The present invention relate to a device for plant tissue liquid culture and controlling method thereof. The device comprises an incubator, a lamp box and a nutrient solution storing container. The incubator comprises a workroom, a regulation cabin and a controlling device. The workroom is provided with a liquid culture container, an air supply pipe, a temperature/moisture sensor, a water level sensor and a gas concentration sensor. A liquid feeding total pipeline and a liquid returning total pipeline are arranged between the nutrient solution storing container and the liquid culture container, the liquid feeding total pipeline is provided with a reflux valve and a water pump, the liquid returning total pipeline is provided with an electromagnetic valve, and each sensor is connected with the controlling device. The device described by the present invention uses liquid drive to replace gas drive, thus lowering energy consumption. The contact time of the nutrient and the culture are regulated by opening-closing of the electromagnetic valve. The quality of tissue culture plant is improved and the explant reaches the optimal growth, differentiation and metabolism states through controlling the microenvironment, thereby establishing carbolic sink-source relationship by regulating gas concentration. The integral body is of a box structure and can be produced in a large scale at any place and time.


A begomovirus named GO-ANPL (taxonomically related to the Tomato rugose mosaic virus, ToRMV), obtained from tomato (Lycopesricon esculentum) plants in Anapolis, state of Goias, was used to study virus/vector (Bemisia tabaci biotype B) interaction. The acquisition access period (AAP), the inoculation access period (IAP), and the latent period (LP) were determined by transferring five whiteflies per tomato seedling cv. Santa Clara. The minimum AAP was 15 min resulting in 6% infected plants, which reached 65% as the length of AAP increased to 24 h. At a minimum IAP of 30 min, 18% of plants were infected; this increased to 67% after an IAP of 24 h. The end of the LP in the vector occurred 16 h after virus acquisition. To detect the GO-ANPL in the vector by PCR, more than 2,500 specimens were tested. The virus was found in adults under different AAPs from the 1st to the 4th instar grown on infected plants. No virus was found in the eggs that were laid on infected plants by aviruliferous females. The GO-ANPL isolate was transmitted to the progeny of viruliferous females, since the virus was detected in eggs, all instars and adults. However, no virus transmission was observed from these adults. A high frequency of viral detection was observed in newly emerged adults from immature forms reared on virus-infected plants. These adults infected 33% of tomato plants in virus transmission assays. The results indicate that the interaction between begomovirus and B. tabaci biotipo B starts at early stages of insect development. This is important information for epidemiological studies of begomovirus in this country.


Public procurement of innovation (PPI) is a demand-side innovation policy tool. The use of PPI to foster innovation and regional development is not a trivial task, due to the combination of different goals that may be contradictory. The role of PPI to promote regional development may be more relevant in peripheral regions, due to the institutional thinness and the lack of technological capabilities. The main aim of this paper is to assess the potential role of PPI to contribute to regional development. It analyses the empirical evidence of the use of PPI in the Spanish regions, focusing on the main characteristics of the enterprises. Special attention is given to the healthcare sector, due to its relevance in public procurement. In this sense, the pioneer experience of Galicia (Spain) is illustrative of its use in a peripheral region. The results suggest that the effects on regional development depend on several features, such as the productive structure and the innovation capabilities of the region. The coordination of supply and demand-side policies seems crucial to obtain better results regarding innovation performance and regional development.


To assess the efficacy of intravenous chlorothiazide in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) who were determined to be loop diuretic resistant and refractory to metolazone.


In situ interactions of trivinylethoxysilane (TVES) with oxidized surfaces of silicon and aluminium was investigated at room temperature by high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) and reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). The molecular interaction was held under vacuum environment. The chemical state of the substrate surfaces was characterized before and after the alkoxysilane interaction by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), HREELS or RAIRS. Under vacuum conditions, silica surfaces are chemically inactive to the TVES molecules contrarily to oxidized aluminium surfaces where adsorption is realized successfully. Differences among adsorption mechanisms on both substrates are discussed in light of Bronsted acid properties of the oxide surfaces and of the role of physisorbed water.


For voice and piano. -- Cover title. -- Cover illustration: color drawing of an owl sitting on a crescent moon; green background. -- Back cover advertisements include covers and musical incipits to four songs.


One aim of multimodal learning analytics is to analyze rich natural communication modalities to identify domain expertise and learning rapidly and reliably. In this research, written and multimodal representations are analyzed from the Math Data Corpus, which involves multimodal data (digital pen, speech, images) on collaborating students as they solve math problems. Findings reveal that in 96-97% of cases the correctness of a group's solution was predictable in advance based on students' written work content. In addition, a linear regression revealed that 65% of the variance in individual students' domain expertise rankings could be accounted for based on their written work content. A multimodal content analysis based on both written and spoken input correctly predicted the dominant domain expert in a group 100% of the time, exceeding unimodal prediction rates. Further analysis revealed a reversal between experts and non-experts in the percentage of time that a match versus mismatch was present between their oral and written answer contributions, with non-experts demonstrating higher mismatches. Implications are discussed for developing reliable multimodal learning analytics systems that incorporate digital pen input to automatically track consolidation of domain expertise.


We propose a novel approach to automating soil texture classification from in situ sensors in the field. This approach exploits the features of a soil water retention model using machine learning algorithms. Knowledge of the soil textures is then used to learn the composition of the field and its soil horizons. We discuss the role of soil texture classification within our multi-agent irrigation control system and then conduct a preliminary experiment with soil water retention data from the UNSODA database. The system is evaluated with respect to six classifiers. A maximum classification rate of 85.11% was achieved with a MLP neural network, although performance was relatively consistent across all classifiers.


Background: Observational studies have reported that higher plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels are inversely associated with risks of cardiovascular diseases, but it is unclear if these associations are causal, in Chinese or European adults.

Objectives: We examined the causal association of 25(OH)D with risk of vascular disease and mortality among both Chinese and Europeans.

Methods: We used a Mendelian randomisation (MR) design in the China Kadoorie Biobank, the Copenhagen City Heart Study, and the Copenhagen General Population Study. The 25(OH)D related genetic variants in the DCHR7 gene and in the CYP2R1 gene were genotyped in 99,012 Chinese adults and 106,911 Danish adults.

Results: In Chinese adults, plasma 25(OH)D levels were not significantly associated with cardiovascular disease or cause-specific or all-cause mortality, with the exception of intracerebral haemorrhage, (HR, 1.09 [95% CI, 1.01,1.18] per 25 nmol/L higher plasma 25(OH)D). In Europeans, plasma 25(OH)D levels were inversely associated with all cardiovascular diseases, cause-specific and all-cause mortality. MR analysis did not demonstrate causal associations of genetically increased 25(OH)D levels with incident cardiovascular diseases, and cause-specific mortality in both Chinese and European adults, except for a marginal association for all-cause mortality (HR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.96, 1.00] and cancer mortality (HR, 0.97 [95% CI, 0.94, 1.01] per 25 nmol/L higher plasma 25[OH]D) in European adults. However, each 25 nmol/L higher genetically increased 25(OH)D level was associated with 0.58 mmol/L lower TC and 0.34 mmol/L lower LDL among Chinese adults.

Conclusions: We found no evidence to suggest that genetically increased 25(OH)D was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases in both Chinese and European adults. Higher genetically increased 25(OH)D levels were inversely associated with all-cause and cancer mortality in Europeans, but not in Chinese adults. These results suggest that the inverse associations of vitamin D with vascular diseases are a marker of some other condition, but are not due to vitamin D and could be the result of confounding.

Funding Statement: This work was supported by grants (2016YFC0900500, 2016YFC0900501, 2016YFC0900504) from the National Key R&D Program of China. The CKB baseline survey and the first re-survey were supported by a grant from the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation in Hong Kong. The long-term followup is supported by grants from the UK Wellcome Trust (202922/Z/16/Z, 088158/Z/09/Z, 104085/Z/14/Z), National Natural Science Foundation of China (81390540, 81390544, 81390541), and Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (2011BAI09B01). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, writing of the report, or the decision to submit the article for publication.

Declaration of Interests: "none declared."

Ethics Approval Statement: Ethics approval was obtained from the relevant local, national and international ethics committees.


Bacillus species 707 from the alpha (Bacillus sp.) - variants of amylases, compositions comprising the mutant, and discloses the use of mutants. The method used is surface cleaning, textile washing, blanching, the biofilm to release a variety of substances was hydrolyzed, and the methods of starch processing (e.g., liquefaction and saccharification). .FIELD 1


In order to maximize arachidonic acid methyl ester production,the methyl esterification of microbial oil was optimized with respect to temperature,reaction time,catalyst(concentrated sulfuric acid) dosage and agitation speed using one-factor-a-at-a-time combined with orthogonal array design method.The highest yield of 91.54% was achieved after 8 h of reaction at 80 ℃ and an agitation speed of 400 r/min under the catalysis of 2.0% concentrated sulfuric acid.The obtained product contained 37.75% arachidonic acid methyl ester and its boiling point was lower than before the reaction,facilitating molecular distillation.


The structure of the target radiation shape could be obtained by the analysis of practical target radiation characteristics,and the temperature distribution could also be obtained.Not only the shape of the infrared surface target need to be simulated,but also the temperature distribution of the target.The surface target simulator was designed with the control of temperature distribution.The simulation of infrared radiation characteristics was implemented by temperature control system with simulating radiation characteristics,and the function of temperature control and measurement was implemented too.The infrared surface target simulator satisfied the technical requirements of outfield target simulator,and its achievement filled up the blanks in special supporting equipments.The corresponding problem in infield research and outfield application was resolved.


This release covers the period between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 and contains data on notifiable incidents involving children aged under 18 years. Notifiable incidents are those that involve death or serious harm to a child where abuse or neglect is known or suspected, and also deaths of children in care and children in regulated settings. The analysis is based on information provided to Ofsted by local authorities at the time of notification and in any further updates received from local authorities and Local Safeguarding Children Boards. The data is experimental, because the statistics do not yet meet the rigorous quality standards of National Statistics.


We demonstrate a high‐power AlGaAs single quantum well graded‐index separate confinement heterojunction laser grown by molecular epitaxy over channeled substrates. Fundamental mode operation up to 130 mW for reflection modified devices has been achieved at a high differential quantum front‐facet efficiency of 81%. This device structure allows extremely low threshold currents to 6 mA for power lasers due to the incorporation of lateral current blocking pn junction by crystallographic plane‐dependent doping of amphoteric dopants. We obtained a very high‐power continuous‐wave fundamental mode operation of this type of laser at extremely low threshold currents and very high overall efficiency of more than 50%. This laser shows considerable potential for applications in optical storage and printer technology.


Increased risk for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) among women of childbearing age, combined with data from observational studies, has raised concerns about exacerbations of SLE during estrogen administration. However, menopausal symptoms, as well as osteoporosis risk, may warrant hormone therapy in some women. In this NIH-funded, double-blind study, investigators randomized 351 menopausal women with SLE to receive HT (0.625 mg conjugated estrogen …


Study was conducted to formulate the paddy straw based complete feed blocks containing kinnow-mandarin waste (KMW) in a manual densification machine and to evaluate its effect on the nutrient intake and digestibility of goats. Block was formulated utilizing paddy straw, KMW, wheat flour, molasses, wheat bran, urea, mineral mixture, common salt and water. Bulk density of prepared blocks was 0.21 g/cm3 whereas durability was 17.36%. An in vivo feeding trial was conducted for 30 days duration along with a digestibility trial during last week of feeding trial. Twelve local adult male goats were randomly allotted as per randomized block design to two equal groups designated Control and Treatment. All the animals were kept on complete feed feeding regimen with either conventional concentrate mixture with paddy straw in 40:60 proportion or KMW-Paddy straw based feed block on ad libitum basis. Feed intake and nutrient digestibility was similar (P>0.05) in experimental animals, irrespective of the dietary treatment. The cost of feed for treatment group was about 12 per cent lower over the cost of conventional complete feed. It may be concluded that KMW may be utilized as a part of paddy straw based complete feed without affecting nutrient intake and digestibility. However, the binding and durability of blocks achieved in the present study was not satisfactory and this formulation therefore is not recommended to be densified in a manual block making machine.


The article considered a problem of improve a spiritual's maturity of student's youth, learning of cultural traditions a university education in maintenance of quality of improve of the future experts is proved. The special accent is made on consideration of innovations in formation a spiritual's maturity of students, an innovation in improve of a spiritual maturity at modern university.


Despite increased use of lights, gates, and other active warning devices, crashes still happen at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings (HRGCs). To improve safety at HRGCs, we designed an in-vehicle auditory alert (IVAA) and conducted a multi-site driving simulator study to evaluate the effect of the IVAA on driving behavior at HRGCs. The video shows results of the collaboration between Virginia Tech, Michigan Tech, and the Volpe National Transportation Center recruited a total of N = 72 younger drivers. Driver simulator testing showed that the IVAA improved driving behavior near HRGCs, improving gaze behavior at HRGCs. Drivers looked both ways at crossings more often when the IVAA was present. We expect to run additional tests to further improve the IVAA. Our study can contribute to research efforts targeting driving safety at HRGCs.


The progress of human beings,advancement of civilization and comprehensive strength of different countries depend chiefly on not only science and technology but also talented personnel,in which innovation plays a cardinal role.The improvement of innovative competence in education is the cornerstone of deepening educational reform,promoting quality education in an all-round way and cultivating highly qualified talents.Since cultivation of innovative ability is of great importance,efforts should be made to increase teachers' innovative awareness,enhance their innovative ability and promote the development of education.


This paper summarizes the results of a study of fluctuations in fall and winter populations of black ducks (Anas rubripes) and mallard ducks (A. platyrhynchos) in central Ohio. The primary objectives were to estimate the duration of stopover of individual birds, and to determine if there was any correlation between local weather conditions and the departure of birds from the study area. Duration of stopover was estimated by trapping and color marking birds; the marked individuals were censused daily until all had departed from the study area. The total population was also censused daily, and weather conditions for those periods when the population decreased in size were examined for any weather factor or factors that might be consistently associated with departures. This paper is a contribution from the Ohio Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit and the Ohio State University Ornithology Laboratory: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ohio Division of Wildlife, Wildlife Management Institute, and The Ohio State University cooperating. I am grateful to Eugene H. Dustman and Loren S. Putnam for advice and encouragement throughout the course of the study. Information on the freezeup of the Lake Erie marshes was provided by Robert Donohoe.


One of the criteria for exercise intensity in sport science is heart rate. Reduced heart rate in exercise indicates heart's ability to work more effectively. 12 high class flat-water kayakers (Latvian national team members) took part in this study. The main aims of the study were to evaluate the improvements of the heart regeneration rate and the functional condition of the athletes over the time period of 4 years - where all participant repeated a maximum oxygen consumption test on rowing ergometer 43 times (2-6 times per athlete). Heart rate recovery drop was obtained in the first 4 minutes after the maximum oxygen consumption test. For reflection on functional condition, speed on kayak ergometer at lactate concentration in blood values of 1 mmol/l and 3 mmol/l was measured (low-intensity load and submaximal intensity load). Speed on kayak ergometer at a blood lactate value 3 mmol/l show an average increase of 0.96 km/h (By Student's t – test for related samples and Wilcoxon's criteria). For heart rate regeneration Wilcoxon's criterion shows an average increase of 0.46%.


Recycling has been recognized as one of the effective solution tools against environmental problems. In this respect, manufacturing systems should take recycling into consideration. We discussed issues contained in recycle-oriented manufacturing systems, and the basic parts flow in the life cycle of the product was clarified by taking account of reuse and reproduction activities for the parts in consideration. An optimization model was constructed in order to maximize the total profit as well as the recycling rate. This problem was analyzed using a goal programming method with multiple objectives. Finally, a numerical example was demonstrated to show the effectiveness of the model proposed.


Child abuse and neglect is a global problem which needs attention from every corner of the world. This chapter aims to investigate the definitions, types and causes of child neglect and abuse, as well as their impacts on children, risk and protective factors associated with child abuse and neglect, and child abuse neglect prevention and intervention. This chapter will provide an insight into problems faced by child abuse and neglect victims in particular because they are extremely vulnerable and incapable of defending themselves. This will in turn provide a base for school counsellors to have introspection on the existing frame of strategies/policies with this sensitive section of the population. It may provide baseline for designing new strategies in accordance with the needs of the victims of child abuse. Further it will be a unique way to address this complex social problem.


VIP stimulates the growth of human pancreatic and colon carcinoma cells which express VIP receptors, but does not stimulate growth in cell lines which do not express VIP receptors. This growth-promoting effect may be diminished by a specific VIP receptor antagonist, 4-C1-D-Phe6, Leu 17 -VIP. While tumor cells were cultured in serum-free media, VIP was secreted into the media. VIP antiserum added to culture medium inhibits cell growth significantly, suggestive of an autocrine-regulatoiy role of VIP in tumor cell growth. The post-receptor intracellular mechanisms of VIPinduced tumor cell growth might involve an increase in cAMP and polyamine production in these cells


Method: This study reports upon 216 patients (97 Minimally invasive and 119 Standard) enrolled into a randomised control trial comparing a standard posterior approach to the hip with a single incision minimally invasive surgery (MIS) posterior approach at 6 weeks and 1 year post-operatively. Primary outcome measures included operative time, blood loss, length of stay and functional hip scores. Results: The demographics and pre-operative hip scores for both cohorts were statistically similar. Intra-operative blood loss was significantly reduced in the MIS cohort (p= Both groups had statistically improved post-operative hip scores, however, at the 1 year follow-up the MIS group were significantly better in terms of WOMAC, Harris Hip, Merle d'Aubigne and SF-12 scores when compared with a standard posterior approach. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that MIS THA is a safe, reproducible technique in a DGH. We recommend the use of MIS techniques in primary THA and adhere to the principle that an incision need be no longer than necessary to perform the procedure safely.


"My local librarian tells me that he has not a copy of the book I want and that he cannot buy me a copy. How am I to obtain one, and what business has the local library— for which I pay rates—to fail me?"


A polarization scheme similar in princlple to the Overhauser effect is proposed which does not require an external radio-freqency field in order to saturate the electron spin. It is based on the difference between the eloctron spin temperature and the temperature corresponding to the mean kinetic energy of the electons accelerated in a d-c electric field. A preliminary experiment on electrons in silicon demonstrates the existence of a large temperature difference. (W.D.M)


This article examines the photographic self-representation of the Siberian Skoptsy in late Imperial Russia and explores the ways they used the new media to realise their social aspirations. The studio portraits of the Skoptsy from the Bonch-Bruevich collection of the State Museum of the History of Religion (GMIR) in St Petersburg were characterized by the historical research as contemporary 'ethnographic images'. The analysis of the images and of the inscriptions on the rear of the images, indicates, however, that those images were at first produced as 'bourgeois portraits'. Further that it was only later, that those images were collected by an intellectual Skopets as research material for Bonch-Bruevich. The Skoptsy, however, in producing those images, viewed themselves as within their own spiritual tradition and within the setting of the new style of bourgeois studio portrait composing their self beyond ethnographic or social exoticism.


In a probabilistic formulation, the solution to an inverse problem can be expressed an a posteriori probability density function (pdf) that combines the independent states of information provided by data and a priori information. Here, we define an a posteriori probability density function that defines the solution to a tomographic full waveform inverse problem, which provides a means of obtaining an uncertainty estimate. Unfortunately, no explicit formulation of the solution to this problem can be defined. Therefore, the a posteriori probability density function has to be sampled. The full waveform inverse problem is known to be computationally very hard and is, traditionally, considered out of reach for Monte Carlo sampling strategies. We show that by means of informative a priori information this problem become tractable for a sampling strategy anyways. We outline the theoretical framework for a full waveform inversion strategy that integrates the extended Metropolis algorithm with sequential Gibbs sampling, which allows for arbitrary complex a priori information to be incorporated. At the same time we show how temporally correlated data uncertainties can be taken into account during the inversion. The suggested inversion strategy is tested on synthetic tomographic crosshole ground penetrating radar full waveform data using multiplepoint based a priori information. This is, to our knowledge, the first example of obtaining a posteriori realizations of a full waveform inverse problem.


This paper studies the motherhood wage penalty, a wage gap that favors women who are not mothers to working mothers, using a Russian longitudinal data set spanning the years 1994-2012. Whether women experience a wage penalty when their household has children in it, regardless of individual motherhood status, is also studied. Fixed Effects, Heckman Selection, and a quantile analysis approach to the Oaxaca Blinder decomposition are used to study the two groups. The findings support the prevalence of a wage penalty against mothers, but are not as clear regarding a wage penalty faced by women with children in their households. Introduction Wage discrepancies favoring childless women over women with children are globally observed phenomena, met by a growing body of literature measuring the extent and persistence of these wage gaps, and discussing the political, social, and institutional conditions supporting the difference in wages. This paper will focus on the wage gap between women with children and those without children, often called the motherhood wage penalty, as it applies to women of different earning quantiles in the Russian Federation. Classic economic theories behind the motherhood wage penalty postulate that a woman's human capital depreciates when she leaves the formal job sector in favor of child rearing (Mincer 1958). As well as experiencing skill depreciation while out of the workforce, she forgoes work experience and loses tenure. These may be especially influential factors in wage determination in a country like Russia, with generous maternity leave benefits allowing women to stay out of the labor


The invention relates to a resin compound for crazy horse leather, comprising urethane resin, dimethylformamide, stress color-changing wax powder, acetone and viscose fluff powder, wherein, the stress color-changing wax powder is hydroxide radical organic silicon. Compared with the prior level, the resin compound has better fluff scattering effect; therefore, after the made synthetic leather is kneaded, the fluff on the leather surface can grow, the fluff feeling is good and the fluff surface effect is good; after the leather surface is jacked up, the real leather feeling is great.


The authors discuss methods of determining sample size and duration of testing for assessing reliability of manufactured goods. Computer simulation is the recommended method. Parameters for the simulation are discussed in depth. Disciplines Design of Experiments and Sample Surveys | Statistical Methodology Comments This article is published as Meeker, W.Q., Hahn, G.J., and Doganaksoy, N., (2005), Planning Reliability Assessment. Quality Progress 38, June, 90–93. Posted with permission. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/stat_las_pubs/336


The similar structure of solution for the boundary value problem of second order linear homogeneous differential equation has been studied. Based on the analysis of the relationship between similar structure of solution, its kernel function, the equation and boundary conditions, similar constructive method (shortened as SCM) of solution is obtained. According to the SCM, the similar structure of solution and its kernel function are constructed for the mathematical model of homogeneous reservoir which considers the influence of bottom-hole storage and skin effect under the infinite outer boundary condition. The SCM is a new and innovative way to solve boundary value problem of differential equation and seepage flow theory, which is especially used in Petroleum Engineering.


People in all cultures entertain beliefs in supernatural agents and engage in ritual behaviors that are related to those beliefs. This suggests that religion is a product of a shared evolutionary history. Currently researchers employ three major evolutionary frameworks to study religion—evolutionary psychology, behavioral ecology, and dualinheritance theory—each with different assumptions, methods, and areas of focus. This chapter surveys these approaches and describes the major sources of disagreement between them. Two of the largest sources of disagreement among evolutionary scholars of religion are: (1) whether or not religion is a cognitive byproduct, or a manifestation of adaptive behavioral plasticity, and (2) whether or not individual or group-level selection processes are a more potent evolutionary force in shaping the significant features religion. The authors suggest that integrative frameworks that incorporate aspects of all these perspectives offer the best potential for real progress.


Resistance is the ability of a bacteria against the antogonizing effect of an antibacterial agent upon reproduction prevention or bactericidal. The development of resistance to antibiotics in bacteria often develop as a result of unnecessary and inappropriate use of antibiotics. Through the intense use of antibiotics, resistant microorganisms have emerged over the years, and problems were started to be experienced for the treatrment of these infections emerged with these resistant microorganisms. Today, on the one hand trying to develop new drugs, on the other hand, there are difficulties in treatment as a result of development of resistance to these drugs rapidly. The development of resistance to antibiotics is a major public health problem in all over the world (1-3). The main four types of resistance to antibiotics develops; 1. Natural (Intrensic) resistance 2. Acquired resistance 3. Cross-resistance 4. Multi-drug resistance and pan-resistance 1. Natural (Intrensic, Structural) resistance: This kind of resistance is caused by the structural characteristics of bacteria and it is not associated with the use of antibiotics. It has no hereditary property. It develops as result of the natural resistance, or the microorganisms not including the structure of the target antibiotic, or antibiotics not reaching to its target due to its characteristics. For example, Gramnegative bacteria vancomycin does not pass in the outer membrane so Gram-negative bacteria is naturally resistant to vancomycin. Similarly, L-form shape of bacteria which are wall-less forms of the bacteria, and the bacteria such as cell wall-less cell Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma are naturally resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics that inhibit the cell wall synthesis (1,4-6). 2. Acquired resistance: As result of the changes in the genetic characteristics of bacteria, an acquired resistance occurs due to its not being affected from the antibiotics it has been responsive before. This kind of resistance occurs due to mainly structures of chromosome or extrachromosomal (plasmid, transposon, etc.). a. Chromosomal resistance arise from mutations in developing in spontaneous bacterial chromosome (spontaneous). Such mutations may occur according to some physical (ultraviolet, etc.) and chemical factors. This can be a result of structural changes in bacterial cells. The result may be reduced permeability of bacterial drug or changes of the target of the drug may be in the cell. Streptomycin, aminoglycosides, erythromycin, lincomycin can develop resistance against these types. *From Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. ANTIBIOTICS AND THE MECHANISMS OF RESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTICS


Crystallization of the active pharmaceutical ingredient Entacapone, which exhibits strong polymorphic behavior in aqueous/acetone solutions, is examined with and without the presence of a self-assembled molecular layer of Entacapone (SALE) on an Au (100) surface. SALE characterization by electrochemical and spectroscopic tools confirms the existence of a well-ordered layer structure. These surfaces are found to act as nucleation catalysts providing polymorph-specific templates which enable secondary nucleation through provision of oriented adsorption and molecular recognition at the SALE/solution interface. In particular, crystallization of the stable prismatic polymorphic form A is observed from aqueous/acetone solutions in the presence of an SALE compared to needle-shaped crystals of the metastable form D which usually form. The quiescent crystallization of Entacapone from the same aqueous/acetone solutions in the presence of an Au (100) surface produces an assembly of single crystals form A epitaxially...


As a typical phenomenon of economic organization, industrial cluster constantly presents variety of features in the development process. Now, the research about industrial cluster development and maturity are abundant, but the recession is opposite lack. Seriously study the industrial cluster recession not only helps to enhance the cluster ability to withstand risks and improve the competitive advantage of the cluster, but also help to promote sustainable development of the cluster to achieve optimization and upgrading of clusters.


This study fabricated high-quality tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium (Alq3) submicro-wires as well as a Schottky diode with a single Alq3 submicro-wire across Ag electrodes. Rectifying and negative differential resistance (NDR) of the fabricated diode was obtained and the turn-on voltage and breakdown voltage was 4 V and 12 V, respectively. The NDR of the diode was observed when the forward bias exceeded 4 V and the peak-to-valley ratio in the current was more than 6 : 1 at room temperature. The mechanism of NDR in the Schottky diode was discussed. These results may facilitate applying Alq3 submicro-wires for advanced organic/inorganic hybrid nanostructure devices.


A set of 23 observations of coronal jet events that occurred in coronal bright points has been analyzed. The focus was on the temporal evolution of the mean brightness before and during coronal jet events. In the absolute majority of the cases either single or recurrent coronal jets (CJs) were preceded by slight precursor disturbances observed in the mean intensity curves. The key conclusion is that we were able to detect quasi-periodical oscillations with characteristic periods from sub-minute up to 3–4 minute values in the bright point brightness that precedes the jets. Our basic claim is that along with the conventionally accepted scenario of bright-point evolution through new magnetic flux emergence and its reconnection with the initial structure of the bright point and the coronal hole, certain magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) oscillatory and wavelike motions can be excited and these can take an important place in the observed dynamics. These quasi-oscillatory phenomena might play the role of links between different epochs of the coronal jet ignition and evolution. They can be an indication of the MHD wave excitation processes due to the system entropy variations, density variations, or shear flows. It is very likely a sharp outflow velocity transverse gradients at the edges between the open and closed field line regions. We suppose that magnetic reconnections can be the source of MHD waves due to impulsive generation or rapid temperature variations, and shear flow driven nonmodel MHD wave evolution (self-heating and/or overreflection mechanisms).


On 22 November 2017, the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) in London, which is part of the Business and Property Court of the High Court of Justice, considered in Martin & Anor v Kogan & Ors the nature and extent of the defendant's contribution to the writing of a screenplay, and whether that contribution was sufficient to give rise to joint authorship in a copyright work within the meaning of section 10(1) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.


This thesis explores the nature of Inuit occupations in southern Labrador, and their contacts with Europeans during the 17th century, based upon excavations from Snack Cove 1 and Snack Cove 3. Due to a paucity of archaeological investigations of the Inuit in southern Labrador, there is little known about how the Inuit lived in this area, and the form of their interactions with Europeans during the early Contact Period. Data from Snack Cove has been analyzed and compiled with ethnohistoric data to address the objectives of this research, and to situate the occupations at Snack Cove within the long term culture history of the Inuit in Labrador. The results of this research have shown that the Inuit occupations in southern Labrador during the 17th century were much the same as those in northern Labrador, with the exception that they are a part of the southernmost frontier of Inuit expansion. Further, the results of this analysis show that the nature of Inuit contact with Europeans was such that a large quantity of European materials flowed into Inuit exchange networks, but that the flow of European ideas, information and beliefs was less frequent during the early Contact Period. Through this research, it has been possible to portray the central role of the Inuit, and their decision making in the unfolding of events during the Contact Period.


This is an excerpt from the fifth chapter of Shady Cosgrove's The Golden Courtesan. Set in the 18305, the novel responds to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre in a Rhysian tradition by exploring the life of Edward Rochester's mistress, Celine Viarens. Celine was an opera dancer/courtesan and mother to Adele Vor ens (the child who inspired Jane's arrival at Thornfield). A few nights later, around eleven, I heard Rochester arrive. I was closing my window against the chill when his horse pulled up. he had been to dinner. I had been invited, but declined because of rehearsals. I was excited by how the opera was progressing. That afternoon, we had been trying on costumes and altering them to fit. I loved watching the way my complexion changed entirely depending on the hue I wore. Taking up hems and bringing in waistlines, I felt my shoulders relax; my heart wasn't so anxious. In my boudoir, I was distracting myself with fantasies about the upcoming opening night - audience responses, critics' reviews - when I heard Rochester's voice downstairs, loud and angry. Unpleasant English words echoed up the stairs. Generally he was not a heavy drinker, but it sounded as if he had too much rum with his dinner. Sarah told him to wait and she would fetch me, but he wouldn't be stopped. I heard heavy footsteps approaching and with one sharp movement, my heavy door was thrown open, its momentum alarming. His face was twisted and uneven. It almost seemed his eyes and mouth had been stretched further apart than normal. His nostrils were large, reminding me of an uncontrolled dog. 'I am going to London,' he said. In my head were images from the stage, the costumes. I was thinking of box offices and tickets. His speech slurred and he steadied himself against the bedpost. I made to approach him, but he beat his hand in the air to ward me off. 'What are you talking about?' I spoke English. I enunciated carefully. 'What are you talking about?' he mocked my French intonations and snickered. 'What is the cause of this?' I wondered if he was he upset I hadn't accompanied him to dinner. he seemed jovial upon leaving though, unconcerned about my previous commitments. 'Mistress. Mistrust. The words are not so far apart from each other, are they?' I stared at him. You wouldn't miss me, would you? Though you might miss this lovely apartment, true? Your earrings? Your dresses?' He gingerly touched a gown hanging in my open wardrobe. You would miss this too, wouldn't you?' he said, staggering over to the vanity and picking up my hand mirror. It seemed small in his hand as if belonging to a doll. I steadied my voice. You are making no sense, Rochester. What is this about?' He snarled with the anger of an animal. I tried again, my voice expressing a calm I did not feel. 'Perhaps you should go to your hotel. We'll continue this discussion in the morning. You'll wake the entire house,' I said. His arms tightened, but he didn't move, the mirror rigid in his fist. Rochester's body seemed to expand slightly each time his pulse jerked within his chest. he stood watching me. 'Do you enjoy your friend, Bourdelais?' 'What -' 'I may well have surprised you tonight. Perhaps I arrived and you were out. I let myself into your room. I waited on the balcony, surprised to see him on your arm when you returned. You didn't know I was here, listening in on your chatter. You spoke dismissively of me before...' He addressed the room as if it bore witness to events he detailed. The candles in the chandelier flickered overhead and he seemed to take this as evidence to support his case. 'What are you talking about? There is nothing between Bourdelais and myself,' I said to the dimming room. His jaw relaxed, but his face looked heavy, tired. 'Rochester...' He slowly raised his hand, the mirror over his head. …


It is becoming more and more serious that large numbers of arable land is occupied by construction,and arable land conservation is facing gigantic challenges in Jiangsu Province.In this paper,the authors probe into the intrinsic dynamical mechanism that arable land is converted to construction land use as viewed from equilibrium,institution approaches and nonlinear dynamics,then come into the two conclusions:1) Different marginal output is the direct dynamics of arable land's conversion to construction land use.2) Lower transaction cost and abundant capital provide good environment for land use change.At present,some institutions and policies reduce the transaction cost,meanwhile,foreign direct investment and rapid economic development remove the restriction of capitals,which make good preparations for the arable land's conversion to construction land use.Additionally,it is argued that the change of technology and external environment,population increase,social factors and ideology can cause the shift of the demand curves.At last,four suggestions are advanced:1) treating the decrease of arable land as one of the social problems;2) changing the way of confiscating arable land;3) choosing the arable land conservation as one of the checking indices of the political achievement; 4) enhancing the output of agriculture.


Comparative studies of the dry matter production of P h ra gm it e s australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steudel were carried out in the reed belt near Purbach (on the western shore of lake Neusiedlersee) during the vegetation periods of 1981 and 1982. The reed belt can be subdivided into three major production zones, with the landward marginal zone of S c irp o -P h ra gm it e tum u tr icu la r ie t o sum being the most productive. At the peak of the aboveground biomass (late Ju ly/early August) 1.2-1.5 kg.nr2 of stem and leaf dry mass are formed. In contrast, P h ra gm it e s from the central part of the reed belt achieves on an average only 75 % of this amount. In the long run an appreciable increase in dry matter production will be possible only in the lakeward marginal zone of the reed belt. On the basis of the results, the importance of the common reed for the reed-belt ecosystem is discussed and emphasized.


The jail cell conversion from "sinner" to true believer may be one of the best examples of a "second chance" in modern life, yet the process receives far more attention from the popular media than from social science research. In this article, we explore prisoner conversions from the perspective of narrative psychology. Drawing on 75 original, life story interviews with prisoner "converts," we argue that the conversion narrative "works" as a shame management and coping strategy in the following ways. The narrative creates a new social identity to replace the label of prisoner or criminal, imbues the experience of imprisonment with purpose and meaning, empowers the largely powerless prisoner by turning him into an agent of God, provides the prisoner with a language and framework for forgiveness, and allows a sense of control over an unknown future.


An economic order quantity (EOQ) inventory model for deteriorating goods is developed under inflation in a stock dependent consumption market with finite replenishment rate and with permitting shortages. The effects of inflation and time value of money are incorporated into the model. It is assumed that the goods in the inventory are deteriorating over time at a constant rate. The inventory policy is discussed over a finite time-horizon with several reorder points. The results are discussed with a numerical example and a sensitivity analysis of the optimal solution with respect to the parameters of the system is carried out. backordering, time-value of money.


To assess the safety, tolerability, and pharmacology of LY3023703, a microsomal prostaglandin E synthase 1 (mPGES1) inhibitor, a multiple ascending dose study was conducted. Forty‐eight subjects received LY3023703, celecoxib (400 mg), or placebo once daily for 28 days. Compared with placebo, LY3023703 inhibited ex vivo lipopolysaccharide‐stimulated prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) synthesis 91% and 97% on days 1 and 28, respectively, after 30‐mg dosing, comparable to celecoxib's effect (82% inhibition compared to placebo). Unlike celecoxib, which also inhibited prostacyclin synthesis by 44%, LY3023703 demonstrated a maximal increase in prostacyclin synthesis of 115%. Transient elevations of serum aminotransferase were observed in one subject after 30‐mg LY3023703 dosing (10× upper limit of normal (ULN)), and one subject after 15‐mg dosing (about 1.5× ULN). Results from this study suggest that mPGES1 inhibits inducible PGE synthesis without suppressing prostacyclin generation and presents a novel target for inflammatory pain.


Phosphatic clay is a waste product from the Florida phosphate mining industry presently totaling 41 000 ha. These clays contain no phytotoxic materials, are high in most plant nutrients, and ²²⁶Ra and average about 460 g moisture per kilogram. A split-plot field experiment was conducted to study forage and grain yield, forage quality, plant nutrient concentrations, changes in soil nutrients, and ²²⁶Ra contents of four grain crops in various rotations. The crop rotations (i) corn (Zea mays L. 'Jacques 247')-sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. 'Cargill 205'), (ii) sunflower-grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench 'Northrup King Savanna 5'), (iii) soybean (Glycine max L. Merr. 'Williams 80')-grain sorghum, and (iv) grain sorghum-soybean 'University of Florida V-1') were grown on a dry phosphatic clay with and without a 50-mm surface layer of quartzsand tailings. Nitrogen was the only fertilizer element applied. Results show that corn and grain sorghum produced highest (P < 0.05) forage yields (15.7 and 13.4 Mg ha–¹) and highest grain yields (8955 and 4302 kg ha–¹) per harvest, respectively. Soybean harvested for forage (Crop 1) contained the highest crude protein (217 g kg–¹) and in vitro organic matter digestibility (736 g kg–¹). Concentrations of P, K, Ca, Mg, and Fe in most of the forages were adequate for the diets of beef cattle (Bos taunts), while those of Mn, Cu, and Zn were low. Mehlich I-extractable soil P (1601 mg kg–¹), Ca (4696 mg kg–¹), and Mg (1173 mg kg–¹) were considered very high and changed little over the 4-yr production period. Application of 50 mm of sand tailings tended to increase (P < 0.05) Mehlich I-extractable P, Ca, Mn, Cu, Zn, and Fe. Radium-226 concentration in the forage of all grain crops averaged 8.5 Bq kg–¹, which was about 17 times higher than that in the grain (0.4958 Bq kg–¹) of the same crops. Concentrations of ²²⁶Ra in the forage (8.288 Bq kg–¹) and grain (0.6771 Bq kg–¹) were 1.1% and 0.09% of the concentration in clay (761 Bq kg–¹) respectively. These data indicate that phosphatic clays can be a valuable resource for the production of corn and sorghum grain that contain low concentrations of ²²⁶Ra. Contribution from the Univ. of Florida, Inst. Food and Agric. Sci. Florida Agric. Exp. Stn. Journal Series no. R-00847.


5.835,299 A 11/1998 Lee et al. ..................... 360/76 * cited by examiner Primary Examiner Andrew L. Sniezek (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-David M. Sigmond; Steven G. Roeder; James P. Broder (57) ABSTRACT A method for improving disk drive performance by adap tively calculating skew values for each drive. During a production phase of the disk drive manufacturing process, skew values are calculated using measured Seek times, then implemented to each drive. The calculation Scheme permits Slipped revolutions to occur during a percentage of the time So that Skew values are not So high as to hinder high performance.


Research Institute of Advanced Materials Gas-Generator (AMG), a joint effort by the Japan Key Technology Center and 14 companies in Japan, has, since 1993, been conducting technological studies on an innovative gas generator that will use 20% less fuel, weigh 50% less, and emit 70% less NOx than the conventional gas generator through the use of advanced materials[1].In the course of R&D, the feasibility of applying a gradient composite material with ceramic matrix composite (CMC) and glass matrix composite (GMC), which is expected to reduce the thermal stress of actual parts with temperature distribution, was evaluated based on its mechanical and thermal properties, productivity and stress analysis for an actual part as a combustor liner with 500 mm diameter, and non-cooled combustion tests for the liner outlet temperature of 1873 K.Through our studies we have confirmed the applicability of the selected CMC/GMC hybrid composite as a combustor liner.© 2001 ASME


With a focus on digitized sources, this guide acquaints researchers with some of the resources available to the Yale Community for all time periods of British History.


After what I now remember as my last substantive conversation with Alan Dundes, I left Kroeber Hall on the Berkeley campus with an assignment in hand: to report back on the Louisiana chapter of Lafcadio Hearn's life. Hearn (1850-1904) was an eccentric Greekborn Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, translator, and folklorist. For ten years, starting in 1877 he wrote colorful chronicles of New Orleans life. He spent two years in Martinique where he studied Creole tales but would find his greatest fame in Japan, where he assumed the name Koizumi Yakumo and died a naturalized citizen.1 It was in relationship to a project on Japanese national character that Professor Dundes had brought up Lafcadio Hearn. But when I next heard Hearn's name, it was in the context of hurricane Katrina, several months after Professor Dundes' death.On the night of August 29, 2005, New Orleans seemed to have dodged another bullet: as Katrina's winds died down, most of the levees protecting the Crescent City seemed to be holding. By the next morning, however, reports of levee breaches were widespread, and much of the city would soon be underwater. I awoke in Berkeley on August 30 to radio coverage of hurricane Katrina, of which I remember now only strains of an Aaron Neville recording and a stirring evocation of the city of New Orleans-by none other than Lafcadio Hearn. It is no surprise that reporters called on the words of the eminently quotable Hearn in the media frenzy and tributes to New Orleans that followed. But what came to interest me was how, in the months and years after Katrina, Hearn's words became part of the stories, in the broadest sense, that this storm ravaged city told about itself-in everything from posts in the blogosphere, to sterling silver bracelets to Mardi Gras parades. In the spirit of this collection of essays by students of Alan Dundes revisiting his central contributions to folklore studies, I consider notions of context and identity through the lens of disaster to trace this nineteenth-century folklorist's transformation into the stuff of twenty-first-century folklore, into part of the story of post-Katrina New Orleans.But who, first of all, was the historical Lafcadio Hearn? This question has myriad answers. In his own lifetime, Hearn's Greek, Irish, and English origins defied neat categorization. Hearn had a short-lived (and illegal) marriage to a woman of color in Ohio and took great interest in the Creoles of color in New Orleans, though he certainly knew and associated with many white Creoles. And wherever Hearn went, he lived with an acute awareness of difference on another level: he was severely visually impaired, his left eye blind and discolored from a childhood accident and his myopic right eye protruding. An aunt with whom he lived in England met with near financial ruin, and the young Lafcadio was eventually sent to United States at the age of nineteen. But unlike so many immigrants seeking an Anglicized last name, Hearn would eventually leave behind the Irish first name "Patrick," taking on his more exotic middle name "Lafcadio," perhaps influenced by the etymological associations of the name with the verb "to wander" (Bronner 2005:156). And wander he did. In 1888, the year after he ended his ten-year stay in New Orleans, Hearn wrote from Martinique to the Philadelphia ophthalmologist George M. Gould about his frustrations with "highly organized society" (Bisland 1906:425) and American cities in general, admitting his aversion to geographic stability: "I am apt to become tired of places, or at least of the disagreeable facts attaching more or less to all places and becoming more and more marked and unendurable the longer one stays. So that ultimately I am sure to wander off somewhere else" (Bisland 1906:424).Not surprisingly, Hearn's work is difficult to fit into one category. He translated French writers, and his own fiction included a novel about the hurricane of 1856. His work for newspapers took the form of etchings, journalistic sketches, and editorial essays. …


Evidence regarding cancer risk after borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) is limited. We conducted a nationwide cohort study examining the incidence of nonovarian cancers in women with serous or mucinous BOTs compared with the general female population with up to 41 years of follow‐up. Through the nationwide Pathology Registry, we identified nearly 5000 women with BOTs (2506 serous and 2493 mucinous) in Denmark, 1978 to 2018. We computed standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) as relative risk estimates of specific nonovarian cancers. Compared with general female population rates, women with serous BOTs had increased rates of particularly malignant melanoma (SIR = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.3‐2.6), thyroid cancer (SIR = 3.0; 95% CI: 1.4‐5.4) and myeloid leukemia (SIR = 3.2; 95% CI: 1.5‐5.8), and women with mucinous BOTs had elevated rates of lung cancer (SIR = 1.7; 95% CI: 1.3‐2.1), pancreatic cancer (SIR = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.2‐2.9) and myeloid leukemia (SIR = 2.3; 95% CI: 0.9‐4.7). We found no convincing association with neither breast nor colorectal cancer in women with BOTs. This is the first large nationwide study showing that women with specific types of BOTs have increased risks of several nonovarian cancers, likely due to some shared risk factors or genetic characteristics.


1: Introduction 2: Globalization, transitional economies and transformation of ER 3: Doi moi and the transformation of the business sector 4: Reform of ER policies 5: Methodology and the profile of case studies 6: ER practices in enterprises 7: Enterprise response: initiation and implementation 8: Negotiation process: globalization, government and enterprises 9: Contribution and implication of the study


The heat transfer feature of a cross-flow multi-atomization rotating packed bed is studied by the mode of air-cooling hot water. The suction pressure of an axial gas fan is about 120 Pa,where rotating speed is about 1400r /min. The experiments show that the specific surface area per volume and the volumetric heat-transfer coefficient after two times atomization are increased 21% than one time atomization,decreased 18% than three times atomization,respectively. These are significantly varied with the atomization times,and they are independent of the liquid flow. The heat transfer coefficient and gas volumetric mass transfer coefficient based on humidity are not varied with the atomization times and the liquid flow change,remaining substantially 0. 52kW·m- 2·K- 1 and 0. 122 kg( m2·s Δ H)- 1respectively. The results reveal that the mechanism of the enhance of a gas-liquid heat transfer in the cross-flow rotating packed bed is due to the droplet atomization that greatly increases the heat transfer area,rather than the heat transfer coefficient and gas volumetric mass transfer coefficient based on humidity. After three times atomization,the volumetric heat transfer coefficient of this cross-flow rotating packed bed could reach up to 98 kW /m3·K,keeping the bed more compact.


In this paper, a biologically inspired control architecture for a snake-like robot is proposed to achieve 3D locomotion and realize continuously free gait transition.
Based on a novel central pattern generator(CPG) model, which is achieved from the perspective of network synchronization, the control architecture integrates three functional parts.
First, following the convergence behavior of the gradient system, a new CPG model is presented to adjust the signals' amplitudes and phase differences automatically.
Then, the relation characteristics between the CPG parameters and the outputs are investigated, which can be used to optimize the network's efficiency and fault tolerance.
Finally, to realize various stable gaits as well as free gait transition for snake locomotion, two kinds of gaits for snake-like robot are present with detailed phase difference parameters.
The effectiveness of the proposed control architecture is demonstrated by 3D locomotion simulations and real-life experiments of a snake-like robot.
The results show that desired locomotion patterns can be achieved after the CPG parameters are adjusted to corresponding gaits.


As an effective theory, hydrodynamics provides a successful framework to effectively describe the dynamics of many-body systems by introducing macroscopic quantities such as particle densities and fluid velocities. It requires coarse graining over microscopic constituents to define a macroscopic fluid cell, which is large compared to the interparticle spacing and the mean free path. In addition, the entire system must consist of many such fluid cells.


This paper deals with the problem of the delay-dependent robust stability and stabilization for a class of Lur'e singular system based on the models of kinematic and dynamics of non-direction robot system. The conception 'non-direction' is firstly proposed and then the principle of the non-direction robot motion is analyzed. The synthesis problem addressed is to design a memoryless state feedback control law such that the resulting closed-loop system is regular, impulse free and asymptotical stable for all admissible uncertainties. Finally, an illustrative example was given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented method


Abstract With global warming and declining Arctic sea ice area in autumn observed by satellites since 1979, anomalous cold snaps in recent winters have affected large parts of North America, Europe, and East Asia. In January 2015, North America suffered extremely cold and heavy snowfall events. As revealed in this paper, the NCEP reanalysis data show that the temperature decreased significantly in January 2015 in North America, including the air temperature in the troposphere and the surface air temperature. Moreover, snow cover increased obviously in January 2015 in North America, while there was a significant negative anomaly of geopotential height. The wind formed the anomalous pattern, which favored cold currents blowing to the North American continent from the polar region, and bringing plenty of water vapor. Our results suggest that the anomalous north wind and decreasing westerly jet stream, which allowed cold and moist air to easily penetrate the North American continent from the Arctic, was one of the main reasons for the extremely cold and heavy-snow winter of 2015 in North America.


The ECO BB9, an instrument designed for characterizing the particulate backscattering coefficient (bbp) of waters in situ, saturates frequently in water with high concentrations of particles. These water types are of increasing interest in water optics research due to the complexity of their contents and gaps in the knowledge of their interactions with the light field. Through serial dilutions, the concentrations of particles can be brought into the instrument range and linear extrapolation can be used to yield a prediction of bbp for the original undiluted solution. The efficacy of this simple approach is explored here using natural and synthetic waters in a controlled laboratory setting. bbp is a key inherent optical property used in validating and calibrating water quality parameters commonly estimated by remote sensing inversion algorithms. For this reason, the synthetic waters were constructed to test the method across water types characteristic of colored dissolved organic matter, non‐algal particulates, and phytoplankton. The dilution method was evaluated by assessment of dilution series accuracy, precision, and constancy of the backscattering spectral slope. It was found to be effective with all water types in this paper.


The linear dispersion relation for the magnetorotational instability (MRI) is derived including finite Larmor radius (FLR) effects. In particular, the Braginskii form of the ion gyroviscosity, which represents the first-order FLR corrections to the two-fluid equations, is retained. It is shown that FLR effects are the most important effects in the limit of weak magnetic fields and are much more important than the Hall effect when βi ≫ 1, where βi is the ratio of the ion thermal pressure to the magnetic pressure. FLR effects may completely stabilize even MRI modes having wavelengths much greater than the ion Larmor radius. Some implications for astrophysical accretion disks are discussed.


Data Mining is a process of finding new, interesting, previously unknown, potentially useful, and ultimately understandable patterns from very large volumes of data. Frequent pattern mining has a critical role in mining associations, sequential patterns, correlations, causality, episodes, multidimensional patterns, emerging patterns, and many other significant data mining tasks. With the advent of Internet and the exponential growth of data volume towards a terabyte or more, it has been more difficult to mine them on a single sequential machine. So attempts were made to parallelize these frequent itemset mining algorithms to speed up the mining of the ever-increasing sized databases. While the parallelization may enhance the mining performance, it also produces several issues for solution including load balancing, jobs assignment and monitoring, data partition and distribution, parameters passing between nodes, etc. To overcome this problem, the MapReduce framework, one of most important techniques for cloud computing, has emerged in the mining of datasets of terabyte scale or larger on clusters of computers. Converting a serial mining algorithm into a distributed algorithm on the MapReduce framework is not necessarily difficult, but the mining performance can be unsatisfactory. In this paper, we propose a method which finds all frequent itemsets by using just two MapReduce phases in a time and communication efficient manner.


In this paper I intend to provide an analysis of Thucydides's account of war in the third section of his historical work (3.82-83). Despite some of his early commentators accused him of a certain obscurity, the notions of polemos and stasis he introduces in this text deserve to be discussed and can give a number of insights into the problem of civil war in Western history. My core argument is that there is a clear analogy between Thucydides's concept of stasis, from one hand, and Simone Weil's reflexions on totalitarianism and Klemperer's notebook on Nazi language, from the other hand. In this perspective, not only violence but also propaganda as a manipulation of language are important characteristics of stasis.


A multi level inverter is a power electronic device built to synthesize a desired Ac voltage from several levels of DC voltages .Multi level inverters have been an important development in recent years, owing to their capability to increase the voltage and power delivered to the motor with semi conductors which are available today. This paper presents a comparison of APOD and POD in both unipolar& bipolar multi carrier pulse width modulation techniques for the cascaded H-bridge multi level inverter. The effective results have been demonstrated by simulation results. The results indicate that the Cascaded(MLI) Triggered by the developed by the sinusoidal PWM strategy exhibits reduced THD. The THD analysis has been done for different Modulation indices


Carcinoma of the bronchus is by far the most common intrabronchial lesion causing obstruction of the respiratory passages. Benign tumours and malignant neoplasms originating in connective tissue are much less frequently seen and, when they occur, present difficult problems of diagnosis and of management often solved only at thoracotomy. The patients reported here presented with symptoms due to bronchial obstruction caused by intrabronchial polyps which were not neoplastic. The symptoms were treated by endoscopic removal of the lesions without thoracic exploration.


The release of a rehabilitated raptor, defined as an effort to release the raptor back into nature, have been done in Indonesia; however, only about 2% were monitored for more than one year. This is because long time intensive monitoring using simple observation equipment is difficult to do because of limited resources. Thus, more modern equipment – oneof which is satellite radio used in this research – needs to be used. The use of satellite radio to monitor the movement of rehabilitated raptors was carried out for the first time in 2018 for juvenile male Javan hawk-eagles (N.bartelsi) and adult female Changeable hawk-eagles (N.cirrhatus). The results of the monitoring of these two types of raptors showed that they mostly used forested areas close to water sources. Both types of eagles had the farthest flight distance with an average distance of ± 1,000 m / day occurring at week 4. Thus, it can be concluded that the rehabilitation efforts for these eagles were successful and that they had adapted to their new habitats as wild raptors.


Background Operative vaginal delivery (OVD) remains an integral element of intrapartum care. With the reduction of trainees' hours and the move to competency based training, there is a requirement for a formal training package in operative vaginal delivery to ensure trainees gain core knowledge, confidence and practical experience prior to being exposed to patients. Methods An interactive e-learning and simulation training course for OVD was developed. All of the ST1's and 2's from Severn Deanery were recruited to participate in the study (n=32). Participants underwent a pre-training assessment, which included an 80 question multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ). 27/32 participants completed the e-learning modules and attended simulation training. A post-training assessment (where the same MCQ was completed) was carried out to test any improvement in knowledge. Results There was a 15% drop-out rate (4/5 left to become GP's or train abroad.) A paired t-test was used to compare the data sets. There was a significant improvement (p<0.001) in knowledge by a mean of 10% (95% CI 7.6 to 12.2) with all participants improving their scores following training (Mean score 72% to 82%). Discussion All participants increased their knowledge about the theoretical aspects of instrumental delivery following completion of this training course. This study has shown that e-learning and simulation are useful methods to improve trainee's knowledge of OVD.


In recent years, global outsourcing has received a great deal of attention by both practitioners and academics throughout the world. Globalisation is forcing multinational companies to outsource their products and services in order to reduce cost, enhance the competitive capability, and satisfy shareholders. Before an organisation decides whether to outsource part of its activities from either domestic companies or from other countries, it is crucial to understand the effectiveness of outsourcing in organisational architecture and the global market. This paper mainly focuses on the relationship between global outsourcing and organisational effectiveness, demonstrates the reasons and types of global outsourcing, and explores the impacts of global outsourcing to organisational effectiveness.


An ultrasonic inspection specification which incorporates existing industry practices for straight beam modes with a new approach to the angle beam reference standard was developed. The method employs a commercially available letter "I" die stamp to impress a controlled shape ultrasonic reflector using common hand tools. The specification is designed to produce very stringent inspections and is primarily intended for utilization in the grading of material used in high load-low safety factor applications, such as cryogenic wind tunnel models and support hardware.


Today's highly competitive and dynamic business environment has forced horticultural food commodity farmers to implement better supply chain management (SCM) strategies. An essential aspect of SCM is how farmers and collectors can detect changes in supply chain (SC) behavior; these changes affect the efficiency of SC performance. This study aims to improve food horticultural SC performance efficiency. We propose a hybrid method using the supply chain operation reference (SCOR) and system dynamics simulation. To illustrate the methodology, we use a case study of the potato agroindustry in Wonosobo District, Central Java, Indonesia. The results show that the SC performance measurement consists of six perspectives, namely Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Return, and Enable, with 23 KPIs. The SC value in January - March 2022 is 71.01%, meaning that the average measurement results are in a suitable category. The best scenario we propose is Scenario I, which is a reduction in indirect performance labor costs of IDR 600,000 in three months and an increase in efficiency of 11.08%. For further research, researchers can use this method to increase efficiency in the food processing industry made from food horticultural commodities.


The present disclosure provides TNF-like ligand 1a (TL1a)-binding proteins comprising an antigen binding domain of an antibody which binds specifically to TL1a and inhibits interaction of TL1a and Death Receptor 3 (DR3) and which does not inhibit the interaction of TL1a and Decoy Receptor 3 (DcR3). The present disclosure also provides uses of the TL1a-binding proteins.


Objective: To determine the frequency of angiographically significant coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients undergoing valve replacement surgery and referred for Coronary angiography. Study Design: Cross Sectional Descriptive Study. Study Setting& duration: From 14th February 2016 to 14th August 2016 in the Department of Cardiology, Tabba Heart Institute, Karachi. Material and Methods: Total 127 patients of both genders with age 40-75 years undergone referred for coronary angiography and as a pre requisite of required valve replacement surgery were included and significant findings were noted. The history of comorbid, family history of premature CAD, smoking and basal metabolic index were noted. Results: There were 58.3% male and 41.7% female patients. Average age was 54.60±8.91 years. Mean BMI was 28.64±4.62 Kg/m2. 75.6% patients were obese. Angiographically significant CAD was observed positive in 27.6% patients. Significant association was found with hypertension and premature family history of CAD. The prevalence was high in patients with MVR followed in patients with AVR. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of angiographically significant coronary artery disease was 27.6%.in cases going through valve replacement is substantial. The prevalence was high in patients with MVR followed in patients with AVR. Keywords: CAD, Angiography, Significant Coronary Artery Disease, Valve Replacement Surgery


. The Maritime Continent (MC) regularly experiences powerful convective storms that produce intense rainfall, flooding and landslides, which numerical weather prediction models struggle to forecast. Nowcasting uses observations to make more accurate predictions of convective activity over short timescales (~0-6 hours). Optical flow algorithms are effective nowcasting methods as they are able to accurately track clouds across 15 observed image series and predict forward trajectories. Optical flow is generally applied to weather radar observations, however, the radar coverage network over the MC is not complete and the signal cannot penetrate the high mountainous regions. In this research, we apply optical flow algorithms from the pySTEPS nowcasting library to satellite imagery to generate both deterministic and probabilistic nowcasts over the MC. The deterministic algorithm shows skill up to 4 hours on spatial scales of 10 km and coarser, and outperforms a 20 persistence forecast for all lead times. Lowest skill is observed over the mountainous regions during the early afternoon and highest skill is seen during the night over the sea. A key feature of the probabilistic algorithm is its attempt to reduce uncertainty in the lifetime of small scale convection. Composite analysis of 3-hour lead time nowcasts, initialised in the morning and afternoon, show it produces reliable ensembles but with an under-dispersive distribution, and produced area under the curve scores (i.e. ratio of hit rate to false alarm rate across all 25 probability thresholds) of 0.80 and 0.71 over the sea and land, respectively. When directly comparing the two approaches, the probabilistic nowcast shows greater skill at ≤ 60 km spatial scales, whereas the deterministic nowcast shows greater skill at larger spatial scales ~200 km. Overall, the results show promise for the use of pySTEPS and satellite retrievals as an operational nowcasting tool over the MC.


A multifunction supervisory and control device for the boiler thermal efficiency is presented,which can obviously save energy and decrease consumption for injected steam boiler.The computer control is the key of the device.It can analyze,detect and show several parameters of the boiler gas.It can also control the proportion of fuel and air so that it can keep optimum combustion,which is able to reach double benefit of both saving energy and decreasing air pollution.


The article discusses the meanings of youth culture, and particularly music, in contemporary France, in the light of the Ministry of Culture's adoption a quarter of a century ago of a sympathetic discourse towards it. Contrasting similarly sympathetic French sociological analyses with the seminal work undertaken in Anglophone cultural studies on subcultures, it argues that the variable nomenclature of youth culture in French public discourse is founded on two fundamental ways of conceptualising youth culture, to which the work of Pierre Mayol draws attention. While la culture des jeunes, denoting the leisure practices of 15- to 24-year-olds, connotes a culture existing in an ephemeral, ghettoised present, la culture jeune has undergone the process that Bourdieu calls legitimation. The article concludes by asking whether these dual meanings of youth culture may ultimately be mapped on to the republican opposition between particularism and universalism.


Executive Summary In recent years, many in the electronic test industry have begun to realize that the value of boundary-scan test technology can be leveraged across the various phases in a product's life cycle. In particular, boundary-scan can provide a link between design test with manufacturing test, producing long-term benefits in terms of greater efficiencies and higher quality products. Such a link between design and manufacturing test will enable the benefits of standardizing and re-using design verification tests and PLD programming algorithms in manufacturing. Of course, certain steps must be taken to allow for this linking. This paper will discuss the hardware and software infrastructure needed to achieve efficient test portability. In addition, design-for-test (DFT) guidelines and recommendations that improve the linkages among product design, prototype verification and high-volume manufacturing test will be highlighted. And, to demonstrate how some of these concepts can be applied, several case studies demonstrating effective boundary-scan test strategies will be described. Introduction In some industries, boundary scan is used extensively as a means for testing printed circuit boards (PCB) and assemblies. Boundary scan provides many advantages for achieving high quality products and reducing time to market. Because of its simple interfacing requirements, several benchtop boundary scan tools have been developed and these are commonly used by board and system designers.


In this paper, I estimate the effect of mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disclosure on corporate value. Using the introduction of mandatory GHG emissions reporting for firms listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange as a source of exogenous variation, I find that firms most heavily affected by the regulation experience significantly positive valuation effects. Increases in value are strongest for large firms and for firms from carbon intensive industries (e.g., oil and gas). Valuation increases are driven by capital market effects such as higher liquidity and lower bid -- ask spreads for the most affected firms.


This study examined the English Learner (EL) teacher knowledge base from three perspectives: (a) competencies the current literature recommends that all teachers need know and use for teaching English learners in their content classes, (b) competencies the current literature recommends secondary teachers of English learners need to know and use for teaching English learners across the grades, and (c) views practicing secondary teachers of English learners hold about competencies they need to be successful with these students in academic subject-area classes. We identified the points of commonality between what is considered critical for all teachers and what secondary teachers need to know and be able to do, as well how they differ, and also what view practicing secondary teachers express about knowledge and practices the literature claims they need to be effective with English learners. This research identified the relevant competencies for secondary teachers of English learners, "to get a better sense of where we are starting from" (Lucas & Grinberg, 2008, p. 628) with respect to the kinds of knowledge and practices that preservice and in-service teachers are being asked to learn, question, implement, and reflect upon.


Chlamydia trachomatis represents a group of human pathogenic obligate intracellular and gram‐negative bacteria. The genome of C. trachomatis D comprises 894 open reading frames (ORFs). In this study the global expression of genes in C. trachomatis A, D and L2, which are responsible for different chlamydial diseases, was investigated using a proteomics approach. Based on silver stained two‐dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2‐D PAGE), gels with purified elementary bodies (EB) and auto‐radiography of gels with 35S‐labeled C. trachomatis proteins up to 700 protein spots were detectable within the range of the immobilized pH gradient (IPG) system used. Using mass spectrometry and N‐terminal sequencing followed by database searching we identified 250 C. trachomatis proteins from purified EB of which 144 were derived from different genes representing 16% of the ORFs predicted from the C. trachomatis D genome and the 7.5 kb C. trachomatis plasmid. Important findings include identification of proteins from the type III secretion apparatus, enzymes from the central metabolism and confirmation of expression of 25 hypothetical ORFs and five polymorphic membrane proteins. Comparison of serovars generated novel data on genetic variability as indicated by electrophoretic variation and potentially important examples of serovar specific differences in protein abundance. The availability of the complete genome made it feasible to map and to identify proteins of C. trachomatis on a large scale and the integration of our data in a 2‐D PAGE database will create a basis for post genomic research, important for the understanding of chlamydial development and pathogenesis.


Barium titanate inverted opals with powder and film morphologies were synthesized from barium ethoxide and titanium isopropoxide in the interstitial spaces of a polystyrene opal. This procedure involves infiltration of precursors into the interstices of the polystyrene opal template followed by hydrolytic polycondensation of the precursors to amorphous barium titanate and removal of the polystyrene opal by solvent extraction or calcination. In-situ variable temperature powder X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy allow one to observe the thermally induced transformation of the as-synthesized amorphous barium titanate inverted opal to the nanocrystalline form. In this way, a nanocrystalline barium titanate inverted opal can be engineered as either the cubic or tetragonal polymorph. Control of this process is key to the practical realization of a room-temperature stable ferroelectric barium titanate inverted opal that can be thermally tuned through the ferroelectric–paraelectric transition around the Curie temperature. Optical characterization demonstrated photonic crystal behavior of the inverted barium titanate opals and results were in good agreement with photonic band structure calculations. The synthesis of optical quality ferroelectric barium titanate inverted opals provides an opportunity to electrically and optically engineer the photonic band structure and the possibility of developing tunable three-dimensional photonic crystal devices.


Spintronics has received a great attention and considerable interest within the past decades. As a core device in this discipline, magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) evolved rapidly and already be used in applications such as hard disk drive (HDD) read head and magnetic random access memory (MRAM) etc. In this article, we review some basic effects related to MTJ, for example, giant magnetoresistance (GMR), tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) and spin transfer torque (STT). Based on these theories, two kinds of MTJs, in-plane and perpendicular MTJs, are introduced. Then, several magnetization switching methods, which include field-induced switching, thermally assisted switching, STT switching and recent voltage-controlled switching, are proposed. In the end, some important applications of MTJs are presented.

Keywords:

magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ);
tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR);
spin transfer torque (STT);
perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA);
spintronics


The present invention discloses a microcomputer means includes a controller having a memory, a chip, a program counter coupled to the microcomputer means. The value of its values within the memory chips may be compared stored in the program counter stored, and when the situation occurs in anastomosis, an indirect branch instruction has issued a pointer. The indirect branch instruction by the pointer corresponds to a field within a form, this field contains the value used to load the program counter.


Capacitor microphone for installation in a helmet, speech signals from the wearer via contact between the microphone and the head of the wearer being converted into an electrical signal. The microphone is switched on and off by the wearer. The microphone is fitted into the headband of a helmet and, when in use, lies against the forehead of the wearer. A maximum distortion of the signal of 6% and increased sensitivity in the voice frequency range are implemented by placing a weight on the membrane of the microphone with a weight of 95 - 190 μg/mm2 of membrane surface area and with a surface area of 6 - 14% of the surface area of the membrane.


Accelerators like the Intel Xeon Phi aim to fulfill the computational requirements of modern applications, including stencil computations. Stencils are finite-difference algorithms used in many scientific and engineering applications for solving large-scale and high-dimension partial differential equations. However, programmability on such massively parallel architectures is still a challenge for inexperienced developers. This paper provides firm foundations to guide developers in maximizing the benefits of hardware-software co-design for computing 3-D stencil codes running on the Intel Xeon Phi (Knights Corner) architecture. We propose a set of guidelines to optimize stencil codes based on a C/C++ OpenMP implementation. The guidelines are evaluated using three kernels that are widely applied to simulate heat, acoustic diffusion as well as isotropic seismic wave equations. Our experimental results yield performance gains over 25x when compared to high-level sequential implementations (e.g., Matlab).


By applying the theory and method of singular perturbations, we investigate the travelling wave solution of the KdVB equation under the assumption v2?4μ. We get the explicit expression of the travelling wave solution up to the third order atfirst. Then, we obtain the general asymptotic expansion: u=u(0)+eu(1)+e1u(2)+…+enu(n)+… and prove that u(j)(j=1,2,…,n,…) are bounded functions.


Using symmetry group methods, this paper studied the invariant groups admitted by Gauss curvature equation on jet bundle. Invariant groups, infinitesimal generators of the corresponding invariant groups and some group-invariant solutions were found. Results about some surfaces which have constant Gauss curvature were given.


The reduction behaviour of cobalt doped with nickel oxide and undoped nickel oxide (NiO) by hydrogen (H2) in nitrogen (20%, v/v) and carbon monoxide (CO) in nitrogen (40%, v/v) atmospheres have been investigated by temperature programmed reduction (TPR). The phases formed of partially and completely reduced samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD). TPR results indicate that the reduction of Co doped and undoped nickel oxide in both reductants proceed in one step reduction (NiO → Ni) without intermediate. TPR results also suggested that by adding Co metal into NiO, the reduction to metallic Ni by both reductant gaseous give different intensity of the peak. The reduction process of Co and undoped NiO become faster when H2 was used as a reductant. Furthermore, in H2 atmosphere, Co-NiO give complete reduction to metallic Ni at 700 °C. Meanwhile, XRD analysis indicated that NiO without Co composed better crystallite phases of NiO with higher intensity.


Coralline red algae represent a worldwide component of hard-bottom coastal communities, where they play a key role in many ecological processes. Some species are ecosystem engineers that produce biogenic platforms, reefs and other calcified structures providing a wealth of habitats for many other species, especially in temperate seas. In the Mediterranean Sea these bioconstructions are widespread and occur both in the littoral zone (trottoirs of Lithophyllum byssoides) and in the sublittoral zone (coralligenous bottoms, where coralline algae are one of the main constituents). A detailed knowledge of their distribution and composition is essential for their conservation, but molecular data assessing taxonomic identity and population structure in corallines are extremely limited. The distribution and genetic variation in two important bioconstructor corallines, Lithophyllum byssoides and L. stictaeforme (Corallinales, Corallinaceae) are investigated using sequences of the plastid psbA gene and mitochondrial cox2,3 spacer. Populations of L. byssoides occur on all parts of the Italian coastline where rocky shores exist and the molecular data show that Mediterranean populations of this species represent a sister lineage to Atlantic populations. L. stictaeforme is widespread along the Italian shores, particularly along the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian sides. In molecular phylogenies Mediterranean populations of L. stictaeforme form a well-supported clade, to which North Atlantic Lithophyllum spp. are the closest relatives. Overall the results indicate a high genetic variability in these species, with the possible existence of cryptic species.


Objective To explore the effect of adenoviral-mediated hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) gene transfered into the injuryed spinal cord on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and provide the basis for the application of adenoviral-mediated HIF-1α gene transfer in the treatment of spinal cord injury.Methods The spinal cord injury (SCI) model was established by modified allen method.Animals were divided into four groups:treatment with HIF-1α virus (Ad-HIF-1α group),with no HIF-1α virus (Ad-blank group),with no virus (SCI group),and no treatment (Sham control).On the 1st,3rd,7th,14th and 28 th day,HE staining was done to observe the common change of the rat spinal cord slices and immunohistrochemical staining to detect the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF protein in those slices.Results Central core lesion was detected in the HE staining sections.The degree of hemorrhage and necrosis of Ad-HIF-1α rat spinal cord slices was lighter than those of SCI and Ad-blank groups.The number of survival neurons with relative normal morphology of Ad-HIF-1α rat spinal cord slices was more than those of SCI and Ad-blank groups.The optical density (OD) of HIF-1α and VEGF-positive neurons of Ad-HIF-1α group were increased significently as compared with those in SCI and Ad-blank groups (P0.05),and the expression duration of Ad-HIF-1α group prolonged.Conclusion In vivo adenoviral-mediated HIF-1α gene could express effectively by transferring method.HIF-1α gene can promote the expression of VEGF protein in spinal cord injury.The mortality of spinal cord neurons could be reduced through the adenoviral-mediated HIF-1α gene therapy.


Forty-seven spring wheat Triticumaestivum cultivars and advanced lines from spring-sown spring wheat regions, at twelve locations in 1998 and 1999, were used to investigate pasting properties of Chinese spring wheats. Starch pasting properties were closely associated with noodle quality. Significant differences were observed for all pasting characteristics. Samples collected from Harbin, Shenyang, Beijing, Ba-meng, Yongning, and Urumqi had better pasting quality than those from other locations. Genotype, environment, and genotype by environment interaction had large effects on all pasting characteristics. Significant correlations among pasting characteristics were observed and peak viscosity was considered the most important pasting characteristics.


Each year Business Property Statements are mailed by the Assessor to most commercial, industrial, and professional businesses. Business Property Statements help determine the assessed value for Business Personal Property, such as fixtures and equipment, for tax purposes. Assessable Business Personal Property includes all property, except inventory items held for sale or lease and real estate owned and/or used by a business.


By Leslie Albrecht – Merced Sun-Star In the Modesto Bee, Monday, May 8, 2006 LIVINGSTON - Foster Farms wants to expand its chicken rendering plant into a 24-hour operation that would boil 275 tons of poultry carcasses per day. Some Livingston officials worry about the strain the new facility could put on the city's resources. "(City) staff has grave concerns about the environmental impacts, so those will be scrutinized in depth," Community Development Director Donna Kenney said. Air quality, water, traffic, and the effect on the city's industrial wastewater treatment plant top the list of concerns. And then there's the odor. Rendering plants boil animal carcasses and other "nonmarketable" animal parts such as blood, guts and bones. The process separates fat from protein. The fat, or tallow, is used in products such as soaps and candles. The protein finds new life as animal feed. The other byproduct is a foul stench that residents near the Modesto Tallow Co. described as "nauseating" and "unbearable," according to The Modesto Bee. After a series of environmental violations, Modesto Tallow will close for good later this year. Foster Farms is expanding its rendering operation in part to pick up the slack left by Modesto Tallow's closure, Foster Farms spokesman Tim Walsh said. Walsh said he's not worried about the possible smell. "We have always taken a great deal of pride in being a good neighbor to the communities where we do business," Walsh said. "We spend a lot of money making sure that the emissions from that facility meet or exceed air quality standards." A modern rendering plant is a far less smelly proposition than a facility such as Modesto Tallow, said Dave Warner of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. Modesto Tallow was built in 1917, long before the technology and environmental rules that reduced noxious emissions, Warner said. "We're talking a night-and-day difference between a longstanding existing operation and a brand-new proposal," Warner said. "These guys will be held to a standard that doesn't allow them to be a nuisance. "In any rendering plant, they'll have occasional problems that cause odors to leak out. Our job is to make sure that doesn't happen." Foster Farms' new rendering plant could spew 100,000 pounds of air pollution into Livingston's skies yearly from a 70-foot smokestack, according to the application filed with the air district.


A mixed culture, N 1~N 6, which is able to treat wastewater of oil field efficiently, was screened and identified as the mixture of six strains of bacterium. The strains included Pseudomonas sp. (N 1 and N 2), Acinetobacter sp. (N 3), Microbacterium sp. (N 4), Cellulomonas sp. (N 5) and Corynebacterium sp. (N 6). Using the techniques of Gas Chromatography, the effect on the degradation of petroleum oil of each strain is analysed. The results indicate that N 5 and N 6 are key strains, N 1~N 4 are supplementary strains, and they coordinate to degrade petroleum oil effictively.


The evader seeks to maximize the "miss distance" between himself and each pursuer at a given terminal time T. Since there-are two pursuers, the evader is faced with a multi-criterion or vector valued optimization problem. One approach to solving this multi-criterion problem is to seek an evasion strategy which maximizes the minimum terminal miss distance. This maxmin or game theoretic approach requires that we solve a saddle-point problem to obtain the optimal evasion strategy.


The Management of one college at Unisa initiated a structured mentoring programme to develop researchers, among others. This article reports the views of 43 mentees of the programme one year after implementation. The research design was a survey. The items in a questionnaire were influenced by the self-efficacy theory and the constructivist views of learning. The findings indicate that the mentees learnt to set goals, and to plan to achieve these goals within predetermined time frames; they increased their knowledge of, and skills in research and publication; they gained motivation for research and confidence as researchers; and they matured as academics and learnt how to advance their careers. Certain challenges were identified, which included the mismatching of mentoring pairs, the lack of quality time for research projects, and a need for more institutional research support, e.g. in relation to academic leave and a help desk. The article indicates that mentoring can be largely successful even in exceptional contexts, as pointed out.