were combined in 26 cases(50.98%).In the 51 cases,5 cases occurred neonatal asphyxia(9.80%),6 cases occurred postpartum hemorrhage(11.76%),2 cases occurred uterine laceration(3.92%),2 cases occurred birth injury(3.92%).The incidence rates about neonatal asphyxia,postpartum hemorrhage,uterine laceration,birth injury in fetal disengagement difficulties group are higher than fetal disengagement successfully group significantly.These is significant difference in statistics(P0.005).Conclusion:The criticality in caesarean section is fetal disengagement.The fetal disengagement difficulties will increase incidence rates of neonatal asphyxia,birth injury and parturient injury.The surgery should have sufficient estimation of fetal head position,lower uterine segment condition,anesthetic effect,fetus size and fetal position before the operation.The operator with full clinical experience should be a surgeon or assistant in the caesarean section of great difficulty,and provide midwifery equipment,take appropriate measures in surgery in order to avoid fetal disengagement difficulties and mother-infant complications.


The essential of prose determines its special charm of art, so it can maintain its true quality today.It is based on a flexible elastic and free expressing space.In this space author can express all kind of subjective feelings entirely and methods of emotion exactly.This space includes two parts:density and thickness of prose.Density is on the basis of author's life and experience.While thickness is a total tendency of emotion from the prose.Both of them compose a space of art of bi-directional exchange of author who transfers appreciation of the beautiful from individual to group and reader.


Abstract This essay argues that the economic failure of neo-liberalism should be seen as demonstrating in a particularly striking way that the way of forming preferences is an inherently political process, which needs to be controlled by agencies that stand outside the economic process (narrowly construed). A number of concepts that have played an important role in recent economic and political theory, such as 'freedom', 'welfare' and 'neutrality', need to be very seriously re-examined. Furthermore it is argued that giving up the idea that there can be a fully free-standing, autonomous 'economic' theory is fully compatible with accepting that efficiency, parsimony, and the satisfaction of needs are important human values, which need to be socially institutionalized.


A power distribution system includes sectionalizing switches and tie switches. Sectionalizing switches are normally closed switches while tie switches are normally open switches. By changing the status of the switches, an optimal configuration can be obtained such that the real power loss in the system is minimum. In this paper, a music based metaheuristic algorithm was applied to the Distribution Network Reconfiguration Problem to minimize real power losses. The Harmony Search Algorithm is presented in the paper and its application to the Distribution Network Reconfiguration problem is described. Simulation results are presented for 4 test systems: 16-bus, 33-bus, 70-bus system and a local Mauritian system. Optimal configurations were obtained in all cases. (6 pages)


Preface Introductory life of Timour Narrative of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 1. Voyage from Cadiz to Constantinople 2. Constantinople 3. Voyage from Constantinople to Trebizond 4. Trebizond, and the journey through Armenia 5. The journey through Azerbijan, Irak, and Khorassan 6. Journey from the river Oxus to Samarcand, and festivities at the court of Timour 7. The city of Samarcand 8. Return of the Ambassadors.


(57) Abstract: carbon monoxide hydrogenation reactions, especially Fischer - method of preparing a catalyst useful for conducting Tropsch reaction. Step in the method begins activation or reactivation or preparation and activation of a new catalyst deactivated catalyst. In the latter case, the step in the present method, the first, catalytically active one or more metal compounds or granular salt is a powder or preformed liquid or solution is dispersed or dissolved the refractory sex inorganic support is contacted in one step or involves impregnating and precipitating one or more metal to the carrier or powder. Following each impregnation step to form one or oxide of a plurality of types of deposited metal by calcining the impregnated support at one or more metals. Then, one or more metals, sufficient chelating compound to extract removed by complexing part of oxides, in particular, calcined catalyst precursor with a solution of multidentate chelating compound to process. Reduction of the catalyst, preferably activated by contact with hydrogen. If activation or reactivation of deactivated catalyst, first, by treating the catalyst with a chelating compound and extraction of one or more, a portion of the oxide of the metal, then reducing the catalyst to. In either case, activation or reactivated catalyst has both a high activity or high C The productivity of the process is increased.


People with fibromyalgia (FM) often report having difficulty with emotional identification and expression, and this "alexithymia" may contribute to their pain and other symptoms. Multiple studies have assessed alexithymia in FM, and we systematically reviewed and meta‐analyzed this literature to: (a) describe the prevalence of alexithymia in people with FM; (b) compare the level of alexithymia in FM to both healthy controls and controls with other pain conditions; and (c) determine the association of alexithymia to pain intensity, depression, and anxiety in people with FM.


INTRODUCTION
To make percutaneous access easier in PCNL, we developed Automated Needle Targeting with X-ray (ANT-X) Method: ANT-X uses an image registration software with a closed loop feedback system to autoalign the puncture needle to the desired calyx using the bullseye technique. We tried percutaneous punctures on a live pig model and compared the results with free-hand technique. We then performed our first PCNL in a human subject with the aid of ANT-X. Our patient was a 48 year-old gentleman with a 1.4cm left lower pole stone.

RESULTS
Initial results for live animal trial showed radiation exposure for robot-assisted arm during puncture was reduced by 26% compared to the free-hand technique (8.2mGy vs 11.2mGy). In the human trial, obtaining percutaneous access was successful at first attempt.

CONCLUSION
ANT-X system can potentially help surgeons feel confident and potentially reduce complications, hence enabling more surgeons to adopt this procedure.


The reversibility of crude oil-induced male reproductive abnormalities was studied in fi fty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats. Exposure to crude oil was achieved by oral administration of increasing doses (165mg/kg body mass, 330mg/kg body mass, and 660mg/kg body mass) of Nigerian Qua Iboe Brent crude oil to male rats every 48 hours for 4 weeks. Thereafter, the crude oil was withdrawn from some of the rats for a period of 8 weeks. The results showed signifi cant reduction in the cauda epididymal sperm reserves of the rats that received the crude oil (P<0.05) and the rats from which the crude oil was withdrawn (P<0.05), relative to the control group. The testes of the rats that received crude oil showed reduced spermatogenic activity in the seminiferous tubules, as well as hyperaemia and oedema of the interstices. The testes of the rats from which crude oil was withdrawn showed evidence of recovery and the restoration of active spermatogenesis in the seminiferous tubules. The indication is that the withdrawal of Nigerian Qua Iboe Brent crude oil from male rats over a period of 8 weeks reversed the testicular pathology, but not the cauda epididymal oligospermia associated with this environmental pollutant.


We report a case of tissue plasminogen activator‐associated spinal epidural hematoma in a patient who underwent treatment for myocardial infarction. Diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging was used within 24 hr of coronary artery stent implantation. We review the literature on thrombolytic‐associated epidural spinal hematoma and discuss its management. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 48:390–396, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The Pink Lady® apple is problemless in cold storage for internal quality but it is susceptible to two storage diseases: common scald and internal browning. Different storage conditions were tested during four years in order to reduce their occurrence. Under ULO (ultra low oxygen) conditions, scald development could be avoided? The use of 1-MCP was in return only partially effective against this storage disease. In the authors' tests, scald developed mainly in the stem cavity of the fruits despite of this treatment. Storage at higher temperatures from 3.5 to 4°C reduced the appearance of internal browning. According to the results it is recommended to store Pink Lady apples under ULO conditions at a temperature from 3.5 to 4°C.


Local metropolitan cities are similar to Seoul metro area in developing old and new town simultaneously.
But Their urban development plans should be...


We analyzed a initial-boundary value problem for viscous p-Laplacian evolution equation with nonlinear source,and proved the monotonicity of the support of weak solutions based on comparison principle.


Some recollections of the circumstances surrounding the introduction of the group SU(3) into nuclear theory in the late 1950s are reported.


Calibration and validation for Forest-DNDC was carried out by the fluxes of soil CO2 emission determined in 1998 and 1999 from Abies fabri forest at Gongga Mountain.Simulated fluxes of soil CO2 emission calibrated by changing temperature and humidity in the formula fitted well with values by measurement,especially that in winter.The mean error and the mean relative error of calibrated simulation of soil CO2 emission decreased 3.81kg/hm2 and by 13.49% than that of cold simulation as well as the mean and relative mean absolute error.The Nash-Sutcliffe index of model efficiency increased from 0.651 to 0.683.Validation of the model demonstrated that simulated CO2 emission of daily and seasonal change was similar to measured one.


Hesitant information is powerful and flexible to denote decision maker's judgments. Hesitant multiplicative preference relations (HMPRs) own the advantages of preference relations and hesitant fuzzy sets that permit the decision makers (DMs) to compare objects by using several values. Just as other types of preference relations, how to derive the priority weight vector is a crucial step. According to the principle of the consistency concept for multiplicative preference relations, this paper first introduces a new consistency concept for HMPRs, which avoids the disadvantages of the previous ones. Using the new concept, models to judge the consistency of HMPRs are built. Then, a consistency probability‐based method to derive the hesitant fuzzy priority weight vector from HMPRs is offered. Considering the incomplete case, consistency‐based programming models to determine the missing values are constructed. To address group decision making with HMPRs, a distance measure is defined to determine the weights of the DMs, and a consensus index is proposed. Then, a consistency and consensus‐based group decision‐making algorithm is performed. Finally, two practical examples, an investment problem and a water conservancy problem are offered to illustrate the feasibility and efficiency of the new algorithm. Comparison analysis from the numerical and theoretical aspects verifies the potential application of the new procedure.


Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is a habitation of more than 500 million minority nationalities,and is the largest Mongolian settlements.It is the key to consolidate and develop the New Rural Cooperative Medical System in ethnic minority areas that we study the construction effect,analyze the factors restricting the development of the new rural cooperative medical system in ethnic minority areas from 2004 to 2009,namely from the pilot to the initial establishment.


Objectives: To translate, cross-culturally adapt and assess psychometric properties of a Moroccan Arabic version of the Lequesne algofunctional index of the knee. Methods: The Lequesne index was translated from French to Moroccan Arabic following available guidelines. Thirty patients participated in the pretesting of the adapted version. Data collected among 100 patients were used to assess psychometric properties. Results: Acceptable internal consistency (α≥0.7) was observed as well as good item-to-scale correlations (r>0.5). Factor analysis yielded two extracted factors. The findings of hypothesized correlations supported convergent and divergent construct validities. Test-retest reliability was very good for all items (ICC: 0.95 to 0.98) and sections (ICC: 0.95 to 0.99) as well as for the global score (ICC=0.97). Conclusions: the Moroccan version of the Lequesne algofunctional index demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity among Moroccan patients with knee osteoarthritis. This supports its use as an outcome measure in this population.


We demonstrate multipath routing and wavelength re-assignment in OpenFlow-enabled packet-circuit network, aware of links' bandwidth utilization, applications' protocol, and quality of transmission. Applications are re-routed under traffic congestion and wavelengths are re-assigned under physical impairments.


8.00am: Former A&E sister Lisa Ashley arrives for her ten-hour shift at Middlewood Ambulance Station in Sheffield. It's a bitterly cold February morning but the mood at the station is light hearted.


Abstract Introduction Food insecurity (FI) has been associated with the generation of chronic disease and as a barrier in the treatment of cancer. We established at an ecological level the relationship between FI and the incidence rate of colorectal cancer x 100.000 inhabitants (CRACI). Materials and Methods An ecological study was carried out with information that measured the level of human, social and economic development in the territory of the 33 geodemographic units that make up Colombia. Using multiple linear regression with the CRACI as the dependent variable, the FI as the main explanatory and other variables of the context, we established the relationship between FI and the CRACI and predictive equations of the CRACI by sex. The goodness of fit in the models was the coefficient of determination (R2) and the Bland and Almant method. Results The FI is related in an inverse manner, and the human development Index (HDI) is directly related to the CRACI. Two equations predict the CRACI with high precision; In men, [CRACI = -6.38 + -0.25 * FI + 35.5 * HDI]. In Women, [CRACI = 6.47 + -0.23 * FI + 19.1 * HDI]. The coefficient of determination R2 (%) in men is 88 and in women 72. The average difference between CRACI observed versus the estimated, was -0.00 in men (95% CI: -3.13 to 3.13), and in women of -0.00 (95% CI: -4.08 to 4.08). Discussion We establish that in Colombia, FI is significantly and inversely associated with the CRACI and that it is possible to predict the CRACI at an ecological level with a high degree of precision using two variables that are calculated on a regular basis by Colombian state agencies—FI and the HDI. FI has previously been identified as a risk factor in the development and treatment of patients with cancer since the associated economic incapacity reduces adherence to treatment and promotes a limited biological response, explained by a limited and poor-quality diet that exposes these patients to greater levels of infection and relapse. A possible explanation for this is that as greater social and economic development is achieved in the territory, decreasing FI, the diet transitions toward greater consumption of proteins of animal origin, which in turn favours the development of mediators of chronic diseases, such as obesity, hypertension, and cancer. This change is part of the phenomena called nutritional transition and food transition. The equations presented here constitute a cost-effective method for estimating CRACI in Colombia.


The article discusses the study of the legal status of collective subjects of scientific activity. The relevance of the research is predetermined by the importance of the qualitative organization of the work of collective subjects of scientific activity in order to achieve the most effective scientific results. The research methodology includes general methods of scientific research – systemic, logical, historical, as well as special methods, including comparative legal and formal legal. The formal legal method makes it possible to analyze the legal terminology on the research topic above. The method of comparative legal research allows us to compare different points of view and highlight the main problems of legal regulation of collective subjects of scientific law. The research includes three main stages: (1) – terminological analysis of the terminology used by the legislator; (2) – critical analysis of the legal definitions proposed by the legislator and the identification of the problems of legal regulation arising in this connection; (3) – comparison of controversial opinions and determination of ways to improve scientific legislation.
The main problems identified are the uncertainty in the delimitation of the statuses of related collective subjects of scientific work, as well as the mixing of scientific and educational functions of these organizations. As a result of the study, the authors have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to improve legislation aimed at regulating the legal status of scientific organizations and other collective subjects of scientific law.


The influence of strain state on the kinetics of martensitic phase transformation in stainless steel 304 is investigated. The methodology involves stretching various specimens with different widths over a hemispherical punch. The specimens are stretched to various depths by controlling the punch traveling in order to achieve different strain levels. The volume fraction of strain induced martensite is then measured using ferrite scope and plotted versus strain for different strain states. The results show that the martensitic transformation curve has the lowest value for plane strain condition among strain states used for determination of forming limit diagram. There are a close proximity between the two sets of the experimental data and those of the modified Olson‐Cohen and Santacreu's models.


A series of branched and cross-linked poly (arylene ether sulfone) ionomers containing sulfofluorenyl groups, 2b-e were synthesized in order to investigate the effect of these chemical modifications on the properties. Ionomers 2b-e gave a flexible, ductile, and transparent membrane by casting from DMAc solution. The branching and cross-linking were effective to improve the dimensional stability under wet conditions without losing their high thermal, oxidative, and hydrolytic stability. The cross-linked ionomer 2e (IEC = 2.63 meq · g -1 ) membrane showed high proton conductivity of 0.2 S · cm -1 at 87% RH and 0.02 S · cm -1 at 57% RH. The branched ionomer 2b membrane was durable in proton conductivity for almost 2 months without any chemical degradation.


The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported that in the southeastern US and eastern China, the general greenhouse warming due to anthropogenic gaseous emissions is dominated by the cooling effect of anthropogenic aerosols. To verify this model prediction in eastern China and southeastern US, we analyzed regional patterns of climate changes at 72 stations in eastern China during 1951- 94 (44 years), and at 52 stations in the southeastern US during 1949-94 (46 years) to detect the fingerprint of aerosol radiative forcing. It was found that the mean rates of change of annual mean daily, maximum, minimum temperatures and diurnal temperature range (DTR) in eastern China were 0.8, -0.2, 1.8, and -2.0 C/100 years respectively, while the mean rates of change of annual mean daily, maximum, minimum temperatures and DTR in the southeastern US were -0.2, -0.6, 0.2, and -0.8 C/100 years, respectively. This indicates that the high rate of increase in annual mean minimum temperature in eastern China results in a slightly warming trend of daily temperature, while the high rate of decrease in annual mean maximum temperature and low rate of increase in annual mean minimum temperature lead to the cooling trend of daily temperature in the southeastern US. We found that the warming from the longwave forcing due to both greenhouse gases and aerosols was completely counteracted by the shortwave aerosol forcing in the southeastern US in the past 46 years. A slightly overall warming trend in eastern China is evident; winters have become milder. This finding is explained by hypothesizing that increasing energy usage during the past 44 years has resulted in more coal and biomass burning, thus increasing the emission of absorbing soot and organic aerosols in eastern China. Such emissions, in addition to well-known Asia dust and greenhouse gases, may be responsible for the winter warming trend in eastern China that we have reported here. The sensitivity of aerosol radiative properties to aerosol composition, size distribution, relative humidity (RH) is examined for the following aerosol systems: inorganic and organic ions (Cl-, Br-, NO3 -, SO4 2-, Na+, NH4 +, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, HCOO-, CH3COO-, CH3CH2COO-, CH3COCOO-, OOCCOO2-, MSA-1); water-insoluble inorganic and organic compounds (elemental carbon, n-alkanes, SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3 and other organic compounds). The partial molar refraction method was used to calculate the real part of the refractive index. It was found that the asymmetry factor increased by approximately 48% with the real part varying from 1.40 to 1.65, and the single scattering albedo decreased by 24% with the imaginary part varying from -0.005 to -0.1. The asymmetry factor increased by 5.4 times with the geometric standard deviation varying from 1.2 to 3.0. The radiation transmission is very sensitive to the change in size distribution; other factors are not as significant. To determine the aerosol direct radiative forcing (ADRF), the aerosol optical depth (AOD) values at the three operational wavelengths (415, 500 and 673 nm) were determined at a regionally representative site, namely, Mt. Gibbs (35.78 deg N, 82.29 deg W, elevation 2006 m) in Mt. Mitchell State Park, NC, and a site located in an adjacent valley (Black Mountain, 35.66 deg N, 82.38 deg W, elevation 951 m) in the southeastern US. The two sites are separated horizontally by 10 km and vertically by 1 km. It was found that the representative total AOD values at 500 nm at the valley site for highly polluted (HP), marine (M) and continental (C) air masses were 0.68 +/- 0.33, 0.29 +/- 0.19 and 0.10 +/- 0.04, respectively. A search-graph method was used to retrieve the columnar size distribution (number concentration N, effective radius reff and geometric standard deviation=?g) from the optical depth observations at three operational wavelengths. The ground albedo, single scattering albedo and imaginary part of the refractive index were calculated using a mathematically unique procedure involving a Mie code and a radiative transfer code in conjunction with the retrieved aerosol size distribution, AOD, and diffuse-direct irradiance ratio. It was found that N, r(eff) and sigma(g) were in the ranges of 10 to 1.7 x 10(exp 4)/cubic cm, 0.09 to 0.68 micrometers and 1.12 to 2.95, respectively. The asymmetry factor and single scattering albedo were in the ranges of 0.63 to 0.75 and 0.74 to 0.97 respectively. The ground albedo for the forested terrain and imaginary part of refractive index were found to be in the ranges of 0.06 to 0.29 and 0.005 to 0.051 respectively. On the basis of these aerosol radiative properties obtained at the research sites and computations using the Column Radiation Model (CRM) of National Center of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Climate Model (CCM3), it was found that the average cloud-free 24-hour ADRF values were -13 +/- 8, -8 +/- 3, -33 +/- 16 W/square m for marine, continental, and polluted air masses, respectively. On the assumption that the fractional coverage of clouds is 0.61, it was estimated that the annual mean ADRF was 7 +/- 2 W/square m in the southeastern US. The review with respect to the current knowledge of organic acids shows that aerosol formate and acetate concentrations range from 0.02 to 5.3 nmol/cubic m and from 0.03 to 12.4 nmol/cubic m respectively, and that between 34% to 77% of formate and between 21% to 66% of acetate are present in the fine fraction of aerosols. It was found that although most (98-99%) of these volatile organic acids were present in the gas phase, their concentrations in the aerosol particles were sufficient to make them a good candidate for cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). It is hypothesized that organic acids are at least one of the primary sources of CCN in the atmosphere due to their ubiquitous presence in the troposphere, especially over the continental forested areas. The results of our measurements at Palmer Station, Antarctica show that the daily average CCN concentrations at 0.3% and 1% supersaturations ranged from 0.3 to 160/cubic cm and from 4 to 168/cubic cm, respectively, during the period from 17 January to 26 February, 1994. New evidence for substantial and definitive CCN enhancement near and within cloud has been observed at Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina. The results show that the average monthly CCN concentrations were 460 +/- 217, 386 +/- 286, 429 +/- 228 and 238 +/- 134/cubic cm for in-cloud, overcast, clear and rainy conditions, respectively. The typical CCN spectra show that there were a lot of small CCN produced and the ion concentrations (especially H+ and SO4 2-) were very high during the CCN enhancement period. The significantly positive correlation between black carbon (BC) and CCN at 1% supersaturation indicates that a percentage of the BC measured at the site may be in the form of an internal mixture and participated in the formation of CCN.


We investigatein this paper spectrum sharing techniques for multiple unlicensed userstoshareanavailablesparechannelincognitiveradionetworks. Inparticular,consideringasingle-slotted aloha channel access model, we develop an effcient transmission framework that enablesthe detection of jamming attacks. The proposed transmission strategy adopts a randomized PN-codeassignmentforeach transmissionslot. Furthermore,giventhePN-basedtransmissionframe-work, a two-step jamming detection algorithm is also devised by combining an energy detectorand a correlation detector. Theoretical analysis of the detection performance is presented and theimpactofsystemparameters is demonstratedthroughnumericalexamples.


This paper presents an automatic method for enabling the interoperability of 3D models within different types of games. Character customization is an increasingly popular ability in modern video games. For example, games built for the Nintendo Wii#8482; may take advantage of the built-in avatar customization (e.g. Mii avatars) yet few games to date have actually utilized this ability. Game designers are hesitant to allow players total creative freedom when customizing their avatars for fear of invalidating the intended aesthetic gameplay experience. In this paper, we present a step forward in character customization allowing the player creative freedom while not sacrificing the intended aesthetics. This paper focuses on developing an automatic method to blend multiple animated 3D meshes.


Rationale: Stable isotope geochemistry has become commonplace in petrologic literature and stable isotope data strongly influence interpretations of many petrologic processes. In spite of this, undergraduate petrology textbooks tend to present limited background on stable isotope fundamentals and applications. In addition, stable isotopes provide an opportunity for quantitative problem solving that is mathematically within reach of students and involves a variety of chemical and geological processes.


Various types of random loading have been used in the fatigue tests and in the fracture mechanics determination of structures; Under service conditions, the fatigue load varies randomly, and hence, the overall uncertainty of fatigue life predictions increases. A fatigue test was carried out on a specimen to evaluate the fatigue life of an actual structure. To apply the test results obtained from the specimen to an actual structure, the loaded state and the constraint condition of the specimen must be the same as those of an actual structure. However, the loaded state and constraint conditions of a specimen cannot be the same as those of an actual structure, which are complicated. In order to reduce these differences, an actual structure test was carried out for a wide range of frequencies to obtain a fatigue life curve. In this study, ten sets of accelerated test units attached with an unbalanced mass were prepared. Also, the acceleration history on the vibration of an actual structure was acquired. Rainflow counting was used on the acceleration history, and the life curve return formula was assumed. The measure of damage is simply the cycle ratio based on the assumptions of constant work absorption per cycle, and characteristic amount of work absorbed at failure. The return formula that cumulative damage satisfied '1(100%)' was acquired in a feedback process by the Miner's rule, which is the linear cumulative damage theory. A conservative fatigue life curve was determined by the return formula to have been presumed by each set. The fatigue life of an actual structure under regular RPM condition was calculated based on these conservative fatigue life curves.


Andrena, which is the largest genus in the Andrenidae, is a very important genus for the pollination of fruit trees. Andrena flavipes Panzer is one of the most common species observed in the study area and can continue the flight activity even under low temperature. In this study, the pollen collected by A. flavipes was determined. In addition, the potential to carry sweet cherry pollen of the aforementioned species was also researched. For the pollen preparates, the scopae of 34 females were used. As a result of the diagnosis studies, it was determined that A. flavipes species collected the pollens of 13 families and that the dominant pollen group belonged to the Brassicaceae. It was ascertained that A. flavipes collected sweet cherry pollen and that the sweet cherry flowers do not represent a primary pollen source, however.


The capabilities of fully functional geographic information systems used in various fields make it possible to simulate the characteristics of the gravitational field, presenting measuring information in the form of continuous surfaces, thereby expanding the area of use of data on the Earth's gravitational field. An important stage of visualization is the choice of a method of interpolating data that provides the highest possible accuracy in creating a digital model of the studied characteristic of the gravitational field. The authors developed a technology for choosing the optimal method for interpolating the characteristics of the Earth's gravitational field in a GIS to create models with an assessment of their accuracy according to the initial data, presented in the form of a technological scheme. The possibilities of the Golden Software Surfer software product for creating a model of quasi-geoid heights from the unevenly presented satellite and geometric leveling data in the study area are considered. A method for interpolating the heights of a quasi-geoid in Golden Software Surfer is proposed, a model of a quasi-geoid in a local area is created. An assessment of the accuracy of the created model according to the initial data is performed.


The federal government regulates concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) under theconstitutional authority of the Commerce Clause and the statutory authority of the Clean Water Act.Effluent guidelines for Feedlots Point Source Category are enumerated in the Code of FederalRegulations for large animal operations. These guidelines are implemented through a federal permittingsystem. Dissatisfaction with current federal provisions governing CAFOs led the EnvironmentalProtection Agency to adopt new regulations that become effective April 14, 2003. Theseregulations expand federal authority over polluting activities. Livestock producers are concerned about the contamination of water, especially groundwater,and their potential liability for injuries. Persons injured by agricultural nutrients from animal feedingoperations (AFOs), including CAFOs, have several different legal arguments. Common lawcauses of action in strict liability, negligence, nuisance, and trespass might be employed by aggrievedpersons. Lawsuits based on these arguments would be brought by neighbors, not a veryamicable situation in rural communities where most AFOs are situated. For nuisance causes of action,AFOs may quality for the anti-nuisance protection of their states right-to-farm law. Due to shortcomings associated with the common law principles, governments have taken legislativesteps to address the discord created by the activities and byproducts of animals. The federalClean Water Act establishes federal standards for discharges from point sources of pollution andallows states to assume authority for regulating nonpoint-source pollution. The Acts provisionscomplement the reserved authority of states to enact laws that enhance the welfare of their citizens.CAFOs in every state are subject to point-source pollution requirements. AFOs that are not CAFOsare governed by state nonpoint-source pollution regulations. In the past ten years, most states haveenacted special laws addressing potential pollution by AFOs. Some of these go beyond federalpoint-source requirements or may address groundwater and air pollution. Local ordinances alsoregulate AFOs and the activities and practices that are possible in zoned areas. Aggrieved personsmay select from a variety of statutory and regulatory provisions to seek relief for harm or from aburdensome situation. The designated authority used by states in regulating AFOs varies considerably. Some states haveassumed that their existing water pollution legislation provides authority for state agencies to adoptmore detailed regulations that apply to AFOs. In these states, no new legislation has been passed.Agencies have proceeded under existing laws to adopt regulations that safeguard the environmentby restricting polluting activities by AFOs. In other states, legislatures have enacted special legislationconcerning AFOs. The laws may list various requirements, or may direct a state agency tocarry out the law. Based on these directions, the designated state agency adopts more detailed rulesor regulations setting forth specific requirements for AFOs. AFOs that are within the definition of a CAFO are point sources of pollution and must have apermit under federal law. AFOs that are not CAFOs are not required to have a federal permit, but astate may impose its own permit requirements. The new regulations adopted by the EPA seek toincrease the number of operations that would be designated as CAFOs. By requiring more operationsto have permits, the government hopes to curb nutrient pollution. To justify the new provisions,the EPA cites data from the National Water Quality Inventory. But an evaluation of data andassumptions disclose several shortcomings. Our laws and regulations set forth a number of governmental enforcement mechanisms to respondto violations. In many cases, a decision to prosecute involves the quality and quantity of resourcesand personnel available for responding to problems. Even with enough resources, there canbe a problem with the agencys commitment to enforcement. Under the cooperative federalism in-corporated in most environmental statutes, federal agencies commission states to enforce federallaws. For enforcement of laws under the management of the EPA, an annual enforcement agreementis executed between the state and EPA regional office setting forth enforcement commitments.Agencies in charge of carrying out environmental legislation may lack the authority to prosecuteviolations. Instead, they must refer violations to the attorney general. The regulatory structure governing animal waste management suggests three major concerns.First, do governments have a problem with enforcing existing regulations, and what does thismean? Inadequate enforcement efforts by governments may lead to the discharge of unauthorizedpollutants into our countrys waters. The unwillingness of governments to eliminate pollution fromviolators may culminate in the public calling for more regulations or recommend additional remediesfor aggrieved persons. Second, are nonpoint sources of pollution causing pollution that needs to be controlled? The lackof definitive data suggests that we do not have sufficient information to develop efficient regulations.Yet such does not mean that governments cannot continue with efforts to regulate nonpointsourcepollution. Because the Clean Water Act does not meaningfully regulate nonpoint sources,additional controls over this type of pollution are dependent upon other authority. Currently, stategovernments are in charge of devising appropriate controls on nonpoint-source pollution.A third concern is whether governmental regulation of CAFOs is unnecessarily costly? In craftingnew regulations to reduce water pollution, the EPA may require expenditures by AFOs that arenot meaningfully contributing to the impairment of water quality. Critical production indicators andlocation screening offer strategies to provide exceptions for operations that are not impairing waterquality. The new regulations should facilitate greater remedial actions against point-source polluters. Anallegation of a permit violation against a CAFO will provide a cause of action that is easier to provethan alternative grounds. Moreover, enforcement actions against CAFOs are not dependent on governmentalaction because the Clean Water Act allows citizen suits. With the expansion of operationsclassified as CAFOs under the new regulations, citizens will have increased opportunities to suepolluters for permit violations.


This paper applies improved differential evolution (IDE) algorithm to optimize electricity genenation sources in order to minimize the cost of generation and gas emission with the condition of keeping constraints of power balance and power limits. The conventional DE method is also applied for comparing and make clarification the efficiency of the IDE. The DE and IDE alogorithms are applied on the standar IEEE 30 bus test system. The simulation results of proposed method are compared with those of the conventional DE approach which showing that is efficient for solving the economic and emission dispatch problems.


Two challenges for GaN microdisplay for AR/MR application are discussed: small pixel‐pitch and color. We show that several approaches can be used to address different pixel‐pitch ranges. Color conversion provides high color saturation. It can be patterned, but there is still a long way to achieve very small pixel pitches needed for AR/MR applications. RGB native color will be the grail. We show that both semi polar and InGaNOS approaches are very promising solutions for full‐color GaN microdisplays for AR/MR applications.


Objective:The aim of this study was to examine the association between fracture and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Estrogen Plus Progestin trial. Methods:POP was assessed as cystocele, rectocele, or uterine prolapse and was graded as either "absent to mild" or "moderate to severe." Cox proportional hazard analyses (adjusting for age, body mass index, race, asthma, emphysema, thyroid disease, family history of fracture, regular menses, age at menopause, nulliparity, history of hormone therapy [HT], history of falls, socioeconomic status, calcium, and vitamin D supplementation and physical activity) explored the relationships between moderate to severe POP and incident bone fractures. Results:Moderate- to severe-grade POP was identified in almost 8% of women (n = 1,192). During a follow-up duration of 7.41 (2.18) years (mean [SD]), 2,156 incident fractures were observed; the most common fracture site was the lower arm (n = 615; 28.51%) followed by the hip (n = 205; 9.51%). Adjusted analyses confirmed moderate to severe POP (of any type) as an independent risk factor for incident hip fractures (hazard ratio [HR], 1.83; 95% CI, 1.16-2.89; P = 0.010). On analyses stratified by assigned treatment (HT vs placebo), moderate to severe rectocele emerged as an independent predictor of incident spine (HR, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.04-6.56; P = 0.042) and lower arm fractures (HR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.06-3.29; P = 0.030) in the placebo group. Conclusions:We identify moderate to severe POP (any type) in postmenopausal women as a risk factor for hip fracture; moderate to severe rectocele holds an additional risk of spine and lower arm fractures in women not taking HT.


AlGaN/GaN-based planer Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with circular anode configuration were formed on AlN template and on sapphire. SBDs formed on AlN template exhibited clearly improved reverse-blocking characteristics compared with SBDs formed on sapphire. This appears to be due to their high crystal quality realised as a result of using AlN template. Breakdown voltages in those SBDs increased with the anode-to-cathode spacing and reached a high value of approximately 3 kV at a gap-spacing of 50 µm for SBDs formed on AlN template.


This collection of essays originates in a one-day symposium held at Trinity College Dublin in September 2009. The surprise for most of us who gathered there was that such an event had not been held before. It was as if the scholarship that was unfolded during the course of the day had somehow lain invisible over the years of our collective research. It was at once all new – most speakers were presenting their ideas for the first time – and very old – the articulation of histories and concepts that stretched back over the eras. This impression of something hidden but always there was reflected in the papers, and now in the essays in this collection. As so many of the contributors note, the presence of the Irish in Britain has often been an invisible one; Bronwen Walter outlines the historical background to the issue of invisibility, discussing the reasons why it so often suited the Irish to be unnoticed members of English society, just as it suited the English not to notice them. Martin McLoone refers to a 'hidden history . . . of dispersal and removal' noting how the identification of Irish characters may rest on the process of 'naming and claiming', of recognising Irishness through surnames. Padraic Killeen suggests that one way of reflecting on the presence of the Irish in Britain is not to depict their Irishness at all. Conn Holohan refers to another hidden history in his essay on Felicia's Journey (Atom Egoyan, 1999) with its narrative of a displaced young woman and her need to seek an abortion. Emmie McFadden adds to this the double invisibility of Irish women, rendered silent by their gender and their social status, as maids and onlookers in the greater dramas of British society. These Bridgets and Paddies built the roads and railways and emptied the grates and minded the children of a society that seldom paused to wonder who they were and why they were there. The Irish were poor and servile in the British narrative because that was what nature intended for them. They were drunk and disruptive by virtue of their own failings; and superstitious because of their Catholicism. These white Others represented everything that the British were not, a colony on their own doorstep, a source of plunder and cheap labour. For the Bridgets and Paddies, Britain held out the promise of a living, and sometimes too an escape from the restrictive, narrow-minded society that was Ireland. They were also official entertainers to the wider British public. The Irish provided cheap laughter in the Music Halls and sentimental ballads for the Victorian parlour. And in this way, they transferred to early British cinema, emerging, just as they did in early American cinema, as comic figures in short sketches of which the earliest recorded in Kevin Rockett's The Irish Filmography is listed simply as Irish Jig (1898): 'Four


Intangible Assets of a firm is its possession of knowledge, applied experience, organizational technology, customer relationships and professional skills that provide it with a competitive edge in the market. At the beginning of the 21st century, the role of intangibles as value and growth creators is accepted among economists, investors and managers. Furthermore, there is general agreement that traditional (accounting-based) information systems are not able to provide adequate information about corporate intangible assets and their economic impact. As a consequence, intangible-intensive enterprises are confronted with excessive cost of capital, hindering their investment and growth. In addition, with the lack of information about the largest part of corporate assets, the risk managerial decision making increases. Because corporate outsiders have even less access to such information, the resulting information imbalance can lead to excessive trading gains to corporate insiders, destroying investors' confidence. This creates a need for examining how the intangible assets affect the firm value in Indian companies. Hence, an attempt is made to examine the relationship between intangible assets and firm value for selected Indian companies.


The in vitro pharmacological properties of N-(1-Acetyl-2,3dihydro-1H-indol-6-yl)-3-(3-cyano-phenyl)-N-[1-(2-cyclopentyl-ethyl)-piperidin-4yl]-acrylamide (JNJ-5207787), a novel neuropeptide Y Y2 receptor (Y2) antagonist, were evaluated. JNJ-5207787 inhibited the binding of peptide YY (PYY) to human Y2 receptor in KAN-Ts cells (pIC50 7.00 0.10) and to rat Y2 receptors in rat hippocampus (pIC50 7.10 0.20). The compound was 100-fold selective versus human Y1, Y4, and Y5 receptors as evaluated by radioligand binding. In vitro receptor autoradiography data in rat brain tissue sections confirmed the selectivity of JNJ-5207787. [I]PYY binding sites sensitive to JNJ-5207787 were found in rat brain regions known to express Y2 receptor (septum, hypothalamus, hippocampus, substantia nigra, and cerebellum), whereas insensitive binding sites were observed in regions known to express Y1 receptor (cortex and thalamus). JNJ-5207787 was demonstrated to be an antagonist via inhibition of PYY-stimulated guanosine 5 -O-(3[S]thio)triphosphate binding ([S]GTP S) in KAN-Ts cells (pIC50 corrected 7.20 0.12). This was confirmed autoradiographically in rat brain sections where PYY-stimulated guanosine 5 -O-(3-[S]thio)triphosphate binding was inhibited by JNJ-5207787 (10 M) in hypothalamus, hippocampus, and substantia nigra. After intraperitoneal administration in rats (30 mg/kg), JNJ-5207787 penetrated into the brain (Cmax 1351 153 ng/ml at 30 min) and occupied Y2 receptor binding sites as revealed by ex vivo receptor autoradiography. Hence, JNJ-5207787 is a potent and selective pharmacological tool available to establish the potential role of central and peripheral Y2 receptors in vivo. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a 36-amino acid peptide discovered in the early 1980s that belongs to a family of peptides that includes pancreatic polypeptides (PP) and peptide YY (PYY) (Tatemoto and Mutt, 1980). NPY is widely distributed in the central and peripheral nervous systems (for reviews, see Blomqvist and Herzog, 1997; Gehlert, 1999; Wieland et al., 2000; Kask et al., 2002; Malmstrom, 2002; Thorsell and Heilig, 2002). In the brain, NPY is the most abundant neuropeptide yet identified and its localization suggests an involvement in a variety of physiological processes, including anxiety, food intake, water consumption, circadian rhythms, hormone release, learning, and memory. The use of various cloning techniques has resulted in the identification of five receptors to date (Y1, Y2, Y4, Y5, and y6) (Herzog et al., 1992; Larhammar et al., 1992; Bard et al., 1995; Gerald et al., 1995, 1996; Gregor et al., 1996; Hu et al., 1996; Matsumoto et al., 1996; Weinberg et al., 1996), all of them belong to the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors. All NPY receptor subtypes are expressed in several species, including human, except the y6, which is absent in rat and not functional in the human and primates (Blomqvist and Herzog, 1997). Y1 and Y2 receptors are the most abunJNJ-5207787 will be made available upon request to Dr. T. Lovenberg, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, LLC., 3210 Merryfield Row, San Diego CA 92121. E-mail: email@example.com Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at http://jpet.aspetjournals.org. DOI: 10.1124/jpet.103.060459. ABBREVIATIONS: NPY, neuropeptide Y; PP, pancreatic polypeptide; PYY, peptide YY; CHO, Chinese hamster ovary; JNJ-5207787, N-(1-acetyl2,3-dihydro-1H-indol-6-yl)-3-(3-cyano-phenyl)-N-[1-(2-cyclopentyl-ethyl)-piperidin-4-yl]-acrylamide); HEK-293, human embryonic kidney; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; BIIE0246, (S)-N2-[[1-[2-[4-[(R,S)-5,11-dihydro-6(6h)-oxodibenz[b,e]azepin-11-yl]-1-piperazinyl]2-oxoethyl] acetyl]-N[2-[1,2-di-hydro-3,5(4H)-dioxo-1,2-diphenyl-3H-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl]ethyl]-argininamide; BIBP-3226, R-N-(diphenylacetyl)-N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)methyl argininamide; BSA, bovine serum albumin; GTP S, guanosine-5 -O-(3-thio)-triphosphate; L-152804, 5,5-dimethyl-2-(2,3,4,9-tetrahydro3,3-dimethyl-1oxo-1H-xanthene-9-yl)-1,3-cyclohexanedione; BNST, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. 0022-3565/04/3083-1130–1137$20.00 THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS Vol. 308, No. 3 Copyright © 2004 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 60459/1125601 JPET 308:1130–1137, 2004 Printed in U.S.A. 1130 at A PE T Jornals on A uust 1, 2017 jpet.asjournals.org D ow nladed from dantly expressed NPY receptor subtypes in the brain (Dumont et al., 1998b). In rat, the Y1 receptor is found primarily in the cerebral cortex and thalamic regions, whereas the Y2 receptor is found in a variety of areas, including the septum, hypothalamus, hippocampus, substantia nigra, and cerebellum (Dumont et al., 1996; Gehlert and Gackenheimer, 1997). The presence of a high level of Y5 receptor mRNA has been demonstrated in hypothalamus but the radioligand binding data has not confirmed such a high abundance (Dumont et al., 1998a). Among the NPY receptor subtypes known today, mainly the Y1 and Y5 have been investigated as drug targets in the obesity field, due to the observation that these subtypes mediate the orexigenic action of NPY (Parker et al., 2002). Small molecule receptor antagonists for the Y1 and Y5 receptor subtypes have been described (for reviews, see Ling, 1999; Wieland et al., 2000). Recently, the Y2 receptor subtype has attracted particular interest because of its possible implication in control of food intake (Naveilhan et al., 1999; Kaga et al., 2001; Batterham et al., 2002; Sainsbury et al., 2002) and bone formation (Baldock et al., 2002; Herzog, 2002). Pharmacologically, the Y2 receptor is characterized by high affinity for NPY and PYY, but unlike the Y1 receptor, is relatively resistant to the effect of the N-terminal deletions and retains a high binding affinity for C-terminal fragments such as NPY13–36 (Gerald et al., 1995; Rose et al., 1995). Activation of the Y2 receptor results in the inhibition of adenylyl cyclase (Gehlert et al., 1996). In contrast to other NPY receptor subtypes, Y2 receptor has been shown to exist as a preand a postsynaptic receptor (Gehlert et al., 1996). Recently, BIIE0246, the first nonpeptide Y2 receptor antagonist has been described (Doods et al., 1999). However, its complex structure and high molecular weight limit its usefulness as an in vivo pharmacological tool. In a program directed toward the discovery of novel Y2 receptor ligands, we have discovered JNJ-5207787, a nonpeptidic, low-molecular-weight, selective Y2 ligand (Jablonowski et al., submitted). In the present study, we report the receptor binding pharmacology of JNJ-5207787 as well as its functional in vitro properties and in vivo selectivity. We demonstrate that JNJ5207787 selectively binds Y2 receptors in vivo and will thus be a useful tool for the in vivo pharmacological evaluation of the role of Y2 receptors in a variety of physiological conditions. Materials and Methods All the experiments described in this study have been carried out in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals as adopted and promulgated by the National Institutes of Health. Radioligand Binding Assays. Cells used in the radioligand binding experiments with NPY receptor subtypes were SK-N-MC endogenously expressing Y1 receptors (Larhammar et al., 1992), KAN-Ts endogenously expressing Y2 receptors (Rimland et al., 1996), CHO cells transfected with human Y4 cDNA for Y4 receptors (Bard et al., 1995), and HEK-293 transfected with human Y5 cDNA for Y5 receptors (Gerald et al., 1996; Hu et al., 1996). Cells were grown to confluence on 150-cm tissue culture plates, washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and scraped into 50-ml tubes. After centrifugation, the supernatant was aspirated, and the pellets frozen and stored at 80°C. Thawed pellets were homogenized with a Polytron tissue grinder for 15 s in 20 mM Tris-HCl, 5 mM EDTA. The homogenate was centrifuged at 800g for 5 min and the collected supernatant recentrifuged at 25,000g for 25 min. The resulting pellet was resuspended in binding buffer (20 mM HEPES, 120 mM NaCl, 0.22 mM KH2PO4, 1.3 mM CaCl2, 0.8 mM MgSO4). Membranes were incubated with [I]PYY (80 pM) for Y1, Y2, and Y5 or [ I]PP (100 pM) for Y4 in the presence or absence of test compound for 1 h at room temperature. The reaction was stopped by filtration through GF/C filter plates presoaked in 0.3% polyethylenimine and subsequently washed with Tris 50 mM, 5 mM EDTA buffer. Plates were dried for 1 h in a 55°C oven, scintillation fluid was added, and the radioactivity was counted in a PerkinElmer TopCount. Specific binding to the NPY receptor subtypes was determined by radioactivity that was bound in the presence of 1 M NPY for Y1, Y2, Y5, and 100 nM PP for Y4. Membranes from rat hippocampus were prepared and assayed for [I]PYY binding following the same procedure. Binding experiments were repeated three to eight times, each in duplicate. IC50 values (i.e., concentration of unlabeled peptide or antagonist required to compete for 50% of specific binding to the radioligand) were calculated using the GraphPad Prism software (GraphPad Software Inc., San Diego, CA) with a fit to a sigmoidal dose-response curve. Data were expressed as pIC50 values where pIC50 log IC50. In addition, the selectivity of JNJ-5207787 was evaluated in a large variety of ion channels, transporters, and receptor binding assays. These assays were performed by CEREP (Celles L'Evescault,


Cable window regulator for vehicles, particularly motor vehicles, for lifting and lowering a window pane, with a drive for a cable drum, which is embraced by a cable, wherein a transmission (15) is connected between the drive and the cable drum, the gear (15) as a planetary gear with a sun gear (9) and at least two with the sun gear (9) meshing planet gears (10) is formed, characterized in that the sun gear (9) and the planet gear (10) as a pair of wheels (16) each having a double and opposing teeth (17, 18) is executed, on one or more shafts (11) of the planet wheels (10) or on the planet gears (10) itself externally toothed spur gears (12) are arranged, which mesh with the internal teeth of a ring gear (13) and the planetary gears (10) are connected together by a web or planet carrier.


The $T$-adic exponential sum of a polynomial in one variable is studied. An explicit arithmetic polygon in terms of the highest two exponents of the polynomial is proved to be a lower bound of the Newton polygon of the $C$-function of the T-adic exponential sum. This bound gives lower bounds for the Newton polygon of the $L$-function of exponential sums of $p$-power order.


Background. Hyperphosphataemia is an independent risk factor for accelerated cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease (CKD), although the mechanism for this is poorly under-stood. We investigated the effects of sustained exposure to a high-phosphate environment on endothelial function in cellular and preclinical models, as well as in human subjects. Methods. Resistance vessels from rats and humans ( 6 CKD) were incubated in a normal (1.18 mM) or high (2.5 mM) phosphate concentration solution and cells were cultured in normal-(0.5 mM) or high-phosphate (3 mM) concentration media. A single-blind crossover study was performed in healthy volunteers, receiving phosphate supplements or a phosphate binder (lanthanum), and endothelial function measured was by flow-mediated dilatation. the phosphodiesterase-5-inhibitor. Vessels from patients with CKD relaxed normally when incubated in normal-phosphate conditions, suggesting that the detrimental effects of phosphate may be reversible. Exposure to high-phosphate disrupted the whole nitric oxide pathway with reduced nitric oxide and cyclic guanosine mono-phosphate production and total and phospho endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression. In humans, endothelial function was reduced by chronic phosphate loading independent of serum phosphate, but was associated with higher urinary phosphate excretion and serum fibroblast growth factor 23. Conclusions. These directly detrimental effects of phosphate, independent of other factors in the uraemic environment, may explain the increased cardiovascular risk associated with phosphate in CKD.


Both the apparent bedload velocity and the backscattering strength measured by acoustic Doppler current profilers could assist bedload assessment in the field. To test this hypothesis, two ADCPs working at three frequencies (3 MHz and 1 MHz, M9; 2 MHz, StreamPro) were deployed simultaneously to measure seven different bedload transport conditions in a laboratory flume. The bedload transport was monitored by two high-speed cameras and a bedload trap. For some experiments 3 MHz and 1 MHz delivered spatially averaged apparent velocity, for others the velocity corresponded to the average velocity of particles. The 2 MHz severely underestimated the average particle velocity. The M9 backscattering strength decreased as the bedload concentration increased, independently of the size and velocity of transported particles. The 2 MHz resulted in almost constant backscattering strength. These findings demonstrate that further examination of the acoustic configurations and parameters could lead to a methodology for bedload quantification based solely on the acoustic outputs.


The National Curriculum provides a stimulus for teachers and speech and language therapists to work together but issues of assessment need to be tackled next. Carol Miller, Faculty of Education and Continuing Studies, Birmingham University, reports on interviews with 13 teachers about the National Curriculum.


Abstract: Implementing a safe and efficient electronic voting system that will maintain the fairness and privacy as well as simultaneously provide the transparency and flexibility of electronic systems has been a challenge since a long time. Digital system can be highly beneficial to senior citizens and especially for people living in the rural areas. But any system which is online can have a tendency to get hacked or disrupted. Even a single minute flaw has the potential to lead to large-scale vote tampering. Hence, we have proposed an electronic voting system which uses the blockchain technology and addresses some of the drawbacks of existing systems.


The study presents a critical analysis of visual materials contained in civic education textbooks with the purpose to identify traits of discrimination of individuals with a "skin colour" other than "white". The undertaken quantitative and qualitative analyses allowed for drawing a conclusion that the depiction of persons in the researched visual material did in fact bear certain traits of discrimination. Moreover, it was concluded that what may be observed is compound discrimination. The studies presented in the article were conducted within a larger-scale project entitled Gender in textbooks.


Keaders are invited in this article to test their abilities first in diagnosing the learning difficulties of José, a junior high student, and then in prescribing the right kind of instructional program for him. The editors invite reader comments for publication in the letters-to-the-editor section in future issues of the Bulletin.


Rising magnetic flux loops in the solar convection zone develop an asymmetric shape with a flat preceding part and a steeper following part with respect to the direction of solar rotation. By a statistical analysis of newly forming sunspot groups we test the conjecture that this geometrical asymmetry leads to an asymmetric distribution of secondary spot groups originating from the legs of the same rising flux loop as the primary group, which develops out of the loop summit. We find that ∼ 10% of all sunspot groups actually develop secondary groups within ±20◦ longitude distance from the primary group and within one day after its emergence. Those secondary groups related to small primary groups (area < 100 millionths of the solar hemisphere) are predominantly located on their eastern (following) side, while for larger primary groups the secondaries are more numerous on their western (preceding) side. Both results are consistent with the geometrical asymmetry developed by rising magnetic flux loops.


We study the impact of financial incentives on higher education decisions and the choice of major. We rely on a reform whereby Israeli kibbutzim shifted from their traditional policy of equal sharing to productivity-based wages. We use for identification the staggered implementation of this reform in different kibbutzim. In this setting of very low initial returns to education, we find that the dramatic increase in the rate of return and its sharp variation across fields of study led to a large increase in the probability of receiving a Bachelor degree, especially in STEM fields of study that are expected to yield higher financial returns. For men this increase was largely in computer science and engineering, and for women in biology, chemistry and computer science. Our findings suggest that investment in higher education and the choice of major are responsive to increases in the return to education for both men and women.


Based on both primary and secondary research in our article we examined the brand elements of the main baths of the Northern- Plain Region (Szolnok Liget Thermal and Experience Bath, Nyiregyhaza Aquarius Experience Bath, a Hajduszoboszlo Hungarospa Plc. and the Debrecen Aquaticum Mediterranean Experience bath ) and the Mid-Transdanubian Region (Komarom Medical bath, Agard Thermal and Medical Bath, Papa Castle Garden Bath) and worked out their brand systems. We also examined and analysed the possibilities and process of branding. According to their brand elements we established three categories for the baths: Established brands, Developing brands and Brandable baths.


Steel tube confined reinforced concrete (STCRC) columns, are a kind of composite column in which the outer steel tube acts predominantly as hoop reinforcement. This is achieved by the provision of breaks to the longitudinal continuity of the steel tube. In this arrangement, better confinement effect is offered by steel tube to concrete which enhances the strength and ductility of the in-filled concrete. This reduces the chances of local buckling and increases the fire resistance. This paper highlights the performance of single skin STCRC column under fire exposure. Such columns consists of a steel section, in which the reinforced concrete is cast. The load carrying capacity of single skin STCRC column without fire exposure and with fire exposure for sixty minute and one twenty minute retention are compared with that of RC column. The results obtained from this study have shown that, single skin STCRC columns offers better load carrying capacity than the conventional RC column, when exposed to fire. Keywords—Single skin STCRC column; Fire exposure; Load carrying capacity


We study the quantum teleportation under fluctuating electromagnetic field in the presence of a perfectly reflecting boundary. The noisy scheme of quantum teleportation affected by electromagnetic fluctuation is proposed. Then we calculate and investigate the behaviors of entanglement and fidelity, which are closely related to the plane boundary and atomic polarization. After a period of evolution, entanglement and fidelity evolve to zero and nonzero stable value respectively. Fidelity is closely related to the weight parameter and phase parameter of the teleported state. Besides, small two-atom separation makes entanglement and fidelity have better enhancement. Furthermore, the presence of boundary, atomic polarization and two-atom separation offers us more freedom to adjust the performance of the quantum teleportation. The results would give us new insight into quantum communication in an open quantum system since quantum teleportation plays an important role in quantum communication and quantum information.


According to the quality problems of box parts in enterprise, the six sigma theory and method are used in quality improvement of box parts and the establishment of 6 o DMAIC process. Firstly, the six sigma DMIAC procedure is applied to define the problems and set target for improvement, and measurement systems analysis and process capability analysis. Then, we do orthogonal experiment design for the quality improvements of gear box parts. At last, the project is successfully implemented, the process capability is improved largely, and production process is an ideal state.


This paper provides the application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Wavelet Transformation (WT) into the problem of handwritten character recognition. The Design of a recognition system model that handle this problem based on applying Artificial Neural Network (ANN) of Kohenen ACON type. The feature extraction process made use of WT (the Haar Type). It's used to extract the parametric features of the handwritten characters. The system was implemented using a database of 130 persons, 70 sample from the database were used for training, and the all 130 samples were used for testing the system. The efficiency of the system was tested using the Recognition Rate, and the results were promising.


Cloud computing have created the need for more powerful data centers that can face the growing data traffic. These data centers need high bandwidth interconnects that can sustain the high network traffic inside the data center network. Optical interconnects have gained attention recently as a promising energy efficient solution offering high throughput, low latency and reduced energy consumption compared to current networks based on commodity switches. In this paper, we examine the energy consumption of a novel data center network architecture based on cyclic arrayed waveguide grating device and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technology. The proposed architecture is compared with a reference design based on commodity electrical switches and it is shown that the proposed scheme can provide up to 25% lower power consumption.


In order to effective control heavy military vehicles collaborative development flow, the paper proposes product maturity-driven collaborative development flow controlling method and defines product maturity multi-dimensional space model to describe product maturity from project, design, manufacturing, quality and other dimensions. Therefore, the paper focuses on the research of collaborative development product maturity model defining method, product maturity-based collaborative design and manufacturing business flow controlling and collaborative data pre-issuing flow. Finally, applying the five-level product maturity model and developing the collaborative development platform, the product maturity-based inter-organizational collaborative data pre-issuing was realized and the effectiveness and reasonability of the method was verified.


SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Relationships between patients' perspectives of hospital quality of care and key hospital characteristics Hospitals in rural areas have significantly higher ratings on HCAHPS measures than those located in urban areas. Within rural areas, hospitals in less densely populated rural areas (non-core) have significantly higher scores than those in more densely populated (micropolitan) areas. After controlling for hospital organizational factors, including hospital size and staffing, these differences by rurality remain significant, although somewhat diminished quantitatively, for all of the HCAHPS measures except the patient recommendation of hospital measure. Among the hospital organizational factors, for-profit status and hospital inpatient volume tend to have the largest effects on HCAHPS scores. For-profit status has a significant negative effect on all HCAHPS measures except one (whether the patient room's was quiet at night). Hospital inpatient volume has a significant negative effect on all HCAHPS measures. The negative relationship between for-profit ownership and the HCAHPS measures is consistent with Jha et. al,


Thank you very much for reading mrna metabolism and post transcriptional gene regulation. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have look numerous times for their chosen books like this mrna metabolism and post transcriptional gene regulation, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some malicious virus inside their laptop.


Ebba Koch's most recent book, Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology: Collected Essays, a series of essays that reflect her long-standing concern with Mughal interpretation of European forms, formal and iconological studies, and imperial ideology. These eleven studies, originally published between 1982 and 1997, but not easily accessible to many readers, are brought together in a single volume. It opens with Koch's introduction explaining her approach that seeks 'new insights into the ideological and social relevance of imperial Mughal


The relationship between developing countries and developed countries, known as South and North relations, is a very important part of the international political and economic relations.Both developed countries and developing countries attach much importance to the economic and trade relationship with each other,from the angle of the need of developing their own economy.This paper puts emphasis on analyzing and studying several aspects in the cooperation between EU and developing countries, from which we can see some main points in the foreign economic and trade strategy of EU.


This receiver includes: a broadcast receiving unit that receives a broadcast signal; a keyword acquiring unit that acquires a search keyword on the basis of metadata included in the broadcast signal; and a transmitting unit that transmits the search keyword acquired by the keyword acquiring unit to a terminal device.


Abstract A detailed analysis of the thermal resistance of a plate is given. The plate sits between a heat source and an extensive heat sink. The thermal resistance strongly depends on the overlap of the plate around the heat source. Another important factor is the coefficient of hear transfer between plate and hear sink (ã). The goal of this article is to find an optimal geometry of the plate so that the sum of thermal resistance of conduction and thermal transfer resistance to the heat sink becomes a minimum. The approach is a practical one where results of measurements are generalized with help of the finite element method (FEW An easy-to-use method for finding ã is presented. ã has a strong influence on the optimal thickness of the plate which makes the thermal resistance minimal for given lateral expansions. The geometry of such a stack can only be optimized for one specific cooling condition.


We provide a comprehensive discussion of the Everpresent $\Lambda$ cosmological model arising from fundamental principles in causal set theory and unimodular gravity. In this framework the value of the cosmological constant ($\Lambda$) fluctuates, in magnitude and in sign, over cosmic history. At each epoch, $\Lambda$ stays statistically close to the inverse square root of the spacetime volume. Since the latter is of the order of $H^2$ today, this provides a way out of the cosmological constant puzzle without fine tuning. Our discussion includes a review of what is known about the topic as well as new motivations and insights supplementing the original arguments. We also study features of a phenomenological implementation of this model, and investigate the statistics of simulations based on it. Our results show that while the observed values of $H_0$ and $\Omega_\Lambda^0$ are not typical outcomes of the model, they can be achieved through a modest number of simulations. We also confirm some expected features of $\Lambda$ based on this model, such as the fact that it stays statistically close to the value of the total ambient energy density (be it matter or radiation dominated), and that it is likely to change sign roughly every Hubble timescale.


Previous research regarding laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) of titanium normally focuses on the atomic and ionic Ti spectral transition lines. However, after a characteristic time subsequent to laser ablation, these lines are no longer discernable. During this temporal regime, the diatomic molecular transition lines of titanium monoxide (TiO) are prominent in the laser-induced plasma (LIP) emissions. TiO has long been studied in the contexts of stellar emissions, allowing for some of the molecular transition bands to be accurately computed from theory. In this research, optical emission spectroscopy (OES) of laser-induced plasma (LIP) generated by laser ablation of titanium is performed in order to infer temperature as a function of time subsequent to plasma formation. The emission spectra of the resulting ablation plume is imaged as a function of height above the sample surface. Temperatures are inferred over time delays following plasma formation ranging from 20 μs-200 μs. Computed TiO A3Φ – X3Δ, Δv = 0 transition lines are fit to spectral measurements in order to infer temperature. At tdelay = 20 μs-80 μs, the observed plume contains two luminescent regions each with a distinctly different temperature. As the plume evolves in time, the two regions combine and an overall temperature increase is observed.


This paper gives the design of the three phase alternating current circuit of low frequency and low voltage on the basis of "mechanical combinational switch circuit". The low frequency and low voltage circuit consist of RC oscillation circuit and phase shift circuit and power amplifier circuit. This circuit can produce sine alternating current of 1Hz to 10Hz. This circuit can generate more stable rotational speed of whirl magnetic field and be used more conveniently than "mechanical combinational switch circuit". The test results prove that the circuit has high reliability and utility.


List of Tables, Figures and Graphs Foreword E.Bieto Acknowledgments Introduction The Birth of the Low Cost Phenomenon Reinventing Your Business Model RYBM Brand Marketing at a Time of Heightened Price Sensitivity Case Studies in Innovation to Produce Lower Prices Epilogue: Expansion, Innovations, Price Sensitivity and Wealth