The authors present a design method for a variable structure system (VSS) adaptive control system based on a nonlinear model for the TITech pendulum. Using this control scheme, the stabilization of the controlled object is achieved, and the efficiency of dynamical parameter estimation by adaptive identification is verified through experiments. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated through simulation results that the control system designed on the basis of the nonlinear model is more robust than the one based on the linearized model. It is noted, however, that the proposed adaptive law is easily destabilized by the injection of disturbances.<<ETX>>


Titania nanotubes thin films have been prepared by electrochemical anodization of Ti foil at room temperature (~25oC), in ethylene glycol base electrolyte with 0.5wt. % NH4F and 4wt% deionized water at 30V at time 3hr and then AgNPs-doped TiO2 nanotube arrays at different deposition ratios (0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 wt%) were carried out by electroless deposition. These tubes are well aligned and organized into high-density uniform arrays. The average tube diameter, ranging in size from 61 to 74 nm, the length of the tube 2.13 μ, and ranging in size of wall thickness from 21 to 29 nm. A possible growth mechanism is presented. The TiO2 nanotubes were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX(. Gas sensors based on AgNPs/TiO2 nanotube arrays thin films were fabricated, and their sensing properties were investigated. The AgNPs/TiO2 nanotube sensor demonstrated a good sensitivity at different concentration hydrogen atmospheres ranging from (15, 30, 45, 60, 75ppm) H2. A temperature-dependent sensing from 25°C to 300°C was also found with an applied voltage was constant at 6V.


Abstract Xodeling fluidized bed reactors may be described on the one hand as a never-endizrg study aesigaed to keep minds busy and revoluriona n aavtUes at a Low ebb o r on the orher hand as a task to make stmng men weep. Be thac as lt may, we are now very near solutions of reasonable finality.


Every lively historical debate deserves a survey volume from time to time. Flinn's European Demographic System is the latest to cover a field that has grown exponentially in the last 25 years, his invaluable bibliography of 703 titles being a telling witness to that. The book's 175 pages are made up of 101 pages of commentary, a statistical appendix (36 pages), bibliography (33 pages), and index (5 pages). Flinn ranges widely across Europe, though the nature of his sources inevitably drives him to devote most attention to France, England, and Scandinavia. He examines the various parameters of demographic change—fertility, mortality, nuptiality, and migration—and attempts to make some generalizations. His starting point is the "methodological revolution" brought about by Fleury and Henry's reconstitution of families, that is, linking entries from the parish registers of baptisms, marriage, and burials kept by the European clergy (from as early as the sixteenth century in some countries). Usually carried out on a parish-by-parish basis the method permits the production of a number of demographic statistics. Thus, for example, infant mortality rates (the number of deaths occurring within the first year of life per 1,000 live births) can be produced by linking entries from baptism and burial registers. Birth intervals can be calculated once one has linked the births to the marriages that preceded them. Premarital conceptions can likewise be discovered by noting the date of the marriage and of the first birth. Flinn's statistical appendix draws together the findings of the currently published reconstitution studies as to infant mortality, birth intervals, premarital conception, agespecific marital fertility, illegitimate births, mean age of women at first marriage, mean age of women at the birth of last child, and survival rates at various ages.


21st century is a synonym for change in all aspects of life and economic activities. Accelerating change is caused by development of new technologies that radically change how humans communicate and cooperate. On average, formal education in comparison with other economic sectors is lagging behind in adoption of contemporary technologies in educational processes. One of the biggest potential impact that will radically change the landscape of education is implementation of artificial intelligence. That radical change makes artificial intelligence disruptive technology with unforeseen consequences for students, faculty and society in general. The bottom line is that educational system will be forced to adopt to new technologies, abandoning traditional teaching and pedagogical practices that were in the center of education for centuries. This paper gives a short overview of disruptive innovations and technologies with the focus on artificial intelligence as a disruptive technology. Special focus is given to the limits and obstacles of introduction of artificial intelligence in educational processes and educational system in general.


Volatile components of Boletus edulis were extracted by using head space solid-phase micro-extraction(HS-SPME).Volatile compounds and major flavor substances were identified by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry(GC-MS),gas chromatography-olfactometry(GC-O).53 volatile compounds were identified in the experiment,among those total 29 volatile compounds and three unknown compounds contributed to the flavor of boletus edulis.The primary flavor compounds were hexanal,methylpyrazine,3-(methylthio)propionaldehyde,2,6-dimethylpyrazine,1-octen-3-ol,2-pentylfuran,2-ethyl-6-methylpyrazin,3-octen-2-one,benzeneacetaldehyde,and so on.


The enterprise annuity is playing a more and more important role in the system of multi - pillar pension security system. The paper analyses the present problems and puts forward some suggestions on the operation and the relevant system of enterprise annuity.


There are eight existing versions of Yangzhou Local Records,among which Yangzhou Local Records Updated written in Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty is the largest in terms of scale and popular with by scholars. The systematic punctuation and collation of this book has great academic value and practical significance at the time of Yangzhou 2500 anniversary celebration. Yangzhou Local Records Updated( Jiaqing period) is punctuated and collated precisely,written in a special format and easy to read,which can be said to be the model of collating Yangzhou Old Local Records.


This research aimed to determine the extent of community home based care (CHBC) in providing adequate quality affordable and sustainable care to people with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and to identify ways in which services may be improved. Interviews conducted with a total of 59 HIV/AIDS patients and their care providers in 6 CHBC schemes indicated that poverty the continuing stigma and inadequate counseling services are all major constraints to CHBC programs. It notes that most families could not afford basic supplies and the extra costs of the patient were a major burden on the families. The low status of and discrimination against women exacerbate the situation of poverty. Moreover the lack of counseling services for the caregivers and inadequate testing facilities are of concern with only half the schemes provided an acceptable minimum package of care.


A renin-like enzyme was separated from acid protease (cathepsin) from whole and different parts of rat brains on hemoglobin agarose resin. During the separation steps the specific activity of the brain renin-like enzyme was increased, while the specific activity of the brain cathepsin was decreased. More than 10-folds increase in the brain renin-like specific activity, and a 50% decrease in the brain cathepsin specific activity were obtained when compared to their activities obtained when separation on CM-cellulose column occurred. The brain renin-like enzyme showed optimal activity in the range of pH 6-7. The frontal cortex showed the highest renin activity, (5.4ng Angiotensin I/g tissue/hr). INTRODUCTION: The existence of renin-like activity in brain distinct from acid protease (cathepsin) is of great interest as there is evidence for the presence of angiotensinogen (1), angiotensin I and converting enzymes(2) in the brain. Also, the role of angiotensin II on the central nervous system is well recognized(3-4). The effects of brain angiotensin II(Ang II) on blood pressure and fluid homeostasis are now well recognized. Although circulating Ang II can have effects on the circum-ventricular areas, because they are devoid of a blood-brain barrier, it has become apparent that local production of Ang II in the brain is also important. Immunoreactive Ang II has been detected in many areas of the brain that are inside the blood-brain barrier(5). All components of the renin-angiotensin 229 Bull High Inst Public Health Vol.39 No.1 [2009] system (RAS) have been detected in the brain. Angiotensinogen (AGT) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) have been described to be present throughout the brain(6). It was also reported that Ang II can be generated from over expression of angiotensinogen and renin in the brain(7). A renin-like enzyme has been separated from acid protease on a CMcellulose from saline perfused whole dog brain. The enzyme showed optimal activity in the pH range of 6-7 and during the purification of the enzyme, the specific activity was increased while the acid protease specific activity was decreased. Immunologically the dog renin-like enzyme was distinctly different from dog kidney renin(8). This observation was extended by Husain et al(9) who observed such reninlike activity in tissue other than dog brain. This paper demonstrates that rat brain renin-like activity can be separated from brain on hemoglobin-agarose affinity column chromatography. The objective of this work was to develop a simple, rapid method to separate and assay renin-like enzyme activity from whole and different parts of rat brain, namely; medulla oblongata, pons, frontal cortex and cerebellum. Material and methods Chemicals 1(CNBr-activated) Sepharose 4B (Pharmacia Fine Chemicals-Sweden). The following chemicals were purchased from Sigma Chemical Co. St. Louis, MA 2Recrystallized human hemoglobin. 3Ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA). 4Phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF). 5N-ethyl maleimide (EMI). All other chemicals were purchased from BDH, England Animals Sixty male albino rats (weighing 150-200g) aged 2 months, were used in the Hassan M.Y. Osman 230 experiments. The rats were supplied by the Medical Research Institute animal house, Alexandria University (Egypt). Rats were housed in group cages (5 in each cage) and allowed free access to food and tap water. The rats were killed by decapitation after having been subjected to overnight fast with free access to water. Each brain weighed about 2.0gm. Twenty out of sixty brain (40g) were used for whole brain renin extraction. From the other forty brains, the parts under study were isolated, washed with ice-cold saline and weighed each separately as follows: cerebellum (20g), frontal cortex (12g), medulla oblongata (20g) and pons (18g). Preparation of Hb-agarose affinity column: The resin was prepared by the method of Smith and Turk (10) with some modification. CNBr-activated sepharose gel (7.5g) was swollen and washed for 15min on a glass filter with 0.001 M HCl (1.5 L). Recrystallized human hemoglobin (225mg) was dissolved in coupling buffer (0.1 M NaHCO3 (pH 8.6) containing 0.5 M NaCl (150ml)) and mixed with the gel in an Erlenmeyer flask and the mixture was stirred for 2hrs at room temperature using a glass stirrer. Unbound materials were washed away with 2L of 1 M ethanolamine to react with any remaining active groups, followed by 3 washing cycles with coupling buffer (2L), acetate buffer (pH 3.5, 0.1M; 2L), coupling buffer (2L), borate buffer (pH 7.6 containing 1M Na Cl; 2L) and lastly coupling buffer (2L) , acetate buffer (pH 3.5, 0.05M, 2L). Separation of renin from whole and different parts of rat Brain The whole as well as different parts of rat brain were homogenized in 1L of saline containing the following protease inhibitors: 30 mM disodium EDTA, 2mM phenyl methyl sulphonyl fluoride and 2 mM N-ethyl maleimide at pH 7.0, then centrifuged for 30 min. at 1500xg. To the supernatant (800ml) ammonium sullphate was added until the 231 Bull High Inst Public Health Vol.39 No.1 [2009] resulting mixture was 60% saturated at pH 6.4 using 0.02 M NaHCO3 to adjust the pH. The precipitate was removed by centrifugation for 1h at 1500xg, redissolved in 100ml sodium acetate buffer (0.05M) pH 7.0 and dialyzed against 20 volumes of the same buffer for 24 hrs , followed by centrifugation. The supernatant was redialyzed against 20 volumes of 0.02 M Na citrate pH 7.0 for 48 hrs with change of the dialyzing medium at 24hrs at 40C .The insoluble residues were removed by centrifugation at 1500xg and the supernatant was lyophilized, dissolved in 25ml of distilled water, and dialyzed against 20 volumes of Na phosphate buffer (pH 5.2, 0.001 M) for 24 hrs. The dialysate was concentrated to 10 ml under reduced pressure and applied to CM cellulose column (1.8  50cm) which has been well washed with 0.02M phosphate buffer. The protein was eluted using 0.02 M phosphate buffer pH 5.2 containing 0.1 M NaCl and protease inhibitors (at 1/20 of the concentrations mentioned above )until the absorbance of the eluate reached 0.05. The pH of the eluate as well as the molarity of NaCl changed until it reached 4.2 and 0.2 M respectively by using linear concentration gradient(8). Fractions of 6 ml were collected and the protein content was determined by measuring the absorbance at 280 nm. The active renin fractions were collected and dialyzed against 0.05 M sodium acetate buffer pH 3.5 and centrifuged at 2000xg then the precipitate was applied to the equilibrated Hb-agarose column (0.5 x 25cm) which has been well washed with the same buffer. The protein eluted with 0.05 M sodium acetate (pH 3.5) until the absorbance of the eluate reached 0.01, then the elution continued using 0.1 M tris buffer pH 8.6 containing 1M NaCl. Fractions were collected and assayed for both renin and cathepsin activities. Enzyme assay system Acid protease (cathepsin) activity was measured as described by Osman et al.(8). In this method, samples were incubated for 60 min at 37oC in 1 ml of 0.1 M sodium Hassan M.Y. Osman 232 acetate buffer (pH 3.5) containing 5 to 10mg acid-denatured hemoglobin, freshly prepared daily. The protein was precipitated with 0.5ml of 10% trichloroacetic acid, and the mixture was centrifuged for 20 min at 1000 x g. Protease activity is expressed as μmol/mg protein. Renin-like activity was measured by incubating the various fractions with partially purified rat renin substrate prepared using plasma from 48-hour nephrectomized rats.(8). The assay system consisted of 100μl of brain extract or fraction, 100μl of substrate solution containing 2 mg of protein, and 100 μl of 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 6.5). The samples were incubated at 37o for 2 hours and the reaction was stopped by heating in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. The denatured protein was removed by centrifugation, and the angiotensin I in the supernatant was determined by radioimmunoassay using commercial reagents (New England Nuclear Co.). Renin-like activity is expressed as pmoles angiotensin I produced/hour incubation/ml sample or mg sample protein. Results Table 1 and Figure 1 show the chromatographic separation on CMcellulose column of 106 mg protein obtained from rat brains. Three protein peaks were obtained; the first peak (P1) showed only acid protease activity while the second and the third peaks (P2 and P3) showed both renin and acid protease activities. When the fractions of the last two peaks collected, they were concentrated and rechromatographed on Hb-agarose affinity column, Two peaks were obtained using two different eluents (Fig. 2). The first protein peak which eluted at lower ionic strength and acidic pH 3.5 (namely F1) showed only a high renin specific activity, while the second protein peak which eluted at a high ionic strength 1 M NaCl and pH 8.6 (namely F2) showed a high acid protease specific activity with a 233 Bull High Inst Public Health Vol.39 No.1 [2009] lower renin specific activity when compared with F1. Table 2 indicates the amount of rennin in the different parts of rat brain (ng angiotensin 1/g tissue/hr) after incubation of the extracts with rat renin substrate at pH 6.5. The data indicated that the frontal cortex possessed the highest renin content while the cerebellum possessed the lowest(5.4 and4.11 ng Angiotensin I/g/hr) respectively. It is noteworthy to mention that during all the purification steps the renin-like specific activity was increased while the acid protease specific activity was decreased (Table 1). Table 1: Purification of rat whole brain renin-like and cathepsin activity. Cathepsin Renin activity Purification steps Total protein mg Sp. ac pmol/mg yield % sp.ac pmol/mg yield % Homogenization 1.700 0.42 0.30 (NH4)2 SO4 ppt 620 0.44 20 1.15 72 CM-column 106 0.37 5.8 2.25 46.7 Hb-agarose affinity column: F1 8 22.13 35 F2 6 0.20 3.2 3.00 7.6 Hassan M.Y. Osman 234 Table 2: Assay of reninlike activity in


T HE SCIENCE of musical xsthetics has hitherto devoted but little attention to the question of the origin of the musical artwork. One could almost say that the concern of this science is always with the finished work-that the investigation of the mysterious process of the creation of that work is avoided. It is no wonder, then, that the understanding of a musical art-work is much more difficult to obtain than that of a work of literature. The definitive edition of a poet's work generally contains in the last volumes an assembly of the fragments, drafts, and sketches, relating to the various completed works. But in the editions of the complete works of the great composers it is only rarely that one finds such glimpses into the workshop of the musician. And yet such additions to the collections of the finished works are altogether necessary to the understanding of the artist's personality. For this reason it is cause for congratulation that in the new edition of the Complete Works of Anton Bruckner ' the sketches and drafts of the symphonies have been included in great number, so that one can follow the development of the various musical ideas and the growth of the musical architecture.


Previous studies have shown that synthetic calcium phosphate ceramics are biocompatible materials capable of providing scaffolding for new bone growth as well as osteogenesis. In particular, hydroxylapatite (HA) is less soluble than β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) which has a higher degree of bioactivity. An implant made of dense hydroxylapatite shows substantially less bone growth than an implant made of a suitable HA/TCP ratio.1 Therefore, since biological response to the two materials is different, it is essential to have some means of determining the ratio of hydroxylapatite to β-tricalcium phosphate to ensure quality control of the synthetic ceramic as well as optimum biological response. In this study, a calibration curve was developed for x-ray diffractometer examination of mixtures of HA and β-TCP. The accuracy of using the diffractometer was compared to the accuracy of a powder camera, and it was determined that the diffractometer correctly identified the ratio within a range of 3% while the powder camera was accurate within a 20% range. This study showed that with an appropriate calibration curve, the HA/TCP ratio can be determined to a greater degree of accuracy using an x-ray diffractometer than by powder camera methods.


Low-energy building design is constrained not only by the total cost but also by both the energy demand and the comfort requirements. However, the evaluation of these criteria may require the implementation of time-consuming tasks, such as the direct building thermal simulation, which leads to difficulties in the design process. Moreover, it is of interest in this field to provide the designer with a large range of acceptable solutions rather than some unique optimal design. In this article, the application of an efficient global optimization approach is proposed as a tool to analyse the response functions of a building design problem. The method is based on a Kriging metamodel, which provides the global prediction of the objective and constraint functions, and an evaluation of uncertainty of the prediction at each point. The criterion for the infill sample selection is a generalized expected improvement function with desirable properties for stochastic responses. This criterion is maximized according to different constraints. First, inexpensive constraints are used as boundary constraints. Then, the expected violation criterion is used as a penalty. We use a particle swarm optimization algorithm to maximize the infill sample criterion according to the constraints. This approach is shown to be efficient for the building design problem, since the optimization is performed with an important reduction of the number of objective and constraint function calls. The Kriging metamodel is used to evaluate the sensitivity and the possible range of variations of the design parameters near their optimal values.


It has been advocated that post-hoc explanation techniques are crucial for increasing the trust in complex Machine Learning (ML) models. However, it is so far not well understood whether such explanation techniques are useful or easy for users to understand. In this work, we explore the extent to which SHAP's explanations, a state-of-the-art post-hoc explainer, help humans to make better decisions. In the malaria classification scenario, we have designed an experiment with 120 volunteers to understand whether humans, starting with zero knowledge about the classification mechanism, could replicate the complex ML classifier's performance after having access to the model explanations. Our results show that this is indeed the case, i.e., when presented with the ML model outcomes and the explanations, humans can improve their classification performance, indicating that they understood how the ML model makes its decisions. CCS Concepts: • Applied computing;


Objective To explore the significance of reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. Patients and Methods Twenty-six consecutive patients received reduced-intensity conditioning (Flu 30mg/m2.d−1×5d+BU 4mg.kg−1.d−1×3d or CTX 100mg.kg−1+TBI≤6.0Gy) PBSCT(RIC group). Among them, 21 were male and 5 female with median age of 36 (23~49). Twenty three of them were in chronic phase and 3 in progressive phases. The median time from diagnosis to transplantation was 12 (3~84) months. Twenty-four consecutive patients received standard conditioning (CTX 120mg.kg−1+ TBI≥7.0Gy) prior to PBSCT (STAND group) were used as historic controls. In this group of patients, 22 were in chronic phase and 2 in progressive phases. Twenty patiens were male and 4 female with median age of 35 (18~49). The median time from diagnosis to transplantation was 13 (3~48) months. All patients received PBSC from HLA matched related donors. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF),CsA and MTX were given for prophylaxis of acute graft-versus-host-disease (aGVHD). Results All patients were successfully engrafted and achieved a complete cytogenetic remission. One patient developed graft rejection 6 months post-transplantation in RIC group. The median time when granulocyte exceeded 0.5 ×109/L and platelets exceeded 20 ×109/L was 15(12–23) days and 19(12–32) days in STAND group and 13(11–18) and 17(11–30) days in RIC group, respectively. The cumulative incidence of aGVHD was 45.83% (11/24) in STAND group and 23.08% (6/26) in RIC group(P>0.05). The incidence of Grade III–IV aGVHD in STAND group and RIC group was 16.67% and 0%, respectively(P 0.05). The incidence of extensive cGVHD in STAND group and RIC group was 35% and 0%, respectively(P 0.05). 4 patients experienced a cytogenetic relapse, which was successfully treated with donor PBSC infusions. The Cumulative incidence of TRM was 41.67% (10/24) for the STAND group and 19.23% (5/26) for the RIC group, respectively (P>0.05). GVHD copplicated with interstitial pneumatitis or severe infection were the main causes of death. The estimated 3-year probabilities of disease-free-survival (DFS) was 62% in STAND group and 76% in RIC group, respectively (P>0.05). Conclusion Our results indicate that reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic peripheral blood stem cells transplantation is a safe, less toxic and curative approach for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.


- Sumbmicrochannels have been placed on the hotspots in a non-uniform heat generated chip circuit to increase the liquid/solid interaction area and then to enhance the heat dissipation. Main microchannels width is 185µm, which is twice the width of the submicrochannels and also includes the wall thickness of 35µm, and wall height is 500µm. The chip dimension is 10mm×10mm and the hotspot is 4mm×10m. Different positions of the hotspot have been investigated e.g. upstream, middle and downstream. Uniform heat flux is 100W/cm 2 while for the hot spot is 150 W/cm 2 . Single channel simulation reveals that the downstream hotspot gives a lower temperature of the chip circuit surface; however the upstream hotspot has more uniform temperature distribution. A special design of manifold was adopted to ensure an equal mass distribution through the microchannels.


Enumerations of compounds based on a parent skeleton with and without the influence of obligatory minimum valency (OMV) are reported. The effect of the OMV is formulated by assigning different weights to the respective orbits of the parent skeleton. This type of enumeration requires introduction of several new concepts that are derived from the subduction of coset representations, e.g., a unit subduced cycle index, a subduced cycle index and the number of suborbits.


The release of the exposure draft bill detailing the new R&D Tax Credit (Tax Laws Amendment (Research & Development) Bill 2010) on 18 December 2009 has generated significant debate about whether the changes are appropriate, and whether they achieve Treasury's goal of creating a scheme that is simpler and more generous than the existing R&D tax concession.


We give a conformal representation for improper affine spheres which is used to solve the Cauchy problem for the Hessian one equation. With this representation, we characterize the geodesics of an improper affine sphere, study its symmetries and classify the helicoidal ones. Finally, we obtain the complete classification of the isolated singularities of the Hessian one Monge-Ampere equation.


The article provides information about physical education and sports for people with disabilities. Theoretical basis of the study is taken from regulatory legal acts, as well as scientific literature. The methodological basis of the research are the methods of analysis and synthesis, observation and comparison, system and historical methods, methods of legal modeling. The study gives an idea of adaptive physical education and sports, characterizes adaptive physical education and sports in key varieties and trends, gives an idea of the state and trends in the development of adaptive physical education and sports the Russian Federation.


Developing E-Learning System is a very effective means to realize the life-long learning. Designing the life-long learning based E-Learning system should follow the systematic nature, coherence, practicality, efficiency, security and progressiveness.


The difficulties of testing the dynamic transmission errors of gears in complex environments, such as high-speed operations or situations with oil contamination, and the limited variety of available testing methods have been recognized as issues which this study endeavors to tackle. In this study, a testing method for evaluating high-speed dynamic transmission errors of spur gears through the use of strain sensors is proposed. To reduce the interference of environmental noise on testing signals, physical measures, such as the use of copper foil to shield signal wires and the grounding of data acquisition equipment, were implemented during the testing process. Utilizing wavelet decomposition to distinguish between the high- and low-frequency components of the testing signals, the transmission error of gears during high-speed operation was calculated. After confirming the feasibility of the stress–strain stiffness approach in gear transmission error testing using the magnetic grid method, tests on modified and non-modified gears at various speeds and loads were carried out. The two types of test data were processed and evaluated to determine the effect of speed and load on gear dynamic transmission error. It was possible to conduct research on the testing technique of gear dynamic transmission errors utilizing strain sensors, which provides a new, fast, simple, and practical testing strategy for gear transmission error testing.


Catalyst deactivation is a problem of great and continuing concern in residue hydroprocessing operations. It is widely accepted that the deactivation of hydrotreating catalysts is to a great extent caused by coke deposition. Three used commercial catalysts were studied by solid-state 13 C NMR to derive structural information on the coke. 13 C NMR spectral editing (cross polarization technique in combination with the polarization inversion pulse sequence) was applied to distinguish on the one hand between quaternary and tertiary aromatic carbon and on the other hand between secondary and primary aliphatic carbon. Structural parameters, derived from those NMR measurements in combination with the aromaticity from single pulse excitation 13 C NMR and the H/C ratio from elemental analysis, have been used to obtain structural information on coke.


ABSTRACT Infinite series are known to be challenging for Calculus II students, perhaps because they lack intellectual need for the content. In their analysis of Calculus textbooks found few instances of potential intellectual needs for infinite series. This study combines a textbook analysis with interviews of four professors and observations of their video-taped lectures. We compared the intellectual need in the textbook with what the professors intended to present and what they presented in lecture. The professors collectively intended to present the same potential intellectual needs that are found in the textbook, and they enacted presentations of these needs in their lectures. However, the professors incorporated more application problems than were found in the sections of the book. We outline implications for instructors, textbook authors, and course coordinators. In particular, reordering the topics to better show the intellectual need for power series and including more activities to engage students in problematic situations that power series can resolve. We noted that the instructors were presenting intellectual needs for power series in their own ways and were not reliant on the textbook.


During the COVID-19 outbreak, service robots have provided good service for teachers and students in universities. In order to improve the safety and convenience of pharmaceutical undergraduate laboratory, a service robot for pharmaceutical undergraduate teaching laboratory was designed from the aspects of path planning, positioning and navigation, human-computer interaction etc., which can solve practical problems such as epidemic prevention and control, laboratory safety etc.


Abstract Shale, a heterogeneous and extremely complex gas reservoir, contains low porosity and ultra-Low permeability properties at different pore scales. Its flow behaviors are more complicated due to different forms of flow regimes under laboratory conditions. Flow regimes change with respect to pore scale variation resulting in change in gas permeability. This work presents new insights regarding the change of pore radius due to gas adsorption, effective stress and impact of both on shale gas permeability measurements in flow regimes. From this study, it was revealed that the value of Klinkenberg coefficient has been affected due to gas adsorption-induced pore radius thickness impacts and resulting change in gas permeability. The gas permeability measured from new proposed equation is provides better results as compare to existing equation. Adsorption parameters are the key factors that affect radius of shale pore. Both adsorption and effective stress have an effect on the pore radius and result gas permeability change. It was found that slip effect enhances the apparent gas permeability and also changes with effective stress; therefore, combine impact of slip flow and effective stress is very important as provides understanding in evolution of apparent permeability during shale gas production.


The equi-attraction properties concerning the global attractors $\a_\lam$ of dynamical systems $S_\lam(t)$ with parameter $\lam\in\Lam$, where $\Lam$ is a compact metric space, are investigated. In particular, under appropriate conditions, it is shown that the equi-attraction of the family $\{\a_\lam\}$ is equivalent to the continuity of $\a_\lam$ in $\lam$ with respect to the Hausdorff distance.


Abstract : Throughout its history, the Engineer Regiment has distinguished itself, time and time again, by its support to our Nation. And at this point in our history, we stand together at a crossroads of relevance. We must select the right fork in the road that which takes us toward developing relevant skills and tools for our units and staffs. We must quickly address capability gaps in urban and complex terrain. We must ask ourselves, Do we have the tools we need? Are we skilled to accomplish the tasks required? Do we have the right organizations? It is up to us to seize the initiative and make this happen!


Ethylene biosynthesis genes were transcriptionnally enhanced by finger drop during banana fruit ripening. Among them, there are ethylene- and ripening- (MaACO1, MaACS1) and wounded-related (MaACS2). Thus, this process might be associated with ethylene production and share in common some components with wounding, another breaking event.


BackgroundSerotonin may contract human large coronary arteries through two 5-hydroxtryptamine (5-HT) receptors, 5-HT1-like and 5 -HT2. These 5-HT1-like receptors resemble both cloned 5-HT1D receptor subtypes, 5-HT1Dα and 5 -HT1Dβ Although these subtypes have similar pharmacology, 5-HT1Dαreceptors appear to have lower affinity for ketanserin than 5-HT1Dα receptors. We assessed the relative participation of 5-HT1-like and 5-HT2 receptors and attempted to identify whether vasoconstrictor 5-HT1-like receptors are 5 1HT1Dα or 5-.HT1Dβ. Methods and ResultsEpicardial coronary arteries were dissected from the hearts of 29 patients (including 1 healthy donor) undergoing heart transplant operation. Endothelium-denuded strips were set up to contract at 37°C. To assess the relative contributions of 5-HT2-like and 5-HT2 receptors, we blocked the latter with ketanserin (0.1 to 1.0 μmol/L) and ketanserin-resistant receptors with methiothepin (0.1 μmol/ L). Concentration-effect curves for 5-HT, in the absence and presence of ketanserin, were analyzed by using a model for two receptor subtypes. The fractional contributions of 5-HT1-like and 5 -HT2 receptors to the maximum effect of 5 -HT, f1 and f2, were estimated in arteries from 28 patients: f1 (0.71±0.20, mean±SD) was significantly larger than f2 (0.29±0.20) (P<.0001). Using [3H]-serotonin to label transfected and ex-pressed receptors, we verified that ketanserin has lower affinity for 5-HT1Dβ (pK1-log Ki, mol/L] less than 5.0) than for 5-HTlDα (pKi=7.1±0.1) receptors. A concentration of ketanserin (1 μmol/L) that would occupy more than 90% of 5-HT1Dα receptors failed to block 5-HT-induced contractions (4 patients). The 5-HT1-like receptor stimulant sumatriptan evoked maximal contractions that matched f1 and was equipotent with 5-HT through 5-HT1-like receptors (8 patients). No systematic influence of disease, atheroma, or therapy on f1 and f2 was detected. ConclusionsCoronary artery contractile 5-HT1-like receptors resemble cloned 5-HT1Dβ receptors and predominate over 5-HT2 receptors in mediating serotonin-evoked contractions. Sumatriptan contracts coronary arteries as a full agonist through 5-HT1-like receptors.


The genus Lophopogon Hackel (1887: 26) is endemic to India (Singh et al. 2015) and is represented by two species, viz. L. kingii Hook. f. (1896: 149) and L. tridentatus (Roxburgh) Hackel (1889: 254). The distribution of L. kingii is restricted to Bihar and Odisha (Chandramohan et al. 2016; Tiwari et al. 2017), whereas L. tridentatus is more widespread, distributed in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. (Bor 1960; Singh & Deshpande 1980; Sur 2004; Kabeer et al. 2009). On critical study and survey of literature, it was found that the name L. tridentatus needs to be typified.


A continuous extraction system for the determination of various alkaloids based on the formation of ion pairs between the alkaloids and inorganic complexes, Bil4– and Co(SCN)42–, followed by extraction and measurement of bismuth and cobalt in the organic phase (1,2-dichloroethane) by flame atomic absorption spectrometry was developed. The system was applied to amylocaine, papaverine and bromhexine hydrochloride. The method thus developed permits the determination of the three alkaloids over a wide concentration range (0.5–175 µg ml–1), with a relative standard deviation of approximately 3%.


Today the challenge in the mobile industry is User experience (UX), which is starting to affect software engineering processes. A common use or definition of the term UX is still not de facto defined. Industry and academy are both in agreement that UX definitely includes more than the previous usability definition. Our concern in this paper is how industry and manufacturers can manage to successfully get a UX idea into and through the software development cycle? Our discussion includes obvious components from usability and new UX components that are not taken into account by prevailing HCI approaches. We will discuss branding, trends and timing as vital components in that puzzle.


--The common practice of expressing community structure in terms of indices of diversity and evenness involves a serious loss of information. Differences attributable to the accumulation of species with increasing area are ignored, differences in the density of individuals are often masked by other factors, and many combinations of species richness and relative abundance can produce the same value of the index. As an alternative we suggest (1) comparing species richness by standardizing samples either to equal numbers of individuals or to the number of individuals expected on equal-sized plots, and (2) expressing the relative abundance of species as a graph of their relative abundances arranged in a decreasing array. We present an analysis of bird census data based on the proposed methods, and we include comparisons with applications of four indices commonly used in ecology, the Shannon-Weaver index of diversity, the J' evenness index, the inverse of Simpson's measure of concentration, and Hill's evenness index. For 37 Breeding Bird Censuses taken in various terrestrial habitats across the United States and Canada, the proposed methods reveal some very general relationships about the organization of bird communities in different habitats. Equal-sized areas of mature deciduous forest and secondgrowth habitats may be equally species rich (14-24 species with •> 1 breeding territory per 6 ha); the density of individuals (territorial pairs) is generally higher in deciduous forest habitats, and the relative abundance of bird species shows more dominance (less evenness) in the deciduous forest. Mixed coniferous-deciduous forests and dense young deciduous forests have fewer species than mature eastern deciduous forests or second-growth abitats (9-16 and 7-10 species per 6 ha, respectively), although the density of individuals is approximately equal to that in second-growth habitats. Coniferous forests are species-poor (5-8 per 6 ha), and the density of territorial pairs is low (8-12 per 6 ha compared with 40-70 in deciduous forests). Although the proposed methods require assumptions that need to be evaluated carefully, we are optimistic that they will have other useful applications in the analysis of arian communities. Received 8 October 1980, accepted 15 April 1981. A large literature has developed in ecology presenting descriptive analyses of biotic assemblages (Dennis et al. 1979, Patil and Taille 1979). Although one should not infer mechanisms of community regulation from such studies (Pielou 1975), certain patterns recur in vertebrate communities in different habitats (Palmgren 1930, Udvardy 1957, MacArthur and MacArthur 1961, Williams 1964, MacArthur 1964, Karr and Roth 1971, Wiens 1973, Willson 1974), climates (Bock and Lepthien 1974, Rotenberry 1978), seasons (Rotenberry et al. 1979), and geographic areas (Pianka 1966, Recher 1969, Karr 1971, Tramer 1974, Cody 1975, Short 1979). One methodological problem with much of this literature and with community ecology generally since the early 1960's is the expression of community structure in terms of indices of diversity and evenness. Indices such as H' [-5; p/log Pi] (Shannon and Weaver 1949, Margalef 1958) and J' [H'/log s] (Pielou 1966a) confound important parameters that should be defined as precisely as possible and examined separately before communities are compared. These are (1) the number of species (species richness), (2) their relative abundance (evenness), (3) the number of individuals or territorial pairs, and (4) the area sampled. To combine any of these variables into a single statistic assures that the relative effects of the contributing parameters cannot be determined. The same value of the index can result from various com785 The Auk 98: 785-800. October 1981 786 JAMES AND RATHBUN [Auk, Vol. 98 binations of values of the parameters (Pielou 1975). Here, we recommend that data be standardized to either equal numbers of individuals (in this case, territorial pairs) or equal-sized areas before comparisons are attempted. We propose that rarefaction and relative abundance curves be used as an alternative to diversity indices. In addition to clarifying components of biological interest, these methods avoid many of the mathematical deficiencies of the application of indices. We will examine the community structure of a large set of breeding bird censuses on the basis of the traditional methods and then present four graphic displays of the results of rarefactions (Figs. 1-3) and relative abundance curves (Fig. 4).


Abstract While university libraries have a long tradition of preserving scholarship, they are less experienced in the technology-dependent and computer networked environment. By taking advantage of current activities and expertise that exist in various parts of the institution, policies and practices can be linked that will engender long-term accessibility. Under ideal circumstances preservation is not an isolated process; rather, it is built into the information life cycle beginning with a work's creation and continuing through to storage and access. Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) provide a good starting point to determine the processes and policies that will lead to confidence in digital preservation.


The instrumentation and monitoring of rock behaviour have played an important and necessary role in the practice of potash, rock-salt, gypsum, trona and coal mining. The art of rock instrumentation applied to soft rock and coal mining has progressively evolved over the past years and will surely continue to advance at a faster pace in the future as a result of the technological revolution we experience today. The development of sophisticated mine-wide data communications systems is being used for instrumentation and sensor automation, and laser, sonar and geophysics technology are being continuously adapted for rock monitoring purposes. In this paper, the author provides an overview of typical rock instrumentation used today and offers some views of the progressive evolution in rock mechanics instrumentation sophistication and design.


Introduces how to develop PDF Reader by SDK(ActiveX),including some useful functions,such as open and close PDF document,resize page,rotate page,show the bookmark,print document and search text.


Abstract The present study asked whether and how social-bond factors and self-control factors affect drug use by members of the Turkish armed forces, a key institution in Turkey, where all male citizens complete mandatory military duty. To implement the study's 2-stage sampling design, first we randomly selected a sample of troops serving in Turkey's 4 military branches, the army, navy, air force, and gendarmerie. This sample proportionally represented the military's makeup by the 4 branches. From it, we then chose randomly a subsample from each group, obtaining a final sample of 4,461 men. Each participating service member self-administered a questionnaire approved by the institutional review board of Gulhane Military Medical Academy's Psychology and War Psychiatry Department located in Istanbul. Data from the Mehmetcik 2015 Field Study survey was subjected to negative binomial regression, and results showed participants' drug use to be inversely associated, overall, with self-control and social-bond factors. Drug-use behavior also differ by military units being served. An implication of the results is that drug prevention/intervention for service members could usefully target young men prior to conscription and persisting into their first months of military duty, aimed at enhancing their social bonds and self-control.


With the dire need for more competent cyber security professionals, two parties endeavor to close this gap, industry certificates that focus on hands-on experience, and higher education institutions that favor assessing knowledge memorization. It is challenging for the enthusiasts to acquire a solid and balanced profile of knowledge and hands-on experience in the professional context. We introduce a visual representation of penetration testing skills, actions and knowledge so that it closely relates theory and skills for cyber security topics which can serve as a guide for professional development. To illustrate our methodology, we selected 10 case studies from the hacking challenges of Cyber Security Challenge Australia 2014, conducted the experiments and aligned necessary skills and the actions to these complex scenarios. These detailed analysis and models are visually presented as a tree to encompass the landscape of penetration testing in practice which could be a valuable tool for enthusiasts and learners to plan their learning activities.


Solar energy is renewable energy par excellence. Environmentally friendly, it has many specific advantages because of the foreseeable depletion of fossil energy resources. The solar cells are currently dominated by silicon and expensive, hence the widespread enthusiasm of researchers interested in the possibility of manufacturing solar cells from plastic materials or organic. These new cells have the advantage of being simpler and more malleable than those made from a silicon.[1] Several organic dyes, such as styryl [2], coumarines [3], polyenes [4] and indole derivatives [5], have been proposed as potential candidates for solar cells. Rhodanine derivatives, electron acceptors are used in a wide range of organic molecules "Push-Pull" These have applications in optics and more recently non linéaire [6] are used in the manufacture of DSSCs and [7] are obtained with a high conversion efficiency compared to other.[8] We were interested in the synthesis of new chromophores containing the pattern rhodanine, a molecule from the leader aminothiazoline thione as a synthetic strategy developed previously in our laboratory.


This paper introduces a new estimator for the xed e ects ordered logit model. The proposed method has two important advantages over existing estimators. First, it estimates the di erences in the cut points along with the regression coe cient. The cut point di erences provide bounds on a marginal e ect, so they can be used to interpret the magnitude of the regression coe cient. Second, the proposed estimator for the regression coe cient is more e cient than any existing estimator. The proposed estimator is based on the observation that the ordered logit model with J outcomes and T observations can be converted to a binary choice logit model in (J − 1) ways. The conditional maximum likelihood estimator in Chamberlain (1980) can be applied to each of these binary choice models. The proposed procedure optimally combines the information from all these binary choice models. Existing estimators use at most (J − 1) of these (J − 1) transformations. A simulation study reveals that the resulting e ciency gain can be substantial. As an empirical illustration, I examine the income-health gradient for children using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.


Herein, we show that both exogenously transfected and endogenously activated p53 repress promoter activity and expression of PDGFRB. p53 binds the proximal promoter containing the CCAAT motif as examined by EMSA and chromatin immunoprecipitation. However, gradual induction of p53 in tet‐onSAOS2 cells resulted in a transient increase of the PDGFRB‐promoter activity and its expression. As binding of p53 to the promoter increased, previously bound p73, ΔNp73, c‐Myc, HDAC1 and HDAC4 were dismissed from the repressed promoter, and p300 was recruited. The transient increase of the promoter activity was therefore induced by the release of the p73, Myc and HDACs, previously shown to act as repressors to this promoter. Along with further increase of p53, p300 was replaced by HDAC1 and HDAC4, resulting in decreased PDGFRB expression. For the repression, acetylation of the C‐terminal lysines of p53 is important, and both acetyl‐K373p53 and methyl‐K370p53 became bound to the promoter. The acetyl‐K373p53 was accumulated in the nucleus and colocalized with promyelocytic leukemia protein. Mitomycin treatment of MEF induced similar epigenetic modification of p53 and its binding to the promoter chromatin. Addition of a PDGFR tyrosine‐kinase inhibitor to p53‐inducing tet‐onSAOS2 increased the number of apoptotic cells. These results suggest that p53 represses the PDGFRB promoter, facilitating the p53‐induced apoptosis, whereas tumor cells with p53 mutation or a high level of ΔNp73 or Myc could become refractory to the regulation. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Thornwaldt's cyst also known as bursa pharyngeal embryonalis which is formed by traction of notochord at the retropharyngeal wall at the site of contact. It is present in the midline, at the junction between nasopharyngeal vault and posterior pharyngeal wall. The bursa can extend upward and backward above the limit of superior constrictor muscle fibres. This bursa when infected becomes seat of inflammation and cyst formation occurred. The well-known Thornwaldt's cyst occurs as a result of obstruction of orifice of the bursa and is different from cyst of Rathke's pouch. Thornwaldt's cyst is usually asymptomatic but more than 1-2 cm may become symptomatic. Symptoms that commonly seen are halitosis, nasal discharge, nasal obstruction, epistaxis, prevertebral spasm, and rarely occipital headache and obstruction of Eustachian tube can occur. The diagnosis usually incidental as a part of a nasal endoscopic examination or radiological and endoscopic examination which is used to diagnose the cyst. On examination it appears as smooth mass with a central dimple. In this case report young female present with difficulty in swallowing, occipital headache, halitosis and fever. Initially she was managed conservatively when the cyst was resolved then it was marspupizied by transoral approach, with uneventful postoperative period. Other approaches for excision or marsupialization in symptomatic cases are endoscopic or transpalatal using powdered instrumentation.


In recent years, the electrical characterization of 3D interconnects in VLSI has become increasingly important. This trend can be attributed primarily to the increase of interconnect layers and clock speed of modern days VLSI. A prime characterization of the interconnects is the extraction of the capacitance matrix of 3D structures. In this validation example, an interconnect, consisting of six conductors embedded in a seven dielectric layers, is considered. As indicated in Figure 1, four of the six conductors cross over two 90 degrees bends.


This Graduation thesis deals with the homelessness as an actual problem of the present society. It describes the causations of the inception of this phenomenon, the present condition of the homelessness, the implications in light of the social pedagogy and the contexture of homelessness on social deviations. It deals with the character of the homelessness, the marginal groups of people that are threatened with this phenomenon, with their day-to-day challenges and with the possibility of help and redress on the part of Social science pedagogy. The special part is devoted to the services and organizations which help the social banned individual. The results and conclusions of the qualitative field survey, which was made in a local neighborhood in the city of Brno are a part of this Graduation thesis.


Ca3Co4xCuxO9 (0x1.4) misfit-layered thermoelectric oxides were prepared by traditional solid-state reaction method which cost less, operate easer, may produce Ca3Co4O9 on large scale. XRD study shows that we obtain Ca3Co4O9 major phase in series Ca3Co4xCuxO9 (0x1.4) samples which were sintered at the highest temperature 880°C for 8h by two steps. Metallographic microscopic analysis indicates that some samples grain size range at 2~4μm which were doped less Cu. Doping Cu in different way experiment suggests that Ca3Co4xCuxO9 (x=0.4) sample has lower electric resistivity while Ca3Co4O9+5%Cu samples resistivity increases, compared with Ca3Co4O9 (x=0). The article infers that Ca3Co4xCuxO9 (0x0.4) can decrease the electric resistivity of Ca3Co4O9.


We consider the stationary distributions of the age of information (AoI) and the peak AoI in information update systems. We first derive an invariant relation among the distributions of the AoI, the peak AoI, and the system delay, which holds for a wide class of information update systems. Based on this result, we next obtain several formulas for the stationary distributions of the AoI and the peak AoI in the first-come first-served (FCFS) GI/GI/1 queue, which is a general model of FCFS information update systems. Finally, we derive explicit formulas for the Laplace-Stieltjes transforms of the stationary distributions of the AoI and the peak AoI in FCFS M/GI/1 and GI/M/1 queues.


Theory and Methods: The input parameters are optimized step by step during the whole simulation process. This study consists of 8 optimization stages. In every step, an input parameter is varied within a scale and according to the simulation results it is set to its optimum value by examining the gain and noise figure outputs. From the first EDF in design, first and the only pass is done; over the second EDF second and third passes achieved by using a reflector. In this way, a two stage and triple pass structure are formed.


Sonorant sounds are characterized by regions with a prominent formant structure, high energy, and high degree of periodicity. In this work, the vocal-tract system, excitation source, and suprasegmental features derived from the speech signal are analyzed to measure the sonority information present in each of them. Vocal-tract system information is extracted from the Hilbert envelope of the numerator of the group-delay function. It is derived from a zero-time-windowed speech signal that provides a better resolution of the formants. A 5-D feature set is computed from the estimated formants to measure the prominence of the spectral peaks. A feature representing strength of excitation is derived from the Hilbert envelope of linear prediction residual, which represents the source information. Correlation of speech over ten consecutive pitch periods is used as the suprasegmental feature representing periodicity information. The combination of evidence from the three different aspects of speech provides a better discrimination among different sonorant classes, compared to the baseline mel frequency cepstral coefficient features. The usefulness of the proposed sonority feature is demonstrated in the tasks of phoneme recognition and sonorant classification.


It is disclosed about light absorption spectrum correcting apparatus and a method of manufacturing the light absorption spectrum correction method. Light absorption spectrum correction device according to at least one embodiment is a light source for emitting light for measuring the optical absorption spectra for a pressure sensor for measuring the contact pressure of the subject, the subject, the light on the test body irradiation and contact ATR crystal layer is used as the pressure transmission passage and the ATR create a light absorption spectrum by detecting the light emitted from the crystal layer spectrum detected and the analyzer, and with a contact pressure data transmitted from the pressure sensors the spectrum detection of and on the basis of the light intensity data supplied from the analyzer and a spectrum corrector for correcting the light absorption spectrum.


The invention relates to a probe card and a corresponding illumination device for an electrical functional testing, preferably in parallel, a plurality of chips equipped with connection pads in lighting conditions data by means illumination, said sensor board being a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising on its lower face means for electrical connection to said chip, characterized in that the probe card further comprises, electrical connection means via 'lighting.


In this edition of JoSI we are pleased to present a collection of six papers that explore social inclusion issues as applied to children, young people and people with disabilities across different settings and geographic locations. In various ways this issue examines how meaningful progress in social inclusion can be achieved. Many of the suggested ways forward are discussed in the context of policies and practices reflective of risk averse tendencies that can, implicitly or explicitly, reproduce restrictive assumptions about not only the nature of 'children', 'young people' or 'disability,' but also about what is possible.


Since rebounding from the depths of the Great Recession, the energy efficiency finance market has expanded significantly and is estimated to exceed $100 billion in annual originations within the United States alone. Segments such as green and efficient buildings, hybrid and electric cars, ENERGY STAR®–certified IT equipment, and the energy service company (ESCO) industry are all multibillion-dollar markets. Their scale and success highlight a number of critical elements necessary for the growth and maturity of more nascent areas. Important components include a foundation on an established pathway to the larger capital markets, successful integration of the financing structure into the sales process and value proposition, and a focus on customer needs and satisfaction. While liquidity has returned to the energy efficiency markets overall, a number of segments remain underserved and credit challenged. These include several persistently difficult areas, such as low- and moderate-income households, multifamily housing, many state and local governments, and the small commercial market. All share many issues due to being highly leveraged and considered higher risk, and due to owners who are often risk averse or unconvinced of the benefits of investing in energy efficiency. Overcoming these real and perceived challenges will require definitive actions and policies. With the growth and maturation of the energy efficiency finance markets, we also see new opportunities and trends that are likely to remain relevant for some time. Among them are the rise of green bonds and interest from new types of investors, a focus on the customer experience, new methods for evaluating financing programs, and better integration of efficiency into capital planning. All are critical for continuing the momentum seen in the efficiency finance industry and for meeting efficiency and climate goals.


requires him to challenge received opinions, especially among the young, an activity that is taken by the city fathers to amount to "corrupting the young." Socrates is thus in danger, a theme which runs like a scarlet thread through Gorgias and connects it to the Apology of Socrates. The true art of politics is not wholly contrary to the city, however, for while it is "critical of ordinary politics and of the city as it naturally operates yet ultimately [it is] supportive of the highest aspirations and deepest yearnings of ordinary citizens . . . . Philosophy comes to sight as something like the moral conscience of the city and as a pursuit that seeks wisdom about an orderly cosmos that is in harmony with human virtue" (178–79). Socrates failed with Gorgias, but he arguably succeeded with another and greater philosopher-rhetorician, Plato himself. The ultimate point of Stauffer's study is to claim that the Platonic dialogue itself, perhaps the Gorgias most emphatically, is the fulfillment of the project sketched in the Gorgias. Thus Gorgias, according to Stauffer, supplies a particularly perspicuous insight into the overall character of the Platonic corpus and its aim to make Socrates "younger and more beautiful," that is, more attractive to the citizens among whom he (or his successors) carries on the philosophic life. This conclusion drives Stauffer to a certain inconclusiveness with regard to the central substantive concerns of the dialogue: Does Socrates really believe it is worse to do injustice than to suffer it? Quite possibly this is merely a rhetorical part of the noble rhetoric, yet Stauffer hesitates to so conclude. So he concludes in a state of uncertainty, an aporia about the big themes. In my opinion, this is a flaw, even an important flaw, but one for which the very intelligent and carefully executed drive to coherence and philosophical adequacy that marks this study more than compensates.


Objective To estimate reliability of thrombus induced in rats middle cerebral artery(MCA)by 530nm green source.Method Using photochemical and cold green light behavior,pathology under LM and EM were observed.Result Model group showed neurological behavioral disorders following model establishment.TTC staining showed infarction in coronal section of brain.Conclusion Under the green light source thrombus model of MCA obtained were reliable and steady.It is similar to the progress and character of the human disease.


Abstract The Upper Cretaceous (Aruma Group) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was deposited over nearly 23 Ma. This was after a period of major erosional emergence in the Turonian. The variable thicknesses and lithofacies of the sediments of this group were controlled by regional subsidence induced by plate collision and partial subduction, eustatic sea-level fluctuations and differential sedimentation rates. The Upper Cretaceous in the southern UAE (Abu Dhabi region) consists of two major transgressive-regressive cycles involving the sediments of four formations, the Laffan, Halul, Fiqa and Simsima. In the central UAE (Dubai region) the group consists of the Laffan, Ilam, and Fiqa Formations, while in the northern UAE it consists of the Muti, Juweiza, Qahlah and Simsima Formations. The earliest Late Cretaceous sedimentation accompanied a marine transgression that probably began in the late Turonian, with the sea spreading to cover most of the UAE by Coniacian times. This marine event was marked by the deposition of basinal muds (not shales) and neritic marls. Later, during Santonian, neritic shelf carbonates were deposited. Subsequent subsidence in the early Campanian resulted in the accumulation of deep-water marls, argillaceous limestones and muds (shales). During the Maastrichtian, a widespread regression occurred, and neritic shelf bioclastic limestones and dolomites containing rudists and orbitoids were deposited on the shelf margin. Toward the centre of the basin, in the northern UAE, thicker, basinal, slope and shelf edge sediments were deposited resulting in a succession that consists mostly of marls, argillaceous limestones, cherts, conglomerates, sandstones and shales. Commercial hydrocarbons in the Upper Cretaceous are confined to the Simsima and Ilam Formations, which are the best potential exploration targets, particularly in the offshore of the northeastern Emirates in a belt parallel to the Oman Mountains. The basal part of the Upper Cretaceous is a major seal over middle Cretaceous reservoirs of the UAE.


Wavelet packets with the advantage of time frequency zoom is used in this paper to decompose the post fault transient electrical quantities by the proper frequency span. In view of energy, the different frequency band is chosen corresponding to the distribution system with the different neutral grounding mode. Based on the chosen time frequency window, a novel method is proposed in this paper, which synthetically uses the waveform recognition as the main criteria and the maximal module as the secondary criteria to perform the detection of the fault line. Theoretical analysis and lots of simulation using EMTP show that the proposed method can reliably and exactly choose the faulty line in single phase to ground fault and it is suited for various distribution systems with different neutral grounding modes. Moreover, this method can be easily used in site without adjusting protective settings.


Charlie R. Steen, Margaret of Parma: A Life, Leiden (Brill Academic Publishers) 2013, VI–321 p., 6 ill. (Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions, 174), ISBN 978-90-04-25744-3, EUR 129,00


Background: Pulmonary hypertension is considered as a poor prognosis factor in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). There has been reported brain natriuretic peptide (pro-BNP) is related with increased right ventricular (RV) workloads. However, there are few studies that evaluate the relationship between BNP and pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP), RV function and St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score in patients with COPD, and the effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) on these parameters. Methods: Pulmonary function test, echocardiography, blood BNP, and SGRQ score were evaluated in stabilized moderate degree COPD patients (FEV1/FVC<70%, 50%≤FEV1<80%) aged 45 years and over, without worsening of symptoms within recent 3 months. After treating with ramipril 10 mg for 3 months, the same evaluation was repeated. Results: Twenty-two patients were included in this study. BNP was significantly correlated with PAP (Pearson coefficient ρ=0.51, p=0.02), but not with RV ejection fraction (EF) and predicted FEV1%. The values for predicted FEV1% showed significant correlation with SGRQ total score and activity score, but not with BNP or PAP. After ramipril treatment, PAP showed significant decrease (42.8±8.1vs.34.5±4.5 mm Hg p=0.0003), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion significant increase (21.5±3.3vs.22.7±3.1 mm p=0.009). BNP showed a tendency to decrease without statistical significance (40.8±59.6vs.18.0±9.1 pg/mL p=0.55). SGRQ scores showed no significant change. Conclusion: BNP showed significant correlation with resting PAP, which means BNP could be used as markers for pulmonary hypertension. Treatment with ACEI didn`t show significant change in the Level of BNP, while pulmonary hypertension and RV function were improved.


This study investigates the users' perception with mass rapid transport. It seeks to understand how users perceive MRT facility and service based on their satisfaction level between different groups. In this context, satisfaction is measured based on the different purpose of trips taken as well as gender components. Data were gathered from a survey conducted in May 2018 at 31 stations along the MRT route using five dimensions: facility, responsiveness, information system, safety, and security as well as train and ticket. The findings of this study are based on Independent t-Test, ANOVA and Turkey HSD test for comparison between groups of a stratified random sample of 155 respondents. The result shows a significant difference in satisfaction level between users with different trip purposes, however, there is no significant difference in satisfaction level between different genders. As a conclusion, users were found to be generally satisfied with the MRT facility and service provided thus far.


Abstract Changes in precipitation over different periods or regions are important because they have significant effects on many aspects of everyday life. Comparison of multiple forms of precipitation between several periods or regions may therefore be helpful as an aid to decision-making. Precipitation data have generally been assumed to follow a gamma distribution. However, since some dry days have zero precipitation, a zero-inflated gamma distribution is more appropriate for fitting the data. In this article, we consider three fiducial methods (one accurate method and two approximate) to construct simultaneous confidence intervals for mean differences of multiple zero-inflated gamma distributions. Our simulation studies show that the exact method gives more accurate results than the two approximate ones, and it is applicable to various situations. However, the two approximate methods are much faster than the exact one. Also, they provide satisfactory results when the shape parameters are large. Real data on three-year daily precipitations for Waterloo in Canada are used to illustrate the three methods.


Wall Street English3 has built online activities that allow students to record phrases and receive word-level Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) driven pronunciation feedback. Students in language centres in China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, and Italy (N=2,867) used ASR-Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) activities, and some (N=482) completed a questionnaire. A high number of students reported that ASR-CALL activities helped them to improve their pronunciation. However, the study found remarkable differences in usage of product features across countries, with students from Vietnam and China using more retries than Saudi Arabia, and students from Italy using the fewest retries. Students from China, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia more frequently listened to model audios than students from Italy. A series of Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed significant group differences between dominant L1 and students' beliefs and perceptions using ASR, and between age groups and students' beliefs and perceptions using ASR. This study points to the importance of considering regional differences, and suggests that learner engagement may depend not only on the effectiveness of the technology, but also on learner beliefs and perceptions.


This work proposes a hybrid Brain-Computer Interface system for the automation of a wheelchair for the disabled. Herein a working prototype of a BCI-based wheelchair is detailed that can navigate inside a typical home environment with minimum structural modification and without any visual obstruction and discomfort to the user. The prototype is based on a combined mechanism of steady-state visually evoked potential and eye blinks. To elicit SSVEP, LEDs flickering at 13Hz and 15Hz were used to select the left and right direction, respectively, and EEG data was recorded. In addition, the occurrence of three continuous blinks was used as an indicator for stopping an ongoing action. The wavelet packet denoising method was applied, followed by feature extraction methods such as Wavelet Packet Decomposition and Canonical Correlation Analysis over narrowband reconstructed EEG signals. Bayesian optimization was used to obtain 5-fold cross-validations to optimize the hyperparameters of the Support Vector Machine. The resulting new model was tested and the average cross-validation accuracy 89.65% ± 6.6% (SD) and testing accuracy 83.53% ± 8.59% (SD) were obtained. The wheelchair was controlled by RaspberryPi through WiFi. The developed prototype demonstrated an average of 86.97% success rate for all trials with 4.015s for each command execution. The prototype can be used efficiently in a home environment without causing any discomfort to the user.


With internet and social media breaking the ice, more and more people across the globe have started to use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Most people follow Multilingualism as a mode of communication to convey information across the globe. They share topics over the common forum to converse, with the use of multiple languages being spoken either by individual speaker or group of speakers. This essentially makes the context more complex to understand and it makes even more harder for processing various Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks. Such user behavior of mixing multiple languages in one single discussion topic, having multiple community inclusion is referred as code-switching. At IEEE 2019 Big data conference, a Shared Task (Understanding Multilingual Communities through Analysis of code-switching Behaviors in Social Media Discussions) is conducted as a track of Big Data Cup. Firstly, Tasks is to detect the language of each post given in the discussion forum with the help of multiple languages. Secondly, to detect relevance score of a post by determining how much the content is closely connected or appropriate in the discussion. This paper proposes a novel approach to detect the language of each word in the post using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques involving linguistics, Python package(langdetect) and various other approaches. It also explains how Machine Learning is applied to figure out relevance of a post and other metrics required for prediction. Code-Mixing detection is an important step for any NLP application to determine the language of a post at first place in order to perform any NLP task over social media.


To provide a quality evaluation system quantitativel y for production and appl ication of SCADA system, the fuzzy synthetic evaluatin g method from fuzzy mathematics was applied to evaluate the function characteris tic, reliability,man-computer interface and market perspective of comprehensive evaluation for SCADA system. A mathematical model and method had been proposed. This method has been proved to be effective and feasible by examples finally.


We consider a boundary control system for a fluid structure interaction model. This system describes the motion of an elastic structure inside a viscous fluid with interaction taking place at the boundary of the structure, and with the possibility of controlling the dynamics from this boundary. Our aim is to construct a real time feedback control based on solution to the Riccati equation. We show that the boundary control problem arising in fluid structure interaction falls in the class of SECS. Once this is accomplished, application of the theory in Lasiecka and Tuffaha (2007) leads to the main result of this paper which is wellposedness of Riccati equations and of Riccati feedback synthesis. In addition to the theoretical results, an explicit formulation of the Differential Riccati equation associated with this control system provides a basis for an effective computational treatment of the system under consideration.


INTRODUCTION
Additional risk assessment in heart failure patients qualified for primary prevention cardioverter-defibrillator implantation is needed. The left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) reduction appears to be an insufficiently sensitive and specific marker of patients at greatest risk of sudden cardiac death.

OBJECTIVES
To find short- and long-term predictors of appropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy and predictors of long-term mortality in patients implanted with an ICD/cardiac resynchronization defibrillator (CRT-D).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A retrospective study analyzed data from 457 patients who had an ICD or CRT-D implanted between 2011 and 2017.

RESULTS
During the median observation period of 31 months (interquartile range [IQR] 17-52), 153 patients died (33.9%) and 140 had appropriate interventions (31.0%). In multivariate Cox regression analysis, implantation for secondary prevention (p < 0.001, hazard ratio, HR 2.49), severe mitral valve disease (p < 0.001, HR 2.17) and previous myocardial infarction (p = 0.009, HR 1.68) were predictors of appropriate intervention. Resynchronization therapy (p = 0.025, HR 0.59) and severe mitral valve disease (p < 0.001, HR 2.42) were significant predictors of appropriate intervention in primary prevention patients. Body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin concentration, LVEF, diabetes, and left atrium diameter were significant predictors of death.

CONCLUSIONS
Secondary prevention ICD/CRT-D implantation was a potent predictor of appropriate intervention, while resynchronization therapy and severe mitral regurgitation predicted ICD therapy in primary prevention patients. BMI, hemoglobin concentration, LVEF, diabetes, and left atrium diameter were independent mortality predictors in patients with ICD/CRT-D.


Preference in habitat selection by Trapelus agilis Olivier has been studied in nearby area of Amar sagar village and Garhisar Lake catchments area of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. It has been observed that female of Agama agilis Olivier always lives in burrow. Most of the burrows remain covered by the shrubs of Capparis decidua (KER), Euphorbia (THOR), Salvadora oleoides (JAL), and Leptadaenia (KHEEP). Males never dig burrows and remain hidden under the stones, between the stones, cervices of stones and sometime in the burrow of female of agama, other lizards and rodents for short time. It has been concluded that the habitat selection and preference in Trapelus agilis depends on the local environment, sex, body size, morphology and feeding habit.


Like the 15-to 18-year-old deaf students tested previously, younger students (8-12 years) in a residential program can identify signs in isolation presented well into the periphery by live signers. Combined analysis of the data from both age groups revealed a significant effect of age on performance and also an interaction between age group and performance on the three types of sign stimuli used; the face signs being more difficult for the younger children. Possible implications of the children's abilities for the amount of linguistic input available to them, distractibility in the classroom, and the use of peripheral vision in educational settings are discussed.


Several N-methylaminoacids are constituents of quinoxaline antibiotics, namely N, N'dimethyl-L-cystine, N-methyl-L-valine, Nmethyl-alloisoleucine and N, r-dimethyl-L-alloisoleucine as components of both the quinomycin and triostin series of antibiotics.*> Configurations of the a-carbons of N, N'-dimethylL-cystine2) and N-methyl-L-valine3) were determined by comparison of their [a]B values with those of authentic compounds. That of N, Ydimethyl-L-alloisoleucine4) was deduced by its


Implementing enterprise resource planning systems is a sophisticated, lengthy and costly process which tends to face serious failure. Thus, it is essential to perform the success assessment at the post-implementation stage of an ERP project to evaluate how much the system has succeeded in achieving its predetermined objectives. This paper proposes a practical and extended framework for assessing a firm's ERP post-implementation success. The factors contributing to the post-implementation success assessment have been adapted from the original model of Ifinedo et al. (2010) encompasses service quality, system quality, information quality, individual impact, workgroup impact, and organizational impact surrogates. Also, a new surrogate of inter-organizational impact proposed in this research. Using this model, the firm's ERP system success can be determined and the required improvement projects can be proposed to promote the success level. The proposed model is then applied to a real international company in the field of manufacturing and supplying turbines to measure the firm's ERP post-implementation success. Finally, the results of the assessment are discussed.


Abstract. Landslides constitute a hazard to life and infrastructure, and their risk is mitigated primarily by reducing exposure. This requires information on landslide hazard at a scale that can enable informed decisions about how to respond to that hazard. Such information is often unavailable to, or not easily interpreted by, those who might need it most (e.g., householders, local government, and NGOs). To address this shortcoming, we develop simple rules to identify landslide hazard that are understandable, communicable, and memorable, and that require no prior knowledge, skills, or equipment to evaluate. We examine rules based on two common metrics of landslide hazard, local slope and upslope contributing area as a proxy for hillslope location, and we introduce and test two new metrics: the maximum angle to the skyline and the hazard area, defined as the upslope area with slope > 39° that reaches a location without passing over a slope of  10°) channels with many steep (> 39°) areas that are upslope. Because local slope alone is a skilful predictor of landslide hazard, we can formulate a third rule as minimise local slope, especially on steep slopes and even at the expense of increasing upslope contributing area, but not at the expense of increasing skyline angle or hazard area. Upslope contributing area, by contrast, has a weaker and more complex relationship to hazard than the other predictors. Our simple rules complement, but do not replace, detailed site-specific investigation; they can be used for initial estimation of landslide hazard or guide decision-making in the absence of any other information.


Aims

Flowering phenology is well documented to restrict the distribution of many plant species. However, community-level shifts in flowering time may occur either through exclusion of species with unsuitably early or late flowering for local conditions (composition-derived phenological shifts) or through intraspecific phenological responses to climate variations over space. Although these mechanisms have quite different ecological implications, the relative contribution of composition-derived phenological shifts remains largely unknown. Therefore, determining the magnitude of composition-derived phenological variation is crucial for understanding the relationship between phenology and community assemblage over space, and for predicting the impacts of future climate change. This study will evaluate the contributions of compositional differences to spatial variation in community-level flowering times throughout the early, mid and late portions of the growing season and across a variety of temperate environments.

Location

Continental United States.

Methods

This study develops novel herbarium-based methods to separate intraspecific phenological variations over space from changes in flowering time derived from differences in community composition.

Results

Although typically smaller than intraspecific variations, composition-derived shifts in flowering time explained up to 49.3% of overall phenological variation. Composition-derived changes in flowering time among late-flowering species also explained the greatest proportion of overall variation and were the most responsive to differing climate conditions. Xeric regions also exhibited composition-derived phenological shifts that were stronger and more closely tied to climate conditions (R2 up to 0.553) than other regions.

Main conclusions

These results indicate that interspecific differences in flowering time play a significant role in determining the composition of the plant community over space. However, the impact of flowering phenology on community assemblage varies considerably among seasons and climate regions, and appears to be strongest among xeric regions and among late-flowering species.


On March 19, 2004, Dr. William Plater, Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean of the
Faculties at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), addressed the
campus on the learning-centered university. His presentation was followed by comments by
a group of panelists from the university community.


capitalism" invites attention. Yet it is important not to underemphasize industrial interests. "The consequence of the influx of British goods," John Crawfurd wrote of Java already in 1820, "has already been the entire superseding of all the finer Indian cloths formerly consumed." Both "Indian" and "British" economic interests were involved in the founding of Singapore, this author persuasively argues; but this idea is not new. Another point of contention has been the "intervention" in western Malaya in 1874. The author's conclusion is that it is "futile to try to pinpoint any one document, piece of correspondence or moment in time when Kimberley decided to adopt a more interventionist strategy" (p. 187). Yet he also sees the shift in policy as "an example of the politics of gentlemanly capitalism," in which Seymour Clarke, one-time general manager of the Great Northern Railway, was the "lynchpin" (p. 188). The concept of "military fiscalism" is invoked in discussing the opening of the first Burma war. "[T]hose resisting the policy of Batta [field pay] reform found it politic to stimulate fear of Burmese aggression" (p. 140). But the war can hardly be explained on "fiscalist" grounds. It was much more a vain attempt to demonstrate British power and put Burma in its place in the British Indian scheme of things. Discussing the origins of the second war, the author points to annexationism in the Calcutta press which, he tells us on page 152, "there can be little doubt" was "reflecting commercial interests in Calcutta" By page 155, they have apparently become "powerful economic interests which lent their weight in favor of war." Dalhousie' s use of Commodore Lambert is described as "strange" (p. 154). But he had earlier been sent to Aceh, and there he had been far from "combustible." Entering Borneo waters is historiographically risky, and this author is an unreliable pilot. He fancifully describes James Brooke's administration as "elaborate" (p. 177), and exaggerates the extent to which even Hugh Low modeled the Resident system in Malaya on Sarawak. There was no sultan in the raj. The author's revisionism is undercut by inaccuracy as well as exaggeration. Castlereagh's all-important definition of British interests in the Malay world is misquoted (p. 89). "Historians are silent," he says, on some "awaited despatches" (p. 96). Or are we unread? I cannot avoid a reference to my Anglo-Dutch Rivalry in the Malay World (1962, pp. 136-37). Canning, we are told, rejected overtures for a new Australian settlement (p. 102). In fact—as urged, indeed, by the "gentlemanly capitalist" Larpent—a settlement was placed on Melville island in 1824, and later one at Raffles Bay, though their commercial purpose is doubtful. Brooke urged a show of military force at Bangkok in 1850, but "Calcutta ignored this headstrong advice" (p. 161). That was not surprising. The advice was in fact sent to the Foreign Office in London, which had sent Brooke to Siam. Such a mistake undermines the author's attempts to distinguish the roles and motives of the two governments. Errors of omission and commission diminish confidence in the author's conclusions. He has attempted a task that is worthwhile, but perhaps too large. Read the book, but only alongside others.


The present paper describes a method to calculate fracture shear displacements occurring as a result of the stress waves and the static stress redistribution following a seismic slip on a nearby fault. Such secondary fracture shear displacements can theoretically, if large enough, damage intersected canisters containing spent nuclear fuel. The method is applied to a type of seismic event that is, or may be, of concern for the long term safety of a KBS-3 nuclear fuel repository: namely, endglacial earthquakes of magnitude 6 and larger. The numerical scheme used to simulate rupture initiation and propagation is described and illustrated. Result examples are given that show that secondary shear displacements on 300 m diameter fractures will be smaller than the damage criterion now applied by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co (SKB), provided that the fracture center is at a distance of 200 m or larger from the fault plane. The relevance of the rupture representation is discussed based on comparison with slip velocity records from a recent, large and well-documented crustal earthquake and with stress drop estimates made for large endglacial faults observed in Lapland, northern Sweden.


Smythe serves as a guide through the every-day life of extra-ordinary women, a landscape that she demonstrates an intimate knowledge of. For the most part, the stories are told in the first person by women who take the reader through their lives to let him see how they have been injured, to varying degrees, by their relationships with mothers, fathers and lovers, and how they have coped? Thus, in the title story that opens the book, the main character is coming to terms with her love for a fo...


Increasing diversity and complexity of the computing environments result in various security requirements.MLS security policy only aims at confidentiality assurance,in less consideration of integrity assurance and weakness in channel control.To handle that the trusted subjects have many security shortcomings of MLS model,a multi-policy views security model(MPVSM)was presented.Based on the MLS model,MPVSM combined the domain and type attributes to the model,to enforce the channel control policy,make permission management more fine-grained and enhance the ability to confine the permission of the trusted subjects.MPVSM was also able to enforce multi-policy views in operating system in a flexible way.The implementation of the MPVSM model in our prototype trusted operating system Nutos was also introduced.


According to the Census of India, 2011 disable persons constitute of 2.21% of India's population. Currently, the laws such as the Mental Health Act, 1987, the National Trust Act for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 and the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 and the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 provides protection to the rights of persons with disabilities. The rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 7th February, 2013. The paper critically analyses the Bill.


For the appreciative reader of Ronald Dworkin's writings, his explicit recognition of the place of community in moral judgment should come as no surprise. That recognition was implicit in his powerful critique of legal positivism, where he emphasized the responsibility of judges to discover and make good the latent principles in a legal system-principles that are constitutive of the moral and legal order. And the relevance of community is fully explicit in his most recent book, Law's Empire. In "Liberal Community," Dworkin has made a case for the continuity of personal and collective identity, not only in regard to smallscale, local, or intermediate groups, but also in regard to the more general political communities to which we belong. Dworkin maintains that human well-being depends in part on the quality of our political communities. He thus disclaims a disaggregative, radically pluralist politics, and up to a point vindicates the good sense of striving to define the public interest.


INTRODUCTION Among various ecological habitats, soil is one of the richest reservoirs supporting a variety of organisms including microorganisms. Rhizosphere is the region of soil present in vicinity to plant roots and is influenced by secretions of plant roots called root exudates. This region is thought to be of great importance to plant health and soil fertility. The exudates from plant roots stimulate the growth of microbial populations in soil and thus, the microbial activity is greatest in rhizosphere region. Actinomycetes forms a key part of soil microorganisms. The species of the genus Streptomyces are saprophytic and are commonly associated with soils. It has been found that about 90 % of soil actinomycetes are reported to be Streptomyces species. In soil, Streptomyces species significantly contribute to the turnover of complex biopolymers such as cellulose, pectin, lignin etc. They are noteworthy as they are the prolific producers to a range of bioactive metabolites including antibiotics. Western Ghats of India covers an area of 1, 80, 000 km and represent just under 6 % of the land area of India. The area represents > 30 % of all plant, fish, herpeto-fauna, birds and mammal species found in India which include some of the globally threatened species. Agumbe, a region of Western Ghats of Shivamogga district, Karnataka, India is shown to be a rich reservoir for Streptomyces species having potent industrial and agricultural significance in terms of production of bioactive metabolites. Streptomyces species from Agumbe region of Western Ghats have shown to antimicrobial, antioxidant, enzyme inhibitory, insecticidal, cytotoxic, anthelmintic, analgesic, antiinflammatory, CNS depressant and antipyretic activities. Streptomyces variabilis strain PO-178 (Figure 1) of this study was isolated from a rhizosphere soil of Agumbe, Karnataka, India. The extract from this strain was shown to possess antimicrobial, insecticidal, cytotoxic, analgesic, antiinflammatory, antipyretic and CNS depressant activity. In continuation part of our previous study, the present study was conducted with an aim of determining antioxidant, anthelmintic and enzyme inhibitory activity of butanol extract of S.variabilis PO-178 isolated from rhizosphere soil of Agumbe, Karnataka, India.


The effects of three angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors — captopril, diacid, and teprotide — on renal rascular responses to graded (SO, 100, 200 ng) injections of norepinephrine (NE) were examined in rat isolated perfused kidneys, baring a mean basal perfusion pressure of 78±10 mm Hg. The minimum dose of captopril (0.05 μg/ml, low dose) that abolished the vasoconstrictor responses to 100 and 200 ng angiotensin I did not affect NE-induced renal rasoconstriction, whereas a dose 100 times greater (high-dose captopril, 5 μg/ml) reduced the vasoconstrictor action of NE. MK-421 diacid also at high dose (1 μg/ml), caused similar reductions in renal vasoconstrictor responses to NE. In contrast, a high dose of teprotide (50 μg/ml) did not affect renal vascular responsiveness to NE.The threshold dose of NE that released prostaglandins, measured by bioassay, was 50 ng. Indomethacin (1 μg/ml) prevented NE-induced release of prostaglandins but did not affect the ability of captopril to attenuate NE-induced vasoconstriction. We conclude that captopril and MK-421 diacid decreases vascular reactivity in the rat isolated kidney by a mechanism independent of ACE inhibition and unrelated to a prostaglandlndependent vascular mechanism. Moreover, the presence of a mercapto function in the ACE inhibitor is not essential since captopril, which has a sulfhydryl group, and MK-421 diacid, which lacks this group, have similar effects on renal vascular responsiveness. (Hypertension 4 (suppl II): II-80-II-85, 1982)


The authors present a case study, where digital technologies were implemented for online education (particularly, mathematics education) at Italian primary school level Results of this study confirm that the quick transition to the online form of education, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was successful and provided experience which may be useful in future didactic activities


Maize plays an important dual role in plant research: Its status as a significant crop plant has inspired intensive research bent on improving its agronomic properties, and its array of mutants and its genetic tractability have made it an ideal model species for basic research into plant biochemistry and development. In the last year or two, a third role for maize research has begun to emerge, that of providing specific information about other grass species and, indeed, about evolution within the grasses. All of these faces of maize were on display at this year's Maize Genetics Conference, the annual gathering of the communityof maize researchers, which was held March 24 to 27 at the Pheasant Run Resort outside Chicago. The meeting, which attracted nearly 400 participants, was organized by Bill Sheridan (University of North Dakota), Kathy Newton (University of Missouri), and Ed Coe (University of Missouri).


The method for mixing and dispensing a multi-component material, apparatus, instruments, and systems. Mixing and discharging can be carried out using a sealed dispenser mobile that can be supplied at the point of use of the mixed multi-component material. In certain embodiments, the components to be mixed as a multi-component material may be supplied in the cartridge.


Abstract The effect of a number of injection and separation parameters on the repeatability of quantitative analyses on a home-constructed instrument for electrochrornatography was studied. The performance of electrokinetic and hydrostatic sample injection methods was compared. Peak area and peak height values were applied as the evaluation parameters. The best quantitative repeatability for charged and uncharged compounds, obtained in this study was in the range of 1 % to 5% of relative standard deviation.


Diguetia canities (and probably other Diguetidae species also) is mainly characterized by th e massive development of the poison glands, a double rostral organ, a large U-shaped coxal labyrinth, a deep prosomatic pigmentation, a group III epigastric glands, four kinds of silk glands and a ne w opisthosomatic structure : the supra-anal organ. These character states support Gertsch's (1958) ide a linking the family with Plectreuridae between the Dysderoidea and Scytodoidea .