ethical principles into a series of canons applicable to the usual concrete ethical problems which confront the lawyer in the routine of practice. ' 125 The Committee's recommendation represents both a continuation of, and a change from, the past. On the one hand, the Committee's recommendation still implied the creation of an ethos or moral code-what the Committee called "that indefinable ethical something which is the soul and spirit of law and justice"' 126 that was a standard for judging lawyer conduct that aimed higher than either the criminal law or the rules of the marketplace.'27 On the other hand, that same recommendation was an acknowledgement of a changed legal profession, a profession with far more lawyers, differing in class and educational background, and trained in the law through law school instead of apprenticeships. 128 Although formerly the was greatest among lawyers in large cities, like New York, where "there is no brotherhood; the Bar is too numerous and too heterogeneous for any central influence." Charles A. Boston, A Code of Legal Ethics, 20 The Green Bag 224, 227 (1908). Boston's observation implies that there was a general need for the Canons because the informal pressures of a close-knit legal community had dissipated; the American legal profession, at least in metropolitan areas, was no longer cohesive enough for such pressures to influence lawyer conduct and motives. 124. 1906 Comm. Rep., supra note 21, at 603. 125. Id. at 604. 126. Id. at 602. Many of the state bar associations also recognized the need for an inspirational moral standard higher than positive law. See, e.g., Ga. Fifth Meeting, supra note 112, at 144; Ky. Second Meeting, supra note 72, at 34. 127. The need for a set of ethical standards that were more stringent than the rules of conduct embodied in the criminal law was well recognized by the state bar associations in adopting their own ethics codes. See, e.g., Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Kentucky Bar Ass'n 96 (1902) ("The criminal code and the criminal laws of the Commonwealth serve a good purpose for extreme cases, but there are many matters resting largely in conscience and in good manners, which the criminal statutes do not, and can not reach."). Many years later, Justice Stone made a similar point: "It is needful that we look beyond the club of the policeman as a civilizing agency to the sanctions of professional standards which condemn the doing of what the law has not yet forbidden." Stone, supra note 19, at 13. More recently, Justice O'Connor has pointed out, in the context of attorney advertising, that enforcing high ethical standards for lawyers lies beyond the realm of positive law. See Shapero v. Ky. Bar Ass'n, 486 U.S. 466, 488-89 (1988) (O'Connor, J., dissenting) ("Membership [in the legal profession] entails an ethical obligation to temper one's selfish pursuit of economic success by adhering to standards of conduct that could not be enforced either by legal fiat or through the discipline of the market."). 128. One contemporary commentator, George Costigan, Jr., Dean of the College of Law at the University of Nebraska, wrote that "democratization has made it inevitable that the unwritten common law of professional etiquette.., which governed generations of lawyers in the past shall be replaced by written rules of professional etiquette and a written ethical code." George P. Costigan, Jr., The Proposed American Code of Legal Ethics, 20 The Green Bag 57, 57 (1908)


The fatigue crack growth behavior in an automatic flux core arc weld was investigated for stainless steel alloy CA6NM. As-welded and heat treated compact tension specimens were prepared with the crack propagation plane perpendicular to the weld. Constant stress intensity factor range tests were performed at a load ratio R = 0.1 to reveal intra-specimen fatigue crack growth rate variations and differences between the fatigue crack growth behavior of as-welded and heat treated specimens. Comparing the fatigue crack growth rate of as-welded and heat treated specimens revealed that the crack propagates at a faster rate in the as-welded specimens where indications point to the existence of tensile residual stresses acting on the crack tip by inhibiting crack closure. As for the heat treated specimens, when the crack is in the base metal, the fatigue crack growth rate decreases accompanied by an increase in crack closure levels. Tensile residual stresses that may have remained after the post-weld heat treatment and their subsequent relaxation with crack growth could explain this behavior.


Through the single electron transfer mechanism, Artepillin C scavenges the hydroperoxyl radical in water approximately 572 times faster than Trolox.


A simple physical model of swelling kinetics of a spherical hydrocolloid tablet in water is presented. Mathematical formulae are derived for time dependencies of the external radius of the gel being formed and of the radius of the internal dry core


Most of the current semi-supervised learning algorithms require a number of labeled training examples to be available.In particular,such methods cannot work well when there is only one labeled training example.Therefore,the OLTV Algorithm working under a two-view setting is proposed.In this paper,the algorithm on semi-supervised learning with very few labeled training examples is implemented based on OLTV Algorithm,and the construction of sufficient views is discussed.For the given dataset,we can split its attributes to two sufficient views,and carry out the OLTV Algorithm.Then additional labeled examples can be required from the original labeled example.The experiment's results in some datasets prove the validity of this algorithm.


Pattern Recognition has attracted the attention of researchers in last few decades as a machine learning approach due to its wide spread application areas. The application area includes medicine, communications, automations, military intelligence, data mining, bioinformatics, document classification, speech recognition, business and many others. In this review paper various approaches of Pattern Recognition have been presented and their pros-cons, application specific paradigm has been shown. On the basis of survey, pattern recognition techniques can be categorized into six parts. These include Statistical Techniques, Structural Techniques, Template Matching, Neural Network Approach, Fuzzy Model and Hybrid Models.


In this work, a new cotton electrode has been synthesized by coating ternary materials of reduced graphene oxide (rGO), manganese dioxide (MnO2), and polyaniline (PANi) on textile cotton fabric. First, Graphene oxide was deposited on cotton fibers by a simple 'dip and dry' method and chemically reduced into rGO/cotton fabric. MnO2 nanoparticles were accumulated on rGO/cotton fabric by in situ chemical deposition method. PANi layer was coated on rGO/MnO2/cotton fabric by in situ oxidative polymerization technique. A thin PANi coating layer acts as a protective layer on rGO/MnO2/cotton fabric to restrain MnO2 nanoparticles and rGO from dissolution in H2SO4 acidic electrolyte. The specific surface area of cotton electrode was measured using the Brenauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) results show that the cotton electrode has good capacitive behavior. The ternary cotton electrode exhibits high specific capacitance values of 888 F g−1 and 252 F g−1 at a discharge current density of 1 A g−1 and 25 A g−1 in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte solution. The high areal specific capacitance of 444 Fcm−2 was achieved for as-fabricated electrode. Also, the cotton electrode retains around 70% of specific capacitance after 3000 cycles at charge-discharge current density of 15 A g−1. The slow decrease in specific capacitance is observed with increased discharge current density which proves its excellent rate capability. These results of rGO/MnO2/PANi/cotton fabric electrode show that this can be an excellent electrode for supercapacitor in energy storage devices.


The objective was to relate spectral imagery of varying resolution with ground-based data on forest productivity and cover, and to create models to predict regional estimates of forest productivity and cover with a quantifiable degree of accuracy. A three stage approach was outlined. In the first stage, a model was developed relating forest cover or productivity to TM surface reflectance values (TM/FOREST models). The TM/FOREST models were more accurate when biogeographic information regarding the landscape was either used to stratigy the landscape into more homogeneous units or incorporated directly into the TM/FOREST model. In the second stage, AVHRR/FOREST models that predicted forest cover and productivity on the basis of AVHRR band values were developed. The AVHRR/FOREST models had statistical properties similar to or better than those of the TM/FOREST models. In the third stage, the regional predictions were compared with the independent U.S. Forest Service (USFS) data. To do this regional forest cover and forest productivity maps were created using AVHRR scenes and the AVHRR/FOREST models. From the maps the county values of forest productivity and cover were calculated. It is apparent that the landscape has a strong influence on the success of the approach. An approach of using nested scales of imagery in conjunction with ground-based data can be successful in generating regional estimates of variables that are functionally related to some variable a sensor can detect.


This paper describes the participation of the SINAI research group in Task 4 of the 2014 edition of the International Workshop SemEval. This task is concerned with Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis and its goal is to identify the aspects of given target entities and the sentiment expressed towards each aspect.


This paper describes work carried out to evaluate the performance of Shipley UV5 DUV positive tone photoresist for electron beam lithography using experimental design techniques. Factors which affect the results of resist processing have been identified by initially performing two level factorial screening test followed by detailed response surface analyses. Lines and spaces with a 120 nm period were produced using optimized conditions and there was no evidence of process delay effects over three hour periods in air. Separate batches of the resist were found to have similar optimum baking temperatures. The result obtained have been used to develop reliable techniques for the fabrication of 'T' shaped and Gamma shaped metallized gates for high frequency circuit applications. Comparisons have been made with result obtained using Shipley UV3 photoresist. We conclude that UV5 resist is a useful resist for electron beam lithography applications.


Financial literacy and information requires that a person knows and understands the forms, functions and use of money and financial services. In today's world financial literacy is important to every individual who wishes to select the best way to carry out payments and take care of banking issues. The current paper examines the impact of different demographic variables on the level of financial literacy among Saudi investors. Furthermore, the impact of financial literacy on different kinds of financial decision making is also investigated. The result of the current study confirms a significant impact from gender and age on financial literacy. Males are more financially literate than females, and older people also show a higher level of financial literacy compared with younger people. There is no significant impact from educational level and current work situation on financial literacy. Financial literacy is measured in reference to retirement planning and stock market participation.  People with a higher level of financial literacy have a greater urge to engage in retirement planning and stock market participation. However, there is a negative relationship between financial literacy and the need for financial advice.


We explore the use of meta-constraints as a way of providing explanations to the user. Meta-constraints can provide a summary of the state of the CPS, and thus form a way of leaving out a large amount of detail that would be unhelpful to the user when dealing with a large problem. The ideas are illustrated through the problem of University students selecting modules for their studies.


1. Tarek Belal, MD*
2. Debra-Lynn Day-Salvatore, MD, PhD, FAAP, FACMG†
3. Janet Malcolmson, MS, LGC†

1. *Pediatric Hospitalist, Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital, Baltimore, MD

2. †Department of Medical Genetics and Genomic Medicine, Saint Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ

A newborn is admitted to the NICU for evaluation given abnormal prenatal ultrasonography findings of small for gestational age and shortened long bones. He was born at 39+1 weeks' gestation to a nonconsanguineous, healthy, 32-year-old gravida 2, para 1 mother and a healthy 33-year-old father by elective cesarean delivery. The pregnancy and labor were normal. No invasive testing was performed prenatally. Apgar scores were 9 and 9 at 1 and 5 minutes, respectively. The maternal family history is remarkable for endometrial cancer in the grandmother and mesothelioma and prostate cancer in the great-grandfather. A paternal great-aunt had breast cancer and the paternal great-grandmother had ovarian cancer. The couple has a healthy 3-year-old daughter. Physical examination is notable for head circumference of 31.5 cm (<3rd percentile), weight of 2,955 g (16th percentile), length of 47.5 cm (18th percentile), mild shortening of proximal long bones more notable in upper than lower extremities, and shortening of digits. Physical examination findings are otherwise normal. Skeletal survey radiographs show rhizomelic shortening of long bones (Fig 1), metaphyseal cupping of the proximal humeri, distal femora, radii, ulni (Fig 2), tibulae and fibulae, trident acetabula (Fig 3), and hypoplastic metacarpals (Fig 4). The state newborn screen returns positive for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) later classified as leaky SCID with further lymphocyte …


In this contribution we present unique time-domain spectroscopy measurements of THz quantum cascade lasers. By coupling broad-band THz pulses into the active zone of the laser the internal processes and dynamics are accessed. Currently these devices are measured by emission spectroscopy which can only access their parameters in terms of output power, wavelength and line width of the emission. By applying the coherent measurement scheme the laser's active zone can be directly inspected. This gives the urgently needed information about the real gain bandwidth and the internal dynamics of this type of laser devices.


The analysis of news impact on people is relevant to a variety of applications, ranging from monitoring product and companies reputations, to stock market prediction. Therefore, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms which affect the propagation of news and drive the evolution of sentiments in one way or another. In this demonstration paper, we describe NIA, a system that identifies and describes news events that caused changes of sentiments. NIA is based on a novel framework for a complex news event modeling, which is capable of detecting time and importance characteristics of events by only observing a time series of news articles publications, and then correlating this data with a time series of sentiment shifts. The operation of our system is summarized as follows. First, we apply a deconvolution to recover the time, longitude, importance and impact of news events. Second, we compute a sentiment time series, e.g., by monitoring sentiments for positive or negative bursts, and coherently analyze sentiment and news time series, automatically determining their time lag. Third, we evaluate the corresponding news articles for a time interval of interest and extract the essence of what happened. Finally, we present the selected news time series to the user, as well as several more correlated stories, which could have affected sentiments as well, proposing to interactively explore their connections.


Polyacrylamide hydrogel-derived 3D porous hierarchical N,S co-doped carbon frameworks are purposefully fabricated, and exhibit superior electrochemical capacitance in both alkaline and acidic electrolytes.


The main objective of this study was to determine the company's financial performance after acquisition compared with prior acquisitions in the acquirer and acquiree. The population in this study using all companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange 2007-2010 period and the company samples selected using purposive sampling based on predetermined criteria. This study using SPSS. Analysis of the data in this study consisted of descriptive analysis and Wilcoxon signed rank test. Research results Wilcoxon signed rank test test showed that all the company's financial performance variables perngakuisisi no significant difference after the acquisition, while the company acquired the entire financial performance variables was also no significant difference after the acquisition.

Keyword: acquisition, net profit margin, debt to equity ratio, current ratio, total asset turnover.


The problem of waiting lists presents a challenge for all Canadian surgeons, and the predicted demographic factors of the Canadian population indicate that the problem will increase. A symposium was held at the Canadian Surgery Forum in London, Ont., on Sept. 20, 2002, to present state-of-the-art thinking about waiting lists and to stimulate discussion among Canadian surgeons. The 3 invited speakers are prominent in their respective fields of expertise. They have edited their oral presentations for publication in the Canadian Journal of Surgery. The Medical Legal and Bioethics Committee of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons arranged the symposium, and Dr. Murray Girotti was the moderator for the discussion that followed the presentions, but this discussion has not been included owing to space limitations.)


Summary Under the experimental conditions chosen, methionine at a level of 50 mg per day (0.8%percnt; of the diet) did not prevent the development of fatty livers in rats fed a diet in which a mixture of essential amino acids replaced protein.


We have studied a continuous real-time frequency transfer method on the SP-PTB baseline by using GPS carrier phase observations from geodetic GNSS receivers SP01 and PTBB, and post-processed two time periods in 2004 and 2007 with a continuous working filter under real-time conditions using integer phase ambiguity fixing. The results are a continuous time series of the relative time difference of the receiver clocks UTC(SP) and UTC(PTB), which was compared to results from TWSTFT between the two laboratories. We found that as long as the filter parameter modeling is well tuned and the necessary real-time orbit predictions are within a typical accuracy of a few 100 mm, the use of ambiguity resolution offers a correct estimation of the phase relations of the common phase measurements on this baseline. However, if errors in the orbit predictions are in the order of a few meters, which is generally difficult to detect in real-time, then a wrong resolution of the phase ambiguities can occur and thus create wrong phase and frequency estimates. Within the investigated time periods we have detected erroneous IGS orbit predictions in the order of 10 m, which caused a wrong estimation of phase relations. The paper quantifies the quality of current IGS orbit predictions and the impact of orbit errors on the ambiguity resolution for medium baselines. Continuous real-time frequency estimations are useful for system critical oscillator monitoring as for example in real-time interferometry applications, or as input for the calculation of real-time time scales.


Stress factors limit the development of living organisms, especially plants, and reduce their productivity. In this regard, the study of the effects of stress factors on plants and the discovery of adaptation mechanisms play an important role in the regulation of stress in the cell. From a biological point of view, stress is considered to be any change in the external environment that impairs the normal development of the plant or changes it in a negative direction. Stresses cause changes in the physiological activity of plants, weaken the process of biosynthesis in the cell, disrupt normal life and ultimately can cause plant death.


The study was carried out to compare the growth performance of grade-2 Brahman crossbreds to other available cattle genotypes in Bangladesh. Growth traits were birth weight, weight at 3-, 6-, 9-, 12-month of age and average daily weight gain from birth to 12-month of age. The birth, weight at 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month were 19.87±0.06, 52.01±0.49, 85.03±0.62, 127.12±0.81 and 171.19±1.20 kg, respectively. The average daily weight gain of calves was 426.00±4.99 g. Area and sex had significant effect (p<0.01) on the birth weight, body weight at 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month of age and average daily weight gain of Brahman calves. Growth performance results on indigenous, Red Chittagong, Pabna, and crosses of Holstein-Frisian, Jersey, Sahiwal and Sindhi cattle were also collected from published literatures, which were compared with 25% Brahman cross calves. Birth weight (19.87±0.87 kg) and yearling or 12-month weight (171.19±17.9 kg) was highest in Brahman cross calves, whereas birth weight (14.81±2.50 kg) was lowest in indigenous calves and yearling weight (92.28±1.73 kg) was in lowest in Sahiwal cross calves. Average daily weight gain was highest (426.00±4.99 g) in Brahman and lowest (146.78±91.96 g) in Indigenous calves. Thus, it may be concluded that growth performance of Brahman cross calves was better than other existing cattle genotypes of Bangladesh. However, further study with large number of samples at different management systems would help to draw a final conclusion.
J. of Sci. and Tech. Res. 3(1): 85-94, 2021


action by arranging the chapters as alternating dialogues between the hero and the heroine and although this is very much at odds with the other tradition, Gros underlines its importance in bringing the dramatic element in the Kural to the fore. The essay ends with the remark that it would be wrong to attempt to mask with a tint of devotionalism a book that is about sheer eroticism. This is not to say that the work is a treatise on erotology, far from it. Here Gros and Sorrentino appear to share the same views on the profound difference in the ethos of the Kdmasutra and that of the kdmam section of the Kural, but whilst Sorrentino confines himself to merely stating this difference, Gros cannot help a touch of peremptoriness in dismissing the Kdmasutra as a pedantic enumeration of caresses and love-making positions. Altogether, Sorrentino's translation and Gros's essay make very interesting and fascinating reading for both scholarly and less scholarly readers, which is in itself a great achievement.


[Objective]To know the status of students' psychological health and provide evidence effective intervention on psychological health.[Methods]1 872 students from the vocational special or technical secondary school were selected by stratified cluster sampling for the survey.According to their current status,the top 20 psychology problemes were listed,systematically active intervention on psychological health of the students was conolucted.Then the data before and after intervention were analysed.[Results]There were differences before and after the conduction of systematically active intervention on psychological health of the students(t = 24.7156,P﹤0.01).[Conclusion]The total psychological health level of the students from the vocational special or technical secondary school,as a particular group,is ralative low.Therefore,it's ergent to conduct systematically active intervention on psychological health of them.


We present a first time-resolved deuterium NMR study on wormlike micelles under shear. For the investigation, a micellar system made of soybean phosphatidylcholine (lecithin), D2O, and cyclohexane was studied in the concentrated regime, in the vicinity of the isotropic/nematic transition but positioned in the equilibrium isotropic phase. The D2O dispersed in the micellar core was used as a probe to study the relaxation of a shearing-induced nematic phase back to the isotropic liquid state, after cessation of shear. The whole process was followed through time-resolved deuterium spectra and was characterized by a continuous decrease of the measured quadrupolar splitting, proportional to the nematic order parameter.


Narratives co11cer11i11g worki11g class stude11ts are co11stnicted to l1iglrligl1t tire diffirnlties of 11egotiati11g academic codes a11d tire 11ecessity for writi11g teac/iers to strive to pro vide tire space for worki11g class sh1de11ts to "speak differe11tly." Although tlie 11arratives of work ing class stude11ts open up sites of conflict and allow students to negotiate tire borders behueen work and classroom, this negotiation carries tire expectatio11 for tire stude11t to learn tlie codes of tire institution and tire values of tire academy. 11re knowledge and work that is valued by tire university does11't c/ra11ge; i11stead, tire narratives of tire working class are subtly shaped to fit a set of representations of cultural k11awledge that serve to reproduce tire academy intact. Hawever, tire 11egotiatio11 must flaw i11 huo directio11s: t/1e academy can11ot take aver a text without bei11g u11comfortably altered by it. In 1981 I began to work for a man named Mike Cirincioni. My job was to bring him supplies when he needed them. You see, we did tile work. We were working at the Ledbetter's house at the Landings. The job cost these people over thirty thou sand dollars. Most of the house was set in white and green marble. When you set marble in place you must take great care in lining up the joints and making sure the pieces are all level. To get the pieces just perfect takes great patience.


Background. Coke-oven workers exposed to coke-oven emissions (COEs) during the process of pyrolyzing coal into coke could show biofunctional damage before any clinical symptoms. The evidence is limited on the association between COE exposure and biological effects in human now. Objective. To explore the effect of COEs on lipid peroxidation and expression of tumor-suppressing proteins in exposed workers. Methods. Fifty-six workers in a coke-oven plant were randomly allocated to the exposure group and 40 healthy local people were to the control group. Serum level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and activity of total superoxide dismutases (T-SODs) were determined by spectrophotometry. Immunohistochemistry was used to measure expression of ras P21 and P53 proteins in peripheral leukocytes. Results. Compared with controls, coke-oven workers showed a significant serum increase of MDA level and decrease of T-SOD level. The mean concentration of MDA did not differ significantly from years of employment nor did level of T-SODs. The levels of P21 and P53 proteins were markedly higher in peripheral leukocytes of exposed workers than those of controls. Neither P21 nor P53 levels differed significantly of workers with 10 or more years from less than 10 years of employment. Conclusions. Occupational exposure to COEs caused lipid peroxidation biomembrane damage and increased levels of the tumor-suppressing proteins P21 and P53 in peripheral leukocytes among coke-oven workers. These biofunctional markers might be useful in screening and surveillance for occupationally derived lung cancers. [Life Science Journal. 2008; 5(1): 38 – 42] (ISSN: 1097 – 8135).


The formation of undesirable chlorinated by-products is related to increasing concentration of ammonia in raw water, present study was investigated in water treated with chlorine where humic acid was used as trihalomethane (THM) precursors. The objective of this study was to clarify the possibility of the biodegradation of THMs adsorbed on granular-activated carbon and determine the adsorption capacity in the bioregenerated granular activated carbon (GAC) by different input ozone concentration. When raw water was reacted with chloride, the yield of THMs was increased as a function of the input amount of chloride. As the input amount of chloride in raw water increased by two or five-fold to remove NH3, the chloroform of THMs was also significantly increased five or ten-fold and the dibromodichloride was increased five-fold. It was found that chloroform was significantly removed in biological activated carbon (BAC) treatment in comparison with ozone treatment, and the removal efficiency of THMs in BAC was reduced by 65% in the BAC column following ozonation due to the biological degradation on the surface of the activated carbons depending upon input ozone concentration.


This thesis proposes a novel approach to planning for a specific class of human-robot interaction domains: those in which robots engage in tasks with humans that are governed by social conventions. When humans perform these tasks, they try to achieve individual goals in an environment that they share with other people. Social conventions exist as a guideline for how to interact with others so that all parties involved can achieve their goals efficiently without interfering with one another. Recognizing what goals others are trying to achieve and performing actions at the appropriate time in the interaction are critical abilities for social competence.
The approach to human-robot social interaction taken in this thesis focuses on creating more accurate models of social tasks for planning. Because the human participants are modeled as a part of the environment, the world state in these problems is dynamic and partially observable. Human intention is represented as hidden state in a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP), and the time-dependence of action outcomes are explicitly modeled. A model structure designed by a human expert is combined with human task performance data. The resulting models are large and complex. State aggregation over the time dimension of the state space is used to trade off between the accuracy of the representation and its size in order to find sufficiently expressive models that can also be solved tractably. The utility of this approach is demonstrated by implementing a controller for a mobile robot that rides elevators with people and an agent in a driving simulator that performs the Pittsburgh left with human drivers. Performance is evaluated by comparing the policies obtained using the proposed modeling technique to policies developed using less expressive representations. In an interactions with human participants, the policies for time-dependent POMDP models with human intention as hidden state outperform the other policies, achieving both higher rewards and more positive evaluations for naturalness and social propriety of behavior.


The present study was carried out to screen the predominant mycotic infections among freshwater fishes ( Oreochromis niloticus and Clarias gariepinus ) in Kafrelsheikh fish farms; with special focus on the seasonal incidence; as well as, the histopathological changes induced by the detected fungi. 500 specimens of freshwater fishes (400 O. niloticus and 100 C. gariepinus ) were investigated for seasonal incidence of mycotic diseases. Mycological examination revealed the isolation of 2148 fungal isolates from 375 diseased and 125 apparently healthy fish samples (1828 mould and 320 yeast isolates), of which 1258 were isolated from O. niloticus and 890 isolates from C. gariepinus . Saprolegnia was the predominant among diseased fishes with highest prevalence in late autumn (10.68%, 6.96%) and winter (6.81%, 7.87%) in O. niloticus and C. gariepinus , respectively. However, Pencillium sp . and Aspergillus sp . were the most predominant fungi isolated from apparently healthy fishes. The highest prevalence of Pencillium sp. were recorded in winter, whileas Aspergillus showed variations between species ; Aspergillus flavus , Aspergillus niger were more prevalent in summer (25.44%, 23.22%) and  (26.9%, 37.44%) and Aspergillus terrus , Aspergillus fumigatus were more prevalent in autumn (5.98%, 5.67%) and  (7.69%, 8.23%) in O. niloticus and C. gariepinus, respectively . Moreover, the highest prevalence of Fusarium species was recorded in spring ( 11.8%, 5.91%) from O . niloticus, C. gariepinus , respectively. Mucor recorded the highest prevalence in autumn (20.09%) in O. niloticus and winter (29.21%) in C. gariepinus ; whileas Rhizopus was highest in summer (7.89%, 5.21%) in O . niloticus and C. gariepinus , respectively. Four genera from yeast were isolated; Candida sp. (28.44%, 36.27%), Rhodotorula sp. (36.24%, 24.51%), Cryptococcus sp. (16.97%, 20.59%) and Trichosporon Sp. (18.35%, 18.63%) in O. niloticus and C. gariepinus , respectively. The histopathological findings revealed severe degenerative changes in skin and gills with presence of fungal hyphae and spores. Key words : Clarias gariepinus; moulds; mycotic diseases; Oreochromis niloticus ; yeast


19 20 Dopamine is now well established as a modulator of locomotor rhythms in a variety of 21 developing and adult vertebrates. However, in mice while all five dopamine receptor subtypes 22 are present in the spinal cord it is unclear which receptor-subtypes modulate the rhythm. 23 Dopamine receptors can be grouped into two families – the D 1/5 receptor group and the D 2/3/4 24 group that have excitatory and inhibitory effects respectively. Our data suggest that dopamine 25 exerts contrasting dose-dependent modulatory effects via the two-receptor families. Our data 26 show that administration of dopamine at concentrations greater than 35 µM slowed and 27 increased the regularity of a locomotor rhythm evoked by bath application of 5-HT and NMA. 28 This effect was independent of the baseline frequency of the rhythm that was manipulated by 29 altering the NMA concentration. We next examined the contribution of the D 1 and D 2 receptor-30 like families on the rhythm. Our data suggest that the D 1-like receptor contributes to enhancing 31 the stability of the rhythm. Overall, the D 2-like family had a pronounced slowing effect on the 32 rhythm however, quinpirole, the D 2-like agonist, also enhanced rhythm stability. These data 33 indicate a receptor-dependent delegation of the modulatory effects of dopamine on the spinal 34 locomotor pattern generator.


Vannevar Bush (Fig. 1), the son of a clergyman, was born in Massachusetts on 11 March 1890. He attended Tufts University in the years before the First World War and earned both B.S. and M.S. degrees. He then continued on for a doctorate, which was conferred upon him in 1916 simultaneously by both Harvard and MIT. While a graduate student, he worked for General Electric and the US Navy, and taught mathematics at Tufts. In 1919 he joined the teaching staff of MIT, obtaining a full professorship in 1923 and becoming Vice President and Dean of the Engineering School in 1932. He remained with MIT until 1938, when he was elected President of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, a position he held until retiring from active public life in 1955.


The appropriate flight speed depends on the aircraft, the landscape and the estimated fox density of the area to be covered with vaccine baits. In general, aircraft should not fly too high so that the bait can be distributed as accurately as possible along the flight lines, and to prevent the bait from falling apart when it hits the ground but may. However, the minimum requirements of the national aeronautical authorities will have to be taken into consideration. The higher the altitude, (...)


This paper aims to investigate the relationship between Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows and their determinants in 68 Emerging Markets between1984-2011. This paper uses a panel cointegration technique of Pedroni (1999, 2004) and Westerlund and Edgerton (2008) considering both structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence. Cointegration results indicate that there exists a positive long-run relationship between economic growth, openness and FDI and a negative long-run relationship between inflation, real effective exchange rate and FDI.


When Noor first began to write fiction as a teenager, she wrote about squirrels and galoshes and juniper and humbugs, despite living in the desert of Dubai and not being entirely sure what a humbug was. Her family is from Egypt, where the British — including her great-grandmother — had come and then departed, leaving their books behind them, so that half a century later Noor inherited a library full of Enid Blyton, which became her primary source of reading material. Because English was Noor's first language, the fiction that was available and accessible to her was perpetually happening elsewhere. It was not about her and not for her. The education system in Dubai, with its focus on British and American literature, did little to change the situation. The public libraries were few, poorly stocked, and dominated by books in Arabic. As such, it was difficult for her to find reflections of herself in the literature she consumed in her teenage years. A decade later, as a student in Robert's MA creative writing (CW) workshop at the University of Toronto in 2015, Noor realized that her peers, mostly Canadians, were closer to Blyton's world than to hers. She shared with them her fiction about a desert they had never visited, knowing that although they were skilled writers they did not have the cultural expertise to appreciate certain aspects of her work. By this point in Noor's writing career, the humbugs were gone and her narratives were more clearly inspired by her experience as an Arab, a Muslim, a woman of color, and a third-culture kid who had hopped around the United States and then the Middle East before ending up in Canada.


This paper presents a person-specific subspace method for ASL characters recognition. To implement this person specific subspace method for ASL characters recognition the system first recognizes the faces and then uses skin-color segmentation method for hand poses segmentation. From the segmented hand poses the system recognizes ASL characters using both PCA and person-specific subspace method separately. Experiment result shows that the classification accuracy of person-specific subspace method is better than general PCA method. The experiment result also shows that person-specific subspace method is faster than general PCA method. Key Words: ASL character, Face recognition, PCA, Person-specific subspace method DOI: 10.3329/diujst.v4i2.4366 Daffodil International University Journal of Science and Technology Vol.4(2) 2009 pp.39-52


The ester hydrolysis is the reverse process of the carboxylic acid esterification reaction,under the condition of acid or alkali catalysis,which may accelerate hydrolysis carrying on.Because the esterification reaction and the ester hydrolysis reaction is the reversible reaction mutually,therefore two can not carry on completely,and establish the dynamical equilibrium under the certain conditions.We have inquired into the best reaction condition for the n-propyl propionate hydrolysis reaction on the basis of the experimental study in the ethyl acetate hydrolysis reaction foundation.Under the different temperature records which from the experimental process the different reaction time index of refraction data obtains the n hydrolytic reaction thermodynamics data,dynamics data,carries on through the programming these data return processing,finally obtains the n hydrolytic reaction the background blueprint.


In this paper we focus on the concept of smart city, defined as cities where investments in human and social capital and infrastructure, along with ICT progress and innovation fuel the sustainable economy and stimulate growth in quality of life, with a focus on smart natural resource management. We envision smart city as a concept that highlights important aspects of sustainability, such as the need for responsible resource management, energy efficiency and citizen involvement. Given the current understanding of the smart city concept, it is unclear whether it has the necessary features to ensure sustainability. We believe that this aspect is due to the fact that smart cities are extremely complex and interdependent. Their study and analysis would therefore require an inter- and transdisciplinary approach that allows an adequate overview of this concept, to the convergence of several areas, such as urban development, technology, economics, engineering and social sciences, etc. We believe that this research will contribute to the already existing theories of smart cities and will help maximize the potential for this smart city concept to be a viable solution for sustainable development in our increasingly urbanized world, especially as the latest statistics confirm an upward trend in EU-level indicators on sustainable cities and communities. Moreover, the theory of smart growth is being discussed, but not as an antagonist alternative, but rather as an addition integrative to the concept of sustainable development of smart cities. In our opinion, smart city solutions would not be efficiently implemented and helpful to communities in absence of a vision for the smart and sustainable future.


This article examines the effect third-party certification has on a market characterized by adverse selection. Using an original data set from the market for young thoroughbreds, we show that certification alleviates problems of adverse selection by examining the effect certification has on breeder decisions to retain or sell horses and the effect these decisions have on observed prices. Data on the racetrack performance of the horses confirm the results. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.


Recently, the electricity industry in Spain has experienced a deep transformation, aimed to improve the degree of concurrence between the operating firms. This change must be explained in the framework of the regional integration of markets with an European scale. The European Union is shaped as a relevant region in the world energy (and specifically, in electricity) market. Facing this change, the Spanish electricity firms must adopt a wider business vision, to cope with all the aspects of the new competitive environment in order to obtain business success. Firms, following the resource-based view, must generate and strengthen the competitive advantage derived from its core competencies. Those competencies, that constitutes the base for the inter-firm heterogeneity, are created (and evolve) from several mechanisms of organisational learning. Our research tries to show what the business vision of the Spanish electricity firms is, based on the efficient management of its personal, technological and organisational competencies. We have focused on technological competencies, because, in a more competitive scheme, they can support the sustained competitive advantage of the firm. So, we develop a model based on the Strategic Matrix of Technological Competencies (SMTC). The model is tested with a sample of 20 Spanish electricity firms (representing 71.25% of the industry total turnover in 1996). That matrix combines, in a dynamic sense, several scenarios and strategic business units in order to determine the critical technological competencies that the firm must master in each economic situation. The empirical analysis developed concludes (for the firms in the sample), among other issues, the existence of statistical relationships between certain technological competencies (as "Clean Use of Coal", "Advanced Technologies for Control and Communication", and "Electricity Transmission Technologies"), and several sources of competitive advantage (as the "The firm must difficult its resources' imitability"). In conclusion, facing the new competitive environment (in Spain and in the EU), technological competencies are considered by those firms as sources of competitive advantage. These competencies evolves using several organisational learning systems adopted by the firm. In this changing environment, the SMTC can be a relevant tool for the strategic management of the firms in the electricity industry.


The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that at least 80% of the world's population relies on traditional systems of medicine for their primary health needs. These systems are largely plant-based. According to the WHO, over 21,000 plant species are useful in the preparation of medicines (FSI 2002). India has about 5,000 species of plants of known medicinal value, of which about 1,100 are currently used in different medicines (Shah 2000). Due to growing awareness about side effects and complications of chemical and synthetic medicines, cosmetics and health supplements, usage of herbal products has gained importance both in the eastern and western worlds (Anon 2004). People, basically tribal, living in and around forest areas collect medicinal plants for their dayto-day use and earn their livelihood by selling them to the local traders. As a result of this, populations of medicinal plant species found in forests, such as Asparagus racemosus, Casearia tomentosa, Curculigo orchioides, Curcuma angustifolia, Ichnocarpus frutescens, Scindapus officinalis and Smilax zeylanica, are being depleted every day. Urgent conservation of the full spectrum of medicinal plants occurring in our wilderness areas is now the need. Many authors have advocated the involvement of local people in the protection of natural resources such as forests and wildlife (Das 1997; Gadgil 1991; Kothari 1996; Murty 1996; Poti 1995; Raju 1996; Rathore 1996; Sahgal 1996; Shaikh 2000; Suri 1996; Swain 2001; Wade 1987). With the inception of scientific forest management in India in 1894, forest management objectives were enunciated in a Policy Resolution that generally favoured demarcation of separate areas for commercial timber production and for meeting the demands of the rural population (Jattan and Pratima 2001). After independence, India formulated a new Forest Policy in 1952, for the management of its forests and wildlife. The National Forest Policy of 1988, realizing this human aspect of people depending on nearby forests, reprioritized the objectives of forest management and emphasized the involvement of local communities in the sustainable management of forests in order to minimize conflict and maximize harmonious relations. Orissa was the first state in the country to pass Resolution No. 10F (Pron)-47/88/ 17240/FFAH of 01.08.1988, which involves village communities in the effective protection and conservation of forests. A people-oriented, participatory approach is steadily emerging as one of the most viable strategies to rehabilitate degraded forests and to meet local needs. Known as Joint Forest Management (JFM), it includes the sharing International Journal of Biodiversity Science and Management 1 (2005) 205–211


The utility model relates to wind prevention flame retardant thermal melt cotton compound thermal insulation flock. Flame retardant non-woven fabrics or knitted fabrics are used as lower base materials, thermal melt cotton flock is used as an upper material, and after processed in thermal setting, the lower base materials and the upper material are compounded to form the wind prevention flame retardant thermal insulation flock. The utility model has the characteristics of fluffiness, softness, light weight, thermal insulation, good elasticity, etc., also has the characteristics of wind prevention, fire retardation, water washing resistance, no deformation, etc., and can be used for winter-proofing filling materials.


A capacitive pressure sensor consists of a movable diaphragm which causes change in capacitance for an applied pressure. In order to achieve high sensitivity, a thin diaphragm of large area is employed with a small separation gap. This introduces non-linearity, decreases the dynamic range and increases the size of the sensor. Thus, an optimum sensor design is necessary to balance these trade-offs. This paper presents theoretical modeling and numerical simulations on various performance parameters like diaphragm deflection, change in capacitance, mechanical and capacitive sensitivities and nonlinearity of a clamped and normal mode elliptical capacitive pressure sensor for 0 – 8 kPa operating pressure range. This analysis can form the basis for compact modelling (CM) of circular and elliptical capacitive pressure sensors for simulation with large scale circuits. In all the designs of elliptical and circular shape, the diaphragm thickness and separation gap are held constant at 7 µm and 1 µm respectively. The semi-major and semi-minor axes of the elliptical sensor have been varied from 100µm to 300 µm. We have taken into account the small deflection theory, Kirchhoff's plate theory and pull–in phenomena while designing the model. To follow small deflection theory, the maximum diaphragm deflection is kept less than 1/10th of diaphragm thickness, and the maximum deflection is kept less than 1/4th of the separation gap to avoid pull-in.


This edition has been revised and updated to take account of the substantial statutory developments in the law relating to housing associations, particularly the Housing Act 1988 and the Local Government and Housing Act 1988. New material is incorporated on tenants' rights, housing association finance, housing association registration, subsidiaries, joint ventures and consortia, shared ownership, government powers and the relationship between housing associations and local authorities.


Protein is the primary element of organism and takes part in almost all the biological processes such as metabolism and neurological regulation. Generally, proteins are interacting with each other while they exert biological role in vivo. The exploration upon protein-protein interactions (PPIs) of the specific biological process could provide valuable information to the study of the relevant field. In this paper, we focus on the collection of proteins participated in glucosinolate biosynthesis, and build 4 decision tree models to predict PPIs involved in glucosinolate biosynthesis. Information of domain-domain interactions (DDIs) is introduced in constructing feature vectors, and the interactive or non-interactive relationship between two proteins is represented by a pair of symmetrical feature vectors. 4 domain-based decision tree models are constructed and trained by the samples with 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 positive-negative ratio respectively. 5-fold cross-validation and a standalone external test are used in order to trace the best performed model. The proposed method is effective which is demonstrated by the higher specificity, sensitivity and high attribute usage while training decision trees. We use the intersection of the best two prediction results to validate and explore PPIs based on the proteins participated in glucosinolate biosynthesis, and finally a comprehensive PPI network is drawn according to the prediction result.


The forced vibrational response of the rectangular parallelepiped is of particular interest in the study of wave propagation in three‐dimensional solids and especially in the characterization of acoustic emission sources. There has been considerable interest in studying source mechanisms in order to predict, and perhaps eventually control, flaw growth in structural materials. The acoustic emission source waves generated by flaw growth are thought to be pulselike functions of stress (force) which are produced by the step displacements associated with material yielding. Much of this type of emission in solids is produced internally and can therefore be modeled as a body force phenomenon; as such, this paper presents a normal mode solution for the response of a rectangular parallelepiped to an impulsive body force. The numerical results prior to any reflections from the boundaries show good agreement with the infinite space solution.


The interaction between tectonics and the processes of erosion (including denudation,transport and depostion) in active compressional orogens has recently received much attention. While most studies have emphasized the role of fluvial and hillslope processes, a large number of orogens have experienced significant glacial cover during their development. The central purpose of this thesis is to investigate the role of glacial erosion upon the geomorphic and tectonic evolution of active orogens. In order to perform this investigation, a new surface processes model is presented that incorporates an ice dynamics model so as to model the combined effects of glacial, fluvial and diffusive erosion at a tectonically active orogen. The surface processes model calculates fluvial erosion, transport and deposition using a water passing algorithm over a two dimensional grid, and is proportional to stream power. The ice dynamics is calculated over a two dimensional grid using a finite difference scheme and incorporates subglacial water flow, differential basal temperatures and movement via both internal deformation and basal sliding. The rate of glacial erosion is proportional to the basal sliding velocity. The model also incorporates orographic precipitation, lithospheric flexure and tectonic uplift. This model is used to investigate the effect of glaciation upon mountain relief, the interplay between ice erosion and tectonic uplift , and the evolution of the Southern Alps of New Zealand. It is found that relief may be reduced by glaciation because glaciers concentrate erosion at peaks and by reducing fluvial erosion downstream. Relief may be generated when the ice is frozen to the base near the peaks, and isostatic uplift at the mountain peaks may be generated by enhanced glacial valley erosion. However , unless the overall rate of erosion decreases during glacial periods, relief is lowered by glaciation. It is demonstrated with a one dimensional analytic model that a feedback effect between topography and ice thickness exists by which ice masses in active orogens may oscillate in size without climate change. The surface processes model is used to show that the period of this oscillation is inversely proportional to the rate of tectonic uplift and has a value between 10 and 100 kyrs. It can act to reinforce the effect climate variation has on the size of ice masses. Experiments with a Southern Alps like model that produce the orogen's asymmetries of topography, precipitation and metamorphic


Emotion is an inherently subjective psycho-physiological human state and to produce an agreed-upon representation (gold standard) for continuously perceived emotion requires time-consuming and costly training of multiple human annotators. With this in mind, there is strong evidence in the literature that physiological signals are an objective marker for states of emotion, particularly arousal. In this contribution, we utilise a multimodal dataset captured during a Trier Social Stress Test to explore the benefit of fusing physiological signals - Heartbeats per Minute ($BPM$), Electrodermal Activity (EDA), and Respiration-rate - for recognition of continuously perceived arousal utilising a Long Short-Term Memory, Recurrent Neural Network architecture, and various audio, video, and textual based features. We use the MuSe-Toolbox to create a gold standard that considers annotator delay and agreement weighting. An improvement in Concordance Correlation Coefficient (CCC) is seen across features sets when fusing EDA with arousal, compared to the arousal only gold standard results. Additionally, BERT-based textual features' results improved for arousal plus all physiological signals, obtaining up to .3344 CCC (.2118 CCC for arousal only). Multimodal fusion also improves CCC. Audio plus video features obtain up to .6157 CCC for arousal plus EDA, BPM.


The Conference is organized by the Institute for Problems in Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPME RAS) under the patronage of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). The main purpose of the meeting is to gather specialists from different branches of mechanics to provide a platform for cross-fertilisation of ideas. This conference was devoted to the 20th anniversary of the Institute for Problems in Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPME RAS). The institute was founded in 1986 by Vladimir P. Bulatov as a branch of Moscow Institute of Mechanical Engineering. In 25 june 1991 IPME became an independent institute, which nowadays became a St. Petersburg centre of research in area of theoretical and applied mechanics. The institute includes 26 laboratories carrying out investigations in various areas of mechanics and physics. The list of problems under investigation is not limited to questions of mechanical engineering, but includes practically all advanced problems in mechanics, which is reflected in the name of the conference. The main attention is given to problems on the boundary between mechanics and other research areas, which stimulates the investigation in such domains as microand nanomechanics, material science, physics of solid states, molecular physics, astrophysics and many others. The Institute has strong links with research organisations and universities in many countries. The conference "Advanced Problems in Mechanics" helps us to maintain the existing contacts and to establish new ones between foreign and Russian scientists.


A central problem in the organization of society is to choose rules for making choices when people's interests conflict. Economists have had much to say about such problems when compensating payments are possible. In practice, however, such payments are often not made, and decisions are either rigidly imposed by a central authority or taken unilaterally by one of the parties concerned, who we say has "the right" to choose the outcome. In this paper, without asking why these rules are common, I ask which is most efficient. I assume that the interested parties know more about their preferences than does the central authority (the "government"). This is a reason to give one of them the right to decide the outcome: in this model, rights are a decentralization device (see Partha Dasgupta, 1980), and since I assume a benevolent government, there is no role for decentralization without private information. But, while this private information can make the delegated decision more efficient than an undelegated and rigid central decision, there is a countervailing problem: an interested party chooses selfishly and ignores even what is common knowledge about others' preferences, which the benevolent though ignorant government would take into account. Thus we find that giving an interested party the right to choose is more desirable when he has important private information, but less desirable when he and others are very much in conflict.


For the case of large angle scattering beam the mechanism of plasma FEL brings to the spectrum broadening during beam-plasma interaction. This mechanism is mostly effective for the high-current beam because intensity of radiation is proportional to the squared density of the beam particles. If REB is not moment scattered then the beam-plasma instability itself leads to the excitation of broadband oscillation spectrum. For such values of the nonlinear dynamics the instability is chaotic. Excited oscillations are nonregular and have continuous spectrum. It should be noted that fast thermalization not only of plasma particles but the particles of the initially monoenergetic beam takes place. The above plasma frequency FEL-mechanism can make its contribution to the broadband spectrum excitation.


In a two-period tax competition model with provision of local public goods, we analyze efficiency properties of double taxation reliefs incorporating either the exemption method, the tax credit system or the full taxation after deduction system. Foreign direct investments are presumed to be one-way and characterized by long-term mergers and acquisitions. We find that in case of (i) tax revenue maximization the exemption method implies inefficiently low tax rates, whereas the full taxation after deduction system leads to inefficiently low / efficient / inefficiently high tax rates. In case of (ii) welfare maximization each of these tax rules can be efficient. The (limited) tax credit system, however, is shown to always result in inefficiently low / inefficiently high tax rates. A numerical example reveals that no tax regime per se entails efficiency. In case of (i), a ranking of tax systems subject to the Pareto criterion is shown to depend on the parameters of the production function. Regarding (ii) the exemption method is preferable as it is proven to be the least inefficient tax regime.


Hydrogen system is mainly based on the Proton Exchange Membrane PEMFC technology (cogeneration), using hydrogen and air, respectively, as fuel and oxidant. The heat exhaust is evacuated to the Thermal Storage Tank (TST) which is using in LiBr/H2O single effect absorption system for residential system cooling. Absorption system is based on evaporation of the refrigerant (water) in the evaporator in low pressure. Numerical simulation of the absorption cooling system using the thermal energy of the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) for residential application situated in the Unit of Applied Research in Renewable Energy in Ghardaia (southern Algeria) has been made and performances was analysed, we have determine the quantity of electrical and thermal energy generated by the PEMFC. TRNSYS 16 is used to plot initial and final residence temperatures before and after cooling. The results showed the feasibility of using PEMFC for cooling. Resume - Les systemes a hydrogene bases sur la technologie pile a combustible PEMFC (cogeneration), utilisent l'hydrogene et l'air comme carburant et comburant, respectivement. La chaleur generee est recuperee et stockee dans un reservoir de stockage thermique (TST) qui est utilise comme generateur dans un systeme a absorption a simple effet LiBr/H2O qui sert au refroidissement d'une habitation. Le systeme a absorption fonctionne en evaporant l'eau (refrigerant) dans l'evaporateur a une basse pression. Une simulation numerique du systeme a absorption utilisant l'energie thermique generee par une pile a combustible du type PEMFC appliquee a une habitation situee a l'Unite de Recherche Appliquee en Energies Renouvelables - Ghardaia (Sud Algerien) est elaboree et les performances ont ete analysees. Nous avons determine la quantite d'energie electrique et thermique generees par la PEMFC. Le logiciel TRNSYS 16 est utilise pour tracer l'evolution des temperatures initiales et finales de l'habitat avant et apres le refroidissement. Les resultats montrent la faisabilite d'utilisation des PEMFC pour le refroidissement.


The great medieval scholar and bishop of Lincoln, Robert Grosseteste (c. 1168-1253) was the very epitome of the polymath. A scientist, philosopher, translator, theologian and poet; his learning, imagination and his vast wisdom are little short of awe-inspiring. He was also bishop of the largest diocese in England and in this role he came into conflict with the papacy. In particular, he strongly opposed the policy of giving English benefices to absentee Italians, an opposition he was not afraid to voice in the strongest possible terms. For this reason he was much vaunted in later centuries by Church reformers. John Wyclif admired him greatly and by the time we get to the English Reformation writers such as John Foxe were keen to claim Grosseteste as a type of proto-Protestant. In the eighteenth century Fr Philip Perry, the Rector of St Alban's English seminary in Valladolid, decided to challenge this image by writing a biography of Grosseteste that would restore his reputation as a solid Roman Catholic. However, Perry's timing could not have been less auspicious. In 1760s English Catholics were close to achieving emancipation, the Vicar Apostolic, Richard Challoner suppressed the polemical text and to this day it remained until now in handwritten manuscript form. Cunningham has produced a critical edition of this work which offers us a fascinating glimpse into both the life of one of England's greatest ecclesiastics and also into the precarious politics of the eighteenth-century English Catholic Church.


Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory disease with a challenging treatment. Current guidelines reserve dapsone as a third line agent for patients with mild to moderate HS. To our knowledge, only four small case series have been reported. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of dapsone in our clinical practice. A retrospective observational single‐center study of 56 HS patients who underwent treatment with dapsone from May 1, 2015, to June 1, 2021, was performed. The Hidradenitis Suppurativa Clinical Response (HiSCR) scale was used to evaluate the response to treatment. Fifty‐six patients were included, 66% of which were men, with a median age of 33 years. Most of them had mild or moderate disease and belonged to LC2 follicular phenotype. All patients had been refractory to first‐line treatments. Dapsone was prescribed at doses of 50–150 mg/day. 62.5% of the patients achieved HiSCR after 12 weeks of treatment. No serious adverse reactions were detected. The median duration of treatment was 8 months. After multivariate analysis, an association was found between the presence of fistulous tracts and the risk of non‐response to the drug. In four of the dapsone responders, oral retinoids were added to achieve a sustained response. Limitations include the retrospective and non‐controlled nature of this study. In conclusion, dapsone is an effective and well‐tolerated option for long‐term HS treatment, and in this series, it was mainly chosen for patients with LC2 phenotype. It would be interesting to study combination with retinoids and other management options.


refractory disease therapies and 0.42 for drugs used in maintenance therapy when patients had not progressed after firstline therapy. Conclusion and relevance The health technology assessment processes analysed were heterogeneous. Drug approvals must be balanced between clinical trials and real world evidence. For innovative drugs, clinical trial extensions must be published promptly after efficacy outcome modifications, leading to review of the reimbursement evaluations.


Aim : to evaluate clinical effi ciency of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) at potential recipients of heart with the chronic ischemic heart failure (CHF). Materials and methods . In this retrospective study results of treatment at 76 patients with CHF NYHA III and 36 patients with CHF NYHA IV by scheduled PCI are presented. Duration of observation was from 6 to 160 months. The age of patients at the time of intervention was 61,7 ± 0,62 years (from 33 to 76). 108 male and 4 female. Defi ned life expectancy and echocardiography parameters of the left ventricle (LV) of heart. Results. 20 patients were died, 16 of them from cardiovascular events. 18 patients during this period undergo orthotopic heart transplantation (HT). The endovascular revascularization leads to LV volumes reduction, increase of ejection fraction and decrease of pulmonary artery pressure. Progress CHF is followed by negative dynamics of these characteristics and need of HT performance. In 74% of cases the effect of myocardial revascularization allows to provide increase in life expectancy of potential recipients of heart with the chronic ischemic heart failure. Conclusion. Performance of PCI at patients with the chronic ischemic heart failure can delay heart transplantation or become its alternative.


This study aimed to novelly design and synthesize an amide derivative as a potential substitute of celastrol (CLT). We constituted the compound celastrol–glucosamine (CLG) by conjugating 1-(2-aminoethoxy)-2-glucosamine to celastrol (CLT) and confirmed its chemical structure by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and LC-MS/MS. Then, the potential efficacy of the CLG was investigated on renal ischemia–reperfusion injury animal models. The results demonstrated that the decorated compound CLG could completely reverse the disease progression as same as CLT. Furthermore, the toxicity of CLG was also fully evaluated in rat blood, liver, kidney, heart, spleen, lung, and reproductive system. Compared to the performance of CLT on normal organs, CLG could remarkably maintain high safety and significantly reduce the side effects. Taken together, the CLG could keep the same efficacy as CLT while processing lower toxicity in vivo.


The continuous method of deformational nanostructuring is presented. It consists of simultaneous applying of the tensile deformation by drawing, bending deformation while going via the rolls system and twisting deformation to the continuously moving wire. Combination of different kinds of deformation makes it possible to change in a wide range its mechanical properties matching high strength and ductility. The advantage of this scheme of deformational processing consists in arranging together tools which are used in metal ware manufacturing industrial processes as well as its simplicity and compatibility with rates at coarse and middle drawing processes. The scheme of the laboratory unit for the method implementation is considered. Wire from medium carbon steel of grade 50 was chosen as the object for investigation because it is considered to be the needed kind of metal ware product. Chemical composition and mechanical properties of this wire are described. Experiments on investigation of the possibility for ultrafine-grained structure formation effectiveness in carbon steel wire were conducted using the developed laboratory unit. Deformation modes and drawing route are given. Microstructure of the wire from medium carbon steel of grade 50 was studied after different kinds of deformational processing in longitudinal and transversal cross-sections. During experimental researches the effect of deformational processing on carbon steel wire microstructure was specified as well as its anisotropy in the cross section. The mechanical properties of the wire of grade 50 steel were studied after different kinds of deformational processing. The verification of these properties was carried out in accordance with the demands in current national wire standards. It was proved that carbon steel wire mechanical properties matches well with norms set in GOST17305-91. Investigation results of microstructure and mechanical properties of the wire from medium carbon steel of grade 50 after different kinds of deformational processing show the perceptiveness of the chosen direction for combination of different kinds of deformation for ultrafine-grained structure formation in carbon steel wire.


This report assesses the performance of the TRRL Foden quiet heavy vehicle (ghv) during a 2 year period of service with a haulage contractor. An analysis of vehicle operation confirmed that the vehicle was worked normally and gave fuel consumption which was consistent with similar unmodified vehicles. Normal maintenance and servicing was carried out and costed. These costs were increased as a result of the noise quietening features on the vehicle by 1.5 per cent. This increase represents about 0.2 per cent increase in the total operating cost of the vehicle. Apart from the exhaust silencer, the vehicle's noise quietening components have remained in good condition over the trial period. A deterioration in the silencer performance caused the standard test noise levels to increase by between 3.5 and 5 db(a) during the trials. This was caused by a reduction in the hole size in the perforated bridge sections of the silencer by the accumulation of exhaust particles. Steam cleaning the inside of the main gas flow pipe was sufficient to return the silencer to its original noise reduction performance. (Author/TRRL)


A new phase unwrapping algorithm for the automatic determination of the isochromatic parameter (absolute fringe order) from a single-color isochromatic image using the fringe gradient and RGB wavelengths techniques is developed. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a single-color isochromatic image for a circular disk subjected to a concentrated load was used. Numerical simulation results showed that the proposed method yields accurate absolute fringe orders of isochromatics.


—In this work, we investigate the exponential stability of a linear system described by ˙ x ( t ) = Ax ( t ) − ρBx ( t ) . Here, A generates a semigroup S ( t ) on a Hilbert space, the operator B is supposed to be of Desch-Schappacher type, which makes the investigation more interesting in many applications. The case of Miyadera-Voigt perturbations is also considered. Sufficient conditions are formulated in terms of admissibility and observability inequalities and the approach is based on some energy estimates. Finally, the obtained results are applied to prove the uniform exponential stabilization of bilinear partial differential equations. His research interest focuses on three main topics: feedback stabilization of finite and infinite dimensional bilinear systems, controllability of PDE using multiplicative (bilinear) controls and optimal bilinear control problems.


In some connections of W-beam and thrie-team guardrail elements, it is necessary to bolt together three thicknesses of rail element. Such a connection can not be assembled without enlarging the standard round connection bolt holes. One solution to this problem is to use elongated holes with the long axis of the hole at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the rail element. A number of static load tests were performed to investigate the strength of terminal connectors with slanted elongated splice holes.


Micromachining techniques have been developed and applied in fabricating high frequency piezoelectric composite 2-dimensional ultrasound array transducers. The array has 256 elements with the size of 105 μm by 105 μm. The kerf between elements is 5 μm. The center frequency is 52 MHz with the -6 dB bandwidth of 58%. As many as 98% elements are working. The pulse-echo responses have been measured with the testing system.


1. Assistant Professor, Institute of Education and Research, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan 2. Assistant Professor, Research and Evaluation Department, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan 3. Assistant Professor Research and Evaluation Department, Lahore College for Women University Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan PAPER INFO ABSTRACT Received: April 18, 2020 Accepted: June 15, 2020 Online: June 30, 2020 L2 learning anxiety is a widely studied topic in the field of language learning. Present study aimed to explore secondary school students' language learning anxiety. Anxiety is a psychological state which hinders students learning and it can also affect students' classroom performance. The fundamental reason of this anxiety is an artificial environment of second or foreign language learning. The main objective of this study was to find out the level of anxiety on the basis of gender and type o institution. Descriptive research design and survey method was used to explore and describe the phenomenon understudy. Sample was selected conveniently from public and private institutions of Lahore city. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied and no significant difference was found on the basis of gender and institution type. Detailed descriptive analysis helps to clarify that students are more anxious while speaking and they need preparation before speaking


Individuals with disabilities often report difficulty interacting with health care professionals. Addressing this challenge requires greater understanding of factors that exacerbate the odds of negative interactions between health care providers and patients with disabilities. Drawing on the qualitative research describing the features of such incidents, we use logistic regression to explore two dimensions of this dynamic: negative experiences with health care providers (e.g., doctors, specialists) and negative experiences with health insurance carriers (e.g., for profit or non-profit health insurance organizations). Using a non-probability sample of American families who have a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we find that negative experiences with health care providers are associated with the family's income level, as well as changes in parental labor force participation. The odds of a negative interaction with the insurance carrier are intensified when the family experiences financial difficulties and when they have a negative experience with the health care provider. Finally, families who are aware of laws and policies regarding ASD also report increased odds of negative experiences with their insurance carrier but not their health care provider. Policy implications of our findings are discussed.


Objective To investigate the expression of urotensin Ⅱ(UⅡ) in the lung cancer tissue from surgical resection of lung cancer patients,and to detect the relationship between UⅡ expression and pathologie types and the clinical stages of lung cancer.Methods The expression rates of UⅡof 45 lung cancer tissues and 20 inflammatory pseudotumor were measured by immunohistochemical assay,and the relationship between UⅡ expression and the pathologic types and clinical stages of lung cancer was analyzed.Results UⅡwas mainly distributed in lung cancer cell cytoplasm,which was tan-yellow particles.The positive expression rate of UⅡin nonsmall cell lung cancer was 61.3% (19/31),which was higher than that in small cell lung cancer(7.1%,1/14)and pulmonary inflammatory pseudotumor( 15.0%,3/20) (P < 0.01 ).The positive expression rate of UⅡ was 100% in adenocareinoma.The positive expression rate of UⅡin staging Ⅲ non-small cell lung cancer( 85.7% )was higher than that of staging Ⅰ ( 16.7% ) ( P < 0.05).Conclusion UⅡ cxists in the cytoplasm of lung cancer cells,and the expression of UⅡis correlated with the pathological type and TNM staging of lung cancer.

Key words:
Lung neoplasms; Immunohistochemistry; Urotensin Ⅱ


This paper considers how different approaches to interviewing and styles of questioning produce different sorts of biographical subjects and accounts. It compares styles of biographical interview (chronological and narrative) and types of question (narrative and explanatory), and presents an approach, which treats the interview as a collaborative co-production primarily concerned with the present and subjectivity, rather than the past and fact. It also considers how biographical interviewing may direct and contain narratives of the self through the subject positions it creates and offers interviewees. Discussion is grounded in reflection on a recent project involving university students in interviewing young people leaving care about their care experiences and making a training video for professionals. The paper highlights the inter-subjective and emotional aspects of interviewing in this context.


Objective To evaluate risk factors related to outcomes in elderly patients with community-acquired pneumonia(CAP).Methods One hundred and forty elderly patients with CAP were enrolled in this study,among whom 36cases died(dead group) and 104cases were cured(cure group).The related factors including clinical data and laboratory tests were analyzed and compared between two groups.Results Older age,more than two chronic diseases and multiple lung lobe inflammation were more common in dead group.Plasma troponin T,creatinine,D-Dimer and C-reactive protein levels were higher and albumin levels were lower in dead group than those in cure group.Multivariate logistic analysis revealed that older age,multiple lung lobe inflammation and plasma D-Dimer levels were independent predicators for death in elderly patients with CAP.Conclusion Older age,multiple lung lobe inflammation and high plasma D-Dimer levels are related to poorer outcomes of elderly patients with CAP.


This study contributes to the valuation of employee stock options (ESO) in two ways. First, a new pricing model is presented, allowing a major part of calculations to be solved in closed form. It incorporates a vesting period and independent, forced terminations of the contract. Designed with a focus on good replication of empirics, the model fits with given exercise characteristics better than earlier models. In particular, it is able to account for the correlation of the time of exercise and the stock price performance at exercise, suspected of being crucial for the option value. The impact of correlation is weak, however, whereas the average rate of cancellations turns out to play a central role. The second contribution of this paper is an examination to what extent of the current accounting standard of ESO valuation is subject to discretion and potential misspecification. Given my model is true, the standard is a good proxy. Yet, one important input for the standard valuation process is often unobservable at least for outsiders. Using my model as an example of how the accountant's belief on that input could interact with the truth, I show that there is wide latitude in the determination of prices.


We demonstrate a new concept for wireless pulse-width modulation (PWM) control of a parallel dc-dc buck converter. It eliminates the need for multiple physical connections of gating/PWM signals among the distributed converter modules. The new scheme relies on radio-frequency (RF) based communication of the PWM control signals from a master to the slave modules. We analyze the system stability and demonstrate the experimental effectiveness of the wireless control scheme for a two-module parallel buck converter for 10-kHz and 20-kHz switching frequencies and for channel lengths of 1.5 and 15ft, respectively. The proposed control concept may lead to easier distributed control implementation of parallel dc-dc converters and distributed power systems, and may lead to redundancy that is achievable using droop method. It may also be used as a backup for wire-based control of parallel converters to provide fault tolerance.


The performances of students in mathematics, especially in external examinations like West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE/SSCE) and National Examination Council (NECO) have continued to deteriorate year by year. The conventional method used in teaching in our schools seems not to yield any positive results, and how to solve the problem has becomes a source of worry to mathematics educators.  The nature of mathematics demands that it should be taught using activity based approach. If teaching methods which are activity based as suggested by psychologists like J. Bruner, J Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are used, then better results will be achieved. Therefore this study was designed to investigate the efficacy of the use of slide game approach on students' achievements and interest in algebraic concept in mathematics. Four research questions and six hypotheses guided the study. The design used for the study was the quasi-experimental design, specially the non- equivalent pre-test and post-test control group design. One hundred and sixty junior secondary two students were selected from purposively sampled schools in Obollo-Afor education zone of Enugu State, Nigeria. Two intact classes were randomly drawn from each of the two schools. Two instruments namely Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) that was developed by the researchers and Mathematics Interest Scale (MIS) adapted from Baggaley(1974) was used for the data collection. Three experts carried out the face and content validation of the instrument and the reliability established was 0.78. Mean and standard deviation (SD) were used to answer the research questions while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at P<0.05. The study revealed that the use of slide game approach enhanced the achievement and interest of male and female students. The study indicated that there is no interaction effect between game approach and gender on student's achievement and interest in algebra. However the result also indicated that the used of slide game benefit both male and female students. It was recommended that mathematics teachers should adopt the use of slide game in teaching algebra to increase achievements of students.


Purpose – This paper aims to explain the rules recently adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the provisions of the Dodd‐Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act relating to the increased asset threshold for federal registration as an investment adviser, the new exemptions from investment adviser registration (including the exclusion of "family offices" from the definition of an investment adviser), the enhanced reporting obligations imposed on registered and certain exempt advisers, and the definition of a "qualified client" for purposes of applying the performance fee rule under the Investment Advisers Act.Design/methodology/approach – This paper summarizes the principal content of the Rules and explains their application to investment advisers, focusing in particular on analyzing the impact of the Rules on US and non‐US advisers to private funds.Findings – The Rules clarify important aspects of the Dodd‐Frank amendments to the Investment Advisers Act and expand the scope o...


Saturation in small range SynRM is substantially high in comparison with high range motors, which results in lower power factor and efficiency. This paper investigates the impacts of saturation particularly in small rang SynRM. It mainly focusses on rib and web sizes. The ribs and webs are very vulnerable for saturation for increasing currents as they are small in size compared to other segments of the machine. Though, saturation unnecessarily draws power and reduce efficiency, it has advantages too. The study primarily focuses on micro changes in rib sizes and observe variations in other machine parameters such as torque, saliency, and power-factor and core loss. Four designs are simulated using FEM tool including one design with neither radial rib nor tangential rib and compared with other three designs for various SynRM parameters. The results of the investigation propose methods to reduce saturation impact on SynRM rotor without affecting other performance parameters.


Objective To establish a fast cultivation method of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT) through improving culture medium. Methods Culture mediums of different ingredient were prepared through improving the Lowenstein-Jensen medium and were divided into 5 groups, 3 tubes in each. Inoculation amount of MT was 10~ -3 mg in each tube, and the growth of MT was observed. We did a orthogonal test to obtain the best concentration by using different concentration of three ingredients of the 5th medium. Then collection of clinical specimen and observation of the growth situation of MT on the self-prepared culture medium was conducted to obtain the best cultivation method. Results The starting growth time of bacterium cluster and the appearance time of typical bacterium cluster were significantly shorter than that of Lowenstein-Jensen medium (P0.01) when the standard strains of MT were cultured on the 5 groups of self-prepared culture medium. In the 5th medium, the best concentration of different ingredient was 25% beef broth, 20% angelica and 20% Dangshen extract. In the above medium, the MT started growing after 3-5 days of incubation and the typical "cauliflower-like" bacterium cluster appeared after 7-9 days of incubation. After clinical specimen in Lowenstein-Jensen medium and the 5th medium were incubated, separating rate of MT had no significance(t=0.09, P0.05), but there was significant difference in average days of appearance of typical bacterium cluster (t=6.828, P0.001). Conclusion MT grew quickly on the self-prepared of the 5th medium, the incubation time was shorter. It is a new and fast culture medium for this bacterium incubation. This method has a certain practical clinical value and is worth studying further.


Objective To study the effect of lipoic acid on apoptosis of neurons during experimental neuronal aging. Methods The mouse neuroblastoma cells with serum-free culture were served as experimental neuronal aging models.The cells were randomly divided into control group(serum-free culture)and experimental group(100μmol/L lipoic acid in serum-free culture).After cultivating for 5,10 and 15 d,the cell survival rates were detected by MTT method,and the cell apoptosis rates were quantitatively determined using FACS with Annexin V/PI double staining.Results Compared with those in control group,the cell survival rates in experimental group significantly increased[(212.48±12.26)%vs(100.00±14.80)%,(200.55±28.33)%vs(75.45±10.79)%and(96.81±14.50)%vs(28.54±3.14)%,respectively for 5, 10 and 15 d after cultivation](P0.01).Meanwhile,the cell apoptosis rates in experimental group significantly decreased compared with those in control group[(8.60±1.96)%vs(21.46±1.08)%,(18.6±0.60)%vs(30.38±3.25)%and (28.20±3.83)%vs(47.87±5.60)%,respectively for 5,10 and 15 d after cultivation](P0.01).Conclusion Lipoic acid can inhibit apoptosis of neurons during neuronal aging and increase cell survival rate.


SUMMARY

Results of a pilot experiment preliminary to a systematic study of surface-wave polarization across Eurasia are presented. Long-period fundamental Rayleigh and Love waves recorded by the broad-band seismic stations KIV (Kislovodsk) and OBN (Obninsk) of the IRIS/IDA network deployed in the Former Soviet Union (FSU) were analysed from 14 events to the north-east, east and south-east of these stations in search of particle-motion anomalies using a technique called Frequency-Time Polarization Analysis (FTPAN). All anomalies indicate deviations of wave-propagation paths to the north relative to the great circle paths. Polarization anomalies at OBN are uniformly small (<5°). Significant frequency-dependent polarization anomalies (5°–20°) are found for Rayleigh and Love waves arriving at KIV from teleseismic events at a wide range of backazimuths (26°–103°). Polarization measurements are repeatable (both for a number of nearly degenerate events and for reciprocal paths) and vary smoothly and continuously as epicentral location is moved. Consequently, such measurements are robust and can provide useful structural information. The systematics of the frequency dependence of the polarization anomalies as epicentral position is moved from north to south display sensitivity to structures at a number of length-scales.

Results from synthetic experiments using coupled normal-mode and Gaussian-beam synthetics reveal that: (1) recently constructed long-wavelength aspherical models produce polarization anomalies that are significantly smaller (<5° at KIV) but of the same sign (negative) as the observed anomalies, and (2) the frequency dependence of the observed anomalies must result from a combination of structures of differing wavelengths, with scale-lengths ranging from regional to global. Thus, polarization measurements provide new information about currently unmodelled structures. A model that fits the polarization anomalies observed at KIV includes a regional-scale low-velocity feature near to KIV in order to fit the large-magnitude, short-period polarization anomalies and a smaller magnitude, continent-scale increase in upper mantle velocities and/or the reduction of crustal thickness from south to north in central Eurasia in order to fit the broad-band, longer period anomalies. The small-scale, low-velocity feature is a model of the sedimentary basin of the sub-Caspian depression.

We conclude that measurements of polarization anomalies can be obtained accurately, that they are reproducible, that they contain currently unmodelled information, and that they should prove to be useful in combination with velocity and amplitude information in future tomographic inversions, especially to help focus global-scale models to regional wavelengths.


This report compares pavement profile data collected by 4 profilometers used by the Strategic Highway Research Program's Long Term Pavement Performance Program. Three of these were identical; the sensors of the fourth were closer together. The purpose of the comaparison is to determine if the profilometers can collect repeatable data with respect to each other as well as individually at a given site, and whether they are collecting accurate data (determined by comparing the International Roughness Index computed from profilometer data with that computed from Dipstick data).


Multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoCs) are emerging as one of the technologies providing a way to support the growing design complexity of embedded systems including several types of cores. The interconnection among cores of a MPSoC is proposed to be provided by Networks-on-Chip (NoC). In real applications it is usual to find different interconnection needs amongst cores, so distinct bandwidth is needed in each node of a NoC. Since larger FIFOs in NoC routers provide larger throughputs and smaller latencies, depths are usually sized for the worst case, compromising not only the routing area, but power consumption. In this paper, a reconfigurable router with a dynamic sharing mechanism of buffers at the input channels is proposed to reduce congestion in the network. In this situation, a channel may dynamically lend or borrow some non-used buffer units to or from neighboring channels, in accordance to the connection rates. The proposed reconfigurable router architecture was embedded in the Hermes NoC. The main advantages of the Hermes are its small size and modular design. This, as well as the open source approach, have lead to the selection of this NoC. The basic element of Hermes is a router with five bi-directional ports employing an XY routing algorithm. FIFO buffering is present only at the input channel, with all channels having the same buffer depth defined at design time. The proposed reconfigurable router has been coded in VHDL at RTL level from the adaptation of the Hermes router to fit into the proposed scheme. Results obtained from the simulation of the router under scenarios with different traffic characteristics and percentage of shared buffer, show that mean latency can be reduced up to a 30% in comparison to the original router.


The effect of array wiring voltage drop on system cost vs. performance is discussed. A computer model was developed to provide system designers with a tool for choosing the most cost-effective combination of photovoltaic (PV) modules and wire gauge for each unique set of circumstances and performance goals. Modeling over a range of distances and system power levels indicated that a fixed voltage drop percentage (such as 3%) cannot accurately be recommended as optimum for all situations.<<ETX>>


Aim To establish a model of biphasic vasoconstriction induced by electrical stimulation, and analyze effects of 1~100 nmol·L~(-1) tetrodotoxin (TTX) on the biphasic vasoconstriction in the ring preparation of the rabbit saphenous artery. Methods Isometric vasoconstriction of the rabbit saphenous arterial rings was recorded, and the sympathetic nerves of the arterial rings were activated with electrical stimulation. Results The biphasic neurogenic vasoconstriction was consistently induced by electrical stimulation (15 V,1 ms pulse duration,2~16 Hz for 32 s) in a frequency-related manner in the rabbit saphenous artery. TTX (3 nmol·L~(-1)),a neuronally selective sodium channel blocker,did not affect the first phase of vasoconstriction,but it markedly inhibited the second phase of vasoconstrictive responses to 2~16 Hz stimulation by 44 %~67 %. Increasing the concentration of TTX to 10 nmol·L~(-1), TTX inhibited the first phase of the vasocontractive responses to 4~16 Hz stimulation by 40%~57%,whereas it inhibited more than 90% of the second phase of vasoconstriction. Concentration-response curves for NA(0.01~30 μmol·L~(-1)) were not affected by TTX (0.1 μmol·L~(-1)), but the same concentration of TTX completely inhibited the biphasic vascular responses to electrical stimulation. The biphasic contractile responses to electrical stimulation were all abolished by guanethidine (10 μmol·L~(-1)), but the vasoconstrictive responses to exogenous NA were not affected by it. Conclusion Biphasic vasoconstriction can be induced by electrical stimulation,and the first and the second phases of vasoconstriction are mediated by neurotransmitters released from sympathetic nerves in the rabbit isolated saphenous arterial ring preparation.


T he Sand Hills area covers about 19,300 square miles, most of the west-central part of Nebraska and a small area of south central South Dakota. This grass covered sand-dune area, the largest area of grasscovered dunes in the world, was formed by blowing sand and reached its present size during the last 8,000 years. Rainfall varies from an average of 17 inches per year in the west to 23 inches in the east. Average annual snowfall ranges from 22 inches along the southern border to 45 inches per year in the north. A shallow depth to groundwater is of major benefit for much of the Sand Hills, which overlay the Ogallala and other portions of the High Plains Aquifer. Since groundwater is very close to, or at, the ground surface in many areas, numerous lakes, marshes and wet meadows can be found in low lying areas. Typical warm season grasses found on upland areas include sand bluestem, prairie sandreed, little bluestem, switch-


Aiming that the existing virtual assembly modeling methods can't provide complete information model for the assembly sequence planning,the advantages and disadvantages of the bottom-up and the top-down assembly modeling applied to the virtual assembly were analyzed.According to the requirements of assembly sequence planning,a mixed design method for product assembly modeling was put forward,which combined with the advantages of the two design methods.To make the assembly model contains the product structure of hierarchical relationship information,top-down modeling method was used in the overall design.In the process of detail design,the bottom up modeling method was used to make the assembly model contain the constraint relation of parts.Through the modeling application examples,the feasibility of the mixed design method in virtual assembly and the model information can be extracted have been proved.The results indicate that the model obtained by the mixed design method satisfies the requirements of the virtual assembly,provides the complete model information for the virtual assembly sequence planning.