Background: Glucose alterations are associated with impaired cognition. The 1-h-post-load plasma glucose ≥155 mg/dl in non-diabetic subjects confers an increased risk of cardiovascular events and diabetes. This pilot study aimed to investigate whether the 1-h-post-load plasma glucose ≥155 mg/dl negatively affects the subcortical regions of the brain and the cognitive functions. Methods: We enrolled 32 non-diabetic subjects. Patients were divided into two groups based on 1-h- post-load plasma glucose value > or < 155 mg/dl: normal glucose tolerance (NGT) 1-h-high and NGT 1-h-low subjects. All subjects underwent 3 Tesla MRI and standard neuropsychological tests. Results: NGT 1-h-high subjects showed significantly lower values of both right (4.9 ± 0.9 vs. 5.1 ± 0.9 ml) and left (4.8 ± 1.1 vs. 5.1 ± 1.1 ml) hippocampal hemisphere volume, while right hemisphere hippocampal diffusivity was lower in the NGT 1-h-high group (10.0 ± 0.6 vs. 10.6 ± 0.5 10−4 mm2s−1). NGT 1-h-high subjects also showed a poorer memory performance. In particular, for both Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Task (RAVLT)—immediate-recall and Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT)—delayed total recall, we found lower cognitive test scores in the NGT-1 h-high group (26.5 ± 6.3 and 10.4 ± 0.3, respectively). Conclusions: One-hour-post-load hyperglycemia is associated with morpho-functional subcortical brain alterations and poor memory performance tests.


Objective To study the ability of peripheral blood dendritic cells in chronic hepatitis B virus-infected patients to induce T lymphocyte proliferation and its correlation with immune function of dendritic cells.Methods Peripheral blood DCs of 10 chronic hepatitis B virus-infected patients and 10 normal human were isolated and cultured with granulocyte- macrophage-colony stimulating factor(GM-CSF), interleukin 4(IL-4), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α).The ability of DC to induce T lymphocyte proliferation was evaluated by a liquid scintillation counter.Results The ability of DC in patients to induce T lymphocyte proliferation (cpm,10 635±876) was significantly lower than that of controls (cpm,42 918±7 889 P 0.01).Conclusion Immune function of peripheral blood DC in chronic hepatitis B virus-infected patients than that in normal human.


CSULB School of Social Work including: Social Work Practice with Death, Dying, and Loss. His areas of specialization are in medical and geriatric social work including hospice and palliative care interventions, bio-ethics, and bereavement. In 2012, Dr. Wilson was the recipient of the University's Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award for his teaching accomplishments. Please Join Us: Caregiving at a Distance


The resistance genes to the powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis(DC.)E.O.Speer) in common wheat germplasm N9659 which is highly resistant to the prevailing race in Shaanxi Province is derived from wild emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccoides) accession AS846. In the present study,the resistance gene in N9659 were identified. The F1 and F2 populations derived from crosses of N9659 and highly susceptible cultivars Abbondanza,Shaan 160,Huixianhong and Abbondanza nullisomic lines,were inoculated with the prevailing race in Shaanxi Province at the seedling stage for resistance identification. The results showed that the F1 between N9659 and three susceptible cultivars Abbondanza,Shaan 160 and Huixianhong,as far as Abbondanza nullisomic lines,were resistant to the powdery mildew,and the ratio of resistance to susceptible is accord with 3∶1 except the ratio of Abbondanza5BM×N9659,which indicated that the powdery mildew resistance of N9659 at seedling stage is controlled by a single dominant gene located on chromosome 5B.


Patients with Familial Pulmonary Hypertension have mutations in the BMP receptor, BMPR2, but it is unknown how these mutations cause disease. These observations also raise questions as to the role of BMPR2 signaling in other forms of pulmonary hypertension (PH). To address this, we evaluated the regulation and function of Bmpr2 ligands in a mouse model of hypoxic PH. Pulmonary Bmp2 and Bmp4 are up‐regulated by hypoxia: Bmp2 is up‐regulated in the peripheral pulmonary vasculature, while Bmp4 is widely expressed in respiratory epithelia. Loss of hypoxia‐induced Bmp4 in Bmp4+/− mice is associated with reduced PH and decreased pulmonary vascular remodeling. This contrasts with Bmpr2ΔEx2/+ mice which show greater susceptibility to hypoxic PH, and suggests that an alternative ligand regulates Bmpr2‐dependent effects in the vasculature. Unlike Bmp4+/− mice, Bmp2+/− mice develop more severe hypoxic PH than wild type littermates. There is also reduced eNOS expression and activity in the pulmonary vasculature of hypoxic Bmp2+/−, but not Bmp4+/− mice. Bmp2 also up‐regulates eNOS expression and activity in intrapulmonary artery and endothelial cell preparations, indicating that eNOS is a target of Bmp2 in the pulmonary vasculature. These data indicate that Bmp2 and Bmp4 exert opposing roles in hypoxic PH, and suggest that protective effects of Bmp2 are mediated by increasing eNOS activity in the pulmonary vasculature.


Abstract : An approximate technique sometimes used for estimating the probability of failure of brittle materials under polyaxial loading conditions is to assume that the effect of each principal stress is independent of the presence of the others. It is shown that this assumption is generally unconservative, and that the errors can be large. An exact treatment is given in terms of Weibull theory for materials that obey Weibull's two-parameter formulation, and a simple conservative approximation is suggested for such materials.


As part of an international network coordinated by the Australian NSW Department of Primary Industries, nine lines of perennial wheat obtained from crosses between Triticum aestivum and Thinopyrum spp. were grown at Montelibretti (Rome) in randomized blocks with three replications during two years of testing, and compared for their agronomical, nutritional and technological properties with common wheat cultivars (cvs) Wedgetail and Enesco. All perennial genotypes were characterized by post-harvest regrowth (PHR), lateness of ear emergence, small kernels, loose spikes, variable number of seeds/spikes and high number of tillers. In addition, perennial lines had medium test weight, low percentages of hull-less kernels, high protein content, reduced sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) sedimentation volume and kernel texture typical of soft or medium-hard wheat. The hard-textured lines showed novel genes coding for puroindolines A and B inherited from wheatgrass (Thinopyrum spp.). Analysis of single seeds revealed a marked interand intra-line variation for gliadins and HMW-glutenin subunits (HMW-GS). The total content in bioactive compounds 5-n-alkylresorcinols and soluble polyphenols (SP) was high in perennial lines compared with their annual counterparts. Furthermore, perennial lines exhibited high yellow pigment content and resistant-starch percentage. The poor gluten quality of some perennial lines G E N E T I C S A N D B R E E D I N G : S TAT E O F T H E A R T , G A P S A N D O P P O R T U N I T I E S 54 P E R E N N I A L C R O P S F O R F O O D S E C U R I T Y P R O C E E D I N G S O F T H E F A O E X P E R T W O R K S H O P


Competitions in the financial industry are so tight that sharia banks can no longer simply rely on standard products to attract the public. The development of sharia banking products and services should not merely 'imitate' from conventional banking products. However, the development of this innovation product does not mean eliminating the principles of syariah let alone just be used as legal and administrative hilah to gain profit alone, on the grounds that Islamic banks are positioned as a financial intermediary institution based on business not a social institution. Based on these problems, the authors get some solution that is, development of innovation (product) is permitted when there is a stronger proposition and clarity of meaning contained therein, conformity with the purpose of sharia (maqashid al-syariah), and relevance to the development of the times and needs Human beings will transactions and modern contracts.


The objective of this study was to regenerate via direct organogenesis complete plants of Coryphanta retusa (Britton & Rose) Cactaceae, an endangered cactus....


THE idea of the formation of a solution, a homogeneous miature, &dquo;,hen JL tlle sol~-ent is a liquid, is sufliciently familiar to require no explanation, but the extension of the principle to the case of solids is of recent introduction, and the ter m &dquo; solid solution &dquo; may seem to convey contradictory notions. There are, however, many well-known cases in which substances, mixed when they are molten, solidify without separation of the components, and form a homogeneous solid mass; and as homogeneity is the one criterion of solution, there is no reason to confine the application of it to liquids. It is well known that charcoal will absorb gases in large quantities, and that such substances as wool and cotton will absorb moisture, and of these phenomena there are two possible explanations, which have been considered respectively by Professor Trouton of University College, London, and by myself in papers read recently before the Royal Society. Professor Trouton considers that the gas or moisture is condensed on the


A new family of magnetically mononuclear cobalt(II) complexes with formula [{NiII(L)CoII(H2O)2(MeOH)}{NiII(L)}2](ClO4)2 where H2L1 = bis(N,N'-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)ethylene-1,2-diamine) (1), H2L2 = bis(N,N'-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)propane-1,2-diamine) (2) and [{CuII(L4)}2CoII](ClO4)2 (3) where H2L4 = bis(N,N'-bis(3-ethoxysalicylidene)cyclohexane-1,2-diamine) have been obtained employing non chiral or enantiomerically pure Schiff bases. The structural studies have been carried out by single crystal X-ray and powder diffraction. Dynamic magnetic studies indicate that some members of this family present field induced slow relaxation of the magnetization and its response has been compared with the magnetically diluted [Zn0.9Co0.1] complex 1D. Ultra-low frequency Raman spectroscopy has been used to relate the slow relaxation with lattice vibrations.


* Abstract - The behaviour of two-grid coupled Cellular Neural Networks (CNN's) able to exhibit Turing patterns is investigated for initial conditions representing human faces. Preliminary results based on filtering with various positions and widths of the band of unstable modes are presented. Experiments indicate that "Turing-faces" may represent a useful pre-processing technique that may increase the performance of traditional PCA-based face recognition approaches.


Abstract Polyepichlorohydrin (PECH)/organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) nanocomposites were prepared by using dichloromethane (DCM) as a cosolvent for both polymer and clay at room temperature, through the solvent-casting method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to confirm the formation of nanoscale polymer/OMMT nanocomposites and the localization of the polymers between organosilicate layers. The polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites have higher tensile modulus than the polymer matrix. However, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) thermograms of the PECH/OMMT nanocomposites showed glass-transition temperatures similar to the pure PECH. The rheological properties of the PECH/OMMT nanocomposites, measured via a rotational rheometer in a steady shear mode, showed that the steady shear viscosity increased with increasing clay loading.


The existing virtual fault-tolerant routing protocols,particularly the VRRP and HSRP protocols are described,their principles and applications are analyzed.Based on this,it is found that these protocols could not make full use of the physical routers in the realization of the redundant fault-tolerance.By taking advantage of these routing equipment,and making use of the exiting lines and technology the static and dynamic load-sharing of traffic is achieved,and is compatible with these standards.These improvements could realize the full use of existing networks,better the network environment,without any replacement of the existing agreement.


This paper evaluates the impact of privatization on firm employment using a panel dataset of 386 firms in China in the period 1995–2001. Our panel regressions find that employment drops more slowly in privatized firms than in pure state-owned firms by a margin of 17.7 percentage points over the base year of 1995. We also study the dynamic impacts of privatization on employment growth and find that the performance of privatized firms improves over time. Using the difference-in-difference propensity score matching method, we arrive at similar results. To test the robustness of our conclusions, we use alternative definitions of privatization and find that the impacts of privatization on employment are independent of the definition of privatization. These findings are robust even after we control other performance and financial variables as well as the pre-privatization employment history of privatized firms.


This paper is taken from the text of a lecture by Mr. Schoeler to the New South Wales Branch of the Australian Photogrammetric Society, at Sydney Technical College on the evening of Tuesday, 10th October, 1967.


The purposes of this study were: (1) To describe efforts to improve students' critical thinking and collaborative skills in the science subject at grade V SD Kanisius Kalasan in the even semester academic year 2020/2021; (2) To improve the students' critical thinking skills through STAD-type cooperative learning model; (3) To improve the collaboration ability of grade V students through STAD-type cooperative learning model in science subject, especially the material of theobject's shape changes. This research was a Classroom Action Research, conducting in two cycles following the stages of planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. Data were collected through interviews, observation, and tests. Then, the data were analyzed by using quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results showed: (1) the efforts to improve students 'critical thinking and collaboration, (2) STAD-type cooperative learning model improved students' critical thinking skills; the mean score of the students' critical thinking in the pre-cycle was 68.80; the score in cycle I was 76; and it increased to 79.36 in cycle II, (3) STAD-type cooperative learning model improved students' collaboration skills; the mean score in pre-cycle was 69.36; it increased to 84.46 in cycle I and increased to 86.25 in cycle II.


Electrostatic alternate adsorption was successfully employed for low-molecular-weight dyes, leading to a large variety of dye−polyion layer-by-layer assemblies. The assembling process of individual dye−polyion layers of Congo Red (CR)−poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) was investigated by using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The in-situ QCM measurement revealed that the dye adsorption occurred at a rate similar to that of conventional polyion adsorption. Successful assembly of the CR layer was confirmed also by increasing intensities in the UV adsorption. The molecular aggregation within the dye layer was inferred from the observed absorption shift in the case of CR−PDDA. Apparently, stable film formation is promoted by dye aggregation in the adsorbed layer, although the extent of film growth was independent of conceivable aggregation in the solution. Successive frequency decreases due to film growth were observed for other representative dyes under optimized conditions. Comparison of the...


Conducting polymers can be exploited as an excellent tool for the preparation of nanocomposites with nano-scaled biomolecules. Polypyrrole (Ppy) is one of the most extensively used conducting polymers in design of bioanalytical sensors based on it's favourable conductibility,selectivity,stability,sensitivity and biology affinity. In this review article significant attention is paid to immobilization of biologically active molecules within Ppy during electrochemical deposition of this polymer. Such unique properties of this polymer as facilitation of electron transfer from some redox enzymes are discussed. Recent advances in application of polypyrrole in immunosensors and DNA sensors are presented. Recent progress and problems in development of molecularly imprinted polypyrrole are considered too. This polymer will find proper place in future molecular technology.


In many vocoders LSFs (line spectrum frequencies) are used to encode the linear predictive coding (LPC) parameters. An interframe differential coding scheme is presented for LSFs. The LSFs of the current speech frame are predicted by using both the LSFs of the previous frame and some of the LSFs of the current frame. Then the difference vector resulting from prediction is vector quantized. The proposed scheme is computationally efficient and easy to implement, and can be used in low-bit-rate vocoders.<<ETX>>


Anisotropy of geff Factor for Ni50Mn35.5In14.5 Heusler Alloy Ł. Dubiela,b,∗, A. Wal and I. Stefaniuk Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Department of Biophysics, University of Rzeszów, S. Pigonia 1, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland International PhD Studies, Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, E. Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342 Kraków, Poland Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Rzeszów, S. Pigonia 1, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Center for Microelectronics and Nanotechnology, University of Rzeszów, S. Pigonia 1, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland


The first systematic study of chemical adsorption/desorption of phosphonic acid and geminal bis(phosphonic acid) on/from the surface of anatase nanoparticles is reported. Stable TiO2 colloidal nanodispersions were used in the study. The colloidal stability is preserved upon nanoparticle modification. A macrocyclic lanthanide(III) complex, attached through a phosphonic/bis(phosphonic) group to the TiO2 surface allowed precise quantification of sorption parameters by means of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Results show different behavior of phosphonate and bis(phosphonate) groups. For phosphonate, a monomolecular layer formation was observed, and the desorption rate depends on the sorption conditions. It is probably caused by different phosphonate binding modes on the surface. Excess amounts of phosphate in the washing media accelerates the desorption rate of the phosphonate. The bis(phosphonate) is adsorbed on the surface in large quantities forming multilayers that resist desorption even in the presence of phosphate ions and, thus, the bis(phosphonate) moiety is a suitable group for anchoring other molecules on the TiO2 particle surface.


Stimulating cell proliferation is a challenge in the field of silk fibroin-based biomaterials. In this study, silk fibroin/hyaluronic acid blend films were prepared by a casting method using carbodiimide as a cross-linking agent. Carbodiimide induced silk fibroin to form Silk I crystal structure which was not affected by the presence of hyaluronic acid. The films showed high water resistance. In vitro, the performance of these films was assessed by seeding L929 cells. The results indicated that the silk fibroin/hyaluronic acid blend films with the blend ratio of 80/20 and 60/40 promoted cell proliferation compared with the pure silk fibroin or hyaluronic acid film. These results suggest that silk fibroin/hyaluronic acid blend films are water stable and cytocompatible materials which are expected to be useful in biomedical applications.


In order to investigate dependence of conductivity on the temperature and photoreponse of β-Ga2O3 thin films, films were grown by a radio frequency magnetron sputtering on sapphire substrates. The conductivity of films without annealing depends weakly on the temperature to 560 °C and increase exponentially at T >560 °C. After annealing at 900 °C growth region shifts to 350 °C. Films without annealing are solar-blind and have a photoresponse to illumination with a wavelength of 222 nm.


ABSTRACT We examine the relationship between dispossession, customary land relations, and involuntary displacement. Attention to customary land relations is the key to understanding how some households experience the extremities of extractive capitalism. By decoupling involuntary displacement from the acquisition of land, it is possible to surface indirect or secondary effects that are otherwise illegible. We conclude that 'messy' land relations and disputes are not simply a consequence of capital intensive projects acquiring rights over land and displacing people. Our findings highlight the dangers in assuming that issues and conflicts over land are readily resolved by resorting to 'customary procedures'.


Fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relies on the proper implementation of various governmental policies, among which are also financial and taxation policies. The current public administration in Slovenia is based on a fully digitalized data management process. Our goal is to achieve new data integrity methods based on state-of-the-art technologies of the ONTOCHAIN software ecosystem. ONTOCHAIN includes technologies to achieve decentralised knowledge graphs, smart oracles, smart contracts, and tokenomics principles that rely on high integrity and trustworthiness. Consequently, we study the possibility to realize flexible incentives and taxation policies that contribute to the seamless achievement of SDGs.


Human recognition through iris has gained allot of attention. This paper presents an efficient approach for recognition which includes segmentation, enhancement, feature extraction and recognition. Before feature extraction the image is enhanced using Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE). Iris features are extracted using Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) which is invariant to scale and somewhat invariant to rotation and shown robustness to affine distortion .The advantage of proposed method is accuracy and simplicity. The system is tested using CASIA database version-4 for experimental results.


At the end of 1997 we had yet another series aimed to appeal to the public for more help with crimebusting. The four programmes of the Most Wanted series on lTV were on our television screens at the prime time of nine o'clock on Friday evenings for an hour. The programmes clearly built on the expertise developed in similar forays into developing the crimebusting business on the television. The technical skills in providing crime as entertainment were evident, whilst also showing some responsibility in setting out the issues in a measured way. The presentation was slick and successful outcomes seemed to be forthcoming as the updates throughout the programme continually reminded us. The audience, of course, has no idea of any of the tensions and negotiations which may have taken place behind the scene with the media personnel in their never-ending battle to maintain ratings and the police in their desire to put their best face forward in what, after all, is a major public relations exercise. Who holds control? Who are the arbiters of what is acceptable and appropriate for a prime-time audience? The smiling and reassuring presenters, Penny Smith and Dermot Murnaghan, with their ex-police consultant as well as serving police officers, provided a confident front to the public that they were providing a useful public service. So what is the pedigree of this approach? Crimewatcb UK's launch in 1984 was the prototype of this kind of television spectacle in which the media and the police seem to work in harness. By 1990 the programme had claimed it had been the direct cause of 252 arrests from 686 cases which resulted in 171 convictions. I It is all a million miles away from other media incursions into crimebusting. So, for example, lTV's Cook Report recently departed in a blaze of controversy after Bristol police blamed the programme makers for wrecking a long-running anti-drugs operation and putting undercover police officers at risk. It would be stupid to deny that we need all the help that we can get to combat serious crime and it would be churlish to challenge the fact that the programmes do indeed produce results on occasions, but is there a downbeat side as well? But first the format of the programmes.


This paper presents three different hydrological regimes (two mountainous and one lowland) within the Danube River basin. Their importance for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) within the river basin is discussed. One of these hydrological regimes ― a non-glacierised mid mountain region in the Austrian Alps ― is selected as a case study in order to assess the impact of climate change on both IWRM in the alpine region and the lowlands of the Danube River basin. The disproportionate hydrological influence of the Alps is demonstrated for the Danube River basin, especially during summer, late spring and early autumn. The climate normal period from 1961 to 1990 is chosen as the baseline. As future climate change scenarios, 2°C and 4°C warming with seasonal precipitation changes ― as predicted for the middle and the end, respectively, of the 21st century ― are chosen. The climate change scenarios show a substantial decrease in snow cover duration and snow accumulation within the case study area. The impact of this loss in the natural storage reservoir on the IWRM in both the alpine region (case study) and the lowlands of the Danube River basin is discussed. Generally, a shift in flow seasonality is observed. Total and base flow increase in winter, and decrease from spring to autumn. Regional water availability within the alpine case study, however, is sufficient to provide all demand holders thoughout the whole year. However, this shift in alpine water hydrology has a strong effect on water availability in the downstream Danube River. The Alps will not provide the same amount of water to the lowlands during the critical seasons of late spring, summer and autumn.


Formation Flying (FF) is a revolutionary technology used for several satellites which maintain a specific position relative to each other. This technology enables us to achieve various missions, for example, X-ray telescopes, infrared interferometers and gravitational wave observatories, because it overcomes the constraint of satellites' physical dimensions. We are currently examining the precise FF technology needed for X-ray telescopes, called Formation Flight All Sky Telescope (FFAST). This paper describes the system analysis and design needed for precise FF guidance and control systems.


The Association's relationship with Blackwell Publishers continues to work well. They are handle all of the standard printing and publishing activities: (a) subscription services (including expanded credit card capabilities), (b) advertising, (c) permissions, (d) redactory services, (e) printing, (f) back issue processing, (g) mailing and distribution for the Journal of Finance. Our web site (www.afajof.org) is held and maintained at Blackwell (UK). Some start-up difficulties were experienced with the web site, but those have been solved for the most part. During 1999, JSTOR completed the processing of the back issues of the Journal of Finance and all issues through Volume 52 (1997) are available on on-line on JSTOR. More recent volumes and forthcoming issues are available on our web site. A link to the JOF archive at JSTOR is available to AFA members from the members' page of www.afajof.org. The financial condition of the Association remains very strong. As reported previously, the Board agreed to fund the cost of professional accounting help, and a yearly audit starting with the September 1998 financial statements. The audited versions of these statements for fiscal 1999 will be published in the August 2000 issue of the Journal of Finance. Membership has again declined slightly. The record for the last three years has been:


Sealing device determines the quality level of the hydraulic cylinder. In this paper,by analyzing the work defects of hydraulic cylinders and influence factors of the hydraulic cylinder seal in actual work,as well as the structure characteristics of hydraulic cylinder pistons and cylinder heads,we put forward a new sealing technology——hydraulic self sealing. Proved by practice,this design achieves a good seal effect,and has a high practical value.


Electrochemically active lithium nickel cobalt oxide thin-film was not fabricated until now. The thin-film was deposited by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature, and its initial phase was amorphous. By varying deposition condition, The different characteristics of thin-film were achieved. Using electrochemical analyses, the relationship between physical and electrochemical characteristics was identified. Crystallized thin-film by RTA (Rapid Thermal Annealing) was shown a good capacity and cycle property.


It is known that fountain codes based on non-binary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have good decoding performance when the number of source packets is finite. However, the space complexity of the decoding algorithm for fountain codes based on non-binary LDPC codes grows exponentially with the degree of a field extension. Triangular codes encode the source packets by using shift and exclusive or. It is known that the triangular codes are efficiently decoded by the zigzag decoder. In this report, by applying triangular coding and zigzag decoding to fountain codes, we propose a fountain coding system whose space decoding complexity is nearly equal to one for the raptor codes. A simulation result shows that the proposed fountain coding system outperforms raptor coding system in term of the overhead for the received packets.


This paper reports results on experimental investigation of the conductivity behavior of carbon fiber filled polymer composites at the percolation threshold. Two types of carbon fiber-epoxy matrix composites have been studied and comparison of the measured data has been made. These two types of composites differ in the surface modification of carbon fibers (in one case the surface of carbon fibers is covered with polymer beads using the microencapsulation technology, in the other their surface stayed unmodified). Experimental data reveal that surface modification of carbon fibers influences greatly the DC conductivity (percolation threshold moves to higher concentrations) but does not influence the AC electrical properties. From the frequency dependence of conductivity upon fiber concentration it becomes clear that it is not possible to predict the high frequency conductivity (electromagnetic interference shielding properties) based on the DC conductivity. Percolation behavior of conductivity as a function of conductive filler concentration is typical only for DC or low frequency AC conductivity. The percolation threshold gradually vanishes for high frequencies of electromagnetic field. The temperature dependence of electrical properties has also been studied. Composites with concentration near the percolation threshold show the switch-off effect (at the specific temperature the DC conductivity drops by several orders of magnitude). This switch-off effect does not occur for high frequency AC conductivity.


A bipolar output power supply for an amplifier 608 comprises a feedback-regulated chopper circuit 604 which tracks the amplifier input signal to improve efficiency. The chopper circuit has positive and negative DC power rails provided by a switched-mode power supply which may be of flyback, feedforward, push-pull, half bridge or full-bridge type. The amplifier input signal may be a sine waveform or any other waveform.


The index derived from Scheimpflug tomography demonstrated good accuracy to discriminate keratoconus and normal cornea and aided in early detection of ectasia in healthy corneas. Purpose: To assess the efficiency of an index derived from multiple logistic regression analysis (MLRA) to measure differences in corneal tomography findings between subclinical keratoconus (KC) in 1 eye, corneal ectasia, and healthy corneas. Setting: 2 private Brazilian ophthalmological centers. Design: Multicenter case–control study. Methods: This study included 187 eyes with very asymmetric ectasia and with normal corneal topography and tomography (VAE-NTT) in the VAE-NTT group, 2296 eyes with healthy corneas in the control group (CG), and 410 eyes with ectasia in the ectasia group. An index, termed as Boosted Ectasia Susceptibility Tomography Index (BESTi), was derived using MLRA to identify a cutoff point to distinguish patients in the 3 groups. The groups were divided into 2 subgroups with an equal number of patients: validation set and external validation (EV) set. Results: 2893 patients with 2893 eyes were included. BESTi had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.91 with 86.02% sensitivity (Se) and 83.97% specificity (Sp) between CG and the VAE-NTT group in the EV set, which was significantly greater than those of the Belin-Ambrósio Deviation Index (BAD-D) (AUC: 0.81; Se: 66.67%; Sp: 82.67%; P < .0001) and Pentacam random forest index (PRFI) (AUC: 0.87; Se: 78.49%; Sp: 79.88%; P = .021). Conclusions: BESTi facilitated early detection of ectasia in subclinical KC and demonstrated higher Se and Sp than PRFI and BAD-D for detecting subclinical KC.


A medical device (100) for tissue ligation comprises a band (110) having perforations (122) and rungs (120) defined therein. A locking case (130) is connected to the band (110) and has a channel (150) dimensioned for reception of the band (110). A locking member (140) of the locking case (130) is configured to interlock perforations (122) and rungs (120) defined in the band (110). The channel (150) comprises an arching portion (152) into which the band (110) at least partly protrudes by arching over the locking member (140) when the locking member (140) engages a rung (120) of the band (110).


PURPOSE: An asphalt concrete paving composition, a manufacturing method thereof, and a paved surface are provided to supply an improved rubber modified asphalt paving binder that enhances the performance characteristics of asphalt paving compositions containing crumb rubber. CONSTITUTION: An improved rubber modified asphalt paving binder is composed of asphalt cement 80¯99 wt%, crumb rubber 0.5¯20 wt%, and polyoctenamer 0.01¯10 wt%. The modified asphalt paving binder is composed of the asphalt cement 80¯95 wt%, the crumb rubber 2¯15 wt%, and the polyoctenamer 0.2¯5 wt%. A minor proportion of a polyoctenamer is incorporated into the heated liquid asphalt cement. The polyoctenamer is added in a dry particulate form to the molten asphalt cement at a temperature of about 325 degrees. F. The mixture is stirred or agitated by recirculating pumps until the polyoctenamer is dissolved and thoroughly mixed. The crumb rubber is added to the hot asphalt cement with the polyoctenamer pellets or after the polyoctenamer pellets is dispersed and before or after being melted and mixed.


Thomas Nipperdey, in an ironic twist on Leopold von Ranke's famous dictum, once remarked that "All of German history is intermediate to Hitler." The 1960s certainly were. In West Germany, public discourse throughout the decade was imbued with references to the country's troubled past. Nearly every important event in the Federal Republic's political, social, and cultural life was discussed against the background of National Socialism. Although some issues grew immediately out of this period, like the Eichmann and Auschwitz trials or the suspension of the statute of limitations with regard to atrocities committed during the Third Reich, others did not, like the Spiegel affair, the Multilateral Nuclear Force (MLF), the Emergency Laws, and - last but not least - the Vietnam War. This chapter will show how the Vietnam War was perceived in the Federal Republic, given the atmosphere, and how the war in turn became a symbolic weapon in an assault on the collective identity of West Germans. In other words, and more provocatively: This chapter's premise is that West German students were protesting not so much against the current American actions in Southeast Asia as against past German atrocities in Europe. For them, Vietnam represented an opportunity to break away from their parents' generation of perpetrators and assuage their inherited national guilt. It is obvious, then, that I am concerned more with the specifics of the West German protest movement than with its similarities to other social movements that had sprung up worldwide during the 1960s. There was, to be sure, extensive cross-fertilization across national boundaries.


Aiming at the problem of distribution network reactive power compensation in China,a Taboo searching algorithm which can improve the neighborhood searching is proposed to determine the optimal location and the size of shunt capacitors on distributed system,improve the voltage profile and reduce the active power loss.In this paper,voltage qualified objective function is used to search an initial solution that meets the voltage constraints so that it is feasible in practicable voltage range,then the global optimum solution can be got when taking the reduced maximum of active power loss as objective function.And capacitor switching can be confirmed by setting the background of load prediction curve in coming 24 hours.The flow charts and the examples given in this paper show that the improved algorithm is feasible and effective.


editors is very helpful, indeed essential. Even more attention from the editors, however, was called for to ease transitions, to strengthen focuses, and to avoid gaffes. The state government of Mississippi did not create the State Sovereignty Commission "to prevent segregation" (p. 119, emphasis mine). Still, the papers generally fulfill the aim of the conference and the Southern Labor Studies Association, its sponsoring institution—the illumination of labor history in the South, a much neglected topic. Of the nine papers here, readers of this journal probably will be most interested in Lorin Lee Cary's "Middle-Echelon Labor Leaders and the Union-Building Process," and Gary Kulik's "Black Workers and Technological Change in the Birmingham Iron Industry, 1881-1931." Cary explores a largely ignored and seldom examined group in labor and shows how much such explorations can reveal about the process of unionbuilding. The perspective of the man in the middle—between top leadership and the rank-and-file—offers rich insights for understanding how unions get started, live, die, or simply stagnate. Kulik uses a variety of sources, especially the property account books of the SlossSheffield Steel and Iron Company of Birmingham, to demonstrate a very close connection between the abundance of cheap black labor and the policy of the company toward technological change. Usually the company, like most others then operating iron furnaces in Alabama, made such changes very slowly. Kulik's paper should stimulate further illuminating work on southern economic development after 1865. That would be a highly appropriate outcome for a conference sponsored by the Southern Labor Studies Association.


This article considers the ambivalent politics of one-to-one performance. It provides a brief genealogy of the genre and the key artists and scholars associated with it, before moving to a more detailed consideration of the form's ethics and economics. Regarding ethics, the article explores the issues of consent, compliance, and care.  On the topic of economics, the article considers the form's financial and temporal costs—to audiences, artists, and producers alike.


The subject article [1] reports on the results from a pilot study considering the impact of two interventions on improving homeless young adults' knowledge of HIV and hepatitis, and their mental health (n=156, n=100 at follow-up, respectively. It is an important area to explore, bearing in mind the risks of HIV, hepatitis and mental distress of the homeless population, particularly the young homeless [2].


ARTICLE INFO The present study was carried out on 22 cows suffering from ruminal impaction with plastic materials as foreign bodies and ten apparently healthy cows as a control group. Clinical examination included clinical signs, temperature, pulse, respiratory rate and ruminal motility were recorded prior to treatment. Hematological parameters such as hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), erythrocyte count (RBCs), total leucocytes (WBCs) count and the glutaraldehyde test were performed. Ruminal fluid was evaluated for pH and the methylene blue reduction time (MBRT). The mean pH of rumen fluid, MBRT, total leucocytes count, and PCV were increased significantly (P<0.05). Rumen motility was significantly reduced (P<0.05) preoperative in the animals suffering from rumen impaction, but the mean value of pulse rate, respiration rate, temperature, glutaraldehyde test, haemoglobin and total erythrocyte count were non-significantly changed. On the 5 postoperative day the clinical and the laboratory parameters in the study group had largely become normalized. Six months after the procedure, 18 (81.9%) cows showed complete recovery and 4 (18.9%) animals were slaughtered within 3 months following surgery. This study concluded that the clinical and laboratory findings might be of diagnostic importance. Rumen impaction with plastic materials should be differentiated from anorexia, emaciation, ruminal hypomotility, tympany and dehydration in cows. The surgical removal of foreign body demonstrated positive effects on animal health. Article history:


This case describes the selective use of digital infrared thermal imaging for a 48-year-old woman who was being treated by a physical therapist following left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with a semitendinosus autograft.


ABSTRACT Most established academic medical libraries across North America employ some electronic resources to complement their massive book collections. Touro University-Nevada, a new medical university in Henderson with a College of Osteopathic Medicine and Physician Assistant program, opened its doors with a virtual library fully outfitted with electronic resources and a tiny reserve book collection. This paper describes the process of building the virtual library in seven weeks and opening it just in time for the arriving students.


1 Baskin Center for Computer S ien e and Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, U.S.A. E-mail: {jagota,rlyngsoe} se.u s .edu 2 BRICS⋆ ⋆ ⋆, Department of Computer S ien e, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade, DK-8000 Århus C, Denmark. E-mail: storm bri s.dk. Abstra t Sto hasti models are ommonly used in bioinformati s, e.g. hidden Markov models for modeling sequen e families or sto hasti ontext-free grammars for modeling RNA se ondary stru ture formation. Comparing data is a ommon task in bioinformati s, and it is thus natural to onsider how to ompare sto hasti models. In this paper we present the rst study of the problem of omparing a hidden Markov model and a sto hasti ontext-free grammar. We des ribe how to ompute their o-emission or ollision probability, i.e. the probability that they independently generate the same sequen e. We also onsider the related problem of nding a run through a hidden Markov model and derivation in a grammar that generate the same sequen e and have maximal joint probability by a generalization of the CYK algorithm for parsing a sequen e by a sto hasti ontext-free grammar. We illustrate the methods by an experiment on RNA se ondary stru tures. 1 Introdu tion The basi hain-like stru ture of the key biomole ules, DNA, RNA, and proteins, allows an abstra t view of these as strings, or sequen es, over nite alphabets, obviously of nite length. Furthermore, these sequen es are not ompletely random, but exhibit various kinds of stru tures in di erent ontexts. E.g. a family of homologous proteins is likely to have similar amino a id residues in equivalent positions; an RNA sequen e will have pairs of omplementary subsequen es to form base pairing heli es. Hen e, it is natural to onsider applying models from formal language theory to model di erent lasses of biologi al sequen es. Though not ompletely random, biologi al sequen es an still possess inherent sto hasti traits, e.g. due to mutations in a family of homologous sequen es or a la k of knowledge (and omputing power) to orre tly model all aspe ts of RNA se ondary stru ture formation. Thus, it is often better to use sto hasti models giving a probability distribution over all sequen es, where a high


The aim of this study is to develop an electromagnetic actuator (EMA) for the vibration control of a cantilever beam with a tip mass. The proposed EMA system consists of an electromagnet and a permanent magnet attached on its top, whereas another permanent magnet is installed at the tip of the cantilever beam. The gravity force is balanced using the repulsive force between the two permanent magnets. The governing equation of the beam vibration coupled with the proposed EMA can be simplified as a bilinear system (BLS). In this study, the PID control, quadratic feedback control and optimal feedback control laws are employed to control the coil currents of electromagnet. Comparisons of experimental results and numerical solutions reveal that vibrations of the cantilever beam are effectively suppressed by using the proposed EMA with all the three control efforts.


This study was designed to evaluate the neuro-ameliorative effect of red (Morus rubra) and white berry (Morus alba) extracts against Alzheimers disease (AD) in male rats. AlCl3 was administered orally to male albino rats (100 mg/kg/day for 6 weeks) while, berry extracts (300 mg/kg/day for six weeks) was administered orally post AlCl3 administration. The data showed markedly elevation in lipid peroxide, apoptotic marker enzyme (caspase-8) and calmodulin (CaM) levels while, reduced glutathione (GSH) level and antioxidant enzyme; paraoxanase-1 (PON1) were reduced in AD rats when compared with normal control one. The treatment of rats with AlCl3 induced AD was associated with increase in the 8- OHdG/2-dG ratio and decreased the expression of DHCR24 and FKBP1B genes. However, the treatment of AD-induced rats with red and white berry extracts exhibited low 8-OHdG/ 2-dG ratio and increase the expression of the DHCR24 and FKBP1B genes. The results suggested the attenuated role of berry extracts which could be attributed to the inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS), increase in the antioxidant enzymes activity as well as inhibition in the occurrence of apoptotic related enzymes such as caspases-8.


The cation-defective NiAs-type polymorphs of MnCr2S4, FeCr2S4, and CoCr2S4 were prepared by high pressure-high temperature heat treatments. The magnetizations of these specimens and NiCr2S4 were studied from 1.5'K to room temperature. All phases with the NiAs-type structure were antiferromagneticalIy ordered below NBel temperatures of 70°, 200°, 300°, and 200°K, respectively. These data show a transition from ferrimagnetic to anti-ferromagnetic ordering in the transformation spinel-type ↔ NiAs-type structure in the A2+Cr2S4 compounds.


Starting with observing method of the blasting vibration,this paper stated the disposal of measure dots,the choose of vibration parameter,data analysis and process and the frequency spectrum analysis of wave shape obtained by on-the-spot survey.It made some referenced effect for technicians engaged in blasting experiments.


HTTP is a kind of stateless protocol. Though HTTP provides basic authentication services to support legal access of users, its function is weak. This paper introduces digest access authentication technology that HTTP provides, analyzes the weakness of frequently used "One Time Password" authentication method, and presents the improvements and the implementation in Java.


Quantum key agreement (QKA) can generate a shared secret key which is equally negotiated by all the participants in the protocol. In most of the QKA protocols, all the participants require quantum capabilities. But the quantum devices are too expensive for participants. This paper proposes a mutual semi-quantum key agreement protocol which allows two parties (Alice and Bob) to negotiate a shared secret key equally. In the protocol, Alice can perform any quantum operation, but Bob is a classical participant which can only perform reflection, measurement and reorder operation. Even though Bob has fewer quantum resources, Alice and Bob have an equal contribution to the shared final key, no one can determine the shared key alone. In addition, we demonstrate the security of the proposed protocol. The analysis results show that the proposed protocol not only resists against some common attacks but also assures the fairness property. It is significant for communication participant without enough quantum devices to achieve quantum communication. The proposed protocol can be implemented with present quantum technologies.


Renewable energy sources akin to wind energy are profusely available without any limitation. Reliability of wind turbine is critical to extract maximum amount of energy from the wind. The vibration signals in wind turbines rotation parts are of universal non-Gasussian and nonstationarity and the fault samples are usually very limited. Aiming at these problems, this paper proposed a wind turbine fault diagnosis method based on method based on α stable distribution and Weighted Support Vector Machines (WSVM). Firstly, the α staple from vibration rotating machine as the input feature vector. Secondly, the weighted support vector machine (SVM) was applied to automate the fault diagnosis procedure. Simulation results demonstrated that the proposed method is a very powerful algorithm for bearing fault diagnosis and has much better performance, also we have noted that we can obtain excellent results despite of less training samples.


Differences in treatment and outcome have been reported for persons with haemophilia (PWH) on intermediate‐dose (Dutch) and high‐dose (Swedish) prophylaxis, but the potential influence of sports participation has not been considered.


The relative π-electronic polarizabilities of ideal polymethines are essentially higher than those of comparable aromatic or polyene-like compounds; unsymmetrical merocyanines have the same polarizabilities as polymethines in polar solvents but polarizabilities similar to those of polyenes in non-polar solvents.


The persistence of species in fragmented landscapes relies on landscape connectivity and individuals' ability in dispersing among habitat patches. Accordingly, matrix structure can affect the orientation of dispersing individuals across the landscape. In this study, we measured the impact of matrix structure on the dispersal performance of the white‐eared opossum (Didelphis albiventris). We released individuals in three types of matrix: bare field, corn crops, and soybean crops, with distances of 30, 50, and 100 m to the nearest habitat patch. To test if the release height would affect the individuals' dispersal performance, we released animals from the ground and from 2‐m‐high platforms. We released and tracked 14 individuals in bare field on the ground; 30 in corn crops, 22 on the ground, and 8 on platforms; 17 on soybeans crop, 12 on the ground, and 5 on platforms. The type of matrix influenced the perceptual range. Perceptual range was 100 m in bare field, 50 m in corn field, and <30 m in soybean field. The platforms only increased the perceptual range of individuals in the corn field from 50 to 100 m. Visual and olfactory cues would cause this effect. We conclude that matrix structure affects dispersal performance, and that vertical elements of the matrix, such as scattered trees, may increase orientation in crop fields during inter‐patch dispersal.


TCP/UDP/IP data transport over hybrid fiber coaxial cable (HFC) networks for Internet or enterprise service requires new approaches for scaling, provisioning, authentication, service differentiation and quality of service. MAC layer bridging alone at the head end will fail to provide scaling, conditional access, and quality of service. Additionally, the half duplex, shared nature of the HFC network and the need for multiple return paths per forward path, will encourage the use of packet layer routing in the head end. Data/cable industry suppliers have been concentrating on physical and link layer issues such as modulation, forward error correction and media access control (MAC) protocols. Less thought has been given to system software issues which are crucial to scaling residential broadband networks. By scaling, we mean the capability to provision, diagnose, manage and ensure expected performance when thousands or millions of subscribers are attached. This paper describes some software scaling issues and discusses cable DHCP and virtual dialup as examples of software scaling solutions.


Abstract : The AFRL algorithm obtains equatorward boundaries of auroral precipitation from electron fluxes measured by SSJ sensors on DMSP satellites. Gussenhoven and coworkers provided the empirical basis for the algorithm, showing that auroral boundaries correlate linearly with the Kp geomagnetic index. This report describes (a) the DMSP database, (b) derived statistical parameters, (c) tests performed on these statistics, and (d) the utility of test results. We illustrate the algorithm's method of operation through four detailed boundary identifications obtained during a full orbit of DMSP satellite F16 on 25 July 2004.


A comprehensive method for quantitatively appraising the safety rating of masonry structure is proposed which is able to reflect the difference in the same safety level. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP), fuzzy theory, and the grey clustering theory were applied based on the fuzzy-grey characteristics and the structural safety factors of the building system. A four-layer safety evaluation model of masonry structure considering its structural features was established by using AHP method and a three-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model was elaborated. Then, the weight coefficient vector of each layer was calculated according to the expert experience and existing research results. Based on the grey clustering method and the fuzzy evaluation model, the evaluation matrix of every layer was established. Finally, this method was applied to a practical masonry structure. Not only the result was in agreement with the appraisal result according to Chinese standard method, but also it quantitatively evaluates the safety grade of every factor in every layer.


We discuss multiuser loading algorithms for maximum data rate-sum through a vector multiple access channel (MAC) with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). We prove that the maximum rate-sum can be obtained with very limited, if any, sharing of frequency and space dimensions of the channel between users, which significantly simplifies the optimal transmission technique and detection in case of two users. For arbitrarily narrow frequency subchannels, the maximum rate-sum in a two-user problem can always be achieved without having more than one user in each space-frequency channel dimension. The results apply, e.g., to single-input and multi-input multi-output (MIMO) wireless MAC channels with a small spread factor. The transmission efficiency is significantly improved in comparison with frequency-division multiple access (FDMA), the optimal transmission scheme for a scalar MAC.


The present invention heteroatom substituted cyclopentadienyl-relates to a catalyst system prepared from the ligand-containing metal complex, the catalyst component containing such metal complexes containing such ligands. The metal complex comprises a heteroatom bond or -Cp ring heteroatoms -Cp bonded at the 3-position of the Cp. Preferred metal complexes is a group of the ligand is inde 3-heteroatom substituted. Catalyst systems for olefin polymerization may be used at a high temperature, a very active and then preparing a polymer of molecular weight.


This essay historicizes Giorgio Agamben's notion of the "animal outside" as ingenuity by exploring early modern French polemics stemming from the humanist reception of the Machiavellian simile stating that the prince should deploy both the lion's strength and the fox's ingenuity. Defined in the Aristotelian corpus and valorized in Plutarch's Moralia, ingenuity-as-prudence was a set of cognitive responses prompted by appetites and shared by humans and beasts alike. Ingenuity anchors an alternative account of organized polis and sociability to rationalist readings of Aristotle's Politics. Promoted by Machiavelli, this alternative was condemned by humanists such as Erasmus and Vives — Erasmus saw it as the beastly degradation of politics into the subhuman tyranny of the passions. This polemic was replayed in Montaigne's response to the anti-Machiavellian lawyer Innocent Gentillet during the French wars of religion. Against Gentillet and with Plutarch, Montaigne fully acknowledges the importance of ingenuity as "the animal outside" in human sociability.


In this era of the coronary care unit, the versatility and problems of electronic instrumentation have been the focus of attention. Indeed, to the casual visitor to the newly formed coronary care unit, the total emphasis appears to be placed on this monitoring and alarm equipment. The fact remains that whether the patient survives in this electronically elegant environment to any greater extent than on an open ward, depends much more on the people who are there (nurses and paramedical personnel), than on the fancy machines. The medical personnel's training and experience is paramount to success. Comprehensive Cardiac Care , a readable manual written by nurses and physicians from Duke University Medical Center, is a welcome textbook designed specifically for coronary care personnel. Concise but not over-simplified discussions of the anatomy, physiology, and pathology necessary for nurses and their helpers to cope with the problems of patients under observation for myocardial


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ceramic porous membrane having high corrosion resistance to membrane washing using caustic soda. SOLUTION: Regarding the structure of the ceramic porous membrane mainly used in a food processing field, in the ceramic porous membrane including a plurality of through cells to be the flow path of a fluid, a porous alumina base material having a partition forming the through cells, an MF membrane formed on the surface of the partition and a glass seal layer formed on the fluid flow path direction end face of the base material, the layer of titania or zirconia is provided to the lower surface of the glass seal layer. COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT


Fault zone is a three-dimensional geologic body,of which width,height and length have a positive correlation with fault displacement.Fault zone has a typical binary structure: it consists of fault core and damage zone.Fault core is made up of diverse types of fault rocks and later-stage cementing materials.Fault core is characteristic of poorly sorted,higher clay concentration,small particle and lower porosity and permeability than those of the surrounding rocks.Comparing with surrounding rock,the damage zone is developed with abundant fractures,and as the distance away from fault core increases,the density of fractures is progressively decreasing.And porosity and permeability of the damage zone is higher than those of the surrounding rock.Types of fault rocks depend upon the lithology of the faulted rock formation,its diagenetic grade and epoch of the ruptural deformation.As to the syngenetic fault,in mudstone and impure sandstone mainly clay smear occurs,while in pure sandstone,disaggregation is generated forming deformation zone with particle rearrangement.In the middle diagenetic stage,ruptural deformation happens,and at the same time,clay smear is generated in mudstone,cataclasis and phyllosilicate smearing happened in impure sandstone forming cataclasites and phyllosilicate-framed fault rock,and cataclasis mainly occurs in pure sandstone forming cataclasites.In the late diagenetic stage,ruptural deformation happens;cataclasis becomes the principal deformation mechanism;mudstones are broken forming large amount of fault clay;both impure sandstone and pure sandstone are forming cataclasites.The cataclasites derived from pure sandstones are tighter because of the pressure solution and cementation of quartz.Hence types of fault rocks are different owing to various diagenetic stages and different lithology.The entry pressure of the clay smear is higher than phyllosilicate–frame fault rock and cataclasites,and disparity of their permeability is of 7 orders of magnitude even they are all cataclasites.Judging from the fault zone structures,we can analyze the migration and reservation of oil/gas.Vertical fault sealing mainly relies on shear clay smear,while capability of lateral fault sealing is determined by physical properties of the fault rock.Cataclasites with high physical property may have poor capability of self-sealing,it seals oil/gas mainly depending on the juxtaposition seal of hanging wall and footwall,and oil/water boundary is decided by the minimum fault displacement.Ordinarily,fault rock with low physical property can seal specified height of hydrocarbon column,and the height is a function of shale content in the fault zone.Differences of fault deformation mechanism in reservoir and cap rocks decide the coupling of fault conducting and sealing for oil/gas,in other words,the damage zone is filled up and conducts in two-ways,shear clay smear in cap rock forms the top-seal,fault core shields oil/gas and finally forms the reservoir.


Background: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare aggressive form of breast cancer that has distinct clinical needs including trimodal therapy and unique considerations regarding the timing and appropriate types of reconstruction. Social media provides patients with rare diseases treated in diverse settings access to information about standard of care and other patients experiences. The IBC Network Foundation moderates several Facebook groups, the largest of which currently consists of 1000+ IBC patients. The goal of these groups is to offer high-quality guideline-concordant information regarding treatment for IBC. Due to the incidence of IBC being low, IBC care is not routinely taught during medical training, leading to disparities in care among patients treated by physicians with different knowledge-bases. Underuse of trimodal care has been reported to be associated with worse clinical outcomes in IBC; hence understanding what factors drive suboptimal treatment choices may improve patient survival and quality of life. Methods: A 37-question patient-led online survey was created to gather real-world data regarding patterns of care for patients diagnosed with IBC from 2015-18 in the US. Survey questions consisted of both quantitative and qualitative open-ended questions to understand patients opinions about IBC specialty centers, barriers to seeking specialty care, as well as treatment choices, and outcomes. The responses received represent about a third of total group members diagnosed within the time period in which the survey covered. Results: A total of 144 survey responses were received, 139 of which met the study eligibility criteria. Of these, 109 were from patients diagnosed with stage 3 IBC and 30 were from patients diagnosed with stage 4 disease. A subset of patients reported seeking care from IBC specialty centers (38/139, 27%). Those who did not, but wanted to receive care at an IBC specialty center identified common barriers that limited their ability to do so. The most common reasons were the cost of travel and accommodation (44%), insurance limitations regarding coverage of medical costs at a specialty center (34%) and wanting to stay close to home to take care of family (24%). Analyses of guideline-concordant care (GCC) were limited to stage 3 patients due to the lack of agreement in the field on optimal care of de novo metastatic IBC and the need for decision-making based on response to systemic therapy which was not explicitly captured in the survey. Most stage 3 patients reported receiving trimodal care (94%), however not all of these patients received guideline-concordant oncologic surgery (87%). The most common variations were use of SLNB (n=10) and skin-sparing mastectomy (n=4). We compared surgeons recommendations with the type of surgery the patient chose, and found that 16% of patients were recommended an inappropriate type of surgery, however we note multiple cases of surgery recommendations being ignored and guideline-concordant care received. Most patients were offered reconstruction, however 18% were offered immediate reconstruction and 7 patients underwent immediate reconstruction, which is inconsistent with GCC. Conclusions: Despite the trimodal standard of care for IBC being unchanged for 20+ years, there are still gaps in applying this knowledge of best practices. We found that surgical recommendations are least likely to be guideline-concordant. Information from well-moderated social media channels helps patients make data-supported decisions regardless of their care setting and should not be routinely discouraged. Barriers to seeking care at IBC specialty centers exist, and some of these may be unfounded fears that may be addressed by advocates and institutions wishing to treat patients with IBC. Citation Format: Terry Lynn Arnold, Kathleen McMordie, Anglea Alexander. Real-world deficiencies in IBC patient care: A patient-led survey of care patterns across the US [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-15-04.


A case of angiographically occult traumatic aorto-caval fistula masquerading as aorto-right atrial fistula is presented. The importance of angiographic vigilance in the imaging of arterio-venous fistula is emphasized.


Kindergarten is a crucial stage in early childhood education. Principals and teachers should be highly competent and aware of children educational needs. Principals represent the model for driving the rest of the workforce in their institutions. The aim of this study was to assess the training needs of kindergarten principals in light of digital age requirements from their own perspective. The study sample consisted of (90) kindergarten principals in the district of Jerash, Jordan. A questionnaire was used to collect data, which addressed needs in three domains pertaining to the use of technology. Statistical analysis revealed that principals estimates of their training needs was overall moderate, with a slightly higher needs pertaining to ICT employment in kindergarten and educational process management. Furthermore, the findings showed that there were no significant statistical differences between respondent estimates pertaining to their academic qualifications, years of experience, or to kindergarten's ownership.


The present invention relates to a method for producing a reflective optical element of the EUV lithography optical system, a reflective optical element (20), the reflected wave reflects incident electromagnetic wave which is the operating wavelength in the EUV wavelength region phase φ a multilayer system (23,83) to obtain, and a capping layer composed of a capping layer material (25,85), the production method, for the capping layer material, to the thickness of the capping layer, the phase of the dependent curves of the reflected wave determining a linear region in dependence curve, with the thickness of the capping layer (25,85), determining a region where the phase of the reflected wave is substantially varies linearly, capping layer generate a thickness profile in (25,85), be such both the maximum layer thickness and the minimum layer thickness is linear region in said thickness profile And a step. .FIELD 4a


AIM: To observe the effect of 5Aza-dc on demethylation of TIMP-3 gene promoter in carcinoma cells. METHODS: Both hepatocellular carcinoma cells (H2M) and epidermoid carcinoma cells (A431) with methylation of TIMP-3 promoter gene were treated with 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5Aza-dc). Invasion ability and motility of the cells were detected by Transwell experiments. Expressions of TIMP-3 protein and mRNA were detected by Western blotting and RT-PCR, respectively. TIMP-3 gene promoter methylation was detected by methylation-specific PCR (MSP). RESULTS: ① Invasion ability and motility of H2M and A431 cells were declined after treatment with 5Aza-dc; ② After treatment with 5Aza-dc, the expression of TIMP-3 protein and mRNA were increased in H2M and A431 cells; ③ After treatment with 5Aza-dc, methylation of TIMP-3 promoter gene was not detectable in the cell lines. CONCLUSIONS: 5Aza-dc induces demethylation in TIMP-3 promoter gene, restores TIMP-3 gene and protein expression, and inhibits invasion ability and motility of the carcinoma cells.


Case Report Concomitant lesions in the upper limb, due to trauma, have been rarely reported in the literature. The concomitant elbow dislocation and radial diaphyseal fracture is rare and constitutes challenging management for every orthopedic surgeon. Herein, we report a case of divergent elbow dislocation associated with a fracture of the ipsilateral radial shaft in a 26-year-old adult. Clinical and radiological findings prompted the patient to undergo surgery. The particularity of our case is that, although it is a rare dislocation of the elbow combined to complex fracture, surgical management followed by correct and long term rehabilitation had led to good outcomes.


In many countries and regions, the cultural industry has gradually become the core part of economic activities. With the continuous deepening of marketing practice and the rapid development of media technology, the cultural industry brand construction based on the integrated marketing communication theory has become more and more important. The goal of brand development is to support overall strategic goals and marketing strategic goals. In the changing market environment, the use of diversified marketing communication methods, the integration and the dissemination of rich information communication contact points, can realize the sustainable development of cultural industry brand construction. Driving brand building with integrated marketing communication and expanding the market with brand will greatly promote the expansion of the cultural industry market. Based on integrated marketing communication theory, this paper takes the cultural industry brand as the research object and focuses on analyzing its communication status. It analyzes the problems of unclear target positioning, insufficient attention, scattered communication resources, and difficulty in building a long-term brand image in integrated marketing communication of the cultural industry and proposes corresponding solution strategies using the literature research method and interdisciplinary research method.


Initially conceived by Paul Kunz of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), several generations of small processors which are partially emulating IBM processors have been constructed at SLAC and CERN and have been used a s so-called 'farms' The notion of the 'farm' is now generally used for parallel processing systems with many independent servers of the same kind controllled by one master processor.


A desire to dissuade "bogus" refugee claims, public envy over the level of health care that asylum seekers receive, and cost savings are ample justification for limitations on hospital, physician and other medical services provided to refugee claimants and protected persons, Minister of


El-nino phenomenon that strikes Malaysia with temperature recorded more than 35°C can lead to extreme temperature rise in car cabin up to 80°C. Various problems will arise due to this extreme rising of temperature such as the occupant are vulnerable to heat stroke, emission of benzene gas that can cause cancer due to reaction of high temperature with interior compartments, and damage of compartments in the car. The current solution available to reduce car cabin temperature including tinted of window and portable heat rejection device that are available in the market. As an alternative to reduce car cabin temperature, this project modifies the car's air conditioning blower motor into dual direction powered by solar energy and identifies its influence to temperature inside the car, parked under scorching sun. By reducing the car cabin temperature up to 10°C which equal to 14% of reduction in the car cabin temperature, this simple proposed system aims to provide comfort to users due to its capability in improving the quality of air and moisture in the car cabin.


The change of cut tobacco structure before and after distributing was analyzed with principal component analysis to evaluate the performance of distributors of two different types. The results showed that: 1) the quality of tobacco distributed by a multi-rotating-drum distributor changed less than that by a disc distributor,and the cut tobacco distributed to different cigarette making machines was more uniform; 2) cluster analysis and intercept calculation via principal component analysis could evaluate the quality difference between products.


This study aimed to analyze the debate and the theoretical and methodological deepening of studies on daily life work. The investigation started from the interdisciplinary dialogue among anthropology of work, ergology, and social psychology of work and it systematized the mutual contributions among these scientific fields, their approximations and their departures from the thematization and appropriation of human activity at work from the perspective of daily life. The comparative analysis highlighted axes which differentiate the ways for approaching the object, that refer to the relations established between practical and technical-scientific kinds of knowledge and the modes of intervening on work situations. Comparative approaches share the interest in knowing the real work, the value attributed to workers' knowledge and sensitivity to the micropolitical dimensions of daily life. One concludes that the location in each of these axes depends on the greater or lesser affiliation to the traditions of anthropology or ergonomics.


This article describes how suppliers are striving to deliver quality in their products and services to enhance safety, reliability and productivity. The article describes how welds that are more reliable can be performed faster and reduce the heat affected zone are just a few of the topics rail welding suppliers are working to improve. Chemetron has added lower consumption welds to its mobile welding fleet, increased pulling power on its closure welds and improved clamping designs that provide consistent alignment and improved productivity. The Holland Rail Welding Research and Development Team has been collaborating with the Edison Welding Institute to develop a railhead defect repair process that utilizes the flash-butt welding technology. Lincoln Electric notes that is has improved welding equipment for welding on frogs and crossing diamonds. Orgo-Thermit Incorporated offers specialized technical services to its customers, with a market focus on short-line and transit operations. Railtech Boutet has releases its Head Wash Repair Weld (HWR), which makes repairs in track for transverse defects and corner gauge defects without cutting the rail.


We propose the strongly tilted Bose-Hubbard model as a natural platform to explore Hilbert-space fragmentation (HSF) and fracton dynamics in two-dimensions, in a setup and regime readily accessible in optical lattice experiments. Using a perturbative ansatz, we find HSF when the model is tuned to the resonant limit of on-site interaction and tilted potential. First, we investigate the quench dynamics of this system and observe numerically that the relaxation dynamics strongly depends on the chosen initial state -- one of the key signature of HSF. Second, we identify fractonic excitations with restricted mobility leading to anomalous transport properties. Specifically, we find excitations that show one dimensional diffusion (z = 1/2) as well as excitations that show subdiffusive behaviour in two dimensions (z = 3/4). Using a cellular automaton, we analyze their dynamics and compare to an effective hydrodynamic description.


This study investigates the effect of commercial district ratio on the price of mercantile shops in the case of twenty eight Seoul metropolitan residential land development sites (RLDS). The research method is four types of multiple regression, namely linear, semi-log, inverse semi-log, and log-log model. The dependant variable is the demanding price per square meter of a mercantile shop for sale. The sample analyzed is three thousand and eighty units of shop. Among all models, the log-log one appears to be most persuasive. The facts found through it are summed up as follows; Firstly, the price of a mercantile shop comes 1) under negative influence of its own size (SIZE), the public district ratio (PDR) in the RLDS which it belongs to, the commercial district ratio (CDR), the neighbourhood utility district ratio (NUDR), the time elapsed (TE) since the completion of the RLDS development, and the distance of the RLDS from Kang-Nam Gu, Seoul (DK), 2) under positive influence of the stories number of the building (SNB) which it belongs to and the whole land size (WLS) of the RLDS, and 3) under positive or negative influence of the direction of the RLDS from Seoul City Hall and the floor which it belongs to. Secondly, judging by variable groups, the one most influent to the price of a mercantile shop proves to be the variables concerning to the shop"s own characteristics, and the one secondly influent is confirmed to be the variables related with the RLDS" features, and the variable group concerned with the land use pattern of RLDS turns out to have relatively weak effect on the price. Thirdly, nevertheless, among the variables concerned with the land use pattern, the commercial district ratio (CDR) appears to exercise statistically very significant influence over the price.


markdownabstract__Abstract__

Soft tissue sarcomas represent a rare, heterogeneous group of mesenchymal tumors. In sarcomas,
histological classification, prediction of clinical behaviour and prognosis, and targeted treatment
is often a challenge. A better understanding of the biology of soft tissue sarcomas is necessary to
find reliable diagnostic markers, elucidate prognostic and predictive factors, and improve
treatment by finding new targets for therapy. Not much is known about the involvement of
microRNAs in soft tissue sarcoma biology. These evolutionarily conserved, small, non proteincoding
RNA molecules can target (near-)complementary sequences in the 3'UTR of mRNA
molecules, thereby inhibiting their translation into functional proteins. This thesis addresses the
role of microRNAs in the tumor biology of soft tissue sarcoma. We showed that microRNAs can
discriminate diverse liposarcoma subtype, lipomas and normal fat. We identified that miR-145
and miR-451 have a tumor suppressor-like function, which makes them candidates for future
liposarcoma therapies. Myxoid/round cell liposarcomas showed a very distinct microRNA
expression profile. Overexpression of miR-497 and miR-30a, which are regulated by the
myxoid/round cell specific FUS-CHOP fusion protein, inhibited IGF1R-pathway members and
sensitized myxoid liposarcoma cells to doxorubicin therapy. In gastrointestinal stromal tumors
miR-17/20a/222 inhibited cell proliferation, affected the cell cycle, induced apoptosis, and
inhibited the expression of KIT and ETV1, two essential oncogenes in GIST oncogenesis. This
could have great implications for the treatment of (imatinib-resistant) GIST. Furthermore we
demonstrated that hypoxia inducible microRNAs, miR-210 and miR-485-5p, fine-tune the
expression of HIF3α in hypoxic tumor cells. In summary, we identified microRNAs that can
potentially be used as diagnostic, prognostic, or predictive biomarkers in soft tissue sarcomas, or
could serve as a target for therapy. These results show that microRNAs hold great potential for
future management of soft tissue sarcomas.


The protective potential of chelators, i.e. N‐acetyl cysteine (0.6 mg /kg, intraperitoneally) and dithiothreitol (15.4 mg kg−1, intraperitoneally) with selenium (0.5 mg kg−1, pre‐oral) were evaluated individually and in combination against methylmercury‐induced biochemical alterations and oxidative stress consequences. Forty‐two male Sprague–Dawley rats were exposed with methylmercury (1.5 mg kg−1, pre‐oral) daily for 21 days followed by different treatments for five consecutive days. Administration of methylmercury caused significant enhancement in the release of transaminases, alkaline phosphatases and lactate dehydrogenases in serum. A significant increased was observed in lipid peroxidation level with a concomitant decreased in glutathione content after methylmercury exposure in liver, kidney and brain. Hepatic microsomal drug metabolizing enzymes (aniline hydroxylase and amidopyrine N‐demethylase) of cytochrome p4502E1 showed sharp depletion after methylmercury exposure. Alterations in histological changes in liver, kidney and brain were also noted in methylmercury administered group. All treated groups showed recovery pattern, but the combined treatments with N‐acetyl cysteine and dithiothreitol in combination with selenium were more effective than that with either alone treatments in recovering blood biochemical changes after methylmercury toxicity. In conclusion, the results demonstrated that combination therapy may recover all blood biochemical alterations and offer maximum protection against methylmercury‐induced toxicity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


OF THE THESIS Hydrogen Interaction with Al(111) and Ti-doped Al(111) Surfaces for H Storage Applications by Stefan P. Schaefer Thesis Director: Prof. Yves J. Chabal Complex metal hydrides are promising candidates for hydrogen storage applications. Most of these materials consist of aluminum mixed with other elements. It was found that titanium doping allows their use in a convenient temperature and pressure range. Therefore the key process is the dissociation of molecular hydrogen at a Ti catalyst on the surface. Preliminary studies with pure and titanium-doped aluminum surfaces are undertaken to gain a basic understanding of the hydrogen adsorption mechanism. The interaction of hydrogen with an Al(111) surface was studied using Infrared Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy (IRRAS) under Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) conditions. Hereby the formation of aluminum hydrides (alanes) in different sizes was observed depending on the hydrogen coverage of the surface. The growth of larger alanes is favored at higher H exposures. Different measurements were carried out for temperatures of 93, 180 and 259K and it was found that larger alanes form at higher temperatures. In another step of the experiment an Al surface was doped with titanium atoms emitted from a home-built Ti-source. Ti structures with a thickness of less than one monolayer (ML) were grown at 105K and a Ti film of around one ML was deposited at room temperature. The deposition rate was determined with a quartz crystal monitor and the deposition on the surface could be verified by Auger Electron Spectroscopy


Considering the city soft strength which settling its foundation of feasibility,operability and successful possibility for bidding for Winter Olympics,and coordinating with the great strategy implementation of China bidding for Winter Olympics,the paper has a research on Harbin city competitiveness.Compared with other Winter Olympics host cities,Harbin city is poor in some soft strengths such as the inspiring capacity of ice-snow sports culture,the science and education bearing capacity of ice-snow sports development,the business attracting capacity of ice-snow sports tourism,the image spreading capacity.It indicates the soft strength has been a largest impediment for Harbin city to win the next bidding for Winter Olympics.Harbin city soft strength should be all sidedly improved by starting with reinforcing the inspiring capacity of ice-snow sports culture,the science and education bearing capacity of ice-snow sports development,the image spreading capacity of famous ice-snow city,the business attracting capacity of ice-snow sports industry.


Results: The sensitivity of the MAGE or SSX gene RT-PCR to identifying cancer tissue of the 69 lung cancer patients was 95.2% for squamous cell carcinoma (scc), 87.0% for adenocarcinoma, and 100% for small cell carcinoma. The mean sensitivity value was 94.2% (p=0.001). For adenocarcinoma, the additional use of the SSX gene resulted in a higher expression rate than MAGE alone (87% vs. 69.6%). The expression rate for the cancer-free lung tissue was 14.3% in scc, 17.4% in adenocarcinoma, and 25.0% in small cell carcinoma. In the induced sputum of 49 lung cancer patients who had not undergone surgery, the expression rate for one of the two genes was 65.5%. The expression rate for the sputum of healthy people and benign intrathoracic diseases by MAGE or SSX gene reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was 3.8% and 17.7%. Conclusion: Detecting lung cancer using the expression of MAGE and SSX genes in lung cancer tissue has high sensitivity.


In this paper,a two-way satellite cross link-based distributed autonomous orbit determination algorithm is proposed for the navigation for autonomous orbit determination requirements in the absence of ground support of global satellite navigation system.The satellite navigation constellation cross link two-way pseudo-range measurement model is analyzed.The data flow of the distributed autonomous orbit determination algorithm is given.According to International Satellite Navigation Services Organization published actual GPS precise ephemeris of the system,the autonomous orbit determination algorithm is simulated and verified.Simulation results show that the user range error(URE) of the autonomous orbit determination algorithm is about 30 m in the late 90 days,and the design algorithm has higher autonomous orbit determination accuraty.


Objective To investigate whether lipoic acid can protect the myocardium of patients with acute coronary syndrome and explore the mechanism.Methods 63 patients with acute coronary syndrome were randomly divided into two groups: the lipoic acid group and the conventional medicine group.Patients in the lipoic acid group were given 600 mg lipoic acid every day,while patients in the conventional medicine group were given routine drugs.The course of treatment was one week.The activity of ALDH2,concentrations of hs-CRP and 8-iso PGF2a in all patients were examined before,24 hours and 1 week after the medication.Results After24-hour treatment,the activity of ALDH2 in the two groups were significantly higher than before(P0.001),while the concentration of 8-iso PGF2a decreased(P0.001).The activity of ALDH2 in the lipoic acid group was much higher than in the conventional medicine group(P0.01),and 8-iso PGF2a in the lipoic acid group was significantly lower than in the conventional medicine group(P0.05).After 1week,compared to the before-medication data,the activity of ALDH2 in the two groups was significantly higher(P0.001),and the concentration of 8-iso PGF2a and hs-CRP were lower(P0.001).The variation of these three parameters in the lipoic acid group was larger than the conventional medicine group.Also,concentration of 8-isoPGF2a after one-week treatment was lower than that at the end of 24-hour treatment.Conclusion Lipoic acid may increase the activity of antioxidant enzymes and reduce the serum level of oxidative stress and inflammation factors to protect the myocardium of patients with acute coronary syndrome.


Morphine withdrawal increases the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity, which is dependent on an hyperactivity of noradrenergic pathways innervating the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). However, the possible adaptive changes that can occur in these pathways during morphine dependence are not known. We studied the alterations in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH; the rate‐limiting enzyme in catecholamines biosynthesis) immunoreactivity levels and TH enzyme activity in the rat NTS‐A2/VLM‐A1 noradrenergic cell groups and in the PVN during morphine withdrawal. In the same paradigm, we measured Fos expression as a marker of neuronal activation. TH and Fos immunoreactivity was determined by quantitative Western blot analysis, combined with immunostaining for TH and Fos for immunohistochemical identification of active neurons during morphine withdrawal. Dependence on morphine was induced by a 7‐day s.c. implantation of morphine pellets. Morphine withdrawal was precipitated on day 8 by an injection of naloxone (5 mg/kg s.c.). Morphine withdrawal induced the expression of Fos in the PVN and NTS/VLM, which indicates an activation of neurons in these nuclei. TH immunoreactivity in the NTS/VLM was increased 90 min after morphine withdrawal, whereas there was a decrease in TH levels in the PVN at the same time point. Following withdrawal, Fos immunoreactivity was present in most of the TH‐positive neurons of the A2 and A1 neurons. TH activity was measured in the PVN, a projection area of noradrenergic neurons arising from NTS‐A2/VLM‐A1. Morphine withdrawal was associated with an increase in the enzyme activity at different time points after naloxone‐precipitated morphine withdrawal. The present results suggest that an increase in TH protein levels and TH enzyme activity might contribute to the enhanced noradrenergic activity in the PVN in response to morphine withdrawal.


Resource sharing in virtualized environments have been demonstrated significant benefits to improve application performance and resource/energy efficiency. However, resource sharing, especially for multiple resource types, poses several severe and challenging problems in pay-as-you-use cloud environments, such as sharing incentive, free-riding, lying and economic fairness. To address those problems, we propose Reciprocal Resource Fairness (RRF), a novel resource allocation mechanism to enable fair sharing multiple types of resource among multiple tenants in new-generation cloud environments. RRF implements two complementary and hierarchical mechanisms for resource sharing: inter-tenant resource trading and intra-tenant weight adjustment. We show that RRF satisfies several highly desirable properties to ensure fairness. Experimental results show that RRF is promising for both cloud providers and tenants. Compared to existing cloud models, RRF improves virtual machine (VM) density and cloud providers' revenue by 2.2X. For tenants, RRF improves application performance by 45% and guarantees 95% economic fairness among multiple tenants.


Geological disasters destroy the modern city and block the cities sustainable development. The article analyzes the factors in the geological disasters forming process and its harmness, exploring solutions to the geological disasters control in order to reinforce the systematic abilities of urban reducing disasters.


Potential impacts on the estuarine ecology of the Mgeni River, South Africa resulting from the construction of the Inanda Dam are discussed. Management strategies which have been suggested to alleviate the negative impacts are outlined. An underlying theme in the paper is the lack of any holistic legislation in South Africa for the protection of the environment. Responsibility for the environment is fragmented and there is currently no legal stipulation that an environmental impact assessment be undertaken for a resource development project such as a dam. A voluntary co‐operative approach to impact assessment has emerged, which in spite of the goodwill that exists between developers and environmentalists, is inadequate to deal with impacts resulting from major infrastructural developments.


Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites that if ingested can cause a variety of adverse effects on both humans and animals. Aflatoxins are toxic fungal metabolites found in foods and feeds. When ruminants eat AFB1-feedstuffs, they metabolise the toxin and excrete AFM1 in milk. To control AFM1 in foods it is necessary to reduce AFB1 contamination of feeds for dairy cattle by preventing fungal growth and AFB1 formation in agricultural commodities intended for animal use. Aflatoxin high concentration in milk and milk products cause widespread negative impact on public health. Therefore, it is necessary to establish strategies for reducing aflatoxin levels in animal feed and dairy products. In this paper, we review recent studies in aflatoxin M1 contamination in dairy products in Iran and various countries.


The monitor system now in operation in the Gas Analysis Laboratory was designed to meet the Nuclear Safety specifications of a permanent and accurate record of hourly temperature and pressure readings on all weapons undergoing thermal exposure or accelerated aging. This report is designed to give the user an insight into the monitor system and its operation without requiring extensive knowledge of computer software. A flow chart of the actual monitor program as it currently exists is included as an appendix to this report. (auth)


OBJECTIVE The pathological basis for chronic atrophic gastritis and precancerous pathological changes is qi deficiency, blood stasis and heat accumulation. The prescription for invigorating qi, activating blood circulation and clearing away heat is used in this study to observe its effect in the treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis and precancerous pathological changes, compared with a positive control group treated with Weining Granule. METHOD There were 64 patients in the treatment group and 63 patients in the control group. A course of treatment lasted for 3 months, and the patients were treated for two courses of treatment. RESULT In the treatment group, the effective rates after 3 and 6 months of treatment were 75.0% and 95.3% respectively, which were markedly higher than 52.4% and 63.5% in the control group ( P 0.01). There was no marked difference in the improvement of inflammation between the two groups. The total integral for the feeling of fullness, anorexia, belching and loose stool in the treatment group was markedly lower than that in the control group ( P 0.05). After the treatment, the integrals for atrophy, allotypical hyperplasia, etc. were markedly lower than those before the treatment in the treatment group ( P 0.01) and these integrals become lower also in the control group after the treatment ( P 0.05). Again, the integrals in the treatment group were markedly lower than those in the control group ( P 0.05). CONCLUSION The prescription for invigorating qi, activating blood circulation and clearing away heat is quite effective for the chronic atrophic gastritis and precancerous pathological changes.


To study sweep frequency impedance (SFI) features of short-circuit (SC) faults easily, this paper proposes a broadband electric circuit model of a transformer winding and solves its three key problems. The first problem is the calculation of lumped-circuit parameters considering frequency-dependent complex anisotropic permeabilities (FDCAPs), which are caused by the physical characteristics, such as skin, proximity, and geometrical effects and anisotropic properties, of the transformer core and winding materials. The other issue is the establishment of the electric circuit model based on the SFI measurement connection mode, the transformer winding parameters, and a double-ladder network (DLN). Another issue is the construction of the state-space model of the electric circuit toward different SFI values to obtain all network branch voltages and currents. The accuracy of the proposed model is assessed by comparing its SFI signatures with those of the simulation model, without considering FDCAPs under healthy winding, and the corresponding physical transformer model during healthy winding and SC faults. It is observed that the SFI results of the proposed model are closer to the experimental measurements, and the model can be effectively used to study the SFI features of SC faults. Moreover, the impacts of different types of SC faults on the SFI data are concluded in this paper.


The Sabine-Neches estuary is a shallow, turbid estuary in south-east Texas with high concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The sediment inventory of210Pb and239,240Pu indicates that only a fraction of the particle-associated nuclides that reach the estuary were retained in the sediment. To better understand the cause for this low-sediment inventory of particle-reactive nuclides,7Be and210Pb concentrations have been measured in the dissolved and particulate phases, in addition to the DOC and suspended particle concentrations. The ratios of dissolved to particulate concentrations of7Be and210Pb were generally higher than in most other coastal waters.

The dissolved residence times of7Be and210Pb (accounting for riverine input) varied between 0·6 and 9·6 days and 1·7 and 9·8 days, respectively. Distribution coefficients (Kd)ranged between 1500 and 87 100 cm3 g−1for7Be and 2600 and 37 000 cm3 g−1for210Pb. TheseKds are lower than those reported for most coastal waters. There was no significant correlation between suspended particle concentration andKdof either7Be and210Pb; this has been observed for many other particle-reactive nuclides, suggesting that particle concentration is not the primary controlling variable for the removal of particle-reactive nuclides in these high DOC waters. The average particle residence time in this estuary is ∼2 days. The relatively lowKdvalues, longer dissolved residence times of7Be and210Pb, longer particle residence times and shorter hydraulic residence times compared to other coastal areas, result in only a partial removal of particle-reactive radionuclides in this estuary.