Simple Summary Primiparous sows are usually associated with poor lactation performance and low weaning weight piglets. Live yeast (LY) supplementation in gestation and lactation diets have been shown to improve sow health status, milk composition, and growth performance of suckling piglets. However, little is known about the carryover effects of LY supplementation during gestation and lactation on primiparous sows and their offspring. In the present study, LY supplementation significantly increased the serum concentrations of IgA and IgG of sows at farrowing and weaning stages, and of piglets at post-weaning on day 14 and 28. These results suggest that LY addition in the diets of gestating and lactating primiparous sows might improve the maternal and progeny health by increasing the immunity of sows and their offspring. Abstract The present study determined the effects of live yeast (LY) supplementation during middle–late gestation and the lactation period in primiparous sows on reproductive parameters, lactation performance, and immunity, and also explores the carryover effects in their offspring. On day (d) 60 of gestation, 16 crossbred primiparous sows were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments (with or without supplementation of 425 mg/kg of live yeast; LYT and CT, respectively) homogeneous for body weight (BW) and backfat thickness. Experimental diets were applied from day 60 of gestation to the end of lactation. At weaning, 60 piglets with an average BW of each treatment were selected based on their source litter and assigned to two groups corresponding to the original treatments received by their mothers. Each group had five replicates of six piglets each and was fed a basal diet for 42 days. The results showed that LY supplementation significantly increased the serum IgA and IgG concentrations of sows at farrowing and weaning stages, and of piglets on day 14 and 28 post weaning. No significant differences were found in reproductive and lactation performance, while minor effects were observed on antioxidant capacity. In conclusion, live yeast addition during middle–late gestation and the whole lactation period resulted in enhanced immunity of primiparous sows and their offspring, therefore, improving maternal and progeny health.


Green GDP is the green gross domestic product.It is one kind of amendment to GDP's target,which deducts the environment cost from GDP.This paper expounds green GDP's origin,accounting contents,accounting difficulty and accounting methods,stressly expounds some means calculating the environment cost that consist of comparative price method,actual measurement,statistics,value calculation and the future income evaluation.


e15591 Background: There is no standard treatment in patients with renal cell carcinoma that was previously treated with VEGF-targeted therapies and mTOR inhibitors. From the Gold study, Sorafenib might be an option for the third-line treatment. This study aimed to compare bevacizumab plus sorafenib versus sorafenib for the third-line treatment of patients with metastatic renal cancer. Methods: This study is an open-label, multi-center, randomized phase II trial. Eligible patients had metastatic renal cell carcinoma with clear cell, and had received 1st line treatment of sunitinib and 2nd line treatment of everolimus before enrollment. Additional inclusion criteria included: ≥ 1 measurable disease, ECOG PS 0/1, and adequate hematological, renal, and hepatic functions. Patients were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to receive bevacizumab plus sorafenib (bevacizumab 5mg/kg intravenously every two weeks plus sorafenib 400 mg twice daily) or sorafenib alone (sorafenib 400 mg, orally, twice daily). Treatment ...


Elections are an integral part of any democracy. They serve as a mechanism for legitimising a political system – its succession of government and leaders – for linking political institutions with voters, and for holding the elected government and leaders accountable to the electorate. Yet, due to the combative nature of competition for political power in high-stake contexts, elections may lead to violence. Usually this happens if key stakeholders anticipate the proceedings will not be free and fair, while those seeking to retain or gain political power show no qualms about resorting to extraordinary measures such as using force in order to win. Sometimes there exist underlying causes of electoral violence such as exclusion, inequality, or a history of ethnic tensions. Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous group of islands off the mainland coast of the United Republic of Tanzania, exhibits such a case whereby almost every one of its general elections has been marred with violence. Today, as the concern escalates over threats of immanent physical combat related to elections in so-called 'advanced' democracies, it is illuminating to revisit the drivers of electoral violence in Zanzibar, and to reconsider the efficacy of its early warning mechanisms, since the inception of Zanzibar's multiparty politics in 1992.


Objective To explore the epidemiological characteristics of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease(HFMD) at the town of Longgang in order to provide scientific basis for formulating prevention and control measures in future.Methods HFMD cases from 2009 to 2010 were analyzed with descriptive epidemiological methods.Results The incidence rate of men(439.07/100000) was obviously higher than that of women(304.20/100000) in 2859 cases of HFMD;Children of one to four years old had higher incidence rate(77.8% in the cases of illness);The incidence rate was higher in scattered children(6218.43/100000) than in the child-care children(2044.81/100000),and It was obviously higher in urban and suburban fringe(701.82/100000) than in rural(309.50/100000) and urban area(304.39/100000).Conclusion Establishing good personal hygiene,intensifying health supervision on child-care institutions,strengthening environmental remediation and implementing community case classification management are effective measures for prevention and control of HFMD.


The inclusion of issues of diversity and cultural competencies, threaded through each chapter, is particularly relevant and recognises the need for all the school community to practice with sensitivity and skill. Although the writing is situated in the American context and experience, with some work on the reader's part, the content provides easy transferability to school social work in any country. Certainly as someone who has bemoaned the paucity of writing in the Australian context, this text provides signposts as to what is central to school social work and the areas that emerging and seasoned professionals alike can consider in practice, policy and research. A gap in the book is the absence of links to the Health Promoting School discourse. As a social work educator, I was disappointed not to find such a reference within the book, since this discourse is critical to practice, policy and research and to an understanding of holistic approaches to student, school and community well-being. In conclusion, this book offers the school social worker valuable reference points to improve practice, policy and research. The book will appeal to social work educators, social work students, social work practitioners and other professionals within the education field.


The systems and methods for adaptive bit rate of streaming media, including the subtitle using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) according to embodiments of the present invention is disclosed. One embodiment of the invention the font to render text from to request and buffering portions of video from at least one of the alternative stream with the playback device, the selected subtitle stream, information that indicates the font used by the rendering engine to ask for, in one of downloading at least one of the font file when said font is not present on the playback device, to at least buffering the portions of the selected subtitle stream, a video using a decoder on the playback device to decode the buffered portions, the font-is to render the portion of the subtitle stream corresponding to the buffered part of the video is configured by the at least one of the downloaded font file using the rendering engine, and the using the decoded video reproducing device And it includes performing synchronized playback of the rendered subtitle.


The Food and Drug Administration cleared darbepoetin alfa in July to treat chemotherapy-induced anemia in patients with nonmyeloid malignancies. This followed the approval a year ago for use in anemia due to chronic renal failure. The major benefit of the drug, a recombinant erythropoietic protein manufactured by Amgen under the trade name Aranesp, is that it requires fewer injections than existing treatment, according to the data that led to its approval. In fact, ongoing trials show that a single dose of the new compound per three- or-four-week chemotherapy cycle can manage anemia as effectively in some patients as epoetin alfa, the standard therapy, which must be injected once every week. Darbepoetin alfa, which stimulates production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, maintains its level in the blood approximately three times longer than epoetin alfa, allowing for less frequent dosing. As investigators explained at the most recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, an adjustment in the amino acid structure of the original compound—adding two new glycosylation sites—is what makes the longer treatment intervals possible for the same therapeutic effect. Two practicing clinical oncologists who are experts in the development and clinical use of darbepoetin alfa were asked for this article to advise physicians on how patients can make the most of the new agent. They are Robert E. Smith, Jr., MD, President of South Carolina Oncology Associates in Columbia; and Michael S. Gordon, MD, Associate Dean for Research at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.


Iophenoxic acid, a cholecystographic agent, was removed from the market because of its extreme biologic persistence. It has been estimated that the plasma half-life is of the order of 2.5 years. The present study was designed to examine the renal transport characteristics of iophenoxic acid and its close chemical relative, iopanoic acid, in the classical renal slice system. Renal cortex slices from dogs did not metabolize iophenoxic acid as judged by countercurrent distribution. On the other hand, slices from the rabbit produce a metabolite, which is a glucuronide as judged by enzymatic hydrolysis. Rabbit and dog slices show net accumulation of iophenoxic and iopanoic acids. In general, iophenoxic acid uptake displays the characteristics of classical renal anion transport process, e.g. , stimulation by acetate, depression by succinate and probenecid. These responses are less obvious with iopanoic acid. The most striking inhibitory effect on both acids was produced by plasma. The addition of as little as 1% plasma (v/v) to the uptake medium inhibited accumulation by 90% in the case of iophenoxic acid and 70% in the case of iopanoic acid. No inhibitory effect was noted when an ultrafiltrate of plasma was added. In addition, when plasma was added to slices that had already accumulated these acids, a reversal of the uptake process was noted.


This study aims to develop an applicable balāgah textbook for the Arabic Language Education (PBA) students of IAIN Pekalongan and to find out its test validity and application. Using the Research and Development method, the study found that the majority of students want a balāgah textbook that discusses ilm bayan (such as tasybih, majāz, and kināyah) and ilm ma'ani (such as kalam khabari, kalam insya'i, qaṣr, faṣl and waṣl, etc.). The students also want a textbook that is brief, simple, and easy to understand. Meanwhile, the test validity from some expert validators indicated a good result with an average value of 4 points considering that the balāgah textbook design in each theme contains a lot of text analysis exercises taken from al-Qur'an and Hadith to make the textbook more applicable. Next, the application of the balāgah textbook may involve several methods, i.e. the jigsaw method, the discussion method (question-answer method), and the taṭbīqi method (direct practice) by analyzing the Arabic texts


Objective: To investigate color stability of a heat-cure, a self-cure, and a modified curing self-cure injection-molding denture base materials after immersing in distilled water and coffee for 7 days and 30 days. Materials and Methods: Three groups of injection-molding denture base materials were fabricated as the disk specimens (diameter 50 mm and thickness 0.5 mm). Heat-cure SR Ivocap® High Impact were wet cured following the manufacturer instruction (100 OC for 35 min Ivocap wet curing). Self-cure IvoBase® Hybrid were dry cured in an automated instrument, which the curing temperature started from 40 OC up to 120 OC for 35 min (IvoBase dry curing). The IvoBase® Hybrid material were also wet cured at 100 OC for 35 min (IvoBase wet curing). Ten specimens of each group were measured for baseline color (T0) using a spectrophotometer. Five specimens of each group were immersed in distilled water and the other five in coffee. The color values of the specimens were remeasured at the 7th day (T7) and at the 30th day (T30). The mean color differences (∆E) for the experiment groups were compared statistically by using Split-plot ANOVA, followed by Tukey's honest significant difference (HSD) test at 5% level of significance. Results: Color differences (∆E) of each experiment group were not significantly different when compared at the same immersion period within the same immersion solution (p>0.05). However, the color differences were significantly different between 7 days and 30 days of immersion for both immersion solution (p<0.05). The color differences were also found between the materials immersed in coffee and distilled water at the same periods of immersion time (p<0.05). Modified curing technique of IvoBase Hybrid material did not cause any significant color changes. Conclusions: Longer immersion time and different immersion solutions resulted in color changes of Ivocap High Impact and IvoBase Hybrid. Modified curing of IvoBase Hybrid did not result in color changes.


The site preference of Ru in NiAl was studied using first-principles calculations. The calculation of formation energies indicated that the site preference of Ru was on the Ni sites. The valence band (VB) structures of the NiAl alloys were investigated by photoelectron spectroscopy. The VB spectra of the NiAl–Ru alloy was shifted away from the Fermi level so that the Ni d-band centroid moved to a higher energy by 7.77 eV as Ru was added. Such a shift revealed that the Ni–Ru interactions gave a significant contribution to the VB structure of the NiAl–Ru alloy.


This paper summarizes the attack using SIB message in 4G LTE environment as a cornerstone for vulnerability research in the future 5G environment. In addition, the overall configuration of 4G LTE environment, vulnerabilities in attach and paging procedures will be described. The eNodeB delivers important information related to the eNodeB, such as cell selection information, to the UE through a SIB message as a broadcast channel. Since the SIB message transmitted on the broadcast channel is transmitted in plain text to all UEs, a malicious attacker can also receive and use it. Therefore, as can be seen in this paper, a malicious attacker can construct a rogue eNodeB using information in the SIB message and perform a man-in-the-middle attack. In this regard, it describes a SIB message that can be used in an attack. In addition, we introduce a test bed that needs to be configured and implemented in an LTE environment to send and receive SIB messages. The case of LTE vulnerability that can be verified by several SIB messages(SIB1/3/4/5/10/11) will be central described. Finally, we describes possible counterplans against attacks and examines whether vulnerabilities in LTE environment such as SIB message and rogue eNodeB can be verified in 5G environment in the future.


Circadian oscillations in peripheral tissues, such as the retinal compartment of the eye, are critical to anticipating changing metabolic demands. Circadian shedding of retinal photoreceptor cell discs with subsequent phagocytosis by the neighboring retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) is essential for removal of toxic metabolites and lifelong survival of these postmitotic neurons. Defects in photoreceptor phagocytosis can lead to severe retinal pathology, but the biochemical mechanisms remain poorly defined. By first documenting a 2.8‐fold burst of photoreceptor phagocytosis events in the mouse eye in the morning compared with the afternoon by serial block face imaging, we established time points to assess transcriptional readouts by RNA sequencing (RNA‐Seq). We identified 365 oscillating protein‐coding transcripts that implicated the phosphoinositide lipid signaling network mediating the discrete steps of photoreceptor phagocytosis. Moreover, examination of overlapping cistromic sites by core clock transcription factors and promoter elements of these effector genes provided a functional basis for the circadian cycling of these transcripts. RNA‐Seq also revealed oscillating expression of 16 long intergenic noncoding RNAs and key histone modifying enzymes critical for circadian gene expression. Our phenotypic and genotypic characterization reveals a complex global landscape of overlapping and temporally controlled networks driving the essential circadian process in the eye.—Mustafi, D., Kevany, B. M., Genoud, C., Bai, X., Palczewski, K. Photoreceptor phagocytosis is mediated by phosphoinositide signaling. FASEB J. 27, 4585–4595 (2013). www.fasebj.org


The potential of the CMS experiment to discover neutral heavy resonances in the di-electron and di-muon channels as well as a heavy charged boson, W ′, has been studied considering an integrated luminosity of 100 pb−1. This integrated luminosity was a realistic expectation of the size of an early LHC dataset circa summer 2008. Assuming Standard Model couplings, discovery of a di-lepton resonance was found to be possible up to a resonance mass of 1.5 TeV and up to approximately 1.2 TeV in the Z′ ψ model. Massive spin-2 gravitons that arise in the RS model were found to be discoverable in the di-muon channel up to mases of 1.5 TeV assuming a coupling strength k/mPl = 0.1. The discovery of a heavy charged boson, decaying to an electron and antielectron neutrino was found to be possible up to a mass of 2.2 TeV. In the absence of a signal, exclusion was found to be possible up to approximately 2.5 TeV.


Nutrient requirements in young trees increase annually during fruit formation. This study was conducted to determine the effect of fertilisation treatments, using fertiga- tion, on the vegetative and reproductive growth of young cherry trees (Prunus avi- um) cv.'Brooks' grafted onto 'MaxMa 14' rootstocks in Central Chile. The research was conducted at the La Palma Experimental Station in Quillota on 3-yr-old cherry trees spaced at 5 m x 2 m and trained as central leaders with the Solaxe system over the course of two growing seasons. Few of the measured variables were significantly affected by the treatments. The shoot length was affected only after harvest (Novem- ber), the node number increased with shorter shoots, and the fruit set decreased with no N application. Fertilisation resulted in some negative effects, such as a lower number of nodes (per m -1 ), decreased fruit set, and increased cracking. Considering the null effect of applying N before harvest and the significant difference in vegeta - tive growth between T 100 and T 200 after harvest, it appears that there are at least two different strategies for the fertilisation of young cherry trees: fertilisation should start either after harvest or a few weeks earlier with N applications higher than 100 but lower than 200 kg-N ha -1 . This amount should be further investigated, and a combined strategy of less than 200 kg-N ha -1 plus accompanying nutrients applied


Admittedly , God's question is not merely a matter of the intellectual jingoism. In our highly atomized Contemporary world, the tendency is always to prove everything only from the standpoint of reason or through scientific experimentation. But reason and science unaided cannot lead us too far. Reason and science however, can provide interpretation for many different things but cannot give answers and solutions to all questions and every problem. What we cannot see are far more than what we can see through reason and science put together. Such things can only be apprehended possibly through supernatural faith. God's omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence can neither be merely rationalized nor be subjected to more scientific proof. However, Science, reason and faith are not opposed to one another. Instead, they are different aspects of one and the same thing, and, hence should complement each other without any friction. What matters is each being able to know its limitations. There are two companions in our earthly existence and journey: reason and faith. At a point, the reason can still see clearly unaided. Never the less, to some extent, the reason can no longer see clearly. It is at that point in time that faith takes over from reason. However, this very question of God, has eluded philosophers of different epochs. The researcher, therefore, never claims to give an adequate and exhaustive answer to it either. Hence, the writer employed the method of philosophical reflection as well as theological investigation to achieve the purpose of the study. The researcher, therefore, come to a conclusion that God is both all-inclusive and all-exclusive..


The effect of quantum torsion in theories of quantum gravity is usually described by an axionlike field which couples to matter and to gravitation and radiation gauge fields. In perturbation theory, the couplings of this torsion-descent axion field are of derivative type and so preserve a shift symmetry. This shift symmetry may be broken, if the torsion-descent axion field mixes with other axions, which could be related to moduli fields in string-inspired effective theories. In particular, the shift symmetry may break explicitly via nonperturbative effects, when these axions couple to fermions via chirality-changing Yukawa couplings with appropriately suppressed coefficients. We show how in such theories an effective right-handed Majorana neutrino mass can be generated at two loops by gravitational interactions that involve global anomalies related to quantum torsion. We estimate the magnitude of the gravitationally induced Majorana mass and find that it is highly model dependent, ranging from the multi-TeV to keV scale.


Salient information on diseases and parasites of bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) in the southeastern United States is summarized. Major diagnostic findings on 146 bobwhites submitted to our regional wildlife disease laboratory from 1972 through 1981 included traumatic injuries, various toxicoses, and avian pox. Traumatic injuries were diagnosed frequently throughout the 10-year period, whereas toxicologic problems occurred sporadically. Avian pox emerged in outbreak proportions in the region in 1978 and thereafter has been prevalent in localized areas, Prompted by severe aflatoxin contamination in southeastern corn crops in 1977, studies on aflatoxicosis in bobwhites indicated that risks to wild bobwhite populations were minimal, Serologic, pathologic, and virus isolation studies disclosed infections of quail bronchitis virus and TR-59 adenovirus in bobwhites in northcentral Florida, Extensive studies have revealed only infrequent minor lesions associated with ectoparasites and endoparasites, and it was concluded that parasitism is not an important mortality factor in wild bobwhites, Two diseases encountered in pen-raised bobwhites, avian pox and histomoniasis (blackhead disease), clearly have potential to produce problems in wild bobwhites and wild turkey, At the First National Bobwhite Quail Symposium in 1972, Kellogg and Doster presented a comprehensive review of diseases and parasites reported from bobwhites, These authors listed 21 infectious agents and 101 parasites that had been reported in.163 published articles. As was noted, most of the information dealt with pen-raised bobwhites, experimental infections, or general reviews of diseases and was relatively limited with regard to specific or detailed information on diseases and parasites of wild bobwhites, Despite these limitations, this re~iew and a companion review (Kellogg and Calpin 1971) still remain entirely adequate as diagnostic or research checklists, 1This study was supported by Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida, and by an appropriation from the Congress of the United States to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, The University of Georgia, Funds were administered and research coordinated under the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (50 Stat, 917) and through Contract Nos, 14-16-0008-676, 14-16-0008-2029, 14-16-0009-78-024, Fish and Wildlife Service, U,S, Department of the Interior. 57 Thus, the purpose of the present article is not to provide an updated checklist but rather to provide a synopsis of the most significant or potentially significant diseases in wild bobwhites in the Southeast and to identify those agents which apparently are only rarely the cause of morbidity or mortality in wild bobwhites, Also included is an evaluation of major disease problems in pen-raised bobwhites and an estimate of the risk from these diseases to wild bobwhites where large numbers of pen-raised bobwhites are released into the wild.


When surge occurs in a multistage centrifugal compressor, it is often very difficult to determine which stage is causing the entire compressor to surge. Likewise, if only one stage exhibits an instability problem, even though overall compressor operation is stable, detection becomes even more difficult. The problem of premature surge can be detected or observed on the test stand or in the field. There are limitations with the surge trace. It does not reveal the detailed flow mechanisms that cause surge. This is a subject in itself, which is still not totally understood. Continued use and practice with the surge trace technique will allow most surge problems to be discovered and pursued in an orderly fashion. The surge trace is a simple, but effective way to determine which stage is causing surge problems in a multistage compressor. This technique may be applied at the test stand as well as in the field.


A pretrial hearing is about to be held in the federal district court of Judge Harry Garfield, who is known for his deep and scholarly approach to the law. The case involves a claim of predatory pricing in violation of the Sherman Act. The defendant, a full line computer manufacturer with a dominant position in both central processing units and peripheral equipment, allegedly reduced prices following plaintiff's entry as a peripheral equipment manufacturer. The plaintiff, a small manufacturer of computer memory units-now involved in a bankruptcy proceeding just down the hall-alleges that such prices were intentionally predatory; that they forced plaintiff to leave the market; and that following that unfortunate event the defendant raised prices, although not to their original level. The parties agree that the defendant's prices were at all times above its marginal costs, but it is disputed whether prices were above full cost. The judge himself will explain the nature of the hearing.


High-level Chinese cartographic developments predate European innovations by several centuries. Whereas European cartographic progress -- and in particular the search for a practical solution to the perennial"longitude problem"at sea -- was driven by persistent economic motivations, Chinese mapmaking efforts responded predominantly to administrative, cadastral and topographic needs. Nevertheless, contemporary Chinese scholars and navigators, to some extent aided by experienced Arab navigators and astronomers, developed independent means of longitude determination both on land and at sea, using a combination of astronomical observations and timekeeping devices that continued to operate adequately on pitching and rolling ships. Despite confusing and speculative accounts in the current literature and sometimes overt nationalistic rhetoric, Chinese technical capabilities applied to longitude determination at sea, while different in design from European advances owing to cultural and societal circumstances, were at least on a par with those of their European counterparts.


Compression tests of as-cast AZ91 magnesium alloy were performed on Gleeble-1500 at deformation temperature ranging from 473 to 673K and strain rate from 0.005 to 5 s-1.The results show that the flow stress of the tested alloy decreases with the increase of deformation temperature and increases with the increase of strain rate,which can be represented by a Zener-Hollomon parameter in the power-type equation.Parameters β,A and the deformation activation energy Q in the flow stress equation are 0.1015,2.386 3×109 and 175.667 kJ/mol respectively,derived from experiment data through multiple regression analysis.AZ91 magnesium alloy shows different characteristics of the microstructure at different deformation temperature.The microstructure of AZ91 magnesium alloy mainly consists of twinning and slip band at 473K and dynamic recrystallization grain between 573 and 673 K,respectively.Research results may lay the foundation for systematic study on plastic processing of AZ91 magnesium alloy.


This informal presentation will address the chemical processing status, the current locations and state of data analysis (including mapping and densitometry of x-ray films, event lists and tracing of events in nuclear emulsions, etc.) of the 12 cosmic ray chambers comprising the JACEE-13 and JACEE-14 South Pole circumnavigational long duration balloon flights.


Augmentation and revision of the relatively diverse Valanginian brachiopod faunas from NorthEast Greenland confirm the existence of two mutually exclusive but broadly coeval assemblages, associated with two contrasting facies types. A Boreal, relatively shallow-water assemblage dominated by large terebratulids and ribbed rhynchonellids, including Cyrtothyris, Lamellaerhynchia and Praelongithyris characterizes the Falskebugt fauna. By contrast the Albrechts Bugt and Rødryggen fauna contains Tethyan elements, more typical of deeper water, including Lacunosella, Placothyris, Pygope and Rugitela. This early Cretaceous Out-of-Tethys migration confirms the early and persistent northward track of a proto Gulf Stream current. A new taxon, Placothyris kegeli, is described from the Albrechts Bugt and Rødryggen members of the Palnatokes Bjerg Formation.


Rough set theory (RST) is a technique for data analysis. In this paper, we use RST to improve the performance of the k-NN method. The RST is used to edit the training set. We propose two methods to edit training sets, which are based on the lower and upper approximations. Experimental results show a satisfactory performance of the k-NN using these techniques.


Abstract In the present study, after the determination of karyological characteristics of Ornithogalum sigmoideum, the development of female gametophyte, embryo and endosperm was investigated, and cytochemical features were identified. The diploid chromosome number is 16 in O. sigmoideum. The ovule is anatropous, bitegmic and crassinucellate. The ovular structures such as obturator and nucellar epidermis secrete insoluble polysaccharides, and play a role as the guidance and growth of the pollen tubes. The tissue differentiation called hypostase is located at the chalazal part of the ovule. This tissue is stained deeply with PAS, and it stores a large quantity of starch grains. The embryo sac development is Polygonum type. In the mature embryo sac, the egg cell and synergids are surrounded by a complete cell wall. The synergids show a similar polarization to the egg cell, and their cell walls form a prominent filiform apparatus at the base of cells. Cytoplasm of the egg cell is not rich in insoluble and acidic polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids whereas cytoplasm of the synergids and antipodals are rich in insoluble polysaccharides, proteins but is not rich acidic polysaccharides and lipids. The starch grains are peripherally located in the central cell. The embryo development is Asterad type. The endosperm is helobial.


Contents: Introduction The steppe region in world history, Kaare GrA,nbech A geographical history of Central Asia, K. de B. Codrington Tribal names and titles amongst the Altaic peoples, Omeljan Pritsak The oldest mentions of the Turks in Arabic literature, Tadeusz Kowalski The Turks in the Shah-nama, Tadeusz Kowalski Khazar Turkish ghulams in caliphal service, Peter B. Golden Al-Xwarazmi on the peoples of Central Asia, C.E. Bosworth and Sir Gerard Clauson Turks in the Middle East before the Saljuqs, Richard N. Frye and Aydin M. Sayili The Turks in the Islamic lands up to the mid-11th century, C.E. Bosworth Barbarian incursions: the coming of the Turks into the Islamic world, C.E. Bosworth Notes on the Risala of Ibn-Fadlan, R.N. Frye and R.P. Blake Mu'tasim and the Turks, Osman S.A. Ismail Aspects of the early history of the Central Asian guard corps in Islam, C.I. Beckwith The founding of a new capital: Samarra', Osman S.A. Ismail The Malik-nama and the history of Seljuqid origins, Claude Cahen The Turkish tribes of Western Asia during the Seljuqid period, Claude Cahen Index.


A cliche of mainstream politics is that 'one can't have friends, only allies', yet theorists of leadership have remarked on how regularly success is attendant upon productive 'pairing' relationships. This paper looks at a number of such relationships to ask, how are we to understand the borders of an 'instrumental' alliance versus a 'friendship'? To what extent does the freight of instrumental intentions undercut contemporary ideas of friendship, or do such cases merely exemplify one end of a spectrum of contemporary possibilities (and should we thus modify our ideas of friendship within modern career structures)? While concentrating on the ways in which friendship has been understood in politics, this paper suggests that the proximity of politics and political careers to power and achievement might make this domain a fruitful amplification of the tensions (and the potentials of friendship) within success-oriented modern career structures.


The present work investigates the temporal analysis window length and the amount of overlap between successive windows in muscular fatigue estimation using the Weighted-Cumulated Methodology. The theoretical basis of the methodology is resumed, followed by a description of the weighted cumulated root mean square, weighted cumulated median frequency and weighted cumulated Fourier estimators. Analyses are made using real surface electromyography signals from isometric fatiguing contractions of the biceps bacchii of five healthy subjects. The sensibility to muscular fatigue manifestations of the three cumulated normalized parameters is evaluated using different combinations of window sizes and window overlaps. The results show a considerable influence of the window size in the values of sensibility to muscular fatigue of the cumulated normalized estimators. On the other hand, varying the amount of windows overlap is shown to have basically no effect on the sensibility descriptors.


AbstractProjected increases in greenhouse gases have prompted serious discussion on geoengineering the climate system to counteract global climate change. Cloud albedo enhancement has been proposed as a feasible geoengineering approach, but previous research suggests undesirable consequences of globally uniform cloud brightening. The present study uses GFDL's Climate Model version 2G (CM2G) global coupled model to simulate cloud albedo enhancement via increases in cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) to 1000 cm−3 targeted at the marine stratus deck of the Pacific Ocean, where persistent low clouds suggest a regional approach to cloud brightening. The impact of this regional geoengineering on global circulation and climate in the presence of a 1% annual increase of CO2 was investigated. Surface temperatures returned to near preindustrial levels over much of the globe with cloud modifications in place. In the first 40 years and over the 140-yr mean, significant cooling over the equatorial Pacific, continued Arct...


This is a revision of relationship between church, state and society. Today is growing popular religiosity and religious tourism is formalized and disseminated in a special for the secretariats of tourism of the governments concerned and the ecclesiastical authorities. Traditional regional, religious and commercial identity converges with the new religious and cultural tourism. Today there are no borders for the faith, consumption and tourism. Here we will revisit this issue and to deepen with the devotion to the Virgin of the Rosary in Talpa de Allende.


Section 53 offenders are young people between the ages of 10 and 17 years of age (inclusive) who commit grave crimes, and are sentenced under Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. Subsection (1) provides that such children convicted of murder be detained during Her Majesty's Pleasure for an indeterminate period. Subsection (2) provides that such children convicted of other serious crimes, usually involving actual or intended violence and that would attract a sentence of imprisonment of 14 years or more in the case of an adult, be detained for determinate periods in excess of the normal 12-month custodial limit for that age group. Common examples of this are those sentenced for manslaughter, who may be detained for life, rape, arson and robbery.

In December 1991, the author published a summary report for the Prince's Trust entitled 'Waiting for change: The experiences and needs of Section 53 offenders' (Boswell 1991). This was the culmination of a 6-month small-scale study that drew on interviews with 24 of the total population of 615 such offenders. An almost unintended by-product of this survey was the discovery of hard evidence that 50% of the sample had a background of some kind of child abuse (i.e. physical, sexual, ritual, emotional or combinations thereof). There was partial evidence to suggest this was also true in a further 40% of cases, making a potential total of 90% of the Section 53 sample who had been subjected to abuse in their early and/or recent past. In addition, the phenomenon of loss of a significant family member or friend had also appeared with surprising frequency.

Bearing in mind the potential implications for criminal justice, crime prevention, educational policies and health policies, the author set up a secondary survey during the period 1993–1994 with the aim of obtaining and analysing hard data about the nature and frequency of child abuse and loss in the backgrounds of a statistically significant number (one third) of Section 53 offenders (Boswell 1995). Prison service files detailing social and psychological backgrounds of these young people were used to extract this information. Where evidence was absent or ambiguous, personal interviews took place in an attempt to establish the relevant background factors. This paper will review the salient findings of each survey in relation to current models of containment and intervention by the child care and prison systems. Alongside this other relevant material, derived from contemporary psychological research into the genesis and treatment of violence, will be discussed. The paper will conclude with an assessment of the position of these serious young offenders along the 'welfare justice' continuum, and the implications of this for policy-making in the areas of effective prevention and intervention.


A control module updating system includes a vehicle control module, which controls at least one function of the vehicle according to the vehicle of the software is stored. The external interface module part number from a source outside the vehicle receives the software file, and receiving control module in the vehicle is stored in the software. The external interface module reads the number is compared with the corresponding member from a source outside the vehicle document comparison software, and software files and document comparison software. The external interface module identification document and a difference between the software in document comparison software, supplied to the control module based on the difference to generate a compressed file, the compressed file. The control module generates a flash file based on the received compressed file and the software is stored in the vehicle, and to modify the software is stored in the vehicle based flash file.


The article explores two complementary perspectives at the moment for observing transition from the war to peace in a society whose expression of the conflict is violent. Indeed, the first perspective points to understand democracy concept, the stability of the regime and democratic, semi-democratic threats to regimes in particularly violent societies. The second perspective analyzes some of many fold factors that take part in the establishment of peace in the period of the postconflict. Elements are taken from some of the most representative cases from austral South Africa and it settles down some common performance lines that are susceptible to be general to other cases. Finally, the intention interrelates visions that offer some analysis to treatment of the institutional stability in particularly violent societies, same as, analyzes the paper of the democracy, the type of required institutionality, the nature of the actors in conflict and the nature of the same conflict at the moment to establishing a cease to fire, one demobilization and one effective incorporation of these actors to the politic life


Functional hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents composed with azoles as hydrogen bond donors, and [N8881]Cl and [N8881]Br as hydrogen bond acceptors were designed and synthesized to absorb low concentrations NO. The good hydrophobicity reduces the cost of operating effectively. Moreover, the capacity of 10 vol % NO absorption by Im-[N8881]Cl DES can reach 3.91 mol NO / mol Im at 40 oC. Besides, Im-[N8881]Cl DES can be regenerated, and the absorption capacity of NO by the regenerated Im-[N8881]Cl DES shows no significant loss for at least 5 recycles. FTIR and 1H NMR were used to verify the mechanism. The results indicate that there is chemical interaction between NO and Im-[N8881]Cl DES and the main chemical active sites are N (2) and N (5) on Im by forming NONOates. This series of hydrophobic, efficient and reversible NO absorbents may provide a new idea for NO capture technique.


The units in the text and Figures 1 and 3 were wrong. The wrong units of J m-1 should be corrected as J m-2.The corrected pdf file can be downloaded from the following link button, [PDF (1562K)].


Within the scope of catamnestic investigation and a follow-up examination 170 fractures of the cervical spinal cord, operated in a period of 8 years, were explored. Dependent on the neurological starting point the length of stay in hospital, the time of temporary disablement and the results of social rehabilitation were evaluated. The examination results are appraised.


An important early component of defense against listeriosis in mice is the lysis of infected hepatocytes by leukocytes that accumulate at foci of infection in the liver. This serves to release Listeria monocytogenes from permissive parenchymal cells for ingestion and inactivation by phagocytic cells. It is shown here that lysis of infected hepatocytes is as extensive in mice depleted of T cells or NK cells as it is in control mice. This supports the original interpretation that hepatocyte lysis is mediated mainly by neutrophils.


In an attempt to attract minority and first-generation college students to engineering, math, and computer science degrees, the National Science Foundation funded several Scholarship programs. Texas Tech University competed and received one of these grants. This grant has been a major benefit to minority students who met the qualifications. Initially all students had to be eligible for a Pell Grant or Title IV need if they went to graduate school. We had difficulty in finding students with this severe degree of financial need. This requirement was later relaxed, and we have been successful in finding qualified students to award scholarships.


Micropropagation of Dianthus gigantheus D'Urv. ssp. croaticus (Borbas) Tutin, a Croatian neoendemic plant species was investigated. Shoots from aseptically germinated seeds were used for culture initiation. The highest multiplication rate (3.3 shoots per explant) was achieved on basal MS medium containing 2, 9 uM gibberellic acid and 0, 5 uM 6-benzylaminopurine. The rooting percentage was high on all media tested (basal MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of indole-3-3acetic acid, indole-3-butyric acid and l-naphthalene acetic acid or without them), with slight suppression on media containing higher concentrations of l-naphthalene acetic acid. Plantlets were successfully acclimatized to outdoor conditions.


Abstract After leaving primary school, most girls experience an ever decreasing set of possibilities so that they gradually become channelled into the traditional female occupations of teaching, nursing, catering, office work, retailing or hairdressing. The secondary years of schooling would appear to be crucial in defining a girl's future, since this is when the selection of subjects to study is made, and decisions are taken about staying on for 'A' levels and eventually about entry for further education. The feminist propositions that our society has institutions and attitudes intentionally or unintentionally harmful to both the self concept of women and their life chances, may well include schools. On the evidence so far, there appears to be a strong possibility that in secondary schools in particular, this is the case, and that a complex web of influences is involved.


This article deals with one of the criteria for the labour market formation in Russian agriculture in the late XIX early XX century the working hands prices levelling. Basing on the analysis of various statistical sources, it concludes that the agricultural labour market was of undeveloped nature.


Wireless security system for a facility, comprising - at least one unit (14, 18; 16, 20) sensor-transmitter - a controller (12) system for receiving a signal from at least one unit (14, 18; 16, 20) and sensor-transmitter to send a message to a central station (22) depending on the reception of a signal from the at least or from at least one of the units (14, 18; 16, 20) tricorder characterized transmitter that - the controller (12) system includes - a detection means for detecting a failure of an antenna, the detecting means comprising - a first antenna (32), - a transmitter (38) operatively coupled to the first antenna (32) for transmitting a test signal through the first antenna (32), - a second antenna (30), - a receiver (34) operatively coupled to the second antenna (30) to receive through the second antenna (30), the test signal transmitted through the first antenna (32), and - a circuit (36) control, operably coupled to the transmitter (38) and the receiver (34), - wherein the first antenna (32) is operably coupled to the receiver (34), and the first antenna (32) and the receiver (34) are oriented to receive the operating signal originating from a unit (14, 18; 16, 20) sensor-transmitter, and wherein the receiver (34) and the second antenna (30) are oriented to receive an operating signal originating from a unit (14, 18; 16, 20) sensor-transmitter and the circuit (36) control is configured to treat the operation signal received by the receiver (34), and - in which the circuit (36) control causes the transmitter (38) transmits the test signal to through the first antenna (32) comparing a parameter of the test signal received by the receiver (34) through the second antenna (30) with a threshold parameter, generates a message indicative of antenna failure when the parameter the test signal received by the receiver (34) differs from the threshold parameter by a predetermined amount or when no signal is received for a predetermined duration, and sends the message to the station (22) center via a link (24) telecommunications.


New models for education dissemination have emerged with the growth of distributed systems, especially with the widespread penetration of Internet. This has made possible imparting education on a larger scale. Distance evaluation of students constitutes a crucial factor for success of Distance Education initiatives. Such large distributed systems also raise number of challenges in terms of design, technologies and their implementations. Most of the present day systems have client-server architectures. The client-server model though powerful, has scalability limitations for distance evaluation systems. Over the past few years the mobile agent paradigm, which has emerged as a new approach for structuring distributed applications, attempts to address many of these concerns. In this project, we survey the existing mobile agent frameworks to understand state of the art. We then use the mobile agent approach for designing, implementing and deploying a system for distance evaluation of students. We consider the entire examination process: (i) papersetting, where the examiners spread over the internet collaborate to produce a question paper, (ii) examination conduction, where the question papers are distributed and the answer papers are collected, and (iii) answer-paper evaluation, result compilation and publishing. In this report we detail our design, implementation and experimentations. We conclude by presenting our observations and experiences of using mobile agents for designing large distributed systems. We also list some of the challenges that still need to be tackled and indicate the future directions of our work.


There are approximately registered 3000 historical stone buildings in Central Greece (in villages as well as in monasteries). All of them are of considerable age (i.e. their age is over hundred years) and many are masterpieces of the Greek architecture in past centuries. Their common structure is a two storey building with stone masonry walls and wooden floors, balconies, roofs as well as frames of windows and doors. Unfortunately most of these buildings suffer from lack of maintenance. The abandoning of most of them, particularly in the last fifty years, together with the influence of the climate conditions (windstorms, strong rainfalls, frequent snowfalls during winter) contributed to the aggravation of the state of these buildings, although many of them still remain in good condition as far as it concerns several architectural elements of their original structure. Research and studies which are to be discussed in this paper refer to the common damages and structural analysis of these stone buildings which will be illustrated by means of series of examples as well as a photographic documentation. The paper also includes the proposals for their strengthening as well as the appropriate interventions for a reuse of these structures.


A biomass gasification device comprises a furnace body, a furnace cover, a furnace pipe, a fire grate, a soot formation chamber, a spiral feeder, a material spreading device, a pyrojector and a cyclone dust separator. The material spreading device is formed by a material spreading rod and material spreading claws, wherein the material spreading claws are repeatedly distributed and fixed on the bottom end of the material spreading rod along the peripheral direction, the material spreading device is assembled in the furnace pipe, the upper end of the material spreading rod of the material spreading device is screwed on a nut, the nut is fixedly connected onto the furnace cover, and the material spreading rod is screwed to drive the material spreading claws to move up and down. The pyrojector is a barrel-shaped jacket, a set of through holes is arranged between the interlayer of the jacket and the bottom thereof, a hanging sleeve barrel is arranged in the hole, catalyst is contained in the hanging sleeve barrel, and the pyrojector is assembled at the lower part of the furnace body. The gas inlet pipe of the cyclone dust separator is connected to the top part of the pyrojector to separate the dust and the gas. The utility model has simple structure, easy operation and convenient maintenance, not only can improve the gas heat value, but also can utilize self heat to split the tar, and obviously improves the gas heat value effect.


Introduce the Hidden Markov Model(HMM)simply,analyze the application of HMM in the tool wear and tremor prediction.Collect and analyze the status quo of the domestic and international research in this regard.On this basis,the method of tool wear and tremor prediction and optimal control for Cutting process Based on HMM have been put forward.


Objective To study the efficacy and influence of serum IgE of magnesium isoglycyrrhizinate in the treatment of chronic urticaria.Methods Forty inpatientsof our hospital with chronic urticaria were randomly divided into observation group and control group.They were both given left West hydrochloride alternate cinnarizine oral plus urea ointment treatment,on the basisof which,the observation group was given magnesium treatment of isoglycyrrhizinate.After four weeks,the clinical symptoms of the two groups of patients were evaluated,and changes in serum IgE before and after treatment were compared.Results After treatment,the PASI score of two groups had significant difference compared with before treatment(P0.05).Between the observation group and the control group,the PASI score showed significant difference(P0.05).The total effectiveness rate in the observation group was 80%,markedly higher than that in the control group(50%).There difference was statistically different(P0.05).After treatment,the serum IgE of the two groups showed significant difference(P0.05).Conclusion Magnesium Isoglycyrrhizinate has a therapeutic effect on chronic urticaria,and it may play its role by reducing the secretion of IgE,and it is one of the effective means to treat chronic urticaria.


Since there is 3P2 neutron superfluid in neutron star interior, it can be treated as a system of magnetic dipoles. Under the presence of background magnetic field, the magnetic dipoles tend to align in the same direction. When the temperature is lower than 10**7K, the strong magnetic fields of the magnetars may originate from the induced magnetic moment of the 3P2 neutron Cooper pairs in the anisotropic neutron superfluid. And this gives a convenient explanation of the strong magnetic field of magnetars.


The polarization fluorescence spectra of isopropanol-water mixture excited by ultraviolet light was studied experimentally.The decay process of fluorescence intensity was detected at different center emission peaks.The curve was fitted by an exponential function and the processing data was obtained by deconvolution.Both the polarization degree and fluorescence lifetime were calculated,and mathematical characterization was performed for the fluorescence counts decay curves.The fluorescence emission and polarization characteristics were discussed.It is found that the isopropanol-water mixture excited by ultraviolet light obtains partially polarized fluorescence with certain molecular orientation.The polarization degree and anisotropy degree are 0.542 and 0.441,respectively.Induced by exciting light with wavelengths of 220 nm and 232 nm,the fluorescence lifetime of isopropanol-water mixture at peaks of 277,284,293,309 nm is about 17 ns.While the average fluorescence lifetime at peaks of 328 nm,345 nm and 362 nm is around 21,22,16 ns,respectively.It is related with the molecular cluster structure relative stability of isopropanol-water mixture by the action of hydrogen bond.The research will contribute to the study of the molecular characteristic of isopropanol-water cluster.


BackgroundCompassionate Neighbours, originated from the Public Health Palliative Care model, is a community development project aimed at developing mutually beneficial relationships that also helps build social capital and capacity within our communities. One hospice located in Scotland developed such an approach by expanding the role of volunteers within the hospice. Whilst hospices have long valued volunteers for their support in the provision of a de-medicalised, holistic approach to care, this new initiative reflects a longer-term, citizen-led investment that can equip communities to help one another during times of increased health need, loss and grief. Initiated and sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project used an online blend of discussion, reflection and learning before matching Compassionate Neighbours with local people known to the hospice.AimTo capture 'compassionate neighbours' experience and the impact of transitioning from a traditional volunteering role to a role reflecting the ethos of compassionate citizen.MethodFocus group inclusive of 10 volunteers that were part of the compassionate communities initiative and interviews with six people in the community they were 'matched with'.ResultsAnalysis of the data so far has highlighted how:The partnering process enabled the building of reciprocal relationships between volunteers and those they were matched with;vital to the success of the initiative.The Compassionate Neighbours negotiated, developed and sustained a mutually beneficial relationship with those they were matched with, reflecting the compassionate communities approach within the Public Health Palliative Care model.ConclusionCentral to the project's early success and future growth has been the emergence of a different kind of volunteer;one who sees him or herself as part of a community-led social movement involving ordinary people capable of responding in practical and compassionate ways to shared problems and needs in their own communities.


Helicopters are aircraft machines which are subjected to high level of vibrations, mainly due to spinning rotors. These are made of two or more blades attached by hinges to a central hub, which can make the dynamic behaviour difficult to study. However, they share some common dynamic properties with the ones expected in bladed discs, thereby the analytical modelling of rotors can be performed using some assumptions as the ones adopted for the bladed discs. This paper presents results of a vibrations study performed on a scaled helicopter rotor model which was rotating at a fix rotational speed and excited by an air jet. A simplified analytical model of that rotor was also produced to help the identifications of the vibration patterns measured using a single point tracking‐SLDV measurement method.


Abstract The 34-1 Sandstone is one of six productive reservoirs in the Widuri field, which is located in the Asri Basin, within the Southeast Sumatra Production Sharing contract between Pertamina and Repsol-YPF. The Widuri field is located 60 miles Northeast offshore from Jakarta. The aim for this study was to characterize the reservoir in terms of log patterns, porosity, quality and depositional environment, and to establish the distribution of the reservoir in the Widuri field. The data used for the study of 34-1 reservoir sandstone are mainly logs, cores, and 3D seismic data. The 34-1 reservoir is characterized by a blocky log character to bell-shaped fining upward, fine to coarse grained sands with excellent porosity and permeability. The sands are well sorted, oil stained, and have common cross bedding, with occasional carbonaceous laminae. The reservoir thickness is in the range of 10 to 53 feet. Based on the results of the analyses, it can be summarized that the 34-1 sandstone was deposited in the fluviodeltaic setting which has four subfacies - distributary channel, shallow marine clay, marine embayment and swamp. The channel facies distribution can be traced by 3D seismic data which shows an approximately east - west trend.


In different countries and regions of the world—particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean—the term "workers' health" may have different meanings. From a more traditional perspective, defined on economic and demographic bases, this term introduces a delimitation characterized by economically active people, usually over 10 years of age, of both sexes, and who are working, have worked at some point in their life, or are in search of work. This condition usually ceases in case of retirement or disability. Such a criterion, as can be imagined, is extremely imprecise, particularly in regions such as the ones analyzed here, since it includes great variability of situations, including work considered informal; the work of children and adolescents (prohibited or restricted in accordance with international labor standards); clandestine and illegal work; domestic work (sometimes not formally recognized); and slave and forced labor. It is not clear, either, when work activity actually ceases, especially when there are no social protection systems for elderly and disabled people. But even if this definition is adopted, it is already possible to foresee the complexity of the theme, both in the conceptual perspective and in the scope of health programs, as well as in the health and illness problems of this population.
 However, in some countries, the term "workers' health" (or "worker's health") goes beyond the economic or demographic delimitation, and includes a paradigm shift about the role of workers in the struggle for their health. This perspective, political and ideological, originates in the concepts and experience of the "Italian Labor Model"; brings in elements of the Marxist discourses and Liberation Theology; takes advantage of and improves the perspective of "Social Epidemiology" or "Social Medicine"; and, in our continent, can be considered as an unfolding of "Latin American Social Epidemiology." This understanding of workers' health also depends on social movements—such as unions and other forms of organizing workers—as well as on political leaders committed to the struggle of workers against precarious work, unemployment and the destruction of already established social rights, especially in the context of neoliberalism.
 Therefore, workers' health is a polysemic and complex concept, and its discussion is a living, dynamic, and extremely rich agenda.


Objective To evaluate the basic mental health state of the psychiatric male nurses in Chengdu,to discuss the relativity between the level of psychiatric male nurses' mental health and the coping ways.Methods Applied the Symptom Checklist-90 and the coping ways questionnaire to evaluate 46 psychiatric male nurses,and give a correlation analysis.Results(1) The psychiatric male nurses' scores of depression,anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity are significantly higher than the test norm;(2) The psychiatric male nurses' scores of self-reproach and avoidance in coping ways questionnaire are significantly higher than the control group's,and their scores of other factors of coping ways are significantly lower than the control group's;(3) There is a positive relativity between the positive symptoms and the immature coping mode.


The receiver of a UHF RFID reader is exposed to strong carrier leakage signals due to antenna reflections and limited isolation of circulators and directional couplers. This strong interference limits the performance of the reader as the active components in the receiver become saturated. In this paper, an improvement on the front-end architecture of UHF RFID readers is presented to address this problem. An automatically-adjusted canceling signal is combined with the received signal to suppress the strong carrier leakage. The experiment results show that the constructed prototype can achieve high isolation and that the canceling signal can be routinely configured even during reader operations.


Background: Kidney transplant is the current modality of choice as a renal replacement therapy due to superior patient survival and quality of life than both peritoneal and hemodialysis. The service is limited outside ofdeveloped countries due to the requirement for structured organization, extended expertise, and qualified supportive laboratory, as well as extensive health system service support in general.
Objective: The aim of the study is to describe renal allograftrecipient outcomes during the first two years following establishment of the national kidney transplant center in AddisAbaba, Ethiopia.
Methods: A retrospective review of the case records of all recipients of renal allografts at Saint Paul'sHospital MillenniumMedical College between September 2015 and August 2017 wasdone.
Results:52 live donor kidney transplants were performedover two years.The cause of native kidney diseases was unknown in majority(32.6%),while chronic glomerulonephritis accounted for 30.8%. One fourth of recipients were transfused at least once before transplant. There was no biopsy proven rejection episode. There was one early graft loss from unknown cause. Atleast one organ system was affected with drug side effects in nearly in all(96%), leucopenia occurring in one fourth(22%) was very serious.Death censored graft survival at one year is 97.5% while mean GFR at one week, three month, six month and one year was 73.1, 93.6, 95.6, and96ml/min, respectively.After successful kidney transplant pre-transplant hypertension subsided in 46.5% of patients.
Conclusion: Graft survival and graft function at one year, were excellent, and comparable to excellent centers worldwide.
Key Words – Ethiopia, kidney, transplant, outcome


Maimonides: A Biography, by Abraham Joshua Heschel, translated by J. Neugroschel. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982. Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote this biography of Maimonides in German when he was a young man of only twenty-eight, the first major work of Heschel's rich and varied career. It is now almost seventy-five years old, and yet it still speaks clearly, cogently, and coherently. It also demonstrates how the academic study of Judaism has changed-many would say declined-in the intervening years. From Heschel's biography, which is long and strong on reading and analysis of primary sources, lacking in theory-the be all and end all of modern scholarship-Maimonides emerges as incredibly human. A lonely man of faith and intellect, who encompassed all Jewish learning, classical philosophy, and mathematics, Maimonides was and remains the most important Jewish thinker in the post-biblical period. Indeed, as Heschel himself once quipped, if Maimonides were not a man he would have to be a university. The geographical course of Maimonides' life from Andalusia to North Africa to Egypt-and a possible visit to Jerusalem, debated by scholars as to whether or not it occurred-was, in some ways, matched by his intellectual journey. For Maimonides the goal of his intellectual wandering was to come to know God as far as humans are able. Blessed with a remarkable mind, prodigious memory, and insatiable desire to absorb all he could, Rambam moved freely through all spheres of knowledge, sacred and profane. As scions of the family of Yehuda ha-Nasi, the Maimonides clan saw itself as having a special calling. To escape the Almohade fanaticism of Fez, the family moved to Alexandria and then settled in Fustat, outside Cairo. Maimonides was devoted to his brother, David, who was the merchant of the family and whose business success enabled Rambam to engage in his studies. His brother's death plunged Maimonides into depression, from which he was slow to emerge. It was in Fustat that Maimonides undertook his greatest projects. As a descendant of the redactor of the Mishnah, Maimonides undertook a similar redactive enterprise, the editing of a major legal compendium, the Mishneh Torah, about which Maimonides famously wrote that his codex coupled with a Bible would be all any Jew would need in order to come to an understanding of legal issues. seeing his place in the lineage of R. Yehuda, Maimonides wrote, correctly and no doubt proudly, that he was emulating the style and language of the Mishnah. This compilation was an educational reform of sweeping magnitude, and for him, a major contribution to the Jewish religious tradition. Such bravado and boldness did not curry favor within all rabbinic circles. And it was the Mishneh Torah's scholarly sin of omission, in his case sources, footnotes, and other scholarly trappings, that infuriated his adversaries. Would that Heschel had devoted more pages to this text, since Maimonides considered the Mishneh Torah the monumental achievement of his life. It was in Fustat, thanks to his brother's work, that Maimonides had the time to devote to his numerous studies. Visits by various peripatetics could not erase what he saw as the vapid intellectual climate of Egypt, and yearning for Andalusia never seems to have waned completely. Nevertheless, Maimonides continued to write, including a commentary on the Mishnah written in Arabic, a well-known and controversial letter to the Jews of Yemen concerning messianic stirrings, and various other works. For Maimonides a burning question was: how does a human reach the highest level of perfection possible? Maimonides wrote Joseph ibn Aknin, scholar, poet, and physician well-known for his commentary on the Song of Songs, that he would write a text to guide him on this perplexing issue. For Maimonides, such a quest would of course entail a full-blown encounter with philosophy and its greatest teacher, Aristotle. …


The aim of this review was to emphasize the benefit of a methodical approach to 'medical' liver biopsy reporting and to illustrate that recognition of patterns of disease can greatly aid correct interpretation of these often‐complex specimens. This applies both to assessment of the liver architecture and to evaluation of the likely disease aetiology. Therefore, a great deal of information can be obtained by examining biopsy material at low‐ and medium‐power magnification, prior to confirming detailed features with high‐power examination. A range of recommended special histochemical stains that personal experience has shown to be valuable is included. Emphasis is also placed on the absolutely key requirement for appropriate knowledge of the clinical situation within which the biopsy specimen was taken.


In this article, a 3D lattice model is presented to simulate fracture in cement-based materials. In the paper, two applications are shown. The first application is modeling heterogeneous materials containing particle embedded in a matrix. A method is shown for coupling 3D information on the material structure obtained with CT-scanning to the material properties in the model. In the second application, fracture in fiber cement-based materials is modeled. Fibers are explicitly implemented as separate elements connected to the cement matrix via special interface elements. With the model, multiple cracking and ductile global behavior are simulated of the composite material. Variables in the model are the fiber dimensions and properties, the fiber volume in the composite, the bond behavior of fibers and matrix, and the cement matrix properties. These properties can be obtained by testing. Some examples of tests are given in the paper. The model can be used as a design tool for creating fiber (cement-based) composites with any desired mechanical behavior.


We generalize the MIB (matched interface and boundary) method for solving the Helmholtz equation with a rotated 17-point 4th-order FD(finite difference) scheme, which is non-compact, and has to use the points outside of the computational region. An optimal combination of difference schemes are employed to discretize the Helmholtz equation both on the standard coordinate system and the 45° rotated one. The combination weights are obtained via minimizing the numerical dispersion. Numerical experiments show that the rotated 17-point FD scheme with the MIB method is 4th-order in accuracy, and is effective in supressing numerical dispersion.


We are interested in the multiple robot surveillance problem where robots must allocate waypoints to be visited among themselves and plan paths through different waypoints while avoiding obstacles. Furthermore, the robots are allocated specific times to reach their respective goal locations and as a result they have to decide which robots have to visit which waypoints. Such a problem has the challenge of computing the allocation of waypoints across robots, ordering for these waypoints and dynamical feasibility of the paths between waypoints. We present an algorithm that runs a series of graph searches to solve the problem and provide theoretical analysis that our approach yields an optimal solution. We present simulated results as well as experiments on two UAVs that validate the capability of our algorithm. For a single robot, we can solve instances having 10-15 waypoints and for multiple robots, instances having five robots and 10 waypoints can be solved.


In this article attention is drawn to how the term religious culture and how the Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) subject is related to personal development. Questions are raised whether emphasis on religious culture might be seen as an expression of regionalism. Critical remarks are made regarding the relationship of the ERC subject and students' personal development. This is related to a general discussion in religion education regarding whether students should learn from religions or about religions. In discussing these topics, comparisons to the Norwegian context and the implementation of a mandatory secular religion education in Norwegian schools are made.


The title compound, (C 12 H 18 N) 2 [HgCl 4 ], contains a distorted tetrachloromercurate tetrahedron, with Hg-Cl distances ranging from 2.424(3) to 2.614 (2) A. Variations can be attributed to the presence of hydrogen bonding. The anions and cations are connected by N-H...Cl bonds, building a two-dimensional network.


The work is devoted to the peculiarities of the implementation of hybrid RANS-LES approaches of the DES family for simulation of complex near-wall turbulent flows using unstructured grids. The problems of determining required geometric characteristics in the mesh nodes and adaptation of hybrid approaches to the used numerical approximation scheme with high accuracy in space are considered. The classic benchmark problem of the decay of homogeneous isotropic turbulence and the results of the computation of complex turbulent flow near the wall with the presence of flow separation and reattachment are considered to verify the implemented techniques and to demonstrate its efficiency.


Human requires a number of mineral in order to maintain good health. Herbal foods can contribute significantly to human nutrition and health, because they contain almost all essential human nutrients .In this paper, analysis of elemental concentrations with respect to some indigenous medicinal plants (Pudina, Pinsane, Nannan, Pyinntawthein) regularly used in cooking daily curries by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Method. From this results, it was found that these medicinal plants are rich in some essential minerals for human health


This chapter shows that rather than emerging from a ready-formed cohesive industrial labor movement, these parties' original constituency was the demoted artisan and peasantry in transition to be, but not yet, proletarianized. Second, in a related way, the chapter shows that the period of party emergence followed a process of economic and political dispossession: these parties articulated new political subjectivities in the context of eroding traditional economic and political structures. The differences in the timing of party emergence between the countries lie precisely in how these processes of dispossession developed: in Germany, the process of economic dispossession coincided with a political dispossession setting the terrain for the mass-party form, while in the British case, economic dispossession was not initially accompanied by political dispossession of the working classes, who maintained a degree of self-presentational authority, particularly in the form of "friendly societies."


ABSTRACT The water coning phenomenon leads to decrease the wellhead pressure with moving of water into oil production zone, which is regarded as one of most serious problems during oil production. Therefore, the development of reliable models is important to predict the water coning breakthrough time, and consequently avoid the water coning phenomenon and production of water. To this end, the artificial neural network modeling strategy optimized with particle swarm optimization, least square support vector machine (LSSVM) approach coupled with the coupled simulated annealing optimization method, and finally decision tree method are implemented in current study to accurately predict the dimensionless breakthrough time of water coning. The results obtained in the present study demonstrate that the models proposed provide acceptable results in predicting the dimensionless breakthrough time of water coning. Furthermore, comparative study conducted illustrates the superiority of LSSVM methodology in terms of accuracy compared to the other methods investigated.


Purpose: Ectopically located parathyroid adenomas are seen in 5-10% of the patients and these are located in thymus and in the mediastinum with the rates of 95% and 5%, subsequently. Here, we aimed at presenting a patient with an anterior mediastinum located parathyroid adenoma that was admitted with primary hyperparathyroidism. Case report: In the blood serum analysis of the 46 years old female patient; calcium (Ca+) level was defined as 11,6 mg/dl (8.5-11.0), phosphorus level as 1,4 mg/dl (2.8-5.0), 25-OH vitamin D level as 4,5 ng/ml and parathyroid hormone (PTH) level was as 696 pg/ml (12-72). In addition, on parathyroid scintigraphy there was an intense activity involvement on the anterior midline mediastinal region and on computerized tomography; a 28 mm sized ectopic parathyroid gland at the same location was reported. An endoscopic surgery was performed and the thymus and parathyroid adenoma were removed out of the sternum (ectopic parathyroidectomy with thymectomy). Result: The most effective therapy for ectopic parathyroid adenomas is surgery and although they are seen rarely, it should be kept in mind that parathyroid glands may be present in ectopic locations. The success of the surgery is mostly depends on the preoperative localization of this ectopic gland.


Over recent years the first Diffraction Radiation (DR) beam size monitor has been tested on a circular machine. At CesrTA, Cornell University, USA, the sensitivity and limitations of the DR monitor for vertical beam size measurement has been investigated. DR emitted from 1 and 0.5 mm target apertures was observed at 400 and 600 nm wavelengths. In addition, interference between the DR signals emitted by the target and mask has been observed. In this report, we present the recent observations and discuss areas for improvement.


Newman Library resources and selected other resources to help with topics selected for 1,500 word paper analyzing the reasons for the success or failure of a global institution or institutions and norm or norms to address a current global issue or crisis. How you may contact librarians for additional assistance.


1Clinical Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524001, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Cardiac Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524001, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China; 3School of Public Health, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524023, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China; 4Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524001, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China; 5Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524001, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China


The utility model relates to the field of corrosion detection of metal materials, and particularly relates to an outer box for deck corrosion simulation test on an oil tank. The outer box comprises a box body (11) and an upper cover (3), wherein the upper cover (3) is connected with a supporting block (6) fixed on the outer side of the bottom of the box body (11) through an upper cover cylinder (5); a thermoelectric refrigerating plate is arranged on each of side walls (15) of the box body (11), and a temperature control probe (12) is arranged at the bottom of the box body (11); a bicrystal temperature control box is arranged on the outer wall of the box body (11), the thermoelectric refrigerating plates and the temperature control probe (12) are electrically connected with the bicrystal temperature control box, and the bicrystal temperature control box is connected with a PC by data; and a holding plate cylinder (8) is arranged at the bottom of the box body (11), the driving end of the holding plate cylinder (8) is connected with a holding plate (9) through a supporting plate (10), and a holding plate clamping groove (14) for holding a reactor is formed in the upper part of the holding plate (9). The outer box is simple in structure, convenient to use, free of noise and controllable in heating and refrigeration, and enables the experimental environment simulated by the reactor to be closer to the real condition.


On Sunday, April 13 of 1856, Nathaniel Hawthorne attended a banquet in London at the Mansion House, to which he was invited by David Salomons, the Lord Mayor of London. Salomons was honoring Hawthorne in his capacity as U.S. Consul in Liverpool. The United States President Franklin Pierce, of whom Hawthorne had written a campaign biography, had appointed Hawthorne, one of his best friends since their days as college classmates at Bowdoin College, to this position in 1853, at the time an extremely important one given Liverpool's centrality in transatlantic trade and commerce between England and the United States. (The position no longer exists.) Hawthorne may or may not have been aware that Salomons was a pioneering activist for Jewish rights in the simultaneously tolerant and deeply anti-Semitic culture of Victorian England.1 The American author's account of his dinner at the Lord Mayor's Mansion has been central to many discussions of the Hawthorne's representation of Jewish people, nakedly revealing, as it does, both his deep-seated anti-Semitism and his intense fascination with the figure of the Jewess. From the description he provides in The English Notebooks, Hawthorne and David Salomons did not exactly hit it off: "He said little to me," Hawthorne notes, "except that I must hold myself in readiness to respond to a toast which he meant to give; and though I hinted that I would much rather be spared, he showed no signs of mercy" (21: 480). Hawthorne also observed that his lordship "is a tall, hard-looking, white-headed old Jew, of plain deportment, but rather hearty than otherwise in his address." Sneakily availing himself of the privacy ostensibly afforded him by his notebook, Hawthorne deemed Salomons' wife "a short and ugly old Jewess" (CE 21: 479). As if reenacting the movement from the scornful apprehension of the tough old Puritan dames who regard Hester Prynne with such violent contempt in the opening scenes of The Scarlet Letter to his languorously sensual descriptions of that famous, marked heroine, Hawthorne transitions from his harsh description of Salomons' wife to a much more rapturous one of a woman he beholds sitting "nearly opposite me, across the table." His description of this woman and the description of the man at her side need to be quoted at length, and as parts of the one continuous paragraph in which they appear: She was, I suppose, dark and yet not dark, but rather seemed to be of pure white marble, yet not white; but the purest and finest complexion (without a shade of color in it, yet anything but sallow or sickly) that I ever beheld. Her hair was a wonderful deep, raven black, black as night, black as death; not raven black, for that has a shiny gloss, and her's [sic] had not; but it was hair never to be painted, nor described - wonderful hair, Jewish hair. Her nose had a beautiful outline, though I could see that it was Jewish too; and that, and all her features, were so fine that sculpture seemed a despicable art beside her; and certainly my pen is good for nothing. If any likeness of her could be given, it must be by sculpture, not painting. She was slender, and youthful, but yet had a stately and cold, though soft and womanly grace; and, looking at her, I saw what were the wives of the old patriarchs, in their maiden or early married days - what Rachel was, when Jacob wooed her seven years, and seven more - what Judith was; for, womanly as she looked, I doubt not she could have slain a man, in a good cause - what Bathsheba was; only she seemed to have no sin in her - perhaps what Eve was, though one could hardly think her weak enough to eat the apple. I never should have thought of touching her, nor desired to touch her; for, whether owing to distinctness of race, my sense that she was a Jewess, or whatever else, I felt a sort of repugnance, simultaneously with my perception that she was an admirable creature. But, at the right hand of this miraculous Jewess, there sat the very Jew of Jews; the distilled essence of all the Jews that have been born since Jacob's time; he was Judas Iscariot; he was the Wandering Jew; he was the worst, and at the same time, the truest type of his race, and contained within himself, I have no doubt, every old prophet and every old clothesman, that ever the tribes produced; and he must have been circumcised as much as 10 times over. …


A bioequivalence study is a type of clinical trial designed to compare the biological equivalence of two different formulations of a drug. Such studies are typically conducted in controlled clinical settings with human subjects, who are randomly assigned to receive two formulations. The two formulations are then compared with respect to their pharmacokinetic profiles, which encompass the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination of the drug. Under the guidance from Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for a size-$\alpha$ bioequivalence test, the standard approach is to construct a $100(1-2\alpha)\%$ confidence interval and verify if the confidence interval falls with the critical region. In this work, we clarify that $100(1-2\alpha)\%$ confidence interval approach for bioequivalence testing yields a size-$\alpha$ test only when the two one-sided tests in TOST are ``equal-tailed''. Furthermore, a $100(1-\alpha)\%$ confidence interval approach is also discussed in the bioequivalence study.


In Politics and Policy in Traditional Korea James B. Palais has produced one of the most scholarly and important studies of Korean history to have appeared in English. It focuses on the period from 1864, when the father of the newly inaugurated King Kojong gained power in the government, until 1876, when Korea opened her doors to the outside world by signing her first modern treaty with Meiji Japan. This twelve-year period was one of the most important watersheds in Korean history, for it was during this time that traditional Korea made its last stand, confronting the Western world and newly rising Japan and trying desperately to put its tottering house in order. What Koreans did and did not do in this period profoundly affected the course of their modern history. The central figure of the study is Yi Ha-üng, better known as the Taewön'gun, the title given to the father of a reigning monarch. Undoubtedly the single most dynamic, charismatic, colorful, and controversial man in nineteenth-century Korea, scholars' characterizations of him have ranged from reactionary xénophobe to revolutionary reformer and forerunner ofmodernization. Palais denudes the myths and legends surrounding the Taewön'gun and gives an objective analysis and evaluation of his policies, concluding that he was neither a reactionary who rigidly adhered to Confucian principles nor a revolutionary who tried to overturn the traditional order. He was a pragmatic conservative who shared the basic Confucian ideals but was willing on occasion to violate accepted norms in favor of more pragmatic solutions that benefited the state at the expense of a small social elite. In the final analysis, the Taewön'gun "had no intention of destroying the aristocratic basis of the social order, and, in fact, helped to preserve it.... "(p. 285). This view is an interesting contrast to that of the late Ching Young Choe, who, in his study, The Rule of the Taewön'gun, 1864-1873, treats the Taewön'gun as an intellectual heir of the sirhak school, who consciously reflected the reform programs of sirhak scholars in his drastic reform policies and whose ultimate objective was to restore the vitality of the dynasty. Palais' study seeks "to reexamine previous interpretations of the nature and aims of the reform effort of the 1860s; to identify the major obstacles to reform in terms of some of the salient characteristics of the traditional order; and to emphasize the intimate relationship between socioeconomic interest, ideology, and politics on the eve of the modern era in Korea" (p. 2). To accomplish this, the author examined three broad areas: (1) the institutional reform aimed at restoring the power balance between the monarch and the central government, on one hand, and the yangban aristocracy, on the other; (2) the competition for resources—for control of land and population—between the central government and the aristocracy; and (3) the retirement of the Taewön'gun and politics under Kojong's rule.


This discuss analyzes types of mistakes and features of Chinese learners in beginning, intermediate level who uses '이/가', '을/를', '에', '에서' and suggests teaching method that makes them to use '이/가', '을/를', '에', '에서' exactly. Chapter 1 mentioned about objectives, method of the research and examined the preceding research. Chapter 2 discussed about types of mistakes and features of Chinese learners in beginning and intermediate level who uses '이/가', '을/를', '에', '에서'. This research is based on Chinese learners with beginning and intermediate level, in Korean Learning Center in Daejeon University and analyzed the statistics of mistakes based on writing documents of 20 students. This analyzed types of mistakes when using postposition by dividing into two parts;abbreviation and shift. In addition, it discussed about features of mistakes in learners' usage of postpositions. This research defines the causes of mistakes as lack of cognition of postposition system by interference of native language, not recognizing word class of predicate, evasion by psychological effect. In chapter 3, it suggested proper teaching method to prevent mistakes effectively when teaching Chinese Korean learners, based on features analyzed in Chapter 2. This research didn't explained grammar items theoretically due to difference of category in language which causes many hardships in learners. Instead, categorizing specific usages and types of sentences is the proper method for explaining grammar items. Especially, there are many difficulties understanding contents which corresponds to objects in Korean. Therefore, it is a proper way to induce learners to practice through various works. However, there is a limit for the writer, who cannot propose specific lecture model due to lack of field education, which lead to abstract everything into concept in the brain.


ABSTRACT A log-likelihood ratio (LLR) test on the single Mth check node of an LDPC decoder is utilised to develop an improved low complexity stopping criterion that overall outperforms well-known stopping criteria. The average number of iterations required at low SNRs is significantly reduced without sacrificing the BER performance. At high SNRs, the proposed algorithm can be modified to adaptively switch off to minimise its impact on the BER. Simulation results are presented for the rate 1/2 (288, 576) and rate 1/2 (1152, 2304) WiMAX 802.16e LDPC codes with binary phase shift keying (BPSK) over an AWGN channel for well-known criteria and the proposed algorithms in this paper. The performance of a Genie algorithm that would with hindsight stop the decoder to minimise the BER is used to compare all algorithms.


In order to improve the support ability of the virtual synchronous generator (VSG) control method for the system when the new energy system is connected to the grid, an adaptive control strategy based on radial basis function (RBF) neural network is designed on the basis of the traditional VSG. Because the RBF neural network has a good approximation effect for dynamic nonlinear functions, based on the characteristics of the controlled object, the angular velocity deviation and the rate of change of the angular velocity deviation of the system are taken as inputs, The designed RBF controller achieves adaptive control of rotational inertia. Establish a mathematical model in MATLAB/Simulink and conduct comparative experiments with traditional VSG control. The results show that the RBF adaptive control strategy can effectively support the frequency of the system and suppress power fluctuations when countering interference, improving the inertia and stability of the new energy grid connected system.


In recent years, the applications of dc transmission method become more and more popular with the fast development of power electronics technology. The dc systems may face various kinds of faults during actual operation and the corresponding control strategies against these situations are of great significance to make the system keep stable operation. In this paper, a simple dc system topology structure is proposed, and the corresponding operating principle of each component in the dc system is discussed. On the basis of constructed theoretical formula of each component, the simulation model of the proposed dc system is built under the PSCAD/EMTDCTM environment. The fault characteristics of the dc system against a dc single-line open fault are elaborately studied based on the model. Consider that such dc line fault may lead to partial outage of the dc system, the appropriate restorative control strategy is required after the fault. This paper designs a parallel restorative control strategy to keep the dc system returning to the normal operation status after the fault clearing. Finally, the simulation results are carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of the proposed dc system recovery strategy.


The President has proposed a budget for the 1995 fiscal year that reduces discretionary spending but increases support for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $11 billion -- an increase that...


ABSTRACT Bird damage is a serious problem for many fruit growers. Utilizing nest boxes to attract natural predators of fruit-eating birds is frequently effective in lowering bird damage, as well as increasing fruit marketability. The adoption of a conservation practice, however, depends on a grower's level of interest. What is the level of interest in nest boxes, and how do growers perceive the influence of natural predators on the farm ecosystem? To answer these questions we conducted an online national survey of cherry and blueberry growers focusing on potential interactions between key farm variables. We found a surprising consistency in perceptions of the functioning of the farm ecosystem and a high level of agreement on how natural predators affect other production factors. Growers typically perceived nest boxes to lower bird damage and pest pressure, and to raise fruit quality and income. They also indicated a significant interest in installing nest boxes, and strong agreement that extension and outreach related to the costs, benefits and timing of implementation of nest boxes would be helpful.


Epilepsy is once again in the news. Over the last few weeks national newspapers have carried two particularly tragic stories. One was the case of a young woman who died following a seizure while on a waiting list to receive expert diagnosis. The other featured a young boy of nine who died while on the waiting list for an operation in London. In both cases no one can be sure that the expert treatment they were waiting for would have saved their lives. Even so, for those people affected, such outcomes are extremely unfortunate.


A common class of fluid–structure interaction problems involves the dynamics of flexible fibers immersed in a Stokesian fluid. In biology, this topic arises in modeling the flagella or cilia involved in microorganism locomotion and mucal transport, in determining the shape of biofilm streamers, and in understanding how biopolymers such as microtubules respond to the active coupling afforded by motor proteins. In engineering, it arises in the paper-processing industry, where wood pulp suspensions can show an abrupt appearance of normal-stress differences, and in microfluidic engineering, where flow control using flexible particles has been explored. Over the past decade, the dynamics of immersed fibers has been studied intensively, particularly by theoretical means, while on the experimental side, recent advances in microfabrication and flow control have led to new insights. In this chapter we survey this work on the dynamics of flexible fibers in flows, including model experiments and the development of specialized numerical methods for simulating fiber dynamics in various flow situations.


The effect of various hemopoiesis stimulators on the granulocytic stem-cell recovery under the condition of cyclophosphane-induced myelosupression was studied. Cultural and morphological methods of studying the hemopoietic cells and hemopoiesis-induced microenvironment were used. Granulocytic colony-stimulating factor was shown to stimulate proliferation and differentiation of hemopoietic cells. Pantogematogen enhanced proliferation of granulocytes due to activation of regulatory systems. D-glucuronic acid and glyciram normalized structural-functional organization of bone marrow producing the intensive maturation of colony-forming units.