Collaborative drug therapy agreements (CDTAs) in accordance with the laws (RCW 18.64.011)1 and regulations (WAC 246-863-100) allow pharmacists prescriptive authority in various settings and for various purposes. There is no statutory authority to limit the pharmacists' prescriptive authority to any particular class of drugs or location of practice. The intent of the CDTA regulation is to increase the capacity and access to pharmaceutical care for the citizens of WA State so that health outcomes are improved.


Crowd Funding concept described as funding of an enterprise or a project via contribution form large num-ber of people, initially emerged in Canada formally in 2009. After regulated in US in 2012 as a new concept, it grew rapidly and global crowd funding volume reached up to 305 billion US dollars in 2018. Crowd funding can spread easily in countries where there is no regulation but there is allowance such as China, also in countries like UK where there is a naive regulation or in countries like US where it is strictly regulated. On the other side, new financing models can be introduced in accordance with the aims of Islamic Law "Maqasid Al Shariah" in the field of Islamic finance practices which is currently focused on to Islamic banking with the help of flexibil-ity provided by crowd funding. In this context, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which became an international center for higher education and tourism, reached an important position due its legal ties with Turkey, EU and UK and availability to qualified human resources. Universities in Northern Cyprus hosts a young pop-ulation with a high of level education and have an easy access to capital especially from countries with Muslim population. In this study, how Cyprus can position itself in crowd funding as a model of Islamic finance to mo-bilize its unique potential by considering EU, UK and Turkey's regulations is investigated.


The quantitative relationship between tungro infection and yield components of rice was evaluated using a modified single tiller approach. Yield loss per hill and per panicle varied depending upon the symptom severity and height reduction in infected IR64. Losses ranged from 1.1 to 99.1% per hiil and 1.0 to 96.l per panicle. Losses in 1000 grainweight ranged from 13.5 to 57.8%. Field grain percentages were higher in healthy than infected plants. Yield loss per hill and panicle was positively correlated with height reducticn and symptom severity. Height reduction and symptom severity were significantly correlated with biomass. Regression equations were developed with different combinations of dependent and independent variables. Grain yield reduction due to the tungro-associated viruses and ragged stunt virus in plants varied depending on the cul ti vars and growth stage when the plants were infected. The reduction was generally high when the plants were infected at 1-5 wk after soaking. The reduction was 17-97% in plants infected with both rice tungro bacilliform virus (RTBV) and rice tungro spherical virus (RTSV), 12-90% with RTBV, 1-40% with RTSV, and 22-100% with rice ragged stunt virus. Cultivars with a lower yield reduction showed milder symptoms and contained a lower amount of virus in plants.


Bullying is a serious problem plaguing educational systems and influencing the lives of many youth. The consequences of bullying, for both bullies and victims, are numerous and well-established, including increased emotional and behavioural problems, difficulties in peer relationships, and poor academic achievement. To date, little research has been completed that explores the role of strengths in the bullying experiences of youth. An understanding of students' strengths could aid in the development of appropriate intervention and prevention programming and to promoting the well-being of youth. Therefore, this study examined the relationships between strengths in youth and bullying experiences within a comprehensive strength-based framework. Participants were 263 students (112 males) recruited from Grades 7 and 8 classes in Ontario, Canada. Participants completed self-report questionnaires on bullying and victimisation experiences and a broad range of personal strengths. The results of this study did not support a direct relationship between overall strengths and bullying behaviours and victimisation experiences. However, some specific strengths were identified as predictors of both bullying and victimisation. Of note, while having more strengths in some domains predicted reduced rates of bullying and victimisation, having more strengths in other domains predicted increased rates of both bullying and victimisation, suggesting a masking effect. These results highlight the importance of further exploring the relationship between strengths and bullying as well as the possible benefits of providing strength-based intervention and prevention programmes.


The following two statements, I take it, constitute adequately predicated claims. (1) An uncontroversial, easily defensible, and modest claim: In order to create a space for a Husserlian contribution to the philosophy of technology, much work remains to be done. (2) A controversial, potentially indefensible, and bold claim: Husserlian phenomenology possesses the resources for a genuine contribution to the philosophy of technology. That one may accept the descriptions preceding claims (1) and (2) follows from the same reason: Husserl himself says very little (indeed almost nothing) that directly concerns technology. Nevertheless, I hope to do some of the work required by (1) and thus substantiate (2) as a suggestion worthy of further investigation. I will argue that Husserl's contribution to the philosophy of technology (i) includes an emphasis on self-responsibility; (ii) is not susceptible to either the Heideggerian critique of the subject or the Pragmatist's charge of various forms of idealism; (iii) incorporates the benefits of Pragmatism's reconfiguration of ends; and (iv) accomplishes (iii) without uncritically upholding the sanctity of the scientific form of reason as dogma. I implicitly argue for (i) throughout, but section one presents Husserlian ethicist Ullrich Melle's suggestive theory of a Husserlian ethic for the age of technology rooted in self-responsibility. Section two briefly recounts the standard reading of Husserl from within the philosophy of technology, particularly through Heidegger and the Deweyean pragmatist perspective, highlighting the difficulties confronting (Melle's arguments for) Husserl's contributions to the philosophy of technology. Section three presents (iii) and (iv), arguing that Husserl's stated positions on science and technology lies somewhere between Heidegger and Dewey. And section four buttresses (iii) and (iv) by providing evidence against the Cartesian and Platonic readings of Husserl, thereby redressing the theoretical difficulties vitiating Melle's suggestion and creating the theoretical space for Husserl to enter into the technology discourse. Husserl, Self-Responsibility, and Ethics for the Age of Technology In his provocative article, "Responsibility and the Crisis of Technological Civilization," Melle laments that citizens of the contemporary Western world find themselves in a historical circumstance where the facts of science and technology are decided independently of value questions, thus reducing "genuine ethical responsibility [to] the ground of... asymmetrical relations of power."1 As the reader most likely knows, Husserl identified the passive and unreflective assimilation of the "truths" of science into the life-world as the primary symptom of the crisis regarding the sciences-and today we may extend this observation to include the "benefits" of technology. The narrow scope of modern scientific reason having secured its position of authority in the Western world, ours has become a world that does not require its decision makers or non-decision makers to evidence their convictions about science and technology. Extending Husserl's observations from The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology,2 Melle's point is that our technological convictions thus remain "threatened by falsification" (Melle 338). That is, citizens in the age of science and technology turn their beliefs and visions into actions without a credible guarantee of minimizing their unintended effects (both trivial and catastrophic). Our beliefs concerning technology can be falsified, moreover, to the extent that our unwillingness to reflect on their development enables the abuse of power based on class- and party-interest (Melle 339). In either event, we find ourselves the unwitting perpetuators of a cultural condition that unquestioningly encourages the exponential growth of technology. Contrary to the positions of technological determinism or substantivism-both of which maintain the automatic and linear development of technology, the latter being distinguished from the former insofar as it considers technology non-neutral3-Husserl does not identify the crisis of technology as the "fate" of our age. …


In this paper, we make a study of the requirements for adapting 13 core courses offered to undergraduate students of Engineering on Electronics and Automation (GIEA) so that they can be followed by students in the blended learning modality. We focus on how to offer the practical training, so that GIEA Engineering students acquire the required practical skills. We discuss and propose solutions that combine several of the main available tools for teaching practical training: Virtual labs (VL) built on OpenSource and free programs, VLs accessible through virtual desktops, Home labs, composed of low cost hardware kits, Remote Labs with hardware components that can be accessed remotely, and Face-to-face practical training, physically at the laboratories of the University. This study has been performed at the Escuela Universitaria Politécnica de Teruel (EUPT), University of Zaragoza, which plans to gradually introduce the blended learning modality in all the courses offered to GIEA undergraduate students.


The generation of wind noise of entrance microphone cavities owing to turbulent airflow is an inherent problem with radio telecommunication systems, such as two-way radios. It will lead to a pressure fluctuation which is highly unpleasant and would degrade a two-way radio communication. This research aims to understand the relationship between noise level and the flow structure of the different parameters to the occurrence of noise during communication using a two-way radio device. A noise measurement is conducted to analyse the sound pressure level (SPL) within a cavity, in which computational fluid dynamic(CFD) is used to investigate the flow behaviour on the various effects of cavity positions at P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5 and wind velocities of 0.75 m/s, 1.49 m/s, 2.24 m/s, 2.99 m/s and 3.75 m/s which corresponding to Reynolds number (Re) of 8694, 17389, 26083, 34777, and 43471 respectively. CFD result showed the presence of separation of the shear layer, the development of vortex shedding, the recirculation region and vorticity were present inside the edges of the cavity. SPL increased with an increase in wind velocity and, the cavity distance of P4. In the cavity position of P5, SPL is decreased due to the wind velocity exceeding the maximum level of a wind tunnel. Therefore, the cavity position of P5 is suitable for reducing wind noise. These parameters are significant for improving the design of two-way radio to reduce the noise during outdoor communication.


Purpose – This paper addresses the subject of the chief digital officer: why there is a need for a CDO, the competencies required for the position, and to whom the CDO should report. Findings – Until now, it has been the IT department that has controlled and driven the corporate technology agenda. That is changing because the digital revolution is resulting in the users dictating what the software does for them, not the IT department. Practical implications – The issues addressed will benefit all senior management by improving their understanding of ways in which to manage their social media and other digital technologies. Originality/value – The concept of a digital director is gaining in importance as organizations begin to recognize the full impact of a robust, dynamic flow of data, knowledge and information across business interests and through social activity streams.


Abstract Extract From the announcement of the discovery of the anthelmintic properties of a new group of compounds, the amino-acetonitrile derivatives (AAD) (Kaminsky et al. 2008a), progress towards a product available to sheep owners has been impressively rapid. An increasing cascade of publications report efficacy of the compound chosen for commercial development (Kaminsky et al. 2008b), monepantel, against a wide range of nematodes of economic significance in sheep. These demonstrate high efficacy against both mature and larval stages and strains resistant to other anthelmintics (Hosking et al. 2008, 2009; Kaminsky et al. 2009; Sager et al. 2009). Field studies in New Zealand further confirm the efficacy (Mason et al. 2009) and experimental studies in Australia substantiate its safety (Malikides et al. 2009a b) in sheep. There is no doubting the potential of monepantel, due for imminent release by Novartis New Zealand Ltd, for a major impact where anthelmintic resistance threatens worm control in sheep, and hopefully other ruminants as well. The timing of the discovery of a new anthelmintic class could hardly be better for at least two main reasons. Firstly, resistance to existing anthelmintics is increasing in all countries where intensive sheep production is practised, and on some properties no available anthelmintic product remains fully effective. Secondly, and more encouragingly, the rapid increase in resistance led to a major global effort to develop sustainable parasite control recommendations; from that perspective, the environment monepantel will be released into will be very different from that when ivermectin was introduced some 25 years ago (Besier 2007).


The Independent, 27/5/00 Large article about the football launch at Arsenal, headlined "Established cast muscled off ball by foreign guests." Total Football "anyone who has ever sat down and thought about the influence of Catholicism on Catenaccio will find much here to light up their shroud" Soccer and Society "Finn and Giulianotti have presented a collection that expands understanding of how football cultures are discourses on continuity and change


Objective To investigate the effects of propofol on Na+-K+-ATPase activity in myocardial cell membrane and intramitochondrial calcium content during myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (IR) in rats. Methods Forty male SD rats weighing 300-350 g were randomly divided into 3 groups (n = g each) : sham operation group (group S), IR group and different doses of propofol groups (group P1-3). Myocardial ischemia was produced by occlusion of left anterior descending branch (LAD) of coronary artery for 30 min followed by 60 min reperfusion in group IR and P1-3. LAD was exposed but not occluded in group S. Propofol was infused via femoral vein at 10, 20 and 30 mg·kg-1·h-1 for 15 min before myocardial ischemia in group P1-3 respectively. Lead ⅡECG was continuously monitored and the severity of arrhythmia was quantified using arrhythmia score. The rats were killed and left ventricular myocardial tissues in the ischemic area were removed at 60 min of reperfusion for determination of the activity of Na+-K+-ATPase in myocardial cell membrane, intramitochondrial calcium content and α1, α2, α3 and β1 mRNA and protein expression of sodium pump. Results Compared with group S, arrhythmia scores were significantly increased, Na+ -K+ -ATPase activity in myocardial cell membrane was significantly decreased, intramitochondrial calcium content was significantly increased, and α1, α2, α3 and β1 mRNA and protein expression of sodium pump was down-regulated in group IR and P1-3 (P 0.05) .Conclusion Propofol can attenuate IR injury through up-regulation of the expression of sodium pump, recovery of Na+-K+-ATPase activity in myocardial cell membrane and reduction in intramitochondrial calcium overload.

Key words:
Propofol;  Myocardial reperfusion injury;  Cell membrane;  Sodium-petassium-exchanging ATPase;  Mitochondria, heart;  Calcium


This paper proposed a new method to measure the travelling speed of the sound wave and is also helpful for the better understanding of the stationary wave.


Summary: Wishing to look deeper into the residential future of seniors, the author tried to identify important global trends influencing the development of the housing environment for the older generation, as well as factors contributing to changes in social service preferences and care requirements. The author examines the issues of Polish demographic and socio-cul tural conditions, presents a system of special forms of housing for the elderly and design ideas which have been tested and accepted in other high-developed countries.


Title The Cytological Effect of Chemicals on Ascites Sarcomas, VI. : The Action of γ-L-glutamyl Isonicotinic Acid Hydrazide on Living Tumor Cells of the Yoshida Sarcoma (With 5 Text-figures) Author(s) KANÔ, Kyoko Citation 北海道大學理學部紀要 = JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY Series VI. ZOOLOGY, 13(1-4): 233-238 Issue Date 1957-08 Doc URL http://hdl.handle.net/2115/27233 Type bulletin File Information 13(1_4)_P233-238.pdf


Across the globe, governments, industry and educationalists are in agreement that more needs to be done to increase and broaden participation in post-16 science. Schools, as well as teachers, are seen as key in this effort. Previous research has found that engagement with science, inclination to study science and understanding of the value of science strongly relates to a student's science capital. This paper reports on findings from the pilot year of a one-year professional development (PD) programme designed to work with secondary-school teachers to build students' science capital. The PD programme introduced teachers to the nature and importance of science capital and thereafter supported them to develop ways of implementing science capital-building pedagogy in their practice. The data comprise interviews with the participating teachers (n = 10), observations of classroom practices and analyses of the teachers' accounts of their practice. Our findings suggest that teachers found the concept of science capital to be compelling and to resonate with their own intuitive understandings and experiences. However, the ways in which the concept was operationalised in terms of the implementation of pedagogical practices varied. The difficulties inherent in the operationalisation are examined and recommendations for future work with teachers around the concept of science capital are developed.


Abstract
Weak and osteoporotic bones in old age are an increasing cause of mortality and painful physical impairment of the elderly, especially in the western world. Bone mineral accrual during chi ...


Paliperidone is an atypical antipsychotic drug .paliperidone is a selective dopamine type 2(D2) and serotonin type 2 (SHT2A) receptor antagonisms, developed for the treatment of schizophrenia. To develop and validate simple, accurate, rapid, precise, reproducible and cost effective spectrophotometric method for the quantitative estimation of paliperidone HCl in a pharmaceutical formulation. The developed UV spectrophotometric method for the quantitative estimation of paliperidone HCl is based on measurement of absorption maximum wavelength 236 nm using paliperidone HCl as a solvent. The stock solution of paliperidone HCl was prepared, and subsequent suitable dilution was prepared in distilled water to obtained standard curve. The standard solution of paliperidone HCl shows absorption maxima at 236.nm.


Research on mentoring has not fully explored the role that negative or dysfunctional behaviors by proteges have on their psychological outcomes. This research examines the effects of protege deception in positive mentoring situations and negative mentoring situations. The results of study 1 indicate that when mentors provided low levels of vocational or psychosocial support, high levels of protege deception were associated with higher levels of protege anxiety than when low levels of protege deception were present. The association between vocational support and protege self-esteem was negative when there were high levels of protege deception (and positive when there were low levels of protege deception). Building on this, in study 2 we examined the importance of mentoring support when the mentor practices negative mentoring. Results indicate that when high levels of protege deception occurred the association between negative mentoring (elements of negative social exchange in mentoring) and self-esteem bec...


Objective: The present study intends to evaluate the cellular diameter (CD) and nuclear diameter (ND) in the buccal epithelial cells of khaini chewers residing in rural areas of Nilgiris District, South India using Cytomorphometric analysis. Methods: The study population consisted of 96 healthy individuals divided into 3 groups: 35 chewers, 30 chewers with smoking habit and 31 age and sex matched controls with no history of tobacco chewing/smoking. Results: The study population with the habitual usage of khaini showed a significant increase in the size of CD and decrease in the size of ND. The mean CD and ND of 3 groups were 39.6± 6.74, 53.6± 2.99, 69.6± 6.53 and 10.60± 1.34, 9.14± 1.75, 6.00± 0.84 respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: There was a significant increase in CD and decrease in ND in two experimental groups when compared to controls with respect to their khaini chewing and smoking habit. This indicates that khaini is unsafe for oral health.


This paper focuses on stochastic infectious disease models in the context of biological problems. Stochastic infectious disease models with mean-reverting processes are studied, and the model studied is a stochastic SIS infectious disease model with mean-reverting birth mortality[1-7]. The persistence and extinction of diseases are discussed in the context of the infectious disease mode[8-11]l, giving thresholds such that if the threshold is less than 1, the disease becomes extinct with probability 1, and if the threshold is greater than 1, the disease persists with probability 1 in the mean sense. From this analysis, we conclude that the greater the intensity of the fluctuation, the faster the disease goes extinct, while the smaller the intensity of the fluctuation, the greater the number of infectious diseases.


Abstract:  The identification of missing casualties of the Korean War (1950–1953) has been performed using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) profiles, but recent advances in DNA extraction techniques and approaches using smaller amplicons have significantly increased the possibility of obtaining DNA profiles from highly degraded skeletal remains. Therefore, 21 skeletal remains of Korean War victims and 24 samples from biological relatives of the supposed victims were selected based on circumstantial evidence and/or mtDNA‐matching results and were analyzed to confirm the alleged relationship. Cumulative likelihood ratios were obtained from autosomal short tandem repeat, Y‐chromosomal STR, and mtDNA‐genotyping results, and mainly confirmed the alleged relationship with values over 105. The present analysis emphasizes the value of mini‐ and Y‐STR systems as well as an efficient DNA extraction method in DNA testing for the identification of old skeletal remains.


Objective
To explore the application and early efficacy of modified Veil nerve-sparing technique during laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP).

Methods
Fifty-seven modified Veil nerve-sparing during LRP procedures were performed in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer between 2012 and 2016 by the same surgeon. Preoperative PSA level was 10.9 μg/ml, and Gleason score was 6.06 (5-8). TNM clinical stage showed cT1 in 39 cases and cT2 in 18 cases. All patients underwent transrectal ultrasonography before operation. Prostate volume was 40.2 (26-99) ml. ECT bone scan excluded bone metastasis. MRI or CT examination showed no obvious prostate invasion and lymph node metastasis. The key technology was anatomical separation of detrusor apron, dorsal vascular complex (DVC) and the level between the prostate capsule, and a complete reservation was accomplished. Measurements: the rates and location of positive surgical margins (PSM) and tumor biochemical recurrence rate as well as functional outcomes were presented. Questionnaires were used to assess urine function and IIEF-5 score was used to estimate sexual function.

Results
Fifty-seven cases were followed up, and the average follow-up of 27.3 (6-65) months. Five cases showed biochemical recurrence after 23 months. Five patients had a PSM (2 patients in apical margins, 1 patient in left side, 1 patient in right side and 1 patient in the bottom). At catheter removal, 49 of 57 patients (86%) were dry (0 pads), and 8 of 57 patients (14%) needed one security pad. After 3 months and 6 months, 42% (24 of 57 patients) and 60% (34 of 57 patients) presented an International Index of Erectile Function score >15 (with or without phospho-diesterasetype-5inhibitors).

Conclusions
The modified Veil nerve-sparing technique during LRP can retain the fascia around the prostate more completely and restore postoperative urine and erectile function early.For selective cases, it will not increase the positive rate of surgical margins and biochemical recurrence rate.

Key words:
Laparoscopy; Prostatic neoplasms; Urinary incontinence; Sexual function


We present a rare case of mesonephric adenocarcinoma of uterus in a 54-year-old female who presented with post-menopausal bleeding. The patient had a previous history of colorectal carcinoma. Hysteroscopy revealed a 40 mm polypoid cervical lesion and a polypectomy was done. Histology of the polypectomy showed proliferation of closely packed tubular structures, some of which contained dense eosinophilic secretion as well as areas of solid, ductular and retiform growth pattern. Immunohistochemical analysis showed CD10, EMA: apical staining. CK7, CEA, p16, vi-mentin: patchy positive staining. Calretinin: positive in occasional cells in solid/ductal areas but negative in tubular component. CDX2, CK20, ER, PR, WTI were negative. The morphological features and immunohistochemistry results excluded a colorectal carcinoma and the lesion was regarded as moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma with features suggestive of a mesonephric adenocarcinoma. Subsequent hysterectomy also confirmed the diagnosis. Mesonpehric adenocarcinoma is a rare tumour of the female genital tract which mainly arises in the cervix and vagina and very rarely in the uterine corpus. It is usually associated with meso-nephric hyperplasia and has better prognosis than its mullerian counterparts.


We adapt the product-space approach of Hausmann–Hidalgo et al. to the case of Italian provinces, examining the extent to which network connectedness and centrality of a province's exports is related to its economic performance. We construct a new Product Space Position (PSP) index which retains many of the Hausmann–Hidalgo et al. features but which is also much better suited to handling regional and provincial data. The PSP index is found to outperform other indices. Our comparison throws light on fundamental aspects of network-cognitive-distance-trade arguments. A better positioning in the export-network product space is indeed associated with better local economic outcomes.


Routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) is an important pro blem that arises in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical networks. Previ ous studies have solved many variations of this problem under the assumption of perfect c onditions regarding the power of a signal. In this paper, we investigate this problem while al owing for degradation of routed signals by components such as taps, multiplexers, switchin g elements, fiber links, etc. It is assumed that inline optical amplifiers are preplaced on indi vidual fiber links at the physical design stage. We investigate the problem of routing the maxi um number of connections while maintaining proper power levels. The problem is formu lated as a mixed-integer nonlinear program. To overcome the complexity of the problem, w e divide the problem into two parts. First, we solve the pure RWA problem using fixed routes for every connection. Second, power assignment is accomplished by either using the smalle st-gain first (SGF) heuristic or using a genetic algorithm. Numerical examples on a wide vari ety of networks show that (a) the number of connections established without considering the signal attenuation was most of the time greater than that achievable while considering the power and (b) given adequate time, the genetic solution quality was much better than that of SGF , especially when the conflict graph of the connections generated by the linear solver is de n er.


Botanical illustration - coloured - Cheiridopsis herrei. Drawn from a collection made on the road to Modderdrift [Namaqualand District] by P. van Heerde (27), 6 August 1937.


. The article examines the issue of effective use of information technologies in the educational process of universities of internal affairs of Ukraine with the aim of forming in subjects the skills and abilities necessary for the use of modern information technologies in the practical activities of a law enforcement specialist, improving the skills of professional work with computer devices and networks , electronic document circulation, information systems for the use of digital technologies in the practical activity of combating crime. At the same time, the authors analyzed the content of educational disciplines directly aimed at the formation and development of information and communication competence and proposed changes to work programs in accordance with active reforms in legislation, changes in information and communication systems of various bodies due to the introduction of martial law in Ukraine. The relevance of the introduction of electives in the field of "cyber security" into the educational process is substantiated. which involves the activation of the cognitive activity of cadets, ensuring a high level of professional competence and the ability for professional development. In the future, it is planned to investigate in detail the possibilities of applying the experience of developed countries in higher education institutions of Ukraine to improve the system of professional training of specialists in the security and defense sector.


To Dragotin Kette, rhythm is an essential element of poetry, therefore he rarely uses free verse (contrary to what the traditional literary history held). At the same time, his metrics is extremely diverse. He took from the traditional poetry and folk song everything that was irregular: the irregular syllabotonics and tonics, the interplay of syllabotonic and tonic verse, and the impure rhyme. He also did numerous innovative experiments with syllabotonics, e.g., unregulated interplay of triple meters, regulated interplay of iambs and trochees, unregulated interplay of double and triple meters, mixing syllabotonics with tonics in lyric poetry (but unlike the 19th-century poets, not in epic poetry).


This research introduces a new approach for predicting reproductive health by using the Sperm Whale Optimization algorithm (SWA) with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN-SWA). SWA is an emerging method with a powerful potential in tackling optimization difficulties based on its adaptability in searching mechanisms. ANN-SWA consists of four phases. The first phase is conditioned by the fertility disease which is a complex and multifactorial condition with increasing incidence. The fertility data is trained (90 cases) and the approach is then used to test findings in the test set (10 cases). In the second phase, the multilayer perceptron (MLP) is used to determine the maximum fitness function by getting the global minimum and hence, it revokes the ANN trapped in local. In the third phase, it optimizes and controls the parameters (weights and biases) to ensure rapid convergence with accuracy. In the fourth phase, ANN-SWA is used to predict the fertility quality and determine the accuracy. The results are verified by comparing them with optimization and classification algorithms. The quantitative and qualitative outcomes show that the proposed approach is able to outperform the current algorithms on the fertility dataset in the convergence rate of classification. The results demonstrate that an artificial neural network based on SWA achieved more than 99.96% of the accuracy of the approach.


Biosensors development has become very important by using NPs showing enzyme mimic properties. In this study, it was aimed to synthesize CuO nanoparticles (NPs) by green synthesis method and to use to determine the amount of glucose in some food samples. CuO nanoparticles were synthesized by using Fig (Ficus carica) fruits by green synthesis method and it was used to determine the glucose amount in some food samples. The resulting CuO NPs were characterized by FT-IR, XRD and SEM analyzes. From the results, it was determined that the CuO NPs were symmetrical, spherical and in the range of 20-66 nm. Then, CuO NPs were used to detect glucose levels in different types of foods samples as non-enzymatically. The high accuracy results were observed with CuO NPs having enzyme mimic properties. In the new targeted method, the glucose oxidase (GOx) enzyme with CuO NPs mimicking peroxidase was used to develop a spectrophotometric method for the determination of highly sensitive and stable - enzymatic glucose in different foods. The developed method was found to be highly linear in the 0.25-2 g/L glucose range. The optimum operating parameters of the biosensor were, respectively, temperature, (40°C), pH (4.0) and H2O2 concentration (12.5 mM). It was observed that this method showed a high selectivity to glucose.


The invention discloses a preparation method for a novel HDPE composite material. The preparation method comprises the following steps: (1) crushing leftover spirulina to a size of 50 meshes, adding a pretreatment fluid, adjusting water content to 50%, maintaining temperature to be 90 to 110 DEG C carrying out soaking for 50 to 82 min, and after completion of soaking, carrying out heating at 150 DEG C for 3 to 5 min; (2) crushing corn straw to a size of 60 meshes, adjusting water content to 50% with water, inoculating the crushed corn straw with Lactobacillus plantarum, carrying out fermentation at 38 DEG C for 30 min and after completion of fermentation, carrying out heating at 70 DEG C for 10 min; (3) uniformly mixing the spirulina powder and the corn straw powder, putting the obtained mixture into a continuous steam explosion machine for steam explosion three times; (4) drying a material obtained after steam explosion at 100 DEG C and crushing the material to a size of 80 meshes after drying; and (5) mixing a mixture obtained in the previous step, HDPE and a coupling agent according to a mass ratio of 1.2: 1: 0.05 and then carrying out molding so as to obtain a sheet material.


The object of the invention is an aircraft nacelle comprising an air inlet (50) for channeling air into a duct (54) toward a duct (56) of an engine (52) disposed in line with said duct (54), said conduit (54) having air inlet at least one panel (58) incorporating an acoustic treatment with an acoustically resistive porous layer (60) in contact with the aerodynamic inflow in the nacelle, at least one alveolar structure (62) and a reflective or impermeable layer (64) forming the rear surface of said panel (58), a flange (66) connecting between said air inlet (50) and said engine (52) having at least one wing (76) connected to said air inlet (50) by a plurality of connecting means, characterized in that some of said connecting means have axes (74) intersecting with the edge ( 72) of said panel (58) delimiting the duct (54) of the air inlet.


for cost (DFC) is a method that reduces life cycle cost (LCC) from the angle of designers. Multiple domain features mapping (MDFM) methodology was given in DFC. Using MDFM, we can use design features to estimate the LCC. From the angle of DFC, the design features of family cars were obtained, such as all dimensions, engine power and emission volume. At the conceptual design stage, cars' LCC were estimated using back propagation (BP) artificial neural networks (ANN) method and case-based reasoning (CBR). Hamming space was used to measure the similarity among cases in CBR method. Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA) were used in ANN. The differences of LCC estimation model between CBR and artificial neural networks (ANN) were provided. ANN and CBR separately each method has its shortcomings. By combining ANN and CBR improved results accuracy was obtained. Firstly, using ANN selected some design features that affect LCC. Then using LCC estimation results of ANN could raise the accuracy of LCC estimation in CBR method. Thirdly, using ANN estimate LCC errors and correct errors in CBR's estimation results if the accuracy is not enough accurate. Finally, economically family cars and sport utility vehicle (SUV) was given as LCC estimation cases using this hybrid approach combining ANN and CBR.


Spinal–epidural hematoma is a very rare but possibly devastating complication of neuroaxial anesthetic techniques. Traumatic or difficult insertion and the use of concomitant anticoagulation have been well established as risk factors for the development of this complication. The most common signs and symptoms include back pain usually localized at the level of the hematoma, as well as varying degrees of motor and sensory deficits, which are the result of spinal cord or cauda equina compression. If the development of spinal epidural hematoma is suspected, the diagnosis should be confirmed by an emergency MRI. The treatment of choice is emergency surgical decompression. The two strongest prognostic factors are the severity of presenting deficits and the time from onset of symptoms to surgical decompression. Patients who have mild deficits and early surgical decompression have the best prognosis, particularly if surgery is performed within 12 hours of the onset of symptoms.


There was no knowledge of the maps created by Asian civilizations that existed before Greek age until the 19th century. These maps found in excavations reveal that people who lived in the old Asian civilizations thought about the place of their city in the world. This study explores the preparation process and the phases of old Asia Minor maps had gone through.


Selective phlebography of the major branches of the vena cava superior, supplemented, if necessary, by selective catheterization of the spinal vein, was employed to study the disorders in the cervical section of the spine and cord. Twenty-five patients with myelopathies of obscure origin were examined. The main symptoms were stenoses and atresias of the orifices of the internal jugular veins and compression and stenoses of the brachiocephalic trunks. The possibility of a reverse venous blood stream from the nonspinal veins to the epidural ones and backward was confirmed. Therefore, a disorder of the venous outflow from the spinal channel, on the one hand, and intensification of the venous blood inflow, on the other, may develop under certain conditions, resulting in intrachannel hypertension. Eight patients with pathologic changes in the veins (decompressions and angiolysis) were operated on.


The effect of pre-harvest single foliar application of maleic hydrazide (MH) at four concentrations viz., 0, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 per cent at 2, 4 and 6 weeks before. harvest on the storage behaviour of potato cv. Kufri Jyoti was studied upto 150th day of harvest. It was observed that sprouting, sprouted eyes per tube, sprout length, sprouts weight, cumulative PLW and rottage of tubers were low throughout the sto rage, its effect being pronounced with increase in concentration and early application prior to harvest. It lowered the dry matter of tubers, but increased the starch content. and had no significant effect on sugars at 150th day of harvest.


This paper investigates the existence of a long run money demand function for Bangladesh during the period 1975-1997 using the cointegration and error correction modelling approach. It also examines the parameter stability of the money demand function. The empirical results suggest that there exists a unique long-run relationship between real broad money balance, real GDP, and the real exchange rate. The short- term dynamic behaviour of money demand has been investigated by estimating an error correction model in which the error correction term has been found to be correctly signed and statistically significant. Real GDP and the real exchange rate have emerged as important determinants of the demand for money in Bangladesh. Our results provide no evidence of a structural break in the money demand function in the post-liberalisation period in Bangladesh.


Body mass index (BMI) is an established parameter to assess overweight and obesity in adults. Different studies have reported adverse effects of increased body mass index on cardiac health. Heart rate and blood pressure are largely regulated by the autonomic nervous system, and reflects the state of balance that exists between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The aim of this study was to search for any significant relationship between resting heart rate and resting blood pressure of different individuals with respect to their body mass index. 200 subjects (all adult males only) belonging to age groups between 20 years to 50 years were selected after informed consent of the participants. The total study sample included 100 overweight / obese subjects and 100 subjects within normal Body Mass Index (BMI). The participants were required to attain a calm and quiet posture for 10 minutes before the procedure. Thereafter, their blood pressures were measured using a mercury sphygmomanometer from the left arm in a sitting position. The heart rate as calculated by examination of the radial artery pulse, and confirmed by resting electrocardiograph. In our study, the resting blood pressures (both systolic and diastolic) were greater in overweight / obese individuals compared to normal-weight individuals. The difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Body mass index had a strong positive correlation with diastolic blood pressure [R = 0.92; p < 0.00001. This might be due to a raised sympathomotor or reduced vagal response in these subsets; consistent with higher prevalence of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in these subjects.


A model is proposed that is useful for extraction of transport parameters from the random telegraph signal in a multiple quantum well infrared photodetector, at low current bias and low temperature. Data were obtained using a three well, multiperiod device. Electron mobility was found to be from 2×105 to 4×105 cm2/V s. The number of carriers contributed for transport by each well-barrier-well region was found to be less than five. Two distinct activation energies were obtained that corresponded with the two distinct pulse heights in the random telegraph signal.


Wood waste is the waste of the sawmill industry. So far, wood waste has caused a lot of problems in its handling, which has been left to rot, stacked and burned will have a negative impact on the environment, so its management needs to be considered. Judging from the potential that exists in Mendoyo village, especially in the Negara district, it is one of the largest producers of wood waste that has no use, which is simply piled up. So, we have the innovation of making a handicraft in the form of a watch made from wood waste. Which is an accessory craft that has added value and high creative value. This watch, combined with Balinese motifs or images on the watch. The benefits of this activity are, helping to reduce the amount of waste among the surrounding community, opening up new business opportunities for the community and also making the community aware of the importance of quality wood sawdust waste that has become waste that is not feasible to be used as a craft accessories with high economic value. The main targets are people of productive age, the academic community, and people who have middle and upper incomes, but it is possible that it will be wider and market to special markets and the art market because these watch products have high artistic value and creativity.


A semiempirical charge sensitivity analysis in atomic resolution is used to examine the regional softness parameters within two pairs of coordinating atoms in cyclization reactions, in a search for possible softness matching rules to be used as diagnostic tools for predicting regiochemistry trends. The cycloaddition reactions of a few typical 1,3-dipoles with the phosphorus-containing dipolarophiles and substituted ethylenes are examined. Two types of the two-reactant charge response properties of strongly interacting subsystems are tested: the valence state (polarizational, P) softnesses of atoms in the polarized reactants, before the globally isoelectronic charge transfer (CT), and the in situ CT softnesses. The present analysis identifies a simple regional softness matching rule in terms of two-reactant properties, called the maximum complementarity rule, which is shown to provide a very successful predictor of regioselectivity, particularly at the P + CT level of description. It correctly indexes a relative accessibility of alternative transition states in a series of illustrative 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. The rule is compared with the earlier regional HSAB principle, formulated in terms of quantities of the separated reactants. The physical implications of various regional softness matching principles are discussed, and the two-reactant influences on atomic FF indices are examined in some detail.


Abstract: In this paper we present a state space solution to the robust stabilization problem of general discrete-time periodic and multirate systems where the uncertainty is described in terms of the gap and v-gap metrics. This robust stability problem is converted to a constrained 11.00 optimal control problem by using the lifting technique. Then the optimal robust stability margin is explicitly computed and a method is provided to get the controllers satisfying the optimal robust stabilization margin. The solution amounts to solving two discrete-time algebraic Riccati equations and an extended Parrot problem. Copyright fil200J IFAC


Background: Bariatric surgery has proved to be an effective strategy in treating obesity. However, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of 3 most common bariatric surgery procedures, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), sleeve gastrectomy (SG), and laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB), reported inconsistent results. We performed a systematic review and network metaanalysis to synthesize evidence of effectiveness of the 3 common bariatric procedures from relevant RCTs. Methods:The present study was a systematic review and networkmeta-analysis of RCTs. All RCTsmustmeet the following criteria to be included in the analysis: patients with body mass index (BMI) ≥30kg/m, reported at least 1 outcome of interest, compared at least 2 of the 3 bariatric procedures, and had follow-ups of at least 1 year. Primary outcome was weight loss, expressed as differences in mean BMI reduction and percentage excess weight loss (%EWL) following 1 year after the surgery. Network metaanalysis was based on Bayesian framework with Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation approach. Results: Eleven RCTs that met the criteria were included in the review. Of 9 trials (n=765), the differences in mean BMI reduction were 0.76 (95% CI: 3.1 to 1.6) for RYGB versus SG, 5.8 (95% CI: 9.2 to 2.4) for RYGB versus LAGB, and 5.0 (95% CI: 9.0 to 1.0) for SG versus LAGB. Eight RCTs (n=656) reported percentage excess weight-loss (%EWL), the mean differences between RYGB and SG, RYGB and LAGB, and SG and LAGB were 3.8% (95% CI: 8.5% to 13.8%), 22.2% (95% CI: 34.7% to 6.5%), and 26.0% (95% CI: 40.6% to 6.4%), respectively. The meta-analysis indicated low heterogeneity between studies, and the node splitting analysis showed that the studies were consistent between direct and indirect comparisons (P> .05). Conclusion: The RYGB and SG yielded similar in weight-loss effect and both were superior to LAGB. Other factors such as complications and patient preference should be considered during surgical consultations. Abbreviations: %EWL = percentage excess weight loss, ASMBS = American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, BMI = body mass index, CI = confidence interval, GERD = gastroesophageal reflux disease, GLM = generalized linear model, ITT = intentto-treat, LAGB= laparoscopic adjustable gastric band, MeSH=Medical Subject Headings, NHANES=National Health andNutrition Examination Surveys, NNT = number needed to treat, PRISMA = Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalysis, RCT = randomized controlled trial, RYGB = Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, SG = sleeve gastrectomy, US = United States of America.


fied to vote in Sudbury since he lacked a claim to legal residence. The House of Commons convened on 19 August 1841 and Sombre's maiden vote came on 27 August in support of the Whig government of Lord Melbourne. Though Sombre never spoke, he cast six ballots in total. His presence was remarkable in that he was quite clearly 'Indian' and 'black' as well as a Roman Catholic, and, after the election, he enjoyed several parliamentary privileges and 'heightened esteem in society' within Britain and on the Continent. Unfortunately for him, this career, like his marriage, was short-lived. He lost his battle against the Conservative challenge mounted by the losing candidates in Sudbury, with the controversion of his election and his expulsion from the Commons taking place in April 1842. Whilst he was not expelled on grounds of race or ancestry, 'the publicity surrounding his expulsion did highlight these features' (p. 197). His death, accelerated by physical excess and mental strain, took place in London in the summer of 1851. There is dispute about his final resting place: a grave in Kensall Green or a tomb in Sardhana. Contested narratives – oriental or occidental, Indian or British, sane or insane – continued to surround Sombre in death, as they had throughout his 'inordinately strange life'. The book contains a wealth of useful maps, tables and interesting photographs, several in colour. Throughout one is struck by the detailed narrative and the plethora of facts, which can, at times, threaten to overwhelm the reader, especially the general and uninitiated one. However, this is a minor quibble, and I would highly recommend the book to a wide audience.


In this paper, the Doppler frequency shift △ω of a radio wave propagating in a moving, time-varying, inhomogeneous ionosphere is expressed as an integral of the normal velocity V of the equal refractive index (μ) surfaces, the integral being taken over the ray path of the radio wave. Since the velocity F of equal μ surfaces is independent of the movement of the ray path, this expression implies that, the contribution to △ω of the movement of the ray path will be conceled out by that of the refractive index variation on the ray path caused by the movement of the ray path itself. In the case of a stratified ionosphere, this expression reduces to a very simple form. Therefore some propagation problems of the radio wave arising in the study of the acoustic-gravity wave in the ionosphere with the HP Doppler sounder array, such as (1) the dependence of Aco on the working frequency, (2) the effective probing height of the Doppler sounder, (3) the analysis method of the Doppler records with "S" shape, (4) ths interpretation of the appearance of more than one peaks in the spectrum of △ω, etc., turn out to be solvable.


Andrographolide was a major component from Andrographis
paniculata which had a wide potency as a medicine. However,
Andrographolide has limited behavior such as low bioavailability and
instability in acidic or alkaline extreme condition of gastrointestinal tract.
Microparticle with combination of chitosan and alginate as it's matrix had
been studied to overcome these problem. The objective of this research was
studying the effect of alginate concentration on physical characteristics and
encapsulation efficiency of andrographolide-chitosan-alginate
microparticles. The result showed that increasing alginate concentration will
form non spherical particles with a rough surfaces. FTIR spectrum and DTA
thermogram indicated polyelectrolyte complex between chitosan and
alginate, also ionic bond between chitosan and TPP had formed. XRD
diffractogram showed changes of andrographolide crystallinity. The
entrapment efficiency of microparticle was increased at 0,5% alginate
concentration. Further research about alginate concentration and
aerosolization instrument needed for improving microparticle
characteristics.


unimodal richness along the heterogeneity gradient occurred in suitable, suboptimal and stressful environments and a unimodal algae richness occurred in a lake and river. These results challenge the viewpoint that richness increases with heterogeneity, providing information about the conservation of richness in very homogeneous and heterogeneous regions, and highlighting the importance of balancing the roles of environment and space in understanding and predicting richness.


ABSTRACT Glass is one of the materials most extensively used for packaging. Its manufacturing process is typically energy intensive, with a large quantity of CO2 emissions. In this study, the material and energy consumptioninventory of the manufacturing stage were quantified and CO2 emissions from the glass manufacturing process were calculated. When fuel oil, coal or natural gas is used as the major energy source in the production system, it produces CO2 emissions of 1.2798, 0.6250 and 0.4498 t/t, respectively. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion account for 67.79% of the total emissions and a huge potential exists for emission reduction. Due to differences in energy structure, current research results cannot represent the emissions in China; therefore, six scenarios were created to explore the CO2 emission reduction potential of the glass industry with different energy structures, and six scenarios were created to explore the cost from the adjustment of the energy structure. According to the analysis of the glass furnace, the effective heat accounts for 35.31%, so the basic approach for energy saving and emission reduction is to enhance the effective heat quantity of the glass furnace. Also, energy and virgin feedstock savings were calculated for 1 t of glass container production with different recycling levels.


The optimisation of the Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) has recently been proposed for learning ranking functions. However, the estimation of the AUC of a function on the true distribution of the examples based on its empirical value is still an open problem. In this paper, we present a data-dependent generalisation error bound for the AUC. This bound presents the advantage to be tight, but it also allows to draw practical conclusions on learning algorithms which optimise the AUC. In particular, we show that in the case of AUC, kernel function classes have strong generalisation guarantees provided that the weights of the functions are small, suggesting that regularisation procedures which tend to limit the norm of the weight vector may lead to better generalisation performance for algorithms which optimise the AUC.


Teachers committed to practicing critical pedagogy often must do so in spite of the curriculum materials available to them. This paper analyzes the conventions of form and style that typify traditional educational film. The argument is made that while teachers and students are active producers and negotiators of meaning, the aesthetic conventions of most educational films negate this classroom reality. The paper analyzes a sample of films produced between 1940 and 1960 to determine the norms that were set in place during the time when the dominant style of educational films became fully established. It then compares these norms to the forms and styles of two contemporary educational films that deal with social issues. It suggests that while some conventions have changed across time, they continue to be employed in ways that actively work against critical thinking and liberatory education.


Radial basis function (RBF) is gaining popularity in function interpolation as well as in solving partial differential equations thanks to its accuracy and simplicity. Besides, RBF methods have almost a spectral accuracy. Furthermore, the implementation of RBF-based methods is easy and does not depend on the location of the points and dimensionality of the problems. However, the stability and accuracy of RBF methods depend significantly on the shape parameter, which is primarily impacted by the basis function and the node distribution. At a small value of shape parameter, the RBF becomes more accurate, but unstable. Several approaches were followed in the open literature to overcome the instability issue. One of the approaches is optimizing the solver in order to improve the stability of ill-conditioned matrices. Another approach is based on searching for the optimal value of the shape parameter. Alternatively, modified bases are used to overcome instability. In the open literature, radial basis function using QR factorization (RBF-QR), stabilized expansion of Gaussian radial basis function (RBF-GA), rational radial basis function (RBF-RA), and Hermite-based RBFs are among the approaches used to change the basis. In this paper, the Taylor series is used to expand the RBF with respect to the shape parameter. Our analyses showed that the Taylor series alone is not sufficient to resolve the stability issue, especially away from the reference point of the expansion. Consequently, a new approach is proposed based on the partition of unity (PU) of RBF with respect to the shape parameter. The proposed approach is benchmarked. The method ensures that RBF has a weak dependency on the shape parameter, thereby providing a consistent accuracy for interpolation and derivative approximation. Several benchmarks are performed to assess the accuracy of the proposed approach. The novelty of the present approach is in providing a means to achieve a reasonable accuracy for RBF interpolation without the need to pinpoint a specific value for the shape parameter, which is the case for the original RBF interpolation.


In this paper, we present a study of the effects of the influence of the substrate platform on the properties of a three-layer vertical hetero-junction made of thin films of α, ω-diperfluorohexyl-4T (DHF4T), a blend of tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminium (Alq3) and 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM) and α, ω-dihexyl-quaterthiophene (DH4T). The hetero-junction represents the active component of an organic light-emitting transistor (OLET). The substrate platforms investigated in this study are glass/indium-tin-oxide/poly(methyl-methacrylate) (PMMA) and Si++/silicon oxide (SiO2)/PMMA. The first platform is almost completely transparent to light and therefore is very promising for use in OLET applications. The second one has been chosen for comparison as it employs standard microelectronic materials, i.e. Si++/SiO2. We show how different gate materials and structure can affect the relevant field-effect electrical characteristics, such as the charge mobility and threshold voltage. By means of an atomic force microscopy analysis, a systematic study has been made in order to correlate the morphology of the active layers with the electrical properties of the devices.


Summary Due to the pruning and joining of members, multicast groups are dynamic. Both the topology and the total number of links change during multicast sessions, and the multicast performance, measured in terms of the bandwidth consumption, will change accordingly. In this paper, we investigate the dynamic performance of multicast communication with homogeneous packet loss probability; indeed, we evaluate the effects of the pruning of receivers and of subnets, after which we find the optimal placements of repair servers. A new 3-phase algorithm for adapting the optimal repair server placements to the dynamic changes of network topologies is presented and analyzed. 1


The philosophical correspondence of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson descends to us as a public text, one which readers have widely admired for its intellectual depth, epistolary style, and remarkable perspective on friendship. Indeed few readers would object to Ezra Pound's declaration that the letters stand as "a Shrine and a Monument" to the cosmopolitan intellect of the revolutionary age (148). Frequently lost, however, in the compelling image of the two presidents conversing on the summit of a republican Mt. Parnassus is the fact that the letters emerged in a culture which routinely used the correspondents as symbols of partisan conflict and rancor. When Adams wrote Jefferson on January ?, 1812, breaking their eleven-year silence, neither of them could be certain that the friendship would this time survive their political disagreements. The statesmen's public identity and their lingering personal resentments combined to make their reconciliation fragile and tenuous, and their letters repeatedly guard


In this chapter the outcome of the statistical analyses of the relationship between the factors (independent variables) and the test parameters (dependent variables) are presented. The presentation includes three steps for each test, each step referring to a separate table. The tables for step one show the medians and the ranges of the test parameters and the marginal P-values for every factor reaching statistical significance (P I 0.05) or borderline significance (0.05 < P I 0.10) in the bivariate tests. These tables are included to illustrate, in conjunction with the tables of step two, the importance of removing confounding between the factors in order to provide an accurate evaluation of the results. The tables for step rwo show the factors with a statistically significant effect on the test parameters after the elimination of confounding. In this step the number of significant factors was reduced in comparison with the number of factors in step one. The decrease in the number of significant factors was due to inter-dependence between the factors, e.g. the Alcohol Consumption factor lost its effect when the Social Group factor was included in the analysis because the amount of alcohol consumed by a person very much depends on the social status of that person. In step three the factors reaching statistical significance in the second step were analysed further to show the magnitude of the effects of the independent factors on the test parameters. In the tables weight factors are given that illustrate the proportion between the single categories of each significant factor on the test parameters when all confounding is removed. The effect estimates of all the test parameters are comparable to each other because they are given as decimal fractions always proportional to the same standard, or reference, set at 1.00. The reference person was a 60-year-old man with upper secondary education, belonging to the highest social group (I or 11), smoking, indicating no psychic stress (index value = 0), and being examined by male psychologist TJ in December between the hours of 1200 1300. For example, in the first part of the Face Recognition Test, the 30-year-old subjects incorrectly recognized only 62% of the material incorrectly recognized by the 60-year-old subjects (Table 5-3). 5.1 Learning and memory


shows a close genetic relat-edness with its nasopharyngeal counterpart (3).Understanding of the etiopathogenesis of AOM is increasing.Viral and bacterial causation are no longer seen as alternatives.Intercurrent respiratory viral infections may render the middleear susceptible to symptomatic infection with bacteria that nor-mally colonize the nasopharynx. Ruohola et al. suggest that themajorityofacutemiddle-earinfectionsinchildrenareduetobac-terial and viral coinfection (4).More than one bacterial species can simultaneously infect themiddle ear in AOM (1, 4). Multibacterial species biofilm forma-tionmaybeinvolvedinchronicrecurrentotitismediapathogen-esis, perhaps explaining the demonstrated effectiveness of conju-gate pneumococcal vaccines against AOM but not recurrentdisease (5).Conventional


experience that one has control over their actions and the outcomes of these actions1-2. ❖ Intentional binding refers to the perceived temporal attraction between voluntary actions and their outcomes3, and has been used as an implicit measure of the SoA3. ❖ Feeling of control (FoC) judgment is the subjective report of the degree of control felt over actions or outcomes. ❖ Main processes that contribute to the SoA ❖ Matching of the predicted and actual outcomes4 ❖ Prospective processes involved in action selection (e.g., selection fluency, action choice space)5-11 ❖ Retrospective processes (high level judgments on the relationship between actions and outcomes, causal beliefs)12 ❖ Valence or monetary value of outcomes13-15


Multi-agent trajectory prediction is a fundamental problem in autonomous driving. The key challenges in prediction are accurately anticipating the behavior of surrounding agents and understanding the scene context. To address these problems, we propose LatentFormer, a transformer-based model for predicting future vehicle trajectories. The proposed method leverages a novel technique for modeling interactions among dynamic objects in the scene. Contrary to many existing approaches which model cross-agent interactions during the observation time, our method additionally exploits the future states of the agents. This is accomplished using a hierarchical attention mechanism where the evolving states of the agents autoregressively control the contributions of past trajectories and scene encodings in the final prediction. Furthermore, we propose a multi-resolution map encoding scheme that relies on a vision transformer module to effectively capture both local and global scene context to guide the generation of more admissible future trajectories. We evaluate the proposed method on the nuScenes benchmark dataset and show that our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance and improves upon trajectory metrics by up to 40%. We further investigate the contributions of various components of the proposed technique via extensive ablation studies.


Aim:  To determine change in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in preschool children, over a 10‐year period and to identify possible predictors of overweight in 5‐year‐old children.


In this paper, an on-chip 3-D capacitor with multi-layer technology is proposed for RF application in the frequency range of (10-100) GHz. The demand for miniaturization of on chip passive devices, for instance, filter applications in the higher frequency range (RF-VLSI technology), is growing and to meet those requirements the multi-layer technology supports it. The simulation and design of the proposed structure is carried out for retrieving the quality factor and capacitance of 3-D capacitor and planar capacitor thus portraying the comparisons inherent thereof. Thus, a 30% improvement in quality factor and 20% improvement in capacitance is observed for 3-D capacitor over planar capacitor. The miniature chip area with a size of 50×50μm2, renders it for radio frequency applications.


Section I: Environmental Chemistry of Condensed Phases. The Solid-Water Interface in Natural Systems. An Overview of Environmental Colloids. Environmental Chemistry of Trace Metals. Metal-Catalyzed Hydrolysis of Organic Contaminants in Aquatic Environments. The Chemistry and Geochemistry of Natural Organic Matter. Assessing the Dynamic Behavior of Organic Contaminants in Natural Waters. Correlation Analysis of Environmental Reactivity of Organic Substances. Photolysis of Organics in the Environment. Microbiologically Mediated Reactions in Aquatic Systems. Section II: Atmospheric Environmental Chemistry. Oxidant Formation in the Troposphere. The Tropospheric Aerosol and Its Role in Atmospheric Chemistry. Why Carbon Dioxide from Fossil Fuel Burning Won't Go Away. Stratospheric Chemistry-Perspectives in Environmental Chemistry. Laboratory Studies of Heterogeneous Chemistry in the Stratosphere. The Stratospheric Aerosol and Its Impact on Stratospheric Chemistry. Chemical-Transport Models of the Atmosphere. Section III: Applied Environmental Chemistry. Samply Collection and Handling of Environmental Matrices. Trace Metal-Phytoplankton Interactions in Marine Systems. Atmosphere-Water-Rock Interactions As Observed in Alpine Lakes. Passive Bioremediation of Metals and Inorganic Contaminants


Understanding which product attributes influence the most consumer evaluation is central in marketing research. In particular, comprehension of niche market has become of fundamental importance to survive in modern open markets. Functional measurement techniques have been shown to be useful in identifying the cognitive rules underlying the integration of different product attributes. Based on this rationale, an analysis on footwear and shoe market was carried out. Potential buyers of a target product were presented with different profiles created by manipulating design, brand and price, and their preferences were recorded. Functional measurement and cluster analysis techniques were employed to identify patterns in cognitive behavior. The knowledge of the processes underlying consumer evaluation of a product is one of the most important goals of marketing research. The proper characterization of the attributes that most influence consumers choice is fundamental in order to design and supply a product that effectively meets their expectations. This appears to be particularly true in the case of niche markets in which industries and companies are required to target specific market segments, often composed by small groups of consumers with similar attitudes or needs, while maximizing the effectiveness of their strategies. Besides of relationships and reputation, indeed, niche markets require positioning, profitability, distinctive competences, small market segments, and adherence to the market concept (Dalgic & Leeuw, 1994). Furthermore, niche markets are getting more and more important to survive in the modern open market: They have been


Protected areas (PAs) are a key strategy for conserving areas of outstanding biodiversity value and promoting sustainable development. Significant efforts have been made toward establishing PAs over the last few decades across the globe. However, an assessment of PAs in mountain regions, including in the biodiversity rich Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), is lacking. We assessed the status, trend, and distribution of PAs and the ecological representativeness in the PA network. Our analysis showed the HKH has a total of 575 PAs covering 40.17% of the region, accounting for 8.49% of global PA coverage. The HKH hosts 335 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), 348 Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), 12 Global 200 Ecoregions, and 4 Global Biodiversity Hotspots. However, the study showed limited ecological representation in the current PA system as 67% of ecoregions, 39% of hotspots, 69% of KBAs, and 76% of IBAs are still outside of the PA system. About 47% of the PAs are small (<250 sq. km) with no connectivity to other PAs and the majority are distributed in the lower reaches of the HKH. These findings suggest the need to assess and demarcate potential corridors to improve connectivity between PAs and integrate PAs into wider conservation landscapes at national and regional scale beyond country boundaries through regional cooperation. There is also a need to assess and strengthen PA management effectiveness and governance and consider other effective area‐based conservation measures especially in the higher elevations and with a specific focus on ecological representation.


The optimal structure of the Tonpilz transducer was designed. First, the FE model of the transducer was constructed, that included all the details of the transducer which used practical environment. The validity of the FE model was verified through the impedance analysis of the transducer. Second, the resonance frequency, the sound pressure, the bandwidth, and the impulsive shock pressure of the transducer in relation to its structural variables were analyzed. Third, the design method of experiments was employed to reduce the number of analysis cases, and through statistical multiple regression analysis of the results, the functional forms of the transducer performances that could consider the cross-coupled effects of the structural variables were derived. Based on the all results, the optimal geometry of the Tonpilz transducer that had the highest sound pressure level at the desired working environment was determined through the optimization with the SQP-PD method of a target function composed of the transducer performance. Furthermore, for the convenience of a user, the automatic process program making the optimal structure of the acoustic transducer automatically at a given target and a desired working environment was made. The developed method can reflect all the cross-coupled effects of multiple structural variables, and can be extended to the design of general acoustic transducers.


1 yet, there is no technique in which the rotation of the magnets has been turned off in levitation, can be so permanently kept in the air with no connection to earth of the body. 2 In use, a plurality of magnets, the rotation is aligned on a center. It must be considered that one, both vertical as must consider a horizontal rotating one also. 3 The invention is suited for permanent storage of furniture parts in the air on a magnetic basis by levitation. In particular, beds, tables, chairs and coffee parts are commercially viable products.


The transition to permanent-sociality in spiders is thought to have involved the suppression of the dispersal phase characteristic of hypothetical subsocial or periodic-social ancestral species. Extant periodic-social species may provide insights into this transition. The periodic-social Anelosimus jucundus in southern Arizona was found to form mother-offspring and sibling associations that disintegrate prior to the mating season. Following the breakdown of the social phase, more than twice as many females as males became established within a few metres of the natal nest. Given that the predispersal sex ratio was 1:1, a fraction of the males may have dispersed beyond the local area. The short dispersal distances of at least a fraction of individuals of both sexes, the clustering of nests in local areas, and at least two possible cases of sibling mating suggest, however, that dispersal may not eliminate the possibility of close inbreeding in this species. Estimated transition probabilities between life-history stages show that the heaviest loss of individuals occurs during dispersal. Once established, 41% of the females that reached maturity succeeded in producing grown progeny. We discuss the implications of these findings in terms of the transition from periodic to permanent sociality in spiders and of current models that consider the interplay between competition and inbreeding avoidance in the evolution of dispersal.


This paper adopts a two-body model,and transforms it into two one-body problems.Then it uses the model of infinite deep spherical potential well and the model of hydrogen atom to solve the problem.By approximate calculation,the analytical solution to the ground state energy of the exciton in ZnO semiconductor quantum dots is obtained.


While the linear programming concept and the formulation of a specific model have value in themselves, the technique would fall short of its promise without efficient computing procedures. The simplex method has proved to be the most successful approach but it still leaves a wide range for detailed algorithms. At first, the method was applied by hand or with the aid of punched-card equipment. With the advent of internally-stored-program computers, automatic routines were designed. However, the early machines were adequate only for small problems and the original simplex method was not efficient for many LP models. A program of development was started at RAND to provide better computing techniques. Using first the IBM Model II CPC, then the 701 and now the 704, general LP routines of considerable power and flexibility have been developed. Future improvements will probably be possible only from higher level abstractions which take advantage of structure in the model matrix or which produce more efficient forms of the inverse of a sparse matrix.


Metal injection molding POM-based binder and related catalytic debinding technology have been widely applied in the MIM industry. However, the POM-based binder has a high viscosity and poor flow performance. The products are prone to produce wrinkles and cracks, which restrict their application in many materials and fields. Therefore, improving and developing POM based binder system has become the research focus of the system. In this research, hyperbranched polymer was used as a modifier of POM-based binder, and the fluidity, uniformity and thermal properties of the feedstock were analyzed. Meanwhile, the influence of the content of hyperbranched polymer on the green part, brown part and the sintered part was also studied. The results indicated that the fluidity and uniformity of the feedstock are both improved as the content of hyperbranched polymer increases and the hyperbranched polymer can improve the flexural strength and impact strength of the green part. Furthermore, the addition of the hyperbranched polymer can improve the tensile strength and dimensional accuracy of the sintered part.


Abstract
While academia continuously probes and advocates for a definition of a comprehensive, inclusive ideal, diversity, multiculturalism, and equity are bridging ties elements that must be considered. Currently, liberal arts colleges have the unique opportunity to shape equitable environments for all their members and become role models for other higher educational institutions. If there is an institutional commitment, and people are willing to work for a common goal, small colleges can undoubtedly offer the appropriate academic conditions where all faculty, staff, and students can achieve their highest personal and professional potentials.

This chapter discusses the role of chief diversity officer (CDO) on liberal arts campuses and how the CDO should take the lead as equity advocator and conveyor and help set the desired dialogue conditions. Among the topics examined is the institutional inclusion process which includes innovative and supportive new ideas and programs for equity among all members of the academic community. Also the hiring of underrepresented faculty members is crucial and can support the growth of enrollment and retention of diverse groups of students. Diversity and inclusion create common goals, and liberal arts colleges should rapidly move to allow the best hiring practices during the recruitment of new faculty members. Equitable learning conditions for all are as crucial as the creation of faculty evaluation systems that promote equitable opportunities. Liberal arts colleges have a historic opportunity to lead the way and become exemplary role models in practicing diversity and inclusion on campus.


The evidence that the blood-making organs are essentially concerned in the production of antibodies is thoroughly convincing. But, as pointed out by Hektoen,l the asymmetry in the curves of the different antibodies educed in the same animal indicates that the mechanisms of the production of the various antibodies are not identical. It seemed to us that a study of the curves of the different antibodies in animals exposed to X-rays, which exert a destructive action chiefly upon the lymphadenoid tissue, and in animals treated with benzol, which affects chiefly the bone marrow, might throw some light upon the difference in the mechanism of the formation of the various immune bodies. The influence of X-rays has been made the basis of a separate report.2 The results following injections of benzol are here presented. The effects upon resistance to infection and the production of antibodies of other toxic substances which affect the hemopoietic organs less specifically than does benzol have been investigated. But, so far as we are aware, there are no published reports of systematic studies of the production of different antibodies in animals injected with benzol. Madsen and Talquist3 found that pyrogallol and pyrodin given in increasing doses in the third stage of antibody formation caused a rise in the curve of antilysins for vibriolysin and staphylolysin. Malnikowa and Wersilowa4 studied the production of agglutinins for B. typhosus in animals injected with hydroxylamin and phenylhydrazin. These substances caused a destruction of red blood corpuscles which was associated with a rapid fall in the agglutinin titer of the serum. The subsequent regeneration of erythrocytes was not accompanied by a rise in the agglutinin content of the


In this presentation we will discuss the challenges that wavefront aberration variation with wavelength, chromatic aberration variation across individuals, intraocular scattering and light safety pose to adaptive optics ophthalmic imaging. Article not available.


OBJECTIVE
To identify Caltha palustris L. var. membranacea Turcz.

METHODS
Morphological and histological identification.

RESULTS
There are crystals in root and mesophyll from Caltha palustris L. var. membrancea Turcz.. Anomocytic type stomata are visible.

CONCLUSION
Above mentioned characters can be used for the identification of Caltha palustris L. var. membranacea Turcz.


Collection, conservation, organization and providing services with the content of the ancient records, which is the memory of the society; our heritage is the major objective of the archives department of government. In the ancient world there was no difference between archives and library collections. The paper discusses the history of archives in the Earlier Travancore Kingdom from 1887. It provides information on different types of records of knowledge that existed in the region through many centuries, like palm leaf, copper plates, stone tablets, paper, etc. It is pointed out that the of Kerala holds valuable collection on ancient science and technology, and covers subjects like Ayurveda, Siddha, architecture, astronomy, tantra, astrology, Vedanta, Mimamsa, and Nyaya etc. Ninety five percent of the documents in the collection are never published and of these most of them have no duplicate copies anywhere. Hence the paper recommends that technologies used in Library and Information Science field may be applied in archives collections also to copy, conserve, index, catalogue and disseminate the knowledge content of the records in archives.


-Large applications executing on Grid or cluster architectures consisting of hundreds or thousands of computational nodes create problems with respect to reliability. The sources of the problems are node failures and the need for dynamic configuration over extensive runtime. This paper presents two fault-tolerance mechanisms called Theft-Induced Check pointing and Systematic Event Logging. These are transparent protocols capable of overcoming problems associated with both benign faults, i.e., crash faults, and node or subnet volatility. Specifically, the protocols base the state of the execution on a dataflow graph, allowing for efficient recovery in dynamic heterogeneous systems as well as multithreaded applications. By allowing recovery even under different numbers of processors, the approaches are especially suitable for applications with a need for adaptive or reactionary configuration control. The low-cost protocols offer the capability of controlling or bounding the overhead. A formal cost model is presented, followed by an experimental


Analyzing on the problems and those of reasons of giving play to the role of normal college students party members,we obtained the ways of giving play to the role of normal college students party members:firstly,carry out focused and retarded political education,set up the correct world outlook,outlook on life and values according to the different stages of student party members;secondly,strict checks to the developing and transferring of student party,improve the overall quality;thirdly,Strengthen student Party branch construction,Expand the democratic life connotation,carry out subsequent education;forth,Build a platform to Improve the comprehensive quality and social service ability of student party members.


Thermal voltage converter structures have been modeled theoretically and studied experimentally to determine their ac-dc differences in the 0.1-100 megahertz frequency range.


ABSTRACT Little is known about the ways in which older bisexual individuals make meaning out of their sexual identity. This study examined narratives of older bisexual women from a life course perspective to better understand their life experiences and how their bisexual identities developed within historical and discursive contexts. In-depth interviews with bisexual-identified older women (age 60+) were analyzed using a 6-step Foucauldian discourse analysis process. Two groups of women emerged in the data, distinguished by the timing of their first attractions to women and their constructions of bisexuality. The Early Emergers were characterized by their early attractions to women and emphasis on biological constructions, while the Midlife Migrators recognized their attractions to women relatively later and described bisexuality as a social construction. Findings indicate the need for multiple legible narratives of bisexuality and the need to examine historical context and timing of lives as indicators of potential challenges and strengths.


Purpose To investigate the expression of αA- and αB-crystallin and heat shock protein 70 (Hsp 70) during curcumin treatment of selenium-induced cataractogenesis in Wistar rat pups. Methods Group I Wistar rat pups received only saline and served as the control. Group II Wistar rat pups were intraperitoneally injected with selenium (15 µM/kg bodyweight) to induce cataract. Group III Wistar rat pups also underwent selenium-induced cataract but were cotreated with 75 mg/kg body weight of curcumin (single oral dose). Group IV Wistar rat pups with selenium-induced cataract were post-treated with curcumin at the group III dosage 24 h after selenium administration. Group V Wistar rat pups with selenium-induced cataract were pretreated with curcumin at the group III dosage 24 h before selenium administration. Results This study found higher levels of αA- and αB-crystallin and Hsp 70 in lenses injected with selenium alone (group II) than in control lenses (group I). Similar results were observed in the group III and IV lenses. In contrast, in group V, the presence of curcumin 24 h before selenium injection decreased the αA- and αB-crystallin and Hsp 70 levels to almost the same as those found in group I lenses. Conclusions Curcumin suppressed the expression of selenite-induced αA- and αB-crystallin and Hsp 70, and may therefore suppress cataract formation in rat pups.


A kind of design method and hardware realization about the digital decimation filter used for high resolution ΣΔ ADC is introduced.An improved design method which has 10% hardware saving compared to tradition architecture is proposed.With a new structure named series-parallel structure which is used in half-band filter,the last stage of the decimation filter will has 50% hardware saving.In the trade off between area,power consumption and speed,with the methods of CSD(canonic signed digit),CSE(common sub-expression elimination),Poly-phase Decomposition and the new series-parallel structure proposed here,we implemented a low power and area decimation filter.The filter whose area is 0.59mm2 is implemented in 0.18μm CMOS process and has 18% less hardware.


Degree of whiteness is one of the most important aspects of quality in fresh mushrooms. Tests on the effects of chill storage (1°C) on whiteness of mushrooms showed that both time of putting mushrooms into refrigeration after harvest, and time of removal, had an effect on whiteness both at point of removal and during subsequent storage at ambient temperature. In general, the longer the refrigeration time in a given period of days the whiter the mushrooms. The rate of loss of whiteness at ambient temperature was about the same irrespective of whether mushrooms were stored (1°C) for 0 or 11 days. Mushrooms were placed in six whiteness categories with the aid of a Hunter Colour Difference meter (from excellent L > 93, to very poor L < 69). Mushrooms with L values <80 or <69 were considered as unacceptable from a whiteness point of view at wholesale or consumer levels respectively. These categories confer a degree of objectivity to the results in the chill storage tests.


This paper presents a new methodology for discrimination between inrush currents and internal faults for a three-phase power transformer. This algorithm is based on instantaneous inductance. First, this method calculates differential inductance of transformer phases from primary side view of transformer by using voltage and current signals. Then, the algorithm compares differential inductance with a threshold value. If the calculated criterion is over than the threshold, disturbance will be inrush current. Otherwise, if the calculated criterion is lower than the threshold, disturbance will be internal fault. The operating time is less than 5 ms, less than 1/4 rd of power frequency cycle. The scheme uses voltage and current signal; hence it can work reliably in the presence of transformer tap variation, fault resistance and as shown later, the criterion works properly in CT saturation or over-flux condition. Simulation studies with respect to different faults and inrush conditions have been conducted and the results proved that the proposed technique is able to offer fast responses in protection and accurately discriminate between inrush currents and internal faults.


Author(s): Falkenhagen, Katherine M. | Abstract: Members of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family of peptides are powerful modulators of numerous metabolic pathways including mechanisms of insulin secretion and glucose homeostasis. Drugs targeted to modulate the CRF system may be relevant treatments for human metabolic disorders. However, a more integrated understanding of the CRF system is needed before such drugs can be developed. The general aims of this dissertation were to investigate the influence of the CRF family of peptides on energy metabolism with a focus on the most newly discovered members of this family, Urocortin 2 (Ucn 2) and Urocortin 3 (Ucn 3). Ucn 2 inhibits insulin signaling in skeletal muscle and Ucn 3 enhances glucose-induced insulin secretion from the pancreas. We generated a mouse deficient in both peptides to investigate how these urocortins physiologically contribute to energy homeostasis parameters such as body weight and glucose homeostasis. Additionally, we further characterized the role of endogenous Ucn 2 in skeletal muscle by analyzing metabolic properties, such as fiber type composition, mitochondrial density and fatigue of skeletal muscle from Ucn 2 KO mice. Lastly, we sought to determine if Ucn 2 is regulated in skeletal muscle by metabolic status. Our three main findings were that (1) the loss of both Ucn 2 and Ucn 3 in the dKO mouse model contributes abnormal metabolic phenotypes such as increased body weight and higher concentrations of blood lipids, (2) endogenous Ucn 2 is not involved in mitochondrial pathways, but may be involved in muscle fatigue, and (3) Ucn 2 mRNA expression levels in skeletal muscle may be influenced by energy availability status with overnight fasting decreasing Ucn 2 mRNA expression and high fat feeding trending towards an increase of Ucn 2 mRNA expression. Overall, our studies suggest a complex role of Ucn 2 and Ucn 3 in energy metabolism and specifically show that endogenous Ucn 2 may contribute to muscle fatigue with mechanisms that do not involve mitochondrial density or activity. These findings support the continued investigation of CRF system as potential targets for the treatment of metabolic disorders


Three-tier architecture plays an important role in soft development industry. In practical application, developers should design appropriate and scientific middleware to help development based on three-tier architecture in order to achieve good software reusability and reduce development cost. In fact, the presentation layer and the data access layer have some general modules which can be designed to produce middleware. This paper gives an extended practical three-tier architecture model based on middleware.


Optic nerve and retinal gangliion cell (GC) degeneration are possible explanations for the poor visul function reported in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated whether GC loss could be attributed to AD compared with control subjects by measuring the spatial density of GC(vells/mm2) with methods previously used to analyze the GC distribution of young normal retinas. Retinas from 4 autopsy‐confirmed, severely demented partients with AD and 4 age and sex‐matched control subjects (ages, 66‐86 yr for both groups) withould history of dementing or ocular disease were prepared as unstained whold mounts. Therer was no evidence for loss of GC within the central 43 degrees of vision in patients with AD. The densityof GC subserving the central 11 degrees of vision was reduced by one‐fourth in both AD and control eyes compared with retinas from young adults, as was GC density in a wedge of nasal retina. This loss may contribute to deficits in visual function found in aged individuals, whether or not they have dementia.


To capitalize the unique shear-direction-indicating capabilities of liquid crystal coatings, two opposing-view, synchronized, color video cameras need to be deployed: one with an oblique, downstream-facing view of the test surface and the other with an oblique, upstream-facing view. Present understanding dictates that the test surface be planarlike, i.e., no regions of extreme curvature, and that it be uniformly illuminated from above.


Objective: To explore cell apoptosis and NOS, ChAT positive neurons changes in cortex, hippocampus and septal region at different time after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: TBI rat models were made by Feeney's method. Nissl staining, TUNEL and immunohistochemistry of ChAT were employed and NOS positive cells were dyed by NADPH-d histochemistry at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10 days after TBI. Results: The pyramidal neurons in hippocampus CA2 and CA3 region lost or disorganized in Nissl staining slices. TUNEL positive cells reached a peak at the 3rd day after injury in ipsilateral injury cortex. TUNEL positive cells reached maximum level 5 days later in ipsilateral hippocampus. TUNEL positive cells reached a peak 7 days after injury. TUNEL positive cells were not found in contralateral cortex , hippocampus and septal region. iNOS positive cells increased in ipsilateral cortex, hippocampus and septal region. The ChAT positive neurons decreased in the ipsilateral septal region. Conclusions: The changes of the number of apoptotic cells are associated with temporal course of TBI. The increasing of iNOS expression is the reasons for inducing cell apoptosis.


Spectral reflectance of snow under diffuse illumination is studied using the two-stream approximation of the radiative transfer equation. The scattering and absorption parameters of the radiative transfer equation-the single scattering albedo, the optical depth, and the integrated phase function are obtained from the grain size and density of snow. Analytical expressions for the intensity within the snowpack, the reflectance, and the asymptotic flux extinction coefficient, are given. Good agreement is shown between the theory and available experimental data on visible and near-infrared reflectance, and the asymptotic flux extinction coefficient. The theory may also be used to explain the observed effect of aging on the snow reflectance.


After taking high salt diet for long duration of 4 months,the blood pressuremeasured by tail plethysmography of 47 concious rats was 135±2 mmHg.((?)±SEM)In the control group the blood pressure was 102±1 mmHg in 40rats.The difference was highly significant(P0.001).By means of radioimmunoassay,the values of MEK and LEK in the areas ofcirpus striatum and brain stem of the group taking high salt diet were signifi-cantly higher than those of the control group(P0.01).The content of MEK andLEK was also increased in hypothalamus(P0.01 or P0.05).But there was nosignificant difference between the two groups in the thalamus and hippocampus.The concentration of angiotension Ⅱ in the plasma of the high diet groupwas lower than that of the control group(P0.05).


Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology have opened up new markets and new opportunities for progress in critical areas such as health, education, energy, and the environment. In recent years, machines have surpassed humans in the performance of certain specific tasks, such as some aspects of image recognition. Experts forecast that rapid progress in the field of specialized artificial intelligence will continue. Although it is very unlikely that machines will exhibit broadly-applicable intelligence comparable to or exceeding that of humans in the next 20 years, it is to be expected that machines will reach and exceed human performance on more and more tasks. As a contribution toward preparing the United States for a future in which AI plays a growing role, this report surveys the current state of AI, its existing and potential applications, and the questions that are raised for society and public policy by progress in AI. The report also makes recommendations for specific further actions by Federal agencies and other actors.