Facial emotion recognition from thermal images has gained more attention in recent years. Thermal cameras capture the heat emitted by objects and therefore thermal images are not sensitive to illumina tion changes. Furthermore, changes in temperature can indicate emotions and it is harder for humans to fake emotions in front of a thermal camera. However, a limitation is that, thermal cameras that cap ture highresolution images are expensive, and cheaper thermal cameras often capture images with a lowresolution and/or contaminated with noise and blur. Besides, lowresolution thermal images can also arise when images are captured from a far distance or from moving persons. When using these lowresolution thermal images for facial emotion recognition this can negatively influence the emotion classification accuracy. To tackle the problem of lowresolution thermal facial expression images, superresolution can be used. In this exploratory work, we propose the Thermal Face SuperResolution Network (TFSRNet) and the Thermal Face SuperResolution Generative Adversarial Network (TFSRGAN) to recover high resolution thermal facial expression images from lowresolution thermal facial expression images, with the goal to use the superresolved images for thermal facial emotion recognition. The architecture TF SRNet is optimized to minimize the mean squared error (MSE), which results in images with a high peak signaltonoise ratio (PSNR). However, these images often contain an unsatisfying perceptual quality. To generate highresolution images with a high perceptual quality we propose TFSRGAN. Both architectures use facial prior knowledge, such as facial landmark heatmaps and parsing maps, to enhance lowresolution thermal facial expression images. To emphasize the most important parts of each facial expression and to suppress irrelevant facial parts, we integrate the Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) in both superresolution architectures. The proposed superresolution ar chitectures are used to enhance lowresolution thermal facial expression images, which are obtained with three different degradation models, namely bicubic downsampling (BI) on scale x2, x3 and x4, blurring followed by bicubic downsampling (BD) on scale x3 and bicubic downsampling followed by adding noise (DN) on scale x3. With an ablation study, the effectiveness of using facial prior knowledge and the attention mech anism CBAM for thermal superresolution is shown. When using facial prior knowledge and the at tention mechanism CBAM, the image quality of the superresolved images improves. Furthermore, experiments show that images enhanced by TFSRNet outperform bicubic interpolated images, for degradation models BI x4, BD x3 and DN x3. Using these superresolved images for thermal facial emotion recognition also leads to an increase of the emotion classification accuracy. In addition, im ages enhanced by TFSRGAN outperform bicubic interpolated images for degradation model DN x3. Although, this an exploratory work containing limitations, the experiments show the effectiveness of using facial prior knowledge and the attention mechanism CBAM for thermal facial expression super resolution. In addition, thermal face superresolution shows promising results for thermal facial emotion recognition where future work can build upon.


Metastatic bone disease is the most common malignant neoplasia of the skeleton, the bone being the third most common site of the spread of adenocarcinomas, preceded only by the lung and the liver(1). Bone's predisposition to metastases is explained by the high blood flow under low pressure in the areas of red marrow and because bone matrix is a fertile ground for the implantation of tumor cells(2). Advances in adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapy, partiEARLY COMPLICATIONS IN THE ORTHOPEDIC TREATMENT OF BONE METASTASES


27 JANUARY 1903 * 2 MAY 1997 JOHN ECCLES was born in Melbourne. His father was a schoolteacher; his mother, also a trained teacher, and sisters were notable musicians. He studied medicine at the University of Melbourne as a resident of Newman College, achieving first class honours in medicine and winning a Rhodes Scholarship in 1925. He proceeded to England and entered Magdalene College in October 1925, and had "the immense good fortune" to join the team working with Sir Charles Sherrington. Eccles wrote in an article entitled "My Scientific Odyssey" (1977) that Sherrington was "the one man in the world whom I wished to have as my master" (Ann. Rev. Physiol. 39: 1-18). He graduated with first class honours in physiology and biochemistry, was awarded a Christopher Welch Scholarship, and was appointed, at the end of 1927, to a junior research fellowship of Exeter College, which was to be his base for the next seven years. As he was to do throughout his life, he enjoyed the company of, and intellectual exchange with, people from a very wide range of disciplines and interests, from science and linguistics, through philosophy to theology. He responded to the Oxford environment by developing wide-ranging interests himself, from science and technology through to philosophy and theology. The team with which he worked included Denny-Brown, who introduced him to work on the cerebellum. Tolkien was a fellow scholar during Eccles's time at Exeter. Throughout his later life, while conducting experiments, he had a habit of raising a wide range of topics and expecting colleagues to participate intelligently. As he said, "during our experiments the conversation ranged widely over literature, history and art." Recognition of his brilliance came with his demonstration that an accepted feature of recordings of the isometric muscle twitch "was an artefact due to friction in the bearing of the recording myograph." That work was presented at his induction in 1929 to the Physiological Society. In 1930, Sherrington asked him to join a prestigious team that, in 1932, published one of the scientific classics of the twentieth century: Creed, Denny-Brown, Eccles, Liddell, and Sherrington, Reflex Activity of the Spinal Cord (London: Oxford University Press). His involvement with the Physiological Society introduced him to the rigours of scientific debate. Critical discussions followed each paper and he wrote, "these criticisms were often severe, but it was an unwritten rule of the society that all criticisms had to be accepted in a sporting manner and under no account must be taken personally." This is an important observation by Eccles because, as he said himself, he remained on friendly terms with his great rivals whilst seeking to test their hypotheses, and his own, to destruction. His sparring partners included Dale, Feldberg, Gaddum, Brown, and Lorente de No. Eccles's career at Oxford concluded in 1937. By that time he had achieved tenure with a tutorial fellowship at Magdalene College as a university demonstrator. He felt that Sherrington's retirement was followed by a decline in the character of the Oxford Physiological Laboratory. Eccles returned to Australia to take up the directorship of the Kanematsu Institute at Sydney Hospital. He was initially disappointed at his own decision, but gradually his powerful personality, intellectual brilliance, and enormous energy began to overcome the problems. Mellanby had granted permission for him to shift his laboratory equipment back to Sydney. By 1939, he had Bernard Katz working with him, and an Austrian refugee, Stephen Kuffler, had joined the team. They studied neuromuscular transmission in cats and frogs and were criticised for this by the traditional clinicians of Sydney Hospital because their work was "so remote from clinical usefulness." Within a year or so the importance of the studies in relation to anaesthesia had been fully demonstrated! During the Second World War, the Kanematsu Institute became the National Centre for Blood Serum preparation. …


During the acute phase of transient bilateral paralysis after thyroid surgery, a tracheotomy unfortunately remains the solution in most emergency situations. The author describes and discusses the case of a totally thyroidectomized female patient, who presented fifteen days after surgery with bilateral vocal cord paralysis resulting in dyspnea and exhaustion. After tracheotomy refusal, a unilateral endoscopic laser medial arytenoidectomy was performed that enabled the patient to lead a normal daily life without dysphonia. Bilateral vocal cord mobility recovered slowly but completely. This is the first and only case of this procedure during the acute phase of bilateral vocal cord paralysis reported in the literature. The benefits versus the risks are discussed.


Ways of knowing have ethical consequences. The use of the body as the primary instrument of knowledge keeps moral boundaries, the resistance of landscape, and the assessment of risk closely tied to social processes. Under such circumstances, the face-to-face, or the vivid present, sustains its privileged place as a test of validity. If global warming is one of the prices we pay for trading such situated knowledge for knowledge that transcends context and transgresses bodily limit, then the stories captured in Joy Parr's Sensing Changes: Technologies, Environments, and the Everyday, 1953–2000 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010. Pp. 304. $35.95) are precisely the stories we need to be telling. These are stories that remind us that we embrace the promises of big science and big nation-building projects at our peril if we do so without close attention to the lived experiences of those caught up in their wake. Each chapter in Sensing Changes is about embodied forms of knowledge, historically cultivated to suit locally relevant standards, and what happens to them when new standards held to be universally relevant are introduced. Sometimes new standards and new bodily registers are developed that extend from senses already tuned to assess risk. The hazards of a nuclear power plant that emits hydrogen sulfide into the atmosphere and is located near a tourist destination, for example, challenge locals to train and refine their sense of smell and to develop ways of communicating potential crisis. At other times, the landscape, which might be a field of radiation as much as a field of wheat, illustrates the importance of honoring the expertise that comes from lived experience and everyday experimentation. In other instances, bodily ways of knowing are so disrupted that there is no bridging past and present, as when the building of a dam involves the physical relocation of a whole community.


positive or negative effects on trade depending on their design and implementation. Analysis in this chapter confirms that gains from a preferential trade agreement cannot be taken for granted; moreover, even in agreements with positive impacts on average incomes, not all members are assured of increases. The interesting policy question then is not whether RTAs are categorically good or bad, but what determines their success? The broader policy context in which an RTA is designed and implemented is crucial. Agreements that have been designed to complement a general program of economic reform have been most effective in raising trade. When RTAs have tended to be fruitless, it is often because of the lack of a coherent program of reform. For an RTA itself, the most important ingredient for success is low trade barriers with all global partners. Most-favored-nation (MFN; i.e., nondiscriminatory) liberalization, which creates more trade, is the fastest and most efficient way to increase intraregional trade. In addition, agreements that minimize excluded products expand the scope for positive net benefits through competition and trade creation. Recent research has added nonrestrictive rules of origin to the list of successful factors; local firms must be able to effectively source materials at the lowest cost. Such rules of origin are an essential element of agreements that expand both regional exports and exports to the rest of the world.1 RTAs can be a springboard to global markets, but here too, low MFN trade barriers are necessary for success. RTAs can help countries integrate with global markets, but no agreement provides guarantees, so design and implementation matter.


This article offers a network perspective on the collaborative effects of technology transfer, providing a research methodology based on the network science paradigm. We argue that such an approach is able to map and describe the set of entities acting in the technology transfer environment and their mutual relationships. We outline how the connections' patterns shape the organization of the networks by showing the role of the members within the system. By means of a case study of a transnational initiative aiming to support the technology transfer within European countries, we analyse the application of the network science approach, giving evidence of its relative implications.


Abstract Peroxynitrite is a strong endogenous oxidant generated by the reaction of nitric oxide with superoxide that can damage subcellular organelles, membranes and enzymes through its actions on proteins, lipids and DNA. In a cell free system, peroxynitrite (ONOO − ) generated by mixing nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide anion (O 2 − ) was previously reported to be stable at pH 13 with a maximum absorbance at 302 nm and to react with luminol to yield chemiluminescence (CL), enhanced by bicarbonate ions and inhibited by L-cysteine and uric acid. With Mytilus galloprovincialis haemocytes, after stimulation with zymosan, alkaline treatment and removal of proteins by centrifugation, an increase of the supernatant absorbance between 280 and 320 nm was observed when compared with haemocyte suspensions supplemented with NO-synthase inhibitor before stimulation. This indicated that M. galloprovincialis haemocytes release peroxynitrite upon stimulation. Moreover in M. galloprovincialis haemocytes, stimulation promoted luminol-dependent CL, which was partially inhibited by both the NO-synthase inhibitors, and superoxide dismutase, indicating that peroxynitrite partially mediated this CL. Enhancement of luminol-dependent CL in stimulated mussel haemocytes by bicarbonate ions and its inhibition by L-cysteine and uric acid confirmed the involvement of peroxynitrite in the CL light-emitting process. The production of peroxynitrite from stimulated M. galloprovincialis haemocytes was further confirmed by the NO-synthase-dependence of the oxidation of dihydrorhodamine 123, a marker of cellular oxidant production, to fluorescent rhodamine when exposed to zymosan-stimulated mussel haemocytes. These in vitro studies show, for the first time, the production of ONOO − in invertebrate blood cells.


Zooplankton plays an important role in aquatic ecosystem. They link primary producers, phytoplankton with higher larger tropic level organisms. Many aquatic organism exhibit diurnal rhythms in their activities,  although factors such as light, temperature, food, sex and size have been attributed as probable causes for such behavior of planktonic organisms. Zooplankton provides the necessary amount of protein required for the rapid growth and development of organs of fishes. The larvae of most fishes feed mostly on zooplankton. Growth and abundance of zooplankton varies with season and depth and depends upon meteorological and water properties. Temperature plays vital role in the vertical distribution of zooplankton. The work was conducted by the monthly changes in zooplankter recorded in coleroon  river, situated near by Neelathanallur (Thanjavur district).


We report highly directional light emission from nearly spherical fused-silica resonators. It is found that non-perturbative phase space structure in the internal ray dynamics profoundly affects evanescent leakage of the whispering-gallery modes.


For providing high-quality seed for forest nurseries, a large-scale seed cultivation program, including laying down 3,790 ha of seed orchards of pine, spruce and other forest trees, was established in Finland in the early 1960's. In particular, pine grafts are extremely vulnerable to damage by rodents, especially the field vole, Microtus agrestis (L.). An integrated rodent control program for all the existing seed orchards was established in 1969. From that time, rodent populations were surveyed every year according to a common scheme based on the Small Quadrat Method (SQM). Short-term forecasts and specific control instructions were issued shortly after the survey. Earlier, the principal method of controlling voles was surface treatment with endrin. At present, the bulk of grafts is protected by mechanical guards round the stems. Investments in guard materials, as well as labour costs of preparing and installing the guards, constituted more than 90% of all control costs from 1969 to 1976, and amounted to about 5 million Fmk. Total costs of rodent surveillance and supervision of the program were about 6% of control costs. Since the establishment of this integrated control program, the absolute numbers of grafts destroyed has considerably decreased, even though the area of seed orchards had more than doubled; thus the large investments in vole control have already been recovered.


The field experiment was conducted during November, 2017 to assess the avoidable yield losses due to root- knot nematode in fig (cv. Poona fig) with paired plot design by soil application of carbofuran 3 G at 2.00 kg a.i./ha. The results indicated that the loss in yield of fig in an untreated trees ranged from 16.57 to 31.60 %. However, average avoidable loss in the fruit yield of fig was recorded to be 24.92 per cent, when the crop was treated with carbofuran 3 G @ 2 kg a.i./ha.


According to the reaction of Mannich and coordination, a new kind of modified gel with ligand exchange function has been prepared by using polyacrylamide gel (PAMHG), formaldehyde triethylenetetramine (TETA) and Al3+. The properties of obtained product for the removal of fluorine from wastewater were reported. Due to the introduction of chelated functional group (TETA) grafted on framework of the polyacrylamide-gel, the properties of capturing Al3+ comes out. Moreover, the combination of ligand exchange of Al3+ and chelated group have been carried out simultaneously. Thus, the optimal conditions for synthesizing the modified gel and its application to the removal of F- were investigated further. The results show that the synthetic process of the modified gel is easy to operate, and its performance of removing F- is excellent. For the water of fluorine concentration about 10mg/L, 90.1% of F- has been removed from water by adding this gel and the residual concentration of F- can satisfy China's national standards for drinking water. In brief, a novel and low-cost method of removing deeply fluorine from groundwater and industrial polluted water is obtained.


In this paper, an analysis and design of a high-frequency transformer isolated single-phase buck-boost AC–DC Cuk converter is presented for both discontinuous and continuous conduction modes (DCM and CCM) of operation. Both modes of operation are considered for the design of 2.6-kW rating with high-level steady-state and dynamic performance. A comparative analysis of Cuk converter is also presented in both modes of operation of DCM and CCM from point of view of steady-state and dynamic behaviour, power quality, simplicity, control technique, device rating and converter size. It is observed that CCM is most suitable for higher power applications in which it requires a little complex control and sensing the additional variables.


A practical means of using tritium to authenticate a natural versus a synthetic (petroleum-derived) origin of food and flavoring extracts has been demonstrated. Extracts derived from natural botanicals reflect a tritium content incorporated during the plant's growth stages, while petroleum-derived products, because of the relatively short half-life of tritium, have no measurable tritium content. Natural and petroleum-derived samples of the common flavorant benzaldehyde were combusted by Parr bomb and enriched in tritium using an alkaline electrolysis technique. Tritium activities were measured using an ultra-low-level liquid scintillation counter, with the results demonstrating a clear difference in the tritium content of natural and petroleum-derived benzaldehyde samples and a good agreement between the natural sample and the steady-state concentration of tritium reported for the northern hemisphere. Keywords: Tritium; tritium enrichment; alkaline electrolysis; natural product authentication; botanical e...


The devastating and disproportionate toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color has drawn attention to longstanding disparities, traceable to systemic factors that result in structural trauma. As a medical specialty, psychiatry has begun to grapple with its own history of institutional racism, with calls for a multifaceted approach to proactively address upstream institutional factors that inflict structural trauma. Psychiatric clinician leaders can play important roles in addressing these factors. This work can occur through the individual psychiatrist's targeted exertion of facets of the clinician leader role. Here, we consider a previously described clinician leadership model (the Four Factor Model) through the lens of structural inequity. We link this model to the real-world example of the city of Philadelphia's efforts to address mental health inequities, demonstrating the application of different facets of the psychiatrist's leadership to address structural trauma in the context of local government. [Psychiatr Ann. 2021;51(11):522–527.]


Freely-suspended films of smectic liquid crystals can be regarded as membranes consisting of a stack of an integral number of molecular (smectic) layers with the layer planes being parallel to the two free surfaces. Because of their variable thickness (between thousands and only two layers) and the large variety of phase transitions between different smectic phases, freely-suspended films are excellent systems to study the influence of the dimensional cross-over from three to two dimensions on phase transitions. Further, because the free surface of a liquid crystal has a strong ordering effect (contrary to solids which exhibit generally surface-induced disorder), freely-suspended films are well-suited for the study of the effect of enhanced surface order on phase transitions. A review of the corresponding experimental work is given.


What is the course of delayed-onset post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? For 2 years, Australian investigators prospectively followed 705 patients who were injured mainly in automobile accidents and treated in a level I trauma center (437 with mild traumatic brain injury; original sample, 1084 patients).

Very few patients had PTSD (without the duration requirement) immediately after the accident. PTSD incidence at 3, 12, …


Chitosan is a natural polysaccharide resulting from the deacetylation process which also has the potential to be used in food packaging such as edible films and edible coatings because it has hydrocolloid polymers that are antioxidant, antimicrobial, and a good barrier to oxygen. One of the contents of cinnamon is essential oil. Essential oils can be added to edible coatings as antimicrobials. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of adding cinnamon essential oil to chitosan edible coating on the shelf life of red snapper fillets. The experimental design in this study used RAL (Simple Completely Randomized Design). Red snapper fillets were given three treatments, namely: without coating, coating without adding cinnamon essential oil, and coating with a combination of 1.5 grams of chitosan and 1.5% cinnamon essential oil. The results showed the addition of cinnamon essential oil in chitosan edible coating has an effect on the quality of red snapper fillets during the storage period seen from the parameters of TPC, TVB and pH. Fillets coated with chitosan edible coating with the addition of cinnamon essential oil are still suitable for consumption until the 9th day of storage with a TPC Log 5.7, TVB 30.33 mgN/100g and pH 6.53.


This case addressed what effect a 1995 state law allowing the transfer of water off overlying land for agricultural purposes had on the validity of a 1989 agreement to transfer groundwater off overlying land to an adjacent tract for agricultural purposes.


It provides a printing method and apparatus for imaging the surface of the substrate. The printing surface of the substrate and the image forming apparatus of the preferred embodiment of a method embodiment comprises: applying ink onto a substrate surface; the ink on the surface using a first radiation irradiating the substrate to partially cure the said ink; applying pressure to the substrate and curing the ink in the nip portion of the first surface and the second surface of the second member having a first member, the upper surface of the flattening of the substrate ink; and the ink on the surface of the substrate using a second radiation exposure has been leveled to cure substantially all of the ink.


Summary Jaw shedding and replacement of Diopatra aciculata (Onuphidae, Eunicida), by the same process as arthropod molting, involving apolysis and ecdysis, is described here. These observations suggest that molting has either evolved convergently in eunicidan polychaetes and ecdysozoans or it was present in the last ecdysozoan/lophotrochozoan common ancestor and thus may not represent a synapomorphy of the ecdysozoans.


The main purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between the characteristics of perfectionism and the inferiority feeling among university students. In the study, correlational and descriptive survey models among the quantitative research methods are applied. Participants include 672 university students (with 485 females and 187 males) whose average age is 21 years. As data collection tools, the Frost Multi-Dimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Inferiority Feeling Scale, and the Personal-Demographic Information Form are used. Data are analyzed through the Pearson Correlation Coefficient Test and Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis to examine the relationship between the characteristics of perfectionism and the inferiority feeling. Results show that there is a positive and moderate-level relationship between university students' characteristics of perfectionism and inferiority feeling and that the inferiority feeling positively predicts the characteristics of perfectionism.


In this paper, we present a zooarchaeological analysis of the Longshan period sites of Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang (ca. 2300–1900 cal. BC) in southern Shanxi Province, China. We compare the faunal record at both sites in terms of the proportions of wild and domestic taxa; the slaughter patterns for the main domesticates; the types of bones used to produce utilitarian and decorative bone artifacts; and the types of bones used for ritual oracle bone divination. Differences in the faunal records at Taosi and Zhoujiazhuang provide insights into the connections between specialization and early urbanism. Our research also provides clues about how sheep and cattle pastoralism was initially adopted in the Yellow River Valley during the late 3rd millennium BC. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract Internal conversion coefficients (ICC) were calculated for all atomic subshells of the elements with 104≤ Z ≤126 for E1–E4 and M1–M4 multipolarities and 20 transition energies between 10 keV and 5 MeV. Presented here are the K-shell, L-subshell, and total ICC. For the higher shells and transition energies 10–1000 keV, the ICC have been deposited at the LANL preprint server (http://xxx.lanl.gov/e-print/nucl-th/0004003).


I describe the use of business-card sized magnets for teaching electronics as a demonstration tool or by groups of students during an activity. Suggestions for creating magnets that can be used for other topics are also suggested.


Let 0 0, p(t, x) > 0 if and ollly if x belongs to the interior of the wnvex cone generated by support of a; and, in all other cases, p(t, x) > 0 for all t > 0 and XER~. Let X be a strictly a-stable random vector in Rd with a truly d-dimensional law p, where 0 -0. Let a and %(a) denote, respectively, the spectral measure of p and the interior of the convex cone (equivalently, the dosed convex cone) generated by supp(a), the support of a. Finally, 'let S(t) = (x: p(t, x) > 0) for any t > 0. It follows from the definition of p(-, a) that


。 セ ャ、 cG N she proceeds to reflect on the tiny things tha t rea lly ュ 。 セ・ a differencein clinical medicine: a slight deteriora tion in the pati ent' scondition; the temporary absence of a key ヲ [G Z ャQN Aャ セ G membe r; a new focus of the pa tient's anxiety; un cert,u:lty aboutwhether to disturb apatient who has finaUy set,le.1 into a comfort able sleep; etc . The simplicity an d directnessof her language revealmOR about the ethical challer.g.esof clinical medicine than could any discussion of hi,e thic alprinciples. This should not surprise us. When Ar istotle w anted to explain the character of ethical reflection to his stu dents, he usuthe analogy of clinical medicine. I Sick people ask doclo r(0 help themget better anddoctorsprofess to be techm-ully competentandethically committed to doing so: thus, ctuacalmedicineis an inherently ethical ent erprise. The subォ セ G matter ofethics issomething particular. not someth ing general doctors need to work out wha t to d o with a particulae patien tin a given situ ation . In thi s issue ofthe Journet.Gillam andLit tle (page296) present th e first arti cle in R v riesof case studies which delve intO the pa rticulari ty and practicalityof clinical ethics.This article addresses the vexed questionof confident iality.2 YCI. par ticularity andpracticality are nOI features of most d1ll:al reflection on medicine and hcalthcare today. Rather thereverse. Abstract gen erality and a focus on rules ofconductaremore the order of the day. Why is this so? And why 3rC me contributo rs to th is series committ ed to taking a somewhatdifferent approach? Contemporary bioe thics is still do minated by a "principlcs" approach toethics.This ori ginated25 years agowith (he work of two philosophers , Tom Beauch amp and Jim Childress,of the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Ge orgetown Lnivers iry, Washingt on ,DC.' They arguedthat rules for hcalthcareeth ics should bebasedon four principles:lm ufICel/a (the obl igation to provide ben efits and balance benefi,s against risks);nan-maleficence(the obligation to avoid causingharm);respec ljor autonomy(the obligation torespect thedecision-makingcapacitiesof autonomouspersons); and Jmriet (the obligation to he fair in dist ributing benefits and


Susceptibility to infection may significantly depend on genetic factors such as genetic polymorphism. The role of TLR2 polymorphism (T-16934A and Arg753Gln) on the susceptibility to sepsis in neonates is still controversial and it is currently unresolved whether these polymorphisms could affect NFkB p65 as part of NFkB signaling pathway.

Toll-like receptor 2 gene polymorphisms (T-16934A and Arg753Gln) and NFkB p65 level in neonates with culture-proven sepsis, Deutero Malay race, were analyzed. The genotype frequencies of these two polymorphisms were determined among 36 neonates whom appropriate for gestational age and full term. All of them are Javanese. Only neonates with bacterial sepsis were included into neonatal sepsis study group (12 subjects), and healthy neonates with sepsis risk factor were classified into healthy neonates study group (24 subjects). DNA was extracted from peripheral blood using DNA zol and polymorphisms in TLR2 were determined using sequence specific primers by PCR and sequencing. The plasma level of NFkB p65 was measured by NFkB p65 human ELISA kit. Of 12 neonates with sepsis, Gram negative bacterias were predominant (75%). Contrary to the expectation, Arg753Gln TLR2 polymorphism was not detected. The genotype frequencies of T-16934A polymorphism were different to other reported data. The frequency of TT (wild type), AA, and TA genotype within the two groups was 16.7%; 50%; and 33.3%, respectively. The mean of NFkB p65 level in neonatal sepsis study group was 14.14 (SD 10.23) ng/ml with median 9.4 (range 4.9 - 34.0) ng/ml, which significantly lower than healthy neonate study group (p=0.027). There was no significant difference between each genotype variant and bacterial sepsis (p=1.000), or NFkB p65 level (p=0.443), respectively; but the level of NFkB p65 in TA genotype within the healthy neonate study group subjects was significantly lower than other genotype (p=0.024). In summary, although we can not use TLR2 gene polymorphism as a risk factor for neonatal sepsis susceptibility, there is still a possibility regarding the result of NFkB p65 as a diagnostic marker of bacterial neonatal sepsis.


Two different methods have been applied to create differently structured nanocrystalline graphene samples used in molecular dynamics simulations. In the first method, graphene sheets are generated by grain growth from individual nucleation seeds. The second method applies Voronoi tessellation to define single crystalline domains in the simulation cells. The differently generated nanocrystalline graphene sheets show significant variations in the grain size distribution and the shape of the crystalline domains. Furthermore, out-of-plane corrugation is found to be more pronounced in samples generated by the Voronoi method, in particular for small grain sizes (≤14 nm). Marginal differences are observed in the distribution of polygonal rings in the grain boundaries which might result from the geometrical shape of the grain boundaries. Thermal conductivity has been determined using the approach-to-equilibrium molecular dynamics formalism. A lower thermal conductivity is observed in Voronoi samples for grain siz...


Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus(CGMMV) was one member of genus Tobamovirus and it was quarantine pest issued by Chinese government.This study designed one pair of specific PCR primer based on MP-CP-3′UTR conserved sequences in CGMMV complete genome and detected leaf samples with serology and RT-PCR technology.Comparison of the aimed gene sequence of Yunnan isolates with other isolates logined in GenBank was conducted and analyzed.The sequence analyse result showed that: the reported CGMMV was divided into four populations mainly;Yunnan isolates belonged to I population;genetic relationship of Yunnan isolates was close to Liaoning,they may originated from one strain.


This article seeks to examine how Russian regional governors are using the social media platform Twitter and the potential implications this has for government–society relations. Analysing a large sample of tweets generated by regional governors, the article provides an empirical assessment of the content, purpose and uses of Twitter by these officials, which vary significantly across different governors. While some uses suggest potential for increasing the responsiveness of politics in Russia's regions, others appear to propagate a similar diet of news management and online propaganda.


The study aimed to analyze the degree of association between different levels of impact of drought and perception of psychological well-being in family farmers in Southern Brazil. Participated in the study 198 farmers (104 men and 88 women), aged 18-77 years (M = 44.38, SD = 10.04). As instruments we used the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and an ad hoc scale with eight items, dealing with the impact of drought on the following aspects: Financial/indebtedness, psychological, leisure, clothing, sleep, study, family relationships, and routine. The hypothesis was that, as the impact of the disaster on family increases, the negative perception of psychological well-being also increases. ANOVA analysis demonstrated that there is a signifi cant effect of drought on the well-being and the linear trend also was signifi cant confi rming the research hypothesis. However, the difference between means of low and high


Introduction. In recent decades, the phytopathological condition of forests in Belarus is of particular concern. Periodic mass drying of plantings of spruce, ash, oak, birch and other trees is a serious problem for foresters and many specialists in the field of forest protection and nature management. In the context of mass destruction of rare forest formations by phytopathogenic organisms, there is a real threat of disappearance of plantings of ash, maple, lime, and other species even in the state nature conservation areas, including the untouched forests of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The goal of the research is to  assess the biological stability, sanitary and forest pathological status of rare formations of broad-leaved stands (ash, maple, linden) of the Belarusian part  of  Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Materials and methods. The assessment of sanitary and forest pathological state of plantings of ash, maple and linden in the national park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" was made on 20 permanent and temporary trial plots. Results. It was found that the biological stability of plantings of the considered tree species was different. Ash trees show the lowest viability, the average weighted category of their condition in the survey areas varies from III, 1 to IV, 3. The condition of maple trees on trial plots is characterized by a range of weighted average values of I, 4-II, 7, which can be considered a satisfactory indicator for old-growth plantations. The main causes of weakening of maple trees are stem core rotations, caused primarily by maple and scaly tinder, as well as a complex of necrotic-cancer and vascular diseases. The small-leaved linden tree on the territory of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha also has a satisfactory sanitary condition (weighted average category of status I, 5-II, 8), although, compared to the maple, weakened and damaged linden trees are more common. Most often, the weakening of linden trees is caused by necrotic diseases of the branches and stem rot of the core, the causative agents of which easily infect the central part of the trunk at places of mechanical damage to the bark and wood, especially ruptures from frost. Conclusions. Observations of the phytosanitary state of ash, maple and linden tree formations on the trial plots laid down in the national park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" should be continued to have a more accurate assessment of the dynamics of development and the prognosis of the course of pathological processes.


We introduce the notion of an essential copy in a topological space. Then we present a classification of topological spaces based on this notion. In addition, we obtain some results regarding this classification.


entrances invite comparison with the Dorchester Rings, in Oxfordshire, though here the overall measurements are barely half the size of Dorchester, and the ditches are narrower. The character of all the other enclosures cannot certainly be identified without excavation. A ring-ditch to north-west of the main monument may represent a small barrow. The rectangle, superimposed on the henge, having a broad ditch with sharp angles and a single entrance on the left, may well be an agricultural enclosure of the Roman Iron Age. Both near this enclosure, though not contemporary with it, and elsewhere, an extensive system of narrow straight ditches is seen. Possibly these are to be explained as agricultural boundaries of the Romano-British period. The irregularly shaped compounds to left of the henge seem to be in a different idiom and are perhaps native works: post-holes may be distinguished within them. Some of the large scattered dark spots probably indicate pits, but an artificial origin for all such marks should not be assumed. On a light soil and with a crop in such a sensitive stage of growth, hollows formerly occupied by trees might leave their own marks. A final point is prompted by the condition of the land at the bottom-left corner of the photograph, below the lane. There, graveldigging has been actively in progress for some time, and other diggings occur nearby, to west and north. So many buried monuments lie in areas liable to be worked for gravel that all cannot be investigated. Here a chance is to hand, either to save a remarkable site from destruction, or to ensure careful investigation before it is too late. Excavations at Thurrock might be unusually rewarding. J. K. ST JOSEPH


We present the discovery of three small planets transiting K2-136 (LP 358 348, EPIC 247589423), a late K dwarf in the Hyades. The planets have orbital periods of 7.9757 ± 0.0011, , and , and radii of 1.05 ± 0.16, 3.14 ± 0.36, and , respectively. With an age of 600–800 Myr, these planets are some of the smallest and youngest transiting planets known. Due to the relatively bright (J = 9.1) host star, the planets are compelling targets for future characterization via radial velocity mass measurements and transmission spectroscopy. As the first known star with multiple transiting planets in a cluster, the system should be helpful for testing theories of planet formation and migration.


Since the time of Euler, the dilogarithm and polylogarithm functions have been studied by many mathematicians who used various notations for the dilogarithm function . These functions are related to many other mathematical functions and have a variety of application. The main objective of this paper is to present corrected versions of two equivalent factorization formulas involving the Legendre`s Chi-function and an evaluation of a class of integrals which is useful to evaluate some integrals associated with the dilogarithm function.


Two new subclasses of uniformly convex and uniformly
close-to-convex functions are introduced. We obtain inclusion
relationships and coefficient bounds for these classes.


ABSTRACT The main aim is to describe plant production systems and introduce bokashi technology for the advanced utilisation of food waste in Europe. The secondary objective is to demonstrate that the new Bokashi technology fertiliser products for field crops can improve soil fertility, plant health, yield and food quality in Europe. Bokashi technology is a straightforward yet innovative technology to recycle and valorise various kinds of biowaste into a nutrient-rich product that can be used as an organic fertiliser. Bokashi technology is a method for treating biowaste in general and food waste in specific, using controlled lactic acid fermentation (LAF) under anaerobic conditions. The term is based on a traditional Japanese method of the same name. The acidic and anaerobic environment quickly suppresses the viability of pathogens so even contaminated biowaste can be recycled. The Bokashi technology is almost absent in Europe at the moment. Conclusion: Bokashi technology – coming from Asia (Japan) – is an innovative technology to improve soil fertility, plant health, yield and food quality. This technology has a huge potential to be applied in Europe, but the right methodology should be developed based on the knowledge of temperature regimes for effective microorganisms that will influence the crop production.


In this study, we introduce a modified microscope unit for studying fluorescence emitters under high-vacuum and ambient gas conditions. The modified microscope unit has an immersion objective and uses an ionic liquid as a refractive index matching medium. In our optical geometry, the immersion objective and ionic liquid are placed in high vacuum and ambient gas. The optical properties of single colloidal quantum dots (CdSe/ZnS) in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix placed in ambient air, high vacuum, and ambient nitrogen gas with an appropriate pressure are studied.


Bernd Wander's study was accepted as Habilitationsschrift by the theological faculty of the University of Heidelberg in 1997. The terms "Gottesfurchtige" and "Sympathisanten'' are used by German scholars consistently to describe God-fearers, proselytes, God-worshippers, pagan adherents or the Gentile movement. The study takes as its starting point the observation that the term God-fearer is used in three different ways in the pertinent literature. It is sometimes used as an honorary title for specific Jews, it sometimes denotes Gentiles who sympathize with the Jewish community, and in other cases it refers to a complex and not clearly-defined group. This vague, unsatisfying terminology complicates the scholarly dialogue.


Language testing is an important section of language teaching and research. Based on a review of the history of language testing and traditional outlooks on language competence, this essay discusses the essence of validity with cognitive-pragmatics as its theoretical ground. It is pointed out that the ultimate aim of language testing is to investigate a testee's cognitive- pragmatic competence and serve language teaching.


Biological Sequence alignment is widely used in the field of Bioinformatics and computational biology to determine the similarity between the biological sequences. Many computational methods have been suggested for sequence alignment. For example, dynamic Programming provides a solution for aligning the biological sequences with time complexity of the order of O (MN). Heuristic approach always works to find related sequences in a database search but does not have the guarantee of an optimal solution like the dynamic programming algorithm but these methods are 50100 times faster than dynamic programming therefore better suited to search databases. In this paper a survey of various computational approaches used for aligning the biological sequences has been given for different auxiliary data structure for read sequences or reference sequences or both.


Dislocation formation in InAs{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} buffer layers grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition is shown to be reproducibly enhanced by p-type doping at levels greater than or equal to the intrinsic carrier concentration at the growth temperature. To achieve a carrier concentration greater than 2 {times} 10{sup 18} cm{sup {minus}3}, the intrinsic carrier concentration of InSb at 475 C, p-type doping with diethylzinc was used. Carrier concentrations up to 6 {times} 10{sup 18} cm{sup {minus}3} were obtained. The zinc doped buffer layers have proven to be reproducibly crack free for InAs{sub 1-x}Sb{sub x} step graded buffer layers with a final composition of x = 0.12 and a strained layer superlattice with an average composition of x = 0.09. These buffer layers have been used to prepare SLS infrared photodiodes. The details of the buffer layer growth, an explanation for the observed Fermi level effect and the growth and characterization of an infrared photodiode are discussed.


The Patagonian orocline is the 90° bend in the southernmost Andes between 50°S and 56°S. Paleomagnetic and structural data indicate that the orocline is, at least in part, the product of tectonic rotation. Recent field work in the Beagle Channel region of southernmost Chile provides evidence for widespread left-lateral strike-slip faulting in the internal zones of the mountain belt. Both arms of the Beagle Channel are interpreted to be left-lateral strike-slip faults based on detailed study of mesoscale strike-slip faults (Riedel shears) observed in coastal outcrops. Although much of the evidence indicates Cenozoic brittle strike-slip faulting, other fabric data, including vertical foliation zones containing horizontal quartz stretching lineations and ductile left-lateral kinematic indicators, suggest that Mesozoic ductile strike-slip or oblique-slip shearing also occurred. The implication is that the mid-Cretaceous Andean orogeny involved the transpressional inversion of the Rocas Verdes marginal basin and that transpression has been the dominant deformational regime in the region for the last 120 Ma. Regional left-lateral strike-slip faults are now recognized in all lithotectonic provinces of the southernmost Andes. A statistical study of regional lineament trends using aerial photographs and satellite imagery suggests that many unstudied lineaments are also strike-slip faults. A new model is proposed that integrates the development of strike-slip faulting and the structural evolution and uplift of the southernmost Andes with the rotational development of the orocline. The Patagonian orocline appears to be the product of broad interplate shearing accommodated by strike-slip faulting, block rotation, and contraction and is probably continuing to evolve today.


Autoradiograms of serial sectiomis and extractions of selected neuroanatomical areas of the brain removed from cats at various times after the intravenous injection of mescaline-α-C 14 HCl indicated a relatively high concentration of radioactivity in cortical amid subcortical gray matter. In contrast, areas composed largely of myelinated fibers evidenced relatively little activity. Removal of mescaline from the blood, plasma and CSF followed a first order rate; the biological half-life of mescaline in plasma and CSF was 90 to 120 minutes. Maximum concentration of mescaline in the brain was attained between ½ and 2 hours, which corresponded approximateIy to the period of maximal intoxication as evaluated by gross observation. Only two radioactive components, identified as mescaline and 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetic acid (TMPA), were found in cat brain, plasma, CSF and urine after the administration of C 14 - labeled mescaline. Chromatographic analysis did not reveal the presence, in these samples, of any of a number of other postulated metabolites of mescaline. Indirect evidence suggests that mescaline may be biotransformed to TMPA in cat brain.


The research progress in the studies of the structure active parts and catalytic mechanism of Mncontaining metal enzyme in living bodies and its model complexes have been reviewed which includes manganese superoxide dismutase,manganese catalase and manganese oxygen evolving complexes.


Techniques for sending control information in a communication system are described. In an aspect, control information may be sent in a first frequency location (e.g., a first set of subcarriers) if data is not being sent and in a second frequency location (e.g., a second set of subcarriers) if data is being sent. In another aspect, control information may be processed in accordance with a first processing scheme if data is not being sent and with a second processing scheme if data is being sent. In one design of the first scheme, a CAZAC sequence may be modulated with each modulation symbol for control information to obtain a corresponding modulated CAZAC sequence, which may be sent on the first set of subcarriers.; In one design of the second scheme, modulation symbols for control information may be combined with modulation symbols for data, transformed to frequency domain, and mapped to the second set of subcarriers.


a McGill inhaler6 or a Foregger vinethene vaporizer connected by a rubber tube to a 3 litre bag which was attached to a Foregger face mask with exhalation valve left open. Nitrous oxide and oxygen were run through at the rate of 5 litres of each per minute. This was in order to keep the bag full and to prevent the accumulation of carbon dioxide.7 The face mask was strapped in place and the nitrous oxide and oxygen mixture started, following which the trilene was cut into the system. The concentration was gradually increased until the patient was anaesthetized. Thereafter the trilene was gradually reduced as the operation proceeded. The maximum dial setting was rarely more than "half on". Induction was usually completed in 3 minutes. Observations.-(1) Induction by this methed


Giao Thuy located a coastal area, which has fully the characteristed of microclimate Red River delta. This study was conducted to detect the land cover changes from 2000 to 2015 and the causes. The changes are evaluated using Landsat data by method of land use classification combined with interviews. The results showed that most portion of the land cover class was crops land and land cover change was crops land decreases, forest land rises, aquaculture ponds increase, surface water reduces and unuse flat land area increases. The causes were policy issuses, market, economic, salinity intrusion, climate change and deposits alluvial.


With application of MPI/Fill in analysis of feeding by multi-side gates,its function was introduced in detail.The use of Moldflow/MPI software in CAE flow analysis of mould for complex shell part indicates the technology very effective in determination of optimum gate location and number,arrangement of flow channel,optimization of injection parameters and increase of success ratio of mould tryout.


Leaf rust, caused by Puccinia hordei, is a serious threat to barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) production. Genes Rph5 and Rph7 confer resistance to many of the most prevalent races of P. hordei in the United States and Europe, respectively. The reliability and diagnostic capabilities of several molecular markers for these two genes were evaluated and validated for use in gene postulation, marker-assisted selection (MAS) and eventual pyramiding of genes Rph5 and Rph7 with other effective resistance genes. Fifty-eight winter barley experimental lines developed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, as well as seven barley cultivars were phenotyped for reaction to three diverse isolates of P. hordei and genotyped with molecular makers closely linked to genes Rph5 and Rph7. Sequence tagged site markers TC2863-12.4 and ABG70 as well as simple sequence repeat marker AY642926-CA11 were reliable and diagnostic in gene postulation and have potential for use in MAS and pyramiding of genes Rph5 and Rph7. Comparison of phenotypic and genotypic data revealed that one barley line VA04H-95 has genes Rph5 and Rph7 and at least one unknown gene.


Nd3+-ion-doped ZnCl2-based glasses were prepared via the melt-quenching method. The Nd3+-ion upconversion excitation mechanism and the ability to disperse Nd3+ ions into ZnCl2-based glasses were investigated using absorption and upconversion fluorescence spectra of Nd3+ ions. The ZnCl2-based glass that had an average cationic radius equal to the ionic radius of Nd3+ (98 pm) had the greatest ability to disperse Nd3+ ions. The 20KCl·25BaCl2·55ZnCl2glass, which had the average cationic radius nearest to 98 pm, dispersed Nd3+ ions the most, and it had the strongest upconversion fluorescence.


A review of high frequency InGaAsP/InP laser structures is presented. The performance of these devices is analyzed based on a rate equations model. The effects of packaging and device parasitics on high speed modulation are also considered through a circuit configuration. The model is used to compare the relative advantages of the main high frequency laser structures in order to maximize the obtainable modulation bandwidth. The characteristics of buried crescent lasers with semi-insulating current-blocking layers are highlighted. A 3-dB direct modulation bandwidth of 11 GHz together with 42-mW output power has been achieved with this device.


A novel putative lysosomal membrane protein Disrupted in renal carcinoma 2 (DIRC2) is shown to localize to lysosomal/late endosomal markers. Its lysosomal targeting depends on a dileucine motif at its N-terminus. DIRC2 is a glycosylated protein and expressed as a fragmented protein, where cathepsin L is critical for its processing. Bioinformatic analysis shows that DIRC2 is a putative member of Major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporter protein. DIRC2 is shown to be an electrogenic. However, its substrate is still need to be investigated.


A comprehensive review of the recent results on measurements of single top-quark production cross-sections at $\sqrt{s} =$ 7, 8 and 13 TeV performed by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations is presented. The cross-section measurements include inclusive, fiducial and differential results. In addition, the latest measurements, based on angular distributions in $t$-channel single-top-quark processes, of the top-quark polarisation and $W$ boson spin observables at $\sqrt{s} =$ 8 TeV, and the analyses of the $Wtb$ vertex at $\sqrt{s} =$ 7 and 8 TeV are also discussed. All measurements are in good agreement with predictions and no deviations from Standard Model expectations have been observed so far.


This article takes two regions separate in time and space: the Scottish Border in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and the route across the Pennines between Lancashire and Yorkshire. I look at two instances – in literature and visual art – of how these otherwise disparate social and cultural geographies have been nominated as regions through hierarchies of curation. Comparing ballad publication in the earlier period and the 1998 Artranspennine exhibition, I show how the curated region is a model that responds to the heterogeneity of local places and artistic production, but is also underpinned by a more idealistic vision of human experience expressed as a Romance space.


Mobile device usage and social media have become an integral part of our lives in this day and age. The sharing of images, videos, news, music, doing business, purchasing online, working online, and sharing of sensitive information such as bank account details and social security numbers is now done online. The emergence of different domains for working in cyberspace has not only made life more convenient and efficient but has led to increased exposure to security threats. With the increased usage of mobile devices and social media, there has been an increased vulnerability for theft and all sorts of cybercrimes one may fall victim to. This research study looks at the behavior of 25 student mobile device users on their security consciousness and preferences to protect their data.


:- We consider a small open Harris-Todaro economy with a rural foreign enclave and urban informal sector. We introduce consumption- efficiency relation to explain the simultaneous existence of informal sector and urban unemployment. Different types of immobility and mobility of capital are assumed in different sections of this paper. We also analyse the effects of expansion of foreign enclave on urban unemployment and on domestic factor income. In many cases, we get the results opposite to that obtained in the young-Miyagiwa model.


The articularis humeri (AH) muscle of the horse is a small muscle composed of histochemically identified type I and IIA extrafusal fibers and a large number of muscle spindles. A total of 150 complete spindles with both spindle poles available were examined in serial transverse sections. On the basis of myosin ATPase‐staining reactions after alkaline and acid preincubations, four types of intrafusal fibers, namely, bag1, bag2, "mixed" bag, and chain fibers, were identified.


A computational model of loose snow avalanches was studied as an example of Self-Organized Criticality (SOC). The distribution of the magnitudes of avalanches was measured for a stairstepped system with various critical relative differences and system slopes. Depending on the configuration, the model showed either power law behaviors or a Gaussian distribution. For configurations that displayed power laws, the slope of the power law was dependent on the configuration of the system.


Gorlin-Goltz syndrome represents a series of multiorgan abnormalities known to be the consequence of abnormalities in the human patched gene and increases the risk of developing various cancerous and non-cancerous tumors. It is a rare autosomal dominant syndrome with a high level of penetrance and variable expressiveness. We present a case of Gorlin-Goltz syndrome with no familial history, who was incidentally diagnosed with syndrome and presenting with multiple odontogenic keratocysts, palmar pits, bilamellar calcification of falx cerebri, and bifid ribs. This case highlights the importance of early diagnosis, the need for awareness of diagnostic criteria in cases with no typical skin lesions followed by multidisciplinary approach to delay the progress of the syndrome. Thus, it is important that different heath specialists be aware of the main features of this syndrome so as to diagnose the condition at earliest to provide appropriate surgical treatment.


The article describes and presents the process of developing and constructing a virtual and physical three dimensional biomodel of the sphenoid sinus and nasal structures. A patient with a tumour located in the sphenoidal air sinus was identified for this study. Fine slice Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) were performed. These imaging data were then fused by correlating matching anatomical bony landmarks. The resultant fused image series were then used to elucidate the sinuses and the tumour using a drawing tablet. The results were then post-processed with image processing algorithms namely Segmentation and Marching Cube, to generate a three dimensional (3D) construct. This virtual biomodel was then subjected to water-tight and hole-closing algorithms to pre-form a solid structure which can be printed on a powder rapid-prototyping (RP) apparatus. The final physical biomodel was then assessed at a few structural landmarks as a means of a simple validation. The validation of this model has been published elsewhere and supports the feasibility of the methods outlined in this paper. Further validation and ongoing work to reproduce biomodels of patients with similar tumour are currently underway in order to further substantiate the method described here.


The potential of the TESLA linear e+e- collider to determine the strong coupling constant, alpha_S, at 500 GeV is investigated. Experimental complications due to background from W- and Z-pairs, top-production, initial state photon radiation and from beamstrahlung are considered. The hadronic event selection procedures used by the experiments at LEP II are reviewed for the applicability at TESLA. An estimate of the various error contributions to the total uncertainty of an $\alpha_S$ determination is presented. It confirms that hadronisation effects are diminished while the uncertainty from the choice of the renormalisation scale will dominate. Fits of the ln(R)-matched second order (O(alpha_S^2)) and resummed calculation (NLLA) to six observables are used to estimate the error contributions. This yields the expectation of the precision for alpha_S(500 GeV) of +-0.0025.


Needle insertion is an important procedure for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. A prototype curved multi‐tube device (CMTD) and system for performing computerized correction of path errors during needle insertion is described.


This paper investigates a consensus problem of the fractional version of second-order system with communication delay under both directed and undirected topologies. By applying the frequency domain method, a sufficient condition is given to ensure the fractional version of second-order consensus facing communication delays. It is proof that fractional version of second-order consensus can be reached if the time delay is not exceeding than the delay upper bound. Finally, a numerical example is provided to verify the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed consensus control protocol.


The present study seeks to examine market efficiency & various asymmetric effects of the Dow-Jones Sustainability responsible indices (DJSI) during different periods by applying various econometric models. It is observed that volatility clustering presents in the indices returns. Significant asymmetric shocks and persistence of conditional volatilities also present in the daily returns of the SRI indices during the entire sub periods and the whole period based on various measures. Leverage effects exist in the indices' returns during different sub periods based on various measures. Here, GARCH measure is appropriate during the post-recession period for volatility forecasting. The SRI indices don't follow RWH and informationally inefficient at their weak forms.


The definition of a single, IEC fieldbus standard, accepted throughout the world, has seen erratic but genuine progress. Sometimes the slow progress has been forgivable, for example when there has been the need to overcome technical challenges. When the major barrier is business politics slow progress is difficult to forgive. No impartial user or supplier, and these are the majority, wishes to see multiple standards. The goal of Fieldbus Foundation, aligned with the goal of all end users and most suppliers, is to reach a 'single, open, interoperable, international fieldbus standard' .This statement is the essence of the role of Fieldbus Foundation. I will first explain the importance of the above statement. Then I will explain the unique aspects of the technical concepts of the FOUNDATIONTM Fieldbus to show that it meets the needs of all parties in the industry.


We report on the photo-stability of perovskite solar cells prepared using solution growth and vapor phase growth. The cells prepared using solution growth had varying grain sizes achieved by using solvent annealing techniques. The cells deposited using co-evaporation were prepared at varying substrate temperatures. All the cells were exposed for 100 hours to varying degrees of intensity of light inside an environmental chamber filled with high purity nitrogen and thus was devoid of moisture and oxygen. It was found that the cells with larger grains had a significantly lower photo-degradation than cells with smaller grains. It was also found that vapor deposited cells, in general, had less photo-degradation than solution-grown cells with similar grain sizes. The photo-degradation is ascribed to the generation of ions by light during the degradation process. A measurement of ion density reveals that the short circuit current during degradation, and even before degradation, is inversely correlated to the measured ion density. The measurement of degradation at varying light intensities shows a light-induced annealing behavior similar to what is found in a-Si, leading to saturation in photo-degradation. It was also found that the interfaces have a profound influence on photo-degradation, with cells deposited on organic interfaces suffering significantly more degradation than cells deposited on inorganic interfaces.


The phenomena of bifurcations and chaos have been well studied in nonlinear dynamical systems without delay and described by nonlinear difference, differential, difference-differential, etc. equations. Routes to bifurcations, onset of chaos, nature of the chaotic attractors and their characterizations in such systems have all been analyzed extensively [1, 2]. However, such analyses have not been carried out in any greater detail in the case of nonlinear dynamical systems with delay even in the scalar systems. In this chapter we shall introduce a prototypical delay system, which is a piecewise linear one, in order to appreciate the nature of bifurcations and chaos phenomena underlying nonlinear time-delay systems, and to understand clearly the nature of transients and difficulties in numerical analysis as well as the frequent existence of hyperchaotic attractors with multiple positive Lyapunov exponents. The dynamics of other nonlinear time-delay systems will be taken up in the next chapter.


Abstract Wax deposition under different temperature conditions was investigated in a flow loop, using a local crude oil with a wax content of 22.5%. The results revealed that the wax deposition increases with increasing coolant temperature. However, the amount of deposit increased initially with increasing oil temperature and then decreased. Based on these results, the corresponding temperature ranges were divided into three ranges: hot flow, sensitive precipitation of wax crystal, and cold flow. Based on diffusion mass, a method and steps for determining the temperature dependence of wax deposition were proposed.


SUMMARY:  Ischaemia‐reperfusion and toxic injury are leading causes of acute renal failure (ARF). Both of these injury initiators use secondary mediators of damage in oxygen‐derived free radicals. Several recent publications about ischaemia‐reperfusion and toxin‐induced ARF have indicated that plasma membrane structures called caveolae, and their proteins, the caveolins, are potential participants in protecting or repairing renal tissues. Caveolae and caveolins have previously been ascribed many functions, a number of which may mediate cell death or survival of injured renal cells. This review proposes possible pathophysiological mechanisms by which altered caveolin‐1 expression and localization may affect renal cell survival following oxidative stress.


This is the WARC (WebARC file) that stores the original web content in its original context from the Cities of Migration website. To view the content, this file will need to be downloaded and uploaded to a web archiving viewer, such as https://replayweb.page/.


Objective To report our preliminary experience on 2 cases of heart transplantation. Methods Between August 2003 and December 2004 2 cases underwent bicaval anastomotic orthotopic cardiac transplantation at our hospital. The first case with valved cardiomyopathy and the second case with dilated cardiomyopathy had been operated by CBP at middle lower temperature and perfused cold crystalloid cardioplegia for myocardial protection. Post-operation useding combination therapy with cyclosporine A +MMF+Pred for immunosuppression. Results A patients died of acute right heart failure at 52 h after operation. Another case have not acute rejection and infaction,she survived 8 mon,with heart fanction of I degree. Conclusion Appropriate selection of recipients, excellent donor heart conservation, properimmunosuppresion treatment are key factors of successful heart transplantation.


Alphaprodine is a rapidly acting synthetic narcotic. The effectiveness and rate of absorption when this drug is administered buccally is not known. The purpose of this study is to investigate absorption rates of alphaprodine administered buccally, (submucosally} and intravenously. Eight healthy male volunteers ranging in age from 19 to 41 years were included Each subject received 0.4 mg/kg of body weight of alphaprodine buccally and intravenously. Blood samples of 2-3 ml were collected at 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 40 minutes. All blood samples were collected in heparinized test tubes and stored in ice for gas-liquid chromatographic analysis. Data were subjected to a 2 x 8 analysis of variance for repeated measures employing the BMDP2V statistical program, and the Scheffe test for multiple comparisons. Buccal administration exhibited a low initial concentration increasing constantly and peaking at the 10 minute level, followed by a steady decline which was higher but parallel with intravenous concentration decUne. The differences between the buccal and the intravenous route were only significant at the one and two minute levels, when the intravenous route blood concentrations were higher. After the two minute level the differences were not statistically significant. It is concluded that the administration of alphaprodine via buccal route is a highly efficient alternative to the intravenous route. Subjective evaluation of the sample indicated a longer recovery period following buccal administration. Also, pain following buccal administration was often pronounced Llphaprodine is a fast acting synthetic narcotic. The pharmacological properties of this drug closely resemble those of meperidine and morphine. Alphaprodine is considered 2.5 to 3 times as potent as meperidine, with shorter duration. This drug, because of its potency and ideal length of effectiveness, has gained tremendous popularity. The rate of absorption when this drug is administered intravenously is well documented, however such documentation is totally lacking when this drug is administered buccally (submucosally). The objective of this study was to investigate absorption rates of alphaprodine when administered buccally (submucosally), and to compare it to absorption rates of the drug when administered intravenously. Also, certain subjective responses would be evaluated.


© 2012 Taler and Taler et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Measurements of Local Heat Flux and Water-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient in Water Wall Tubes


The stability of sodium nanowires is studied by modeling them as infinite uniform jellium cylinders and solving self-consistently for the electronic structure. The total energy per unit length oscillates as a function of the wire radius giving a shell structure. The amplitude of the energy oscillations attenuates regularly, reflecting a supershell structure. We compare our theoretical results with recent experiments [A. I. Yanson et al., Nature 400, 144 (1999); Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5832 (2000)] performed by the mechanically controllable break junctions (MCB) technique. The comparison clarifies the origin of the observed shell structure and especially the formation of the quantum beats of the supershell structure and supports the conclusions based on an earlier semiclassical model. The comparison is also a quantitative test for the reliability of the simple stabilized-jellium model as well as for the accuracy of the equation used to relate the conductivity and the area of the narrowest point of the constriction.


The article discusses the possibilities of using the electronic constructor "ZNATOK" when studying the initial course of informatics. There are described four main directions of using the constructor: 1) when studying the concepts of "model" and "modeling"; 2) when studying the concept of "algorithm"; 3) when studying the device of a computer; 4) in the process of getting acquainted with the concept of "information processes". Possible stages of working with the constructor when considering these topics are presented: examples of exercises; methodological techniques that contribute to better memorization of educational material; planned learning outcomes for schoolchildren; possible areas of work in middle and high school. The material can be used not only by school teachers, but also by specialists of additional education system, as well as in higher education system in the preparation of bachelors in the areas of training 03.04.01 "Pedagogical education", 44.03.05 "Pedagogical education (with two training profiles) ", masters of the direction of training 44.04.01 "Pedagogical education", in the courses of advanced training of teachers.


This paper presents a detailed description on the system configuration and power supply circuit of the power supply equipment for large scale computor. The large scale computor developed recentl3r employs a large number of LSIs to realize high speed performance and miniaturization. A highly-accurate voltage stability under low voltage and high current conditions is required for the power supply equipment used for such a computor. For example, the output current exceeds 1500A at an output voltage of 5V, while the necessary voltage accuracy is ± 1.5% or less. The off-line switching regulator (the operating frequency is 20kHz) has been adopted as the power supplying technique. The stabilization technique of output voltage is based on SR control using a saturable reactor in the constrained mode.


The 1,4-dihydro-1,4-methanoanthraquinones (5), (6), and (10) afforded respectively the pairs of epoxides (2) and (3), (7) and (8), and (11) and (12), on treatment with hydrogen peroxide–aqueous sodium carbonate. When irradiated with sunlight, only one isomer of each pair, viz. (3), (8), and (12) underwent rearrangement, giving the quinones (4), (9), and (13) respectively. The stereochemistry of the photolabile epoxides was obtaind by a crystal structure determination for the bromo-derivative (11). This was carried out by single-crystal, X-ray diffraction at 295 K and refined by full-matrix least squares to R 0.062 (669 reflections). Crystals are monoclinic, P21/n, a= 5.870(5), b= 18.13(1), c= 11.475(6)A, β= 95.84(6)°, and Z= 4.


Research purposes: During cantilever casting in construction of high-pier and large-span continuous rigid frame bridges,the structural stability in the longest cantilever status is very important.This paper studies the stability of Niujiaoping Double-line Super Bridge and analyzes the nonlinear buckling of the master pier in the longest cantilever status during construction based on consideration of the geometrical nonlinearity and material nonlinearity of the structure.Research conclusions:The FEM model for the longest cantilever status of the bridge is built with ANSYS finite-element program to study the bridge stability in the longest cantilever status under nine working conditions on considering bi-nonlinearity of the structure.The results show that the longitudinal buckling stiffness of the main pier is less than the transverse buckling stiffness,so the main piers are relatively easy to buckle in the longitudinal direction.However,the eigenvalues of the stability are large enough to stabilize the main pier and the largest cantilever during construction,and the structure damage due to buckling will not occur in the construction process.This study has directive sense to the similar construction.


Abstract The Indian short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx) is thought to use a resource-based polygynous mating system. Breeding colonies typically consist of a few harems with 1 or more solitary males nearby. Essential to understanding the mating system of C. sphinx is identification of the reasons for solitary roosting behavior in adult males. In this study, we attempt to elucidate the impetus behind solitary roosting by investigating the following 2 questions: Are solitary males less competitive and so remain isolated from breeding activities? Are trees and foliage suitable for tent-making a scarce resource? We carried out weekly censuses and mark–recapture studies from January to December 2000. We assessed impact of available resources on roosting patterns of adult males. Examination of our results suggests the following about the mating system of these bats. Female aggregation in C. sphinx cannot be attributed to scarce resources. Morphological variables did not differ between harem and nonharem males. Approximately 50% of nonharem males had scrotal testes. These results suggest that nonharem males are reproductively active, gain access to females, and presumably obtain some reproductive success.


Purpose: In this study, the effect of lysozyme, albumin and globulin on the oxygen transmissibility of soft contact lenses was investigated. Methods: The amount of deposited protein was measured after exposing etafilcon A lens (high water content, ionic) and hilafilcon B lens (high water content, non ionic) to lysozyme, albumin and globulin solutions, respectively and the oxygen transmissibility of those lenses was measured by employing the polarographic method. Results: The amount of lysozyme deposition in etafilcon A lens was greater than 100 times compared with albumin and globulin depositions. The correlation between protein deposition and decrease in oxygen transmissibility was shown in all protein solutions, and the decrease of oxygen transmissibility caused by a large amount of lysozyme deposition was greater when the exposure time was same. However, when the same amount of tear protein was deposited, the decrease of oxygen transmissibility caused by globulin was the largest. The deposited amounts of lysozyme, albumin, and globulin in hilafilcon B lens were almost same and much smaller compared with those in etafilcon A lens, and the change in oxygen transmissibility was not significant. Hilafilcon B lens also had a correlation between the amount of globulin deposition and decrease in oxygen transmissibility. Conclusions: Therefore, it is suggested that the consideration of the amount of deposited protein in the soft contact lens as well as the type of deposited protein is necessary since the difference in oxygen transmissibility according to soft contact lens materials is related to the amount of protein deposition in the lens and globulin has the greatest effect on oxygen transmissibility.


Goat milk is a natural food ingredient with a high nutritional value, but the microorganisms easily damage it. The purpose of this study was to measure the quality of milk, based on the total microorganism from Sapera goat raised at the Ciawi Animal Research Institute (Balitnak) Ciawi, Bogor. Milk samples were taken from 10 Sapera goats in the 2nd and 3rd lactation periods. Samples were collected once a week with four repetitions during the lactation period, namely the 3rd to 7th week after delivery. The total microorganism was calculated using the plate count method. Data analysis was done descriptively and shown in graphs and tables. In general, the total microorganism of Sapera goat milk was below the Maximum Microbial Contamination Limit (BMCM) standard based on SNI No. 01-6366-2000 regarding fresh milk, which is less than 1 x 106 CFU/ml. The total microorganism of milk goat A, B, D, E, H, and J showed an increase every week, while goat C, F, G and I, conducted the fluctuation of total microorganism for four weeks. The microbial quality of milk was depended on the healthy udder condition of the goat and hygiene of sanitation during milking.


SUMMARY

South Glamorgan Pre-school Playgroups Association Referral Scheme was established to increase opportunities for community involvement for families of children with special needs following a two year feasibility study involving consultation with parents, the groups, and statutory and voluntary organisations. The Scheme provides information and support to families, and introductions to groups which it supports with volunteer helpers, advice, training, and equipment. By October 1984, 66 referrals had resulted in 22 places and another 21 families were receiving support.


The antioxidant activity of Marrubium peregrinum essential oil, collected from three different locations [Backo Gradiste - Rimski Sanac (No.1), Novi Knezevac (No.2) and Senta (No.3)] was evaluated as free radical scavenging capacity (RSC), together with inhibition on xanthine-oxidase and effects on lipid peroxidation (LP). RSC was assessed measuring the scavenging activity of the essential oils on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•), super oxide anion (O2•−), nitric-oxide (NO•) and hydroxyl (OH•) radicals. The activities of xanthine-oxidase (XOD) was determined by the nitrite method. Effects on LP were evaluated by following the activities of essential oils in the Fe2+/ascorbate induction system. Experimental results indicate that the essential oil of M. peregrinum from Senta (No.3) exhibited the strongest inhibitory effect, as the IC50 value was achieved with the lowest concentration. The same result was obtained in investigation of influence of essential oil on XOD and LP. The chemical profile of essential oil was evaluated by the means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). According to the analysis, the most powerful scavenging compounds were sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (β-caryophyllene, bicyclogermacrene and germacrene-D) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (spathulenol and caryophyllene oxide).


The assessment model in the 2013 Curriculum has adapted the international standardized assessment model. It is expected to help students to improve their higher-order thinking skills. One of the differences among students that teachers should pay attention to is their thinking process when solving math problems. The Aptitude Treatment Interaction (ATI) learning model is a learning model that adapts learning to the characteristics of students' abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate how high-, moderate-, and low-ability students could solve higher-order thinking (HOT) problems through the ATI learning model. This research employed mixed methods. The participants were students of Junior High School 3 Banda Aceh, in which three of them were interviewed. The data were obtained from observations, tests, and interviews. The results showed that the ATI learning model did not directly impact the students' thinking process in solving HOT problems. Instead, it had a profound effect on students' activities during the study. The high-ability students were better than the moderate- and low-ability students in each indicator of the thinking process in solving HOT questions. Students' activities increased during the learning process from the first meeting to the last one.


Many studies suggest that failures in information system IS development occur due to problems with the requirement engineering RE process. To improve the RE process, organisations should use RE good practices REGP as standard because it leads to product success. However, implementing RE processes and convincing people to apply REGP can be a considerable challenge. The purpose of this research is to identify factors affecting the willingness of RE professionals to implement REGP. A model developed by Steijn et al. 2010 was used as a basis in the development of a conceptual model. Data collection was conducted through online questionnaire with respondents consisting of IS managers, analysts, system developers and key users from 75 private and state-owned companies in Java Indonesia. The partial least square PLS approach was used for hypothesis testing. The results indicate that subjective norm, stakeholder relationship and awareness have a positive impact on the willingness to implement REGP.


The title catalyst (PTMHD) is efficiently used for the preparation of benzimidazoles, e.g. (III) and (VI), and benzoxazoles such as (VIII).


The shortage and aging of drivers are not problems limited to the truck industry, but are common in the broader commercial motor vehicle (CMV) industry of Korea. This study investigates the relationships between work situation, work–family conflict, depression, and work engagement of taxi, bus, and truck drivers. We extracted 512 CMV drivers from the 5th Korea Working Conditions Survey. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to investigate the impact of a work situation or work–family conflict on depression and work engagement. Results showed that 38.9% of all respondents had symptoms of depression. In the SEM, a poor work situation (standardized path coefficient = 0.250) and work–family conflict (0.117) significantly affected depression. 'Enough time' and 'feeling well' were influential variables of work situation. 'Responsibility' and 'concentration' were influential variables of work–family conflict. Additionally, depression affected work engagement (0.524). 'Vigor' and 'dedication' were influential variables of work engagement. These results show that the relationships between work situation, work–family conflict, depression, and work engagement of CMV drivers are intricately linked.


Background and Purpose— The complement cascade is activated after experimental intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). It remains unclear, however, whether depleting the complement system will improve injury resulting from ICH. This study investigated the effects of systemic complement depletion on brain edema formation after ICH. Methods— Fifty-six pentobarbital-anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Treatment animals were complement-depleted with cobra venom factor (CVF) (intraperitoneally). Control rats received an equal volume of saline injection (intraperitoneally). In both treatment and control rats, autologous blood (100 &mgr;L) was infused stereotaxically into the right basal ganglia. Rats were killed 2, 24, or 72 hours later for brain water, ion, and tumor necrosis factor-&agr; (TNF-&agr;) measurements, for Western blot analysis, and for immunohistochemical studies. Brain edema was quantitated by wet/dry weight. TNF-&agr; levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Western blot analysis was applied for C9 semiquantification. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect complement C3d, C5a, C9, and myeloperoxidase. Results— Perihematomal brain edema was reduced by systemic complement depletion at 24 hours (78.8±0.6% versus 81.5±0.8% in control, P <0.01) and 72 hours (81.5±1.5% versus 83.6±0.9% in control, P <0.05), while cerebellar water content was unaffected (78.2±0.3% versus 78.0±0.1%). Complement depletion reduced TNF-&agr; production 2 hours after ICH. Immunocytochemistry showed that complement depletion significantly reduced perihematomal C9 deposition, C3d production, and the number of C5a- and myeloperoxidase-positive cells. Conclusions— Complement depletion by CVF attenuates brain edema in ICH, indicating that complement activation plays an important role in ICH-induced brain edema. Preventing complement activation may be effective in the treatment of ICH.


Ultrafine alumina powders were synthesized through pyrocatechol and resorcinol mediated sol-gel process. Aluminum nitrate was applied as the Al source and PVP was the dispersant. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study displayed that γ-Al2O3 powders formed in the range of 800-900 °C, and then γ-Al2O3 transformed to α-Al2O3 at higher temperatures, pure α-Al2O3 powders could be obtained at 1000 °C by using resorcinol as organic monomer. The results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that Al2O3 nanoparticles with γ crystalline phase had grain sizes in the range of 5-40 nm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation displayed that the morphology of the prepared α-Al2O3 powders had aggregated bodies formed by Al2O3 grains in the range of 0.2-0.5μm. These results provide a new way of preparation of alumina powders.


Electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) sensors offer a powerful and general means for analyte detection in complex samples for various applications. Paper-based E-AB sensors could enable portable, low-cost, and rapid detection of a broad range of targets, but it has proven challenging to fabricate suitable three-electrode systems on paper. Here, we demonstrate a simple, economic, and environmentally-friendly strategy for fabricating aptamer-modified paper electrochemical devices (PEDs) via ambient vacuum filtration. The electrode material, shape, size, and thickness of the three-electrode PED system can be fully customized. We developed aptamer-modified PEDs that enable sensitive and specific detection of small molecules in minimally processed biosamples. The sensitivity and stability of the PEDs is comparable to E-AB sensors based on commercial gold electrodes. We believe our fabrication strategy can lead to the development of high performance PEDs that enable on-site detection of a variety of analytes, simplifying the development of portable sensors for real-world applications.


A number of machines with helical active elements used in the process industries are analyzed: helix and turbine impellers with draft tubes; screw of a single screw extruder and helical flight feeders. These have in common the helical shape and functioning with a fully filled section with transported liquid or material. Based on the analysis of the movement of the liquid or granular material determined by the helical surface, the following relationships are established: pumping flow rate for helix impellers; transport flow rate of an extruder screw and of a screw conveyor functioning with a fully filled section with material. The relationships evidenced the importance of a correct choice for the inclination angle of the helical flight and the influence of friction between liquid or granular material and the helical surface. Active elements with helix surface or deriving from a helix surface are used in numerous machines from process industries (chemical, petrochemical, food, polymer and rubber processing, ceramics, textiles, cellulose and paper), for transport of powdery and granular materials. The active elements of machines from process industries evolved along with the development of new production technologies. It is noticeable the improvement of helixes and helical conveyors of machines used in mixing processes, screw centrifuge rotors, screw compressor rotors, screw pump rotors, polymer processing machines, helical conveyors and elevators, helical feeders (1). From a functional point of view one can notice the following cases: - machines in which the volume offered by the shape or the helical channel is: - partially occupied by the processed material or transported (some helical conveyors, twin screw extrusion machines in the feeding zone); - totally occupied by the processed material, with the development of a certain pressure during movement; - processed/ transported material has along the entire length of the movement direction: - almost constant temperature; - variable temperature, generally increasing from the machine inlet to outlet. The flow rate of machines with active helical elements depends on the degree of helical channel occupancy, on the evolution of temperature and pressure of the processed/ transported material. In the case of helical conveyors with partially occupied channel section with granular of powdery material or for twin screw extruders, the flow rate is proportional with the filling coefficient of the channel transversal section, ensured by a variable flow rate feeder. For screw machines with fully filled channel transversal section with transported material since the feeding zone, the flow rate is determined by the interaction between the fed material and the surfaces with which it comes into contact, by means of the friction coefficients between the transported material and these surfaces. The paper analyses the influence of the friction coefficient between the transported material and the helical elements metallic surfaces, in the following cases:


This paper presents the performance of Wireless Sensor Networks in an energy-efficient test-bed to mitigate the undesired consequence of increased energy consumption. The Wireless Network Nodes constitute the main component of Wireless infrastructure and the major contributor to the energy consumption of Wireless Sensor Networks. Therefore, there is a need for a well-designed and planned infrastructure to effectively serve customers to avoid incessant collisions, attacks and shut downs. This work developed and designed a MATLAB Model for simulation and analysis of the Wireless Sensor Network energy saving that has a functional capacity that lasted an estimated value of 330 rounds of simulation (82.5% energy efficient), unlike the conventional that lasts 120 rounds of simulation (30% energy efficient). Variation in the packet delivery ratio when cluster-based Routing Technique was activated and when it was not activated showed that the packet delivery ratio of 96% was achieved with the Proposed Model as against 64% of the conventional (existing) Model. The Sensor Network lifetime for the proposed technique increased by 52.5% compared to the conventional technique which implied better network performance.


The progress in field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) provides new options for DSP design engineers. And the multiplication is one of the most important operations in the field of digital signal processing (DSP). Hence, in this paper,the characteristic of multiplication is analyzed and some different types of multiplier structures are offered. And the performance evaluation and comparison (area and speed) for these multiplier implementation structures have been carried out by utilizing the Hard Describe Language (VHDL and VIRELOG) and ISE software package V4.1i from Xilinx.


Superconducting samples of type (Cu0.5Tl0.5)-1234 were prepared at normal pressure via one step of conventional solid state reaction technique, and added with x wt.% of graphene (0≤x≤0.1). X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) shows that the addition of graphene does not alter the tetragonal structure and the lattice parameters of the samples. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) measurements indicate the non-uniform distribution of graphene inside the (Cu0.5Tl0.5)-1234 phase. While the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images reveal the increase of the inter-grain connectivity. The superconducting transition temperature Tc, obtained from Ac magnetic susceptibility measurements, shows an enhancement up to x=0.04 Wt. %, followed by a deterioration for x >0.04. The frequency dependence of the dielectric properties of the samples was experimentally investigated at different temperatures (110 K ≤ T ≤ 260 K). The real and imaginary parts (ε' and ε'') of dielectric constant increase up to x=0.1. The study of ε' and ε'', the dielectric loss (tan δ) and the ac-conductivity (σac) have shown that the variation of frequency, temperature and addition of graphene allows the tuning of these parameters for various applications.


This work presents a global methodology for the complete design of an integrated inductor. After describing the different existing topologies, a method providing the geometrical dimensions from the desired inductance value is reported. Then, the frequency dependency of the inductance and its parasitic capacitance and resistance are analyzed by means of specific CAD tools. A specific analysis of thermal failure mechanisms is presented next. Temperature and current density of different shapes of connection pad are subsequently studied.


To what extent do domestic institutions affect the solution of collective action problems in international waters? Dwindling water resources and dire climate change projections make the determination of water rights in international rivers a major source of contention among states. If the states cooperate based on integrated water resource management principles, they could achieve social equity, economic efficiency, and sustainability. Yet, many international rivers remain subject to unilateral exploitation. This paper explores the role of domestic institutions in facilitating the emergence of international water rights. Adopting a political economy approach, it presents a case study analysis of the dispute over the Euphrates and explores the complex interaction of governing institutions in achieving efficient water management. I argue that the solution to the collective action dilemma in water rights is the creation of property rights institutions, which requires high levels of trust and reciprocity among highly motivated actors, who are accountable to their people.