Inferring network topology via inter-node distance measurements is an important problem. It is challenging when the distance measurements are sparse because the lack of edge constraints may lead to ambiguous realizations that differ greatly from the ground truth. The flipping ambiguities are caused by binary vertex cut sets in 2D and triple vertex cut sets in 3D, which are called <italic>separators</italic>. This paper investigates conditions on whether the flipping ambiguities caused by these separators can be disambiguated using neighborhood, full graph, and component-level conditions. Accordingly, local flipping-free condition (LFFC), global flipping-free condition (GFFC), and component-based flipping free condition (CFFC) are proposed. Then a disambiguating framework based on a combinatorial application of these conditions is proposed. It detects separators and first disambiguate separators locally by LFFC, which converts the graph to a binary tree, whose leaf nodes are flipping-free components and edges are LFFC unsolvable separators. Then the CFFC condition is further applied to disambiguate LFFC unsolvable separators between components. If <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>k</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="wang-ieq1-3015480.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$g$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>g</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="wang-ieq2-3015480.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> separators are disambiguated by LFFC and CFFC respectively, the number of ambiguous solutions for network localization will be reduced by <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${2^{k+g}}$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msup><mml:mn>2</mml:mn><mml:mrow><mml:mi>k</mml:mi><mml:mo>+</mml:mo><mml:mi>g</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msup></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="wang-ieq3-3015480.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> times. Finally, the flipping-free components realize node coordinates in their local coordinate systems and a residue-based weighted component stitching algorithm (RWCS) is proposed to iteratively synchronize components' local coordinates to generate global coordinates of the network. Extensive simulations show the LFFC, CFFC and RWCS frameworks are efficient, which resolve a major portion of flipping ambiguities and greatly improve the localization accuracy than the state of art algorithms in various sparse network settings.


The kinetics of the heterogeneous reaction Si + SIC14 = 2SiCt2 have been studied in a flow system with helium as the carrier gas. For this reaction the postulated rate expression d (0 00o) ( 0o00) Si --1.0 X 106 exp


The mechanism of embolism repair in transpiring plants is still not understood despite significant scientific effort. The refilling process is crucial to maintain stem transport capacity and assure plant survival for plants experiencing dynamic changes in water stress. Refilling air-filled xylem vessels requires an energy and water source which can only be provided by adjacent living parenchyma cells. Here, we report an analysis of the transcriptome response of xylem parenchyma cells after embolism formation in Popolus trichocarpa trees. Genes encoding aquaporins, ion transporters and carbohydrate metabolic pathways were up-regulated, and there was a significant reduction in expression of genes responding to oxidative stress. Thus a novel view of plant response to embolism emerges that suggests a role for oxygen in embolized vessels as a signal triggering xylem refilling, and activity of cation transport as a significant part in generation of the energy gradient necessary to heal embolized vessels. These findings redefine current hypotheses surrounding the refilling phenomenon, and provide insight into the complexity of the biological response to the seemingly simple physical event of xylem embolism formation.


The presence of phenomenon characteristic of the modern world as the globalization, the telecommunications, the technology, the defence of the environment and the human rights, it is constituted in decisive factor to analyze the topic of the national sovereignty. Indeed, the sovereignty conceived as the maximum expression of the exercise of authority of a State and of the principle of self-determination of the towns, it seems to cross one from its hardest crises when weakening the category of the State-nation and to move to external spheres the taking of important public decisions, or at least to be recognized to those spheres a wide margin of incidence in the same ones. It discusses then, if to our days it has future the national State and with it, the sovereignty like exercise of the Nation, and which is it alternatives of subsistence. To all these, the State is debated among the inclusion or the exclusion, the integration or the incorporation, ends that intend from the perspectives that it try to explain the foundations of the sovereignty today.


The research aimed to study the composition and structure of vegetation in Gunung Tinombala Nature Reserve area. The research was conducted from June through August 2013. This study uses line plots sampling method. There were three transects/lines with 20 m spacing between lines. Twenty measurement plots were made in each line. Hence vegetation date were analysed to determine the density, frequency, dominant, Importance Value Index and the Diversity Index of Shannon-Wienner. The results showed that the highest Importance Value Index (IVI) at tree and sapling level of vegetation were Eugenia sp.with value (23,38%) and (43,39%,) respectively. At pole level, the highest (IVI) was Caryota sp (35,08%). The highest (IVI) at seedling level was Horsfieldia costulata (11,69%). Furthermore, the stand structure founded in this area consisting of five stratums. First, stratum A was dominated by Eugenia sp, consisting of 35 plant species with density value was 14 individual plants ha -1 . second, Stratum B was domited Artocarpusteysmani, consisting of 35 plants species with density value was 11 individual plants ha -1. Third, Stratum C was dominated by Caryota sp, consisting of 30 plants species with density value was 50 individual plants ha -1 . Fourth, Stratum D was dominated by Eugenia sp, consisting of 22 plants species with density value was 180 individual plants ha -1. Fifth, Stratum E was dominated by Horsfieldiacostulata, consisting of 26 plants species with density value was 875 individual plants ha -1.
Keywords : Species Composition, Vegetation Structure, Gunung Tinombala Nature Reserve, Importance Value Index


It provides a process for the production of semiconductor devices, CMOS image sensor, a method of producing a semiconductor device and a CMOS image sensor. For the production of the CMOS image sensor, first, forming a trench that defines an active region of the photodiode in the substrate. The doped impurities in the bottom and side walls of the trench to form a channel stop impurity region surrounding the bottom and sidewalls of the trench. To form a trench isolation region to peel, wherein the impurity is an insulating film in the gap to help the ping trench. Forming a photodiode in a substrate of the photodiode active region. In this way, by forming the channel stop impurity region surrounding the bottom and sidewalls of the trench, it is possible to reduce the dark current and noise caused by surface defects of the trench.


Graph neural networks (GNNs) have recently achieved state-of-the-art performance in many graph-based applications. Despite the high performance, they typically need to perform expensive recursive neighborhood expansions during every training epoch and has the scalability issue. Moreover, most of them are inflexible since they are restricted to fixed-hop neighborhoods and insensitive to actual receptive field requirements for each node. We circumvent these limitations by introducing a scalable and flexible method: Graph Attention Multi-Layer Perceptron (GAMLP). Following the routine of decoupled GNNs, the feature propagation in GAMLP is executed during pre-computation, which helps it maintain high scalability. With three proposed receptive field attention, each node in GAMLP is flexible in leveraging the propagated features over the different sizes of reception field. We conduct extensive evaluations on two large open graph benchmarks (ogbn-products and ogbn-papers100M), demonstrating that GAMLP not only achieves state-of-the-art performance, but also enjoys high scalability and efficiency.


The FAA plays a pivotal role in maintaining security within the National Airspace System (NAS). This paper discusses employment of temporary flight restrictions, use of air interdiction assets and establishment of an Aviation Security Operations Center as air domain security measures during the September 2007 United Nations General Assembly meeting. Also discussed are some of the Tracks of Interest that were detected during the event and some of the impacts that airspace security measures had on the NAS and its users.


Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), pioneered roughly two decades ago by Peter J. Basser, has been widely used to investigate microstructural tissue properties in vivo [1]. By assuming that the dominant diffusion orientation is aligned with the underlying fiber tissue configuration, DTI has further enabled the virtual reconstruction of tract pathways with so-called "fiber tractography" (or "fiber tracking") approaches [2-6] (see figures below). With this unique way of characterizing tissue organization, DTI has been used in a wide range of clinical and biomedical applications [7].


The invention relates to an apparatus for emulsifying a fluid food preparation comprising a container (1) equipped with a removable lid (2) comprising a rotary tool (3) dipping into the container (1) to emulsify and prepare a device mechanical actuation for the rotary drive of the rotating tool, characterized in that the mechanical actuation device comprises a drive member (22) mechanically connected to the rotating tool (3) and which acts on the tool rotary (3) via a triggering device to potential energy accumulator (24) comprising elastic means (240) adapted to store potential energy during a loading phase of the device of trigger accumulation of potential energy and to restore to the drive member (22) for driving the rotary tool (3) in rotation, during a tripping phase of the triggering device to accumulatio No potential energy.


For the future-generation wireless communications, the carrier aggregation (CA) of third generation partnership project (3GPP) long-term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) is one of the most promising technologies, which can support significant high data rates over wide frequency bandwidths for various real-time services/applications. To reduce the energy consumption, the LTE-A standard defines the discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism that allows user equipments (UEs) to turn off radio interfaces when no data is expected to be received. However, how to allocate resource optimally within the DRX cycle for UEs with the CA technology is still an open issue. In this paper, we address the resource scheduling with CA within the DRX cycle, with an objective that maximizes the spectrum utilization while minimizes UE wake-up time. We formulate this problem and propose an energy-efficient iterative heuristic. Our scheme consists of two phases; the first phase determines the scheduling order of component carriers (CCs) to improve the resource efficiency, whereas the second phase minimizes UEs' unnecessary wake-up periods by optimizing their resource intervals from different CCs. Extensive simulation results show that our scheduling achieves better performance than the existing schemes.


Location-based adaptive mobile learning utilizes a unique feature: location awareness of mobile devices in regards to other online learning to implement location-based functionalities or features to create adaptive and collaborative learning in mobile learning environment. There are many important research issues and technical challenges in the location-based adaptive mobile learning systems, including the assessment of learning in the mobile environment. In this paper, we present the research framework and topics related to the undergoing research project at Athabasca University towards the development of robust and effective location-based adaptive mobile learning systems. In addition, we also brief some the major research outcomes achieved so far within the project's research framework.


621Belligerent Occupation — Requisition of Private Property — Right of User of Property Allotted to Third Party by Occupant — Subsequent Loss of Property — Liability of Third Party to Owner.


A highly robust MOF based on a 12-carboxyl dendritic aromatic ligand and two Cd clusters is successfully synthesized. This activated MOF exhibits high heat of absorption of CO2 and highly selective adsorption of CO2 over CH4. Especially, a new type of topology (hhm-a) is presented.


I approached this book, which claims to make density functional theory accessible to undergraduates, with scepticism. My misgivings were soon dispelled as the author proceeded to lead me gently but firmly through development of elements of Lévy's theory (see, for instance, p. 4). It seems that the work and its authors have been absorbed with Lévy's theory. The authors' in-depth analysis of the mathematical aspect of the subject and the related complexity of this attempt is apparent from the host of specialist mathematicians with whom the authors consulted; and the difficulty, in general, of the subject as a whole is indicated by the number of specialists (e.g. in wavelets) on whom the authors relied. I fear that this is diffused throughout the work in the form of a kind of mathematical/expressive ambiguity. This may also derive from the difficulty of constructing a complete modern theory on sparse stochasticity, which thus explains the difficulty of this treatise. We have to do here with a very dense book, regarding information content, with a high ratio of compact significance per pixel of the text's information. This work operates on the level of mathematical treatment (and secondarily on the plane of engineering). It is aimed at specialists in the field and perhaps this explains why it does not show much interest in rendering a physical/ quality presentation of the subject, in this case of the theory being developed herein. Through the pages, equations, figures, etc. one can admire, experience and get a taste of the wisdom of the Creator God that is diffused throughout Creation. This work, inasmuch as it is more specialised scientifically -even though it represents a complete (to the extent possible) presentation of sparse stochastic processesis especially interesting and useful for researchers and specialists (including graduate students) in the field of signal processing and elsewhere (image processing, statistics, etc.). The language used is engaging, powerful and scientific. It could perhaps benefit, in some cases, to be slightly more specific. In conclusion, congratulations are due to this work.


Missing data is a common occurrence in longitudinal studies of health care research. Although many studies have shown the potential usefulness of current missing analyses, e.g., (1) Complete Case (CC) analysis; (2) imputation methods such as Last Observation Carried Forward (LOCF), multiple imputations, Expectation-Maximization algorithm approach; and (3) methods using all available data such as linear mixed model and generalized estimation equations approach, the CC analysis or LOCF imputation method have been popular due to their simplicity of execution regardless of some critical drawbacks. The proposed approach employs the generalized least squares method using all available data without deletion or imputations for missing outcomes, producing the best linear unbiased estimate. A simulation study was conducted to compare the proposed approach to commonly used missing analyses under each missing data mechanism and showed the validity of the proposed approach, especially with the first order autoregressive correlation structure. B-spline is applied to the proposed model to manage non-linear relationships between outcome and continuous covariate. Application to a cell therapy clinical trial is presented.


The ability of non-succulent plants to fix C02 in the absence of light has been previously demonstrated by several investigators (2, 5, 11, 17, 21). However, the succulents have received the greatest attention because of the large amounts of C02 incorporated into organic acids in the dark. Although these earlier reports strongly suggested that dark fixation of C02 is an ubiquitous phenomnenon in plants other than succulents, the nature of the biochemical reactions involved in this process has not been critically examined. Concurrently with the studies carried out in our laboratory on succulent metabolisml (12, 13) we have investigated non-succulent dark C02 metabolism in Nicotianwa tabacuini. Studies concerning the nature of the initial carboxylation reaction andI the fate of the fixed C"402 during the subsequent metabolic reactions in the absence of light w-ere carried out with excised tobacco leaves. These stu(dies show that the pathways for the dark metabolisnm of C02 bv succulent and non-succulent leaves appear to be funda-mentally the sanme.


Along with the digital media technology development,the game entertainment industry has become the world's advanced developed countries one of the pillar industries.Discusses game design professional talent training mode reformation in the relevant problems and practical experience.The practice shows that the mode of talent training to improve the quality of talent development,for the development of local industry provides a strong talent security.


This study aims to determine and analyze the influence of quality of work life, work motivation, and job satisfaction on the performance of employees at PT. Djarum Kudus. The number of samples used in this study were 50 respodents. Data collected through the distribution of questionnaires used the sensus sampling. Measurement in the questionnaires using a Likert Scale. The method used in this study uses quantitative methods while the data analysis used is multiple linear regression analysis and also performs validity test, rebility test, classic assumption test, coefficient of determination test, F test and t test. Based on the result of multiple linear regression test, the result show that quality of work life has a positive and significant effect on employee performance. Work motivation has a positive and significant effect on employee performance. Job satisfaction has positive and not significant effect on employee performance. This can be seen from the result of the R square value of 0,874, which means the employee performance can be explained by the three independent variables of 87,4%, while the remaining 12,6% is explained by other causes outside the study.


The present study describes the behaviour of a female of Thamnodynastes rutilus and eight offspring during the parturation in captivity. The only female born at the same litter practised cannibalism. The animals are characterized morphologically. Morphometric and meristic data concerning the offspring, the mother and one adult male from the same location are presented. Figures representing the color patterns of the young and of the mother are provided. This paper also reports new occurrences for T. rutilis . Keywords: Thamnodynastes rutilus . Colubridae, parturition, systematics. Descritores: Thamnodynastes rutilus . Colubridae, parto, sistematica.


Objectives. To examine how social contact during daily activities differs by age and relates to sleep outcomes. Methods. Fifty younger and 48 older , community-dwelling adults completed the Social Rhythm Metric-17 and daily sleep diary online for 14 days. Results. Younger adults completed a greater proportion of activities with active others than older adults. Age significantly interacted with the proportion of activities completed alone, . Alone activities negatively predicted total sleep time in older, not younger adults. Discussion. Social contact, or lack thereof, is important for sleep, particularly for older adults who may be more prone to aloneness due to life course events.


We present Herschel observations of the far-infrared (FIR) fine-structure (FS) lines [C ii]158 μm, [O i]63 μm, [O iii]52 μm, and [Si ii]35 μm in the z = 2.56 Cloverleaf quasar, and combine them with published data in an analysis of the dense interstellar medium (ISM) in this system. Observed [C ii]158 μm, [O i]63 μm, and FIR continuum flux ratios are reproduced with photodissociation region (PDR) models characterized by moderate far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation fields with 0.3–1 × 103 and atomic gas densities 3–5 × 103 cm−3, depending on contributions to [C ii]158 μm from ionized gas. We assess the contribution to the [C ii]158 μm flux from an active galactic nucleus (AGN) narrow line region (NLR) using ground-based measurements of the [N ii]122 μm transition, finding that the NLR can contribute at most 20%–30% of the observed [C ii]158 μm flux. The PDR density and far-UV radiation fields inferred from the atomic lines are not consistent with the CO emission, indicating that the molecular gas excitation is not solely provided via UV heating from local star formation (SF), but requires an additional heating source. X-ray heating from the AGN is explored, and we find that X-ray-dominated region (XDR) models, in combination with PDR models, can match the CO cooling without overproducing the observed FS line emission. While this XDR/PDR solution is favored given the evidence for both X-rays and SF in the Cloverleaf, we also investigate alternatives for the warm molecular gas, finding that either mechanical heating via low-velocity shocks or an enhanced cosmic-ray ionization rate may also contribute. Finally, we include upper limits on two other measurements attempted in the Herschel program: [C ii]158 μm in FSC 10214 and [O i]63 μm in APM 08279+5255.


A new model for analyzing mutual interference for multi-WPANs coexistence system is presented. Using this model and taking adjacent and co-channel interference into account, impact of distributing density of WPANs, distance between transmitter and receiver, path loss exponent, and packet length on packet error probability are discussed. Forward data transmission rates with different length packets are then obtained. Based on these analysis, methods for improving data transmission rates in two representative applications of WPAN are proposed based on characteristics of these applications.


In order to solve the problem of rendering the large number of images in object recognition,design and realize the software of batch rending 3D images.The software which writes with MAXscript could inport 3D images and render them to planar files and then export automatically.The rendering speed and efficiency has enhanced.The outcome of rendering in this way proves that it's intuitive,expeditious and practical,also it has good expansibility and portability.


[Objective] To understand the states of samples microbial pollution in Dabu County and to offer scientific basis for hygienic administration. [Methods] According to the national standard examination methods and the national hygienic standard,inspected the samples for health supervision and tested microbial indicator for the recent two years in Dabu County. The detection results were totally and statistically analyzed. [Results] Between 2007-2008,each kind of 1814 samples were examined,qualified 1020,the total qualified rate was 56.23%,the total qualified rate 62.48% in 2008 were significantly high-er than that 51.15% in 2007,the different qualified rates were found in microorganism examinations on different types of samples,qualified rates among food,public places,microorganism examinations on 2 kinds of samples in two years were significantly different in two tears. Qualified rates of the total bacterial count and coliform group in the meats and meat product which accounting for above 60% annual spot-check percentage were significantly different in two tears. The qualified rates of detection on table dinner sets were not different in two years (χ2 = 0.1403,P﹥0.005). [Conclusion] Microbial contamination in each kind of health related goods in Dabu County is serious,it suggests that we must further strengthen the hygienic supervision and administration. in the future.


116 women 18-35 years of age underwent subcutaneous insertion of silastic capsules containing norgestrionone or d-norgestrel as a contraceptive. The method has a Pearl index of 1.5. A questionnaire was filled out by the patients after using the capsules for 6 months. 100% of the women knew about oral contraceptive use; 93% had used O.C.s (oral contraceptives). 97.2% were familiar with IUD use but only 38% had used the IUD. O.C. use had been discontinued in 51.5% of the cases due to side effects; while IUD use had been discontinued in 34% of the cases due to side effects in 14% due to expulsions. Patients preferred the capsules to O.C.s in 49.5% of the cases and considered them easier to use. 70% preferred the capsules to IUD use and considered them the better of the 2 methods. 61.1% of the material overall preferred the capsules 14.6% the IUD and 7.8% O.C.s. The main reasons for preferring the capsules were: nothing to be remembered effectiveness and no side effects. (Summary in ENG)


This study examines the implementation of the gold gathering in Jorong Koto Gadang Nagari Simawang, Rambat District, Tanah Datar Regency in the Perspective of Fiqh Muamalah. The problem in this research is how to implement the Arisan Emas in Jorong Koto Gadang Nagari Simawang, Rambat District, Tanah Datar Regency. What are the contracts used in the implementation of this Arisan and how is the view of muamalah fiqh on the implementation of the Gold Arisan in Jorong Koto Gadang Nagari Simawang, Rambat District, Tanah Datar Regency.The research method that I use in this research is field research. While the nature of the research is qualitative descriptive, qualitative descriptive research is describing the phenomena that occur in the field as they are according to reality. As the main data source, namely people involved in the implementation of the gold gathering in Simawang Village, and as a source of data obtained include primary and secondary data, primary data sources consisting of the head of the gold arisan and 9 participants of the gold gathering while secondary data sources were obtained through a number of books, journals, articles and other reading sources to strengthen primary data. Data collection was carried out using interview and observation techniques.Based on the results of the research that the authors have done, it can be concluded that the implementation of Asrisanemas in Jorong Koto Gadang Nagari Simawang, Rambat District, Tanah Datar Regency is to use the ijarah contract and accounts payable agreement, the payment system is through the membership fees of the gold arisan, fixing the gold price according to the current gold price and giving for the chairman of the Arisan only voluntarily. In the view of fiqh muamalah, the implementation of the gold gathering that took place in Jorong Koto Gadang Nagari Simawang, Rambat Subdistrict, Tanah Datar Regency, Arisan like this is unacceptable because there is no certainty and is detrimental to one of the parties with a shortage and overpayment which is commonly referred to as usury and giving money. To the head of the arisan is a voluntary fee, the voluntary money given to the head of the arisan is considered a wage because the provisions of the muamalah for each job in muamalah are required to have a wage.


In order to improve the handling and stability of a tractor–semitrailer, a new sliding-mode controller is designed on the basis of a non-linear three-degree-of-freedom model of the vehicle. Three state variables, namely the tractor's yaw rate, the tractor's lateral velocity and the articulation angle, are controlled as the target responses using active steering. A new version of the desired articulation angle is proposed so that the rear end of the semitrailer unit is forced to follow the path of the fifth wheel if the proposed reference value is tracked. A 12-degree-of-freedom non-linear model of the articulated heavy vehicle validated by real test data is used to evaluate the control system. The comparative simulation results prove the significant effects of the proposed non-linear control method with respect to a previously designed linear controller on improving the handling and stability performance, especially under severe driving conditions.


Nowadays traditional pork is still remaining the most popular meat in many European countries. In contrast, presently there is a growing interest in the production and marketing of non traditional snail meat. The aim of the present study was to compare the quality characteristics of pork and snails' meat, to determine an impact of animal species on meat quality and to analyse the correlation coefficients of some parameters of meat quality. The meat quality characteristics, as chemical composition and some physical properties, were evaluated after deep-freezing. It was determined that snail meat contained by 11.50% higher amount of water, by 14.60% higher amount of mineral substances and by 77.04% higher amount of amino acid hydroxyproline, but by 77.38% less fat, by 37.94% less protein and by 43.28% tryptophan if to compare to the pork meat. Besides, pH in snail meat tended to be alkaline while in pork meat - acid. Moreover, snail meat was darker, pale red and its yellowness was more intensive than that of the pork meat. The correlation between fat and protein in pork and snail meat, pH with tryptophan and hydroxyproline was negative, whereas pH with fat, and dry matter with ash - positive. However, in pork meat tryptophan and hydroxyproline correlated negatively, while in snail meat - positively. Meat chemical composition and physical properties were effected by animal species.


Substantial image data rate compression is necessary to support moderate resolution full motion color video transmission at the ISDN basic rate. Issues in digital image representation and error measures are introduced. An overview of differential, transform, subband, and vector quantization coding of images is presented, including comparisons and performance figures. In addition, techniques for removing temporal redundancy, including conditional replenishment and motion compensated predictive coding, are discussed. Performance requirements and design issues for video teleconferencing codecs are introduced. It is shown that compression on the order of "'J 0.3 bit/pel is required for this application. Motion compensated predictive coding techniques utilizing either adaptive DC'I' or vector quantization coding of the prediction errors have been proposed which can achieve the required compression levels. Due to hardware implementation constraints, motion compensated adaptive DeT coding is preferred. A detailed overview of the CCITT p x 64 kbps video teleconferencing standard is provided. It is shown that this standard provides adequate video coding performance while incorporating features that will allow the implementation of an integrated communications architecture supporting voice, video, image, and data.


As we all know,a good product should bring convenience and enjoyment to the people,rather than causing people to cognition and the use of the obstacles and difficulties.Barrier-free design is today one of the themes of product design.How to make use of products in the course easier to understand,easy to operate,even if the operation will also bring dangerous mistake,these are designers and users of the issues of common concern.


A general form of Drucker-Prager type plastic potential suitable for concrete and soil is proposed, allowing to distinguish qualitative difference between stress states with prevailing tension from those with dominant compression. The potential includes six material constants and one arbitrarily chosen function g describing deviatoric section of the potential surface. The influence of the parameters on the shape of the considered yield surface is discussed. The verification of convexity of the proposed potential is carried out in order to impose conditions on the parameters and the unknown function g. The calibration based on results of typical tests for concrete presented in the literature is proposed and the values of the coefficients are given out in relation to the yield limit in uniaxial compression test for common proportions of yield limits for other basic tests.


Interaction of catacholamines namely 3-4, -dihyroxyphenyialanine (DOPA) and 34, dithydroxyphenylethylamine (Dopamine) with Ed (III), Nd (III) and Pr (III) ions have been studied in aqueous 0.1M KCl by potentiometry at 25 °C. The acid dissociation constants of the protonated ligands DOPA (H 4 L) and Dopamine (H 3 L) are determined and the stepwise formation constants for the formation of different protonated and normal 1:1 and 1:2 complexes have been calculated. The possible coordination sites of DOPA and Dopamine co-ordinate to metal ions at different pH values are explained.


The use of perforated steel beams (PSBs) has become of great importance due to their wide application in building construction and their beneficial uses as they are economical in terms of cost in addition to their lightweight. The aim of this study is to investigate the static behavior of castellated beams with different web openings. A 3D finite element analysis is performed using ABAQUS, to find out which type of beam gives the best performance under the same distributed load and fixed support condition. Different shapes are used for the web openings and compared with the basic shape of the hexagon, taking the same area into consideration for all shapes. In this paper, a new design model is developed using more than one shape in the web opening. Displacement and stress results are carried out and compared for various cases.


I discuss the categorization, causes, symptoms, and treatments of 'illnesses of imbalance' in Choapan Zapotec (CHO), an endangered Eastern OtoManguean language spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico. The term 'illnesses of imbalance' describes illnesses that are the result of an imbalance in the hot and cold 'humors' in the body, as well as those that result from the disruption of normal emotionalspiritual regulation. I use these data to suggest that, just as grammatical documentation is languagedriven, so should documentation of medical and spiritual knowledge be culturedriven. Illnesses of imbalance in CHO comprise two major categories: those resulting from spiritual, mental, or emotional imbalance, and those caused by disruption of balance between the body's hot and cold forces (likened to Greek humors; cf. Hernandez Saenz and Foster 2001:22). Illnesses resulting from spiritual, mental, and emotional imbalances are caused by: malicious spirits, sudden fright, or an overpowering of negative emotions. These are all imbalances in the sense that something has disrupted a person's stable, regulated emotional and spiritual state. Malicious spirits can steal people or cause lifethreatening accidents, confusion, sadness, or physical pain (Author 2009; Dow 2001:7477). A person's own negative emotions, like worry or anger, can cause physical illnesses, including colic, diabetes, and gallbladder rupture (Author 2009). Illnesses coming from a sudden fright (Spanish susto) are the most varied. Anything can cause a sudden fright, or CHO tsebiʔ, but common causes include suddenly encountering a dangerous animal, seeing a corpse, or taking a bad fall. A person's lifeforce sometimes stays where the tsebiʔ occurred. If the lifeforce is not recovered, the person will die (Author 2009; Dow 2001:83; Lipp 2001:110). Unlike emotionalspiritual imbalances, illnesses from a hot/cold imbalance only manifest physically. They range from minor inconveniences to deadly diseases, and include asthma, cracked skin on the hands or feet, tuberculosis, nosebleed, rheumatism, and 'womb coldness'. External physical forces cause hot/cold imbalances within the body. These include bathing in or drinking cold water (especially if the body is hot from physical labor) and prolonged sun exposure (Author 2009). These varied illnesses seem completely unrelated from the Western medicalcultural perspective. This represents a crucial lesson for documentary linguists: just as a language's grammar dictates how we describe it (and not our impositions of how a grammar should be), documentation of medical and spiritual knowledge should not be influenced by our own cultural understandings of health and healing. References Author, Investigacion de Enfermedades en el Zapoteco de Choapan. Unpublished manuscript, 2009. James W. Dow, Central and North Mexican Shamans, vol. Mesoamerican Healers (Brad R. Huber and Alan R. Sandstrom, eds.), University of Texas Press, 2001, pp. 6694. Luz Maria Hernandez Saenz and George M. Foster, Curers and Their Cures in Colonial New Spain and Guatemala, vol. Mesoamerican Healers (Brad R. Huber and Alan R. Sandstrom, eds.), University of Texas Press, 2001, pp.1946. Frank J. Lipp, A Comparative Analysis of Southern Mexican and Guatemalan Shamans, vol. Mesoamerican Healers (Brad R. Huber and Alan R. Sandstrom, eds.), University of Texas Press, 2001, pp. 95116.


This pilot study applies a Theory of Quality Management (TQM) Underlying the Deming Management Method, by Anderson et al. (1994) in the field of herbal industries in Malaysia. As an effort to develop a flexible data collection tool, a questionnaire was developed to measure the outcomes of herbal product quality. In 2016, 100 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents which are the employees of 10 herbs firms in Malaysia, registered under the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB). All data are usable. The questionnaire is adopted and adapted from Anderson et al. (1995) and are organized in 6 parts. The research variables are Visionary Leadership, Internal and External Cooperation, Learning Organization, Process Management, Continuous Improvement, Employee Fulfilment and Customer Satisfaction (a reflection of Product Quality). The instrument's content validity were examined by a panel of experts while the construct validity were examined by factor analysis, which to reduce and simplify irrelevant data and remove appropriate items. The finding identified the well-performed question items that should be retained, and the poorly performed items that should be dropped or need further study. Reliability analysis and normality test were also run using SPSS software. The result indicated the data is reliable and the data exhibit reasonable normality. This pilot study shall be followed with a full research in future. The full research is recommended to apply a TQM Underlying the Deming Management Method by Anderson et al. (1994) in investigating the factors that influence herbal product quality in Malaysia.


We aimed to examine efficacy and safety outcomes of sodium‐glucose cotransporter‐2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) for the treatment of heart failure (HF), especially in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).


The influence of magnetic fields on the electron spin in solids involves two basic mechanisms. First, any magnetic field introduces the Zeeman splitting of electron states, thereby modifying spin precession. Second, since the magnetic field affects the electron motion in the plane perpendicular to the field, the spin dynamics is also modified, owing to the spin-orbit interaction. The theory predicts, as a consequence of this influence, unusual properties of the intrinsic spin-Hall effect in two-dimensional systems in the presence of magnetic fields. This paper describes non-monotonic dependence of the spin-Hall conductivity on the magnetic field and its enhancement in the case of weak disorder, as well as multiple jumps of the spin-Hall conductivity owing to the topological transitions (abrupt changes of the Berry phase) induced by the parallel magnetic field.


We present 3D thermal simulations (excluding hydrodynamics) of a wheel shaped beam stripper made of solid C that has been designed for use in the FISIC (Fast Ion-Slow Ion Collision) experiments at the SPIRAL2 facility. The inner radius, R1 of the target is 32 cm, the outer radius, R2 is 35 cm while the beam is perpendicular to the target surface at a radius, R 0 = 33 cm (see Fig. 1). The target is rotated at a rate of 2000 rpm. Several ion species including


A new approach has been developed for hydrogeological testing of deep exploratory boreholes using packer systems that are pumped through the drill string. Water is produced from the isolated interval during the test sequence. Transient pressure reactions measured in the isolated interval are analysed using semi-log and the log-log approach where pressure and pressure derivatives are plotted versus time. The interpretation software used allows applying various aquifer models as well as the analysis of horizontal wells. The drainage into a future tunnel is calculated with the same software considering the tunnel as a large horizontal borehole with water inflow under atmospheric pressure.


Introduce the developing situation of BRT in China simpally.The mechanism of BRT signal priority.It including stratege control、plan control and pattern control.Design the construct of BRT signal priority module.At last,posed logical construct of BRT signal priority.


Tokyo Playground aims to investigate the leftover space produced when the infrastructure overlaps with the urban tissue and to highlight how these are metabolized, then transformed into meaningful public spaces. The "hybridization" of Tokyo is examined using three references as a starting point. First is the spatial typology of sakariba that transformed what were transitional zones into pleasure districts during the Edo period, creating what was arguably the most definitive type of collective space for citizens of Edo. The second reference is Roland Barthes' description of the infrastructural experience. Thirdly, the book Made in Tokyo illustrated the strong mutual dependence among infrastructure, architecture, and the city as a unique characteristic of Tokyo. Transit space can be reused on the human scale with different programs related to time for pleasurable activities. Tokyo Playground aims to capture the idea of emotional space within infrastructure. It aims to highlight some possible design strategies and tools that help to domesticate the infrastructure through the injection of pleasure and playful programs with an understanding of how humans experience, occupy, and interpret such spaces. Leftovers within the infrastructure are opportunities for social and ecological reuse and these precious voids contribute to creating the contemporary soul of the city as it becomes the source of vibrant energy for transcultural urban regeneration.


When road is constructed in permafrost region of long time,especially with rich water content,the stability of embankment is dramatically imperiled by the "Yin-Yang" slope. As a result,a myriad longitudinal cracks appear along each side of the road,and some of the them even penetrate through the roadbed. By observing the site temperature data of the embankment,we get that the stress field is redistributed in the embankment because of the thaw of permafrost. The authors adopted fracture mechanics to qualitatively analyze the crack growth trend in the interior of embankment. Such analysis is consistent with the scene profile of the embankment. In addition,the trend of crack growth and the potential harm could be predictive by the means.


This paper introduces a framework for the evaluation of intervention work that is based on a generative realist view of science. It is suggested that this approach can accommodate features of EP work such as the need to take a realist view of the world, to work in a social context, and to implement interventions in 'open systems' such as schools and homes. Suggestions are made on how this framework might be used by EPs to establish an evidence base that can be used to develop effective practice in intervention work.


Abstract : Measured electromagnetic fields at locations selected by investigators for studying ELF effects on the slime mold, physarum polycephalum, are reported. Electric and magnetic fields at the ELF communications frequency (76 Hz) and ambient fields produced by 60 Hz sources are described for paired test (near antenna) and control (remote from antenna) study plots, and conform with established exposure criteria for studying electromagnetic effects on ecological communities.


This essay considers the ethically complex figure of the feminine witness to suffering by thinking in-depth about photographer and installation artist Carrie Mae Weems's installation From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried (Weems 1995–1996). The essay is concerned with interpreting the controversy surrounding From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried, controversy that focuses on the question whether Weems is ethically wrong to show, in her series, daguerreotype images of enslaved and arguably humiliated women, images that Weems rephotographs and re-presents, drastically altering their original presentation. In interpreting this controversy, I forward an original reading of some aspects of Weems's series while commenting on the fact of the controversy in contemporary criticism. I focus my inquiry on the juxtaposition of two figures in the series, photographs that Weems has rephotographed and altered by tinting and inscribing: an image of George Specht's "Nobosodrou, Femme Mangbetu" and daguerreotypes of enslaved fathers and daughters taken as part of a nineteenth-century anthropological study. I consider how the Specht image functions as a problematic figure for the witnessing of images of enslaved Americans. This 1925 image is positioned as a witness insofar as Weems constructs her installation in the form of a very complicated sentence that crosses and weaves between images. My argument ultimately draws from Arthur C. Danto's notion of a "project of identity" that the artist respects, or fails to respect, in her subject. Commenting on Danto's useful paradigm, I conclude the essay by suggesting that Weems deploys the witness function in From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried in a way that respects the "project of identity" of the abused photographic subjects whose images she recasts. Reading the controversy surrounding this series as a reflection of its power, I work dialectically through considering key aspects of representations of witnessing the sadistic mistreatment of other human beings.


We evaluate annotation bias for the angry expression. Recall that anger is defined as the combination of AU4 (brow lowerer), AU5 (upper lid raiser), AU7 (lid tightener), and AU23 (lip tightener). In this section, we check the quality of OpenFace AU recognition by comparing its output with the expert-coded EmotioNet dataset that consists of 24,600 images [3]. Since EmotioNet does not have labels for AU7 and AU23, we are only able to check for AU4 and AU5. Table 1 shows the OpenFace AU accuracy results for AU4 and AU5. Similar to the case of happiness expression, we binarize the AU intensity outputs of OpenFace using a threshold that is chosen to maximize the overall accuracy of prediction. The accuracy result is shown as "Raw" in Table 1. The difference between males and females is small for AU5, while it is not negligible for AU4. Thus, we re-calibrate the OpenFace output so that different binarization thresholds are chosen to balance the accuracy between males and females. We remark that learning subgroup-specific thresholds is a common technique used to achieve fairness [12]. As shown in the "Recalibrated" column of Table 1, there is no statistically significant difference between males and females after calibration (i.e., the AU's are fair). Since there is little difference in AU5 before and after calibration, we will only apply calibration to AU4 in the below evaluations.


The distribution of transferrin phenotypes was investigated in nine populations of southwestern Japan: mainland Kagoshima Prefecture and the Nansei Islands. Populations from Tanegashima to Okinawa were homogenous in the distribution of TF C subtypes. Miyako and Ishigaki in the southwesternmost region had higher frequencies of TF*C1, and lower frequencies of TF*C2 than the seven other populations. A new TF D variant, tentatively designated TF Dama, differed in isoelectric point from adjacent variants including TF Dchi, TF Doki and TF D1. TF*Dama was found to be a new genetic marker for the Nansei Islands. Geographical clines of TF allele frequencies are also discussed.


The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical performance and user acceptance of capillary blood samples prepared remotely using the MiniCollect® capillary blood collection device as an alternative to blood collection by venepuncture for glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) analysis.


Background and Aim: Functional constipation is one of the most common health problems in older adults. Its development greatly depends on nutritional status in that a high fiber diet including fruits and vegetables can prevent or manage it. The present study aimed at assessing vegetable and fruit consumption among the elderly with functional constipation, based on the health belief model. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 163 elderly people aged 60 and older, who referred to retirement houses located in Isfahan, Iran, in 2013. The Rome III diagnostic criteria were used for functional constipation screening. Moreover, a demographic questionnaire, a researcher-made questionnaire developed based on the constructs of the health belief model, and a researcher-made 24-hour fruit and vegetable consumption checklist were used for data collection. Data analysis was done using SPSS Software (V, 20.0) and by running independent sample t test, Pearson correlation analysis, one-way analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression analysis at a significance level of less than 0.05. Results: The mean of participants' age was 70.04 ± 6.41, while the means of their fruit consumption and vegetable consumption were 1.61 ± 0.73 and 1.31 ± 0.87 servings daily, respectively. Almost 44.2% of the participants consumed less than 2 servings of fruits and 55.8% consumed less than 2 servings of vegetables daily. Fruit and vegetable consumption was directly correlated with perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and knowledge and was inversely correlated with perceived barriers (P < 0.001). Moreover, perceived severity, perceived self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and knowledge explained 58% of the total variance of fruit consumption, while perceived self-efficacy, and perceived benefits, and knowledge explained 65.7% of the total variance of vegetable consumption. The most important cues to fruit and vegetable consumption were television (57.7%) and family and relatives (46%). Conclusions: This study revealed that the elderly with functional constipation consume inadequate amount of fruits and vegetables and the health belief model is a significant predictor of fruit and vegetable consumption among the elderly. Educational interventions based on the health belief model can be helpful in promoting the consumption of fruit and vegetable consumption in the elderly.


FIELD: chemistry. SUBSTANCE: according to the invention, optically pure esomeprazole and its salt can be easily produced by dissolving (S)-(-)-binol, a weak base and a racemic form of omeprazole in a mixture of a water miscible solvent and water at high temperature, cooling the mixed solution to crystallisation of the inclusion esomeprazole complex and (S)-(-)-binol and removal of the (S)-(-)-binol fragment from the crystallised inclusion complex obtained at step A. EFFECT: design of an improved method of separating optical isomers of omeprazole, which allows for obtaining optically pure end product. 13 cl, 2 dwg, 3 tbl, 20 ex


With the development of China's economy and the vigorous development of various industries, innovation and entrepreneurship has become a national policy, so universities and colleges have also become an important position to encourage young people to start their own businesses, and innovation and entrepreneurship also need new forces to complete them. This can also promote the development of various industries in China. Therefore, in the current era of rapid economic development, encouraging college students to start their own business has played a crucial role in the development of various industries in our country. Moreover, college students, as the most important talents in the new century, encourage college students to innovate and start their own businesses for the future development of college students also has important significance. Taking the public creation space as an example, this paper analyzes the research on the educational ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship of college students in local application-oriented universities, and according to the development of innovation and entrepreneurship of college students, points out how to encourage college students to innovate and start their own businesses. It plays an important role in encouraging college students to innovate and start their own business.


A method, of monitoring a series of products, of the kind in which the presence of foreign bodies in the product being monitored is detected by the characteristic magnetic field phase difference each material exhibits, is characterised in that the signal generated by a satisfactory product having no foreign body it is used as the datum for judging whether the next subsequent product is free from a foreign body or not.


The article deals with the particle "еще" in complicated sentences with semi-predicative relations (with straight additional predicative relations). This particle is used in different ways of expressing predicative relations: in participial and adjectival phrases, with single adjective detached by commas. The role of the particle is different in each kind of a complicated sentence. The particle "еще" is expressed intensely with a single adjective detached by commas. In this case the particle becomes the condition of detachment, "еще" forms a separate proposition, it establishes connection between words of predicative semantics with detailed-description relations: Мать, еще молодая, в платье с высоким белым кружевным воротничком, глядела с лиловатой фотографии, прижавшись к плечу чубатого бравоусого солдата с георгиевским крестом (E. Evtushenko. The berry places). The next role of the particle "еще" is very important. The particle assists in creating the connection between predicates, which apply to different subjects of the situations. Such a function of the particle in a complicated sentence is observed in participial and adjectival phrases. For example, with a participial phrase: Только в конце октября закончили строительство последнего барака, и заключенных, еще живших в палатках, перевели в него (V.V. Skvortsov. Grigoriy Melekhov). There is a semantic connection between a predicate and a predicative member, although they apply to different subjects of the situations. The particle "еще" forms the relations of reason-consequence 'the prisoners have been moved into the hut, because they had lived in the tents until the end of May'. The particle also emphasizes the disparity of situations in the sentence: 'It is the end of October already, but the prisoners are living in the tents yet'. The bound semi-predication can be formed by the construction itself, when predicates apply to one subject and there is a semantic connection between them. In this case the particle does not take part in the connection of predicates, but the particle emphasizes a certain meaning, modifies the relations between situations. For example, with an adjectival phrase: Ясно виднелась та курчавая травка, которая заседает всегда по проселочным дорогам, еще мокрая от вчерашнего дождя; висячие ветви берез, тоже мокрые, качались от ветра и роняли вбок от себя светлые капли (L.Tolstoy. War and Peace). The bound semi-predication in this example forms by the constrution itself; the particle does not establish the connection of predicates. It determines the relations between situations as a detailed description. Also the particle "еще" is used in non-bound semipredication. In this case the particle does not establish complication in the simple sentence, it modifies the relations between the component singled out by the particle and the main predicate. For example, with a participial phrase: Здесь (он кивнул на свой планшет) копия моего рапорта, еще вчера отправленного князю Карлу (B.Akunin. Turkish Gambit). In this example the predicates refer to different situations, there is not semantic connection between them. The particle inserts the meaning of the temporal difference of the two situations, the particle does not influence on the complication in the simple sentence.


To the Editor: A 70‐year‐old Chinese gentleman with end‐stage renal disease on intermittent peritoneal dialysis (IPD) was admitted to nephrology ward for regular IPD therapy in August 2016. After admission, he presented sudden lower back pain with significant anemia. Computed tomography (CT) scan showed large amount of pericardial effusion, bilateral pleural effusion, and ascites in abdomen and pelvis. Later on, he was intubated with mechanical ventilation support and on continuous venovenous hemofiltration. Pericardiocentesis and thoracocentesis were performed. On the 9th day of admission, angiography was arranged due to active bleeding. It showed bleeding point from the superior vena cava area, near the right atrium. Then, the patient received urgent cardiac surgery immediately.


To reduce railway noise effectively a good knowledge of the source mechanisms is first required. Wheel/rail interaction in particular results in a multiple source environment where wheels, rails and sleepers all play a role. This is a classic noise control problem where treatments will not be successful unless they take account of the relative importance of each source and apply appropriate measures for all the significant sources. Starting from theoretical research into source modelling, a number of practical techniques have been developed for reducing railway noise in the last 10-20 years, which will be discussed. While focussing on rolling noise, the related problems of curve squeal, bridge noise, aerodynamic noise and vehicle interior noise will also be mentioned. Finally it is recognised that the railway industry faces many pressures that make it reluctant to change, so the difficulties of practical implementation will be discussed.


Phase-shift keying (PSK)-based multi-mode orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with block-wise index modulation (MM-OFDM-BIM) has been proposed as a novel OFDM-IM technique with adjustable-reliability transmission and low detection complexity. Although the phase normalization for PSK can reduce the complexity of the index modulation (IM) detection, the essence of constant symbol power of PSK limits its bit error rate (BER) performance. We propose a new constellation design to reallocate the original symbols into two-level power for PSK-based MM-OFDM-BIM while retaining the merit of phase normalization. By adopting the optimum power parameter, the numerical results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can effectively improve BER performance without increasing computational complexity.


Abstract The existence of an athermai friction stress of the type produced by solid solution hardening allows a large number of otherwise unstable arrangements of dislocations to attain equilibrium. This can account for the non-classical form of pile-up observed in α-brass loaded below the yield point.


To analyze some important products in bio-mass chemical industry from technical economic point of view. Developing bio-mass chemical industry in China has great strategic meaning. Maize and plant oil in China can not be used for producing energy. Root crops can be used as producing bio-alcohol. Bil-diesel production should develop new raw materials, e.g. jatropha etc.


High speed machining (HSM) is a capable technology for drastically increasing productivity and reducing production costs. Development of high-speed spindle technology is strategically critical to the implementation of HSM. Compared to conventional spindles, motorized spindles are equipped with built-in motors for better power transmission and balancing to achieve high-speed operation. However, the built-in motor introduces a great amount of heat into the spindle system as well as additional mass to the spindle shaft, thus complicating its thermo-mechanicaldynamic behaviors. This paper presents a Finite element analysis of dynamic characteristics of high speed motorized spindle using ANSYS. It includes the finite element selection, boundary condition, numerical formulae for finding input parameters to the ANSYS. This analysis is used to extract natural frequencies and mode shapes of the high speed motorized spindle including gyroscopic and centrifugal effects. The dynamic characteristics and modal characteristics of motorized spindles were analyzed experimentally. Numerical analysis was done and results were validated with experimental results.


Personalized asthma actions plans can improve patient quality of life and reduce asthma exacerbations. Andrew Booth outlines the benefits of empowering people with asthma to manage their own condition


In our study, osteoporosis was induced by ovariectomized in female Sprague-Daweley rats, and the prevention and treatment efficacy of the climacteric...


Over the last 30 years, governments have sought to give citizens greater choice and control of the public services they utilise. As a result, we have seen the creation of various forms of public sector markets, including through contracting and tendering processes and, more recently, by utilising individualised or 'personalised' care budgets. Under the latter, individuals are given money to purchase services that meet their needs. There is growing evidence that personalisation schemes may actually be entrenching administrative burden, due to their unprecedented emphasis on individual skills and advocacy. Moreover, reviews internationally have found that such schemes tend to be administratively complex. This paper uses a systematic review of existing research to explore experiences of administrative burden within the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). We found that the scheme is administratively cumbersome overall, and that burdens are exacerbated for particular social groups. We apply concepts of habitus and capital from Bourdieu to theorise why burdens are experienced differently by different groups, and how to address this in practice. In doing so, we can see that addressing exclusion within the NDIS requires us to move away from problematising individuals to including those individuals in different stages of the design and implementation of administrative systems.


The assumption of the normal distribution of the electric field is proposed according to the characteristics of the electric field distribution in the wire-plate electrostatic precipitator(ESP).The theoretical calculation formula for predicting the electric field distribution in the wire-plate ESP is developed by Gaussian electric flux theorem under the assumption when the outer edge of the corona and the surface of the collection electrode are taken as the boundary conditions.The values predicted by the new formula are in sound agreement with the numerical values presented by Oglesby and others.The new formula has also shown that the electric field distribution is continuous and derivable everywhere in the wire-plate ESP except in the corona region.


The invention relates to a photovoltaic cell (1) comprising at least one wafer (2) of semiconductor material, with a front face (21) for receiving incident light and a back face (22) opposite said front face, as well as realization of this photovoltaic cell processes. The rear face (22) comprises an electrical contact (32) and a structure (4) said optical structure, discrete and susceptible to redirect incident light towards the heart of the wafer.


The reception and the production are two aspects of the aesthetic problematic that we try to explore in this essay, emphasizing the aspect of productivity, with the contribution of authors suches as Luigi Pareyson (1993, 1989) in the same way that we intend to emphasize the approach between aesthetic and artistic, from the considerations of John Dewey (1974). Certainly that other authors will guide us in the attempt of setting out the emblematic association between reception and production in fashion, over all because of the dimension of present art in this phenomenon.


Navigating through a large Web site can be a frustratingexercise. Many sites employ Site Maps to help visitorsunderstand the overall structure of the site. However, bytheir very nature, unpersonalized Site Maps show most visitorslarge amounts of irrelevant content. We propose techniquesbased on Web usage mining to deliver PersonalizedSite Maps that are specialized to the interests of each individualvisitor. The key challenge is to resolve the tension betweensimplicity (showing just relevant content), and comprehensibility(showing sufficient context so that the visitorscan understand how the content is related to the overallstructure of the site). We develop two baseline algorithms(one that displays just shortest paths, and one that minesthe server log for popular paths), and compare them to anovel approach that mines the server log for popular pathfragments that can be dynamically assembled to reconstructpopular paths. Our experiments with two large Web sitesconfirm that the mined path fragments provide much bettercoverage of visitors sessions than the baseline approach ofmining entire paths.


The radiative and nonradiative components of the threshold current in 1.3μm, p-doped and undoped quantum-dot semiconductor lasers were studied between 20 and 370K. The complex behavior can be explained by simply assuming that the radiative recombination and nonradiative Auger recombination rates are strongly modified by thermal redistribution of carriers between the dots. The large differences between the devices arise due to the trapped holes in the p-doped devices. These both greatly increase Auger recombination involving hole excitation at low temperatures and decrease electron thermal escape due to their Coulombic attraction. The model explains the high T0 values observed near room temperature.


In this paper we devise a separation principle for the H2 optimal control problem of continuous-time Markov jump linear systems with partial observations and the Markov process taking values in an infinite countable set S. We consider that only an output and the jump parameters are available to the controller. It is desired to design a dynamic Markov jump controller such that the closed loop system is stochastically stable and minimizes the H2-norm of the system. As in the case with no jumps, we show that an optimal controller can be obtained from two sets of infinite coupled algebraic Riccati equations, one associated with the optimal control problem when the state variable is available, and the other one associated with the optimal filtering problem. An important feature of our approach, not previously found in the literature, is to introduce an adjoint operator of the continuous-time Markov jump linear system to derive our results.


Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) an injectable contraceptive provides contraceptive protection to females by preventing ovulation and thickening the cervical mucus to prevent the entry of sperm cells into the uterus. Irregular bleeding from spotting to moderate bleeding during the 6th to 12th month of use and amenorrhea or no menstruation for 18 months after the 12th month of use are among the drugs side effects. Approximately 30 million men and women from 90 countries have used DMPA. The use of DMPA was however banned by the US Food and Drug Administration because of questions about its side effects. That ban was lifted in 1992 following a rigid series of research and regulatory motions to ensure the drugs safety. The Philippines Assistant Health Secretary for Special Concerns has stated that local distributors are now allowed to import DMPA which should be available from private practitioners beginning next month or for free from government health centers by July. The countrys Bureau of Food and Drugs has also approved the registration of the Depo-Provera and Megestron brands of the contraceptive. A donation of 400000 doses of DMPA from the UN Population Fund is scheduled to arrive in July and will be distributed to health centers in ten pilot provinces and cities. DMPA will eventually be part of the Philippines family planning program.


A system (10) offset in rotation between two elements movably mounted rotating shafts in substantially parallel axes and connected by transmission means (18) surrounding the toothed wheels (15, 17) coplanar each carried by a shaft . The system (10) comprises a displacement device (23) of at least one leg (20, 22) transmission means (18), which is designed to vary the positions of the two branches (20, 22). The system includes a first movable supporting element controlled (24) bearing against an arm (22) whose displacement is controlled by an actuating element (26), and a second movable bearing member (25). The system (10) also comprises at least two damping elements (29, 33) shaped to reduce the dynamic forces to which the displacement device (23) and generated by the transmission means (18).


We derive the optimal second-order coding region for the lossy Gray-Wyner source coding problem for discrete memoryless sources under mild conditions. To do so, we leverage the properties of an appropriate generalization of the conditional distortion-tilted information density, which was first introduced by Kostina and Verdú (2012). The converse part uses the perturbation argument by Gu and Effros (2009) in their strong converse proof of the discrete Gray-Wyner problem. The achievability part uses a generalization of type covering lemmas and the uniform continuity of the conditional rate-distortion function in both the source joint distribution and the distortion level.


The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission and its successor, GRACE Follow-On, have been observing the Earth's static and time-variable gravity field with unprecedented accuracy from 2002, thanks to the precision equipment used, such as very accurate ranging systems, dual-frequency GPS receivers, star cameras and highly sensitive accelerometers. The accelerometers on board of these missions provide high quality measurements of the non-gravitational forces acting on the satellites, provided that they are calibrated. In this paper, a wavelet-based detrending scheme is used to estimate drift and bias of GRACE accelerometer data. This method is applied to a simulated noisy time-series and two sets of GRACE accelerometer data (recorded on January 1, 2005 and during March 2015). The results confirm the speed and ease of the proposed method due to the nature of the wavelet-based detrending scheme. In addition, the estimated bias and bias parameters are of acceptable accuracy because the wavelet-based method does not require any reference value and its results are not affected by uncertainties in gravitational field modeling and by some computational problems such as the amplification of noise during the numerical differentiation of satellite positions. In addition, the accelerometer readouts, provided in the Science Reference Frame (SRF) may be calibrated without applying any coordinate transformation.


BACKGROUND
We previously reported that σ1-receptor (σ1R) expression in the thoracic aorta decreased after pressure overload (PO) induced by abdominal aortic banding in ovariectomized (OVX) rats. Here, we asked whether stimulation of σ1R with the selective agonist SA4503 elicits functional recovery of aortic vasodilation and constriction following vascular injury in OVX rats with PO.

METHODS AND RESULTS
 SA4503 (0.3-1.0mg/kg) and NE-100 (a σ1R antagonist, 1.0mg/kg) were administered orally for 4 weeks (once daily) to OVX-PO rats. Vascular functions of isolated descending aorta were measured following phenylephrine (PE)- or endothelin-1 (ET-1)-induced vasoconstriction and acetylcholine (ACh)- or clonidine-induced vasodilation. SA4503 administration rescued PO-induced σ1R decreases in aortic smooth muscle and endothelial cells. SA4503 treatment also rescued PO-induced impairments in ACh- and clonidine-induced vasodilation without affecting PE- and ET-1-induced vasoconstriction. Ameliorated ACh- and clonidine-induced vasodilation was closely associated with increased Akt activity and in turn endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation. The SA4503-mediated improvement of vasodilation was blocked by NE-100 treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
 σ1R is downregulated following PO-induced endothelial injury in OVX rats. The selective σ1R agonist SA4503 rescues impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation in the aorta from OVX-PO rats through σ1R stimulation, enhancing eNOS-cGMP signaling in vascular endothelial cells. These observations encourage development of novel therapeutics targeting σ1R to prevent vascular endothelial injury in vascular diseases.


This article examines the government S strategy for dealing withsocial security fraud. The Social Security (Administration) Fraud Act I997has been enacted to facilitate the detection, prosecution and punishmentof benefit fraud. In addition, the government has published a Green Paperon fruud and, more recently, a Command Paper on 'Safeguarding SocialSecurity ', both of which emphasize the importance of preventing fraud andre-educating the public about its nature and severio. Both papers, howevel;fail to deal adequately with the motivations to commit fraud and how this mayimpact on public attitudes to fraud. This article examines public reactionto benefit fraud, and points out that the public have differentiated fraud onthe basis of 'greed' or 'need'. I suggest that, i f the government S anti-fraudstrategy is to be effective, the link between justijiable motivation and publicopinion needs to be taken into account.


A Markov chain model on the microcomputer is presented, in which a variety of control strategies with respect to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in cattle and pig herds can be exam ined economically. From an epidemiological point of view, the most favourable results for the Netherlands were obtained under the strategy currently being applied, i.e. annual vacci nation of the cattle population in combination with stamping out affected herds and ring vac cination when the disease does occur. From an economic point of view, however, it was found that the annual costs are considerably reduced when ceasing the prophylactic routine vaccination, provided that adequate measures are carried out in case of an outbreak. This conclusion in favour of a non-vaccinated population was hardly influenced by more pessimis tic values for the major - uncertain - input factors, and not likely to be outranged by indirect costs due to an increased risk for export bans. More research is underway to model these in direct losses more precisely.


ABSTRACT: In this paper we propose the polarimetric response in target characterization and SAR radar image classification. Polarimetric response is a graphical representation that is dependent on transmitted and received polarizations. The polarimetric response is given in a pair of two curves, one represents the copolarized response and the second represents the cross-polarized response. The fully polarimetric data is a combination of linear polarizations (HH, HV, VH and VV). This data must be structured in the form of 2*2 complex matrix known as the scattering matrix. The generation of polarimetric response needs the knowledge of the scattering matrix. It is called polarization synthesis. In this paper we give different polarimetric responses that characterize canonical targets such as the dihedral or the sphere as well as the polarimetric response of distributed targets such as forests.


We test the relationship between the current account and fiscal policy for a group of small open economies. Specifically, we test the viewpoint of a Ricardian infinitehorizon representative agent model in which lower public savings are met by equal increases in private savings, and as a result the current account does not respond to the changes in government spending, against a Keynesian's conventional viewpoint in which a fall in public savings has an adverse effect on the current account balance. Evidence from a panel data analysis supports the conventional theory of a positive relationship between fiscal and external balances, but after controlling for inflexibilities and a measure to account for the state of development within the economies, the sensitivity of the current account to changes in the fiscal position reduces. Our estimates show that a rise by one percent of the fiscal-deficitinduces the current-accountto deteriorate by between 0.45 to 0.85 percentage points.


Currently, the STPI is in stagnant condition or status quo to be a Public Service Agency. This paper is intended for those who feel disturbed by this fact, and have concern for the STPI. Some problems: achievement cadets who decline, low quality but the quantity of excess human resources, education systems, curricula, low reward / low salaries, expenditures per student is high, crowded dormitories, degree requirements, marketing graduates, competency standards / certification, accreditation, Research and Community Service (PPM) which does not fit with the mission, training co-operation contracts with third parties, outsourcing and so on. It all resulted in efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and low yields, thus the need for reform toward a more entrepreneurial way STPI bureaucracy, and fortunately with a strong new leadership of the Chairman with the spirit of high entrepreneur, STPI want to build a center for human flight (center of excellence human resources development for aviation), including the urgent need to change the status of a Pattern of Financial Management of Public Service Agency.


Medical image segmentation based on deep learning is a central research issue in the field of computer vision. Many existing segmentation networks can achieve accurate segmentation using fewer data sets. However, they have disadvantages such as poor network flexibility and do not adequately consider the interdependence between feature channels. In response to these problems, this paper proposes a new de-normalized channel attention network, which uses an improved de-normalized residual block structure and a new channel attention module in the network for the segmentation of sophisticated vessels. The de-normalized network sends the extracted rough features to the channel attention network. The channel attention module can explicitly model the interdependence between channels and pay attention to the correlation with crucial information in multiple feature channels. It can focus on the channels with the most association with vital information among multiple feature channels, and get more detailed feature results. Experimental results show that the network proposed in this paper is feasible, is robust, can accurately segment blood vessels, and is particularly suitable for complex blood vessel structures. Finally, we compared and verified the network proposed in this paper with the state-of-the-art network and obtained better experimental results.


The aim of this study was to investigate the nutrient removal using Mg-Sericite flocculant in the domestic wastewater. Mg-Sericite flocculant removed successfully 98-100% of the nutrient in the domestic wastewater at the following optimal parameters: turbidity, TSS and COD by Mg-Sericite dosage 10 mg/L, TP and PO4-P by Mg-Sericite dosage 20 mg/L and NO3-N and TN by 25 mg/L and 30 mg/L Mg-Sericite dosage, respectively. These results indicated that a biopolymer, Mg-Sericite, can be a promising flocculant due to its high efficiency and low dose requirements. In addition, Mg-Sericite does not contaminate treated wastewater, which can be recycled to reduce not only the cost and the demand for water but also the extra operational costs for reusing wastewater.


The importance of pipe stress analysis?the styles of pipe stress?the primary analysis contents were introduced in this paper, several methods to improve the stress conditions were discussed.


When Shakespeare, in Venus and Adonis, pictured the ' true-love in her naked bed, teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white,' he was not advertising a washing powder, but, as it happens, his language is remarkedly evocative of a modern technique of selling, by which a product is associated with a desirable personality, in whose reflected light it will appear more pleasing. The technique is called character merchandising [a] feature of [which] is that the advertiser uses the public image of the personality concerned to develop in the minds of consumers an identification of the product with that personality.


In this "Methods" paper, we investigate how to compress SDO/AIA data by transforming the AIA source maps into the Fourier domain at a limited set of spatial frequency points. Specifically, we show that compression factors of one order of magnitude or more can be achieved without significant loss of information. The exploration of data compression techniques is motivated by our plan to train Neural Networks on AIA data to identify features that lead to a solar flare. Because the data is spatially resolved and polychromatic (as opposed to spatially-integrated, such as GOES, or monochromatic, such as magnetograms), the network can be trained to recognize features representing changes in plasma properties (e.g., temperature, density), in addition to temporal changes revealed by Sun-integrated data or physical restructuring revealed by monochromatic spatially-resolved data. However, given the immense size of a suitable training set of SDO/AIA data (more than 1011 pixels, requiring more than one TB of memory), some form of data compression scheme is highly desirable and, in this paper, we propose a Fourier based one. Numerical experiments show that, not only Fourier maps retain more information on the original AIA images compared to straightforward binning of spatial pixels, but also that certain types of changes in source structure (e.g., thinning or thickening of an elongated filamentary structure) may be equally, if not more, recognizable in the spatial frequency domain. We conclude by describing a program of work designed to exploit the use of spatial Fourier transform maps to identify features in four-dimensional data hypercubes containing spatial, spectral, and temporal information of the state of the solar plasma prior to possible flaring activity.


Methaemoglobin (ferrihaemoglobin) is derived from normal haemoglobin (ferrohaemoglobin) when the iron of the haem group is oxidised from the ferrous to the ferric form. In the normal red blood cell the specialised structure of the globin molecule tends to resist such oxidation l and favour the reversible oxyhaemoglobin binding. Any methaemoglobin which is formed is converted back to reduced haemoglobin by two separate reducing enzymes (one of which usually predominates). Thus the level of methaemoglobin in the normal red cell is kept at less than 1%.2 A form of hereditary methaemoglobinaemia occurs l when the globin molecule is abnormal or the reducing enzymes lacking or absent. Toxic methaemoglobinaemia may occur when the rate of auto-oxidation of haemoglobin to methaemoglobin is accelerated by the action of certain poisons. The reducing enzymes are then overloaded.2 Nitroand amino-derivatives of the aromatic series, nitrates and chlorates can all cause toxic methaemoglobinaemia. They are present in a wide range of drugs, perfumes, household polishes and dyes. Aniline and nitrobenzene can be absorbed through the skin and by inhalation, and ingestion will cause rapid, severe poisoning.3 As little as 1.5 g/dl of methaemoglobin will cause cyanosis whereas 5 gldl of reduced haemoglobin is required before cyanosis results n ~ r m a l l y . ~ Methaemoglobin does not transport oxygen. The symptoms of toxic methaemobinaemia are therefore those of oxygen lack proportional to the percentage of haemoglobin 'inactivated'. Levels of methaemoglobin below 20% do not usually cause symptoms. Between 20 and SOX, dyspnoea, tachycardia, headache and dizziness may O C C U ~ . ~ Above 60 to 70% coma and death may ensure.z


ABSTRACT The Tennessee Division of Water Pollution Control and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) conducted a series of investigations from 1981 through 1983 to determine the extent of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination of fish and sediment in Fort Loudoun Reservoir near Knoxville, Tenn. Fish and sediments from the Little River embayment had higher PCB concentrations than samples from other parts of the reservoir, and sediments contained up to 7 μg/g PCB near the mouth of the embayment. Little River embayment catfish contained up to 22 μg/g PCB in edible flesh, and over 60 percent exceeded the 5 μg/g Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limit for PCB. Sport fish and commercially important rough fish had PCB burdens below the 5 μg/g FDA limit. As a management response, a public advisory in April 1982 recommended against frequent consumption of catfish from Fort Loudoun Reservoir or consumption of any catfish from the Little River embayment. The Little River embayment was posted and closed to comm...


From Sherlock Jr. (1924) by Buster Keaton, to Laura by Shuji Terayama (1974), or Videodrome by David Cronenberg (1983), to more recent to Leto by Kirill Serebrennikov (2018), experimental and mainstream cinema has explored crossings through the screen to attempt erasing borders between the viewers and those represented. Let's Reset the Clock (from French On va remettre les pendules a l'heure), is a two-and-a-half minute colour video that I chose to inscribed in this tradition. In this artwork, split screen visual process is used to remove distances, in order to put two characters –I, the author, and my own grandmother– face to face. As the latter has passed away, Let's Reset the Clock, constitutes an attempt to remediate distances created by the mourning and a reflection about the way images can bridge those separated by space and by the time.


In order to meet the requirement of high precision color reproduction,reduce the phenomena of metamerism in the traditional reproduction,the spectral was used as the standard in the process of reproduction.In this study,the characterization method of the printer based on the spectral characteristics was put forward,and the spectral matching of color was realized by driving the printer to output the correct color dot area rate.Taking the physical meaning and the prediction precision of spectral prediction model into account,by using certain multidimensional improvement and parameter optimization,combined the dot enlargement curve correction and ink spreading curve correction with least-squares method based on linear regression,the forward printer model with a high precision was obtained.Finally,by means of the optimization algorithm based on sequential quadratic programming,the optimized Clapper-Yule model was reversed and the spectral characteristics of the printer were realized.Experimental data showed that the forward model and inverse model can reach ideal precision of color matching and spectral matching precision.


This paper introduces the implementation of Avionics Configuration Tool based on Master/Details structure in Eclipse environment The required software and hardware environment as well as the implementation process of the structure are also described.Finally,it validates the Master/Details'support to Avionics Configuration Tool by analyzing the XSD documents.


An active power filter(APF)is always controlled by double-closed-loop(DCL)regulation algorithm,namely,the inner current-loop and the outer voltage-loop.This paper studies the coordinates control of the inner current-loop and the outer voltage-loop of active power filter, and presents the rules of proportional-integral(PI)parameters tuning method in DCL. The active power filter is controlled by fuzzy logic controller whose fuzzification and defuzzification processes come from the coordinated selection of PI parameters in the inner current-loop and the outer voltage-loop controllers.The proposed control scheme results in smaller transient overshoot and faster convergence in the DC bus voltage of the APF.In addition,the compensating current generated by APF in start-up is very small.Therefore,system reliability as well as the stability of the DC bus voltage of the APF are greatly enhanced.


The planning for the development of a mathematics learning module for residents studying package C based on the open-source platform Scilab at the Community Learning Center (PKBM) Karang Putih is one of the solutions to address the lack of facilities, especially open-source learning media. The activity plan started with discussions and information sharing. In this stage, discussions and experiences were shared regarding the Scilab-based mathematics learning module for package C learners. The second activity is the analysis of the module's needs. Based on the discussion's outcomes, decisions will be made about the type of module to be created, the required features, potential challenges, necessary resources for the development process, and so on. The third activity is the design of the learning module. During this phase, the interface and layout of the open-source Scilab-based mathematics learning module are designed. The final activity is the development of the learning module. This stage involves implementing the outcomes of the analysis and design of the mathematics learning module. It also includes testing to ensure that all functions work as intended. By following this planned process, the development of the mathematics learning module for package C learners using Scilab will be expected to provide a valuable open-source learning resource at the Community Learning Center (PKBM) Karang Putih.


Despite numerous remarkable achievements for a variety of complex challenges, 1 , 2 standalone artificial intelligence (AI) does not unlock life science from the long-term bottleneck of linearly extracting new knowledge from exponentially growing new data, 3 which has severely limited clinical success rates of drug discovery. 4 Inspired by state-of-the-art AI training methods, we propose a human-centric augmented intelligence 5 (HAI) to learn a foundation model 6 that extracts all-encompassing knowledge of human physiology and pathogenesis. The quality of HAI's extracted knowledge was evaluated using a real-world validation method— the public, prospective prediction of pivotal ongoing clinical trial success outcomes at large scale (PROTOCOLS). This dataset was developed to benchmark HAI performance with an expert baseline for prospective prediction sensitivity of successful clinical programs, using only preclinical data as input. HAI achieved an 11.4-fold improvement over this baseline with a 99% confidence 7 for the PROTOCOLS validation set. The decision-support integration of HAI during the developmental candidate evaluation stage could significantly increase average clinical success rates of investigational new drugs from 7.9% 8 to 90.1% for nearly any disease. 9 , 10 This result confirms that exponentially extracted knowledge alone may be sufficient to accurately predict clinical success, effecting a complete reversal of Eroom's law. 4 The trained HAI is also the world's first clinically validated model of human aging that could substantially speed up the discovery of preventive medicine for all age-related diseases. 11 This study demonstrates that disruptive breakthroughs necessi-tate the smallest team size to attain the largest HAI for optimal knowledge extraction from high-dimensional, low-quality data spaces, thus establishing the first prospective proof of the previous discovery that small teams disrupt 12 . The global adoption of how to train a HAI may provide a new path to mass producing scientific and technological breakthroughs via exponential knowledge extraction and better data label designs for training better-performing AI. 13


Objective: Hypomagnesemia is one of the common electrolyte disorders found in critically ill patients. It is often an incidental finding and usually its importance is ignored. This study was designed to assess the significance of the "impact of hypomagnesemia" on the mortality and morbidity of the ICU patients. Hence the efficacy of hypomagnesemia as prognostic marker was also tested. Method: Prospective cohort study done at the department of Critical Care Medicine, of a tertiary care hospital in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh (from January 2014 to December 2014) aiming to find out of the differences in mortality & morbidity between two groups of patients one with low and other with normal Mg level. Result: 95 adult ICU admitted patients were included in the study and 38% of the study subjects were found to be Hypomagnesemic. The Hypomagnesemic group of patients needed more frequent ventilator support (75% vs 52.54%, p<0.02) and the duration of mechanical ventilator support was also prolonged (3.88±4.10 vs 2.25±3.18, p<0.04, in days). Hypomagnesemic group also needed prolonged ICU stay (9.13 vs 6.27, p<0.01) and total hospital stay (14.94 vs 10.47, p<0.007, days). Hypomagnesemic group of patients had more abnormal total leukocyte count (69.4% vs 47.5%, p <0.05) and more frequent use of inotropic support (61.1% vs 38.9%, p <0.05). The 28 days mortality rate in Hypomagnesemic patients were also high (33.3% vs 11.86%, p<0.01). Conclusion: In this study it was observed that Hypomagnesemia was significantly associated with adverse outcome. So it is better not to ignore this important confounder to predict the outcome of the critically ill ICU admitted patient. Considering the increasing demand of more accurate prognostic marker in critically ill patient, it maybe the high time to utilize serum Mg level systematically for outcome prediction. Bangladesh Crit Care J September 2017; 5(2): 77-82


Mobile agent technology is an attempt towards bringing the computation process nearer to the physical location of data in a distributed system. Although it has been extensively studied and applied in a variety of applications but still its usage is limited mainly because of the security issues associated with its usage. Mobile agent watermark encapsulation (MAWE) is a method that first embeds a watermark in the execution results of a mobile agent (MA) and then the watermark results are encapsulated using digital signature. Any malicious changes in the results can be easily tracked by the owner of the mobile agent. In this paper we discuss the attacks that can be launched against Mobile agent watermark encapsulation (MAWE) and how the security properties for mobile agent data integrity are fulfilled. We try to model the behavior of a malicious host by launching a series of attacks against mobile agent and then we see to what extent the security properties for MA can be achieved. The experiments performed in a typical ticket booking scenario suggest that MAWE can be used to protect the results of MA.


During infectious diseases, neuroendocrine and immune networks act in concert,
facilitating host response. Disorders in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis are
frequently observed associated to infections. It has been demonstrated that increased
level of circulating glucocorticoids (GC) systemic levels during the acute phase of
Trypanosoma cruzi infection, the etiological agent of Chaga s disease, results in
thymus atrophy. Such steroid can trigger apoptosis on cortical thymocytes bearing the
phenotype CD4+CD8+ (DP) via a specific glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Changes in
thymocyte development may have an important consequence for the disease, i.e.,
further autoimmune reactions. Recently our group demonstrated altered expression of
prolactin (PRL), another hormone related to stress, during T. cruzi infection. Based on
studies showing expression of PRL receptors (PRLR) on lymphocytes, and its effects
on growth, differentiation, and apoptosis in lymphoid cells, this hormone is supposed to
functions as an immunomodulator. Furthermore, prolactin protects T cells from GC-
induced apoptosis both in vivo and in vitro, which corroborates to this hypothesis.
Based on these data, here we aim to investigate the possible role of intrathymic GR-
PRLR cross-talk to the outcome of T. cruzi induced thymus atrophy.
Our results demonstrate altered intrathymic PRL and corticosterone levels during the
acute phase of T. cruzi infection. When the same hormones were evaluated on
plasma, a different modulation was detected, suggesting an independence of
intrathymic and systemic circuits that may be related to thymus atrophy. Furthermore,
we detected the variation of PRLR and GR intrathymic expression, that ocurred in
accordance to the modulation of their locally produced ligands. The analysis of DP cells
that survived to the apoptosis process at the late phase of acute infection,
demonstrated increased PRLR expression in parallel to the decrease of GR levels,
This receptor expression profile courses with an increase of anti apoptotic proteins
and the stabilization of the thymus atrophy process and seems an important factor for
the survival of these cells. Using an in vitro model of thymocyte apoptosis induction, we
observed that such alterations result in different GC-induced cell death susceptibility as
well as an altered answer to prolactin anti -apoptotic effects.
Taken together our results point to an relevant intrathymic PRLR-GR cross-talk
involved in thymus homeostasis. In this way, changes of this circuit may contribute to
the outcome of the thymus atrophy characteristic of the acute phase of T. cruzi
infection.